Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said the DNAs of Congress, Samajwadi Party and INDI Alliance were similar to Pakistan where people were starving and there was lack of development.

"The poor used to die of hunger during the time of SP and Congress. And now people are starving to death in Pakistan, whereas 80 crore are getting free ration in India, he said at a public meeting at Gandhi Degree College grounds in Sidhauli in the Sitapur Lok Sabha constituency.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Sunday, addressed public meetings in Sitapur, Bahraich and Amethi and sought public support for Bharatiya Janata Party candidates contesting from Mohanlalganj, Kaiserganj and Amethi Lok Sabha constituencies, namely Kaushal Kishore, Karan Bhushan Singh and Smriti Irani, respectively. These constituencies will go to polls on May 20, in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Before leaving for the election campaign in these districts, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the Kaal Bhairav and Baba Vishwanath temples in Kashi on Sunday morning to offer prayers.

During the public meetings, he listed out the achievements of the BJP government on the development front, while highlighting the disrupted pace of development during the Congress-Samajwadi Party era.

He said the Congress had opportunity for 60-65 years but it did not focus on development of the country. SP-Congress and Pakistan oppose India, Lord Ram, backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, daughters, and businessmen. Lalu Prasad Yadav of the INDI Alliance has advocated for giving reservation meant for Other Backward Classes to Muslims. Make sure that all those who dare to play with the future of the country, lose their deposits in the elections, he remarked.

Speaking at a rally in Bahraich to seek votes for Lok Sabha candidate Karan Bhushan Singh, Chief Minister Yogi said, Ramdrohis who objected to the construction of Ram temple have always been questioning the existence of Lord Ram. They question not only the existence of Lord Ram, but all those who idolise him. Now is the time to convey to them that the one who has faith in Lord Ram will govern India.

Chief Minister Yogi added that the SP previously claimed that not even a bird could fly in Ayodhya, adding that today, they should witness the large number of Lord Ram devotees visiting Ayodhya.

Bahraich is the place where the culprit of the Somnath temple, Salar Masud, was brought to justice. The bravery of Maharaja Suheldev in safeguarding the nations faith, remains unforgettable. People from SP, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party will visit dargah but they will not come here to pay homage because they fear losing Muslim votes, he added.

In Madhogarh, the chief minister urged people to make Union minister Smriti Irani victorious from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency once again. He said that Congress was talking about imposing inheritance tax in its manifesto, which was reminiscent of the Jizya tax imposed by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. It seems that the spirit of Aurangzeb has possessed the Congress party, he said.

The chief minister further said that with the fourth phase of voting, the Modi wave would take the form of a tsunami. He highlighted that only two kinds of people were opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one was Pakistan and the other were Ramdrohis.

He said that even four generations of Congress did not visit Amethi as many times as Smriti Irani did. Today, the entire Amethi stands in honour of Smriti Irani. For the first time, the people of Amethi have decided not to be followers of any party but to become supporters of Indias development, Yogi added.

Attacking the Congress, he said that those who love Pakistan could go there. Congress talks about caste-based census and wants to pit communities against each other, he asserted.

He said it was the right time to make those playing with the future of the country lose their deposits.
The State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Sunday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 15 lakh to the family of a government employee who was killed on election duty in Nabarangpur district.

Alekh Randhari, a Class-IV employee of a government school, was killed in a road accident near the Swami Vivekananda Vidyamandir in Nabarangpur on Saturday while he was on the way to a polling station for the first phase of the elections on Monday.

In another incident, a bus carrying polling personnel and EVMs overturned near Pitatali in Ganjam district on Saturday. The bus was transporting polling personnel along with EVM machines to Kharriaguda in the Chikiti Assembly segment in the district.

Brahmapur SP Sarthak Sarangi said that all the polling personnel and the EVMs were safe. The polling personnel were sent to their allotted booths by another vehicle.
An FIR has been registered against Congress MLA from Bhopal Arif Masood for violating the secrecy of voting. A case has been registered against him under Section 188 in Shahjehanabad police station of the State capital.

Besides, a case has been registered against former minister Kamal Patel in Harda. His photo of taking his grandson to the polling booth had gone viral.

In fact, during the third phase held in the state on May 7, the Election Commission had received complaints like making videos while voting, taking children inside the polling booth and casting their votes.

The minor son of Arif Masood, Congress MLA from Bhopal Central Assembly seat, had shared the video of the polling booth on social media. In this he is seen going inside the booth with his father. The video is from May 7, when voting was being held for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat.

After this video went viral, the United Sangharsh Morcha had complained to the Election Commission on Thursday. The complaint said that the MLA went inside the polling booth with his minor son.

Congress MLA Arif Masood had reached the polling booth with his family members on May 7 to cast his vote.

A case has been registered against three people, including former minister Kamal Patel, at the city police station on Sunday for taking a minor grandson to the polling booth and getting his photo clicked during the third phase of voting in Harda on May 7.

According to the police, an FIR has been registered under sections 128, 130, 131 and 188 of the Representation of the People Act on the complaint of Assistant Returning Officer Kumar Sanu Devadia.

District Election Officer Aditya Singh said that in this case, the BLO of the Center and the teacher Sharmila Patil posted in the government school of Kartana have been suspended. At the same time, a letter has been written to the senior office for disciplinary action against the sector officer.

Along with this, a letter has also been written to Harda SP to take action against the police personnel deployed at the polling station and the police officers of the concerned sector.

On Saturday evening, four days after voting, Congress District President Om Patel and Sanjay Jain had complained to the Chief Electoral Officer about violation of the code of conduct by former minister Kamal Patel. Whereas before this, Kedar Sirohi, the working state president of Kisan Congress, had demanded an investigation into the BJP leaders going to the polling booth with their son and grandson in the state. At the same time, questions were raised regarding the impartiality of the Election Commission.

During the third phase of voting on May 7, former minister Kamal Patel had reached the polling booth with his minor grandson at the polling booth at the Polytechnic College of Harda district headquarters. During this, he went to the polling booth with his wife and cast his vote. Kamal Patel's photo with his grandson near EVM went viral.

After Kamal Patel, Congress now cornered Minister Govind Rajput for getting photography done inside the polling booth. Congress leader KK Mishra tweeted and wrote - When it is prohibited for any voter to take mobile phone inside the polling stations, then how did this photo of state minister Govind Singh Rajput appear outside.

Will the CEO take action against the minister and the presiding officer by conducting an investigation on the basis of CCTV available at the polling station related to MP elections?
Foundation Day of Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology of AIIMS Bhopal was celebrated with the theme "Exhume the Truth and Serve Humanity" on Saturday.

This occasion also marked the 8th Integrated Toxicology Session, which focused on the topic "Bhopal Gas Tragedy-Aftermath". Participants from various departments, including Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Pharmacology, Medicine, Psychiatry, and Pathology participated in the program.

Inaugurating the program Prof. (Dr.) Ajai Singh, the Executive Director of AIIMS Bhopal, underscored the importance of commemorating such events and reaffirming the commitment towards serving humanity. Dr. Singh highlighted the imperative nature of the theme, emphasizing the role of truth-seeking and its profound impact on advancing medical science and delivering justice

Earlier, welcoming the gathering Prof. (Dr) Arneet Arora, HOD said that forensic medicine and toxicology plays a very vital role in medico legal cases and useful for society. It brings out the hidden facts. Dr. Rajesh Yadav, Associate Professor, NFSU Bhopal, delivered the Foundation Day Oration on "Toxidromes of Bhopal Gas Tragedy and Future Vigilance" where he elaborated the need for more research related to the use of insecticides and their long term effects.

In the session Dr. BP Dubey, Dr. DK Satpathy and Dr. Badkur shared their first hand experiences of their working during the Bhopal gas catastrophe. Sessions on: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Gaseous Poisons, Diagnosis and Emergency Management in Gaseous Poisoning, Clinical Features & Long-term Management (MIC), Autopsy & Medico-legal Issues: An Overview, Psychological Aspect of Mass Disaster and its Sequelae and Toxico-histopathology in MIC were also organized.

These sessions provided a platform for participants to share their insights and learn from each other. About 70 delegates from various departments attended the event, enriching the discussions with their diverse perspectives and expertise.
Radhakanta from Subarnapur district devoted 13 years of his life to the heritage of weaving and yet, found him struggling with the harsh realities of sustaining a handloom business. Lack of market connections and entrepreneurial guidance made it difficult for him to sell his products. Also, a major hurdle to his business expansion was the lack of credit access.

Navigating these difficulties posed a great challenge to Radhakanta until Swakalpa entered his life. Swakalpa is a self-employment training and entrepreneurship development programme, led by the Odisha Skill Development Authority and World Skill Center, funded by Asian Development Bank, and implemented by Palladium India. It aims to train 10,000 youths in self-employment and establish 1,000 micro-businesses in Odisha, with a focus on ensuring 25% female participation.

Radhakanta received training and mentorship guidance about different aspects of setting up a handloom enterprise. The programme also supported him in legal assistance with Udyam Aadhar registration and business modelling. With the right guidance, Radhakanta established his enterprise, Radhakanta Handloom. He also secured a loan of Rs 50,000 from the Bank of Baroda enabling him to acquire essential machinery for scaling his operations.

He received support in formulating branding strategies, cataloguing, and creative marketing to showcase his craftsmanship to a wider audience. Swakalpa also facilitated market linkages through exhibitions, bulk buyers, and e-commerce platforms. The programme linked him with esteemed brands like Tisser India and the Dunguripali Farmers Producers Company which significantly expanded his business reach.

Presently, his business boasts of an annual turnover of Rs 5 lakh per annum, yielding a net profit of Rs 1.5 lakh. Serving as a beacon of hope within his community, his enterprise has created employment opportunities for two individuals. Swakalpa has connected him with technology like Kosha AI which helps in authenticating his products and getting fair price for his hard work. Swakalpa also linked him with Bharat Pe giving him access to a unified QR code for seamless payment solutions.

I am proud of uplifting my family, community, and my State through our traditional craft, says Radhakanta, beaming with pride over his handloom products.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a roadshow in Delhi on Sunday said if people choose Aam Aadmi Party on May 25, he wont have to go back to jail.

Earlier, Kejriwal held a meeting with his party MLAs and leaders at his residence and claimed that the BJPs plan was to topple the AAP governments in Punjab and Delhi after his arrest but this did not fructify. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) became more united and stronger after my arrest, the Delhi chief minister said while addressing MLAs of his party following a meeting here.

This was his first meeting with the legislators after his limited outing of 21 days from the Tihar Jail, effected by the Supreme Court judgment giving him interim bail for election campaigning.

Okhla MLA Amantullah was not present in this meeting. Khan and his son Anas Ahmed are facing allegations of assaulting and threatening staff at a fuel pump in Noida Sector 95. Police have claimed that Mr Khan and Anas are underground.

BJP people would say before my arrest that they will break the party and topple the governments in Delhi and Punjab, Kejriwal said.

They had a plan that they will arrest me, break the party, topple the government in Delhi and then in Punjab also. After arrest, their plan failed. You all did not break,said Kejriwal added all the MLAs did excellent work to ensure that the people of Delhi did not face any problem in getting electricity, water and medicines

Later he held a road show in New Delhi and North-west constituencies. Accompanied by his Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal held a roadshow in Moti Nagar in support of partys New Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Somnath Bharti.

I have to go back to jail after 20 days.

If you choose jhadu (AAPs symbol), I wont have to go back to jail, the chief minister said.

The AAP national convenor is out on interim bail till June 1. He has to surrender on June 2.

They sent me to jail because I worked for you. The BJP does not want that work of Delhi people are done, he said.

Kejriwal alleged that his insulin injections were stopped for 15 days inside TIhar jail.

If I went back to jail, the BJP would stop your work, free electricity, degrade schools and shut down hospitals and Mohalla Clinics, he charged.

He also asked people to vote for Bharti since he would be available for people in need even at odd hours.

The polling for all seven seats in Delhi will take place on May 25.
Board of School Education Haryana announces results

Chandigarh: The results of the Secondary (Educational/Open School) Annual Examination-2024 conducted by the Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH), Bhiwani, were announced on Sunday. Candidates can check their examination results on the Board's official website www.bseh.org.in. Board chairman Dr VP Yadav said that the examination result for regular candidates stood at 95.22 per cent, while for self-study candidates, it was 88.73 per cent. Dr Yadav informed that in the Secondary (Educational) regular examination, 2,86,714 candidates appeared, out of which 2,73,015 passed, and 3,652 candidates will have to reappear (Essential Repeat).he said that the pass percentage of government schools in this examination was 93.19 per cent, while that of private schools was 97.80 per cent. The pass percentage of rural area students was 95.24 per cent, whereas that of urban area students was 95.18 per cent. Among the districts, Panchkula topped in pass percentage, while Nuh remained at the bottom.

Haryanas girl gives new lease of life to four critically-ill patients after her death

Panchkula/Chandigarh: In a deeply moving display of generosity and compassion, the family of an 18-year-old girl Preet, who tragically met with an accident on April 29, 2024 , and declared brain-dead on May 11, 2024, at Panchkulas Alchemist Hospital, choose to donate her organs. The donated organs harvested as liver airlifted to Max Hospital Saket; pancreas and one kidney shifted to PGIMER Chandigarh; one kidney donated to a kidney-failure patient in Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula. A green corridor was created on Sunday between Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula, to Max Hospital Saket, New Delhi and PGIMER Chandigarh.

National Lok Adalat held in Haryanas 22 districts, 34 sub-divisions

Chandigarh: Haryana State Legal Services Authority organized its second National Lok Adalat of the year under the guidance of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Judge and Haryana State Legal Services Authoritys executive chairman Justice Arun Palli across the state of Haryana on Sunday. Spokesperson said that the National Lok Adalat was organized in 22 districts and 34 sub-divisions of the state, wherein several cases were taken up pertaining to civil, criminal, matrimonial, bank recovery, etc, including the cases of permanent lok adalats (public utility services) working in the ADR Centres.

Chandigarh: Panjab University, Chandigarh, conducted the PU CET (UG) Entrance Test-2024 on Sunday for admission to undergraduate courses  Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. Total 20 centres were created  16 at Chandigarh, one each at Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and two at Sri Muktsar Sahib. Total 84.66 percent candidates appeared in the test. Flying squad and observers were deputed to every centre for routine checking and smooth conduct of the test. The test was conducted satisfactorily and no untoward incident was reported from any of the examination centres.

Fortis Mohali celebrates International Nurses Day

Mohali: To recognize the efforts of the nursing community and selfless service rendered to patients, a host of cultural activities were organized to observe International Nurses Day at Fortis Hospital Mohali from May 6 to 11. The week-long celebrations kicked off with a hand hygiene activity and a rangoli competition held at the facility on May 6. To promote the best practices of waste management, the nursing staff participated in a Wealth out of waste activity and quiz on the following day on May 7. The employees from several departments also participated in a pot painting competition followed by a face painting contest on May 8. The nursing staff dressed as brides of different states also participated in a ramp walk on May 9. An informative talk on Health and Hygiene was organized for underprivileged girls at Guru Asra Charitable Trust, Mohali.
Jharkhand Police will get new patrolling vehicles sonn. Jharkhand Police, which has been patrolling with old vehicles for years, will soon get 470 Bolero vehicles. Regarding this, Jharkhand Police Headquarters has sent a proposal to the Home Jail and Disaster Management Department. After the proposal is approved, the process of purchasing vehicles will be started.

Jharkhand Police had earlier purchased 70 Bolero vehicles, which were allotted to different police stations of the state.

Jharkhand Police will purchase these vehicles from the amount of modernization item. The State Government has enough funds for this. Jharkhand Government had recently announced that lack of money will not be a hindrance in police resources. The Government has sufficient funds. Due to which police resources will be strengthened. There are total 606 police stations in Jharkhand, out of which 282 police stations are Naxal affected. Out of 282 police stations, 155 are A grade Naxal affected and 127 are in B grade category.

It is the responsibility of the police to maintain law and order. If any incident happens, there is pressure on the police to reach the spot as soon as possible. This is the reason why the State Government is making efforts to modernize the police stations. But you will be surprised to know that out of 564 police stations in Jharkhand, there are still 47 police stations where policemen do not even have a vehicle. The work of these police stations is going on with the trust of Ram. Jharkhand also has the highest number of police stations without telephones. There are no phones in 211 police stations here. There is no mobile phone or wireless facility in 31 police stations.
The first session under the AIIMS Bhopal lecture series was organized on Saturday. The theme of the first session was "Doctors for the Nation". On this occasion, Professor (Dr) Ajai Singh, Executive Director, AIIMS Bhopal, shared his 19-month journey in achieving excellence.

He said that AIIMS Bhopal has made great achievements in the last 19 months. Presenting some figures, he said that earlier there were 288 types of tests in AIIMS Bhopal, today it has increased to 580 types. Similarly, if we talk about the number of patients in OPD, it has increased from 60000 to about 95000.

Professor Singh said that AIIMS Bhopal does not allow any patient to be deprived of treatment due to lack of funds. Rogi Kalyan Samiti has been formed for the convenience of such patients.

In which AIIMS Bhopal has contributed Rs 2 crore from its resources. Through which those people who are not able to get themselves treated due to financial condition are also treated here.

Dr. Sunil Malik, President of AIIMS Bhopal said that during the Corona period, our doctors have successfully overcome it with their efforts. Today there is a need that we develop the spirit of leadership among them. Discussing the achievements made during the last 19 months, Dr Malik said that this has been possible only due to the efforts of Professor Ajai Singh.

While analyzing the various medical and social works being done by the doctors in the country for the society and people, Suhas Rao Hiremath, co-coordinator of Susanskrit Swasthya Seva, said that the medical profession is a Nobel profession.

In this, it is the duty of the doctor to gain respect and reverence in the society. Medical care is a spiritual journey. In this one has to rise above oneself and work for the happiness of others. Many doctors are doing social service in the country today but there is still a need to go and work in rural areas so that change can be brought in their lives. Congratulating Professor (Dr.) Ajai Singh for the progress made in AIIMS Bhopal, Hiremath said that it is hoped that similar health facilities will continue to be available to the people in future also.
A day before the fourth phase of voting, CM Mohan Yadav met Governor Mangubhai Patel on Sunday. There was a discussion between the CM and the Governor for about 15 minutes.

After meeting the Governor, CM Mohan Yadav discussed the issues of drinking water, wheat procurement and law and order during the summer season in a discussion with the media.

When Congress appealed to vote on currency notes in Indore, the CM said NOTA is not an election symbol. Congress lost its candidate first and lost their mind again. They should be ashamed. Does anyone vote on the currency notes? NOTA is not an election symbol.

NOTA is an option to express your anger. This means that if Congress loses, it goes against the election. Congress should think about what he is saying. Congress should look within itself to see where its organization is failing. Fight strongly again in the coming elections. If they are talking about notes then it is a losing battle.

After meeting the Governor, Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav said, I have met the Governor and the issue of drinking water during the summer season was discussed. Arrangements have been made regarding drinking water in the entire state and it has been said to make arrangements wherever there is a problem. There should not be any problem of drinking water in any city or village. I am satisfied that due to the arrangements we have made, no such major problems have arisen.

CM said that wheat procurement season is also going on right now. There are good prices in wheat market also. We are trying to get as much wheat as we can naturally. The Central Government and Union Minister Piyush Goyal have said that we will buy as much wheat as you buy. This is how we have made arrangements. Temperature is rising very much in summer, take care of your health.

The CM said that there has been a discussion with the Governor regarding law and order, the three phase elections have been conducted well. I am thankful to the people of the state for this. Tomorrow is the last phase of voting, everyone should exercise their franchise. My vote is in Ujjain. I am going to vote in Ujjain tomorrow. Presently the festival of elections is going on.

The way Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned and the atmosphere created is visible in itself. If we talk from our political point of view, as BJP workers we can say that including yesterday's eight seats, we are winning all 29 seats. I congratulate the people for their love for BJP. The place that Modi made in the hearts of the people. And the present Modi era will be written as the golden period.
Punjabs Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C has taken cognizance of a complaint lodged by Ludhiana MP and the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu regarding the non-issuance of a no-due certificate (NDC) by the Municipal Commissioner (MC) as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines.

Bittu, in his complaint, alleged that the MC had misused his authority in this matter; besides, accusing the MC of impeding his ability to participate in Lok Sabha elections 2024.

In his formal complaint with the CEO, Bittu expressed concern over the failure of Ludhianas Municipal Commissioner to issue the NDC within the stipulated 48-hour period after the submission of his application. He emphasized that this delay was obstructing his ability to participate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections of 2024.

In response to Bittu's complaint, the CEO Office initiated an immediate action to address the matter, with the CEO directing the Principal Secretary of the Department of Local Government to conduct a thorough inquiry into the allegations and submit a detailed report promptly. The objective is to ensure that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is informed of the findings without delay, said the spokesperson.

The controversy surrounding the issuance of the NDC arose just hours before Bittu was scheduled to file his nomination papers for the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat on Friday. The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation served him with a notice demanding payment of Rs 1.82 crore in pending rent for government accommodation that he had occupied since 2016. Bittu, in order to clear the dues and obtain the NDC, had to arrange a substantial sum of money, even pledging a portion of his ancestral land at Kotla Afghana village.

Bittu, the grandson of the slain Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and a three-time Member of Parliament, is seeking re-election from Ludhiana. Having previously won two consecutive terms on a Congress ticket in 2014 and 2019, he recently joined the BJP. His initial victory in the Lok Sabha elections came in 2009 from Anandpur Sahib constituency, also on a Congress ticket.

Bittu is locked in an intense ballot battle with a friend-turned-foe Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the state Congress president. Lashing out Warring, Bittu on Sunday called him an outsider, political novice, and a mouthpiece of ruling AAP.

Raja Warring belonged to Gidderbaha and he has no base in the home constituency. The Congress party has sacrificed him and the people of Ludhiana would teach him a lifelong lesson.Raja Warring has no locus standi in Ludhiana and he would not take any interest in mitigating the problems of local people, he said, asking Warring why he didn't contest Bathinda?

Responding to Warrings allegations against him on the issue of his house, Bittu said that the Congress leader had become the mouthpiece of Bhagwant Maan and was trying to justify the action of the AAP Government. He is scared of the Vigilance inquiry against him in the transport department scandal of the fabrication of bodies of buses purchased by Punjab Roadways at high rates in Rajasthan, he added.
In a significant breakthrough, the Punjab Police has successfully dismantled a drug racket operating in the State. Sharing the information, the state Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav on Sunday said that the operation, under the leadership of Jalandhar Commissioner of Police Swapan Sharma, led to the arrest of 13 individuals involved in the illicit drug trade and the recovery of drug money amounting to Rs 84 lakh, along with luxury vehicles and a truck.

The arrests were made in connection with a 48-kilogram heroin case, wherein the accused played various roles within the drug network, including suppliers, purchasers, and hawala operators. This coordinated effort by law enforcement agencies has dealt a severe blow to the drug mafia operating in Punjab.

Jalandhar's Commissionerate Police scores big in anti-drug efforts! Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav announced on social media platform X. Acting on the forward and backward linkages of the 48 kg heroin case, additional seizure of Rs 84 lakhs drug money made along with luxury vehicles and a truck from 13 syndicate members arrested, they were involved in various roles of the drug network acting as suppliers, purchasers, hawala operators. Kudos to @PunjabPoliceInd for their unwavering commitment to keeping our streets safe! #DrugBust #JalandharPolice, read the post.

A senior police official maintained that the successful operations like these is a testament to the relentless efforts of the Punjab Police in combating the drug menace plaguing the State. It sends a strong message to those involved in illegal drug trafficking activities that law enforcement agencies are determined to root out such criminal enterprises and ensure the safety and well-being of the citizens, added the official.
Jamshedpur East MLA Saryu Rai, who was willing to contest Lok Sabha elections from Dhanbad till recently, has started batting for Congress nominee Anupma Singh finally.

While opposing BJP nominee Dhullu Mahto just as he has a number of criminal cases pending against him and has been convicted in some as well as. Besides, several allegations of land grabbing, extortion as well as illegal realisation of money in coal business too is associated with BJP nominee.

Rai asked people of Dhanbad to vote for a candidate who has no criminal back ground and can do some better for Dhanbad.

Talking to media persons here Sarju Rai said, as Indic alliance had given its candidate from here, I donot want division of votes thus refrained from contesting or giving candidate of his party from here as it would indirectly help BJP.

Rai, incidently, in two diffetent tweets had directly levelled allegation on BJP candidate Dhullu Mahto stating his reign of terror in Baghmara coalfield area and his association with absconding criminal Prince Khan. Rai once again has brought to notice the letter written by Russian Consulate against Dhullu Mahto as how he created disturbances in operaion of a coal mines that was operated by a Russian firm.

Rai who statted campaign against Mahto since Saturday, said would raise issues agsinst the BJP candidate during his campaign and ask prople to vote for a better option available than what the BJP has given for Dhanbad seat.
In a bid to tackle the issue of illegal parking plaguing the city, Delhi Mayor Dr Shelly Oberoi has penned a stern letter to the MCD Commissioner, highlighting the detrimental impacts of illegal parking on public convenience, traffic flow, MCDs reputation, and financial stability. Urging swift and resolute action, the Mayor has asked the Commissioner to direct the concerned officials to identify, document, and address illegal parking hotspots, with a strict deadline of five days to submit a comprehensive report.

In her letter to MCD commissioner, Oberai said it has come to my notice that so many illegal parkings are being run in various parts of Delhi.  These illegal parkings are creating nuisance and inconvenience to the public due to traffic jams and also tarnishing the image of the Corporation. Apart from this, it has also resulted in huge revenue loss to the Corporation. This is a matter of great concern.

The MCD Mayors letter reads further, In view of the above, it is desired that necessary direction may be given to the concerned officer to identify various illegal parkings running in Delhi, to prepare a list of all the illegal parkings, to take stern action and submit the report to the office of undersigned (Mayor) within 5 days.

Its to be noted that incidents of illegal parking have been reported by a few newspapers in the last couple of days. These incidents have been reported in the bazaars of Subhash Nagar, Karol Bagh, Gaffar Market, Ajmal Khan Road. Taking note of these reports, AAPs MCD government has called for action from the commissioner against the culprits.
The Election Commission of India has made elaborate arrangements for voting in 13 parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh going to polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Monday.

Voting will take place in this phase in Shahjahanpur (SC), Kheri, Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Hardoi (SC), Misrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur and Bahraich (SC) constituencies where the fate of 130 candidates will be decided by 2.46 crore voters  1.31 crore males and 1.15 females  in 16,334 polling stations having 26,588 polling booths.

Along with the Lok Sabha polls, by-election to Dadraul assembly constituency in Shahjahanpur district will also be held on Monday. There are 10 candidates in the fray and their fate will be sealed by 3.72 lakh voters  1.99 lakh males and 1.72 lakh females.

UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said here on Sunday that polling parties had been despatched to their respective booths. He said to ensure free and fair polls and transparency in the polling process, over 50 per cent of the booths would go for webcasting.

The 13 constituencies going to polls on Monday are considered politically significant as they fall in the central region of UP. In 2019, Bharatiya Janata Party had swept these constituencies despite the alliance between Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal. This time Congress and SP are contesting the polls together in UP as partners of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

If the BJP faces the challenge of replicating its 2019 performance in this phase, the SPs top concern is to regain the prestigious Kannauj seat. All eyes in this phase of elections will be on the Kannauj from where SP president Akhilesh Yadav is seeking a re-election. Another prominent candidate in the fray in this round is Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, who is contesting from Kheri.

Among the 13 poll-bound constituencies, Kannauj will see a contest between the SP chief and sitting BJP MP Subrat Pathak, while in Unnao, incumbent BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj (Swami Sachidanand Hari Sakshi) is pitted against SPs Annu Tandon (a former Lok Sabha MP from Unnao). Tandon had contested against Sakshi Maharaj as a Congress candidate in 2014 and 2019, but had lost on both occasions. She had won the Unnao Lok Sabha seat in 2009 on a Congress ticket.

Of the 13 parliamentary constituencies going to polls in the fourth phase, the BJP has reposed its faith in 11 sitting MPs by giving them tickets, while it has fielded new candidates Ramesh Awasthi from Kanpur and Anand Kumar from the Bahraich (SC) seat.

In the INDIA bloc, the SP has fielded candidates from 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in this phase, while two seats -- Kanpur (Alok Misra) and Sitapur (Rakesh Rathor)  have Congress candidates.

Four BJP candidates  Union minister Teni (Kheri), Rekha Verma (Dhaurahra), Mukesh Rajput (Farrukhabad) and Devendra Singh alias Bhole (Akbarpur)  are eyeing a hat-trick, while Rajesh Verma is eyeing a fifth term from Sitapur.

Ashok Kumar Rawat and Ram Shankar Katheria are eyeing a fourth term from Misrikh (SC) and Etawah (SC) respectively. Sitting MP from Hardoi (SC) Jai Prakash and incumbent from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj are eyeing their sixth terms in the Lok Sabha.

Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Sitapur, Unnao, Etawah and Bahraich have a big chunk of Dalit voters. The BSP has never been able to open its account in six of the constituencies  Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Kanpur  while the SP has historically struggled to win the Kanpur and Akbarpur seats.

Around 28 per cent of the candidates contesting in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections have criminal cases while 41 per cent are crorepatis.

Polling will commence at 7 am and conclude at 6 pm. Special arrangements of drinking water, shed, sitting facilities and other things to cope with the heat wave conditions have been made in all the booths.

After a drop in polling percentage in the first three phases of the polls, the Election Commission of India and district authorities stepped up efforts to motivate the voters to cast their vote.

Over two lakh security personnel, including around 225 companies of Central forces, have been deployed in this phase.
In this Lok Sabha election, the wives of three prominent leaders from Punjab, each representing a different political spectrum, have emerged as significant contenders on the political stage. Beyond their roles as spouses, they stand as formidable candidates in their own right, fiercely committed to defending their family legacies and political strongholds.

Preneet Kaur, wife of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, joins the fray alongside Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the spouse of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, and Anita Som Prakash, married to BJP leader and Union Minister Som Parkash.

While Preneet and Harsimrat bring with them years of political experience and have previously served as Central Ministers, Anita is stepping into the electoral arena for the first time, marking her debut in the political landscape. However, there is one common thread that binds them all together  they are all fighting their husbands political battles.

Preneet Kaur, an experience politician and former Union Minister, is staunchly defending the family bastion of the Patiala Royals. However, in a notable twist, she is now representing a new team. Having previously been elected to the Parliament four times from Patiala as a Congress candidate, Preneet is now seeking re-election under the banner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  a move that has elevated the electoral contest from a simple race to a significant battle of prestige.

Furthermore, this election carries immense significance for Capt Amarinder Singh, especially in light of his decision to sever ties with the Congress after decades of association and align himself with the BJP; and also in the wake of his significant defeat in the 2022 state assembly elections from his stronghold in Patiala. The outcome of this election will undoubtedly shape his political trajectory moving forward.

With Preneet shifting from Congress to the BJP, the grand old party has fielded her former opponent Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, who had stunned the then Union Minister with a decisive defeat in Patiala in 2014. At that time, Gandhi was associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Besides the two, Health Minister and AAP leader Dr Balbir Singh and SADs former MLA NK Sharma are also in the fray.

Significantly, Preneet has been actively involved in campaign activities in the constituency for several months, alongside her daughter Jai Inder Kaur, who serves as the president of the Punjab BJPs Mahila Morcha. However, like other BJP leaders, Preneet is also facing mounting opposition from the farming community. Similar to other BJP candidates, Preneet encounters staunch resistance wherever she campaigns," noted a BJP leader, highlighting a recent incident where a farmer's death has further complicated the electoral landscape.

The 2022 state assembly elections were nothing short of a catastrophe for the Akali Dal, as the party managed to secure only three seats with a meager 20.15 per cent vote share. In contrast, during the 2017 state assembly elections, the party clinched 15 seats with a 25.2 per cent vote share. As the Lok Sabha elections loom, SAD is determined to regain its lost footing. Consequently, the party has adamantly refused to compromise on issues concerning religion or agriculture and has opted not to forge any alliance with the BJP.

In an attempt to disrupt Harsimrats streak of victories, the AAP has put forward Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, who previously defeated the Akali stalwart and five-time Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal in the 2022 assembly elections. With the SAD and BJP failing to reach any alliance agreements, the saffron party has nominated former IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu  the daughter-in-law of former Akali Minister Sikander Singh Maluka. Unlike previous elections, the SAD won't be able to leverage an alliance with the BJP, particularly in urban areas where it traditionally holds sway.

Since her debut in electoral politics in 2009, Harsimrat has consistently emerged victorious in all elections  2009, 2014, and 2019. However, despite her three-time MP status, she faces a challenge of diminishing winning margins. In 2009, she secured the Bathinda seat with a substantial margin of 1,20,948 votes, which drastically reduced to a mere 21,772 votes in 2019.

Adding to the complexity, this election marks the first since the passing of the senior Badal, placing his son Sukhbir Badal at the helm of the party. It serves as a crucial test for Sukhbir as he leads the party independently. To bolster the party's prospects and energize its members, Sukhbir has personally taken charge, spearheading an impactful 'Punjab Bachao Yatra'.

Unlike Preneet and Harsimrat, Anita Som Prakash is venturing into electoral politics for the first time. She is stepping into the political arena from Hoshiarpur with a determination to safeguard her husband's political legacy.

Despite her husband, Som Prakash, being the sitting MP and a two-time MLA from Phagwara, he has chosen not to contest this time, passing the baton to his wife. This transition presented a significant challenge for Anita, especially since her candidacy was approved over the claims of former Union Minister Vijay Sampla, who has had friction with Som Parkash in the past.

While the state BJP leadership has made efforts to appease Sampla;s grievances, some of his close allies have stirred dissent within the party, with a few even opting to depart. Currently, Anitas foremost challenge lies in quelling factionalism within the party. Consequently, she is dedicating substantial efforts to unite local leaders.

In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Som Prakash secured the seat by a margin of 48,530 votes, defeating Congress candidate Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who is now contesting on the AAP ticket. The Congress, meanwhile, has nominated Yamini Gomar, a former AAP leader, while the Akali Dal has put forward the candidacy of four-time MLA and former Minister Sohan Singh Thandal.
The Great Indian Bustard critically endangered and integral to India's wildlife heritage, faces multifaceted threats including habitat loss, collisions with infrastructure, and poaching. As efforts to safeguard the species intensify, the imperative to reconcile competing interests between development and conservation grows more urgent

The Supreme Court of India in MK Ranjitsinh and Ors vs. Union of India has constituted a seven-member committee and tasked it with addressing the delicate balance between conservation initiatives for the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) and the installation of renewable energy projects in its habitat. This decision follows the Courts acknowledgement of the challenges posed by its April 2021 directive mandating the burial of all power lines within the GIB habitat, a measure claimed to be expensive and impractical over extensive distances by Power companies and the Central Government. With the complex interplay between development and conservation at the forefront, the committee has to assess primarily the viability of reducing the area banned for overhead powerlines from 80,000 to 13,663 square kilometres.

The GIB figures in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, in Appendix I of CITES and is classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Included in the National Wildlife Action Plan, it has been earmarked for a recovery program under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India.

During the Mughal and British periods, the GIB was one of the top game birds. Historical accounts suggest that tribal Bhils used to set fire to the bushes surrounding their nests to trap females. The species has been facing numerous threats to its survival including occasional poaching, collisions with high-tension electric wires, fast-moving vehicles, and free-ranging dogs in villages. Additionally, habitat loss and alteration due to the diversion of grasslands and scrublands, extensive agricultural expansion, mechanized farming practices, and infrastructural developments such as irrigation systems, roads, and windmills pose significant challenges.

Weighing approximately 15 kilograms each, their bulk poses a challenge when navigating around electricity lines or windmills, often resulting in fatalities or injuries. The dry semi-desert regions where the bustard once thrived, particularly in parts of Rajasthan, have also undergone significant transformation due to irrigation canals, converting the landscape into highly cultivated areas. Present-day threats include further expansion of linear infrastructure such as roads and electric power transmission lines leading to collision-related mortality. The proposed expansion of renewable energy infrastructure, including large-scale deployment of solar panels across desert and grassland areas, further jeopardizes the birds habitat.

In its historical range, the great Indian bustard once existed across Western India, spanning 11 states, including parts of Pakistan, with strongholds in the Thar desert and the Deccan plateau. Known for its preference for flat, open landscapes with minimal disturbance, it thrives in grasslands. Their numbers, however, have dwindled dramatically, with only around 150 individuals estimated to survive as of 2018, down from around 250 in 2011. Most of the population, estimated at around 120, is concentrated in the arid grasslands of Thar, Rajasthan, particularly in the Desert National Park and the Pokhran Field Firing Range, with smaller populations reportedly scattered elsewhere in the country. In Maharashtra, two individuals had been reported in Nanaj, Solapur district, where the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) is actively involved in conservation efforts. Concerningly, however, the absence of the great Indian bustard in Nanaj in Maharashtra as well as in the Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh for the past few years suggests a looming risk of local-level extinctions.

Known for their slow reproductive rate, GIBs lay only a few eggs and invest nearly a year in caring for their chicks. Establishing a founder population requires a minimum of 20 breeding females and 5 to 10 breeding males. In the relatively better populated Thar region, specifically focused upon in the Supreme Court case, the looming risks of the maze of infrastructural development, food insecurity, conflicts, and climate change-induced impacts exacerbate the challenges faced by them.

As regards actions taken to safeguard the dwindling population of the GIB, the MoEFCC, Rajasthan Forest Department, and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), came together in 2018 to initiate conservation breeding programs and conduct scientific research for GIBs conservation.

Notably, the WII had already identified ten potential locations for GIB breeding centres in 2017, setting the stage for proactive conservation measures. Drawing on expertise beyond borders, the International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC) from Abu Dhabi was enlisted as a technical partner due to its successful track record in breeding other bustard species. The collective efforts resulted in the establishment of two breeding centres in Rajasthan, housing a total of 29 GIBs, bolstering hopes for the species survival. Further support poured in from WWF-India, which helped in crafting guidelines for a comprehensive State Action Plan for Resident Bustard Recovery Programme and backed future expansion plans in Gujarat. In Karnatakas Siruguppa taluka, the Ballari Forest division proposed a Detailed Project Report with an investment of INR 24 crores for a research centre dedicated to the GIB cause. In Maharashtra, with GIB sighted in recent years neither in Nanaj of Solapur nor in Warora of Vidarbha region, a proposed collaboration with Rajasthan aims to exchange tigers for GIBs, with plans to establish a breeding centre in Nanaj.

Assessment of the overall strength, budgetary outlay, and position of the MoEFCC and forest departments in decision-making in the Government reflects that the effectiveness of efforts to secure the future of the GIB is just inadequate. The weakening of statutory instruments and establishments related to forest and wildlife conservation in the recent past is quite revealing in this regard. In the case of GIB also, on an uneven field, stakeholders grapple with the urgent need to balance developmental agendas with conservation imperatives, claiming to be providing a sustainable coexistence for this emblematic avian species.

However, amidst endeavours by some professional foresters, a pressing challenge looms large today. About 66,337 sq. km of land for overhead transmission lines are considered despite WIIs recommendation that mitigation of powerline-linked mortality required a ban on high tension wires, undergrounding of <66 kv wires, and retrofitting of existing wires with bird diverters. WIIs findings also underscored the perilous predicament, with an estimated 16 GIB fatalities annually due to collisions with high-tension lines in the Thar region alone. Such alarming mortality rates, validated by tagging efforts by WII, are in sharp contrast to the indication of the number of recorded mortality cases as insignificant before the highest court. Using a lower number of collision deaths as a basis for allowing a network of overhead powerlines in GIB habitats will be akin to advocating the discontinuance of medicines in a pandemic situation where due to a reduced number of survivors, deaths per day may be lowered.

An approach of balancing conservation and development by permitting power projects, in a critically endangered species habitat with just about 140 survivors, currently less polluting than non-renewable resources deserves perhaps a second look. The idea of development and its impact created and sold by the most selfish species on earth pitted against the right to life of a species at the brink of extinction needs to adopt a much wider and multi-sectoral perspective.

Indias insolation data in many areas, not natural habitats of GIB, presents similar ranges as in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Annual Mean Daily Global Solar Radiation (AMDGSR) map indicates 6.8 to 5.6 kWh/ m2/ day in different parts of Rajasthan and Gujrat; 6.0 to 5.8 in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Ladakh; and 5.8 to 5.6 in states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu.

Indias solar power generation capacity having reached about 76 GW in FY24, is concentrated in Rajasthan and Gujarat with 17.8 GW and 10.1 GW. Large states like MP and UR are major disappointments. Authorities should consider the country-wide spread and benefits, site-specific costs on infrastructure, and the capacity utilization factor (CUF) figures reported to be 20 for Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh; 19 for Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh; and 18 for Gujarat. Considering this scenario, any honest concern for balancing conservation and development must, instead of compromising GIBs future, explore and exploit the potential spread out in the country for solar projects. That would be true climate justice!

(The writers are Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, UP and Maharashtra; views are personal)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the Gandhi family in its Raebareli bastion, accusing Sonia Gandhi of "spending more than 70 per cent of her MP funds on minorities".

Addressing a series of election rallies in Uttar Pradesh, he alleged the Congress was talking of bringing back triple talaq if it comes to power at the Centre. Shah asked the opposition party and its Raebareli candidate Rahul Gandhi to make their stand clear on triple talaq and on a Uniform Civil Code.

The Union home minister spoke at poll meetings in Raebareli, Pratapgarh and Gonda.

Accusing the opposition of appeasement politics, Shah claimed Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav were invited to the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya but they did not attend.

"These people did not go because they were afraid of their vote bank. But the BJP is not afraid of vote bank. Not just Ram temple, (PM Narendra) Modi ji also built Baba Vishwanath's Darbar (in Varanasi) which was destroyed by Aurangzeb. Somnath temple is also being built of gold. Modi ji has worked to redecorate our places of worship," he said.

Shah termed the opposition's assertion that reservation would end if BJP wins 400 seats a "lie" and claimed that after Congress came to power in Karnataka and Telangana, its governments gave reservations to Muslims overnight by cutting the share of SC, ST and OBCs.

"Today, I am stating the 'Modi ki guarantee'... Till the time the BJP has even a single MP, we will not allow scrapping of reservation for SC, ST and OBCs," Shah said.

Urging people to ensure the BJP wins 400 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said, "This election is an election is to make Narendra Modi prime minister for the third time, to make India the third largest economy in the world, to give a befitting reply to Pakistan for its actions and replying to terrorist's bullets with shells."

Intensifying his attack on the Congress, the senior BJP leader said, "From 2004 to 2014, the Congress government functioned with the support of SP and BSP. There would be bomb explosions virtually every day."

"Then Modi ji came (to power). Pakistan being a habitual (offender) carried out attacks in Pulwama and Uri. But, they had forgotten that this time, it was not the government of Manmohan Singh. It was of Modi. Within 10 days, surgical strikes and airstrikes were carried out," he said.

Referring to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan having the atom bomb, the BJP leader said Rahul Gandhi can be scared of Pakistan's atom bomb but the BJP is not. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India and "we will take it", he said.

"When I stood up (in Parliament) to abrogate Article 370, Rahul baba said do not scrap it.. He said rivers of blood will flow in Kashmir. Rahul Baba, five years have passed and nobody has the courage even to throw a stone, let alone flow rivers of blood."

"Mani Shankar Aiyar and Farooq Abdullah scare us and Rahul baba silently enjoys it. Rahul baba, clear your stand before the public," he said.

In Raebareli, he described the Gandhi family as a hindrance in the path of development of the constituency.

"You gave the Gandhi family chances for years, but no development work has been done ... They (Congress) do not believe in development. They do not even come to you in your happiness and sorrows."

Shah urged the people to vote for the BJP's Raebareli candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, and said, "We will connect Raebareli with Modiji's development journey."

"The 'shahzada' (prince) has come here to seek votes. You have been voting for many years. Have you received anything from the MP fund? If you have not received it, then where did it go? It went to their vote bank. Sonia Gandhi has spent more than 70 per cent of the MP funds on minorities," Shah claimed.

Intensifying his attack, he said, "The Gandhi family is an expert in lying. They are now promising Rs 1 lakh for every woman. In the Telangana (assembly) polls, they had promised to give Rs 15,000 to every woman. The women of the state elected them (Congress) ... Forget about Rs 15,000, they did not even give Rs 1,500."

"Many people here told me that this is a family seat... It is true. The people of Raebareli have made the Gandhi and Nehru families win for years. But after getting elected from here, how many times did Sonia Ji and her family come to Raebareli? Okay, Sonia ji's health is not good, but has Rahul baba or sister Priyanka come?"

Referring to several accidents in Raebareli in the past years, including the boiler explosion at an NTPC plant in 2017, Shah claimed none from the Gandhi family visited the victims or their kin. "Our (candidate) Dinesh Pratap Singh visited every (grieving) household," he said.

At the rally in Pratapgarh, Shah alleged that the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the BSP were "taking care of Article 370 as their 'illegitimate child'".

"You made Modi ji prime minister for the second time and he scrapped Article 370, worked to end terrorism in Kashmir and make it an integral part of India. But these two princes... Akhilesh (Yadav) and Rahul Baba say that if they come (to power), they will bring back Article 370," Shah told the rally.

Asserting that the opposition INDIA bloc has no chance of winning the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP leader said, "Assuming that they do, who will be the prime minister?"

"When a reporter asked this, the answer was a one-year term on a rotational basis. Rahul baba, this is not a grocery shop," Shah said.

Referring to the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said that for 70 years, the Congress, SP and BSP kept the issue hanging. "Modi ji did 'bhoomipujan', and on January 22 he did the consecration," Shah said.

Canvassing for BJP's Gonda Lok Sabha seat candidate Kirtivardhan Singh, the Union Home Minister appreciated the law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh under the Adityanath government and said that earlier there were factories here making country-made pistols but now shells are being made in the defence corridor that will straighten up Pakistan.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien on Sunday tore into claims made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at poll rallies in West Bengal, saying two videos that have come out on the Sandeshkhali issue have exposed the "conspiracy to malign" the state.

On a day when Modi addressed four rallies in support of the BJP's Lok Sabha poll candidates in West Bengal, O'Brien shared a fact-check report on X and called the prime minister the "Lyin King".

"We often fact check Narendra Modi.... 'The Lyin King' just ended his third and fourth speeches. So much of deceit, falsehood and hate, that even our fact check meter broke down," the TMC leader said in a post on the microblogging platform.

"Two Sandeshkhali videos exposed BJP's conspiracy to malign Bengal and humiliate women. Concocted by Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikhari. Bribed and forced women to sign a blank paper and file false rape complaints. BJP shelters molesters: Brij Bhushan Singh, Prajwal Revanna. Unnao, Kathua, Hathras," the document shared by O'Brien read.

Multiple videos have surfaced on social media, purportedly claiming that a local BJP leader made several women from Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal sign on blank papers that were subsequently filled up as sexual assault complaints against TMC leaders.

PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

Dismissing Modi's claim of infrastructure development in eastern India, O'Brien said, "848 railway projects are delayed for over 3 years. PM Gramin Sadak Yojana-III has a completion rate of just 51 per cent. Of the 774 routes under UDAN-3, half could not initiate operation. Out of 44 projects in development, 31 projects had reportedly not received any funds for ports."

Taking a jibe at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, he said it has the "world's largest washing machine".

"BJP has the world's largest washing machine. Praful Patel, Suvendu Adhikari, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Narayan Rane, Ajit Pawar, Ashok Chavan, Arjun Singh. 9 out of 10 opposition members who joined BJP got reprieve.

"Selective targeting of opposition parties by ED-CBI. 95 per cent cases against opposition leaders. 0.4 per cent conviction rate," the TMC leader said.

Countering Modi's claim that it is difficult to follow one's faith in West Bengal, he pointed out that Durga Puja is celebrated for 10 days in the state.

"Durga Puja celebrated over ten days, internationally renowned and acknowledged by the United Nations. Saraswati and other pujas are held across the state including 2,000 schools. Eid is celebrated, Kolkata Christmas festival," O'Brien said.

On the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), he said the rules under the law were notified after five years and called it an election gimmick.

"Hundreds of Bengali Hindus have committed suicide in the last six years due to citizenship related harassment. This law will affect ALL communities. Out of 40 lakh people whose citizenship is under threat, 28 lakh are Bengali Hindus, 10 lakh are Bengali Muslims, and 2 lakh are Hindus from states other than Bengal and Assam," O'Brien said.

He also claimed that targets have not been met under schemes, such as the Prime Minister Awas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission and Ujjwala, and that funds for TMC-ruled West Bengal under the National Food Security Act were withheld for not displaying Modi's face at ration shops. Under Ujjwala, more than 1.2 crore households bought no refill cylinders, he claimed.

Addressing back-to-back rallies in West Bengal on Sunday, Modi accused the TMC of indulging in "vote-bank" politics and alleged that its goons are threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali, where allegations of sexual abuse have surfaced against local leaders of the state's ruling party.

The prime minister alleged that under the TMC's rule, Hindus have turned into second-class citizens in West Bengal and asserted that "as long as Modi is here, no one can repeal the CAA".
I have always made an effort to be open-minded regarding interacting with new-people, therefore I dont manage others means whenever my personal go out out of the blue unveiled which he had been a Scientologist. What ensued was one of my

most remarkable times ever before

, though it seriously left my personal mind rotating. Heres what happened.



Everything launched therefore normally.



We might fulfilled in a restaurant where kind of meet sweet method lots of people dream about. Our very own informal discussion was in fact really interesting, and I also have to state he was fairly pleasant whenever that discussion converted into flirtation. In addition had not already been on a date for a while at the time, therefore I didnt truly hesitate when he questioned me . The day alone was pretty normal too. In the end, we were merely

heading out for supper

.

Yeah, I happened to be surprised in regards to the Scientology thing.



We simply got all of our food in the cafe whenever the topic of faith came up. He very first questioned the thing I believed in and I openly admitted that I had been raised Catholic but presently regarded as me much more agnostic than anything else. Their reaction? Oh. Well, I Am a Scientologist. Will you be familiar with the Church? Gotta admire exactly how informal he was, but no, I experienced no clue that was coming.

A non-Scientologist online dating a Scientologist is truly very rare.



Relating to my personal date (and later confirmed by my post-date night time internet queries), its quite unheard of for a Scientologist as of yet somebody not in the church. And Scientology getting those types of

fundamentalist opinion programs

in which the theology will be the answer to anything and everything in daily life, another reason behind this is certainly fairly simple. Scientologists just spend a lot regarding personal amount of time in the church/engaging in church products. That meet sweet we had from inside the cafe? He had only come from a session in church. And where was actually the guy before all of our date? During the chapel definitely!

The big date type became everything about Scientology.



While I happened to be inclined to state OK! and progress, my big date seemed really into what our feelings on their religion had been. The facts was that I really failed to wanna simply tell him my precise thoughts on Scientology when I insulted him, but In addition dont wanna liea thus I compromised with myself personally and informed him that, like the majority of folks, Id heard a lot of different things about Scientology, a few of which might or might not end up being true. That turned out to be a blunder because rest of all of our amount of time in that cafe devoted to him trying to A) discover the truth just what unfavorable circumstances Id heard and B) convince me that Scientology was merely GREAT!

He wasnt the initial Scientologist Id actually ever met.



While this ended up being my very first (and just) time previously with a Scientologist, the reality had been that Id understood one before. It was actually a buddy of my own in school, though shed for ages been very peaceful in regards to the subject matter. After that emerged one summer time where she revealed she was actually leaving college commit work for the Church and none people ever heard from her once again. Even the woman fb membership ended up being deleted soon after that. Every now and then I think about this lady and wish that she is okay.

I found myself enthusiastic about reading every thing hed to express, but because I learn religions as a spare time activity.



I Am

perhaps not spiritual myself

but i am totally interested in various belief programs. For many years now, I learned various religions in my spare time to the point that i could inform you the theology of all the major people immediately after which some. But rather of enlightening my day that I already realized exactly about classes, OT degrees, engrams, links, the Sea Org, Xenu, Tom sail, etc., we stayed quiet and listened. Give everybody else the opportunity to discuss their area of the tale, right?

He wouldnt truly answer my questions.



Much as I wanted to learn him talk about his personal point of view on their values, he was very elusive whenever I asked specific questions relating to it. For instance, at one-point I inquired simply how much it are priced at, on average, for a person to begin with in Scientology. His response? its thus funny you ask that as you really cant put an amount about it. In the future, I inquired what can occur if the guy or one of his household members ever left the Church. You do have the creativeness! he mentioned, before fast switching the topic.

Looks like he hadnt experienced lengthy.



Like other Scientologists, my personal day had joined because members of his family members performed, it proved theyd already been involved for only over five years, which will be fairly awful short when compared to lots of people for the faith. He had been adamant that Scientology had changed all their everyday lives your much better but also for some explanation would not truly enter particulars about his parents or siblings beyond principles like how old they certainly were and in which they certainly were living.

He was a truly nice, articulate guy. However he was!



For those who have no idea, Scientologists learn through their unique chapel courses simple tips to talk better with folks. Thus, many of them are poised and well-spoken whenever around other individuals, and I also imagine dates are not any exclusion. Very much like I became aggravated by my personal go outs unclear answers about their faith, i really couldnt assist but appreciate how he talked and carried themselves.

No, he did not just be sure to generate me (or at least he had been subtle about any of it).



I kept looking forward to him to express something such as, You should arrive see for your self why Scientology rocks. Here is a pamphlet! but we respected the fact the guy never ever did. The guy undoubtedly portrayed it in an optimistic light, as well as one-point he did tell me that he believed Id take advantage of it. Still, the guy never ever forced us to get go to the Scientology middle and that I appreciated that. Perhaps he hoped Id supply by myself to go.

I thought it ideal for both of us when we failed to continue things.



I really dont feel dissapointed about my personal Scientologist go out whatsoever, but I realized we werent gonna work-out. I politely let him know this after the evening so we hugged and parted techniques. I think the guy understood that it was the right action as well. We never watched him again.
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New weather warnings for rain have been issued around the UK, ahead of what is expected to be the hottest day of the year so far.

Temperatures could reach as high as 27C on Sunday, but the recent warm and sunny spell could disappear by the end of the day.

Three yellow warnings for thunderstorms remain in place for Sunday, but the Met Office has also issued new warnings for rain in south-west England.

 Yellow weather warning updated  Thunderstorms across parts of western and central England and Wales Sunday 1300  2300 Latest info https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs Stay #WeatherAware  https://t.co/Ojk2CifQ8w pic.twitter.com/lytHXzkuQq  Met Office (@metoffice) May 12, 2024

Spells of heavy rain area also expected to hit eastern areas of Northern Ireland on Monday, with a warning in place from 12pm until 6am Tuesday.

In areas of south-west England, including Cornwall and Exeter, heavy rain is likely to bring some transport disruption and possible flooding in a few places between 8am and midnight on Monday.

The same warning is in place for southern Wales on Monday, where heavy rain is forecast for areas including Swansea and Cardiff between 8am and midnight.

The Met Office advised those living in areas affected by rain warnings to prepare for disruption to public transport and the possibility of some interruption to power supplies.

Thunderstorms could strike the west of the UK on Sunday, including the majority of Wales, with a warning in place between 1pm and 11pm.

 Yellow weather warning UPDATED  Thunderstorms across parts of Scotland, extended further east Sunday 1400  Monday 0300 Latest info  https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs Stay #WeatherAware pic.twitter.com/6vexPy2hSr  Met Office (@metoffice) May 12, 2024

Another storm warning has been issued for the western half of Northern Ireland between 12pm and 7pm, while a third is in place for western parts of Scotland between 2pm on Sunday to 3am on Monday.

It comes as Sunday is expected to be the warmest day of the year so far. Parts of the UK will be warm and humid in the morning, with temperatures expected to peak at 27C in some places, before the thunder and rain roll in.

Temperatures peaked on Saturday as all four home nations recorded their hottest days of the year so far. Herstmonceux, East Sussex, had the highest at 25.9C, slightly ahead of Cassley in northern Scotland where a temperature of 25.7C was recorded.

Gogerddan in Wales reached 25.1C on Sunday, while temperatures in Northern Ireland peaked at 23.8C in Magilligan.

A warm dry day for most of the UK  Check out Saturday's weather extremes below  pic.twitter.com/xgR4rQA2SL  Met Office (@metoffice) May 11, 2024

However, Simon Partridge, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the year-so-far records were not likely to last long because forecasters expect it to be even warmer on Sunday.

He added: The difference (on Sunday) is that it is not likely to be as warm for Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland.

The really warm air will probably be confined to southern and eastern parts of England, with temperatures expected to peak in central parts of the country at around 27C.
Betty Reid Soskin, 102, the oldest national park ranger in the country before retiring two years ago, receives an honorary doctorate at Cal State East Bay on Saturday. Garvin Tso/Cal State East Bay Betty Reid Soskin, 102, receives an honorary doctorate at Cal State East Bay on Saturday. Garvin Tso/Cal State East Bay Betty Reid Soskin, 102, receives an honorary doctorate at Cal State East Bay on Saturday. Garvin Tso/Cal State East Bay

Longtime Bay Area resident Betty Reid Soskin, the countrys oldest national park ranger before retiring two years ago, has received an honorary doctorate from Cal State East Bay for her exceptional accomplishments and contributions, administrators said.

The university in Hayward honored Soskin, 102, with a doctorate in humane letters during Saturdays commencement ceremony for its College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, university officials announced. Photos and videos show university administrators putting a doctorate hood over Soskin, who retired from the National Park Service in 2022.

The longtime Richmond resident has held many titles in her life: political activist, mother, artist, entrepreneur and park ranger.

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At age 84, Soskin was hired by the National Park Service for a temporary role in which she helped to uncover untold stories of African Americans on the Home Front during WWII, according to the agency. She became a permanent employee in 2007 until her retirement at age 100 after years of leading public programs and sharing her personal story with visitors.

East Bay resident Betty Reid Soskin, 102, receives an honorary doctorate at Cal State East Bay on Saturday. Garvin Tso/Cal State East Bay

Before that, Soskin worked as a file clerk for the segregated union hall for Black shipyard workers, Boilermakers A-36, during World War II, according to the Park Service. Soskin and her husband, Mel Reid, opened one of the first Black-owned record shops in Berkeley in 1945. The shop closed in 2019.

Born in New Orleans, Soskin moved with her family in 1927 to Oakland, where she graduated from Castlemont High School. She also holds an honorary doctorate of arts and letters from Mills College in Oakland.
Sunday is likely to be the warmest day of the year so far, before thunderstorms and heavy rain put an end to a week of sunshine, the Met Office has said.

Whilst the hottest temperatures of the year so far were recorded on Saturday, Simon Partridge, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the records were not likely to last long as forecasters expect it to be even warmer on Sunday.

He added: The difference tomorrow is that it is not likely to be as warm for Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland.

The really warm air will probably be confined to southern and eastern parts of England, with temperatures expected to peak in central parts of the country at around 27C.

Parts of the UK will be warm and humid in the morning before thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected in the afternoon.

There are three yellow thunderstorm warnings in place on Sunday.

One covers most areas of the west of the UK, including the majority of Wales, where thunderstorms are expected between midday and 10pm.

The second is for the western half of Northern Ireland between 11am and 7pm.

The third is for western parts of Scotland between 2pm on Sunday to 4am on Monday. Mr Partridge said this warning is slightly different as more significant rainfall is expected.

People in areas with a yellow warning should expect some disruption, especially to travel.

Spray and sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and there is a slight chance of power cuts, the Met Office said.

On Saturday, temperatures peaked at 25.9C in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, and in northern Scotland a temperature of 25.7C was recorded in Cassley.

Gogerddan in Wales saw 25.1C, while temperatures in Northern Ireland peaked at 23.8C in Magilligan.

Temperatures climbed steadily over the week, with the previous record set on Thursday, with a peak of 24.6C in Londons St Jamess Park.

The Royal Life Saving Society UK has warned warmer weather is directly linked to an increase in fatal drowning incidents.

On Friday, 17-year-old Ronalds Abele died after getting into difficulty while swimming at the Embankment, in Wellingborough, and was pulled from the water by emergency services, Northamptonshire Police said.

He was pronounced dead in hospital.
The Irish Government is set to review payments made to migrants.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe indicated the review is set to take place within weeks.

He told RTE the Government wants to assess why people are coming to Ireland  in line with how other countries do it.

Obviously, the context of all of this is the number of people who are coming to Ireland has increased very considerably over the last number of months, he said.

This is happening to other countries as well. But this will be worked within weeks, and I know the Government will act quickly.

He was speaking as the latest encampment of tents being used by international protection applicants continued to grow over the weekend around Grand Canal in Dublin.

A nearby gathering of tents was removed last week from Mount Street.

In an article in the Sunday Independent, Taoiseach Simon Harris said Ireland needs to adopt a firmer system on migration.

He said his coalition Government is working together to pill levers in a number of Government departments to ensure Ireland adopts a firmer system and ensures we are not out of kilter with other EU countries.

He wrote: This will not be a long drawn-out process.

The Government will take decisions on this soon.

He said Ireland will maintain a migration system that is fair, firm and enforced, but we will not be found wanting on our international obligations.

The Taoiseach said the Government is working to bring in more facilities quickly on state land.

Speaking on RTEs The Week In Politics, Labour TD Ged Nash claimed tents appear to be Irelands Rwanda policy.

He added: He (the Taoiseach) shouldnt feign surprise and act like a commentator when the Government policy is that they provide tents to asylum seekers that dont have accommodation then act surprised when people decide that theyre going to decide to congregate together for their own safety.

It seems to be, to some degree, tents appears now to be Irelands Rwanda policy. Some people seem to be quite comfortable with the reputational damage that has been done to Ireland  the vision of tents in Dublin city centre beamed into homes across the country.

Im deeply uncomfortable with what is happening at the moment. We need a state-led solution and targets to that.

In the article, the Taoiseach went on to accuse Sinn Fein of playing politics with migration.

He wrote: Having once called for an expansion of our asylum system and an increase in the number of refugees we accept, they are now distributing leaflets to households calling for an end of open borders.

Theyre saying it in their videos recorded outside the Dail. With a straight face, Mary-Lou McDonald says she opposes open borders, conveniently missing the 500km between Lough Foyle and Carlingford that we have fought to keep open on this island.

The Irish people need to know Sinn Fein are speaking out of both sides of their mouths and shouldnt get away with it.

Also speaking on RTEs The Week In Politics, Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly said she believes the Taoiseach needs to reflect on how he is representing the Sinn Fein position.

She said: Nobody in the Dail, no political party, not mine nor any other, is suggesting that it is possible or indeed desirable to police a 500km long border with 250-plus crossings.

What people want, what my party wants, is a system that is fair, that is enforced and that is efficient.

The system that we have at the moment is not fair, it is not enforced and it is not efficient, and people can see all around them the abject failure of the Government to plan.
Dundalk Institute of Technology's BA (Hons) in Film & Television Production is the recipient of 2 new industry-supported awards for students on its programme. These new awards will be presented at the upcoming Film Showcase on Thursday May 16th in the IMC Dundalk.

The Samson Films Best Short Film Award will be presented to the best short film made on the year-long Film Project module in 3rd year while the Dearbhla Walsh Best Major Project Award will be presented to the best TV drama/documentary made on the year-long Major Project module in 4th year.

Samson Films is one of Ireland's leading independent film and television production companies. In addition to developing its own material, Samson Films also acts as a co-producer and executive producer on a wide range of Irish, European and International feature film projects. The company has been awarded slate funding by the Irish Film Board and by the EU Media Programme. See https://www.samsonfilms.com/ for more information.

On announcing the award, David Collins, Managing Director/Producer stated:

"Samson films is a proud supporter of DkIT. Through various collaborations with DkIT, Samson Films has seen an excellent standard from the students, who frequently demonstrate their passion and determination for the Irish film industry."

The Dearbhla Walsh award is from an award-winning Irish film and television director who has worked on drama series for several television channels worldwide. Dearbhlas key credits include The Tudors, Shameless, Penny Dreadful, Bad Sisters, Fargo, The Handmaid's Tale, amongst many more.

Dearbhla is a strong supporter of young filmmakers and on being associated with the award stated:

"Im honoured & proud to be associated with DkIT in viewing & awarding the DEARBHLA WALSH AWARD FOR BEST MAJOR PROJECT. The award is a culmination of 4 challenging years of study & experimenting in the craft of directing & presenting a final piece of work that reflects excellence & ambition in their chosen craft married with passion for their subject, theme & art. Lights  Camera - ACTION!"
Peggy Moore, former senior special adviser to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, was reportedly killed in a car crash. Courtesy of Peggy Moore Hope Wood, left, and Peggy Moore. Provided by family of Hope Wood

A longtime East Bay political leader who worked on campaigns for former President Barack Obama and built solid ties in Oakland City Hall died in a car crash in Southern California, according to friends.

Tributes to Peggy Moore, 60, rippled through social media after reports that she and her wife, Hope Wood, 48, had died Friday night in a head-on collision on Highway 76 in unincorporated San Diego County.

I loved Peggy so much, said Lateefah Simon, a BART board director and Democratic candidate in the race to succeed Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.

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She didnt need big titles, Simon said, remembering Moore as someone who energetically worked behind the scenes, serving as a ballast for mayors, members of Congress and presidential candidates. She served as a deputy field director for Obamas 2008 campaign and a senior adviser for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, and also helped organize an annual community march for the lesbian community in Oakland.

Campaign manager Peggy Moore speaks to Libby Shaaf supporters at the Oakland mayoral candidates headquarters in 2014. Tim Hussin/Special to the Chronicle 2014

Since 2020, Wood and Moore have run their own political consulting firm, Hope Action Change. The couple split their time between Oakland and the Orange County beach community Corona del Mar.

More Information Candlelight vigil A candlelight vigil to memorialize Peggy Moore and Hope Wood is planned for 6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 12, at Lake Merritt Amphitheater in Oakland. Participants are encouraged to bring flowers, candles, photos or other mementos. DJ and artist Page Hodel plans to create a heart sculpture in the couples honor. The amphitheater is between First Avenue and 12th Street in Oakland.

We met and fell in love while working on the Obama campaign in 2008, they wrote on the firms website. Family members and friends described the palpable warmth of their wedding ceremony, at the pavilion overlooking Oaklands Lake Merritt, on a sparkling July day.

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The were so loved, said Donna Riley, Woods younger sister.

Known for her ebullient smile and tailored suits, Moore had an easy manner with just about everyone  even her adversaries, Simon recalled. But she was particularly committed to supporting other women of color.

The way she moves is like an auntie, a mother and a spiritual guide, said Simon, who relied on Moores help and advice during several campaigns. The two women last spoke Wednesday over the phone.

In 2016, Moore made an unsuccessful bid for the Oakland City Council, running against her old friend and ally Rebecca Kaplan. In an interview during that race, Moore told the Chronicle that she and Kaplan remained friendly on the campaign trail. The two had worked side by side years earlier to defeat a state ballot proposition that invalidated same-sex marriages.

What a shocking loss, Kaplan wrote in a social media post on Saturday night. May their memories be a blessing.

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Peggy Moore was an at-large candidate for the Oakland City Council. Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle 2016

Expressing her sadness in a social media post, Lee described Moore as a friend, an activist, and one of the best organizers I knew.

Wood, who grew up in Moreno Valley (Riverside County), was a song leader on the pep squad at Valley View High School. She went on to dance professionally, as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers basketball teams, and for the Anaheim Angels in major league baseball.

The oldest of three siblings, she was the mediator  the one who took charge, Riley remembered.

After retiring from her dance career, Wood worked as a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, then took a leave of absence to join the Obama campaign, during which she met Moore.

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She was a one hundred percent fierce warrior for any cause she took on, Riley said. She was tenacious. She wouldnt take no for an answer.

Peggy Moore with Libby Schaaf, former Oakland mayor. Courtesy of Libby Schaaf

Schaaf led a wake for Moore and Wood on Saturday night, with friends gathering to process their grief.

It took you two hours to walk anywhere with Peggy  maybe more, because she knew everybody, Schaaf said, laughing and choking back tears over recollections of Moores wit, her unconventional organizing style, and her deep love of people. The former Oakland mayor credited Moore for gently bringing me into the role, as a confidant and key figure in the administration. Moore threw galas that celebrated the vibrancy of the city, with candelabras, shimmery lights and hip-hop stars from the 80s.

For Schaafs 50th birthday, Moore brought the elegance of a black tie affair into a graffiti-covered train depot that the city hoped to renovate. She tapped Doug E. Fresh to DJ.

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VOTERS heading to the polling stations on June 7 will see some new faces on the ballot papers, with several non-incumbents seeking to secure a seat in the Cobh municipal district.

While there is still time for new declarations, four first-time candidates and a previous county councillor have announced their intention to run for election.

Green Party member Cliona OHalloran is among the new candidates.

I want our council to provide more supports for the most vulnerable in our communities, she told The Echo.

Ms OHalloran said her priorities, if elected, are to ensure that families and local businesses are getting all the support they need to thrive.

My qualification in sustainability means that I can see the big picture and join the dots between the social, the environmental and our economy.

A simple example is my work to increase local bus services in Cobh. I have developed a public survey to gauge the needs of the public and using this data, I will be submitting a report to the National Transport Authority, she said.

Meanwhile, first-time Fine Gael candidate Keith Kelly said improved infrastructure and a ramped-up delivery of housing would be two key issues he would like to see improvement on.

Fine Gael candidate Keith Kelly is seeking to be elected in the Cobh MD.

We need better infrastructure and more houses built, he said. The Fota Road would certainly need to be upgraded. The other side of it leading into Cobh as well, Ballard Hill, has been left in a disgraceful state for the last number of years.

Also hoping to be elected for the first time is Fianna Fail candidate Dominic Finn.

The infrastructure has to be sorted out, he said, speaking about his key priorities.

Additional facilities for young people and further investment in the arts in Cobh is also something he would be vocal on.

Another thing is we need a bigger Garda presence in Cobh, he said.

An increased Garda presence in Cobh is also something Sinn Fein candidate Mehdi Ozcinar would like to see progress on.

Sinn Fein candidate Mehdi Ozcinar running for a seat in the Cobh MD.

Additional housing and improvements to local roads are two other key concerns for the Turkish native.

Mr Ozcinar said he believes he could bring a fresh perspective to Cork County Council.

Im bringing my own international experience and background to Ireland and trying to help from a different perspective, he said.

Meanwhile, Independent candidate Diarmaid O Cadhla, a previous county councillor, has also declared his intention to run for a seat in the ward this June.

Mr O Cadhla said he would work to try and secure significant extra funding across the district if elected, also citing housing as an something he would seek progress on.

Independent candidate Diarmaid O Cadhla running for a seat in the Cobh MD.

Further, he said he would demand formal recognition of the right of way on Deepwater Quay.

In a statement to The Echo, the Port of Cork Company said it understands the importance of maintaining access to the Deepwater Quay in Cobh, for all members of the community.

We want to assure members of the public that there is absolutely no intention to deprive the public of this cherished space, it said. However, at times, particularly when cruise ships are docking or departing and the safety risks cannot be adequately mitigated to protect the public, there may be occasions when access to the quay needs to be restricted for very short periods of time.
A GREEN Party candidate for the forthcoming local elections for Cork County Council has urged representatives standing in the elections to consider the material theyre using for election posters.

Candidates have started erecting their election posters across Cork this week.

Harriet Burgess, who is a first-time candidate running in the Macroom electoral area, is using fully recycled material in her posters for the campaign.

Ms Burgess said the recycled posters are slightly more expensive than new posters but that this was a small price to pay for reducing plastic.

I understand that posters to print new cost around 7-8 and mine cost 10 approximately, she said.

I looked into how to minimise waste and single-use plastic as much as possible, said the candidate.

It is puzzling to me that in 2024, in the middle of a climate and biodiversity crisis that this is not the status quo for all political parties.

Ms Burgess said that her party colleague, Green Party Senator and MEP candidate Pauline OReilly, had been pushing for a change to legislation on election materials.

Until then, all political parties need to think about how old materials could be recycled.

I would encourage all political parties to think about how to reduce waste on this campaign trail, and similarly, I would suggest to the electorate that if a local election candidate knocks on your door, that you ask them what they are doing to minimise pollution in this election.

The candidate who is a practising barrister said that her election material would be bilingual, in Irish and English, as her electoral area included the Gaeltacht community of Muscrai.

All candidates standing in Gaeltacht areas should in my view provide bilingual leaflets, she said.
A DISTRICT Court judge told a young man who sounded reluctant to continue under the direction of the probation service that in Cork saying I will, yeah, often meant the opposite.

Ange Munene, 21, of Castlepark, Ballincollig, County Cork, faced sentencing on Thursday for money-laundering.

His solicitor, Michael Quinlan, said it was a largely favourable probation report.

Judge Mary Dorgan suggested that the young man could benefit from further engagement with the probation service.

Will you do that? the judge asked the accused. He replied, I suppose so. The judge told him he would have to do better than that in terms of commitment. She asked him again if he would engage with probation and this time he replied, I will, yeah. Judge Dorgan said: You know in Cork that means no.

Mr Quinlan said the defendant would engage with probation and the young man himself said that he would do so.

Sentencing was adjourned until September 12 for that purpose.

The accused admitted being paid 100 for almost 10,000 to land in his account  a money-laundering offence whereby he allowed his account to have criminally acquired money transferred to him by a person unknown.

Sergeant Gearoid Davis said: In April, 2021, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau began investigating reports of smishing fraud offences reported by AIB.

Customers of AIB were being sent text messages with a website link in the text. The customer would click on the link and be brought to what appeared to be the AIB website and asked to sign in.

The AIB customer provided their online banking log-in information thus inadvertently giving over control of their accounts to unknown persons.

These unknown persons then made unauthorised transfers of money from the AIB customers accounts to other bank accounts.

These other accounts are known as money muling accounts. The fraudsters get young people to let them use their accounts for 50 of 100 payments. One such young person who allowed his account to be used in this way by fraudsters is Ange Munene.

On January 12, 2021 two separate lodgements of 50 were made to his account through an ATM on the Naas Road in Dublin.

The following day, three lodgements were made, for 4,100, 4,500 and 1,200, totalling 9,800. AIB was able to freeze his account so the money could not be moved or withdrawn from the account and conducted a reverse deposit which returned the full amount of 9,800 to the rightful owner.

The defendant was 19 at the time and wrongly saw it as easy money to get 50 or 100 for someone else to use the account for a short period.
It was heartbreak for Bambie Thug as Ireland failed to take home the Eurovision win.

With a total of 278 points, Ireland ranked in sixth place in the song contest in Malmo, Sweden.

The Macroom artist earned 142 points from the jury and 136 points from the popular vote.

Nemo of Switzerland, who performed the song The Code, celebrates. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Switzerlands Nemo was named the winner of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest with the song The Code and a combined score of 591 points.

The Swiss entrant scored a myriad of 'douze pointe' from the jury vote which stood at 365.

This was followed by a landslide of 226 points from the public vote, beating Croatia's Baby Lasagna to first place.

Switzerland won the very first Eurovision, held in 1956, and won again in 1988, with Celine Dion and the song Ne partez pas sans moi.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march during a protest against the participation of Israeli contestant Eden Golan ahead of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

The competition has been mired in controversy surrounding the participation of Israels Eden Golan, and a large group of demonstrators were outside Malmo Arena as the acts performed.

Several protesters have also been detained and taken away by police, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Bambie Thug has accused the Eurovision Song Contest organisers of not supporting them over a row with Israel.

The ouji pop star secured a sixth place finish in Irelands first grand final of the music event since 2018.

Ireland attracted the top 12 point allocation from the Australian jury vote, as well as a 10 from the UK audience as part of a total of 136 from the overall audience vote, but ultimately failed to catch eventual winner Switzerlands Nemo.

Children dancing to Bambi Thug at the Eurovision Watch Party that was held in the town square, Macroom, Co. Cork. - Picture: David Creedon

It comes after Bambie, who has been outspoken about their pro-Palestine views, accused the Israeli broadcaster, Kan, of a rule break and said they have been waiting to hear back from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about what action would be taken.

Bambie, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, told journalists in the press centre: So now that Im free. I can talk about everything right?

Yeah, so Kan the broadcaster incited violence against me twice, three times. We brought it up to the EBU. They said they follow up.

They waited to the last minute, we still havent gotten statement back to us, allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves.

Una Collins and Mary Kate Hallahan dancing to Bambi Thug at the Eurovision Watch Party that was held in the town square, Macroom, Co. Cork. - Picture: David Creedon

And yeah, the broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they wont be able to compete because of that.

And behind the scenes you dont know the amount of pressure and the amount of work that we have been doing to change things and Im so proud for Nemo for winning.

Im so proud that all of us are in the top 10 that have been fighting for this s*** behind the scenes. Because its been so hard and Im so proud of us.

I just want to say we are what Eurovision, the EBU is not what the Eurovision, the EBU is what makes this, f*** them, the EBU I dont even care anymore.

Children dancing to Bambi Thug in front of the big screen at the Eurovision Watch Party that was held in the town square, Macroom, Co. Cork. - Picture: David Creedon

They also called it stressful and said what the makes the competition is the the community behind it, the love and the power and the support of all of us is what is making change.

'Stunning performance'

Taoiseach Simon Harris congratulated Bambie for a stunning performance and tour de force at Eurovision 2024.

They performed with passion, stopped us in our tracks and did us proud. The eruption of applause in the stadium at the end of Irelands performance spoke for itself, he said in a statement.

Congratulations to Switzerland on the win and well done to Sweden for hosting another showstopper. Thank you to our closest musical ally in Europe  Australia  for our only douze points!

Tegan, Caoimhe, Patrick and Rian Murphy having a great view of the big screen at the Eurovision Watch Party that was held in the town square, Macroom, Co. Cork. - Picture: David Creedon

Its Bambie Thugs night as far as were concerned. Well done Bambie.

Macroom celebrations

The home town of Bambie Thug last night celebrated 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, and finished in sixth place.

Finley Long, Serena Foy Long and Joy Long at the Eurovision Watch Party that was held in the town square, Macroom, Co. Cork. - Picture: David Creedon

The centre of Macroom, Co Cork was 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.

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.

Aoife O'Connell makes the 'I Love You' in sign language to Bambi Thug at the Eurovision Watch Party that was held in the town square, Macroom, Co. Cork. - Picture: David Creedon

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.
Update: Met Eireann has this evening updated the status yellow rainfall warning issued for Cork, reducing the period the warning is in place for by two hours.

The weather warning, which comes into effect at 1am, will now remain until 1pm tomorrow. It was previously expected to last until 3pm tomorrow.

Earlier: Met Eireann has issued a status yellow rainfall warning for Cork, alerting the public to possible localised flooding and difficult travelling conditions.

The warning, also issued for counties Waterford and Kerry, is due to come into effect at 1am and remain until 3pm tomorrow.

The dry spell Cork has been enjoying is expected to come to an end later today, according to the latest forecast for Munster.

Status Yellow - Rain warning for Cork, Kerry & Waterford 



Heavy Rain 



Possible impacts



. Localised flooding 

. Difficult travelling conditions   

. Poor visibility 



Valid: 01:00 Monday 13/05/24 to 15:00 Monday 13/05/24https://t.co/FhFWKx6AbX pic.twitter.com/5SK4NL6Ayu  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) May 12, 2024

Met Eireann says it will be mainly cloudy this afternoon with showers, some of the which may be heavy and thundery, bringing a possibility of localised flooding.

Showers are then set to ease through the evening before a spell of persistent rain later develops in the southwest around midnight, extending across the province overnight.

It will be a wet start to tomorrow with outbreaks of heavy rain, however, clearer weather is expected to develop during the afternoon with a mix of sunshine and showers.
NEW images previously unseen by the public show what Corks proposed Luas-style system might look like and two points of the city it could traverse through.

One render shows the Light Rail Transit (LRT) tram system  set to connect Ballincollig in the west to Mahon Point in the east via the city centre  running along Skehard Rd, while the other shows it on MacCurtain St.

The images were sent from a Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) official to a staff member in the National Transport Authority (NTA) in an email on March 5.

While the images could give an indication of the route of the LRT system, the official emerging preferred route (EPR) has yet to be confirmed.

Speaking at Cork Chambers latest Business Breakfast event last month, the chief executive officer of the NTA, Anne Graham, said that TII  funded by and in collaboration with the NTA  is currently undertaking the detailed alignment study to determine the optimum layout for the Cork Luas.

That work is nearing completion, and it is expected that an emerging preferred option for Luas Cork will be published for public consultation this year, she said.

Speaking to The Echo, Labour Party local election candidate for the citys South East ward, Peter Horgan, who obtained the new images following a freedom of information request, said there should be no further delay in announcing the EPR.

This is the first semi-confirmation that we have that the route of the Luas will go down Skehard Rd, which is a welcome thing to have, but we shouldnt have to wait for freedom of information requests to get this information, he said.

New images previously unseen by the public show what Corks proposed Luas-style system might look like and two points of the city it could traverse through. Pictured is MacCurtain St.

We should see the emerging preferred route in full, even if there are certain elements of the city centre that are still being worked out. This project cant be allowed to delay and dawdle any longer.

Late last year, the NTA had said that work on identifying a precise route for the proposed LRT system was progressing well.

The authority had said that, in discussions with Cork City Council over the summer, it was agreed that some additional work should be undertaken in relation to the city-centre section prior to commencing the public consultation stage.

The emerging preferred route had been expected to be revealed before the end of 2022.

However, this was delayed. It was then expected to be published in July last year, but was further stalled to facilitate the additional work on the city centre section.

Mr Horgan said he was also bitterly disappointed that some 305 pages of documents were refused under his FOI request.

The decision maker in the request stated that many of the records relate to proposals for the upcoming Cork light rail project public consultation, which are currently under consideration by TII, the National Transport Authority, and Cork City Council and that as the details of these proposals have yet to be finalised and presented for public consultation, they could not be issued.
PEOPLE providing care for family members often are so busy with their responsibilities that they dont always have time to look at what supports are available to them.

Some people dont even think of themselves as carers as they consider their work as part of an unspoken promise to be there for loved ones when they need them.

It is important they know that carers may be entitled to a number of supports from the Department of Social Protection.

The two main social welfare payments for those providing full-time care are Carers Allowance and Carers Benefit. You may also qualify for an annual Carers Support Grant.

Another consideration would be taking Carers Leave from work to care for a loved one. Secondary benefits may also be available.

Carers Benefit is a short-term payment paid for up to two years to people who give up employment to care on a full-time basis for someone who requires full-time care and attention. It is PRS- based and you have to have a certain number of PRSI contributions paid. People who are self-employed and paying a Class S PRSI contribution will not qualify.

Carers Allowance is for people caring on a full-time basis for someone who requires full-time care and attention and will require it for at least 12 months. You must satisfy a means test and the habitual residency condition to qualify for Carers Allowance.

To claim either, you must complete an application form and submit it to the DSP.

A person is seen as needing full-time care when they need continual supervision to avoid danger to themselves, or they need continual supervision and frequent assistance with normal bodily functions. For example, help to walk and get about, eat or drink, get washed or dressed.

The Department of Social Protection will decide if the person needs full-time care. This decision will be based on the information that the Carer provides on the application form.

The person being cared for must have their doctor complete, sign and stamp the Medical Report which is part of the Carers Benefit and Carers Allowance application form. This Medical Report is not needed if the person being cared for is a child getting Domiciliary Care Allowance. You or the person needing care must not be living in a hospital or institution. However, you can continue to be seen as providing full-time care if you or the person being cared for is having medical or other treatment in a hospital or institution for not longer than 13 weeks.

The time spent providing care must not be less than 35 hours per week, over 5-7 days. If you are away, you must be able to arrange full-time care for the person you care for.

The person does not have to give up their job if they are applying for Carers Benefit. They can apply for Carers Leave, which allows employees to leave work temporarily to provide full-time care and attention for someone. You can take carers leave for a minimum of 13 weeks and up to a maximum of 104 weeks.

Carers leave from employment is unpaid but your job will be kept open for when you return. However, to get carers leave, you must have worked for your employer for 12 months without a break in employment. Employers are entitled to at least six weeks written notice of your intention to take carers leave. The person you will be caring for must need full-time care and attention.

While on Carers Benefit or Carers Allowance, you can be employed, self-employed, in training or in education outside the home for up to a maximum of 18.5 hours per week. If on Carers Benefit, the maximum amount you can earn is 350 per week after tax, PRSI & Union dues are deducted.

Currently, if you are single, 350 of your total weekly income is not taken into account in the means test for Carers Allowance. If you are married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting the first 750 of your combined total weekly income is not taken into account. This will change from June, 2024, when the income disregard for Carers Allowance will increase to 450 for a single person and 900 for a couple.

The means test for Carers Allowance

You must be providing full-time care and attention to a person who requires that level of care. In addition, you must be habitually resident in the State and pass a means test. In certain circumstances you may be eligible for Half Rate Carers Allowance.

The main sources of income included in the means test for Carers Allowance are any cash income and capital income - including savings, investments, shares or any property you have (but not your own home). The first 50,000 of capital is not taken into account. Any payment from the DSP is not included in the means test. You can get up to 14,000 per year for renting out a room in your own home without it affecting your payment.

Your payment is made up of a personal rate for yourself and extra amounts for any child dependants. Carers Allowance has no qualified adult payment.

Carers Benefit: 249 per week if caring for one person and 373.50 if caring for two.

Carers Allowance: 248 per week if caring for one person and 372, if caring for two people and you are under 66. If you are aged 66+, you will receive up to 286 for one person and 429, if you are caring for two people.

You can also get a child increase if you have a qualified child, and if you are on Carers Allowance, you will get a higher rate when you are aged over 66

If you are in one of these situations you may qualify for half-rate Carers Allowance:

Already getting Carers Allowance but also meet the qualifying criteria for another social welfare payment

Changed from another social welfare payment to get Carers Allowance

Caring for someone and being claimed for by a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant

Getting a social welfare payment other than Carers Allowance and caring for someone

You cannot get half-rate carers allowance if you are in receipt of a jobseekers payment.

The Carers Support Grant is 1,850 paid once a year by the Department of Social Protection (DSP), usually on the first Thursday in June, for each person you are caring for. It is not taxable. You cannot be working outside the home for more than 18.5 hours or signing for Jobseekers Credits. You can apply for this even if you are not receiving Carers Allowance or Carers Benefit.

You do not have to live with the person you are caring for, but non-resident care situations may require investigation by a Social Welfare Inspector before consideration by the Deciding Officer. A direct system of communication must exist between the carers residence and that of the care recipient. This may be a telephone or alarm-type system.

The care recipient must not already be receiving full-time care and attention within his or her own residence from another person.

This year, a Long-Term Carers Contribution scheme will be introduced whereby, if you have been a full-time carer for at least 20 years, you can get Long-Term Carers Contributions to help you qualify for the State Pension (Contributory). A Long-Term Carers Contribution is the same as a paid contribution on your PRSI record for each week you provide full-time care.

If you have been providing full-time care for less than 20 years, you may be able to avail of the Homemakers Scheme or the Home Caring Periods Scheme. Under these, a certain period of time out of the workforce caring would not affect any entitlement to the State Pension (Contributory).

If you get Carers Allowance you may also get the Free Household Benefits Package (if you are living with the person you are caring for) and Free Travel. If you get Carers Benefit or Carers Allowance, at full or half-rate, you are eligible for a GP visit card. There are also some tax credits the family can avail of.
Panorama Park with Signal Park and the Bay Bridge. Courtesy of Brian Kitts San Francisco Mayor London Breed greets visitors during the grand opening of Panorama Park on Yerba Buena Island on Saturday. Treasure Island Community Development Panorama Park at sunset. Courtesy of Kaare Iverson Panorama Park with Treasure Island in the background. Courtesy of Brian Kitts San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu speaks at the grand opening of Panorama Park on Yerba Buena Island on Saturday. Treasure Island Community Development

San Franciscos newest park opened Saturday on Yerba Buena Island, part of the citys plans to develop the Yerba Buena and Treasure Island into desirable neighborhoods.

Nestled in the middle of the bay, Panorama Park has sweeping views of bridge towers, rocky coasts and the city skyline and features the 69-foot-high Point of Infinity sculpture by artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. Its part of a planned development of the islands that would ultimately include 8,000 new homes, a school, a library and 300 acres of parks and trails, according to Mayor London Breeds office.

Panorama Park, with its spectacular views and world-class art installation, is a clear indication that the transformation of Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island is well underway, Breed said in a written statement announcing the parks opening.

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Bay Area architect Walter Hoods Hood Design Studio designed the park, including an elevated walkway that winds through grassy areas that on opening day bloomed with wildflowers. Panorama is one of several recently completed parks on Yerba Buena Island, including a dog park. Two new parks are also under construction on Treasure Islands western shore.

Mayor London Breed speaks during the grand opening of Panorama Park on Yerba Buena Island on Saturday. Treasure Island Community Development

The pandemic slowed progress on these developments, and as of March fewer than 100 people had moved into the newly built condos on Yerba Buena Island. But more homes are under construction, and those who have moved there say theyre creating a vibrant, tight-knit community.

The plans to further develop the islands come as San Francisco faces a massive affordable housing shortage and sluggish home production. Last year the city saw the smallest number of new housing units completed in a decade. The lackluster numbers come as San Francisco faces intense scrutiny from state regulators who last year faulted the city for having the states slowest home approval process and directed local officials to speed it up.

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James Cox

President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to former Fine Gael MEP Mary Banotti, who has died at the age of 84.

Ms Banotti was the grandniece of Michael Collins, was the co-founder of Women's Aid and served as chairperson of the Rutland Centre for Drug Abuse.

She was elected to the European Parliament in 1984 and retained her seat until her retirement in 2004.

Ms Banotti was Fine Gael's candidate in the 1997 presidential election, where she finished second to Fianna Fail's Mary McAleese.

She began her political career after working as a nurse in London, the US, Canada and Kenya.

In a statement, President Michael D. Higgins said she "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".

Earlier, Taoiseach Simon Harris described her as "a talented politician, a trailblazer and a joy to be around".
Sean McCarthaigh

New EU figures raise fresh questions about the Governments enforcement of immigration legislation as they reveal Ireland had proportionately the highest number of non-EU citizens found to be illegally present in an EU country last year.

Figures published by the European Commission show the rate of illegal immigrants recorded in the Republic in 2023 in relation to population was over 10 times the EU average.

A total of 1,485 non-EU nationals were found to be illegally present in Ireland last year  an annual increase of 20 per cent.

They represent 28.9 illegal third country nationals per 1,000 Irish inhabitants  the highest per capita rate among the 27 EU member states where the average was 2.8 per 1,000 citizens.

Official EU data on enforcement of immigration legislation in 2023 also shows that Ireland had the second-lowest number of non-EU nationals deported after being issued with an order to leave.

At the same time, it also reveals that Ireland had the 4th highest number of non-EU nationals being refused entry within the EU with 7,405 individuals turned back at entry points to the Republic.

Although the number of migrants found to be illegally in the Republic last year represents just 0.1 per cent of over 1.26 million individuals found to be illegally present across the EU, the high proportion relative to population means immigration is likely to remain one of the key issues in next months local and European elections in Ireland.

Last month, the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee admitted that the level of deportations of people who had been denied permission to remain in Ireland was not where we want to be in terms of physically removing people.

The ministers comments were made against a background where fewer than 100 people out of almost 7,300 who were refused asylum since the start of 2023 were returned to another country.

The latest EU figures show that 17,510 non-EU nationals have been detected as being illegally present in Ireland over the past decade with 10,875 ordered to leave. However, only 2,795 were deported over the same period after being issued with an order to leave.

Across the EU, citizens from Syria accounted for one in five of all people found to be illegally present in the EU in 2023.

Other countries which were the main source of non-EU nationals illegally within the EU last year were Afghanistan, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria and Ukraine.

In contrast, the largest number of immigrants found to be illegally in Ireland last year came from Georgia (270), Brazil (240), Pakistan (190) and Albania (185).

The latest figures show that immigration officials ordered 1,065 people to leave Ireland in 2023  up 69 per cent on the previous year and the highest annual total since 2019.

However, they also reveal that just 290 non-EU nationals were deported from Ireland last year  the second-lowest total among the 27 EU member states after Luxembourg with 265.

Citizens from Brazil, Georgia and South Africa accounted for approximately half of all individuals deported from the Republic in 2023.

Almost 484,000 non-EU citizens were ordered to leave the EU last year  up four per cent approximately on 2022 figures with nationals from Morocco, Algeria and Afghanistan accounting for the highest numbers.

The latest figures also show 7,405 non-EU citizens were prevented from entering the Republic last year.

It was the 4th highest number among EU member states with only Poland, Hungary and Croatia refusing a higher number of non-EU nationals.

Official figures show that just 3.3 per cent of those refused entry by Irish immigration officials were stopped at border crossings from Northern Ireland.

Georgia (610), South Africa (605) and Somalia (580) were the main countries of origin for non-EU nationals prevented from entering Ireland in 2023.

Immigration data shows 58% were refused entry for having no valid travel documents, while 33 per cent were found to have either a false visa or residence permit.

A total of 65 individuals were refused entry to Ireland on the basis they were classified as a public threat, while an alert had been issued in relation to another 10 cases.

Overall, the number of third country nationals refused entry across the EU last year was down 16.5 per cent on 2022 figures to just under 119,000 with citizens from Ukraine, Albania, Moldova, Russia and Turkey accounting for almost half of the total.

The European Commission said almost 50% of refusal of entry in EU countries resulted from the absence of a valid visa or residence permit or for no justified purpose or conditions of stay.
The northern lights illuminate the night sky over a campers tent north of San Francisco in Middletown (Lake County) early Saturday. The aurora may be visible Sunday night after Fridays spectacular light show and Saturdays brief display. Josh Edelson/Getty Images

The strongest solar storm to hit Earth in more than two decades is expected to continue Sunday into early Monday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which forecasts space weather events.

A secondary peak in the solar storm is likely early Sunday into Sunday night, NOAA said, which will probably result in another period of enhanced aurora borealis activity, also known as the northern lights.

Aurora outlooks differ for Sunday night. NOAA forecasts the northern lights to extend as far south as Washington state, while the University of Alaska Fairbanks says the activity may appear low on the horizon as far south as Carson City, Nev., and into northeastern California. Forecasts are not as aggressive as Friday nights, however, when the northern lights were visible in the Bay Area.

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The ongoing solar storm is caused by coronal mass ejections, pulses of the suns magnetic field lurching toward Earth.

Into Sunday night, the next major Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)  moving at speeds up to 1,800 kilometers per second (4 million miles per hour)  will begin to slam into the Earths magnetic field and reach the outer atmosphere, NOAA said.

Geomagnetic storm forecast for Sunday, May 12, 2024. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

According to NOAA, as CMEs leave the sun, it is possible to predict predict their path to determine if they will impact Earth. This technique is more challenging and the accuracy of these medium-range forecasts is not as good. However, the aurora can be predicted quite accurately 15 to 45 minutes in advance by measuring other astronomical conditions, such as the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field upstream of Earth, NOAA says.

NOAA measures geomagnetic activity on a scale of 1 to 5, and the latest event has frequently ranged from a 4 (severe) to 5 (extreme) in the past 48 hours. Sunday nights geomagnetic activity is expected to be a level 3 (strong).

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Auroral, or northern lights, activity is also placed on a numeric scale, from 1 to 9, known as the planetary index. The planetary index Friday night consistently ranged from 8 to 9, allowing the northern lights to make an appearance in California. Sunday nights planetary k index is predicted to reach a level 7.

On Saturday night, the planetary k index dropped below 4, unfavorable for aurora across the U.S. The aurora was briefly visible on the horizon in Northern California in the two hours after sunset, but the geomagnetic activity quickly faded thereafter.

During periods of stronger geomagnetic storm conditions, the aurora will be more widespread and seen at lower latitudes, NOAA said.

Friday night, green and purple hues from the aurora were visible in Northern California as early as 10 p.m. around Mount Shasta. By 11 p.m. these colors were visible to the naked eye even farther south, in the San Joaquin County Community of Farmington, 20 miles east of Stockton.

At certain points of intense auroral activity, pillars of dancing purple and green lights reached well above the horizon. These intense 10- to 15-minute periods were interspersed with relative lulls.

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The northern lights color Friday nights sky over the Central California community of Farmington (San Joaquin County). Anthony Edwards/The Chronicle

Michael Steinberg, a junior undergraduate at Chico State, drove two hours north to Weed (Siskiyou County) near Mount Shasta, where he positioned to watch the northern lights.

Right around 10 p.m. was when things started going crazy, Steinberg said. Purple was the dominant color in the sky, but Steinberg said green hues low on the horizon were faint but still very noticeable. Steinberg said the aurora was still noticeable as he arrived back on the outskirts of Chico at 2 a.m. Saturday.

The solar cycle, an approximately 11-year period of the suns energy, is peaking. The solar maximum often correlates with enhanced aurora activity across unusually low latitudes such as the northern U.S., but this weekends activity has been exceptional.

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Space weather has been known to cause disruptions to GPS and communications systems, and perhaps no one is feeling those headaches more than farmers this weekend. 404 Media reports that the heightened solar activity over the last few days has led to outages in the GPS navigation systems that guide some modern tractors from John Deere and other brands. The technology has allowed farmers to plant more efficiently in ultra-tight, straight lines, but theyve been advised to temporarily stop using it due to the potential for inaccuracies that could cause havoc down the line come harvesting time.

John Deeres tractors connect to what are known as Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) systems, 404 reports, which allow for precision planting down to the centimeter level. If farmers were to go ahead and plant without their usual accuracy, we expect that the rows won't be where the AutoPath lines think they are when its time to tend and harvest the crops, Landmark Implement, owner of some John Deere dealerships, told 404 Media.

The timing is terrible  its peak planting season for corn, and one Nebraska farmer, Kevin Kenney, told 404, All the tractors are sitting at the ends of the field right now shut down because of the solar storm. Many farms have had to pause planting, while others are carrying on and just hoping for the best.
Chris Hemsworth is infuriated by reports he has Alzheimers and was thinking of retiring from acting.

Chris Hemsworth is infuriated by reports he has Alzheimers and was thinking of retiring from acting

The Thor actor, 40, made headlines worldwide in 2022 when his National Geographic series Limitless featured a segment where he went for genetic testing that revealed he has two copies of the APOE4 gene.

Its been flagged as a marker of risk for developing Alzheimers disease  and even though carrying the gene is far from a diagnosis of the condition, the web was soon flooded with theories the reason Chris had moved to Byron Bay in his native Australia with his family was to retire from Hollywood.

Ahead of being seen on the big screen in George Millers Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga  the much-anticipated prequel to 2015s Oscar-winning Fury Road  Chris told Vanity Fair about hating the gossip: It really kind of (annoyed) me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this.

No matter how much I said, This is not a death sentence, the story became that I have dementia and Im reconsidering life and retiring and so on.

I did read a really funny comment at the bottom of one article: I hope Chris forgets hes retiring and comes back.

Chris, who has three children with his wife of 14 years, the Spanish actor Elsa Pataky, 47, plays biker gang leader Dementus in the Fury Road follow up alongside Anya Taylor-Joy.

Despite declaring he is very much back in Hollywood, Chris did open up about his run of doing 27 films  eight of them Marvel blockbusters  in just over 12 years left his mind and body such a wreck he would zone out at family meetings and spend his time complaining.

He added: Id been trying to muscle and beat things into existence for so long, out of obsession and desperation to build this career, and I was just exhausted. I was worried about everything. Nothing was as enjoyable as it once was, or I had imagined it was.

I was making back-to-back movies and doing the press tours, and I was married and had three young kids, and it was all happening at the same time in a very short window.

Youre sort of just running on fumes, and then youre showing up to something with little in the tank and you start to pick things apart: Why am I doing this film? Why isnt this script better? Why didnt that director call me for that, or, Why didnt I get considered for this role? Why dont I get the call-up from Scorsese or Tarantino?

I had begun to take it all too serious and too personal.
A man smokes fentanyl in San Franciscos Tenderloin neighborhood in 2020. Honduras extradited a man to the U.S. nearly three years after officials allege he fled to Honduras after he admitted trafficking large quantities of drugs into San Francisco. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2020

Honduras has extradited a man to the United States nearly three years after officials allege he fled to the Central American country to avoid punishment when he admitted to trafficking large quantities of drugs into San Francisco.

Let this case be instructive to people considering whether to distribute drugs in the Tenderloin District, U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey wrote in a statement. The reach of the government is long and we are determined to assign the resources necessary to eradicate drug dealing from our neighborhoods.

Victor Viera-Chirinos is suspected of collecting rent from street-level dealers and keeping them supplied with drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He pled guilty in January 2021 to possessing and conspiring to distribute large amounts of the drugs.

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He was scheduled to be sentenced in June 2021, but he fled to Honduras the week before, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. At the time, federal prosecutors were asking for a 63-month sentence based on the egregiousness of the conduct, while his defense attorneys argued for 24 months in prison.

Viera-Chirinos, 42, extradited Wednesday, is the fourth man sent to the United States from Honduras in connection with drug trafficking charges this year. His younger brother, Jorge Viera-Chirinos, 34, was extradited from Honduras in February along with two other people. The younger Viera-Chirinos and another extradited defendant had previously been arrested in the Bay Area but fled the country before their trials while out on bond.

An 18-month Chronicle investigation published last year found that while most Hondurans reaching the cities in the Bay Area or elsewhere in the U.S. find legal work, hundreds of San Franciscos low-level dealers are migrants from the countrys Siria Valley, from which they fled violence and extreme poverty.

Extraditions are rare in Bay Area drug cases, and the four this year represent a stepped-up effort by local and federal law enforcement to combat the drug addiction epidemic in San Francisco, which saw a record number of overdose deaths last year.
Corey Feldman says River Phoenix helped him become a man by teaching him to go vegetarian.

Corey Feldman says River Phoenix helped him become a man by teaching him to go vegetarian

The 52-year-old actor starred alongside the late star  killed by a drug overdose aged 23 in 1993  in the 1986 film Stand By Me and said it was while on set River and his family taught him about giving up meat, which he considers one of his biggest coming-of-age moments.

Corey told the Gold Derby site: Having the influence of River and his family helped (me become a vegetarian.)

Going and being on my own, away from my grandparents, away from my parents, I was able to instill those idealisms and put them in play.

I choose to become a vegetarian and thats my first adult decision.

That was a coming of age for me. That moment in time was very powerful for all of us.

River grew up with his siblings  including Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, 49  along with members of the Children of God cult and they made cash by fruit picking and doing odd jobs.

He told Vegetarian Times in 1998 about ditching meat aged seven: On the boat we saw men fishing. It was our first time seeing that.

And it was the first time that I really saw that meat wasnt just a hamburger or hot dog or some disguised food on your plate, that it was an animal, it was flesh.

It seemed very barbaric and kind of cruel, and me and my brother and sister were all crying and were traumatised. The reality just hit us so hard.

Our parents were very sensitive to our feelings. I mean, they were obviously immune to it themselves  meat eating is so much a part of society as a whole and how people eat-but they were very interested in our sensitivity to it, so they were open to us becoming vegetarian.

River added about then going vegan: It was hard to give up dairy for a while for a lot of people in my family.

My mom and dad were so used to eating cheese, and it was so convenient. But I said, Hey, if were doing this thing, lets go all the way with it.

The other kids were into it, so my parents said, 'OK, lets do it. And we did.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex dubbed Nigeria "my country" during a panel discussion in the country on Saturday (11.05.24).

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Nigeria

The former actress - who previously discovered she was 43% Nigerian after undertaking a genealogy test - is currently visiting the African nation with her husband Prince Harry and she felt "flattered and honoured" by the reception she's received on the trip so far.

Speaking on a panel discussion in front of 50 of the country's leading women, People magazine reports she said: "I am just flattered and honoured and inspired. It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more color, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion!.

"I am very overwhelmed. So I want to start by saying thank you very much for just how gracious you've all been in welcoming my husband and I to this country... My country."

Meghan told how it was "exciting" for her and her mother Doria Ragland to learn about their Nigerian heritage.

Asked how she felt about her ancestry, the 42-year-old duchess - who has Prince Archie, five, and two-year-old Princess Lilibet with husband Prince Harry - said the first thing she did when she found out was "call my mom, because I wanted to know if she had any awareness of it."

She added: "Being African-American, part of it is really not knowing so much about your lineage or background, where you come from specifically.

"And it was exciting for both of us to discover more and understand what that really means.

Never in a million years would I have understood it as much as I do now," Meghan said. "It's been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know this is just the beginning of that discovery.

Meghan stressed the importance of representation and being a role model to young women.

She said: "Representation matters tremendously. You need to see it to believe it. That starts when you're very young...I often find that whatever travels I've done, regardless if it's Nigeria or another country around the world, oftentimes when women reach the peak of success, they leave.

But you need to come back home. You need to at least be a familiar face for the next generation to say, oh, she looks like me. And I can be that....You still always want to come back home because that's how you're going to help shift any sort of generational pattern that might be stifling, especially for young girls who need to see someone who looks like them in that same position...

"I hope that I could do justice to the role model that I think so many young women deserve to have. Obviously, in the face of all of you here, I know that they see that. But being able to be a small part of that means a lot.
Apparel exports from Cambodia surged by 20.80 per cent to $2,596.514 million in the first four months of 2024, accounting for 32.42 per cent of the country's total foreign income, which amounted to $8,005.936 million for the period, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE) under the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The trade figures for April 2024 indicate that textile exports have continued to gain momentum.

During the period under review, Cambodia's exports of apparel and clothing accessories (knitted) (Chapter 61) amounted to $1,626.432 million, representing an increase of 16.6 per cent compared to $1,394.829 million in the corresponding period of 2023. Similarly, exports of apparel and clothing accessories (not knitted) (Chapter 62) rose by 28.5 per cent to $970.082 million, up from $754.727 million in January-April 2023.

Cambodia's apparel exports grew by 20.80 per cent in the first 4 months of 2024, representing 32.42 per cent of its foreign income. This increase reflects a continued momentum in the textile sector, with exports of knitted and non-knitted clothing accessories also seeing significant rises. Cambodia's robust export performance indicates a resilient sector.

In April 2024, Cambodia's apparel exports increased by 10.35 per cent to $546.191 million, compared to $494.924 million in the same month of 2023. The shipment of apparel and clothing accessories (knitted) increased by 6.6 per cent to $370.491 million, up from $347.692 million during the corresponding month of the previous year. Meanwhile, exports of apparel and clothing accessories (not knitted) improved by 19.3 per cent to $175.700 million in April 2024.

In terms of imports, the value of Cambodia's knitted or crocheted fabric (Chapter 60) imports from January to April 2024 was $889.091 million, marking a rise of 7.8 per cent compared to $825.029 million in the same period of 2023. Imports of man-made fibre (Chapter 55) gained 18.5 per cent to $436.518 million, compared to $368.305 million in the corresponding period of the previous year. Meanwhile, cotton and cotton yarn (Chapter 52) imports increased by 33.1 per cent, reaching $233.182 million during the period under review, up from $175.231 million in the same period of 2023.

Global garment and apparel demand had been slowing down since the third quarter of 2022. The impressive growth in the foreign trade of textiles and garments from Cambodia was attributed to higher global demand and a limited base. The continued high shipment from the nation is a significant development amid global economic challenges due to geopolitical tension.

In 2023, the country's apparel exports declined by 12.91 per cent to $7,868.779 million. In contrast, the country's apparel exports had increased by 12.69 per cent, reaching $9.035 billion in 2022.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
Singapore, Singapore--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2024) - Sotavento Medios, a renowned Singapore-based digital marketing agency and software consultant, has launched a game-changer for medical practitioners: the clinic & hospital management software that is both cheap and easy to use but has all the important features.

Clinic Saurus: Accelerated Processes and Growing Efficiency





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Clinic Saurus, Sotavento Medios's exclusive software solution, is a cloud-based clinic management system that automates the day-to-day operations of clinics and facilitates the work of healthcare entities of all sizes. This user-friendly software provides a powerful set of functions, including:

Patient Management: Easily control the patient demographics, appointments, medical history and billing information by a click of a button.

Doctor Management: Unify doctor's scheduling, qualifications, and billing process.

Billing and Insurance: Improve the complexity of medical billing and insurance processing, therefore, make claims be paid on time.

Lab Integration: Streamline lab results and improve patient care coordination by providing better referrals.

Secure Cloud-Based System: Achieve the benefits of a platform that can be reached from any device and is secure and easy to use.

Sotavento Medios: Unmatched SEO and Customer Service

Sotavento Medios is not just a software provider, but a real partner with a deep understanding of customer needs. They work to ensure triumph and success. They have SEO Specialists set in place to guarantee that clinics gets a web presence, resulting in attracting new patients and growth for business. Sotavento Medios strives at customer satisfaction above other things, by guaranteeing short response times and showing a genuine care about understanding individual situations.

Focus on Patient Care, Not Software Hassles

Clinic Saurus, developed by Sotavento Medios, aims to relieve medical practitioners of administrative duties. Its clear interface and inexpensive price allow doctors and nurses to focus on what is most important: providing great patient care.

Sotavento invites users to experience Clinic Saurus. Register for a free trial now and see in what ways this comprehensive software solution can elevate office efficiency and patient care.

About Sotavento Medios

Sotavento Medios is a Singapore-based digital marketing and software consultancy firm. They provide a wide range of SEO service, including SEO, social media marketing, content creation, website development, and, recently, clinic administration software. Sotavento Medios is dedicated to providing their clients with the resources and assistance they require to achieve online success and optimise their operations.

For more information, please visit https://www.sotaventomedios.com/

Media Contact:

Name: Jeremy Lee

Email: info@sotaventomedios.com

Address: 28 Senang Crescent, Bizhub28, # 05-04, Singapore, Singapore





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SOURCE: 500Newswire, LLC
The book, Kareena Kapoor Khans Pregnancy Bible: The Ultimate Manual for Moms-To-Be, was released in August 2021 read more

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a notice to Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor on a petition seeking the removal of the word Bible from the title of her book, Kareena Kapoor Khans Pregnancy Bible: The Ultimate Manual for Moms-To-Be, as it hurt sentiments of the Christian community.

The single bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia on Thursday issued the notice on a petition filed by advocate Christopher Anthony.

The court also issued notices to co-author Aditi Shah Bhimjyani, Amazon Online Shopping, publisher Juggernaut Books, the state government, the superintendent of police Jabalpur and the in-charge of Omit police station.

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The book, Kareena Kapoor Khans Pregnancy Bible: The Ultimate Manual for Moms-To-Be , was released in August 2021.

Talking to PTI on Saturday, Anthony said he filed the petition in the high court against a lower court order of February 26, 2022, that dismissed his plea seeking a ban on the book and removal of the word Bible from its title.

The lower court dismissed the petition after the police did not file an inquiry report relating to the complaint lodged at Omti police station to register a criminal case against the actor and others for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Christian community, he said.
Ancient accounts unveil early encounters with cancer, dating far back to the fourth Century BC. It was then that doctors were using the word karkinos  the ancient Greek word for crab  to describe malignant tumours read more

One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth Century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, developed a cancer between his groin and scrotum. As the cancer spread, Satyrus had ever greater pains. He was unable to sleep and had convulsions.

Advanced cancers in that part of the body were regarded as inoperable, and there were no drugs strong enough to alleviate the agony. So doctors could do nothing. Eventually, the cancer took Satyrus life at the age of 65.

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Cancer was already well-known in this period. A text written in the late fifth or early fourth century BC, called Diseases of Women , described how breast cancer develops:

hard growths form [] out of them hidden cancers develop [] pains shoot up from the patients breasts to their throats, and around their shoulder blades [] such patients become thin through their whole body [] breathing decreases, the sense of smell is lost []

Other medical works of this period describe different sorts of cancers. A woman from the Greek city of Abdera died from a cancer of the chest; a man with throat cancer survived after his doctor burned away the tumour.

From where did cancer get its name?

The word cancer comes from the same era. In the late fifth and early fourth Century BC, doctors were using the word karkinos  the ancient Greek word for crab  to describe malignant tumours. Later, when Latin-speaking doctors described the same disease, they used the Latin word for crab: cancer . So, the name stuck.

Cancer was named after the Greek word for crab for the way the animal can grip one part of a persons body with its claws. Representational image. Reuters

Even in ancient times, people wondered why doctors named the disease after an animal. One explanation was the crab is an aggressive animal, just as cancer can be an aggressive disease ; another explanation was the crab can grip one part of a persons body with its claws and be difficult to remove, just as cancer can be difficult to remove once it has developed . Others thought it was because of the appearance of the tumour.

The physician Galen (129-216 AD) described breast cancer in his work A Method of Medicine to Glaucon , and compared the form of the tumour to the form of a crab:

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We have often seen in the breasts a tumour exactly like a crab. Just as that animal has feet on either side of its body, so too in this disease the veins of the unnatural swelling are stretched out on either side, creating a form similar to a crab.

A balance of humours, keeps cancer away?

In the Greco-Roman period, there were different opinions about the cause of cancer.

According to a widespread ancient medical theory, the body has four humours: blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile. These four humours need to be kept in a state of balance, otherwise a person becomes sick . If a person suffered from an excess of black bile, it was thought this would eventually lead to cancer.

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The physician Erasistratus, who lived from around 315 to 240 BC, disagreed. However, so far as we know, he did not offer an alternative explanation.

What were some ancient cancer treatments?

Cancer was treated in a range of different ways . It was thought that cancers in their early stages could be cured using medications.

These included drugs derived from plants (such as cucumber, narcissus bulb, castor bean, bitter vetch, cabbage); animals (such as the ash of a crab); and metals (such as arsenic).

Galen claimed that by using this sort of medication, and repeatedly purging his patients with emetics or enemas, he was sometimes successful at making emerging cancers disappear. He said the same treatment sometimes prevented more advanced cancers from continuing to grow. However, he also said surgery is necessary if these medications do not work.

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Surgery was usually avoided as patients tended to die from blood loss. The most successful operations were on cancers of the tip of the breast. Leonidas, a physician who lived in the second and third century AD, described his method, which involved cauterising (burning):

I usually operate in cases where the tumours do not extend into the chest [] When the patient has been placed on her back, I incise the healthy area of the breast above the tumour and then cauterise the incision until scabs form and the bleeding is stanched. Then I incise again, marking out the area as I cut deeply into the breast, and again I cauterise. I do this [incising and cauterising] quite often [] This way the bleeding is not dangerous. After the excision is complete I again cauterize the entire area until it is dessicated.

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Cancer was generally regarded as an incurable disease, and so it was feared. Some people with cancer, such as the poet Silius Italicus (26-102 AD), died by suicide to end the torment.

Patients would also pray to the gods for hope of a cure. An example of this is Innocentia, an aristocratic lady who lived in Carthage (in modern-day Tunisia) in the fifth century AD. She told her doctor divine intervention had cured her breast cancer, though her doctor did not believe her .

Battle against cancer continues

We began with Satyrus, a tyrant in the fourth century BC. In the 2,400 years or so since then, much has changed in our knowledge of what causes cancer, how to prevent it and how to treat it. We also know there are more than 200 different types of cancer. Some peoples cancers are so successfully managed, they go on to live long lives.

In 2022 alone, there were about 20 million new cancer cases were reported, as scientists continue to find more cures to this deadly disease. Image used for representational purposes/Reuters

But there is still no general cure for cancer, a disease that about one in five people develop in their lifetime. In 2022 alone , there were about 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer deaths globally. We clearly have a long way to go.

Konstantine Panegyres , McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .
AstraZeneca in a shocking move announced it was withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine from across the world. This, just weeks after admitting its jab caused a rare side effect. Meanwhile, in the US, Indian students are seemingly staying away from campus protests. All this and more in our weekly roundup of explainers from around the world read more

AstraZeneca's withdrawal of its vaccine has left many asking questions. Reuters

Its been another week of big developments.

AstraZeneca in a shocking move announced it was withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine from across the world.

This, just weeks after admitting its jab caused a rare side effect.

Meanwhile, in the US, Indian students are seemingly staying away from campus protests in Columbia.

Closer to home, the Maldives is begging Indian tourists to return after a significant drop in travellers to the archipelago.

China is on a gold buying spree and inflating the pricing of the precious metal.

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All this and more in our weekly roundup of explainers from the world.

1. The headline alone, AstraZeneca withdraws COVID vaccine, was eye catching.

That the news came just week after the company said its jab caused a rare side effect left many second guessing the decision to take the vaccine.

But do you really need to worry?

Is your country one of those that used AstraZenecas jab?

And why did the company withdraw the vaccine?

2. Campuses in the US remain in an uproar.

Students have set up encampments, teachers have joined in, in-person classes have been cancelled and university bosses have been summoned before the US House to testify about anti-semitism on campuses.

However, Indian students, the second-largest group of international scholars in the US, seem to have little to no presence among the demonstrations.

But why is that? Are Indian students concerned about somehow being swept up in the tumult? And if so, what are they worried about?

This article gives you an up close look.

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3. Indians come back.

That was the message this week from the Maldives tourism minister.

The island nation has seen its flow of Indian tourists slow immensely after a boycott following three government ministers making derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tensions rose between Maldives and India after three government ministers criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But what did Ibrahim Faisal say?

How many Indian tourists actually visited Maldives?

And what has been the fallout of the boycott?

Click here to know more.

4. For the past few years, China has been having a love affair with gold.

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Not only is the country the worlds largest producer of gold, it is also the biggest consumer.

And it is powering the yellow metal to brand new highs.

While gold was the provenance of middle-aged women, experts say thats no more the case and many customers are now in their 20s.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Bank of China (PBC) is also increasing its exposure to gold.

But whats behind this affinity? And where does gold go from here?

5. Supporters of Donald Trump are taking their devotion to a new level.

Admirers of the former president are turning up to rallies in nappies.

Donald Trump supporters are showing up at his rallies wearing nappies and shirts that read Real Man Wear Diapers. X/ @iamalmostlegend, @SusanBostonMama

Thats not all  they are also wearing T-shirts that say Real men wear diapers.

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But what prompted this bizarre turn of events amid Trumps hush money trial in New York?

6. Over the years, Japan has made headlines for its somewhat strange attitude towards sex and romance.

Now, the youth are pioneering a new trend  marriage without sex and love.

This so-called friendship marriage is replacing the more traditional union.

So what is it all about? How does it work? How many people are taking it to heart?

This piece gives you an insight into the latest trend in Japan.

7. For many people, a nice cold beer at the end of a long workday is just the ticket.

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But have you ever considered why that is the case?

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences say there is actually a science behind what makes a child pint taste so good.

So why do we like cold beer? And what possible impact could this research have in real life?

You are all caught up on world affairs for this week. If you want to read and support more of our work, you can bookmark this page .
A recent study suggests that heart transplant recipients may not be unique in experiencing personality changes. These changes can occur following the transplantation of any organ. Some evidence suggests that these personality changes arent all psychological. Biology may play a role too read more

The heart seems to be most commonly associated with personality changes. Pixabay/Representative Image

Changes in personality following a heart transplant have been noted pretty much ever since transplants began . In one case, a person who hated classical music developed a passion for the genre after receiving a musicians heart. The recipient later died holding a violin case .

In another case, a 45-year-old man remarked how, since receiving the heart of a 17-year-old boy , he loves to put on headphones and listen to loud music  something he had never done before the transplant.

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A recent study suggests that heart transplant recipients may not be unique in experiencing personality changes. These changes can occur following the transplantation of any organ.

What might explain this? One suggestion could be that this is a placebo effect where the overwhelming joy of receiving a new lease on life gives the person a sunnier disposition . Other transplant recipients suffer from guilt and bouts of depression and other psychological issues that might also be seen as personality changes.

However, there is some evidence to suggest that these personality changes arent all psychological. Biology may play a role, too.

The cells of the transplanted organ will perform their expected function  heart cells will beat, kidney cells will filter and liver cells will metabolise  but they also play a role elsewhere in the body. Many organs and their cells release hormones or signalling molecules that have an effect locally and elsewhere in the body.

The heart seems to be most commonly associated with personality changes. The chambers release peptide hormones, including atrial natriuretic peptide and brain natriuretic peptide ," which help regulate the balance of fluid in the body by affecting the kidneys.

They also play a role in electrolyte balance and inhibiting the activity of the part of our nervous system responsible for the fight-or-flight response . The cells in charge of this are in the hypothalamus  a part of the brain that plays a role in everything from homeostasis (balancing biological systems) to mood.

So the donor organ, which may have a different base level of hormones and peptide production from the original organ, could change the recipients mood and personality through the substances it releases.

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It has been shown that natriuretic peptide levels are higher following transplantation  and never return to normal. Although some of the elevation is probably a response to the trauma of surgery, it may not account for everything.Externally held memories

The body stores memories in the brain . We access them when thinking or they can be triggered by sight or smell. But memories are basically neurochemical processes where nerves convey impulses to each other and exchange specialised chemicals (neurotransmitters) at the interface between them.

While in transplant surgery, many of the nerves that govern the function of the organ are cut and are not able to be reattached, this doesnt mean that the nerves within the organ do not still function. In fact, there is evidence that they may be partially restored a year after surgery.

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These neurochemical actions and interactions could feed into the nervous system of the recipient, enacting a physiological response that then affects the recipients personality according to memories from the donor.

We know that cells from the donor are found circulating in the recipients body and donor DNA is seen in the recipients body two years after the transplant . This again poses the question of where the DNA goes and what actions it may have.

One thing it does is stimulate immune responses . These immune responses may be enough to trigger personality changes as long-term, low-level inflammation is known to be able to change personality traits , such as extroversion and conscientiousness.

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Whichever mechanism, or combination of mechanisms, is responsible, this area of research warrants further investigation so that recipients can understand the physical and psychological changes that could occur following surgery.

Adam Taylor , Professor and Director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre, Lancaster University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .
California health officials Wednesday warned consumers away from counterfeit Botox that has sent a dozen people to the hospital with adverse reactions. Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press Counterfeit or incorrectly administered Botox, even in small amounts, can result in serious health problems and even death, California Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon, shown here in 2023, said in a statement Wednesday. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

California health officials Wednesday warned consumers about counterfeit Botox, which has been found in California and 10 other states and has caused multiple people to be hospitalized or seek medical care for serious reactions to the injections.

Counterfeit or incorrectly administered Botox, even in small amounts, can result in serious health problems and even death, California Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon said in a statement. Consumers should only get injections of FDA-approved Botox from licensed and trained professionals in healthcare settings. Botox should never be purchased online or through unlicensed individuals.

The warning comes amid a multistate investigation  led by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local health departments  into counterfeit and mishandled Botox. As of April 18, 22 people from 11 states have reported harmful reactions after receiving Botox from unlicensed or untrained individuals or in non-health care settings, such as homes and spas, according to the CDC.

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These events occurred between November 2023 and March 2024 and were reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. Among the 22 victims, 11 were hospitalized. There have been no reported deaths. All reports were from women, ranging from 25 to 59 years old, who received the injections from unlicensed or untrained individuals in homes, spas and other non-health care settings.

California health officials urge consumers who are considering Botox to confirm with their health care provider or setting that they are receiving Botox from an authorized source, and to verify that the health care professional is licensed and trained to administer Botox. In California, Botox can be given by a doctor, registered nurse or physician assistant under a doctors supervision.

Its not clear how many people have received counterfeit Botox or other cosmetic injections from unlicensed spas. But anecdotally, the practice appears to be on the rise. Last year, a Bay Area woman died after receiving a buttock-enhancing injection at a hotel from an unlicensed individual. And also last year, prosecutors in Santa Clara County charged a San Jose couple for illegally administering Botox and lip fillers to clients out of an unlicensed medical spa.

Health officials say consumers and health care providers should be on the lookout for the following signs of counterfeit Botox:

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal has also promised 2 crore jobs a year and nationwide drives to modernise government schools and hospitals read more

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal has announced that he will provide free electricity across the country, scrap Agnipath scheme for the military, provide 2 crore jobs, and introduce minimum support price (MSP) scheme for farmers if he forms the government after the Lok Sabha elections.

Promising to replicate the Delhi and Punjab models across India, Kejriwal also promised to carry out nationwide drives to modernise government schools and hospitals across the country.

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Making these announcements at a press conference in Delhi, Kejriwal further said that his government will also free the Indian territory that has been occupied by China.

Kejriwal, however, stated that it is his guarantees at the moment and he has not discussed then with his coalition partners in the INDIA bloc.

These guarantees are being issued as Kejriwals guarantees. I have not talked about them with our friends in the INDIA coalition, but I believe that no one will have an issue with them considering the kind of guarantees they are, said Kejriwal in Hindi.

Here are the 10 guarantees that Kejriwal announced:

1. 24 hours electricity, 200 units free

Kejriwal announced that he would provide 24 hours electricity across the country. He further said that the 200-units-free model of Delhi will be extended to the entire country.

Explaining the proposal, Kejriwal said that the issue that India faces is the poor management of electricity distribution as Indias production is in excess of peak demand during the summer. He said that the guarantee will cost Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

2. Improving government schools

Kejriwal said that he would improve government schools across the country the way he did in Delhi.

For this, Kejriwal said Rs 5 lakh crore will be needed over five years. Of these, the provincial and central governments will bear half the burden each.

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       10  Important Press Conference | LIVE https://t.co/0HWubvSrOS  AAP (@AamAadmiParty) May 12, 2024

3. Improving government hospitals

In line with the Delhi model, Kejriwal said every nook and corner in the country will have a mohalla clinic.

Kejriwal further said that he will strengthen healthcare infrastructure and will make healthcare free for everyone. He said such free healthcare will not be provided by government insurance schemes. Without naming any government or scheme, he dubbed such government health insurance schemes as a scam.

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For this guarantee, Kejriwal said Rs 5 lakh crore will be required and the provincial and central governments will each bear Rs 2.5 crore expenditure each.

4. Freeing Indian land occupied by China

Kejriwal promised to free the Indian land occupied by China and dubbed it Rashtrahit Sarvopari (National Interest Foremost) guarantee.

Kejriwal said that his government will use diplomatic as well as military steps to free the Indian land from Chinese occupation. He said he would give the military a free hand to whatever it wants to remove Chinese from Indian soil.

China has captured our land. Our government says no one has come. Everyone knows. The whole world knows. It is the age of satellite. Everyone knows how China came and captured our territory, said Kejriwal.

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5. Abolishing Agnipath scheme

Kejriwal announced that his government will abolish the Agnipath scheme for the recruitment in military.

Under the Agnipath scheme, soldiers dubbed Agnivir are being recruited in the military for a period of four years. Of the recruits, only 25% will be retained and the rest will be let go.

Kejriwal has said that he will make all soldiers recruited under the scheme permanent.

6. MSP for farmers

In line with the Swaminath Committees report, MSP will be implemented for farmers, announced Kejriwal.

7. Full statehood to Delhi

Kejriwal announced that his government will grant full statehood to Delhi.

Currently, Delhi is a union territory (UT) and Delhi Police is controlled by the central government, not the Delhi government.

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8. 2 crore new jobs a year

Flagging unemployment as a national issue, Kejriwal said his government will address it by producing 2 crore jobs a year.

9. Anti-corruption drive against BJPs washing machine

Kejriwal said that he will carry out an anti-corruption drive across the country against the washing machine of the BJP.

10. Simplification of GST, ease of doing business

Kejriwal announced that his government will simply the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and improve the ease of doing business in the country. He said it will help honest businesspersons and traders in the country.

Kejriwal further said that he will simplify administrative and legal procedures that will improve the ease of doing business in the country.

He further said, Our target will be to leave China behind economically.
The student was enrolled in the course on an OBC (non-creamy layer) certificate based on false information and suppressing authentic information. read more

Raising the issue of poor doctor ratio in India, the Bombay High Court allowed awarding a degree to a medical student who wrongly gained admission to an MBBS degree in 2012.

The student was enrolled in the course on an OBC (non-creamy layer) certificate based on false information and suppressing authentic information. During the hearing, the court observed that doctors were needed and decided not to cancel her admission as she had completed the course, The Times of India reported.

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In our country, where the ratio of doctors to population is very low, withdrawing her qualification would be a national loss, as citizens would be deprived of one doctor, said a division bench of Justices A S Chandurkar and Jitendra Jain.

However, the court did take into account the unfair means by which the parents of Lubna Mujawar got her admitted to a college under the OBC category which has deprived another eligible candidate.

If the medical profession is based on a foundation of false information it would certainly be a blot on the noble profession, the High Court said in the ruling.

The student asked to pay an additional fee

While the Bombay High Court retained her admission, it directed the student to pay fees as an open-category student with an additional Rs 50,000 payment.

The court also held that the Mumbai suburban collector was justified when it cancelled the non-creamy layer certificate which was issued to Mujawar. The Lokmanya Tilak Medical College at Sion cancelled her admission to the MBBS course in February 2014.

However, an interim order allowed her to study in the college. In the latest judgement, the High Court stated that due to the fact that she had completed her course in 2017 over a passage of time, she should be conferred with the degree.

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The court insisted that it would not be fair to not grant a degree to a student who has already qualified as a doctor. The high court also condemned the fathers decision to give false information and not disclose that the students mother worked in a municipal corporation.

During the 2012 hearing, Mujawar argued that since her father gave her mother a divorce, he did not mention her income on the certificate. However, the prosecutors argued that the students father falsely stated that they were not staying together to avoid going beyond the 4.5 lakh income limit for non-creamy status.
A senior official of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said that reports of bomb threats came from several hospitals, including Burari Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, and Dabris Dada Dev Hospital read more

the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) responded to the bomb threat that the Hindu Rao Hospital had received by stating that more security had been installed on the property Image Courtesy ANI

Emails containing bomb threats were sent to eight city hospitals and IGI Airport, which ultimately proved to be fictitious, only days after over 150 schools in Delhi-NCR were subjected to an unprecedented bomb scare.

A senior official of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said that reports of bomb threats came from several hospitals, including Burari Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, and Dabris Dada Dev Hospital.

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On May 12, at about 3.30 pm, a bomb hoax mail was received at GTB Hospital, GTB Enclave. Hospital authorities informed the local police about that mail. Immediately police swung into action and called the Bomb Disposal Squad which inspected GTB Hospital and Delhi State Cancer Institute premises, DCP Shahdara said adding that nothing suspicious was found.

In the meantime, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) responded to the bomb threat that the Hindu Rao Hospital had received by stating that more security had been installed on the property.

Today the Administration of Hindu Rao Hospital came to know about a Bomb Threat received by the SHO of the Police station under whose jurisdiction Hindu Rao Hospital falls. SHO received an Email regarding the presence of a bomb in the premises of the Hospital. SHO inspected the whole premises with the Dog Squad and bomb detection squad. No threat was found, MCD said in a statement.

Few openings were instructed to be closed. Directions to increase security checks at night and increased questioning and inspection issued. OT, Emergency, CCU and Blood Bank equipped for any adverse event. The hospital is on high alert for QRT activation. Hospital staff have also been asked to be vigilant, it added.

All of the citys hospitals now have more security, and the airport has more police officers on duty. Nevertheless, nothing unusual has yet been found at any of the locations.

A snapshot of a questionable email that threatened to blow up the bombs that were supposedly planted inside the hospital. The picture is trending on social media. The email is being looked at by the police.
Kejriwal held his first election campaign on Saturday in South Delhis Mehrauli area after being granted an interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday. He campaigned for AAPs Sahiram Pahalwan contesting from the constituency. read more

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann, in a yellow turban, greet supporters from a vehicle during a roadshow in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 11, 2024. - AP

A sea of yellow and blue flags, blaring music and a narrow lane packed with people - these were the scenes at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals first roadshow for election campaign in South Delhi, a day after his release from Tihar jail.

Similar scenes were witnessed at Kejriwals second roadshow later in the day in East Delhis Krishna Nagar in support of AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar.

Kejriwal held his first election campaign on Saturday in South Delhis Mehrauli area after being granted an interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday. He campaigned for AAPs Sahiram Pahalwan contesting from the constituency.

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As soon as Kejriwals convoy arrived at the venue, kids were seen standing in a row on the rooftop of a monument carrying posters with messages such as Welcome back Kejriwal ji, We love Kejriwal, and Tiger is back written on them.

Buses packed with AAP supporters from across Delhi were brought for the roadshow. Among them were a significant number of women, many of them carrying toddlers on their waist, and elderly - all cheering for Kejriwal and flaunting the party flags.

As Kejriwals convoy trailed through the narrow lanes of the busy Mehrauli market, shopkeepers came out to watch the chief minister, who was released after nearly 40 days from the judicial custody.

Groups performing cultural items, including pahadi musical dance, bhangra, as well as pandits clad in white dhoti beating drums and playing manjeeras, creating a devotional atmosphere, were seen moving between the trail of cars. A man with the tricolour painted on his body danced to dhol beats celebrating Kejriwals release.

Kejriwal is on an interim bail till June 1 to participate in the Lok Sabha election campaign. He is facing charges in an excise policy linked money laundering case and was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21.

Addressing the public for the third time after his release from jail on Friday, Kejriwal said I have straightaway come to meet you after coming out of jail. I missed you, I missed my Delhiites.

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Yesterday, it was a miracle when the Supreme Court granted me bail. I thank the crores of people who sent me blessings and prayed for me to come back. Calling himself a small man Kejriwal said, When they arrested me, I used to think what was my fault. I am a small person and we have a small party. They are big people. Was it my fault to build school, hospital for the poor? he asked.

Kejriwal also alleged that he was denied insulin for 15 days when in jail.

When I went to Tihar they stopped my insulin for 15 days. I used to take it daily given my diabetic condition, he said referring to the BJP.

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As Kejriwal was addressing the public, the crowd shouted slogans hailing him and AAP. A large number of people surrounded his car to shake hands with him. Several of them also tried to give him presents which included a photo frame carrying his portrait coming out of jail.

The buildings in the main Mehrauli market were covered with huge posters of Kejriwal showing him being released from jail. Kejriwal was also joined by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and partys South Delhi candidate Sahiram Pahalwan. Mann also addressed the public and appealed for votes.

In Arvind Kejriwals absence, his wife Sunita Kejriwal had led several roadshows in support for AAP candidates.
The US should reach out to India and, as a fellow democracy, take some tips on how to quell sponsored protests and get universities back to what they should be doinglearning and researching read more

It was the summer of 1969. Universities across the United States were on the boil. The late 1960s saw large anti-war demonstrations across the campuses, and the unrest had only spread. The University of Berkley in California, in particular, had become the epicentre for student protests. On May 15, 1969, the Berkeley police department clashed with protestors who were trying to occupy a vast, unused lot owned by Berkeley campus. Students refused to retreat. The clashes were violent. Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California, who had vowed to clean up the mess at Berkely, sent State National Guard troops to quell the protests.

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Later, while addressing a press conference about this incident, he was asked if he should have instead negotiated with the students. Reagans answer sums up what America used to be once upon a time. Reagan sharply replied, Negotiate? What is to negotiate? All of it began the first time some of you who know better and are old enough to know better let young people think that they have the right to choose the laws they would obey as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest. That defines Rule of Lawa principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to the laws of the land. Ronald Reagan went on to become the 40th president of the US.

The year 2024 is witnessing similar mass anti-war protests in the campuses across the US with a crucial difference. America isnt what it used to be. The ability of governments to rise above party politics and electoral compulsions no longer exists. Wokeism, which is simply low-IQ communism tailored for the 21st century, has gripped America so much that freedom of speech is being interpreted as freedom to occupy public spaces and prevent non-protesting students from safely attending classes.

Protest encampments that started at Columbia University have now spread to 80 campuses. More than a thousand students have been arrested after they were found vandalising, defiling, defacing, and ransacking university property and disturbing other students who were not part of the protest. Protestors are demanding universities sever financial ties with Israel or delink themselves from any company involved in assisting Israel in the Israel-Hamas war. Students thus far have not demanded the release of the hostages still held by Hamas. There is no condemnation of Hamas, and there is no remorse for what Hamas did to Israelis on October 7th, 2023. If student protests are all about idealism and that is why they should be allowed, this one certainly doesnt fall into that category. This protest is political and motivated, and serious concerns have been raised about who is funding the unrest.

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Much of America has been shaken by the protests, and they watch with dismay as elite universities toy with the idea of negotiating with protestors. They watch with horror as anti-Semitism is normalised. They watch with disgust as genocidal slogans are raised and Jewish students are bullied and threatened. More than anything, they watch with helplessness as their prestigious universities look weak, floundering, and unable to stand for what is right. They watched with wide-eyed disbelief as the presidents of top Ivy League universities could not get themselves to condemn anti-Semitism and campus violence without any qualifications in the congressional hearings. America did not reach here suddenly. In the process of becoming a global policeman and lecturing fellow democracies about how to uphold democratic values, America never noticed her own democratic erosion. America set out to spread democracy across constitutions, while in its own backyard, tenets of liberal democracy are being used to destroy the fundamentals of their democracy.

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Where did America go wrong, and is there a way to reclaim what it once stood for? All democracies should welcome protests. Student activism is the kindergarten of all serious activism that can act as pressure groups on behalf of those truly disenfranchised and disadvantaged. Student protests have a long history in all democracies, including the US. Then why are these protests different, and why does the inability to control them signal the weakness of the American system? Campus protests ostensibly about the Israel-Hamas war are in fact a continuation of the war on Americas value system. Critical race theory debates have been raging through educational institutions, as have mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes, which have upended the meritocracy in favour of forced diversity of identity rather than diversity of thoughts.

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American educational institutions had a long tradition of birthing new ideas decades before those ideas became mainstream. This was possible when universities stayed strictly apolitical and allowed different viewpoints to flourish. This glorious tradition was compromised during Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, when universities expressed solidarity with those who destroyed public property, indulged in vandalism, and flouted laws openly. In undergraduate admission applications, prospective students were encouraged to write about their experiences with the BLM movement. Clearly, those experiences with protests were viewed favorably. Once universities went down the path of identity politics, there was no turning back. If the Israel-Gaza war hadnt happened, students would be out protesting for some other reason. When protests are incentivised, then the idealism behind student protests also diminishes. The possibility of George Soros-like figures funding protests becomes a huge possibility, and protests are launched to spread unrest, not for students to find their two feet in the world of ideas.

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When India was dealing with its own protest encampments in Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protests, where similarly public spaces were occupied to foist mass unrest, the US had a lot of advice to give India about upholding freedom of expression. When America herself faced Shaheen Bagh-like encampments, they sent state troopers and anti-riot police inside campuses. Hypocrisy is no longer hidden in the world of social media. India has a lot of experience dealing with sponsored protests. America should reach out to India and, as a fellow democracy, take some tips on how to quell sponsored protests and get universities back to what they should be doinglearning and researching. Negotiations with sponsored protestors are not a democratic option. Ronald Reagan understood that. Current American leaders should, too.

The author is a columnist and political commentator. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
Today, there are many modern, updated mRNA vaccines, and time may have passed for the AstraZeneca, but there is absolutely no doubt in its star performance as a key tool for saving lives during one of the darkest phases in human history read more

The year was 2021, and the date was January 4, when, in a terrified world being ravaged by Covid-19, filled with hysteria and panic, the first person outside of clinical trials was administered the first dose of AstraZenecas Covid vaccine. AstraZeneca was immediately hailed as the ultimate saviour of humanity. In that year, around 2.5 billion vaccines were administered, and an estimated 6.3 million lives were saved.

Then, fast forward to a post-pandemic world in 2024, where the horrors of the peak of Covid-19 are tragic and faint memories. There has taken place an ultimate fall from grace as AstraZeneca has now been transmogrified into a scoundrel sinner. This is after they admitted that their vaccine has some side effects in extremely rare cases, such as TTS (Thrombosys with Thrombocytophenia Syndrome), which causes blood clots and a low blood platelet count in humans. Astra Zeneca specified that this happens only in the most infrequent of cases. TTS is also caused by other vaccines for other diseases and is also a known side effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for Covid-19.

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A few days earlier, AstraZeneca withdrew its vaccine Vaxzevria from the global markets, explaining that as there are now multiple variants of the pandemic coronavirus, there is an outdated surplus of these vaccines. Immediately, there was a global pandemonium with accusations of conspiracy and other amoral and criminal allegations against AstraZeneca. Scientists have a different reaction.

Professor Adam Finn, Professor of Pediatric Studies, Bristol University said, Global demand for all vaccines is now much lower and overall supply exceeds demand. This is in marked contrast to the early part of the pandemic, when supply was limited and distribution was extremely limited. The AstraZeneca vaccine, which expresses the original Wohan spike protein and has not been updated, is probably now much less effective than it was to begin with because the spike protein on the SARS-CoV2 variant now circulating has changed a good deal over time as the virus has evolved away from the immunity people have gained from vaccination and infection. Accordingly, there is probably no commercial case for continuing the manufacture and distribution of the vaccine, and I think this is likely the main reason the company has decided to discontinue making and selling it.

Prof Jonathan Ball, deputy director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and professor of molecular virology, says, We seem to forget how desperate the global public was for an effective Covid-19 vaccine, and the AstraZeneca vaccine saved millions of lives. With almost everything we do, there is a harm-benefit assessment that we have to make, and at the peak of the pandemic, the AstraZeneca vaccine caused far more benefit than harmthat would still be the case, but now there are different, more effective vaccines available.

There is no doubt that the AstraZeneca vaccine that was manufactured and distributed in India as Covishield by the Serum Institute, which was in partnership with AstraZeneca, was a key product at the peak of the pandemic. This includes the terrifying emergence of the Delta variant in India across the first half of 2021, where, amid significant global supply issues, this vaccine was among the few tools helping to alleviate an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

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This particular AstraZeneca vaccine, just like the others from Pfizer, Novax, and Moderna, went through the relevant stages of testing and trials at a time when very little was known about Covid-19. Phase 3 trials showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe and effective. In India, during the peak period when the Delta variant was raging, the Serum Institute was the main producer of this vaccine at a time of extreme global shortages and very high Covid fatalities and burdens. During this period, it saved millions of lives in India alone across 2021 and 2022, when there were 4 million cases being reported globally every week.

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As for the side effects of clotting, etc., it is also a well-established fact that Covid itself causes a seriously increased risk of blood clots and thrombocytopenia (low platelet count). In an August 2021 analysis of 30 million vaccinated patients in the UK, it was found that the risk of thrombocytopenic incidents was much higher following a Covid infection than when compared with any Covid related vaccine.

The British Heart Foundation describes how, for every ten million people who are vaccinated with AstraZeneca, there are just 66 extra cases of blood clots in the veins and seven extra cases of a rare type of blood clot in the brain. By comparison, a Covid infection causes 12,614 cases of blood clots in the veins and 20 cases of rare blood clots in the brain.

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To give some perspective to these numbers, these vaccine associated blood clots are much lower than many popular and widely distributed common medical products. For example, common contraceptive pills prescribed to women have blood clot risks of around 1 in every 1000, while for women taking post-menopausal hormonal therapy, it is an astounding 1 in 300 every year!

The AstraZeneca vaccine has also suffered some serious misinformation and poor reporting over the years. In Germany in 2021, it was reported that it has only an 8 per cent efficacy rate in the elderly, but it eventually turned out that the 8 per cent figure indicated the percentage of people over 65 years old in the study and not the rate of efficacy.

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The anti-vaccine lobby has had the chance to go to town with such misinformation and infomedia, including other falsified links between the vaccine and female infertility.

This is a grey area where government-led initiatives should provide more transparency, whereas misinformation from the anti-vaccination lobby hinders those very people they claim to cater to.

So why would AstraZeneca withdraw their star product? The logical answer seems to be that their vaccine is outdated, and modern, updated mRNA vaccines from other companies are performing better and are safer. For the AstraZeneca vaccine, the time may have passed, but there is absolutely no doubt in its star performance as a key tool for saving lives during one of the darkest phases in human history.

The author is a freelance journalist and features writer based out of Delhi. Her main areas of focus are politics, social issues, climate change and lifestyle-related topics. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
Given that the two blocs have different regional focuses, it is prudent for them to operate independently but in tandem, ensuring that both blocs remain agenda-driven and coherent, allowing them to effectively address the diverse security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region read more

While other issues and regions are currently dominating foreign policy discussions, a significant international development took place this week in Washington. An emerging regional bloc, unofficially dubbed Squad, has linked Australia, Japan, and the United States with the Philippines. This alliance underscores Washingtons ongoing commitment to integrating all its Indo-Pacific allies to counter Chinas excessive claims in the region.

Analysts are optimistic that this alliance will evolve into a more permanent or institutionalised grouping, given the member countries significant commercial interests in the contested South China Sea and East China Sea. According to US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, the so-called Squad will conduct more maritime exercises and provide increased security assistance to the Philippines.

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The formation of the Squad closely follows the first joint patrols by these nations in the South China Sea and a significant trilateral summit at the White House involving leaders from the US, Japan, and the Philippines in April 2024. Over the coming months, the alliance plans to enhance military interoperability, conduct additional joint patrols and drills, and improve intelligence and maritime security cooperation. These efforts are aimed at addressing the challenges posed by China across the Western Pacific.

This quadrilateral partnership is the latest regional alliance forged by Washington to counter Beijings growing assertiveness in the region. Ironically, the individual most credited with making this happen is Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This development comes amid a tense crisis in the South China Sea, where Beijing claims about 90 percent of this crucial waterway, through which one-third of global shipping passes each year. Beijing has been harassing and threatening ships near disputed islands and geographical features it claims as its own. Recently, Chinas tactics have become increasingly aggressive, resulting in several naval skirmishes with Chinese vessels. As a result, the member countries of the alliance are strengthening their security capabilities.

Chinas state tabloid, the Global Times, has stated that the Squad grouping will pose a more targeted challenge to Beijing, as it allows the US to manage the security situation in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

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Philippines: More Than a Pawn in Great Power Contestation

In 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, more commonly known as Bongbong, won an outright majority in the presidential election in the Philippines. Back then, Marcos Jr held, The Philippines will not cede any one square inch to any country, particularly China, but will continue to engage and work on our national interest. When asked if he would ask for Americas help in dealing with China, Marcos Jr said, No. The problem is between China and us. If the Americans come in, its bound to fail because you are putting the two protagonists together.

However, two years later, it seems a lot has changed. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jrs decisive pivot towards Western alliances and his firm stance on the Philippines territorial claims in the South China Sea have been instrumental in the formation of this new quadrilateral grouping. This strategic realignment signifies a significant departure from the more reserved foreign policy stance of the previous administration, positioning the Philippines at the forefront of the broader US strategy of integrated deterrence in the region.

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The Philippines, a crucial regional player in the South China Sea, has borne the brunt of Chinas escalating military assertiveness for quite some time. Concerns have been raised over Beijings potential plans to deploy floating nuclear power plants in the disputed South China Sea, a move that could further militarise the waterway. In the most recent escalation, Chinese coast guard ships used water cannons against Philippine vessels near disputed shoals in the resource-rich South China Sea. The Philippines accused Beijing of various aggressive actions, including harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing, and blocking, dangerous manoeuvres prompting the summoning of Chinas ambassador to Manila to protest against Chinas actions.

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The Philippines has frequently invited journalists to accompany its government vessels during sailings near disputed features. This is aimed at drawing attention to the alleged harassment by China, even within the Philippines exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles from its coast.

Against this backdrop, analysts stress the importance of the Philippines strengthening security cooperation with like-minded countries. This is crucial not only to reinforce its claims in the South China Sea but also to support its ongoing military modernisation efforts as it shifts its defence strategy from internal to external focus.

Japan and Australia have emerged as key allies, consistently condemning Chinas aggressive behaviour. Therefore, forming an alliance with them is a natural step, given their shared concerns in the region. Chinese vessels have also repeatedly violated Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands.

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Furthermore, the Philippines already has existing visiting-forces agreements with the United States and Australia. It is also exploring the possibility of similar arrangements with France. Additionally, it is negotiating a reciprocal-access agreement with Japan and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada on enhanced defence cooperation. There is little to no doubt that such partnerships will be essential in strengthening Manilas defences and its reputation as a middle power amidst rising tensions in the South China Sea.

China has explicitly expressed its displeasure with these developments, warning that the Philippines is increasingly being manipulated by the US, losing its autonomy, and becoming a pawn of the US in the region. However, it is unquestionable that Beijings growing maritime aggression, extravagant claims, and complete disregard for international laws have compelled Manila to establish these minilateral arrangements.

Squad: A Rival to Quad?

Writing on social media platform X, Derek Grossman, a senior defence analyst at the non-profit research organisation Rand Corporation, stated, India will only go so far in helping Quad to counter China in the South China Sea, noting that New Delhi was primarily focused on its own neighbourhood. Hence, the US now has an alternate Quad.

I disagree. At first glance, it may seem that the Philippines has replaced India. However, the formation of alliances in such a sensitive region involves much more nuance. The idea that one is a replacement for the other is entirely untrue. Despite limited interaction between the two, Manila and New Delhi share numerous similarities. While the Philippines is a treaty ally of the United States under the Mutual Defence Treaty (1951), India is a close strategic partner of the US. Both countries are engaged in active territorial disputes with China and are committed to a rules-based system.

The biggest difference in their threat perception, albeit stemming from a common country, lies in the region. India is more concerned about its immediate neighbourhood, including the Indian Ocean and the Malacca Strait. Conversely, the Philippines focus is on the South China Sea and the Western Pacific portion of the Indo-Pacific.

If anything, there is an opportunity for both the Squad and the Quad to coexist. According to analysts, the Squad could complement the Quad, leading to a more versatile distribution of power and responsibilities.

Yoichiro Sato, Professor of Asia-Pacific Studies at Japans Ritsumeikan Asia-Pacific University, suggests that the two overlapping four-party arrangements facilitate greater cohesion within each group, allowing both India and the Philippines to collaborate comfortably with Australia, Japan, and the US.

Indias present focus and military capacity are restricted to its immediate neighbourhood. It has yet to build the capacity to project power and sustain military deployments in the South China Sea. But India is not an absentee in the regional dynamics either. This can be seen in the recent sale of BrahMos missiles to the Philippines. Reports indicate that Manila intends to deploy these weapons along its coast amid rising tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.

According to analysts, India-Philippines ties are likely to progress in non-traditional security areas such as cybersecurity, anti-piracy, and anti-terrorism. India has unquestionable commercial and maritime interests in Southeast Asia; thus, it will position itself as a strategic partner for all the Squad countries.

Therefore, it is evident that deterrence efforts are intensifying in the South China Sea, with the Philippines at the forefront. The Philippines is signalling its readiness to collaborate with any party that can contribute strategically to regional security, laying the groundwork for the Squad.

However, this should not be interpreted as a diminishing relevance of the Quad or as a geopolitical setback for India. Given that the two blocs have different regional focuses, it is prudent for them to operate independently but in tandem, ensuring that both blocs remain agenda-driven and coherent, allowing them to effectively address the diverse security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

The author is a researcher at the East Asia Centre, MP-IDSA, New Delhi, India. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
The incident took place on Saturday when the bus was transporting 40 students from Lingga Kencana Vocational School in Depok, West Java read more

At least 11 people were killed after a bus overturned in Subang Regency, West Java. According to Jakarta Globe, the bus was carrying dozens of vocational school students and the local hospital reported that at least 20 people are being treated for injuries.

The incident took place on Saturday when the bus was transporting 40 students from Lingga Kencana Vocational School in Depok, West Java. Some of the victims who were rushed to the nearby hospital were in serious condition.

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The authorities are yet to reveal the identities of the victims.

Six women and five children killed

While speaking to the local reporters, the West Java Police Chief Inspector Gen. Ahmad Wiyagus said that the authorities are currently investigating the matter. The death toll from this accident is 11, including six women and five children, Wiyagus told reporters.

However, the authorities are yet to confirm if the deceased were all the bus passengers. The bus was travelling north in the hilly area of Ciater when it veered off the lane on a steep slope and eventually collided with another car coming from the opposite direction.

According to Subang Police spokesman Adjunct Comr. Yusman, the collision took place at around 6:45 pm (local time) and after the bus collided with the car, it overturned onto its right side and continued to slide down the slope.

It finally came to a stop after hitting an electricity poll. The authorities noted that the bus belonged to the bus operator Trans Putera Fajar. According to the director of Subang Municipal Hospital, Ahmad Nasuhi, the hospital received at least nine bodies from the accident, Jakarta Globe reported.

Meanwhile, injured passengers were transported to several other hospitals in the regency and are receiving emergency treatment.
Following intense rains on Friday that caused raging rivers of water and mud to slither through villages and across agricultural land in multiple provinces, damaging healthcare facilities and essential infrastructure in addition to wiping out thousands of homes and livestock, Afghan authorities have reported several people missing read more

According to a UN official, there were 311 deaths, 2,011 destroyed, and 2,800 damaged homes in the province of Baghlan alone Image Courtesy Reuters

Authorities in Afghanistan declared a state of emergency after deadly flash floods that tore across several provinces on Friday left about 315 dead and over 1,600 injured.

Aid organizations have issued warnings of growing devastation after characterizing the deadly floods as a major humanitarian emergency, according to news agency Reuters.

Following intense rains on Friday that caused raging rivers of water and mud to slither through villages and across agricultural land in multiple provinces, damaging healthcare facilities and essential infrastructure in addition to wiping out thousands of homes and livestock, Afghan authorities have reported several people missing.

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One of the most affected provinces was Northern Baghlan, when thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and over 300 people died in one area alone.

According to a UN official, there were 311 deaths, 2,011 destroyed, and 2,800 damaged homes in the province of Baghlan alone.

The economics minister for the Taliban, Mohammad Hanif, pleaded with the UN, aid organizations, and the private sector to help the flood victims.

In the hardest-hit neighborhoods, he estimated that 310,000 children resided, saying, Children have lost everything.

According to Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, expresses his solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and extends his condolences to the families of the victims, and the UN is coordinating with local authorities to provide assistance.

Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan for the United Nations, has demanded that flood victims in the nation receive emergency assistance.

Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Bennett posted, Recent floods in Afghanistan, including Baghlan, which claimed many lives, are a stark reminder of Afghanistans vulnerability to the #climatecrisis & both immediate aid and long term planning by the Taliban & international actors are needed. Condolences to the families of victims.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) was also getting ready for a swift reaction and claimed that the floods should serve as a alarm bell to remind donors and world leaders not to overlook a nation that has been destroyed by decades of strife and is constantly facing natural disasters.
Muizzu, a pro-China politician, demanded that all Indian military personnel operating the three aviation sites in the island nation leave by May 10. This put a significant strain on relations between the two countries. India has already taken out 76 armed forces members. read more

In contrast to Ghassan's statements, key officials of the new administration criticized the previous government during the preceding five years of opposition and asserted that the MNDF had competent pilots

Days after 76 Indian defense personnel left the island nation at the request of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Defense Minister Ghassan Maumoon confessed that the Maldives military still lacked pilots qualified to fly three aircraft given by India.

In order to inform the media about the departure of Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives to operate two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft and their replacement by Indian civilians, Ghassan made the comments during a news conference held at the Presidents Office here on Saturday.

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In response to a query from a journalist, Ghassan stated that although some soldiers in the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) had started flying training, none of the three aircraft supplied by the Indian military were operated by Maldivian soldiers.

As it was a training that required passing various stages, our soldiers had not reached completion due to various reasons. Therefore, there arent any people in our force at the moment who are licensed or fully operational to fly the two helicopters and Dornier aircraft, Ghassan was quoted as saying by Adhadhu.com news portal.

Muizzu, a pro-China politician, demanded that all Indian military personnel operating the three aviation sites in the island nation leave by May 10. This put a significant strain on relations between the two countries. India has already taken out 76 armed forces members.

Nonetheless, a Maldivian media source stated that the Maldives government had no plans to remove the Indian doctors working at Senahiya Military Hospital.

In contrast to Ghassans statements, key officials of the new administration criticized the previous government during the preceding five years of opposition and asserted that the MNDF had competent pilots.

The primary purpose of the helicopters supplied by former presidents Mohamed Nasheed and Abdulla Yameen and the Dornier planes sent by former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was to train Maldivians, the statement stated.

Foreign Minister Zameer stated on Saturday that training provisions for local pilots were included in the deal to replace the Indian army with civilians, despite the fact that the training has not been completed to date.
A sign celebrates Mothers Day at Beachwood Florist in Milford, Conn. Mothers Day is the busiest holiday for the florist. Arnold Gold/New Haven Register 2018

I am grateful for all the wise, smart, strong, loving and crazy women in my life.

You all collectively modeled for me how best to be a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a friend. I witnessed your acts of kindness to those in need and your faith in the goodness of life.

You taught me, through example, how a woman can be a positive force in the lives of all the people around her by seeing each person as their mother sees them. With love and acceptance.

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I stand on your shoulders now, with gratitude for the love you have given and the role models you have been to everyone around you. As a mother and grandmother, I aspire to pass on your wisdom and love to the next generation.

Thank you, Mom, and all of the other mother figures in my life.

Happy Mothers Day to everyone who has given or received a mothers love.

Anne Washmera, Alameda

Protest misinformed

I am disgusted about what is happening on U.S. college campuses. What started as a call for the end of the conflict in Gaza quickly morphed into an anti-Israel and, in many cases, an anti-Jewish uprising. There is no talk of Hamas slaughtering innocent Jews on Oct. 7 or about the kidnapping of hundreds of Israeli hostages, many of whom have died.

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I agree the war should end, but only if all the hostages are released and Hamas is disarmed. Anything less would be a continuation of 20 years of Hamas launching missiles into Israel with the stated intent of wiping out all Jews.

Students chanting from the river to the sea and intifada and calling for divesting from Israeli companies should learn history. Zionism exists because Jews have been discriminated against, scapegoated and killed by countries around the world for millennia.

Israel is surrounded by hostile enemies, funded by Iran and others, with the genocidal intent of wiping out Israel. Without U.S. support, they would surely succeed.

Gene Meyers, Berkeley

Students justified

The student protests at various colleges are not about antisemitism. The protests are about the slaughter of innocent civilians in Gaza.

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American students are being beaten by the police, thrown to the ground and arrested because they dare to speak out about the killings of civilians, health personnel and humanitarian aid workers, and the blocking of food, water and fuel.

The students dont like the slaughter, and they dont like U.S. complicity in it. The students are protesting the whole sordid affair.

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

Yes, the International Criminal Court is considering indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top military leaders. In response, 12 U.S. senators have written to the International Criminal Court and threatened to end U.S. support for the court if it targets Israel, thus interfering in its proceedings.

Listen to the students.

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After avoiding the topic for a while, Biden spoke about the doomed ceasefire deal at a fundraising event in Seattle read more

As the Israel-Hamas war continues to escalate, US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that a ceasefire deal could be struck tomorrow if Hamas released all the 128 hostages it has in captivity since the October 7 massacre. After avoiding the topic for a while, Biden spoke about the doomed ceasefire deal at a fundraising event in Seattle.

While tensions between Israel and the United States escalated due to disagreement over the Rafah operation, the White House has always blamed Hamas for failing to strike a deal.

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There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages, Biden said at the fundraiser. 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.

The doomed hostage deal

The latest round of indirect talks between Hamas and Israel broke down after with no discernible progress. While the terror group accepted the latest proposal, Israel rejected it, leading to both sides hardening their stance even further.

The ravaging war was triggered by the October 7 massacre that saw around 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into southern Israel by land, air and sea. The surprise attack led to the death of 1,200 people and Hamas managed to capture 252 hostages while conducting acts of brutality.

According to The Times of Israel, it is believed that around 128 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza. However, not all of them are considered alive. Last year, the terror group released 105 civilians from its captivity during a weeklong truce in late November.

So far, the Israeli troops have managed to rescue the bodies of 12 hostages, including three mistakenly killed by the countrys military. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has also confirmed the deaths of 36 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings.

Hamas is also holding the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after they entered the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Pollack was serving as the universitys president for the past seven years and called it an amazing privilege read more

As pro-Palestinian protests swept the college campuses across the United States, Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack said that she will step down from the post by the end of June.

With this, Pollack became the third president of an Ivy League school to step down since December last year. It all started with Harvard president Claudine Gays resignation which was followed by the resignation of University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill. However, the two resignations came after they gave a widely criticised testimony in front of the US Congress.

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In her retirement letter which was titled Some News, Pollack stated she was thinking about this decision last fall.

Indeed, I began deliberating about this last fall, and made the decision over the December break; but three times, as I was ready to act on it, I had to pause because of events on our and/or on other campuses.

But continued delay is not in the universitys best interests, both because of the need to have sufficient time for a smooth transition before the start of the coming academic year, and because I do not want my announcement to interfere with the celebration of our newest graduates at Commencement in just a few weeks, she wrote.

There is so much more to Cornell than the current turmoil taking place at universities across the country right now, and I hope we do not lose sight of that, she added.

Pollack was serving as the universitys president for the past seven years and called it an amazing privilege.

The timing of the announcement

Pollacks retirement announcement came at a time when US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had called for the resignation of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik due to the way she handled the protest that erupted in the university.

Amid the protests and turmoil, Columbia University also cancelled its main commencement ceremony. While Pollack did not face the US Congress since the commencement of the Israel-Hama war, she had to address a high-profile instance of campus antisemitism.

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In light of this, she has constantly faced pressure to step down from several trustees.

Local and world events have caused enormous pain for students of many backgrounds, including our Jewish and Israeli students, as well as our Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim students, she wrote.

We have been vigilant in working to ensure the safety and well-being of all members of our community from all backgrounds, work Ive been dedicated to long before the events of the past year.

Instances of anti-semitism in Cornell

In October last year, one of the students made death threats against Jewish students by saying that he would shoot up the Kosher dining hall. We will not tolerate antisemitism at Cornell, Pollack wrote at the time in a message to the campus community.

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The virulence and destructiveness of antisemitism is real and deeply impacting our Jewish students faculty and staff, as well as the entire Cornell community. This incident highlights the need to combat the forces that are dividing us and driving us toward hate," she added.

In the same month, a history professor named Russell Rickford said that he was exhilarated by Hamass October 7 massacre in southern Israel. However, he later apologised for the provocative remarks and took a leave of absence.
The victims included five men and three women and none of the victims had criminal records, police said read more

A shooting attack during a birthday party at a bar in Ecuador on Saturday left eight people dead, police said, as the country experiences an escalating wave of gang-fueled violence.

It was unclear if the attack in the coastal province of Santa Elena was directed at the person whose was holding the celebration.

Local police said the attackers rode up in a taxi and two motorcycles. They opened fire at the bar in the town of Chanduy, 185 miles (300 kilometers) southwest of Quito. Some of the victims were found outside the bar.

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The victims included five men and three women and none of the victims had criminal records, police said. Santa Elena has become one of Ecuadors most violent regions, in part because it has three ports. Seaports are often used to smuggle drugs.

Local gangs, which in some cases work with Mexican cartels, have caused homicides to increase significantly in recent years.

Ecuador saw at least 7,600 killings in 2023, up from about 4,400 in 2022. So far this year, there have been about 1,875 homicides in Ecuador.
In October 2022, a man named David DePape broke into then-House Speaker Pelosis home and attacked her husband with a hammer read more

The federal prosecutors of the Department of Justice are recommending a 40-year prison sentence for the man convicted of an assault and attempted abduction of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosis husband, Paul Pelosi.

In October 2022, a man named David DePape broke into then-House Speaker Pelosis home and attacked her husband with a hammer. The prosecutors argued that the crime committed by DePape constitutes an act of terrorism under US law. The prosecutors submitted the sentencing memorandum on Friday.

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After DePapes arrest, it was revealed that the man was looking for Nancy Pelosi but her husband was the only person who was present in their San Francisco residence at the time of the attack. The 84-year-old Paul Pelosi was rushed to hospital with a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands."

What did the prosecutors say?

In the 20-page court filing , prosecutors pointed out the severity of the case. 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 offence, the attorneys argued in the filing.

Defendant intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism and therefore, the terrorism enhancement should apply here, they added. DePape was found guilty of attempting to kidnap a federal official and assault an immediate family member of an elected official.

His sentencing is scheduled to take place on May 17. In the filing, prosecutors emphasised that a 40-year sentence was needed to deter others from attempting similar crimes.

At a time when extremism has led to attacks on public and elected officials, this case presents a moment to speak to others harbouring ideologically motivated violent dreams and plans, the filing said. This case presents strong deterrent value to say that violent ideological attacks will be punished to the full extent of the law.

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What was said in DePapes defence

During the trial held in November last year, DePapes attorney, federal public defender Jodi Linker, argued that his actions were not in retaliation for Nancy Pelosis work as House speaker, but out of a QAnon-fueled desire to free children from the clutches of a corrupt elite class.

The government disagreed with the defendant in this regard. In a statement published after his arrest, the authorities noted that the 43-year-old from Richmond, California, intended to kidnap Pelosi and break her kneecaps. The main motive of the attack was to show Congress that lies and corruption had a price.
The 51-year-old was taken hostage by the terrorist group when they conducted an assault at the Nirim kibbutz read more

As the Israel-Hamas war continues to escalate, Hamas revealed that the British-Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell had died of wounds he sustained during an Israeli airstrike. The group stated that the hostage who remained in captivity ever since the devastating October 7 massacre died more than a month ago.

The 51-year-old was taken hostage by the terrorist group when they conducted an assault at the Nirim kibbutz. A video previously released by Hamas the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, showed him displaying visible signs of physical abuse.

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Popplewell was abducted along with his 79-year-old mother Channah Peri. His older brother Roi passed away while confronting the Hamas terrorists.

Popplewells video to be kept private

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" by any news outlet, The Guardian reported.

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," the forum stated after the news of the demise came to the forefront.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the British Foreign Office said 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 government official furthered.

Amid the chaos, Israeli officials told the Ynet News that hostage and ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas had not completely broken down. They assured that indirect talks would resume if there are answers from Hamas that we can work with, the officials told the site.

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However, Hamas maintained that the efforts to reach a truce deal 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.

With inputs from agencies.
The resurgence of Digital Prison has reignited debates in South Korea concerning the ethics of divulging personal information of criminals and suspects through unofficial channels and authorities will decide its future on Monday read more

When personal details of a 25-year-old man named Choi, accused of stabbing his girlfriend in Seouls Gangnam district on 6 May, spread rapidly online, including his full name, photos, university entrance exam scores, his medical school and his social media accounts, the whole of South Korea was left shocked. Not shocked by the crime he is accused of committing, but by the platform on which his personal details emerged  the Digital Prison.

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Now, the nation grapples with the morality of the deed, for ultimately, it was unauthorised, reported The Korea Herald.

Subsequent to the disclosure of Chois personal information, details about alleged perpetrators of other crimes have also surfaced on the website.

Going four years back

In September 2020, the online platform Digital Prison abruptly vanished from the internet amidst public outrage triggered by the tragic death of one of its targets. According to Reuters, a Seoul university student was discovered deceased in early September of that year following a prolonged period of harassment by unknown individuals after his personal information and image were featured on the website. The student faced wrongful allegations of manipulating photographs of his acquaintances to create pornographic material. Psychiatry professor Chae Jeong-ho recounted receiving numerous abusive messages and calls from strangers after being featured on the site.

Digital Prison had listed 170 individuals it accused of involvement in a network that coerced at least 74 women and underage girls into what authorities described as virtual enslavement by sending them increasingly degrading and violent sexual content of themselves. The vigilante website publicly disclosed personal information of alleged offenders, including photographs, names, ages, phone numbers and employment details.

A statement on the website declared its mission as serving the public interest by eliciting social condemnation towards sex crime suspects given the perceived leniency of legal punishment. There was a significant uproar following the release of a South Korean man who had been convicted of operating one of the largest online child pornography networks in the world after serving only 18 months in jail.

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The emergence of Digital Prison in June 2020 drew significant notice for its practice of revealing private information about criminals and criminal suspects typically not accessible to the public eye.

Arrest of Digital Prison operator

In September 2020, assisted by Interpol, authorities in Vietnam apprehended the operator of a website. The individual faced charges, including violations of the Personal Information Protection Act. According to The Korea Herald, in December 2021, they were sentenced to four years in prison.

In South Korea, the disclosure of personal information regarding criminal suspects falls under the jurisdiction of the Act on the Disclosure of Personal Information of Specific Serious Crimes. Law enforcement issued a stern warning, emphasizing the severe penalties awaiting those who publicly disclose personal information of individuals, including criminals, suspects, victims and others without undergoing an official review process, citing concerns of defamation.

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Commenting on reemergence

The operator of the Digital Prison website, whose identity remains unconfirmed, expressed on the platform that they believed it was an opportune moment to revive Digital Prison. Consequently, they stated that most of the earlier data, previously removed, had been restored.

The announcement also conveyed that due to their offshore location and servers, submissions would be secure from potential charges or tracking by authorities. Additionally, they encouraged individuals with knowledge about criminals identities to share such information via email or Telegram.

The morality debate

Amid the recent uproar surrounding Digital Prison, the Korea Communications Standards Commission is slated to hold a committee meeting on Monday to determine the fate of the websites operation, said the The Korea Herald.

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The resurgence of Digital Prison has reignited debates in South Korea concerning the ethics of divulging personal information of criminals and suspects through unofficial channels.

Advocates contend that online disclosure of criminals personal details serves as a means to publicly shame them. Conversely, some internet users argue that platforms like Digital Prison represent their sole recourse, citing perceived inadequacies within the legal system.
Zameer made his first-ever bilateral official visit to India from May 8 to May 10. He stated that on May 9, he and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar held bilateral talks to discuss important issues aimed at accelerating the projects started with Indias financial help read more

Of the $200 million owed to India, $50 million was paid back in January, according to Zameer Image Courtesy ANI

Significant progress has been made in accelerating India-assisted projects in the Maldives, according to Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer, who also reaffirmed the governments commitment to giving these projects first priority.

Zameer made his first-ever bilateral official visit to India from May 8 to May 10. He stated that on May 9, he and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar held bilateral talks to discuss important issues aimed at accelerating the projects started with Indias financial help.

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According to him, the operational dynamics of the committees tasked with carrying out these projects were the main topic of conversation with S Jaishankar, psmnews.mv reported.

Speaking during a news conference in the Presidents Office, Zameer stated that India has approved an extension for the Maldives to repay a debt of $200 million, of which $150 million is still outstanding. Upon taking power in 2019, the previous government secured the loan.

Of the $200 million owed to India, $50 million was paid back in January, according to Zameer. He emphasized that no requests have been made by the Indian government in exchange for a longer payback time for the remaining $150 million.

According to the minister, during the previous government, loans and grants from India helped launch a number of initiatives around the Maldives.

He said that major progress has been made in accelerating projects with Indian assistance.

He emphasized how important it is for the current administration to prioritize starting and finishing these initiatives. During his most recent trip to India, he further demonstrated his commitment to this endeavor.

S. Jaishankar emphasized the importance of Indias ongoing projects in the Maldives during the two countries formal discussions.

Zameers trip to India coincided with a decline in bilateral relations between the two nations since pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu took office half a year ago.

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Muizzus insistence on the departure of Indian military troops operating three military installations within the island nation severely strained relations between the two countries.

Zameer announced on Saturday that 76 Indian military troops had been replaced by civilian workers of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the company that produced the two helicopters that India had provided. This announcement also put an end to the speculation regarding the precise number of individuals who had returned home at Males request.

The Maldivian government, however, has no plans to remove the Indian doctors who work at Senahiya.
Polls close at 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), with results expected after midnight. If no candidate wins more than 50% - which is likely according to opinion surveys - a run-off vote will be held on May 26 read more

Lithuanians vote on Sunday in a presidential election expected to hand a new term to incumbent Gitanas Nauseda, a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its two-year war with Russia, following a campaign focusing on security concerns in the Baltic states.

Polls close at 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), with results expected after midnight. If no candidate wins more than 50% - which is likely according to opinion surveys - a run-off vote will be held on May 26.

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Nauseda, 59, a former senior economist at a top bank, has the support of 29% of voters, a recent Delfi/Spinter Tyrimai poll showed. His strongest challenger is Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, the only woman running, with 14% of support.

Across the region, voters are worried the former Soviet republics that make up the Baltics, now members of the NATO military alliance and the European Union, could be the targets of Russian aggression in the future.

Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, a ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll has found. Lithuanian intelligence said in March Russia was on track to strengthen its military capabilities along its border with at NATO. Moscow has regularly dismissed Western suggestions that it might consider an attack on a NATO member as nonsense.

Food stockpiles

Most of the candidates running in Sundays election, including Simonyte and Nauseda, have told the national broadcaster they both keep food stockpiles at home ready in case of a military conflict.

I am doing all I can to make sure it will not be needed, Nauseda said during a televised debate.

Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3% of Lithuanias gross domestic product, from the 2.75% planned for this year, to pay for the modernisation of its army and infrastructure to support a brigade of German troops, and their families, that will be deployed in Lithuania and combat-ready from 2027.

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While agreeing on Russia policy, the two top candidates differ on issues such as same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes, and have a history of acrimonious bickering and refusing to speak to each other.

Lithuanias president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces and chairing the supreme defence and national security policy body, and represents the country at the European Union and NATO summits.

In tandem with the government, the president sets foreign and security policy, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defence and head of the central bank.

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In 2019, Nauseda won a presidential election run-off against Simonyte, a former finance minister, with 66% of vote.

Simonyte is also facing a tough test in a general election this October, as government parties trail in the polls.
The two NATO members, which share decades of mutual animosity, a tense border and disputed waters, agreed to sideline disputes last December. Instead, theyre focusing on trade and energy, repairing cultural ties and a long list of other items placed on the so-called positive agenda read more

Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, left, welcomes the Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before their meeting at Maximos Mansion in Athens, Greece. AP File

Old foes Turkey and Greece will test a five-month-old friendship initiative Monday when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Ankara.

The two NATO members, which share decades of mutual animosity, a tense border and disputed waters, agreed to sideline disputes last December. Instead, theyre focusing on trade and energy, repairing cultural ties and a long list of other items placed on the so-called positive agenda.

Heres a look at what the two sides hope to achieve and the disputes that have plagued ties in the past:

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Focusing on a positive agenda

Mitsotakis is to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday as part of efforts to improve ties following the solidarity Athens showed Ankara after a devastating earthquake hit southern Turkey last year.

The two leaders have sharp differences over the Israeli-Hamas war, but are keen to hold back further instability in the eastern Mediterranean as conflict also continues to rage in Ukraine.

We always approach our discussions with Turkey with confidence and with no illusions that Turkish positions will not change from one moment to the next, Mitsotakis said last week, commenting on the visit. Nevertheless, I think its imperative that when we disagree, the channels of communication should always be open.

We should disagree without tension and without this always causing an escalation on the ground, he added.

Ioannis Grigoriadis, a professor of political science at Ankaras Bilkent University, said the two leaders would look for ways to expand the positive agenda and look for topics where the two sides can seek win-win solutions, such as in trade, tourism and migration.

Easy visas for Turkish tourists

Erdogan visited Athens in early December, and the two countries have since maintained regular high-level contacts to promote a variety of fence-mending initiatives, including educational exchanges and tourism.

Turkish citizens this summer are able to visit 10 Greek islands using on-the-spot visas, skipping a more cumbersome procedure needed to enter Europes common travel area zone, known as the Schengen area.

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This generates a great opportunity for improving the economic relations between the two sides, but also to bring the two stable societies closer  for Greeks and Turks to realize that they have more things in common than they think, Grigoriadis said.

A history of disputes

Disagreements have brought Athens and Ankara close to war on several occasions over the past five decades, mostly over maritime borders and the rights to explore for resources in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean seas.

The two countries are also locked in a dispute over Cyprus, which was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the islands northern third.

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The dispute over the exploration of energy resources resulted in a naval standoff in 2020 and a vow by Erdogan to halt talks with the Mitsotakis government. But the two men met three times last year following a thaw in relations and a broader effort by Erdogan to re-engage with Western countries.

The foreign ministers of the two countries, Hakan Fidan of Turkey and George Gerapetritis of Greece, are set to join the talks Monday and hold a separate meeting.

Recent disagreements

Just weeks before Mitsotakis visit, Erdogan announced the opening of a former Byzantine-era church in Istanbul as a mosque, drawing criticism from Greece and the Greek Orthodox church. Like Istanbuls landmark Hagia Sophia, the Chora had operated as a museum for decades before it was converted into a mosque.

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Turkey, meanwhile, has criticized recently announced plans by Greece to declare areas in the Ionian and Aegean seas as marine parks to conserve aquatic life. Turkey objects to the one-sided declaration in the Aegean, where some areas remain under dispute, and has labelled the move as a step that sabotages the normalization process.

Grigoriadis said Turkey and Greece could focus on restoring derelict Ottoman monuments in Greece and Greek Orthodox monuments in Turkey. That would be an opportunity for improved ties, he said.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from areas bordering Russia in Ukraines Kharkiv province amid the ongoing Russian offensive read more

Russia has claimed to have captured a total of nine villages in its ongoing offensive in eastern Ukraines Kharkiv province.

After Russia launched the offensive on Friday, Ukrainian authorities have evacuated thousands of people from Kharkivs areas bordering Russia. The Russian offensive has comprised a ground assault along with aerial and artillery bombardment.

Russia on Saturday claimed to have captured five villages. It also claimed to have captured a sixth village outside of the Kharkiv theatre. On Sunday, it claimed to have captured four more.

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More than 4,000 people evacuated

Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synegubov has said that a total of 4,073 people have been evacuated from Kharkiv since Russia launched the offensive.

Ukrainian government has reported several civilians killed in the attacks, according to AFP news agency.

The city is constantly under fire. Everything in the city is being destroyed You hear constant explosions, artillery, mortars. The enemy is hitting the city with everything they have, said, Oleksiy Kharkivsky, a senior police officer from Vovchansk who has been helping to coordinate evacuations.

Of those evacuated, around 1,500 were evacuated or were forced to flee Vovchansk in the past 24 hours alone, said Kharkivsky.

The report further said the past 24 hours saw 32 Russian drone strikes on the town of Vovchansk.

Kharkivsky said evacuation personnel had come under Russian fire many times.

Russian attempt to break through our defences stopped: Ukraine

Ukraines Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said that the Russian attempt to break through the Ukrainian lines has been stopped.

Russian occupants attempts to break through our defense have been stopped, said Syrsky, as per AFP.

Syrsky further said that the situation in Kharkiv had deteriorated significantly and was complicated. He added that the Ukrainian military was doing everything they can to hold their defensive lines and positions and inflict damage on the enemy.

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The Russian offensive came at a time when the Russians had scored a string of victories in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks. For months, Ukrainian military had been dealing with shortage of ammunition and falling morale among their ranks. The personnel as well as war-waging resources have been thinly deployed along the long frontlines, which the Russian were taking advantage of. Now, as Ukraine has rushed reinforcements from elsewhere to Kharkiv, the situation is expected to get thinner.

For weeks before the attack, Ukrainian officials had warned that Russia might try to attack the northeastern border regions to take advantage of the broader crisis that the Ukrainian military was facing, according to AFP.
Manuel Noris-Barrera is the owner of the Little Heaven crepery in San Francisco, and also a Latino Republican candidate for state Assembly. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

Going into politics was not an option until last year for Manuel Noris-Barrera, 50, an immigrant from Mexico with a crepe shop on San Franciscos Mission Street.

The longtime Republican had been so disappointed by former President Donald Trumps 2020 defeat that he re-registered as an independent in 2022, what Noris-Barrera described as a one-year lapse in his Grand Old Party membership.

What is the point of being Republican? he said. Nobody wants to support a loser team.

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In 2023, however, it appeared to Noris-Barrera that the Republican Party might mount a comeback, as he felt people around him, mostly Latino, were expressing disappointment for the status quo and support for the GOP.

People are getting fed up with what the Democrats are doing, he said. We got to capitalize and make those changes.

In November, the small business owner launched his campaign for the District 17 state Assembly seat, saying it was good timing. Noris-Barrera secured only 13% of the vote in the March 5 primary, but because he was the Republican Partys sole candidate, he advanced to the November runoff to face the Democratic incumbent, San Francisco Assembly Member Matt Haney, who received 82% of the vote.

Indeed, though California voter registration data shows flickers of life for the Republican Party among Latino and Asian and Pacific Islander voters, a coming red wave is still more mirage than statistical reality.

A lifetime in politics

Following decades of decline, voter registration in the Republican Party in California settled at 24% between 2018 and 2024, voter registration data shows.

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Last year, the Public Policy Institute of California took a close look at registration data from 2018 to 2022 and noted a few surprising developments: No Party Preference (NPP) registration declined for the first time in 60 years, and the Republican Party was seeing more interest from Latino and AAPI Californians.

Significant shares of both groups have registered as Republicans, even as Republican registration continued to slide among all other Californians, Eric McGhee, a senior PPIC fellow focused on elections and politics, wrote in a release accompanying the analysis.

The increase was a marginal 2 percentage points for both groups, one McGhee nonetheless found a remarkable trend because Republican registration in those two ethnic groups had either been flat or declining for more than a decade prior to 2018. But suddenly, we are actually seeing an improvement where the numbers are going up again, he told the Chronicle.

AAPI and Latino Americans are among the fastest-growing voter groups in California and nationally.

The circumstances of the two groups are not the same however, experts say, as Asian Americans experienced a greater increase in statewide Democratic Party registration from 38% in 2018 to 43% in 2022. Meanwhile, Republican Party registration for the group only grew from 18% to 20%.

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For Latino voters, statewide Democratic Party registration rose from 53% in 2018 to 55% in 2022 while Republican Party registration rose from 13% to 15%, according to the PPIC analysis.

Asians are actually getting more Democratic. Latinos are getting more Republican, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of the voter research company Political Data, citing more recent statewide data that showed Latinos Republican Party registration increased to 18% in 2023, while Democratic Party registration came down to 51%.

But Mitchell does not think the Republican Partys gains among Latino voters represent a significant shift, because the registration is still wildly Democratic.

If you got your 2% milk at the store, and it was 2.007% milk the next day, will it taste different to you? No, he said. But would you be like  Hmm, thats weird. I wonder if its gonna keep going up, right?

In a follow-up text message, Mitchell estimated it would take 29.7 years for Republicans to match Democrats among Latinos if the current pace holds, a lifetime in politics.

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Mindy Romero, a political sociologist and founding director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California, agreed, saying there were too many questions to determine whether Latinos, in particular, were trending more Republican.

Are they people that switched from being Democratic? Are they people that were already leaning Republican but we hadnt identified them because they were NPP? Or theyre new voters that somehow the Republican Party got engaged and brought into the electorate? Romero wondered. I think itll depend on what the Republican Party does to engage Latino voters in California. Historically, both parties havent been very good at it.

It happens over generations

While researchers remained cool about the registration shifts, Mike Madrid, a GOP consultant who is Hispanic, called the change huge.

What it means is the community is transforming in a very, very significant way, Madrid said of the states Latino community.

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Madrid, a fierce critic of Trump who has urged his party to reject the former presidents racially charged rhetoric, said the California Republican Party is well positioned to make gains among voters who did not attend college.

They are finding economic mobility; theyre climbing up the economic ladder in this country through more blue-collar or traditional means, oftentimes, small businesses, Madrid said. And so what that means is theres this tendency to support Republican policies.

He also responded to Mitchells 30-year estimate, saying great political realignments take a long time.

What were starting to see is political assimilation that is reflective of economic mobility, he said. This hasnt happened in one election cycle. It doesnt happen in two or four; it happens over generations.

Nationally, the Democratic Party appears to be struggling to retain Latino support, according to Gallup polling from earlier this year. Democrats still counted a 12-point advantage over Republicans among Hispanic adults, but that marked the slimmest margin since Gallup began regularly conducting Spanish interviews in 2011. Democratic support from Black American voters also reached a record low.

Madrids prescription for the Republican Party to gain more support from Latino and AAPI voters is straightforward: Stop being racist.

For Noris-Barrera, the shift is mostly not driven by what the Republicans have done. It is how bad the Democrats are, he said, adding the Democratic Party has always been in power but not performed to expectations. Thats why they switched.

The messaging competition

While Californias Asian American voters still overwhelmingly register with the Democratic Party, some community advocates expressed concern about the increase in Republican registration.

Im super worried, said Jinxia Niu, program manager of Chinese for Affirmative Action, an advocacy group based in San Francisco that also runs the Chinese-language fact-checking website Piyaoba, which translates to lets fact-check it in Mandarin.

In 2023, Piyaoba documented a total of 636 pieces of Chinese-language disinformation circulating across social media such as WeChat, Telegram and YouTube. This year, it has documented 136 through March 10.

Since June 2023, election-related, far-right disinformation has been increasing dramatically every month, said Niu, adding that little has been done by the Democratic Party to counter the surge.

Top themes of disinformation accuse Democrats of planning to steal the 2024 election and falsely claim the COVID booster is a poisonous shot that the Democrats created to exaggerate the new variant of the virus, Niu said.

After conducting interviews with recipients of such disinformation, Niu determined that it was effective in pushing Chinese immigrants toward the Republican Party.

If you have a social media ecosystem that (is) overwhelmed by right-wing disinformation and conspiracy theories related to elections, Niu said, then people who are unfamiliar with U.S. politics and those who lack media literacy are very easily being targeted or influenced by this social media environment.

Apart from the disinformation, Niu and her colleagues have also noticed that the Republican Party has done a much better job with in-language messaging and voter education.

Personalized introductions to Republican candidates coupled with easily consumable voting instructions, for example, were all translated into Chinese and much more available across social media platforms for Chinese-speaking voters in 2022, Niu recalled.

The overall landscape of Chinese-language media and digital media  its all overwhelmingly dominated by right-wing narratives, she said. Folks in (the) Democratic Party need to invest much more in in-language API voters education and mobilization.

Southeast Asian communities have also been on the receiving end of the Republican Partys messaging strategies, said Nick Nguyen, lead researcher and co-founder of the Vietnamese-language fact-checking website Viet Fact Check.

Many Vietnamese Americans arrived as refugees fleeing turbulence, Nguyen noted, and safety is a top priority.

Vietnamese Americans in particular, tend to support progressive issues like gun control, climate change, health care, but they will vote Republican because the messaging is much more targeted on that trauma, he said. Its really hard for people who have a dedication to tell the truth  to oversimplify, right? But if youre just trying to get someone to make a decision, you do oversimplify.

Voters are noticing the messaging differences themselves.

Quiante Hoggard, who leans Democratic, grew up in a Sunset District that is more than 40% Asian. He said its easier for voters to digest Republicans simpler message than Democrats more complete one. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Down on Valencia Street, Quiante Hoggard, a retail worker who grew up in a Sunset District that is more than 40% Asian, said its easier for people to digest a simpler message.

Democrats just talk and talk and talk and Republicans just kind of say simple stuff, said Hoggard, who is Black and leans Democratic.
Spains Catalonia has had a separatist movement for a long time that climaxed in 2017 when the regions government conducted a referendum on seceding from Spain read more

Spains Catalonia region is going to polls on Sunday. The elections are a contest between an exiled separatist and an anti-independence party.

Spains Catalonia has had a separatist movement for a long time that climaxed in 2017 when the regions government conducted a referendum on seceding from Spain. The referendum was held as illegal and the region remained a part of Spain.

Surveys have predicted that the anti-independence leader, Socialist candidate Salvador Illa, is expected to win the polls. If he comes to power, it would be the first time in a decade that Catalonia would not be ruled by a separatist party. Notably, the Socialists also run the federal government and the partys victory is expected to be seen as the victory of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs reconciliatory approach with Catalonia.

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While surveys put the Socialists in the lead, some say as much as 40% voters remain undecided, which means that the elections may go either way.

Who are the contestants in Catalonian elections?

The main contest is between the separatists and the anti-secessionist party.

The separatists are led by hardline Junts party leader Carles Puigdemont. He was the regions leader at the time of the 2017 referendum that plunged Spain into the countrys worst constitutional crisis. He had fled to Belgium.

Puigdemont is facing Socialist leader Illa, whom surveys have pitched as the electorates favourite. The moderate party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) is also in the fray. The party currently rules Catalonia.

Today we are stronger, more resilient and determined. The time to return has come, said Puigdemont at rally in southern France, near the Catalonia border, on Friday, as per Reuters.

Puigdemont further said, We are the largest nation in Europe that is not a state and (Spain) has not been able to stop us from working without rest to achieve independence.

Hung assembly expected in Catalonia

Surveys have suggested as many as 40% voters remain undecided, as per Reuters.

The report further said that any party who wins the polls will likely rule the region in a coalition as no party appears set to win a majority.

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The Junts and ERC have ruled out any alliance with the Socialists. The two parties may, however, come together and that may mark a new pro-independence government in the region, as per the report.

In case no party can form government despite talks, repeat elections will be held in October.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the United Kingdom does not support an Israeli invasion of Rafah without any plan to evacuate and resettle the Palestinians sheltering there read more

The United Kingdom has not seen any plan for the evacuation and settlement of Palestinians sheltering in Gaza Strips Rafah, said British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

In the absence of such a plan, the UK does not support an Israeli invasion of Rafah, said Cameron.

Rafah is a town at the southern tip of Gaza where up to 1.3-4 million Palestinians displaced from seven months of war between Israel and Hamas have taken refuge. In recent days, Israel has carried out targeted operations in the town and has said that around 300,000 people have left the town.

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Israel has maintained that multiple battalions of Hamas are making their last stand in Rafah and an operation there is a must to defeat the terrorist group. However, the UK, the United States, and the international community has advised against it and has said such an operation will lead to a grave humanitarian disaster.

There needs to be an absolutely plan for Rafah

Cameron said that there needs to be an absolutely clear plan for the displaced Palestinians resettlement if Israel has to conduct an operation in Rafah. He added that the UK has not seen such a plan.

In an interview with Sky News, Cameron said, We dont support  weve said it clearly. For there to be a major offensive in Rafah, there would have to be an absolutely clear plan about how you save lives, how you move people out of the way, make sure they are fed, make sure they have medicines and shelter and everything else.

"We don't support an offensive in that way".



Foreign secretary @David_Cameron says it would be wrong for the Israelis to begin an offensive in Rafah "without a plan to protect people".#TrevorPhillips https://t.co/fhIHlpTGAF



 Sky 501, Virgin 602 pic.twitter.com/s1amTxDjl9  Sky News (@SkyNews) May 12, 2024

Cameron further said that an Israeli operation in Rafah without a plan to protect the civilians would be wrong. He added that it would be extremely dangerous to operate in this manner.

In Rafah, you have got hundreds of thousands of people who have moved from other parts of Gaza, so it is extremely dangerous to attempt an offensive there in this way, said Cameron.

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Camerons comments follow similar statements from the United States where top leaders, including President Joe Biden, have pressed Israel to not launch an operation in Rafah without a plan. Biden has said that he would halt weapons deliveries to Israel if Israel would launch such an operation there without any plan to Washingtons satisfaction.

The real pressure should be on Hamas

While Cameron said Israel should not invade Rafah without an appropriate plan, he said the real pressure should be on Hamas for any ceasefire.

The real pressure should be on Hamas to agree on hostages so that the fighting can stop tomorrow, said Cameron.

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The talks for a ceasefire in Gaza and release of hostage held by Hamas, which were being facilitated by the US, UK, and regional players Egypt and Qatar, appear to have reached an impasse despite initial optimism that a deal was likely. The US and UK leaders have consistently maintained that the ball is in the court of Hamas and the terrorist group is stalling the deal.

In the October 7 attack on Israel led by Hamas, the terrorists not just killed around 1,200 people but also abducted more than 250 people and took them to Gaza as hostages. While around 100 were released in a deal reached late last year, the majority remain in captivity.
The FAA, short on money and personnel, has long delegated the job of quality assurance to pre-approved employees of the airplane manufacturers read more

The US Federal Aviation Administration, sharply criticized after the crashes of two Boeing planes in 2018 and 2019, is again being dragged into a maelstrom surrounding the major American aerospace manufacturer.

The dramatic mid-flight blowout on January 5 of a fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines plane precipitated the departures of a series of top Boeing officials  including CEO Dave Calhoun, who is set to step down at years end  and the reduced production of the 737 MAX.

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But as Boeing faces multiple inquiries and audits in the United States and abroad, it has repeatedly assured critics that it is working with full transparency and under the oversight of FAA regulators.

And the FAA, which itself has seen four bosses come and go since August 2019, has been unable to evade a share of the responsibility.

The FAA has to be held accountable as well, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, who heads a subcommittee investigating Boeings safety practices.

After the panel incident in January, the agency dispatched a team to inspect Boeing factories, and gave the firm 90 days to provide an action plan to address several problem areas.

Self-reporting

I think the FAA is doing the best that they can and that they have greatly improved their surveillance of Boeing since the 2018 and 2019 crashes off Indonesia and in Ethiopia, which killed 346 people, said Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation consultant and former head of the agencys investigation division.

But they did fail to catch production problems, he said, noting that for decades the FAA relied on manufacturers themselves to self-report problems.

The FAA, short on money and personnel, has long delegated the job of quality assurance to pre-approved employees of the airplane manufacturers.

That creates a conflict of interest, said Hassan Shahidi, president of the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation.

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There needs to be a shift where the FAA has more direct responsibility for oversight, he said.

Like Guzzetti, he said he has seen some improvement but believes the FAA must dispatch more of its own inspectors  and not delegate so much regulatory authority to manufacturers.

This is going to take some time and it will need vigilance, Shahidi added.

But the agency is on the right track now, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of the AeroDynamic Advisory consultancy.

Its nothing that cant be corrected with additional oversight and resources, he said.

Record funding

Those resources depend directly on the US Congress, and the Senate on Thursday approved a record amount of agency funding for the next five years.

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We need to show (the public) that we are asking for, implementing and holding accountable the FAA to a gold standard for safety, said Senator Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The record level of financing, Cantwell added, would allow the FAA to step up inspections.

It still needs House approval before President Joe Biden can sign it into law.

Industry shortages of qualified personnel, from mechanics to engineers, were made worse by the pandemic, affecting every stage of manufacturing  from supply procurement to production and maintenance.

Its difficult to recruit and retain good craftsmen, even for Boeing, Guzzetti said.

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And the FAA has specifically struggled to fill its hiring needs because workers can find higher pay and better benefits in the private sector.

Investigations into the 2018 and 2019 Boeing crashes showed that the company knowingly concealed from the FAA problems in a software system linked to the accidents, whistleblower Joe Jacobsen told Blumenthals committee in mid-April.

Jacobsen, who worked for the FAA for 25 years after 11 years with Boeing, said the agency had become too captive to Boeing.

The FAA falls under the US Transportation Department, whose inspector general in June 2022 opened an audit into the agencys supervision of 737 and 787 production. A final report is expected this summer.

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The inspector generals office already concluded in 2021 that weaknesses in FAAs certification and delegation processes hindered its oversight of the 737 MAX 8.
The United States and much of the international community have urged Israel to not invade Rafah where more than 1 million Palestinians displaced from the Israel-Hamas War have taken shelter read more

As part of a strategy to prevent Israel from invading Rafah, the United States is offering intelligence to locate Hamas leaders, according to a report.

The Joe Biden administration of the US is also reportedly offering Israel to build tent cities to house the Palestinians evacuated from Rafah.

The US and much of the international community have urged Israel to not invade Rafah, the last Gazan town at the southern tip of the Palestinian enclave that has not seen major fighting. As many as 1.3-4 million Palestinians displaced from the Israel-Hamas War are said to have taken shelter in Rafah. The international community has warned that an invasion of Rafah will create a grave humanitarian crisis.

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While Israel has not invaded Rafah, it has started conducting targeted operations in Rafah. It has said that around 300,000 Palestinians sheltering in the town have already left.

What has US offered Israel in lieu of not invading Rafah?

The US has offered sensitive intelligence to Israel to help pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and locate the terrorist groups hidden tunnels in lieu of Israel not invading Rafah, according to The Washington Post.

The newspaper further reported that US officials have offered to help Israel build tent cities to house Palestinians evacuated from Gaza.

Tent city is a term for tent encampments for displaced people. Such encampment offer shelter and other necessities such as water, sanitation, and medical help. While there are humanitarian zones outside of Rafah, no tent cities to the satisfaction of the Biden administration have yet come up.

The report said that the Biden administration has offered help with the construction of delivery systems for food, water, and medicine so that Palestinians leaving Rafah can have a habitable place to live. The officials are reported to have stressed that Palestinians to be evacuated from Gaza cannot be sent to regions of the strip already bombed out but need to be housed in livable conditions and not simply be exposed to additional famine or disease.

Moreover, the US officials have gone into great details about how such encampments would come up and, minute details, for example, how much water would be required to certain areas of encampment, have also been discussed.

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Where is Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar?

Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, is not in Rafah, according to a report in The Times of Israel.

Sinwar is considered to be the architect of the October 7 attack on Israel. Finding him along with other leaders of Hamas is key element of one of the two aims of Israels war in Gaza: the destruction of Hamas.

Two officials told the paper that while they could not say with certainty where Sinwar was at the moment, they said there were Israeli assessments that said he was in underground tunnels somewhere below Khan Younis. A third official further confirmed to the paper that Sinwar was in Gaza and had not left the enclave.

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Separately, The Post reported that the Biden administration has assessed that Sinwar would welcome a major Israeli invasion of Rafah that could lead to a protracted battle. As such a battle would further isolate Israel internationally, which is already facing isolation not just from its critics but also its allies and partners, Sinwar would welcome it, according to the report.
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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.
Photo by Bob Silbernagel

Bob Silbernagel

This 1920s-era headstone, which incorrectly says there were five Union Civil War veterans buried together, will be replaced and a new stone will be dedicated Saturday, May 18, recognizing Edwin Isham, Thomas Christie and J.W. Schroeder as the three veterans buried there.

This 1920s-era headstone, which incorrectly says there were five Union Civil War veterans buried together, will be replaced and a new stone will be dedicated Saturday, May 18, recognizing Edwin Isham, Thomas Christie and J.W. Schroeder as the three veterans buried there.
Colorado Mesa University students gathered to call for peace and protest against the increasing escalation of the Israel military in and around the Gaza Strip on CMUs campus on May 10, 2024. Student chants called out CMU president John Marshall by name, as the group is following suit of protest groups on other U.S. campuses and asking for the university to divest from supporting or funding groups with ties to Israel. CMU students specifically call for the university to divest from Northrop Grumman, who critics say is supplying weapons to Israel. Here, a students sign claims that CMU supports Northrop Grumman with 235 market shares, valuing nearly $111, 345.
Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Department of Public Information . News and Media Division . New York

10 May 2024

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

All right, good afternoon, everyone, and happy Friday.

** Secretary-General's Travels

In Nairobi, the Secretary-General spoke today at the United Nations Civil Society Conference in Support of the Summit of the Future.

He said that, whether on climate, gender equality or peace, he has witnessed the enormous impact of civil society in every corner of the world. He encouraged the representatives  most young people  to continue working with the United Nations to build a better world.

As outlined in his Our Common Agenda report, Mr. [Antonio] Guterres said we need a vision for a more inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism  one where the contributions of civil society are recognised as central, not a token or an afterthought. He said: "We won't give up in the struggle for peace, justice and human rights, and I know you won't either. My best hope for the future is you."

In remarks to the press, the Secretary-General extended his 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, he said. He added that we will continue working hand in hand to support Government relief efforts in any way that we can.

The Secretary-General reiterated his 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.

He said that 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. But he warned that 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.

In a bilateral meeting with the President of Kenya, William Ruto, the Secretary-General expressed his condolences for the loss of life and damage caused by recent flooding. He also saluted Kenya's leadership of the Multinational Security Support Mission that is so desperately needed for Haiti.

On the sidelines of the conference, the Secretary-General will meet with the co-facilitators of the Summit of the Future, the Permanent Representatives of Namibia and Germany.

After Nairobi, the Secretary-General will be heading to Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. On Sunday, 12 May, he will arrive in Kuwait City early in the morning for an official visit. While there, he is expected to hold meetings with His Highness, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait. Discussions will focus on the situation in the region and beyond.

The second stop will be on Monday, 13 May, where he will be heading to Oman, for more discussions. In Muscat, he will meet with His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik.

From there, the Secretary-General will travel to Manama, in Bahrain, where the Arab League Summit is taking place. He will deliver remarks to the summit.

In Manama, the Secretary-General will hold discussions with leaders attending the summit.

We will keep you updated during each leg of his visit.

** Occupied Palestinian Territory

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that ground incursions and heavy fighting continue to be reported in eastern Rafah, including around the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that a WHO staff member, his spouse and their child were injured two days ago in Rafah when their home was destroyed due to an air strike nearby. The staff member's 7-year-old niece was killed. Dr. Tedros called for the protection of all civilians and humanitarian workers.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, reports that more than 142,000 people already displaced from Rafah are facing dire shortages of food, water, shelter and sanitation services.

Humanitarian partners working on the health response in Gaza warn that with fuel supplies dwindling, five hospitals and five field hospitals, 17 primary health-care centres, nearly two dozen medical points and 28 ambulances will only be able to sustain their operations for less than 48 hours.

Meanwhile, eight bakeries supported by the World Food Programme in southern Gaza have already ceased operations, and four others will soon run out of fuel and supplies. The four operational bakeries in northern Gaza have one week of supplies available to make bread.

Humanitarian missions to northern Gaza continue to face significant access constraints. As of yesterday, only 9 of 32 aid missions to northern Gaza this month have been facilitated by Israeli authorities.

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, said in a social media post yesterday that civilians in Gaza are being starved and killed as the humanitarian community is prevented from helping them.

He warned that the closure of the crossings means no fuel, trucks, generators, water or electricity  and no movement of people or goods.

** UNRWA

On Thursday evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem. This took place while UNRWA and other UN agencies' staff were on the compound.

While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas.

A crowd accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting, "Burn down the United Nations".

This is an outrageous development, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said. Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk.

In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, he has taken the decision to close down the compound until proper security is restored.

He said it is the responsibility of the State of Israel as an occupying Power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are always protected.

UN staff, premises and operations should be protected at all times in line with international law.

The Secretary-General condemned the attack. Targeting aid workers and humanitarian assets is unacceptable and must stop, he said.

** Syria

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) welcomes the Government of Syria's authorization today for the continued use of the Bab al-Salam and al-Rai crossing points from Turkiye, for the United Nations to continue delivering humanitarian assistance to people in need in north-west Syria, through August 13th.

The cross-border operation from Turkiye  which also utilizes the Bab al-Hawa crossing  is a lifeline for aid to north-west Syria, where millions of people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including food, nutrition, health, shelter, protection, education and other critical support.

This year, we and our partners are appealing for just over $4 billion to assist more than 10 million people throughout Syria. But our ability to respond continues to be constrained by reductions in funding, with only 6 per cent of the funding required  some $224 million  received to date.

** Haiti

On Haiti, our humanitarian colleagues warn that the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence has reached an alarming level in the country. According to a joint report by the Government and our humanitarian partners released today, the number of gender-based violence survivors was five times higher in March than it was in January and February combined.

Some three quarters of the cases concern sexual violence, with 94 per cent of survivors being girls and women, while 78 per cent of survivors are internally displaced people.

The number of cases of gender-based violence committed by members of armed groups represents 72 per cent of reported incidents.

Humanitarian organizations continue to support survivors, with 90 per cent of survivors having received psychosocial support and 25 per cent of rape victims receiving medical care within 72 hours following the incident. More than 1,300 dignity kits have been distributed to displaced people living in sites.

Despite the increasing number of gender-based violence cases, humanitarian organizations have only received 7 per cent of the funding required for prevention and to support survivors. We urgently need additional resources to strengthen the response and provide legal assistance, medical care, psychosocial support and livelihood means for survivors.

** Chad

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that Chad continues to face a protracted humanitarian crisis, with 6 million out of 18.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance across the country.

The food security and nutrition situation is being exacerbated by climate change, insecurity and the rise in food and fuel prices.

According to a UN-backed analysis, 2.4 million people are currently food insecure in the country  300,000 of whom are severely food insecure. This number could grow during the lean season to 3.3 million, if no substantive assistance is provided.

Since March, the country is also facing torrential rains and floods in the south of the country.

The country has also welcomed more than half a million refugees since the start of the conflict in neighbouring Sudan last year. This has significantly strained the humanitarian situation in the east of the country, and attacks by non-State armed groups in the Lake Chad Basin area are driving further displacement.

The $1.1 billion Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is just 6.6 per cent funded with nearly $74 million received.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, allocated $15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) as part of a larger allocation in February this year to support underfunded emergencies.

** Zimbabwe

Turning to Zimbabwe, we and our partners launched yesterday a Flash Appeal seeking $429 million to support 3.1 million people.

This appeal comes following an El Nino-induced drought that has affected the country since December of 2023; it will complement the Government's response to the national drought disaster.

In Zimbabwe, El Nino events have been associated with prolonged dry spells, reduced rainfall and increased temperatures.

An estimated 6 million people are expected to be food insecure during the lean season.

The drought is worsening water shortages, potentially affecting 2.6 million people.

In view of the worsening situation, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, released $13.5 million last month from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the El Nino-induced drought in Southern Africa. Of this amount, $3 million of this allocation went to Zimbabwe.

** Kuwait

The Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya, will visit Kuwait this week, as the country hosts a humanitarian conference on Gaza.

The one-day event on Sunday, 12 May, will bring together UN agencies and international, regional and local aid organizations in Kuwait to explore urgent measures to stem the spiralling humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Ms. Msuya will speak at the opening of the conference, which is being organized by the International Islamic Charitable Organization, in partnership with OCHA and under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Kuwait.

** Ukraine

Today in Kyiv, the UN team, alongside the Governments of Germany and Ukraine, hosted a forum focused on Ukraine's recovery from the ravages of war. The event, a precursor to the forthcoming Ukrainian Recovery Conference in Berlin next month, saw nearly 500 participants, including government officials, local authorities, civil society, community leaders and national and international development partners.

A key focus of the discussions was ensuring that recovery efforts are inclusive and address the needs of marginalized groups, including women, people with disabilities, the Roma and the LGBTQI+ community.

The UN team notes that Russia's ongoing invasion has caused immense human suffering and widespread devastation, leading to dire humanitarian needs. Last year alone, the UN helped rebuild nearly 1,000 schools, provided primary health care to more than 5 million women and children, installed new heating, water, and energy infrastructure for 6 million people and supported more than 2,100 small and medium businesses.

** Peacebuilding Commission

The Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), Sergio Franca Danese of Brazil, will undertake a visit to Sao Tome and Principe from 13 to 15 May at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Patrice Trovoada.

The President of the Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Gilberto Da Piedade Verissimo; the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, Abdou Abarry; and the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General of the Peacebuilding Support, Elizabeth Spehar, will accompany the Chair.

The mission is intended to mobilize support to Sao Tome and Principe in consolidating peace and stability, notably reforming its justice and security sectors.

** Senior Personnel Appointment

We have a senior personnel appointment. Today, the Secretary-General is appointing Barrie Freeman of the United States as his new Deputy Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).

Ms. Freeman succeeds Giovanie Biha of Burundi, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her accomplishments in West Africa and the Sahel, including her role in advancing implementation of the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel. The Secretary-General also thanks Khassim Diagne of Senegal, who has been providing steadfast support to UNOWAS in the interim.

Ms. Freeman brings to the position over 30 years of wide-ranging experience in international peace and security. She has served since 2021 as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Before that, she was Deputy Head and Political Director in the Peacebuilding Support Office of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs from 2018 to 2021.

There is more online.

** International Days

Today is the International Day of Argania. As you may know, the argan tree is a native species of the sub-Saharan region of Morocco.

Tomorrow is World Migration Bird Day. This Day shines a spotlight on the relationship between migratory birds and insects amidst alarming declines for both.

And on Sunday, we mark the International Day of Plant Health. It's a reminder that we depend on plants for 80 per cent of the food we eat and 98 per cent of the oxygen we breathe.

** Financial Contribution

And it's Friday, and it's nearly lunchtime.

If we were lucky enough to have lunch in the latest Member State to pay its dues, we might be treated to, amongst many other foods, Kuy teav, Lap Khmer or Samlar kari. Anyone willing to guess what that nation is? It is Cambodia.

We thank our friends in Phnom Penh for Cambodia's payment, and we have reached 108 fully paid-up nations.

** Questions and Answers

Deputy Spokesman : Yes. Dezhi and then Amelie.

Question : A couple of questions. Today, the GA vote adopted the resolution, and in that resolution, it asked Secretary-General to take necessary measures to implement the resolution, which grants many rights to the State of Palestine. What measures can the Secretary-General do to implement that resolution? Will he refer to Security Council to restart the negotiation of the admission again? And what measures?

Deputy Spokesman : Well, regarding that, in accordance with our standard procedure, the Secretary-General and the Secretariat will take the measures necessary to implement the resolution, as requested by the Assembly. [cross talk]

Question : So, what are the necessary measures?

Deputy Spokesman : We will, first now that it's passed, we will study the resolution, including its annexes, and see how to go forward in that. But we will then proceed with that.

Question : And one thing, today the Israeli Ambassador shredded the UN Charter; said that's what people did in that, in that hall. What is the reaction of the Secretary-General on that image? Does he think they can do that? [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman : We've told you before that we don't comment on the various remarks made by different ambassadors. And the theatrics, both in the past and the present, are things that are part and parcel of the presentations the Member States make. We don't comment on those, but regarding the Charter, obviously, this is an organization that is premised on respect with the UN Charter, and all of the Member States have pledged to uphold the UN Charter, and we expect them to fulfil that obligation.

Question : And do you feel uncomfortable to see that image in the TV?

Deputy Spokesman : I've been around here a long time. I've seen a lot. Look... [cross talk] All I can tell you, look, that was a Charter. There's many charters. [pulls out a copy of the United Nations Charter] There's one right here. The Charter is intact. Its ideals are intact.

Correspondent : You resurrected it.

Deputy Spokesman : What?

Correspondent : You resurrected it. [laughing] Good job.

Deputy Spokesman : The Charter is something that will stay with us. And like I said, it's the founding document of this organization. As long as this organization exists, the Charter exists.

Question : Now that... Why I asked that question, because we saw the attack on UNRWA, and we know it might be some people who hated UNRWA, who had opinions on UN, they did that. But don't you think this kind of behaviour by the Israeli Ambassador, actually... how to say that? Infused this kind of behaviour, infused this attack for UNRWA, for those people who stopped the trucks, aid trucks, to cross the Kerem Shalom border crossings?

Deputy Spokesman : Well, those are separate things. Obviously, a piece of paper is a piece of paper and theatrics are theatrics... [cross talk]

Question : But those...

Deputy Spokesman : We are against, we are clearly and strictly against threats made on our personnel and our facilities. Those are irresponsible, they're wrong, they have to stop.

Question : But it's not connected, you think?

Deputy Spokesman : We have seen so much. You can go over the history of the UN and all the speeches that happened. You know, different moments when people use different props. Their own shoes, their... the various resolutions of the Security Council that got crumpled up by different people; we've seen it all. We rise above that. This is an organization of diplomacy, and we encourage diplomacy.

Amelie?

Question : Thanks, Farhan. A completely different topic. On Somalia, the Government of Somalia has sent a letter to the SG and the Security Council requesting the termination of UNSOM (UN Mission in Somalia). Do you have any comment on that? Do you think UNSOM has done enough in Somalia that they could end their mission?

Deputy Spokesman : Well, the thing about UN missions is that we do not plan to stay forever in any country. But when we withdraw, we want to do it as part of dialogue with the country, with the Security Council and others on how to do it. Decisions on the mandate of UNSOM, the UN Mission in Somalia, have to be taken by the Security Council. So really, this matter rests in their hands, and we will accept what the Security Council does, but we will work in good faith with all Member States in terms of what's expected if there is to be a drawdown of a UN mission. And I might add, if a political mission or a peacekeeping mission leaves a country, that doesn't mean the end of the UN presence. We have country teams, we have other ways of assisting, and we would continue to assist the people of Somalia.

Question : But I mean, we've seen in recent months, I mean, in a year, many different Governments out of the blue requesting the UN missions, whether political missions or peacekeeping mission, to leave. So, are you worried about this tendency?

Deputy Spokesman : There are different moments, if you look at the history of the UN, when political missions, peacekeeping missions either grow or they ebb. We are well aware of that process. And what we try to do is make sure that whenever we have to leave anywhere, it's done in a responsible manner so that we can continue to serve the people of that place  in this case, Somalia.

Yes, Ibtisam?

Question : Farhan, first on the resolution that was adopted today, do you have any comments on that?

Deputy Spokesman : Well, what I can tell you, our basic comment is that it's clear, including from the resolution, that the State of Palestine was not granted a new status within the United Nations, nor has it been admitted to membership in this Organization. It is also clear that it remains an Observer State and does not have the same status nor standing as a Member State. At the same time, of course, the annex provides for additional rights and privileges of participation of the State of Palestine, without prejudice to its existing rights and privileges, and we will follow what the General Assembly has agreed to regarding that.

Question : Yeah. Well, my question is whether you have a comment on the resolution? Do you welcome it? Do you think it's a right step in the right direction, giving the fact... in light of your resolutions?

Deputy Spokesman : Well, certainly, this is a new resolution for us to follow, and we welcome the fact that a wide membership of the General Assembly has agreed to this step.

Question : I have another question on attack on your premises, UNRWA premises of the UN in Jerusalem. As you mentioned in the statement you read that this is the... it is happening for the second time in the same week. And when I asked Stephane [Dujarric] about it, the last week  I'm sorry, not last week; earlier this week  he said that because of the first attack, he said that you are communicating with the Israelis on this issue, but it seems to be that this communication didn't bear fruits in the way that your premise was attacked again. And this time, bigger attack that led to a burn down of some parts of the building. And I guess my question here, again, how concerned are you about the safety of your staff in Jerusalem and about the fact that the Israeli Government is not doing what they need to do as a host country in protecting your premises?

Thank you.

Deputy Spokesman : We're very concerned, and you can see how concerned we are from the fact that Mr. Lazzarini took the decision not to bring any staff into the compound until conditions there are safe and until the safety can be guaranteed by the relevant authorities. We have reminded Israel and will continue to remind Israel of its obligations as a host country in occupied East Jerusalem.

And with that... Yes, one more.

Question : I came late. I didn't want to jump in front of anybody else. A question on numbers. The Director of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Catherine Russell, had indicated in mid-March she was citing Hamas' health ministry numbers. Thirteen thousand children had died. That was in mid-March in Gaza. The UN released totals yesterday, showing that less than 8,000 children have died in Gaza as a result of the war, citing those... that same Hamas' health industry. Can you clarify the process for how those numbers were revised?

Deputy Spokesman : Yeah, the revisions are taken... you know, of course, in the fog of war, it's difficult to come up with numbers. We get numbers from different sources on the ground, and then we try to crosscheck them. As we crosscheck them, we update the numbers, and we'll continue to do that as that progresses.

Question : I mean, that's... it's almost half. I mean, it's pretty significant.

Deputy Spokesman : Numbers get adjusted many times over the course of a conflict. Once a conflict is done, we'll have the most accurate figures. But we're just going with what we can absolutely confirm, which will always be the low end of what the numbers are.

Question : So, can people consider those numbers reliable having been so off in this occasion?

Deputy Spokesman : Well, you can consider them reliable from the fact that we're continually checking them. We'll continue to do that over the course of the war. But the numbers, you know, ultimately have to be regularly checked so that we can be sure that what we're putting out is valid.

Okay. Anything else? If not, I yield a floor to the real star of today, the Spokesperson for the President of General Assembly, Monica Grayley.

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Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, May 11

IDF Press Release

May 11, 2024

11.05.24

IDF

Good evening,

At the end of the week, we released announcements regarding the fall of Sergeant Itai Levani, Sergeant Yosef Dassa, Sergeant Aramias Mekuria, Sergeant Daniel Levy, and Staff Sergeant Ariel Tzim, may their memory be a blessing.

They fought bravely in the Zeitoun area of Gaza, and fell as a result of an explosive and encounters with terrorists. We are accompanying the bereaved families and sharing in their sorrow during this difficult time.

IDF troops continue to fight in all parts of the Gaza Strip, in areas where we have not yet operated and in places where we have, we identified Hamas trying to recover and rebuild itself.

In northern Gaza, in the last hour, fighter jets have been striking terrorist targets across Jabaliya. This morning we began a temporary evacuation process of the Jabaliya area from this area towards the center of the strip as part of our preparation for a military operation in the area. In recent weeks, we have identified attempts by Hamas to restore its military capabilities in Jabaliya and we are working to dismantle these attempts. In the afternoon, troops from the Gaza Division began an operation against terrorist infrastructure in the Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia areas near the security fence.

In the central Gaza Strip, troops from the 99th Division are in the midst of a wide-scale operation in the Zeitoun area. The troops eliminated about thirty terrorists and located dozens of weapons in a school in the area. They are continuing operations there; in recent hours, they discovered a significant underground route through which terrorists planned to carry out an attack against our forces .

In the southern Strip, troops from the 162nd Division continue their operation on terrorist targets in eastern Rafah. This is a focused, intelligence-based operation against terrorist infrastructure in the area.

Last night, terrorists from the area and from the center of the Strip launched fourteen rockets towards Be'er Sheva. One of the rockets hit a children's playground. Hamas deliberately fired towards a populated area, which could have ended in disaster. Shortly afterward, IDF troops struck the launch sites from which the barrage was carried out as well as additional terrorist operatives in the area.

So far, we have eliminated dozens of terrorists in eastern Rafah, found a significant underground route, and seized many weapons. This morning we coordinated the temporary evacuation of the population in additional areas in eastern Rafah, adjacent to the combat zone.

Hamas will continue to try to rebuild its military capabilities, and we will continue to be required to act and dismantle Hamas' capabilities. Wherever we have intelligence on such attempts by Hamas, we will act again.

On the northern border, a short while ago, sirens were activated due to an unmanned aerial vehicle by Hezbollah. The UAV fell near Beit Hillel; there were no casualties.

Today, we also struck in southern Lebanon, continuing the strikes carried out over the past week from the air and land. In the strikes, we targeted more than one hundred and twenty Hezbollah targets, involving weapons storage facilities, Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon that were planned to be used against our civilians near the fence and near the border. During these strikes, we eliminated more than 10 terrorists.

Last night, after several of our strikes in Lebanon and the elimination of two terrorists, launches from Hezbollah resulted in a fire near Kiryat Shmona and damage in several spots in the city. In response, the IDF struck the areas from which the launch was fired and the forces that carried out the launch.

Tomorrow we will mark the eve of Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) for the IDF's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism acts, and later this week the 76th Independence Day of the State of Israel amidst the war.

IDF soldiers and commanders will visit the cemeteries - a soldier will stand by each grave, salute during the siren, and support the bereaved families. Alongside those visiting the graves, there will be many IDF soldiers who will be fighting at that hour on the battlefield and who will enable us all to safely stand by and embrace the families on this day.

Since October 7th, there is hardly an Israeli civilian who has not closely encountered bereavement and loss. The war for our home and the return of the hostages is present in every home in Israel.

Memorial Day carries a call to action to remember and to fight, to fight for our lives here, for all those who sacrificed their lives.

IDF troops are deployed in all arenas, both in offense and defense, fighting to protect our security here.

We will embrace the bereaved families who have paid the heaviest price.

We will accompany the wounded - those who have been physically injured and those who have been scarred in spirit.

We will continue to fight in order to create a security situation that will allow the residents of the north and the south to return home safely.

Even at this hour, every fighter and commander on the battlefield envisions the hostages, sees them, thinks of them, and fights to bring them home. There are 132 hostages still held in captivity in Gaza. It is the duty of the IDF and all security organizations to ensure their quick return home.

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Hamas, Islamic Jihad hold US responsible for Gaza crimes

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 11, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Palestinian resistance movements, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have said that the United States is responsible for the ongoing crimes against Palestinians in Gaza as Washington continues to support the Israeli regime in its genocide war on the besieged territory.

In a statement on Saturday, the Islamic Jihad Movement held the US responsible for the perpetuated Israeli crimes in Gaza due to its political, financial and military support for the regime.

The movement also condemned Arab countries for their "suspicious" silence on the Israeli crimes, saying that some of those countries are even cooperating with the regime as it has been revealed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Islamic Jihad said that the "Zionist enemy and its supporters" have no goals but to kill more Palestinians. Therefore, it added, resistance fighters will continue to fight the occupiers regardless of the price they pay.

Similar comments were echoed by Hamas as well.

The resistance movement said in a statement on Saturday that the Israeli regime is pressing ahead with its genocidal war on Gaza, and the US is responsible in this regard because of supporting the regime.

Hamas called on the international community and the United Nations to put aside their "embarrassing stance" and exert pressure on the Israeli regime so that it stops its crimes and the defenseless civilians are protected.

The reactions by Hamas and Islamic Jihad come as the Israeli regime has intensified attacks across the Gaza Strip, including in the city of Rafah in the south.

It also plans a large-scale ground offensive in Rafah that shelters some 1.4 million Palestinians. The regime has already seized the city's crossing with Egypt, which is the main point for aid entry into Gaza. On Saturday, it ordered Palestinians to further evacuate eastern Rafah.

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 34,971 have been killed and 78,641 others wounded there since the war began in early October. The real number is believed to be much higher, as thousands remain unaccounted for.

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Israel's military positions hit in fresh retaliatory attacks by resistance groups

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 11, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Iraqi and Lebanese resistance groups have launched fresh missile and drone attacks on Israeli military positions in retaliation for the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement said in a statement on Saturday that it had fired suicide drones at Beit Hillel military base and the newly-built platforms of the Iron Dome, forcing it to stop functioning.

According to Lebanese media outlets, Israeli fighter jects failed to intercept Hezbollah's drones after they entered the airspace over Israeli-occupied territories.

Israeli media meanwhile said that power has been cut off in the city of Kiryat Shmona following a Hezbollah missile attack there.

Also on Saturday, the Iraqi Islamic Resistance, which is an umbrella group of several resistance movements, announced new attacks on positions in Israeli-occupied territories.

The Islamic Resistance said that it targeted Ramon airbase using advanced cruise missiles.

Resistance groups in the region have conducted attacks on Israeli positions ever since the regime launched its war on Gaza in early October.

The groups have promised to continue their operations until the genocide against Palestinians comes to an end.

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May 12, 2024: Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has lost nearly 700 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. About half the losses have been the more expensive fixed wing fighter-bombers and specialized surveillance and electronic warfare aircraft. So far that is about ten percent of the official number of Russian military aircraft, counting all the ones nominally available including those out of service in storage. The worst aspect of this is that Russia is only able to replace five percent of these losses because the companies that build aircraft are too few to produce what is needed and were believed unable to increase production because of international economic sanctions.

This means that the Russian Air Force is fading away. The process wont stop and be reversed until Russia is free of all the economic sanctions. To cope with the current situation Russia has switched to a wartime economy, which increases resources for weapons and the defense budget in general. This comes at the expense of civilian living standards. Russians are becoming more outspoken about what the Ukraine War is doing to Russian living standards. The government reaction was to arrest and prosecute those who openly criticized the war. That did not halt the open criticism, and more Russians quietly supported the critics, especially those imprisoned.

Meanwhile the air force continues to lose aircraft and helicopters. Since early 2022, the Russians have lost about nearly 400 fighters, fighter-bombers, and attack aircraft. Most of the fighter losses were the modern Su-30/34/35 aircraft. The attack aircraft losses consisted of Su-24s and Su-25s. A similar number of helicopters have been lost.

While Russia is unable to produce many replacement aircraft, Ukraine has received hundreds of aircraft and helicopters from its NATO supporters, with most being old Soviet models left over from the Cold War. Because of NATO aid, Ukrainian air defense grew stronger as the war went on and by 2023 Russian combat aircraft would no longer fly into Ukraine. Instead, Russian fighter-bombers or heavy bombers launched air-to-ground missiles from inside Russia and usually close to the Ukrainian border. Most of those missiles either failed because of defects or were shot down by Ukrainian Air-Defense systems. Russia still loses aircraft to accidents and lack of spare parts to keep aircraft operational.

This is changing because China has recently been quietly supplying materials, barred by Western sanctions, that enabled Russia to produce, missiles, tanks, and other armored vehicles and munitions at a faster pace over the last year than at any time since World War II

Russia was only able to reach these levels of production because of considerable help from China, which has shipped machine tools, microelectronics, and optics. Most of these items are coming from China and most of these goods are dual use, meaning they have commercial as well as military applications.

The United States has criticized China for this support because it enables Russia to continue fighting in Ukraine. There the Russians have adopted a scorched earth policy. This means concentrating on civilian infrastructure in an effort to make it difficult for the civilian population to survive.

The Chinese assistance has made it possible for Russia to rebuild and upgrade its defense industries. European diplomats tell China that these policies make Russia more of a threat to the rest of Europe as well as Ukraine. Since 2023, NATO countries have strived to prevent other countries from aiding the Russian war effort. This did not work with Iran and North Korea, which were quite willing to send weapons to Russia as long as Russia could pay for them, and this seems to be now happening with China. Its unclear how Russia is paying for the much larger assistance they are now receiving from China because the Chinese are noted for not giving things away or even offering generous credit terms, that include the possibility of default.

The Chinese assisted revival of Russian defense production has not shown up in Ukraine yet, but it soon will and Ukrainians will find their losses are because of Chinese aid to the Russians. That is unusual because before the war, which actually began in 2014 with the seizure of Crimea, China had been eager to do business with Ukraine, even when it meant trouble for Russia. Now the Chinese are backing Russia in a big way for unexplained reasons. The Chinese aid will enable Russia to build more combat aircraft to replace heavy losses.

China has been building its own combat aircraft but it is unlikely that any of these J-10, J-11, J16 or J-20B aircraft will show up in Russia. The J-20B is particularly interesting because it is a Chinese designed stealth fighter that is actually in service. The only other nation to build and use stealth fighters is the United States with its F-22s and F-35s.
Yemen on path of developing missile cities

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 11, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- With the recent experiences and years of war with the US and the Western coalition, the Yemenis have come to the conclusion to develop a network of underground tunnels to strengthen the function of their offensive and defensive systems.

Yemen's heroic resistance in the face of widespread strikes and terrible siege of a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 marked a new chapter in the history of this country.

After the beginning of the Zionist invasion of Gaza in October 2023, Yemen's Ansarullah and the Yemeni Army were the first to rush to support the oppressed people of Gaza and dealt heavy military and economic blow on the Zionist regime with their missile and drone attacks.

The Yemeni strikes in support for Gaza have led to a decrease in the number of ships sailing to or from Eilat Port in northern parts of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories by 85% and nearly a half of the staff and workers of the port have gone jobless.

Like other countries of the Axis of Resistance, Ansarullah and the Yemeni Army have been seeking a combination of Guerrilla infantry, cruise and ballistic missiles as well as UAVs.

However, what is the basis of this report and has recently been discovered by satellite imagery is Yemen's use of a modal in digging underground tunnels.

Yemen and the story of tunnels

With large mountainous regions, Yemen is not unfamiliar with the issue of underground shelters for various military purposes, but recent satellite imagery shows that the Yemenis, following the example of the axis of resistance and the Islamic Republic of Iran, have developed their underground tunnel network despite all the problems and shortcomings.

Underground tunnels, especially those under mountain cover, are a good space to hide and increase the level of survivability in the battlefield. During the years of Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule in Yemen from 1978 to 2012, a number of underground facilities were created, especially in the mountains around the city of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, some of which were used to store military equipment and some others were used to shelter government officials in special circumstances.

Two main underground facilities were built during this time, one in the Saada province in northern Yemen near the borders of Saudi Arabia and the other in an area known as Al-Hafa in the Sana'a governorate and near the Yemeni capital.



Above photo is related to underground facilities in Saada province in northern Yemen since last year's winter (new network of roads and at least 3 new tunnels entrance. Above photo is related to underground facilities in Saada province in northern Yemen since last year's winter (new network of roads and at least 3 new tunnels entrance.



Above photo shows the entrance of underground al-Hafa military base in Sanaa which has come under attacks since January 1, 2018 Above photo shows the entrance of underground al-Hafa military base in Sanaa which has come under attacks since January 1, 2018

With the start of the Saudi-led coalition's attacks on Yemen in early 2015, the entrances to these tunnels were quickly targeted. Initially, the Yemenis, due to their complete familiarity with the geography of their land, went towards the mountains and the natural tunnels i.e., the caves.

The proper use of the mountainous terrain, especially the caves, in attacks against the gathering points, trenches and columns of the Saudi-led coalition proved very successful, and in many cases, it also protected the lives of Yemeni forces against the return fire of the Saudis.

However, in complete silence and gradually over the years, both during the war with the Saudis and after the ceasefire, by modeling on the Axis of Resistance and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Yemenis have evidently begun developing these shelters and underground tunnels in the territory under their control.

What do satellite images say?

Satellite images over several time periods with a fairly long interval show that not only have the Yemenis moved towards repairing, upgrading, operationalizing and reusing the old tunnels, but they have also started building new underground tunnels.

Satellite imagery from January of this year shows that the Yemenis have reactivated the underground facilities in the Saada province in northern Yemen and added another road on the other side of this base.

The old road that goes from the entrances of this base to the right ultimately leads to the city of Saada - the provincial center - but new roads have also been constructed to increase the level of access to this underground base on the other side.

Three new entrances have been built in this facility, and given the sheer size of the entrances and the amount of soil removed from them, it seems that a large space has been provided in the tunnels for military vehicles - possibly missile carriers.



Above photo is related to Summer 2023 and one of entrances of underground facilities in Saada province in northern Yemen. Please pay attention to the volume of soil excavated from tunnel. Above photo is related to Summer 2023 and one of entrances of underground facilities in Saada province in northern Yemen. Please pay attention to the volume of soil excavated from tunnel.



Above photo shows entrances of al-Hafa underground military base in Sanaa province in Spring of 2022. One can see the repair and cleaning, as well as reopening of tunnels and entrances. Above photo shows entrances of al-Hafa underground military base in Sanaa province in Spring of 2022. One can see the repair and cleaning, as well as reopening of tunnels and entrances.

An old image from the beginning of 2018 shows that at least two entrances to the Al-Hafa underground facility in Sanaa province were damaged and almost unusable. However, the latest image released in spring 2022 indicates that these entrances have been refurbished, re-opened, and are ready to use.

Yemenis have removed a large amount of soil and construction debris from the interior of the old site, suggesting that they have increased the area of this underground site and now have a much larger underground base in this section.

Yemeni missile city in Jabal Attan

The Yemeni missile base at the Jabal Attan military camp in Saada province was the main site of the Yemeni army's Scud ballistic missile fleet before the conflict began in 2015.



Above photo is related to March 1, 2024 in Jabal Atan missile base in Saada province.



A new entrance has been created and a high volume soil has been extracted from inside tunnel to create a bigger space. Above photo is related to March 1, 2024 in Jabal Atan missile base in Saada province.A new entrance has been created and a high volume soil has been extracted from inside tunnel to create a bigger space.

According to new satellite imagery, on March 1, 2024, Yemenis added a new entrance to the base and evacuated a large amount of soil along the path leading to the tunnel entrance. They also made significant efforts to increase the space to store a significant number of missiles and drones.

Yemenis are working to create an extensive network of tunnels, and possibly even underground cities and missile silos, similar to the experiences of the Islamic Republic of Iran after the imposed war.

Yemenis are modeling the development of missile and drone capabilities, as well as underground bunkers, underground missile silos, and underground UAV and missile cities, which have proven fruitful for Iran. This makes it more difficult to identify and deal with them as their numbers increase.

Written by: IRNA Defense Desk

Translated by: IRNA English Desk

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Hezbollah conducts attack on Israeli sites in support of Gaza

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 11, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Hezbollah has launched an attack on the Israeli regime's targets in the north of occupied Palestine, the Lebanese resistance movement said.

Al Mayadeen Satellite television channel quoted a Hezbollah statement as saying on Saturday that the group had launched missile and drone attacks on Israeli bases in Ramaiah region.

The Islamic Resistance of Lebanon announced on Friday night that it targeted Kiryat Shmona with Katyushas in response to the Zionist regime's repeated attacks on Lebanese cities and villages and targeting civilians.

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Libya joins states filing against Israeli regime at ICJ

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 11, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Following the escalation of attacks on Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, Libya has filed a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to call for punishment of the Israeli regime over committing crimes of genocide in Gaza.

According to the Palestinian Sama news agency, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has announced, "Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) Libya files a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the Statute THE HAGUE, 10 May 2024."

Concurrent with the intensification of Israeli attacks on Rafah, South Africa urged the ICJ to perform more urgent moves against the regime.

South Africa announced that the Israeli attack on Rafah, which poses a severe danger to humanitarian aid and basic services, the viability of the medical system, and the survival of Palestinians in Gaza, is not just an exacerbation of the current situation in the war-torn area.

The strikes on Rafah create new circumstances, which impose unamendable harm on the Palestinian residents of Gaza, South Africa warned.

The ICJ issued a verdict on January 26 ordering the Israeli regime to take specific provisional measures to prevent the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

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Five more Zionist soldiers killed in Gaza

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 11, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- The Zionist regime's media outlets have confirmed the death of five more Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip.

According to the reports, the five Zionist soldiers were killed in ground clashes in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Some outlets also reported that 12 Israeli soldiers were injured in clashes in the southern Gaza Strip.

Al-Qassam Brigades announced on Friday that they had planned a successful ambush against Zionist soldiers in eastern Rafah.

According to al-Qassam's statement, Islamic resistance fighters killed or injured some Israeli soldiers by bombing the entrance of a tunnel in eastern Rafah.

The Palestinian media reported fierce clashes between Palestinian fighters and Zionist soldiers in eastern Rafah.

Despite international outcry, the Zionist regime's war cabinet approved a ground attack on the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on May 6, after which the Israeli army occupied the Palestinian part of the city.

The war cabinet unanimously decided to continue the operation in Rafah to put military pressure on Hamas to release Israeli captives and achieve other goals, according to a statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

Simultaneously, the war cabinet decided to send the negotiating team to Cairo to review the proposal for a ceasefire, the statement said.

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Iran welcomes UN resolution to revive Palestine's membership bid

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 11 May 2024 / 12:49

Iran's 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.

Tehran-ISNA- 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.

End Item

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Hezbollah fires missiles at Kiryat Shmona responding to Israeli aggression

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 11 May 2024 / 12:47

In support of the Palestinian people and resistance in Gaza and in light of the Israeli aggression on the various South Lebanon villages, the Islamic Resistance continued striking the Zionist occupation sites near Lebanon border.

Tehran -ISNA- Hezbollah military media issued consecutive statements to illustrate the attacks and their outcomes.

The first statement mentioned that, after monitoring and observing the Israeli enemy forces and upon their arrival at Al-Malkiya site, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted them at 00:50 on Friday, May 10, 2024, with artillery shells, causing confirmed injuries.

The second statement maintained that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted and destroyed the spy devices at Misgav Am occupation site at 13:00 on Friday, May 10, 2024.

The third statement indicated that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, at 5:11 pm on Friday, May 10, 2024, Al-Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kfar Shuba with rocket weapons, inflicting direct hits.

The fourth statement noted that, in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on the steadfast southern villages, safe homes, and the targeting of civilians, most recently in Tayr Harfa, the Islamic Resistance fighters bombarded Yiftah barracks with rocket weapons and Falaq launcher's missiles.

The fifth statement maintained that, in response to the "Israeli" enemy's attacks on the resilient southern villages, safe homes, and civilian targeting, including the recent one in Tayr Harfa, the Islamic Resistance fighters bombarded Kiryat Shmona settlement with a barrage of Katyusha rockets.

The sixth statement pointed out that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, at 3:00 pm on Friday, May 10, 2024, Khirbet Ma'ar base and its artillery bunkers with a salvo of Katyusha rockets.

Hezbollah military media issued two statements to mourn its fighters Hasan Ali Krayyem and Ahmad Ali Mahdi who embraced martyrdom all the way to Al-Quds.

End Item



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Palestinian Resistance to reconsider negotiating strategy: Hamas

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 11 May 2024 / 12:47

The Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas - has issued a statement regarding the ongoing mediated talks with the Israeli occupation, saying that it would hold talks with other Palestinian Resistance factions to look into its negotiating strategy.

Tehran -ISNA- This comes after the Israeli negotiating team, under the directives of the Israeli regime, refused a comprehensive deal proposed by mediators. Hamas has already agreed to the deal on Monday, which was formulated by mediators following rounds of negotiations.

On the other hand, Israel has rejected the proposal, as its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated that his government would not accept a deal that entails a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

As such, Hamas had sent yet another negotiating team to Cairo which headed to Doha, Qatar, at a later time to work on reaching another formula that would guarantee Palestinian demands.

Earlier the movement announced that the Israeli occupation rejected the latest proposal presented by the mediators for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a prisoner exchange deal.

The White House stated on Friday that although direct negotiations on a ceasefire in exchange for the of the captives in Gaza had ended without a deal for the time being, the US still believes the remaining obstacles can be overcome.

Speaking to reporters, White House National Security Secretary John Kirby stated that the US is keeping a close eye on Israel's actions in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and wants the crossing to reopen as soon as possible.

In this context, Hamas issued a press release saying that it would hold talks with Palestinian Resistance factions to reconsider its negotiating strategy.

The Movement reiterated that its negotiating team expressed the "necessary flexibility to facilitate reaching an agreement" that would achieve its five-point-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."

End Item





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Al-Houthi: Yemeni Forces mulling further support of Gaza

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 11 May 2024 / 12:46

Leader of Yemen's Ansarullah Movement, Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badreddine Al-Houthi stressed that the Israeli occupation of Rafah crossing is a challenge to Egypt and poses a threat to its security.

Tehran -ISNA- Tackling the latest developments, Sayyed Houthi indicated that the Zionist invasion of Rafah targets the displaced civilians in the city.

Sayyed Houthi noted that the US administration has given the Zionist enemy the permission to invade Rafah crossing and claimed that "special operations" could be an alternative for the invasion of the whole city.

The Yemeni Leader indicated that Washington could have forced Israel to halt the Zionist war on Gaza, adding that the Americans attempt to deceive the public opinion through the claims about blocking arms shipments to Israel.

Sayyed Al-Houthi emphasized that Hezbollah intensified its operations against the Israeli enemy, adding that threats from the Minister of War were met with strong operations by the Resistance Party on the same day.

"Hezbollah escalates whenever the Israeli enemy escalates."

Sayyed Houthi underlined that the Yemeni operations in support of Gaza would continue and witness a further escalation, adding that the Yemeni Armed Forces are are also thinking about the fifth and sixth stages of escalation.

End Item

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Iraqi fighters stage cruise missile strike against Israeli airbase

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 9:22 PM

Iraq's Islamic Resistance has announced carrying out a cruise missile strike against an airbase lying in the southwestern part of the occupied territories in another pro-Palestinian operation.

The umbrella group of anti-terror fighters made the announcement in a statement on Saturday.

It specified the target as "Ramon Airbase" and the involved projectile as "an advanced Aqrab cruise missile."

The airbase currently houses three warplane squadrons and two helicopter gunship squadrons.

The operation, the Iraqi coalition said, came "in continuation of our path 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 group has staged numerous such operations against the occupied territories since October 7 last year, when the Israeli regime launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

At least 34,971 people have died in the Israeli genocide that began following a retaliatory operation by Gaza's resistance movements. Around 78,641 others have also been injured in the brutal military onslaught, while at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for.

The Iraqi resistance concluded its statement by pledging to "continue striking the enemy's strongholds."

On Friday, Qais al-Khazali, secretary-general of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq movement, which is a component of the Iraqi resistance, stressed that the Iraqi fighters were in a state of war with the occupying regime.

"There is no need for the Iraqi government to take a military stance on the Palestinian issue, as resistance groups have assumed such a role instead of the government and on behalf of the Iraqi people," he added.

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World support for Palestine's UN membership bid shows Israel's full isolation: Iran

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 5:51 PM

Iran has hailed the international community's support for Palestine's UN membership bid, saying the move indicates that the Israeli regime is more isolated than ever throughout its fake history.

Nasser Kan'ani made the remark in a post on X on Saturday, a day after the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution during an emergency session of the assembly, urging the Security Council to reconsider Palestine's request to become a full UN member.

"The Zionist regime is living in a situation in which it is more isolated than ever throughout its fake history. The American authorities have been left alone in blindly supporting it even among their own people," Kan'ani said.

"The decisive vote of the international community in support of Palestine's full membership in the United Nations clearly shows the isolation of the Zionist regime and the US in the international community," he added.

Kan'ani went on to say that the US officials' overt and covert support for Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip "comes at a time when an international consensus has been formed more than ever before in support of the oppressed Palestinian people."

The international community has raised its voice against the genocide, forced displacement, occupation and child-killing by the Israeli regime, he added.

On Friday, the UN General Assembly endorsed a resolution, spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates (on behalf of the Arab Group), calling for the reconsideration of Palestine's UN membership bid.

A total of 143 countries voted in favor of upgrading Palestine's status at the world body, while nine voted against and 25 abstained.

The resolution also granted new "rights and privileges" to Palestine, thus recognizing it as qualified to join the UN as a full member.

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.

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 passage of the resolution came as the Israeli regime's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip has increased sympathy towards Palestinians and amplified international calls for the recognition of the State of Palestine.

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.

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May 12, 2024: China has quietly expanded its presence in orbital space. Since 2018 China has tripled the number of satellites in orbit. China currently has over 700 satellites in orbit and plans to expand that to over 10,000 by the end of the decade. This is part of a larger plan to upgrade its entire military establishment to world class standards by 2049.

Orbital space operations and those beyond orbital space are now current rather than future goals. In addition to expanding the number of satellites in orbit, China also continues construction of its Tiangong space station, which is still under construction. Enough space station modules were in orbit by 2022 for the first three-man crew to occupy Tiangong. The space station will be expanded over the next decade with the addition of more modules and upgrades.

China has also been carrying out operations on the moon. The first Chinese moon landing in 2019 was unmanned and those landings continued in number and size. China plans to have a manned base on the moon by 2030.

Chinese activities on orbital space and on the moon are more ambitious than those of any other space-faring nation. The competition comes from the United States and Russia. The Americans could catch up because they have both government-funded NASA and privately funded SpaceX, which has been very innovative and ambitious. SpaceX is a commercial operation and does what its customers want, not what a government-controlled operation decides will happen. China has nothing like SpaceX but the government-run programs in China are trying to copy some of the SpaceX innovations.

China has also established an Aerospace Force to coordinate space operations. The speed and intensity of the Chinese expansion of their space activities is alarming to some nations. China has used these Great Leap Forward programs in the past and not all of them have succeeded. But if you dont try you definitely wont succeed.
Israeli military orders evacuation of central Rafah, prepares to expand operations

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 2:16 PM

The Israeli military has ordered Palestinians to evacuate more areas in the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, in a further indication that the regime is preparing to expand its military operations in the city despite widespread international opposition.

The new evacuation orders issued on Saturday cover areas in the center of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to move to "an expanded humanitarian area" in al-Mawasi, situated in the western part of Gaza, where aid workers have described its conditions as "horrific".

The Israeli military said in a statement that about 300,000 people have left eastern Rafah since it ordered an evacuation of the southern Gaza city earlier this week.

In a post on X, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee called the areas to be evacuated a "dangerous combat zone," urging residents and displaced people to go immediately to shelters west of Gaza City.

The Israeli military also claimed that it was continuing "precise operational activity" against the fighters of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in eastern Rafah and on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt.

The latest evacuation orders suggest a major expansion of Israeli military operations in the center of Rafah, threatening destruction and displacement of many more, and a likely advance through the entire city.

On Tuesday, the Israeli regime entered Rafah's eastern sector 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, despite widespread international opposition.

The incursion came after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators Qatar and Egypt.

About 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah. The city had been designated a "safe zone" by the Israeli military. Palestinians are now struggling to evacuate Rafah since the Israeli military dropped leaflets ordering them to leave.

The United Nations said on Friday that more than 100,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave Rafah, amid intensified Israeli strikes on Gaza's southernmost city.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) also estimated that "around 110,000 people have now fled Rafah looking for safety."

Israel launched the devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after 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.

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UN Security Council calls for 'immediate, independent' probe into Gaza mass graves

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 11:00 AM

The United Nations Security Council has called for an immediate and independent investigation into reported mass graves containing hundreds of Palestinian dead bodies near hospitals in the Gaza Strip amid the Israeli regime's months-long aggression on the besieged territory.

In a statement on Friday, the 15-member council 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."

The members underlined the need for "accountability" for any Israeli violations of international law and called for "unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations."

The statement comes as some 400 bodies have been recovered at the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip while around 300 bodies have been discovered at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The two major hospitals as well as other medical facilities in the Gaza Strip have been repeatedly targeted since the beginning of Israel's brutal aggression on the besieged Palestinian territory.

At least 49 bodies were discovered by health workers at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, according to a medical official and Gaza authorities, in the latest finding at the facility.

Seven mass graves have been uncovered across the Gaza Strip during the Israeli war launched in October last year, with three in al-Shifa Hospital, three in Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, and one in Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

The World Health Organization said last month that al-Shifa in Gaza City had been reduced to an "empty shell", with many bodies found in the area.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that "the presence of urinary catheters or splints, which were found to be still attached to some of the dead patients' bodies during the exhumation process, as well as medical files that were buried with them in al-Shifa Medical Complex, confirm the execution of ill and injured people."

The Switzerland-based rights group also said some of the "victims' decomposing bodies were found in several places, with some having been run over by Israeli bulldozers which left their bodies torn into pieces" and that Israeli forces had been using Palestinian civilians at al-Shifa Hospital as human shields.

Israel waged its US-backed genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 following a historic operation by the Palestinian resistance groups against the usurping entity.

The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 34,904 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 78,514 others.

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May 10: 'Axis of Resistance' operations against Israeli occupation

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 10:41 AM

By Press TV Website Staff

Amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 35,000 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 Friday, May 10, are as follows:

Al-Qassam Brigades' operations on May 10:

Bombed the Israeli-occupied city of Bir Al-Sabi' with a barrage of rockets

Bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles with the Rajoom 114 mm short-range rocket system east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Sniped an Israeli regime soldier south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City.

Bombed the Israeli-occupied city of Bir Al-Sabi' with a rocket barrage for the second time in one day

In a joint operation with the Al-Ansar Brigades, targeted an Israeli military helicopter east of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood with a "SAM 7" missile.

Targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood with a number of mortar shells.

In a joint operation with the Martyr Jihad Jibril Brigades, bombed a gathering of Israeli forces positioned on the "Netzarim" axis with the Rajoom 114mm rocket system.

Bombed the "Kerem Shalom" military site east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip with heavy-caliber mortar shells.

Targeted an Israeli military Merkava tank with an Al-Yassin 105 rocket shell in the Abu Halawa area, east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Al-Aqsa Brigades' operations on May 10:

Blew up an Israeli military Merkava tank with a high-powered "Al-Fahed" explosive device around Street 8, south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the Gaza Strip.

Engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces using appropriate weapons on the axis of advance, south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City.

Bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles with mortar shells south of the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.

Targeted an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell on the axis of advance around the agency clinic south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

Targeted an Israeli military Merkva tank with RPG shells in the combat axis near Badr Mosque, south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

Al-Quds Brigades' operations on May 10:

In a joint operation with the Al-Qassam Brigades, targeted Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles in the vicinity of the Saad Sayed barracks east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah with mortar shells.

Bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles penetrating south of the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City with a barrage of mortar shells.

Targeted several Israeli soldiers atop a tank turret opposite the Al-Zaytoun clinic with a tandem shell, achieving a direct hit.

Detonated a minefield and high-powered explosives on several Israeli military vehicles that infiltrated east of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in southern Gaza.

Seized control of the Israeli military's "Skylark" spy drone in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Bombed a gathering of Israeli forces and their military vehicles penetrating east of the Al-Salam neighborhood in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles around the Moonlight Hall on Street 8 in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

Muhajideen Brigades' operations on May 10:

Engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles in the axis of advance in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood using appropriate weapons.

Al-Asifah Forces' operations on May 10:

Bombed Israeli forces and their military vehicles in the vicinity of the airport and Al-Shouka neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, with a 107-type rocket barrage and heavy-caliber mortar shells.

Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades' operations on May 10:

Targeted the "Western Naqab" with a barrage of rockets.

Martyr Omar Al-Qasim Forces' operations on May 10:

Detonated an explosive device on an Israeli military vehicle near the Al-Shouka municipality building, east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Bombed a gathering of Israeli forces at the "Sofa" military support site, as well as a military battalion invading southwest of Al-Shouka, east of Rafah, using 107mm short-range rockets.

Martyr Jihad Jibril Brigades' operations on May 10:

In a joint operation with the Al-Qassam Brigades, bombed a gathering of Israeli forces positioned on the "Netzarim" axis with the Rajoom 114 mm rocket system.

Hezbollah's operations on May 10:

Eastern sector:

At around 13:00 local time, the Israeli military's surveillance equipment at the Miskvam site was targeted with appropriate weapons.

At around 17:11 local time, the Al-Samaqa site in Lebanon's Kafr Shuba was targeted with a barrage of missiles.

At around the same time, The Yiftah Barracks of the Israeli military was targeted with missiles and Falaq rockets.

At around the same time, Kiryat Simona's Basaliya settlement was targeted with Katyusha rockets.

Western sector:

At around 00:50 local time, Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles were targeted at the Al-Malikiyah site with artillery shells.

At around 17:00 local time, the Khirbet Maar base was targeted with a barrage of Katyusha rockets.

At around 18:30 local time, the Khirbet Maar base was targeted with dozens of Katyusha rockets.

Islamic Resistance in Iraq's operations on May 10:

Launched a drone towards a vital military target in Umm Al-Rashrash "Eilat" in the occupied Palestinian territories.

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Pentagon orders withdrawal of all US combat troops from Niger

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 6:21 AM

The US military has ordered its troops to pull out from Niger following the cancellation of a military agreement by the African country's new leaders.

Niger's new leaders demanded the withdrawal of American and French troops after they ousted Western-backed president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023.

They announced on March 17 that Niger had canceled a 2012 military cooperation agreement with the US, calling for an end to the US military's "illegal" presence in the country.

The Pentagon this week formally ordered all 1,000 US combat troops to withdraw from Niger, Politico reported on Friday.

The order comes as newly-arrived Russian forces have been living at the same airbase as American troops in the capital of Niamey, Base 101, for weeks.

According to a US official, troops will be relocated to another base within the region from which they can still carry out their military operations.

Until the country's military overthrew the pro-Western government in a coup last summer, a US-built drone base near Agadez in central Niger had been a linchpin for Washington's military operations in the Sahel region.

Bazoum, and the previous Nigerien governments before him, had given the US military the green light to operate in the country, train Nigerien forces, and take part in what the Americans described as counter-terrorism activities.

However, the new leaders reject the "illegal" presence of US troops on Niger's territory, saying "it was not democratically approved and imposes unfavorable conditions on Niger, particularly in terms of lack of transparency on military activities."

Niger also called for the exit of French troops from the country and canceled two security and defense partnerships with the EU last year.

Instead, the West African country signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen defense cooperation with Russia last December.

Niger has also signed a trilateral defense agreement with neighboring Burkina Faso, and Mali, binding the three Sahel countries to assist one another in the event of a military attack on any one of them.

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Asa'ib leader: Iraqi resistance in state of war with Zionist regime

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 6:05 AM

The leader of an Iraqi resistance group has roundly denounced the recent Israeli strikes on Syria that targeted facilities belonging to the fellow Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba group, stressing that fighters from Iraq's anti-terror factions are at a state of war with the occupying Tel Aviv regime.

Qais al-Khazali, the secretary-general of the Iraqi resistance movement Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, which is part of Iraq's anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha'abi, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Arabic-language al-Ahad television network on Friday.

"The Baghdad government fully supports the cause of the Palestinian nation. Some Arab regimes are not only indifferent to the [crimes] of the Zionist regime, but also serve this occupying and usurping entity," he said.

He added, "There is no need for the Iraqi government to take a military stance on the Palestinian issue, as resistance groups have assumed such a role instead of the government and on behalf of the Iraqi people."

Khazali underlined that final victory awaits the oppressed Palestinian nation and the Axis of Resistance.

Syria's Defense Ministry said that "at around 3:20 a.m. (0020 GMT) on Thursday, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syria Golan Heights targeting a building in the Damascus countryside."

The attack caused "some material damage," said the statement carried by the official news agency SANA, adding that air defense systems shot down some of the missiles.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "Israeli airstrikes targeted a cultural center" and a "training facility" of the Iraqi Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba movement in the Sayyidah Zainab neighborhood in the south of Damascus.

Three members of the group were wounded according to the Britain-based war monitor.

A source within the Iraqi faction, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that a "cultural center" belonging to the group was destroyed in the "Israeli" attack, but reported no casualties.

Al-Nujaba does "not have a declared military base in Syria," the source added.

Iraq's Islamic Resistance has been conducting numerous strikes against targets belonging to the Israeli regime since last October, when the latter began its bloody war on Gaza.

The umbrella group of Iraqi anti-terror fighters has also launched operations against the US occupation forces in Iraq and Syria.

Since the start of the Gaza onslaught, the US, Israel's most dedicated ally, has fast-tracked arms shipments to the regime and blocked UN resolutions that called for a truce.

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Colombia's president calls on ICC to issue arrest warrant Netanyahu

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 3:07 AM

Colombia's president calls on the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister over the genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Gustavo Petro said in a post on X on Friday that Benjamin Netanyahu will not stop the genocide and this implies the need for an arrest warrant.

The Colombian president also called on the UN Security Council to establish a peace-keeping force in the Gaza Strip.

Last week, Petro announced his country was severing diplomatic ties with Israel over the regime's onslaught in Gaza.

The South American country has also expressed readiness to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel, at the International Court of Justice.

Bolivia, Belize and South Africa have also severed or suspended ties with Israel.

Israel's genocidal war on Gaza prompted South Africa to file a case against the regime in December 2023. In its application, South Africa said Israel's actions in Gaza were "genocidal in character."

The war has driven around 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities and claimed the lives of more than 34,943 people across the enclave.

Seated in The Hague, the ICJ ruled in January that "there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then."

The United Nations' highest court ordered Tel Aviv to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said at the time that his government was providing documents for the case at the World Court, whose seat is in The Hague.

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Aid Workers Say Death Toll Over 300 From Flooding In Northern Afghanistan

By RFE/RL's Radio Azadi May 11, 2024

The latest wave of flooding in northern Afghanistan from heavy seasonal rains has left more than 300 people dead and many more injured and more than 1,000 homes destroyed, according to UN World Food Program (WFP) officials.

The WFP figure is twice the death toll reported hours earlier on May 11 by a spokesman for the Taliban-led government's Interior Ministry.

Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee told Reuters that at least 135 people were injured.

Baghlan Province was initially said to be among the hardest-hit areas, but officials added Badakhshan, Ghor, and Herat provinces to that list.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid expressed "profound sorrow" and cited a "grievous toll" in those four regions.

He also cited "extensive devastation" and "significant financial losses."

The Taliban Defense Ministry said on May 11 that air forces were evacuating stranded residents in Baghlan and had transported some to military hospitals.

The Taliban-led government is recognized only by China, although a number of countries work with those authorities in many cases to help alleviate the humanitarian hardships that have continued since the Taliban captured most of the country in mid-2021 as U.S.-led international troops withdrew and the UN-backed government fled.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-floods-deaths- taliban/32942181.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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'Differences' Remain As Azerbaijan, Armenia Conclude Peace Talks In Kazakhstan

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service May 11, 2024

Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiators continue to disagree on key provisions of a bilateral peace treaty, officials in Yerevan and Baku said on May 11 after the foreign ministers of the two nations ended two days of fresh negotiations in Kazakhstan.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers were meeting in the Kazakh capital, Almaty, in talks aimed at reaching a lasting peace treaty between the longtime South Caucasus rivals.

"The parties agreed to continue negotiations on open issues where there are still differences," both ministries said in nearly identical statements.

The statements did not specify the differences. Nor did they indicate whether Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, had made any progress toward a peace deal.

The negotiations come against a backdrop of mounting street protests in Yerevan against a demarcation deal last month, as Baku tries to consolidate its gains from a lightning offensive last year to retake areas long held by ethnic Armenians.

Mirzoyan said on May 10 that his country is prepared not just for a peace treaty but also to move forward to unblock transport routes.

Mirzoyan and Bayramov last negotiated directly with each other in Berlin in February.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu hosted the talks in Almaty.

Yerevan and Baku preliminarily agreed in a protocol signed on April 19 on separate sections of the border line to align it with a Soviet-era border between the respective republics. In it, Armenia cedes control of four villages controlled by Yerevan since the 1990s.

The deal has been staunchly opposed by an outspoken Armenian archbishop who has attracted tens of thousands of demonstrators in Yerevan with calls for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation and a civil disobedience campaign.

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.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, the leader of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, led a march on May 10 at which he called for university students to ratchet up pressure for Pashinian's resignation.

"We must continue our civil disobedience actions," he said.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-azerbaijan-peace- talks-kazakhstan-protests/32942085.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Yerevan Braces For New Protests After Dozens Detained In 'Civil Disobedience Actions'

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service May 11, 2024

YEREVAN -- At least 48 people have been detained in Yerevan for disobeying police orders as protests calling for the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian continue following word of a land deal last month with arch foe Azerbaijan, with more demonstrations planned for May 12.

The Interior Ministry on May 11 confirmed the latest detentions as police tried to clear streets in the capital clogged with demonstrators.

Protest leader Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, who called on supporters to block street traffic on May 11, has said the next rally in Yerevan's central Republic Square would begin at 6:30 p.m. on May 12.

Galstanian said he would update his supporters on further actions during the May 12 rally.

Yerevan and Baku preliminarily agreed on a protocol signed on April 19 in which Armenia cedes control of four villages controlled by Yerevan since the 1990s.

Pashinian has said unilateral concessions are necessary to prevent Azerbaijani military aggression against Armenia.

A rally led by Galstanian on May 9 drew tens of thousands of people, and many returned the next evening to continue their challenge to Pashinian's legitimacy.

Police urged people to clear several main roadways in downtown Yerevan, including Azatutyun Avenue and Tigran Mets Avenue, before beginning the arrests on May 11.

Opposition lawmakers have vowed to try to impeach Pashinian.

Some Pashinian allies in parliament have accused his opponents of organizing a coup and have tried to link the movement to former President Robert Kocharian or Russian interests. They have also accused the 52-year-old Galstanian of being a Russian spy, without providing evidence.

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.

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, nearly 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Azerbaijan's and Armenia's foreign ministers completed two days of negotiations in the Kazakh capital on May 11 aimed at a lasting peace treaty between the longtime South Caucasus rivals.

Following the meetings, both foreign ministries released nearly identical statements saying that "differences" remain between the sides and that negotiations would continue in the future.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-protest-detentions- land-deal-azerbaijan/32942271.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Georgian Protesters Converge In Central Tbilisi As U.S. Sets High-Level Visit

By RFE/RL's Georgian Service May 11, 2024

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 Georgia's 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.

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."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-foreign-agent-law-us- congress-warning/32941999.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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UAE Rejects Israel's Plan to Take Part in Post-War Gaza Administration

Sputnik News

20240511

DOHA (Sputnik) - 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.

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.

"The UAE condemns Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements proposing that the UAE participate in the civilian administration of the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel. The UAE emphasizes that the Israeli prime minister does not have the authority to take such a step, and the UAE refuses to be dragged into any plan aimed at covering up the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip," the minister said on his social media.

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.

 Sputnik

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Statement by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, on the attack in Al Fasher

UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

(Port Sudan, 11 May 2024) - I am gravely concerned by the eruption of clashes in Al Fasher despite repeated calls to parties to the conflict to refrain from attacking the city.

I reiterate - the violence threatens the lives of over 800,000 civilians who reside in Al Fasher.

I am equally disturbed by reports of the use of heavy weaponry and attacks in highly populated areas in the city center and the outskirts of Al Fasher, resulting in multiple casualties.

Wounded civilians are being rushed to Al Fasher Hospital. Civilians trying to flee are trapped in fierce fighting.

Already months of escalating violence around the city has hampered the sustained flow of aid and basic commodities, pushing people to the brink of famine. The capacity of health facilities is severely depleted.

It is heartbreaking to see this nightmare unfolding - conflict continuing to spread engulfing large parts of the country.

And again, civilians - men, women, and children, paying the highest prices - their lives.

This must stop.

My plea to all parties engaged in the fighting is to uphold their international law obligations to protect civilians, and stop the fighting.

The world is watching as this tragedy unfolds.

11 May 2024



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Israel orders new evacuations from Rafah

By VOA News May 11, 2024

Israel ordered more evacuations Saturday from Gaza's southern city of Rafah and its surrounding areas and has told the civilians there to seek refuge in a humanitarian zone northwest of Rafah.

About 300,000 civilians so far have moved toward al-Mawasi, according to Israeli military estimates released Saturday. An official with the United Nations humanitarian agency said it had no aid to give the new arrivals.

"We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding," said Georgios Petropoulos, according to The Associated Press.

About 110,000 people had fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah as of Friday, amid fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants. Israeli bombardments have increased in and around the city, the U.N. said.

Many of the displaced people are among the 1 million refugees who had found shelter in the border city from other war-torn parts of Gaza.

"Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So, we've decided to leave," Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari told the AP 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," Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, displaced earlier from Gaza City, also told the AP.

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.

"There would be a be a cease-fire tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages," U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday at a fundraiser in Washington state, according to Agence France-Presse.

Military offensive

Despite heavy U.S. pressure against Israel's impending military offensive and fears by residents and humanitarian groups, Israel has said it will advance into Rafah to weed out thousands of Hamas fighters it believes are hiding there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel cannot defeat Hamas and eliminate any possibility of the militant group repeating its October 7 terror attack without sending ground troops into Rafah in search of them.

The United Nations has warned that if Israel attacked Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, it would cripple humanitarian operations and result in a disastrous surge of civilian casualties.

The World Food Program earlier said it would be out of food in southern Gaza by Saturday. Aid groups have said that fuel will be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations.

Petropoulos, of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, said Friday that all crossings into the Rafah area 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.

Hamas hostages

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Saturday that another one of the hostages abducted during its October 7 assault on Israel has died.

Hamas, a terror-designated organization by the U.S., the U.K. and other Western countries, released a video saying that 51-year-old hostage Nadav Popplewell, died after being wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza. The validity of the claim could not be verified.

Popplewell was abducted by Hamas militants from the southern Israeli community of Kibbutz Nirim.

The Israeli military did not comment on the latest video but has called 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.

Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv by the tens of thousands Saturday night to demand Netanyahu's government get the remaining hostages held in Gaza released.

Mass grave probe

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 the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli residential communities and a music festival.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that 34,654 Palestinians have been killed and 77,908 injured since Israel's military offensive on Gaza began.

This report includes information from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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UN reports 300 deaths from flash floods in northern Afghanistan

By Ayaz Gul May 11, 2024

The United Nations and Taliban authorities said Saturday that the death toll from flash floods following heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan's 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 Friday's 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 Afghanistan's 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 Friday's 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 Afghanistan's 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.

Afghanistan's 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.

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Sergei Shoigu

Where Shoigu is, there are defeats [a parody of "Where the Airborne Forces are, there is victory"]. Sergei Shoigu had an excellent reputation as a manager, but no military experience as such. He had a large PR staff and was self-aggrandizing. Real generals might find him irritating. When he took on the job, Shoigu quietly watered down (Serdyukovs) reforms in order to appease the generals. Since then, he had been very good at getting along with the boss and persuading him that everything is just fine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on 12 May 2024 dismissed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and appointed former Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov as his successor, according to the Russian News Agency (TASS). Putin also issued a decree appointing Shoigu as the new Secretary-General of the National Security Council, succeeding Nikolai Patrushev, whose new duties will be announced in the coming days. The Russian Federation Council said in a statement that it had received a set of proposals from President Vladimir Putin regarding a number of candidates for the positions of ministers and heads of federal departments. According to the statement, Putin proposed appointing Andrei Removich Belousov as Minister of Defense, replacing the current Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin decided to have a civilian head the Russian Defense Ministry, so that the ministry would be open to innovation and pioneering ideas. State media quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying: Shoigu will continue to work in this (defense) sector, which he knows well, knows well from the inside, along with his colleagues and partners at his previous workplace.

The potential shift in Shoigu's standing was signaled last month, when Russian authorities arrested one of his top deputies on corruption charges. His replacement with Belousov - long seen as one of Putin's most trusted economic advisers - also highlights the Kremlin's success in keeping the Russian economy healthy in the face of Western sanctions. This change comes less than a week after Putin inaugurated his fifth term as President of Russia.

Despite a series of military setbacks suffered by Russia, including the failure to control the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and the withdrawal from the regions northeast of Kharkiv and southern Kherson, Putin had maintained his confidence in Shoigu so far. Belousov, Shoigu's nominated replacement, has no military background and has been one of Putin's most influential economic advisers over the past decade.

Some Russian commentators had speculated that Putin could replace Shoigu with Alexei Dyumin, the governor of Tula region, south of Moscow, who has held top army and presidential security posts. However, Dyumin has a number of flaws in Putins eyes: he is ambitious, still relatively young (50), and considered close to Prigozhin.

Wagners aborted 27 June 2023 weekend rebellion wound up without attaining its stated goal: the removal of Prigozhins archenemy Sergei Shoigu, the seemingly untouchable defence minister who had overseen Russias grindingly slow invasion of Ukraine. Shoigus removal had been a key demand of Prigozhin, who blamed the defence minister for botching the invasion of Ukraine and causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Russian troops. To dispel any notion that Putin might have bowed to Prigozhins demands, Russian authorities released video footage of Shoigu flying in an army helicopter, examining military maps and holding talks with officers. Shoigus removal would have meant acknowledging that something is not going according to plan.

While Prigozhins challenge has petered out, the decision to stand by a minister who has lost the confidence of many in the military threatens to further alienate an institution already demoralised by the lack of progress in Ukraine and now rattled by Wagners mutiny, Shoigu is part-Tuvan  an ethnic group that is indigenous to Siberia  and one of the very few non-ethnic Russians to have made it to a top government post. His background means he would stand very little chance of becoming president and doesnt represent a threat to Putins power.

On 06 November 2012 recently re-elected President Vladimir Putin relieved Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov of his duties, and appointed Sergei Shoigu as his replacement. The former Emergencies Minister had become leader of the Kremlin-backed Unity bloc, created in September 1999 to contest the December 1999 elections. Nine times world wrestling champion, he built up a good reputation, but his control over members of his party was thought to be weak.

President Putin met on 18 May 2018 with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who confirmed to Putin the line up of Russia's new government. One prominent casualty was Dmitry Rogozin, the flamboyant former Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the defence industries. He was replaced by Yury Borisov, a Soviet trained engineer and technocrat with a long career of service in the Soviet and Russian militaries. Borisov was previously Defence Minister Shoigu's deputy in the Defence Ministry. Borisov was seen as Shoigu's ally, in which case his appointment in place of the independent minded Rogozin consolidated Shoigu's leadership of the Russian defence establishment.

"Taking into consideration the situation that has emerged regarding the Defense Ministry, in order to create the requisite conditions for an objective investigation of all the issues, I made the decision to relieve Defense Minister Serdyukov of his duties," Putin said. Russia's Defense Ministry had recently become embroiled in a scandal over alleged real estate scams involving nearly $100 million run by state defense firm Oboronservis. It should be stressed that Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev implicitly supported the major part of the Minister of Defence initiatives (especially for selling underutilized land) as early as in February-March of 2008.

Shoigu, then 57 years of age, most recently served as Moscow Region governor, and before that headed Russia's Emergencies Ministry since 1994, where he consistently enjoyed some of the highest approval ratings among cabinet ministers. A four-star army general, his appointment was welcomed by the military.

Shoigu is a native of the Buddhist majority republic of Tuva, just north Mongolia. Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu was born 21 May 1955 in Chadan, in the Tuvan ASSR (now  the Republic of Tyva). He has two daughters and is by seme reports the only Buddhist in the Russian government. By other reprots, while not openly religious, he claims to be a believer, stating that he was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church when he was a child.

His father served as a local party official, and as a son of the regional elite, Sergey understood that to move up the ranks, he had to play by the party rules. Shoygu was trained as an engineer and quickly promoted within the local party structure, working as an engineer and party representative in one of the major regional factories.

Shoigu graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute in 1977, majoring in construction engineering. He later received a PhD in economics. In 1979 he joined the Achinskaluminiystroi Trust, where he rose from construction supervisor to director over the next five years. In 19771978 he served as the foreman of the "Promkhimstroy" Trust (the city of Krasnoyarsk), in 19781979, as the foreman, supervising foreman of the "Tuvinstroy" Trust (the city of Kyzyl). In 19791984 he was the general foreman, chief engineer, chief of the Achinskaluminystroy Construction Trust (the city of Achinsk).

In 19841985 he served as the Deputy Manager of the Sayanaluminstroy Trust (the city of Sayanogorsk). In 19851986 he served as the Manager of the "Sayantyazhstroy" Trust (the city of Abakan). In 19861988 he served as the Manager of the "Abakanvagonstroy" Trust (the city of Abakan).

He was elected deputy head of the local Communist Party in Abakan, before being named an inspector for the Kranoyarsk territory branch of the party. There were reports that his father was acquainted with Sverdlovsk party officials (then led by Boris N. Yeltsin). His marriage to the daughter of a regional party official may have also helped advance his career. In 19881989 he was the Second Secretary of the Abakan City Committee of the CPSU. In 19891990 he was the Inspector of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Committee of the CPSU.

Shoygu was trained as an engineer in the Soviet system and arrived in Moscow just as the USSR began to fall apart. In 1990, Shoigu moved to Moscow and was appointed deputy head of Russias State Committee for Architecture and Construction.It made sense to create a new organization to handle internal disasters, which would be both technically proficient and loyal to the new government. From 1991 Shoygu was the Chairman of the Russian Corps of Rescuers. From 1991 he was the Chairman of the RSFSR State Committee for Emergencies. In 19911994 he was the Chairman of the RF State Committee for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters.

Shoigu was appointed emergencies minister in 1994. He was co-chairman of the United Russia political party and had been a member of the Security Council since 1994.

From 1994 to 2012 Shoygu was the Minister of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (from 10.01.2000 till 07.05 2000  the Deputy RF Prime Minister  Emergency Situations Minister of Russia). Shoygu and his EMERCOM forces were the visual proof that the Kremlin leadership was doing everything possible to alleviate the suffering of the Russian people.

For more than 20 years, as the Minister of Emergency Services, he served as Russias first responder. In this capacity, Shoygu helped to deal with natural and man-made disasters, gaining an intimate knowledge of the countrys domestic challenges and the reputation of a pragmatic and effective leader. As a resourceful minister and politician, he also profited from his proximity to the Kremlin elite, strengthening regional and national ties and developing sharp survival skills to ensure his official longevity.

As opposed to the corruption and incompetence in most other branches of the Russian government, the Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Natural Disasters (EMERCOM) gained a professional and (relatively) honest reputation.

In 1999 he became chief of the Unity party, which supported Vladimir Putin's 2000 presidential bid. In December 2001 he became a co-chairman of United Russia, which merged the Unity, Fatherland and All Russia parties. Boris Gryzlov was named party chief. Unity came second in the December 1999 parliamentary elections, winning 72 seats. In December 2001, merged with Fatherland and All-Russia to become the UF-UR; centrist, reformist. Also known as the All-Russian Party, it formed a pro-Putin bloc that dominated the Duma.

In July-August 2010 Shoigu and the Emergency Situations Ministry came under intense public criticism for failing to quickly control forest and peat-bog fires caused by a record heat wave and drought in Western Russia. Fifty died and thousands were left homeless in the forest fires, which burned more than a million hectares and together with peat-bog fires covered major cities, including Moscow, in toxic smog. Shoigu estimated the damage at 12 billion rubles, while some experts put the figure at 450 billion rubles. He argued that because the Forest Code did not specify which body was responsible for putting out forest fires, the Emergency Situations Ministry should not shoulder the blame.

From 11 May 2012 he was the Governor of the Moscow Region. Putin had just returned to the presidency for his third term, and there was conjecture among some Kremlinologists that Shoygus move as the Moscow regional governor might be a stepping stone to Russias highest political office.

The Russian president turned to his close ally Sergei Shoigu, former Emergencies Minister, after the Defence Minister was engulfed in a corruption scandal. By the RF Presidential Decree of 6 November 2012 he was appointed the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation.

Shoigu would have to decide between maintaining large conventional forces, or pursuing Serdyukovs goal of creating leaner, more modern armed forces. Shoigu fired General Staff chief Nikolai Makarov, a Serdyukov ally, and replaced him with Valery Gerasimov, an opponent of the Serdyukov reforms.

The person who is generally seen as a general is in reality an ordinary party worker who never served in the army, beyond a lieutenant in the reserves. Shoigu received his generals ranks while serving as minister at the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. In 1999 for his work he was awarded the highest Russian award, Hero of the Russian Federation, and was promoted to colonel general. In May 2003, Shoigu was promoted to the military rank of General of the Army by Vladimir Putin, and collected many other honorary titles including the Order of St Andrew the Apostle.

Like many of Putin's associates, Shoigu received high awards on his birthday - "For Merit to the Fatherland" III degree for the 50th anniversary and "For Merit to the Fatherland" I degree with swords for the 65th anniversary . And the highest award of the country - the Hero of Russia - was received by the minister, who had never served in the army, while still heading the Ministry of Emergency Situations, a civilian department. He was given a star in 1999, exactly at the moment when, at the request of the country's leadership, he first agreed to head the list of the Unity party, the future United Russia, in the State Duma elections.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu started the fulfillment of his new duties, the ministry reported November 7, 2012. "The Russian president has restored Sergei Shoigu in military service in the rank of a general of the army". Shoigu was the first defence minister in more than a decade to hold the rank of general. Putin revived the practice of giving the Minister of Defence the title of General, dropped in 2007 with Serdyukovs appointment. Serdyukovs predecessor at the MOD, Sergey Ivanov, also proudly wore the generals stars he earned in the FSB, and saw himself as an officer, as does retired KGB Major Vladimir Putin.

The RF Security Councils Permanent Member (RF Presidential Decree # 715 of 25 May 2012 as amended by RF Presidential Decree # 1487 of 6 Nov. 2012). The National Counterterrorist Committees Member (ex officio) (RF Presidential Decree # 1222 of 8 Oct. 2010). Member of the Interdepartmental Commission on Countering Extremism in the Russian Federation (ex officio) (RF Presidential Decree # 988 of 26 July 2011). Deputy Head of the RF Presidents Interdepartmental Working Group for controlling implementation of the State Defence Order and the State Armaments Programme (RF Presidential Executive Order # 472-rp of 16 Oct. 2012 as amended by RF Presidential Executive Order # 498-rp of 6 Nov. 2012).

Shoigu was seen as one of Russia's most talented administrators who lately occupied the post of governor of Moscow region. 'Taking into consideration the situation around the Defence Ministry I have made a decision to relieve defence minister Serdyukov of his post in order to create conditions for an objective investigation of all the issues,' said Putin at a televised meeting 06 November 2012 with Shoigu.

Shoigu is seen as a close and trusted friend of Putin who served with distinction as Emergency Situations Minister from 1994 to 2012, a role that regularly saw him on television dealing with a succession of emergencies.

State awards: Hero of the Russian Federation, Commendations from the President (1993 and 1999), Certificate of Merit from the Government (2000), Order of Service to the Fatherland, 3rd Class, (2005), and Commendation from the Government (2005), et al. Merited Rescuer of the Russian Federation (2005).

Significant changes included modifying the brigade structure to accommodate historical traditions (e.g., retaining the division title for the Tamanskaya and Kantemirovskaya guards divisions), increasing the number of active military airbases, reinstating elements of the former officer education system, the restoration of warrant officer positions, increasing the annual expenditure of training ammunition, and discussions regarding both the creation of a Special Operations command and a centralized command and control facility. Contract soldiers and officers saw significant increases to their salaries. While still relying on conscripts for manpower, there was a growing realization (advocated by Shoygu) that Russia needed to create a professional military.

Defense industry officials continued to produce and sell equipment that the military is sometimes reluctant to accept.

By 2015 dissatisfaction with Putin among Russias oligarchs was growing, as their business was suffering. Andrey Okara, director of the Moscow Center for East European Research, said in Putins entourage, there are people who today are quietly searching for a successor, with the names of Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin being the most often mentioned. But for the time being there are no alternatives to Putin in fact.

While Shoygu has avoided the taint of personal corruption, there have been various allegations that as EMERCOM minister he was involved in some questionable operations. A team led by Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny regularly posted exposes alleging corruption among members of the elite. Navalny's expose alleged that Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has been hiding a home worth an estimated at $18 million by putting it in the name of his relatives. The house in question is located in the same luxurious Moscow suburb where Putin has his official residence.

The level of trust in Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reaches 88%, reported on 18 February 2016 by the chairman of the Board of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) Konstantin Abramov. "The approval of the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Sergey Shoigu activities and trust him are extremely high - 84% and 88% respectively", - he said. The level of confidence in the army of Russians is 82%, said Abramov. These data were obtained in a study conducted in the autumn of 2015, he said.

Humanity is hurtling toward its own destruction through unrestrained consumerism, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in an interview on the anniversary of a 19th-century exploration and geography society he presides over. I believe humanity is taking leaps and bounds toward its own destruction and the reason for that is the unrestrained desire for consumption, Shoigu told Russias oldest travel magazine Vokrug Sveta. In a nod to his Siberian roots, Shoigu brought up his grandfather  he hunted just enough animals in the taiga because he knew he wouldnt eat that much meat and there would be fewer animals next year  as an example of restraint. I dream that one day everyone will understand that its time to stop this crazy race of consumerism, Shoigu, who is president of the Russian Geographical Society NGO, lamented.





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Operation Iron Swords - Day 219 - 12 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)

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said that the genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinians is reminiscent of the Holocaust. This came in a speech she delivered yesterday, Saturday, during the opening of the Maghreb-Mashreq Social Forum in Tunisia, under the slogan Palestine is our future... The war of extermination against Gaza represents a challenge to human and democratic values.

Speaking about the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, Albanese said, "How can we ignore what is happening in Gaza now? This is a tragedy." She pointed to human rights violations in Gaza and the martyrdom of 35,000 people at the hands of Israeli forces, including about 15,000 children, stressing that Israel aims with these attacks to take revenge on all Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank .

In this context, she called on the international community to take action to stop the Israeli attacks, adding, "I say without hesitation that what is happening in Gaza is not a war, but a genocide, and although Western countries are not comfortable using the word genocide, the genocide in Gaza reminds us of the Holocaust." In her speech before the conference - which concludes today, Sunday - the UN rapporteur touched on the protests against the Israeli attacks in Gaza, saying, "We must support student movements around the world."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the massacre is continuing in the Gaza Strip , and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a level in genocidal methods that arouses the jealousy of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler . Erdogan added - in an interview with the Greek newspaper Kathimerini published on Sunday, the eve of the visit of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Ankara - that the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) agreed to a ceasefire, but Israel is making excuses and does not want a ceasefire because of what he called its desire to occupy. The entire Gaza Strip.

This comes in the wake of Turkey's recent decision to stop trading with Israel and its announcement to join South Africa's lawsuit before the International Court of Justice against Tel Aviv regarding "genocide" in Gaza. At the time, the Hamas movement welcomed - in a press statement - these Turkish steps, describing them as brave decisions and as an extension and reflection of the position of the Turkish people in support of the struggle of the Palestinian people and their right to freedom and self-determination.

Erdogan had previously attacked the Israeli government repeatedly as part of an escalation of his rhetoric against it against the backdrop of its war on the Gaza Strip, including describing Netanyahu late last month as the Hitler of our era, stressing that Netanyahu and his allies will not escape punishment.

In commemoration of the Holocaust , the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article by two political analysts in which they discussed definitions of the term, its connotations, and its repercussions on the behavior of the occupying state. The article - written by Israeli author and journalist Akiva Eldar and Professor Daniel Bar Tal, professor of political psychology at Tel Aviv University - criticized what he calls Holocaust traffickers in their effort to make Israel appear as a victim forever in order to gain sympathy from the countries of the world, and to consider everyone who denies the Holocaust as a victim. An enemy of the Jewish people.

The two writers began their joint article by directing arrows of criticism at the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , whom they describe as "the most dangerous leader of the Jewish state" because of his exploitation of the Holocaust anniversary, which was celebrated yesterday, Tuesday, to spread fear of the "Iranian threat." According to them, the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) on Israel at dawn on Saturday, October 7, 2023, created a new competitor to the Nazi enemy of the Jews, represented by Iran.

Eldar and Bar-Tal tried to draw comparisons between the inability of the Israeli defense establishment in the face of what they described as acts of murder and rape on that day, and the Jews who were herded like sheep to the gas chambers in Auschwitz, the concentration camp and Holocaust theater in the part that was occupied by Germany. Nazism from Poland. According to the article, the Holocaust is not a one-time event in the history of the Jewish people, but rather a term that symbolizes a threatening situation and has become, over the years, a tool in the hands of politicians and those who shape public opinion.

The Holocaust - from the writers' point of view - has no time or place, and can occur at any time, anywhere and in any context, and the common denominator between all of these "holocausts" is the desire to destroy the Jewish people. The article provided a definition of the Holocaust formulated by psychoanalyst Vamik Vukan as a selected trauma and shared psychosocial perception of a historical event that bequeathed to an entire group a catastrophic and traumatic defeat, loss, humiliation, and even genocide.

This chosen trauma is embedded in all aspects of life, and is passed on from one generation to another. They can be reactivated in times of threat and stress, thus perpetuating their existence. Jews in Israel always suffer from the feeling that they are victims, a feeling that political analysts believe stems from their exposure to harm at the hands of another group, in violation of the laws of morality. It also - in their opinion - constitutes a situation that suggests the danger facing them from a cruel enemy, which gives them a moral justification to harm him without deterrence or mercy.

The concept of victimhood distinguishes between Jews and Palestinians, and gives Israelis a sense of moral superiority and a justification for stripping Palestinians of their humanity. However, Eldar and Bar-Tal warn that this feeling involves three dangerous phenomena: freedom from moral obligation , which allows Jews to ignore moral standards, as they have been victims throughout history, especially in the Holocaust, and it allows them to harm the enemy without taking moral laws into account. . Victimization separates society from feelings of guilt and leaves room only for feelings of anger and revenge.

The second phenomenon is moral entitlement . Being a victim makes the Jews morally entitled to harm anyone who poses a threat to them, and to use any violent means in order to prevent them from being subjected to another attack. The third of these phenomena is what the article calls moral oppression, which does not give other nations the right to preach morality to the Jews, because they (i.e. those nations) chose to stand aside and did not rush to save them from the Holocaust.

Although it is not easy to extinguish the constant feeling of injustice and victimhood, it is becoming more difficult in the midst of the violent conflict that is now raging. In the conclusion of the article, the two authors emphasize that weaning from these feelings must begin by changing the ethics of the conflict, which has become entrenched in the school system, the media, and official ceremonies, in an attempt to end it, which first requires replacing the leader who has few equals and who is considered to be promoting the role of the victim. His profession, in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

War Termination

On Saturday, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Authority (KAN) revealed Israel's plan for the future of the Gaza Strip, which it said would soon be presented to the Council of Ministers. According to the Kan evening broadcast, the plan, which was recently discussed by the National Security Council in Israel, includes Israeli civil administration of the Palestinian sector for a period ranging from 6 months to one year.

The coordinator of Israeli government activity in the Palestinian territories will be responsible for managing the Gaza Strip during that period, according to the plan. According to what was reported by "Kan", the provision of public services to the residents of Gaza will be through private Arab companies. The same source stated that this plan came "in light of the IDF's criticism of the political leadership for not making decisions regarding the Gaza Strip after the war."

According to the details of the Israeli plan, control of the Strip will eventually transfer to local parties that are not hostile to Israel, without naming them. The Israeli Public Broadcasting Authority said in its report that the security services and political leadership in Israel are holding talks and meetings with concerned parties to formulate this plan.

In recent weeks, a new plan has emerged that Israeli officials are discussing, which includes sharing supervision of Gaza with a coalition of Arab countries, in exchange for normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia. Although the war has reached its eighth month, the future of the Gaza Strip after the end of the fighting is still unclear.

Last month, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said in his speech during a World Economic Forum event in the Saudi capital, that the Biden administration will continue its months-long endeavor to reach an arrangement regarding Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007. Blinken noted that a lot of work has been done on this matter, but at the same time stressed that in the absence of a real political horizon for the Palestinians, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to have a coherent plan for Gaza itself, so we We are working on that too."

Shortly after Israel launched its crackdown on Hamas following the October 7 attack, the administration of US President Joe Biden began developing a plan for post-war security and governance in the Gaza Strip. American officials suggested that the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, may take over responsibility in Gaza after restructuring this institution.

In an interview with CBSs Meet the Nation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized his belief that Hamas will continue to pose a challenge in Gaza regardless of Israels actions in Rafah. Blinkens remarks come as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) prepare to dismantle the last remaining Hamas strongholds in Rafah. Speaking on the program, Blinken asserted, Without a plan for the day after the war, Israel will be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency because a lot of armed Hamas [terrorists] will be left, no matter what they do in Rafah. He urged caution, stating, If they leave and get out of Gaza, as we believe they need to do, then youre going to have a vacuum thats likely to be filled by chaos, anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again."

Operational Update

A recent survey conducted by the Direct Polls Institute sheds light on the opinions of reserve duty officers in Israel regarding the ongoing conflict with Hamas and the situation in Gaza. The survey, commissioned by the Regavim movement, interviewed 512 reservists who served during the Swords of Iron War, representing various segments of Israeli society. The results reveal a significant divergence of views on key issues among the reservists. When asked about the prospect of a hostage deal with Hamas at all costs, a striking 72 percent expressed their opposition, emphasizing their readiness to enter Rafah regardless of the negotiations. Moreover, the survey highlights a strong stance against the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza, with only 9 percent of respondents supporting the initiative. A staggering 90 percent of reservists oppose such aid, with a third willing to consider alternative terms to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas.

Operational Update - Gaza

The IDF conducts two types of combat within the Strip. In Khan Yunis, intense divisional combat is underway under the leadership of the 98th Division, which includes the commando forces and the paratrooper brigade, and in the north of the Strip, the IDF conducts targeted raids to eliminate and destroy quality targets, such as command and control targets, tunnels and compounds Dispatch.

The focus of the IDF's fighting is in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. The city is occupied and intense divisional fighting is taking place above and below the ground between IDF forces and terrorists. So far, about 2,800 terrorists have been eliminated in Khan Yunis - a third of the total strength of Hamas in the city, and two of the four enemy battalions in the area have been dismantled. The IDF estimates that the command and control of the terrorist organization in the city has been dismantled, and most of the operatives are on the run, and make it clear that although the fighting is intense, the resistance the fighters are encountering is far from what it was at the beginning of the fighting in the city, in view of the weakening of the Gaza terrorist organization.

During the last day, aircraft and fighter jets of the Air Force attacked and destroyed more than 150 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip in the coordination and direction of the ground forces. Among the targets attacked are ready-to-launch rocket launchers, terrorist squads and ammunition depots alongside military buildings, observation posts, tunnel shafts and other terrorist infrastructure.

Tonight, Division 98 began an operation in Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, following intelligence information about the presence of terrorists and the restoration of terror infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hamas in the region. Before the entry of the forces, fighter jets and aircraft of the Air Force attacked about 30 terrorist targets in the area and eliminated a number of terrorists from the terrorist organization Hamas.

The military and strategic expert, Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi, believes that the Israeli armys statements that it will return to work in the Jabalia region indicate that the occupation intends to storm these areas. Al-Falahi said - in the military analysis segment on Al-Jazeera screen - that the presence of large Israeli military crowds in the Zakim area, and the occupation asking residents of the areas near Jabalia camp to leave the place, such as Al-Nour, Al-Nuzha, Al-Rawda, and Al-Salam neighborhoods, is a strong indication that the occupation is preparing to be in these areas. Military operations.

According to the military expert, the occupation draws its plans based on a major error in estimating intelligence information, explaining that the battle of the north and Gaza City lasted more than two months and the occupation has not succeeded in moving it to the third phase of the war so far. Al-Falahi considered the resistances success in bombing Beersheba a clear message that the resistance still possesses the missile capabilities that enable it to strike many cities around Gaza and Tel Aviv as well. He stressed that the Israeli military operation in northern Gaza has not achieved its goals for which it was launched so far, as it did not eliminate the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) or its leaders, nor did it enable the occupation army to reach the location of the prisoners.

Regarding the Rafah battles, Colonel Al-Falahi warned that what is happening in Khuzaa and Abasan is an attempt by the occupation army to circumvent or indirectly approach Rafah. He pointed out the need for the resistance to pay attention to the fact that the Sahel region could be a potential landing point for the occupation army, with the intention of confusing the position of the resistance in general, especially after the Israeli War Council took a decision to expand the war in Rafah.

Tomer Almagor reported for N12 News that the operation in Jabaliya and Zaytun began after the army detected attempts by Hamas to return and rehabilitate in those areas. Among the infrastructures that the terrorist organization is restoring are headquarters that are being re-established, weapons that are hidden and concentrations of forces. With the re-entry into Jabaliya and Zeytun, the IDF yesterday (Saturday) called on the residents of the region to temporarily evacuate to shelters in Gaza City. This joins the calls for evacuation in recent days in East Rafah by dropping proclamations, sending text messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic. In this context, the Gazans were asked to evacuate to the expanded humanitarian space in Mawassi, and so far about 300 thousand Gazans have moved there.

Inside the underground, hundreds of shafts were destroyed and hundreds of Hamas fighters were eliminated. The special forces and units are making significant progress in the tunnels under the city, which was a surprise to the terrorist organization, which did not expect an underground maneuver. The bulk of the heavy fighting is carried out by the 98th Division, which includes the commando units and the paratrooper brigade. In the last two months, significant reserve forces were released, and some of the regular forces were also converted to other missions outside the Strip.

The fighting in Khan Yunis comes after the IDF forces defeated the main Hamas force in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip in the first phase of the maneuver. The IDF fighters inflicted significant damage on the terrorist organization's battalions in all areas in the northern Gaza Strip, captured the area and destroyed tunnels and infrastructure. About 7,000 terrorists were killed in the battles in the northern Gaza Strip, including two brigade commanders and 20 other commanders.

After the Hamas forces in the north of the Gaza Strip were defeated, the IDF left the area and settled in the Netzer Corridor, which borders the north of the Gaza Strip, and in the security area near the northern border of the Gaza Strip. From there, the fighters go on raids to destroy high-quality targets and eliminate the terrorist pockets that still remain in Gaza City. The main part of the fighting in this area focuses on the Shatti refugee camp. The IDF's control of the area is not expressed in the presence in the area, but in the ability to operate relatively freely and reach anywhere in the area.

In the two months that have passed since the north of the Gaza Strip was conquered, and after the IDF's focus shifted to Khan Yunis, the security establishment recognizes attempts by the terrorist organization to return to civilian rule in the Gaza City area. The political echelon has not come up with a plan to control the area and "pass the baton", and dozens of terrorists are trying to take over for the humanitarian aid that came in and to control the 200,000 Palestinians who remained in the area.

Between Gaza City and Khan Yunis are the Center Camps, where fighting is also taking place between the IDF and the battalions of the Gaza terrorist organization. The IDF has also defeated the bulk of Hamas's forces in the camps, and the fighting in them is carried out through surgical operations. However, the IDF avoided entering the city of Deir al-Balah, due to the high population concentration there.

The most significant achievements of the IDF so far are the elimination of about 25% of Hamas terrorists (about 10,000 terrorists), the injury and disarmament of another 25%, gaining control over the northern Gaza Strip and the elimination of the bulk of the force in Khan Yunis. In addition, the IDF succeeded in To reduce rocket fire from the Strip by about 90% and destroy strategic tunnels. Another significant achievement of the IDF is the return of Hamas from behind - from an army-like organization to a guerrilla organization. 18 and a half of the terrorist organization's 24 battalions in the Gaza Strip have been disbanded, and now the fighters face mainly small squads of terrorists, rather than organized attacks by a company or battalion.

About 20,000 Hamas terrorists remain alive and capable, so the military power of the terrorist organization has not yet been decided. In addition, his senior officials, including Mohammad Daf and Yahya Sinaver, are still alive, and according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, about 80% of the tunnels in the Gaza Strip have not yet been destroyed. These figures indicate that the IDF still has a lot of work to do before the terrorists and their couriers in the Gaza Strip are defeated.

As for tunnels, the army's strategy is to deal with strategic or significant tunnels in terms of size or purpose. These are mainly large tunnels that can allow a large amount of terrorists or hostages to stay and pass between strategic points. The army has made progress in destroying these tunnels, but it is a slow and complex process, for which the IDF has developed innovative warfare methods.

Another challenge facing the army is the occupation of the southern Gaza Strip, where the city of Rafah is located. This task may be particularly complex since many Hamas forces have fled towards the last city where intense fighting has not yet taken place, and because a significant part of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip is in the city, which may make fighting more difficult. The IDF makes it clear that despite the challenges the area faces, Rafah is also expected to face a strong divisional attack, similar to what was carried out in Khan Yunis.

In the area of the southern border of the Strip, according to the Guardian's analysis, there are approximately 1.9 million Palestinian refugees who left the centers of fighting. Most of them live there in crowded tent cities, and the IDF will have to find a solution to move the civilian population to a place so that it can conduct combat, or alternatively to fight in a complex, dense and full of non-involved terrain.

In a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the IDF, the terrorist Naim Gol, a military operative in the terrorist organization Hamas in the Shati Battalion in the Gaza Strip, was eliminated last Friday. As part of his activities, he was involved in firing rockets towards Israeli territory and was also entrusted with the possession of the late Corporal Noa Marciano, who was kidnapped during the events of 10/7 and murdered in Shifa Hospital. Also, three months ago, another terrorist who took part in the possession of the late Corporal Noa Marciano was eliminated. The IDF shares in the grief of the Marciano family and will continue to accompany them. The IDF and the Shin Bet will continue to act resolutely to locate and thwart military terrorist operatives, who carry out acts of terror against Israeli citizens, and are also involved in kidnapping and murder incidents.

At the same time, the forces of Division 162 under the intelligence guidance of AMN and the Shin Bet continue their activity focused on the east and the Rafah crossing from the Gazan side. During the activity, the combat team fighters of the Givati Brigade located and destroyed a number of tunnel shafts and rocket launchers that were ready to be launched into the territory of the country. In addition, the fighters of the 401st Brigade combat team identified ten terrorists from the terrorist organization Hamas leaving a terrorist infrastructure and carrying weapons. Air force aircraft and combat team fighters attacked the terrorists and eliminated them.

In Zeytun in the north of the Gaza Strip, the operations of the 99th Division continue against infrastructure and Hamas terrorists in the area. During the last day, the fighters eliminated a number of terrorists in face-to-face encounters, in air force aircraft strikes, additional terrorists were eliminated and weapons and terrorist infrastructure were destroyed. An Air Force aircraft eliminated two terrorists who shot at the forces operating in the area.

Following the alert that was activated in the Kerem Shalom area, the air defense fighters successfully intercepted two launches from a Rafah towards Kerem Shalom. No damage and no casualties. The IDF is operating in the Netzer area since military activities that could endanger its forces, as well as Hamas combat tunnels, have been identified there. Handling these terrorist infrastructures takes time, as it is a dense area with residential buildings of 5-6 stories. The IDF chooses carefully and in accordance with the about the goals and objectives, with emphasis being given to those in which the enemy's ability is the highest.

The significance of the mission to carve out the strip and expand the corridor lies in the achievement of repelling the enemy and driving him away, which is the broad purpose of the move. The Zaytun neighborhood and the central camps are strategic areas with a high potential for Hamas to reorganize, and it is possible that the IDF will need a larger SDF in order to overcome the limitations it encounters. According to estimates, the activity will last a week to ten days, when everything may change depending on the situation. Division 99 operates in the Hamas production areas in the western part of the center's camps, and the forces carry out successful targeted countermeasures, thanks, among other things, to good intelligence.

An IDF spokesman's update reported the IDF "continues precise and focused operations against Hamas in Rafah as part of our efforts to achieve a continuous dismantling of Hamas, and to return all our abductees to their homes. Our operations against Hamas in Rafah remain limited in scope and focus on tactical progress, adjustments on the ground and military achievements with the aim of avoiding activity in densely populated areas.

The fighting in the area is expected to be very complex, since most of the terrorist organization's remaining forces are concentrated there, and they have nowhere else to escape within the Gaza Strip. Challenge Added to the fighting will be dealing with the huge numbers of refugees and the severe humanitarian crisis, and operations may be carried out to evacuate the refugees to other areas in the Strip.

"Since the beginning of our targeted operation against Hamas in Rafah, we have eliminated dozens of terrorists, uncovered underground terrorist tunnels and many weapons. Before our actions, we call on the citizens to temporarily move towards humanitarian areas, and to stay away from the combat zones to which Hamas is pushing them. Our war is against Hamas, not against the residents of Gaza. During the last few days, they coordinated the entry of 200,000 liters of fuel through the Kerem Shalom crossing; We enabled and coordinated the opening of a new field hospital in the center of Gaza, and we are working to enable the flow of humanitarian aid to Rafah via the Salah El Din road.

"Over the past few days, we have reminded all of us why our fight against Hamas is necessary: Hamas fired rockets from a launcher at the humanitarian aid crossing in Kerem Shalom - the same crossing through which Israel allows humanitarian aid to be brought in to the residents of Gaza. On Friday night, Hamas fired 9 rockets from a rocket launcher at the city of Beer Sheva in Israel, hitting a children's playground. We will continue to fulfill our mission until a lasting decision is reached by Hamas, and return our abductees home."

The Israeli army continues to ask residents and displaced people to evacuate specific areas of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and move towards the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, amid Palestinian accusations of pushing residents toward death and warnings of a new humanitarian disaster. Speaking to Al-Hurra website, the Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, says that before the launch of the military operation in eastern Rafah, residents were warned and invited to move to an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.

The Israeli army took several measures on the humanitarian front, including opening an eighth field hospital in the Deir al-Balah area, and coordinating the transfer of some hospitals from Rafah to the expanded humanitarian zone between Khan Yunis and Al-Mawasi, according to Adraee. On Saturday, the Israeli army said that approximately 300,000 Rafah residents headed towards Al-Mawasi since it entered the east of the city on May 6 until now.

The Israeli army asked Palestinians in other areas in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, to evacuate their places and go to Al-Mawasi, in another indication that Israel may move forward with its plans to launch a ground attack on Rafah. The new evacuation orders towards Al-Mawasi included the Rafah and Al-Shaboura camps and the Al-Adari, Al-Jeneina and Khirbet Al-Adas neighborhoods.

Al-Mawasi is a small agricultural area, representing only 3 percent of the area of the Gaza Strip. It is located on the coastal strip several kilometers long, and extends from Deir al-Balah in the north, passing through Khan Yunis Governorate, to Rafah Governorate in the south, at a depth of approximately one kilometer. Al-Mawasi is about 28 kilometers away from Gaza City, and its residential units do not exceed about 100 units, and its population is about 9,000 people.

Israeli political analyst, Joab Stern, points out that Al-Mawasi is an open and relatively empty area, not densely populated, and has no real estate, mosques, tunnels, or schools, so the displaced can camp there as a temporary solution only. The reason for evacuating residents from eastern Rafah is to allow the Israeli army to fight Hamas without targeting civilians in Rafah, and everyone who will remain in the battle areas will be dealt with, so the alternative is displacement away from the military confrontation line, according to what he told the Al-Hurra website. .

There are about 1.4 million Palestinians in the crowded city of Rafah, according to United Nations figures, most of whom have been displaced from other areas since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7. The United Nations and international organizations warn that the Al-Mawasi area is already suffering from overcrowding and is unable to receive additional numbers of displaced people. It does not have infrastructure and it is not easy to obtain drinking water.

Therefore, Palestinian political analyst, Ayman Al-Raqab, points out that Al-Mawasi is a very small area and cannot accommodate this number of displaced people due to the evacuation from the city of Rafah. The Al-Mawasi area "is not qualified and has no infrastructure or clean drinking water," but the Israeli army "does not care about that and leaves the people to face their fate," according to what he told the "Al-Hurra" website.

The Palestinian political analyst and head of the European Council for International Relations and Consultations, based in Paris, Adel al-Ghoul, agrees with him, and he criticizes the Israeli armys demands for Rafah residents to evacuate towards al-Mawasi. The area accommodates 100 to 150 thousand people, and talking about more than that is fourth impossible, as it has already been densely populated for 4 months, according to Al-Ghouls words to the Al-Hurra website. There is no humanitarian zone, and this is a false Israeli claim. Field hospitals and clean drinking water do not exist, the Palestinian political analyst confirms.

Al-Ghoul explains that the refugee housing areas in Al-Mawasi are merely tents that were established individually and through personal efforts, or through non-governmental institutions. There are no places to accommodate the displaced, and currently there is a very large humanitarian crisis, as those who try to escape from eastern and central Rafah cannot find a final place to set up tents in Al-Mawasi, according to Al-Ghoul.

Al-Raqab confirms what Al-Ghoul mentioned, and describes the Israeli evacuation warnings from the Rafah areas as disorganized and chaotic. Residents are being asked to leave for a new place of displacement, they do not know where, as if they are moving from death to death, according to Al-Raqab. The Palestinian political analyst warns of the worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where the majority of its population faces a major humanitarian crisis, hunger, distress, the spread of diseases, and food shortages, which has made Gaza unfit for life.

For his part, Stern points out that the Israeli request for residents to evacuate reveals the intention to continue the battles in light of Hamas setting conditions and not softening its position on the deal. Regardless of whether or not there are hospitals or the existence of areas where residents can camp, the ones who pay the price for the continuation of battles and Hamas failure to soften its position so far are the civilian population, according to the Israeli political analyst. The displaced are already suffering from a major humanitarian crisis, and the result will be disastrous for the Palestinian population in light of the continuation of the war in Gaza and the failure to reach a deal, because displacement towards Mawasi or elsewhere represents a risk that amounts to death, according to Stern.

Is the military operation still limited or has it become comprehensive? Questions accompany the new evacuation demands directed by the Israeli army to residents of several neighborhoods in different areas of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Why is the scope of these operations expanding? What are the causes and repercussions of this? On Saturday, the Israeli army asked Palestinians in other areas in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, to evacuate their places and go to what it calls the expanded humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi, in another indication that Israel may move forward with its plans to launch a ground attack on Rafah. The "new evacuation" orders included the Rafah and Shaboura camps and the Al-Adari, Al-Jeneina and Khirbet Al-Adas neighborhoods, according to what was announced by the Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee.

Speaking to Al-Hurra website, Adraee pointed out that the operation in Rafah was limited in size until this moment, and was focused on the eastern neighborhoods of the city. On Saturday, the Israeli army expanded the area from which it wanted to evacuate the civilian population, moving from a battlefield to the expanded humanitarian Al-Mawasi area, according to Adraee. The operation aims to dismantle Hamas' military capabilities and is still "limited in size" and is concentrated in "east of Rafah," where "dozens of the movement's members" were killed and tunnels and combat means were found, according to an Israeli army spokesman.

The Israeli army announced that "nearly 300,000" people were displaced from the crowded eastern neighborhoods of the city in the south of the Gaza Strip, since it entered this area on May 6, after calls to residents to evacuate. There are about 1.4 million Palestinians in the crowded city of Rafah, according to United Nations figures, most of whom have been displaced from other areas since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7.

In defiance of international warnings against launching a major attack in Rafah, the Israeli army has been carrying out incursions into the east of the city since Tuesday, after ordering residents to evacuate the area. The Israeli military and strategic expert, Kofi Lavie, points out that Israeli forces will enter every area and neighborhood where there are members of the Hamas movement. There are members of Hamas present in several areas in Rafah, and the Israeli army must reach them and kill them, and the matter will continue until the movement is completely eliminated, no matter what it takes, according to what he told the Al-Hurra website.

Lavie describes the Gaza Strip as a closed cage, and wherever there are Hamas saboteurs, they will be pursued and eliminated, if necessary, continuing military operations for a week, a month, a year, or whatever the length of time, according to the former Israeli army officer.

But on the other hand, Palestinian political analyst, Muhammad Abu Mahadi, points out that the war has entered a new phase, after the Israeli army expanded its operations in Rafah. Israel seeks to "create tragic conditions inside the Gaza Strip," and the goal is to "displace the Palestinians outside the Strip," and thus the Israeli army seeks to achieve those goals in "one way or another," according to what he told the "Al-Hurra" website. Abu Mahadi points out that Israeli forces have already occupied the Rafah crossing and half of the border city, causing a humanitarian catastrophe that will lead to a coming famine similar to what happened in northern Gaza during the recent period.

Hani Al-Jamal, a researcher specializing in the Arab-Israeli conflict, monitors several indicators of the Israeli forces expanding their military operation to include several areas in Rafah for several reasons. The Israeli army is trying to "undermine the rehabilitation of Hamas' military capabilities in Rafah, after monitoring the launching of rockets from the area into some Israeli areas, which caused the death of Israeli soldiers," according to what he told the Al-Hurra website.

Al-Jamal believes that the Israeli army is expanding its operations to achieve a victory against the interior of Israel and strengthen the position of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The expansion of the military operation aims to increase pressure on Hamas to accept Israeli conditions for the release of the hostages, or cause these military operations to find and liberate them, according to Al-Jamal. He points out that the "expansive Israeli military operations" aim to put pressure on mediators such as the United States and Egypt in order to "pressure Hamas" to "completely" release the hostages without waiting for the stages of the Egyptian paper agreement.

For months, Netanyahu has been threatening to invade Rafah, which he considers "the last stronghold of Hamas." With the launch of the limited Israeli military operation in the city, Egypt condemned the Israeli armys movements and warned of the consequences of escalation in the city located on the Egyptian border. Therefore, the former Egyptian Military Intelligence Undersecretary, Major General Tamer Al-Shahawi, confirms that any changes or instability in the Gaza Strip in general and in the city of Rafah in particular affects Egypts national security, and affects the Egyptian interior, both negatively and positively. The Israeli army did not achieve "any military success in the Gaza Strip. Hamas was not eliminated, and the kidnapped persons were not recovered, which prompted Israel to expand its operations in Rafah," as Al-Shahawi explains in his interview with Al-Hurra website.

At the present time, Israel is behaving with extreme barbarism and does not take into account the impact of its military movements on the country with which it has a peace agreement (Egypt), according to the former Egyptian military intelligence agent. But at the same time, Al-Shahawi asserts that Israel is still trying not to anger Cairo, while the Egyptian authorities are making a lot of efforts to exercise restraint, despite what is happening on Egypts borders.

Egypt is the first Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel on March 26, 1979, a year after the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978. Under the peace agreement, Cairo was able to recover the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel occupied in 1967, and Egypt fought a war to regain it in 1973. Rafah, adjacent to the Egyptian border, is filled with displaced people who fled from other areas in the Gaza Strip, which raises Cairo's fears of "the displacement of civilians" towards the Sinai Peninsula if "military operations expand in the city." Therefore, Al-Gamal warns that the expansion of Israeli military operations may disperse the Palestinian population blocs, threatening Egyptian border security, and thus Cairo will intensify the presence of its forces on the border in Sinai.

But Lafi confirms that the Israeli military operation may include any area in Rafah based on security and intelligence information. Before any military operation, residents will be warned to go to safe areas and evacuate, and anyone who does not evacuate will be suspected of committing acts of sabotage and will therefore be dealt with, according to the Israeli military and strategic expert. Lafi does not believe that expanding military operations in Rafah may cause any problem with Egypt, because it knows the danger of (Hamas, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood).

On the other hand, Al-Shahawi stresses that the expansion of military operations and the harm to the population in Rafah affects Egyptian national security. The former Egyptian military intelligence agent sends a message to the Israeli side, saying: Israel should not test Cairos patience, as you have already crossed all limits.

Operational Update - Judea-Samaria

Clashes broke out at dawn on Sunday between resistance fighters and Israeli occupation forces in Balata Camp in Nablus, in the northern West Bank , while settlers carried out new attacks on Palestinians. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that Israeli forces stormed the camp and deployed snipers in a number of buildings, noting that a bulldozer removed barriers at the entrances to the camp. Activists said that clashes broke out between resistance fighters and the invading forces, while the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Channel reported that an Israeli drone bombed a site in the camp. For its part, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that a Palestinian boy was injured by live bullets fired by occupation soldiers during the storming of Balata camp.

Israeli forces early stormed the city of Jericho and the Al-Arroub camp, north of Hebron. Al Jazeera's correspondent said that the Israeli army also stormed the city of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank early today.

In simultaneous developments, the reporter reported that settlers set fire to a house in the village of Duma, south of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, at dawn today. Activists reported that the attackers wrote anti-Palestinian slogans on the walls. A group of extremist settlers also stormed the outskirts of the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, and attacked a house and a vehicle in the town. Eyewitnesses reported that a group of settlers stormed the outskirts of the town, surrounded a house, attacked a house and a vehicle parked in front of it, and smashed its windows. The witnesses added that they spotted a vehicle carrying a group of settlers withdrawing from the area towards one of the settlements near the town.

Al Jazeera's correspondent also reported that settlers burned the house of citizen Fathi Dawabsha in the village of Duma, southeast of Nablus, and wrote racist slogans on its walls. Also, settlers attacked sheep herders and farmers in the village of Al-Mufaqara in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, assaulting them and preventing them from reaching their pastures. It is noteworthy that settler attacks have increased in recent months as part of a broader escalation carried out by the occupation forces in the West Bank since the resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

Operational Update - Lebanon

Fighter jets of the Air Force attacked two launching positions of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in the areas of the villages of Halta and Hammam. In addition, two terrorist infrastructures of the organization were attacked in the Al-Khariba area. During the day, a number of launches from the territory of Lebanon were detected that crossed into different areas in the north of the country, there were no casualties. IDF forces attacked the sources of the shooting.

The Beirut newspaper "Al-Diyar" publishes, according to sources in the organization, that after a series of in-depth discussions, it was agreed to change the patterns of operation in view of the significant losses suffered by Hezbollah and the other organizations working alongside it. According to the newspaper's military commentator, Michel Nasr, the top of Hezbollah has come to the conclusion that it must strive to reduce losses on the Lebanese side and therefore the following steps are being taken:

Hezbollah withdrew its forces from around the border line with Israel, and now it only operates small squads of 3-4 fighters near the line for observation and target identification purposes.

Instead of relying first and foremost on launching anti-tank missiles, as Hezbollah did for many months, priority is now given to the use of UAVs launched from hiding places close to the border, in a way that makes it difficult for the IDF's air defense system and fighter jets to hit them. At the same time, to increase the use In short- and medium-range rockets, the "launch and forget" method came to the conclusion that Kornet missile units are exposed to immediate Israeli response fire.

Hezbollah has decided, according to this publication, to refrain, for the time being, from attempting to attack Israeli planes flying at low altitude in the skies of Lebanon so as not to change the "rules of the campaign".

It is also claimed that Hezbollah seeks to infiltrate squads of its people across the border to improve intelligence gathering and assist in the selection of targets.

The Lebanese commentator comments that there is a dispute regarding the change of the operating patterns as he describes them between the generation of veteran commanders of Hezbollah and commanders from the younger generation, but does not specify the nature of this dispute. Hassan Nasrallah meanwhile decided to give a speech tomorrow (Monday), the eve of Israel's Independence Day.

The current war remains largely geographically limited, compared to the last war that Hezbollah fought against Israel in 2006. But experts say that it has turned into something resembling a war of attrition against Hezbollah after months of fighting and the number of its human losses approaching its losses. In the July War of 2006, the number is now close to 300 dead, noting that the war that took place 18 years ago resulted in the killing of 350 party members.

In exchange for the exhaustion of Hezbollah, concern continues in Israel about the attacks emanating from Lebanon, the latest of which was yesterday by launching two drones at a military base. While the confrontations continued in the south of the country at a slower pace than in previous days, the Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah asked: Sheikh Naeem Qassem, in his speech during a celebration in Beirut on Friday: Did you not notice how the performance on the southern front changed and the Mujahideen brothers benefited from the lessons and lessons learned and from the things that were used recently, so they addressed some of them and revealed certain capabilities?!

He added: In all wars in the world, when the war ends, they study the positives and negatives and address the negatives for the next war. We studied the pros and cons since the first two months and made the necessary adjustments so that there would be an important achievement, and this is what happened by the Mujahideen.

The head of the Middle East Center for Strategic Studies, retired Brigadier General Dr. Hisham Jaber, stated to Asharq Al-Awsat that The current war is a war of attrition. Hezbollah started the war and got involved in it, and it can no longer respond to Israeli demands and conditions, because that will harm it in front of its audience and in front of the Lebanese, and therefore it has no interest today except to continue and withstand.

Jaber added: But, we must not forget that the party has only revealed a small percentage of the weapons it possesses, whether air defense or sea defense weapons, and precision missiles, which are likely to number 10,000, explaining that Al-Radwans forces have not moved yet. In addition, on the other hand, the Israelis have no interest in a ground invasion of Lebanon, especially since Hezbollah has gained combat experience in its war in Syria, and it can survive because its environment is different from the Israeli environment, which does not accept large numbers of displaced people and the disruption of all aspects of life in the north. In addition to the Israeli army being on alert for 7 months.

For her part, former UN diplomat Brigitte Kheir says, The prospects for the battle in the south have begun to become clear with the failure of initiatives seeking to limit military operations, the retreat of (Hezbollah) to the Litani borders, and the phased implementation of UN Resolution No. 1701, noting in a statement to  Asharq Al-Awsat, "the failure of these efforts portends the possibility of expanding the scope of Israeli bombing and raids, and the danger facing Lebanon, which is sovereignly paralyzed and exposed in security, as has become clear through the chaos of militias of different affiliations in the south, reminiscent of the 'Fatah Land' scenario during the 1980s, which caused the invasion of... Lebanon in 1982.

Khair believes that the possibility of curbing the armed elements outside the control of the crumbling state is still possible, despite its difficulty, to block any Israeli action that will use these attacks from Lebanon as an excuse to expand the war, stressing that international and regional efforts must be met by a caretaker government. Businesses take a more sober and sovereign stance.

Operational Update - Syria / Iraq

Iraq's Islamic Resistance launched a cruise missile attack on a southwestern airbase within occupied territories, marking another show of support for Palestine, the anti-terror coalition stated on Saturday. The strike targeted "Ramon Airbase" with an "advanced Arqab cruise missile," housing several warplane and helicopter squadrons, continuing their campaign against occupation and in solidarity with Gaza.

The Islamic Resistance, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, declared their latest operation in a statement released on Saturday. This action specifically targeted the "Ramon Airbase," utilizing an "advanced Arqab cruise missile." Currently, the airbase accommodates three warplane squadrons and two helicopter gunship squadrons. In their statement, the Iraqi coalition emphasized the operation's alignment with their ongoing resistance against occupation, support for Gaza, and retaliation against the Israeli regime's atrocities towards Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and the elderly. Since October 7 of the previous year, the group has executed numerous operations against the occupied territories, initiated by the Israeli regime's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Closing their statement, the Iraqi resistance affirmed their commitment to persistently targeting the enemy's strongholds. Qais al-Khazali, secretary-general of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq movement, a constituent of the Iraqi resistance, emphasized the group's readiness for war against the occupying regime. He stressed that the resistance groups have taken on the responsibility of addressing the Palestinian issue, relieving the Iraqi government from any military obligation in this regard.

Operational Update - Yemen

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

Egypt's announcement to join South Africa in the lawsuit it filed before the International Court of Justice against Israel on charges of committing the crime of "genocide" came on Sunday, after a series of events that ended with Israeli tanks entering the Rafah border area and raising the Israeli flag. Raising the flag on Egypt's borders "provoked" Cairo, which began taking steps to express its anger at the Israeli move. These steps also cast a shadow on bilateral relations and the peace treaty that has existed between the two countries for decades.

Egyptian Israeli affairs expert, Tariq Fahmy, believes that Egypts joining the case brought before international justice is a symbolic first step that will be followed by additional steps. However, Jalal Banna, a security affairs analyst based in Israel, believes that Egypt is not serious about its intentions to join because it is in full and complete security coordination with Israel. Bana told Al-Hurra website, If this decision would have affected Egyptian and Israeli security interests, Cairo would not have taken it. The Egyptian state can put pressure on Israel with stronger and greater means than its joining the lawsuit, especially since the Israeli-Egyptian security and strategic coordination is very large.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Masria that the intervention in the lawsuit filed against Israel comes in light of the worsening severity and scope of the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, the intensification of the direct targeting of civilians, the destruction of the infrastructure in the Strip, and the push of the Palestinians to be displaced and displaced from their land. The statement pointed out that "those attacks led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and created unlivable conditions in Gaza, in flagrant violation of the provisions of international law, international humanitarian law, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War."

The statement continued: Egypt called on Israel to comply with its obligations as the occupying power, and to implement the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice, which require ensuring the entry of humanitarian and relief aid in a manner sufficient to meet the needs of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and for the Israeli forces not to commit any violations against the Palestinian people as a people. He shall enjoy protection in accordance with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

In January, the court called on Israel to refrain from any actions that could fall under the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, and asked it to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide against the Palestinians. The UN's highest court allows states to intervene and express their opinions. Several countries said they would also seek to intervene in the case, such as Turkiye, Nicaragua, Colombia and Libya.

The Egyptian announcement came after a high-ranking security source said that Cairo refused to coordinate with Israel in the entry of aid from the Rafah crossing due to the unacceptable Israeli escalation and held it responsible for the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip before all parties. Israeli forces stormed and took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and Israeli tanks also penetrated some eastern neighborhoods of Rafah. Cairo informed Israel of the danger of the escalation. A security source told Al-Hurra correspondent in Cairo, on Saturday, that Egypt had raised the readiness levels of the Egyptian Armed Forces from the normal state to the extreme state, in the northeastern strategic direction facing Sinai, adjacent to the Gaza Strip. Egyptian security analyst, Mohamed Abdel Wahed, said in statements to Al-Hurra website that Egypt was keen during the last period to play the role of mediator impartially and balance between the parties, so it felt embarrassed by the Israeli operations that amount to genocide, while Israel is determined to embarrass the leadership. politics in front of its people, the Arab region, and the Palestinians.

He adds that Israel did not only storm Rafah, but also other areas in the north and center, and entering Rafah helps in the oppressive migration of the population of Gaza, and threatens Egyptian national security and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and its protocol, which restricts the number and size of forces present on the border between the two sides, which is An order that Israel did not abide by. He points out that all of these matters provoked Cairo and it changed its position completely after it became clear to it that Israel was not serious, and that mediation constituted a burden on it and on Egyptian national security.

Egyptian political science professor, Tarek Fahmy, told Al-Hurra website that the Egyptian move towards the Court of Justice is a first step among the steps that Egypt is arranging to respond to the unilateral measures taken by Israel in the Salah al-Din Corridor (Philadelphia). He points out that "there is a crisis and tension" as evidenced by Egypt's failure to respond to Israeli demands, including security coordination, because it "does not want to legitimize what is happening and because if it coordinated with the entry of aid, it would have recognized the fait accompli." He believes that Egypt seeks to "impose direct deterrence by confronting Israel."

On Sunday, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that discussions took place today with the participation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, regarding the fear that the International Court of Justice in The Hague would issue an order to stop the war in the Gaza Strip, especially with Egypt announcing its intention to support South Africas request.

For his part, the Israeli analyst, Bana, suggested that the Egyptian move came only because of the bad personal relations between Egypt and Netanyahu, especially since the latter heads the most right-wing and extremist government coalition in the history of Israel.

He also believed that if Egypt had joined the lawsuit, the matter would have been done in complete coordination with the American administration, that is, with the country that has the closest relationship with Israel, and it may be an indirect message from Washington to the Israeli government, and an indication that the lawsuit in the International Court may expand, and from here In the view of the American administration, the matter may pose a threat to the senior leaders of the State of Israel.

He believed that this decision may be directed at the Egyptian people more than any other party to absorb popular anger, especially since official Egypt has refused to open the crossings to the Palestinians from Gaza, and is fully coordinating everything related to the entry of anything, especially humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. This means, according to Banna, that the Egyptian leadership is aware of popular anger and the streets demand to provide aid to the Palestinian people and restrict Egyptian-Israeli security coordination.

The editor-in-chief of the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper, Ashraf Al-Ashry, says that Egypt seeks to exert pressure on Israel, in light of the existing tension. Among the plans proposed, according to Al-Ashry, is to force Israel to abandon the project to storm Rafah and continue to close the crossing, especially since this would increase tension and escalation in the region and may affect relations. He adds that Egypt wants to prevent Israel from embarking on an expanded operation in Rafah, and to pressure it to return to negotiations and accept the Egyptian and Qatari proposals under the auspices of the American side.

The Egyptian side hopes that there will be a change in Israeli behavior in the coming hours, and a change in the rules of engagement in the Rafah area, and at the same time setting new rules and conditions to save the negotiations, according to Al-Ashry. According to the editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram newspaper, Egypt believes that there is an opportunity to save the negotiations, especially since the proposed approaches satisfy Hamas and Israel at the same time to stop the escalation.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel on March 26, 1979, a year after the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978. Under the peace agreement, Cairo was able to recover the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel occupied in 1967, and Egypt fought a war to regain it in 1973. Rafah, adjacent to the Egyptian border, is filled with displaced people who fled from other areas in the Gaza Strip, which raises Cairo's fears of "the displacement of civilians" towards the Sinai Peninsula if "military operations expand in the city."

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that the army's control of the Rafah crossing means that Israel will occupy Gaza again, which may have repercussions according to international law, and complicate relations with neighboring Egypt. Haaretz reported in an analysis that the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Israeli armys incursion and control of the Rafah crossing, describing it as a dangerous escalation that threatens ceasefire efforts. Cairo also considered that the move endangers the lives of millions of Palestinians who depend on the passage of humanitarian aid.

An Israeli newspaper said that the armys control of the Rafah crossing means that Israel is occupying Gaza again, which may have repercussions according to international law and complicate relations with neighboring Egypt. Egypt is also examining the legal meaning of the entry of large military forces into the region, which is supposed to be demilitarized according to the Camp David Accords, according to the newspaper.

Israeli political analyst Eli Nissan hopes that Egypt's entry into the International Court of Justice case will not affect the court's decision because if a ruling is issued against Israel, "this will help Hamas in its war against Israel and it will not have the ability to defend itself." Regarding the impact on relations between the two countries after the Egyptian move, Nissan told Al-Hurra website, The two countries are governed by a peace treaty, and Egypt has interests with Israel, does not want the war to continue, and does not want to invade Rafah, but Israel must defend itself. Nissan said that Hamas belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned by Egypt because it threatens its national security, and therefore Israel has the right to continue the war and eliminate it.

Israeli analyst Eddie Cohen agrees that raising the Israeli flag in Rafah was a "shock" to the Egyptian government. But he was not surprised by Egypt's request to join South Africa in the International Court of Justice case, accusing Cairo of entering the case in order to "evade responsibility" for helping Hamas, and saying that it wanted to maintain a "state of hostility" with Israel. But he does not believe that the peace treaty between the two countries is in danger, and Egypt is keen to obtain the annual American aid money and other benefits it receives. Fahmy also says that the issue of freezing the peace treaty is premature, and is linked to Israeli behavior in the coming period.

Axis of Resistance

The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry described the overwhelming support from the UN General Assembly for Palestines full UN membership as a testimony of the US and the Israeli regimes growing isolation in the international arena. In a post on his X account on Saturday, Nasser Kanaani said Washington is providing overt and covert support for the Zionist regimes crimes against Gaza while an international consensus has formed in support of Palestine as the world has expressed its hatred for the Israeli genocidal crimes, forced displacement of Palestinians, occupation, and massacre of children.

The Zionist regime is in the most isolated state of its fake history, and the US officials are alone, even among their own people, in the blind support for it (Israel), he added. The Iranian spokesman noted that the international communitys decisive vote in favor of Palestines full UN membership clearly indicated the international isolation of the Zionist regime and the US.

On Friday, the UNGA overwhelmingly voted to support a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council reconsider the matter favorably. Memberships can only be decided by the UN Security Council, and last month, the US vetoed a bid for full membership. The resolution does not give Palestinians full membership but recognizes them as qualified to join, and it gives Palestine more participation and some rights within the UNGA.

According to the report in the New York Times from American sources, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is not in Rafah, but remains in the tunnels in the Khan Yunis area. According to the report, this is information that both American intelligence and Israeli intelligence agree on. American and Israeli officials clarify that the Hamas tunnel system in Khan Yunis is the deepest in the Strip, and may reach a depth of 15 stories. According to the intelligence in the hands of the US and Israel, Sinwar is surrounded by hostages who are used as human shields. The US estimates that Israel has better intelligence about Sinwar's location, and states that they cooperate and share any intelligence they have.

The New York Times says , "Seven months later, Sinwar's survival has become a symbol of the failure of the Israeli war, which destroyed much of Gaza but left Hamas's senior leadership largely unharmed and failed to free most of the hostages."

Even as Israeli officials sought to kill him, they were forced to negotiate with him, albeit indirectly, to free the remaining hostages, according to the newspaper. Officials from Hamas, Israel and the United States say he is "a smart negotiator who succeeded in preventing an Israeli victory on the battlefield while including Israeli envoys at the negotiating table."

While the talks are being mediated in Egypt and Qatar, it is Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in Gaza tunnels, whose approval Hamas negotiators are seeking before making any concessions, according to some officials. Sinwar played a pivotal role behind the scenes in Hamas's decision to adhere to a permanent ceasefire, according to American and Israeli officials.

Waiting for his approvals often slowed negotiations, according to officials and analysts. After the Israeli strikes destroyed a large part of the communications infrastructure in Gaza, it sometimes took one day to deliver a message to Sinwar, and one day to receive a response, according to American and Hamas officials.

A few days ago, the American Wall Street Journal published a report indicating that the fate of the ceasefire talks now depends on two "hawks": the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the leader of the Hamas movement, Yahya Sinwar. The newspaper explained that the calculations of the two men do not leave much room for settlement, and constitute a challenge to the efforts of US President Joe Biden, and other mediators, to reach a ceasefire and liberate detainees in Gaza.

Arab negotiators, who deal with Sinwar, told the newspaper that he believes he can withstand, even if Israel launches an attack on the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and believes that he has already won the war, whether he survived it or not, because of shedding light on the suffering of the Palestinians and making the conflict in Introduction to global concerns. The mediators indicated that Sinwar's long-term goal is to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, end Israeli military pressure on Hamas, and ensure the movement's survival.

The New York Times notes in its new report that Hamas officials insist that Sinwar does not have the final say in the movements decisions. But although he does not technically have authority over the entire Hamas movement, his leadership role in Gaza and his strong personality give him great importance in managing Hamas' work, according to allies and enemies alike.

As the architect of the October attacks, Sinwar masterminded a strategy that he knew would provoke a fierce Israeli response. But in Hamas's calculations, "the killing of many Palestinian civilians was the necessary cost of overturning the status quo with Israel."

US and Israeli intelligence agencies spent several months assessing Sinwar's motives, according to people familiar with the intelligence. Analysts in both the United States and Israel believe that his main motivation is the desire to take revenge on Israel and weaken it, while for him it seems that the well-being of the Palestinian people or the establishment of a Palestinian state is secondary. It also appears that Sinwar is using his deep knowledge of Israel, after spending years in its prisons, to sow divisions in Israeli society and increase pressure on Netanyahu, according to Israeli and American officials. They also believe that he timed the release of video clips of some Israeli hostages in order to incite public anger towards Netanyahu, during the crucial stages of the ceasefire talks.

The newspaper says that if some view Netanyahu as deliberately prolonging the war for personal gain, then his arch enemy, Sinwar, is doing the same thing. Israeli and American intelligence officers say that Sinwar's strategy is to keep the war going as long as it will tear apart Israel's international reputation and harm its relationship with its main ally, the United States. The US President has already directed his strongest criticism of Israeli policy since the start of the war, after he said that he would stop some US arms shipments if the Israeli army launched a large-scale operation in Rafah.

American officials say Sinwar showed disdain for his colleagues outside Gaza, who were not informed of the exact plans for the Hamas attack on October 7. A senior Western official familiar with the ceasefire negotiations believes that Sinwar makes his decisions in coordination with his brother Muhammad, a senior Hamas military commander, and that throughout the war he sometimes disagreed with Hamas leaders outside Gaza. The official said that while the foreign leadership was sometimes more willing to reach a settlement, Sinwar was less willing to make concessions to Israeli negotiators, in part because he knew he would likely be killed, whether the war ended or not. The official said that even if negotiators reach a ceasefire agreement, Israel will likely pursue Sinwar for the rest of his life.

For their part, Hamas officials were keen to show unity, downplayed the importance of Sinwar's personal role in decision-making, and stressed that the elected Hamas leadership collectively determines the movement's course. Some say that if Sinwar played a major role during this war, it is mostly due to his position. As the leader of Hamas in Gaza, he has a greater say, although not the final decision, according to Musa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader residing in Qatar.

Abu Marzouk, the first leader of Hamass political bureau in the 1990s, said: Sinwars opinion is very important because he is on the ground and leading the movement from within, but Haniyeh has the final word on major decisions, and all Hamas political leaders have one opinion.

It is worth noting that the Times of Israel newspaper said, a few days ago, that recent intelligence assessments revealed that Sinwar is not hiding in Rafah, where the Israeli army intends to carry out a large ground operation. It quoted officials familiar with the matter as saying that recent intelligence assessments indicated that Al-Sinwar was present in underground tunnels in the Khan Yunis area, about 5 miles north of Rafah, and a third official confirmed that Al-Sinwar was still in Gaza.

Allied for Democracy

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy acknowledged responsibility for the army's failure to defend Israeli citizens on October 7. At a ceremony marking Remembrance Day, which Israel is currently observing, Halevy said: As commander of the Israel Defense Forces during the war, I bear responsibility that the IDF failed in its mission to protect the citizens of the State of Israel on October 7. I feel its weight on my shoulders every day, And in my heart, I completely understand its meaning.

The Chief of Staff added in his statements, which were reported by The Times of Israel : I am the commander who sent your sons and daughters to the battle from which they did not return, and to the sites from which they were kidnapped... I carry with me every day the memory of the martyrs, and I am responsible for answering the difficult questions that keep you awake. . The Israeli army chief of staff pledged not to abandon the kidnapped people, and to "return them to their homes soon."

A total of 1,504 soldiers and civilians have been killed in combat or due to hostilities since the last Memorial Day in Israel, according to figures published by the authorities last Thursday, which is the bloodiest year for the country's security forces and civilians in five decades, according to The Times of Israel .

It seems that the US is taking every step to pressure Israel to avoid a large-scale operation in Rafah. In the shadow of the storm of stopping the arms shipments, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was interviewed today (Sunday) by the NBC network and emphasized that without a reasonable and appropriate plan, the US will not be able to support in a military operation in Rafah. "We share Israel's desire to oust Hamas from its rule in Gaza, but there is a better way to do that than entering Rafah," he claimed. According to him, the US believes that entering Rafah will not solve the problem, but will only result in harm to civilians, while the Hamas battalions will retreat north again. "We saw what happened in the areas that Israel 'cleaned' in the north of the Gaza Strip," he said. Entering Rafah will not solve the problem, and it will not ensure that Hamas will not be able to control Gaza again."

Despite the delay in the arms shipments, Blinken refused to set a real 'red line' for Israel, and at the same time emphasized that the US is conducting "active talks with Israel on the supply of heavy weapons in the shadow of the concern about the effect of the weapons on a dense environment like Rafah".

Blinken also referred to the report published by the State Department to Congress, according to which it is "reasonable to estimate" that Israel used weapons in a manner that violated international law in Gaza. However, the report shows that Israel did not violate the terms of the arms agreements with the US. Blinken stood by Israel and clarified that the report only proves that "it is an incredibly complex military environment. It (Israel) has an enemy that deliberately drowns itself in civilians."

Operation Iron Swords - By the Numbers

1,900,000 IDPs in Gaza

78,641 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

34,971 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.

Some reports claimed that the UN cut in half its earlier estimates of women and children killed in Gaza. Initially, they reported 9,500 women and 14,500 children killed, but later revised it to 4,959 women and 7,797 children on 08 May 2024. The UN acknowledged its inability to independently verify casualty figures. The seeming discrepancy is that HAMAS had about 10K KIA bodies on hand for which they do not have positive ID. It is possible to report the gender and approximate age [ie, juvenile] without knowing the name of the deceased.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 11 May 2024 - Day 808

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The UK Ministry of Defence reported that it has been reported that a Russian fighter aircraft accidentally released a FAB-500 munition on a civilian area in Belgorod, Russia on 04 May 2024. The Belgorod Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed the explosion and damage on Razdobarkina street, Belgorod without identifying the cause. 30 houses and 10 cars were damaged, with five individuals requiring hospital care, illustrating the destructive power of the munition.

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.

These instances indicate Russia's continued inability to successfully employ their munitions on intended targets. Such errors have destructive and lethal consequences for the Russian population.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day, 108 combat clashes were recorded.

In total, Russian forces carried out 7 missiles and 74 air strikes, carried out 83 shelling from volcano fire jet systems on the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements. As a result of the Russian terrorist attacks, unfortunately, there are wounded among the civilian population. Demolition and damage were suffered by multi-storey and private buildings, as well as other infrastructure objects.

In the Volyn and Polisky directions, the operating environment without significant changes. The sign of the formation of a Russian offensive group has not been detected.

In the northern direction, Russia maintains a military presence in the border areas, conducts diversino-intelligence activities, carries out shelling of settlements from the territory of Russia, increases the density of mine-explosive fences along the state border of Ukraine. More than 10 settlements were hit by artillery and mortar shelling of Russian forces, among them Bleshnya, Hrinivka, Sosnivka of Chernihiv region; Basivka, Kindrativka, Sadky, Miropillya, Popivka, Studenok of Sumy region.

In the Kharkiv direction, Russian forces, supported by aviation, carried out attacks in the areas of the settlements of Strilecha, Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliynikove, Lukyantsi, Gatishche, Pletenivka of Kharkiv region. Committed air strikes in the areas of the settlements of Vilcha, Liptsi, Lyman, Izbitske, Vesele, Petrivka, Kozacha Lopan, Sinelnykove, Vovcans k of Kharkiv region.

In the Kupiansky direction, Ukrainian soldiers fought off 15 attacks in the areas of the settlements Synkivka, Novoyegorivka, Ivanivka of Kharkiv region; Stelmakhivka of Luhansk region, where Russian forces tried to improve the tactical position. Striked air strikes in the areas of settlements of tverdohlibove, sergiyivka luhansk region. About 10 settlements were under artillery and mortar fire, including Petropavlivka, Stepova Novoselivka, Brestove Kharkiv region.

In the Limans komu direction, the Defense Forces repelled 6 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Makiyivka, Nevsk and Serebryans kogo forestry of Luhansk region; Terns of Donetsk region. More than 10 settlements were affected by artillery and mortar shelling, among them Nevsky Luhansk region; Terny, Yampolivka, Torsky Donetsk region.

In the Bakhmut direction, Ukrainian soldiers fought 28 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Bilogorivka of Luhansk region; Verkhnyokamianske, Spirne, Vyymka, Rozdolivka, Andriyivka, Ivanivskke, Chasiv Yar, Grigorivka, New Donetsk region, where Russian forces, supported by aviation, tried to improve the tactical position. Russian forces also carried out air strikes in the areas of the settlements of Kurdyumivka, North and New York of the Donetsk region. More than 15 settlements were under artillery and mortar fire, including Friendship, Grigorivka and Chasiv Yar of Donetsk region.

In the Avdiyivsk direction, Ukrainian defenders fought more than 20 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Novooleksandrivka, Evgenivka, Sokil, Novopokrovskke, Novoselivka the First, Semenivka, Umanske, Netaylovo of Donetsk region, where Russian forces, supported by aviation, tried to push Ukrainian units out of occupied borders. He also carried out air strikes in the areas of the settlements of Kalinovo, Karlivka, Mykolaivka, Novogrodivka Donetsk region. Artillery and mortar shelling were hit by about 20 settlements, including Novooleksandrivka, Sokil, Novopokrovsk and Umansk Donetsk region.

In the Novopavlivsk direction, the Defense Forces continue to restrain Russian forces in the areas of the settlements of Konstantinivka, Krasnogorivka, Vodyane, Urozhayne, where Russian forces, supported by aviation, tried 7 times to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops. More than 10 settlements were under Russian artillery and mortar fire, among them Krasnogorivka, Maksimilyanivka, Georgiyivka Donetsk region.

In the Orykhiv direction, Russian forces, with the support of the aviation, attacked 11 times the positions of Ukrainian defenders in the area of Staromayorsk Donetsk region and Robotiny Zaporizhia region. He also caused an air strike in the area of the settlement of Storozeve Donetsk region. Artillery and mortar shelling occurred about 20 settlements, among them Bilogirya, Robotyne, Kamianske Zaporizhia region.

In the Kherson direction, Russia does not refuse the intention to push out Ukrainian units from placdarmiv on the left bank of the dnieper. Yes, during the day, with air support, carried out 2 unsuccessful attacks on Ukrainian troops' positions in the area of Krynka settlement of Kherson region. Russian forces made an air strike in the area of the settlement of Antonivka Kherson region. Artillery and mortar shelling were hit by about 20 settlements, including Krynka, Tyahinka, Antonivka of Kherson region and the city of Kherson.

During the day, the Air Defense Forces and Missile Forces units attacked 1 artillery, 3 radio stations and 4 Russian personnel concentration areas.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that as a result of offensive operations, units of the Sever Group of Forces have liberated Borisovka, Ogurtsovo, Pletenevka, Pylnaya, and Strelechya (Kharkov region).

Russian troops have defeated manpower and hardware of 23rd and 43rd mechanised brigades, 120th and 125th brigades of the AFU and the 15th State Border Covering Force close to Volchansk, Vesyoloye, Glubokoye, Neskuchnoye, and Krasnoye (Kharkov region).

The enemy losses were up to 170 troops, three armoured fighting vehicles, and four motor vehicles.

In addition, one Czech Vampire multiple-launch rocket system, one French-made Caesar 155-mm self-propelled artillery system, one Bogdana 155-mm self-propelled artillery system, four D-20 152-mm howitzers, one D-30 122-mm howitzer, and two self-propelled launchers of the Buk surface-to-air missile system were destroyed.

34 Ukrainian servicemen have been taken prisoner.

The units of the Zapad Group of Forces have taken more advantageous lines and defeated formations of 66th and 115th mechanised brigades of the AFU, the 117th Brigade of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence, and the 13th Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard close to Makeyevka, Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic), Sinkovka (Kharkov region), and Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

Russian troops have repulsed one counterattack by an assault group of the 14th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU near Olshana (Kharkov region).

The enemy losses were up to 300 soldiers, one tank, one armoured fighting vehicle, 10 motor vehicles, one Verba multiple-launch rocket system, two Msta-B 152-mm howitzers, and two D-30 122-mm howitzers.

Two AFU field ammunition depots were destroyed.

The units of the Yug Group of Forces have improved their position along the front line and also defeated manpower and hardware of 81st airmobile, 92nd air assault, 28th, 93rd mechanised brigades of the AFU and the 115th Territorial Defence Brigade near Andreyevka, Kleshcheyevka, Kurdyumovka, and Krasnoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

Four counterattacks by assault groups of the 33rd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU, the 114th Territorial Defence Brigade, and the 1st National Guard Brigade have been repelled close to Belogorovka, Razdolovka, and Pobeda (Donetsk People's Republic).

The enemy losses were up to 550 troops, four tanks, including three German-made Leopard tanks, one U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carrier, and six motor vehicles.

In the course of counterbattery warfare, one U.S.-made M198 155-mm howitzer, three Polish-made Krab 155-mm self-propelled artillery systems, one Msta-B 152-mm howitzer, two D-20 152-mm howitzers, and four Gvozdika 122-mm self-propelled artillery systems.

In addition, three field ammunition depots and one Nota electronic warfare station were destroyed.

As a result of successful actions, the units of the Tsentr Group of Forces have liberated Keramik (Donetsk People's Republic), improved the tactical position and defeated formations of 71st jaeger, 59th motor infantry, 100th mechanised brigades of the AFU and the 109th Brigade of the AFU close to Novoaleksandrovka, Vishnyovoye, Karlovka, and Rozovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

10 counterattacks by units of 92nd air assault, 68th jaeger, 142nd, 143rd infantry, 23rd, 24th, 47th, and 110th mechanised brigades of the AFU have been repelled near Ocheretino, Semyonovka, Solovyovo, Netailovo, and Berdychi (Donetsk People's Republic).

The AFU losses were up to 390 servicemen, five armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, one Paladin 155-mm self-propelled artillery system, one U.S.-made M777 155-mm howitzer, one UK-made Braveheart 155-mm self-propelled artillery system, one Gvozdika 122-mm self-propelled artillery system, two D-30 122-mm howitzers, and one Bukovel electronic warfare station.

The units of the Vostok Group of Forces have taken more advantageous lines and also defeated manpower and hardware of the 58th Motorised Infantry Brigade, the 72nd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU, and the 102nd Territorial Defence Brigade close to Ugledar, Urozhaynoye (Donetsk People's Republic), and Chervonoye (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were up to 160 servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, one Grad multiple-launch rocket system launcher combat vehicle, one Polish-made Krab 155-mm self-propelled artillery system, two Msta-B 152-mm howitzers, and one D-20 152-mm howitzer.

The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces have defeated formations of the 35th Marine Brigade, the 121st Territorial Defence Brigade, 3rd and 15th National Guard brigades close to Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region), Zolotaya Balka, and Ivanovka (Kherson region).

One attack of an assault group of the 65th Mechanised Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been repelled near Rabotino (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were up to 50 servicemen, two motor vehicles, one Czech-made Vampire multiple-launch rocket system launcher combat vehicle, one Paladin 155-mm self-propelled artillery system, and one U.S.-made M777 155-mm howitzer, one Gvozdika 122-mm self-propelled artillery system, seven D-30 122-mm howitzers, and one Buk surface-to-air missile system self-propelled launcher.

Operational-Tactical Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have destroyed one ammunition depot of aviation weapons of the Ukrainian Air Force, one workshop for the production of strike unmanned aerial vehicles, one division of the U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system in a combat position, as well as AFU manpower and military hardware in 133 areas.

Air defence facilities have shot down 46 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, one U.S.-made ATACMS tactical missile, eight French-made Hammer guided aircraft bombs, 43 U.S.-made HIMARS rockets, Czech-made Vampire and Olkha,

In total, 594 airplanes and 270 helicopters, 23,951 unmanned aerial vehicles, 515 air defence missile systems, 15,981 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,286 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 9,494 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 21,600 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 12 May 2024 - Day 809

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The UK Ministry of Defence reported that Gazprom, one of Russia's state-owned energy companies, has reported its biggest annual loss for 25 years. Gazprom's revenues fell by around 30 per cent in 2023, leading to an annual net loss of approximately 629 billion roubles (USD $6.9 billion).

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and subsequent degradation of Russia's relationships with the West, has severely constrained Gazprom's operations. Gazprom's failure to fully re-orientate its exports away from its dependence on European markets will likely continue to restrict its profits until at least 2030. Whilst Gazprom has been able to divert some of its trade to alternative markets, due to infrastructural limitations, these likely only accounted for 5 to 10 per cent of the lost European sales in 2023. It is highly likely that an increase in future sales is reliant on construction of new export infrastructure, such as the 'Power of Siberia 2' gas pipeline.

High taxation on Gazprom's revenues in 2022 and 2023 has almost certainly reduced the ability and incentives for Gazprom to invest in its expansion to alternative markets. In 2023, Gazprom paid an estimated 2.5 trillion roubles (USD $28 billion) to the Russian budget, approximately 9 per cent of total government revenues. The Russian government plans to further increase the tax burden on Gazprom in 2024, which likely contributed to Gazprom's decision to cut its investment for 2024 by around 15 per cent.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of May 12, there were 146x tactical engagements.

Russian forces launched a total of 6x missile and 57x air strikes, 41x MLRS attacks on the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements. Unfortunately, the Russian attacks have wounded civilians. Residential apartment blocks and private houses, as well as other civil infrastructure got destroyed and damaged.

Volyn and Polissya axes: no significant changes. No signs of formation of an offensive group.

Russia maintains its military presence in the russian areas bordering Ukrainian Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts. Russia conducts subversion, continues shelling of Ukrainian settlements from the territory of Tussia and increases the concentration of mining operations along the state border of Ukraine. More than 20x settlements, including Uhly, Hrem'yach (Chernihiv oblast), Kindrativka, Zapsillya, Myropillya (Sumy oblast), came under Russian artillery and mortar fire.

Kharkiv axis: Russian forces executed 10x attacks near Luk'yantsi, Hlyboke, Vovchans'k, Buhruvatka (Kharkiv oblast). The Russian adversary carried out air strikes in the vicinities of Hraniv, Lyptsi, Vesele, Neskuchne, Starytsya, Zarichne, Zelenyi Yar, Hontarivka, Tomakhivka, Yurchenkove, Vovchans'k (Kharkiv oblast). More than 20x settlements came under artillery and mortar fire, including Lyptsi, Neskuchne, Starytsya, Vovchans'k (Kharkiv oblast).

Kup'yans'k axis: the Ukrainian defenders repelled 9x attacks in the vicinities of Petropavlivka, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast), Stel'makhivka, Andriivka (Luhansk oblast), where Russian forces attempted to improve its tactical position. The Russian adversary launched an air strike in the vicinity of Ivanivka (Kharkiv oblast). The invaders fired artillery and mortars at around 10x settlements, including Syn'kivka, Ivanivka, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast).

Lyman axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 15x attacks in the vicinities of Novojehorivka, Makiivka, Serebryans'ke forestry (Luhansk oblast), Terny (Donetsk oblast), where Russian forces, using air attacks, attempted to breach Ukrainian defense. Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Tverdokhlibove (Luhansk oblast). Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at more than 10x settlements, including Makiivka, Nevs'ke (Luhansk oblast), Terny, Yampolivka (Donetsk oblast).

Sivers'k axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 10x attacks in the vicinities of Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Verkhn'okam'yans'ke, Spirne, Vyimka, Rozdolivka (Donetsk oblast). Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast). The settlements of Vyimka, Rozdolivka, Pereizne (Donetsk oblast) suffered from artillery and mortar shelling.

Kramatorsk axis: the Ukrainian defenders repelled 16x attacks in the vicinities of Hryhorivka, Novyi, Andriivka and south of Ivanivske (Donetsk oblast), where Russian forces made attempts to improve its tactical position. The Russian invaders fired artillery and mortars at more than 10x settlements, including Kalynivka, Chasiv Yar, Klishchiivka (Donetsk oblast).

Toretsk axis: Russian forces conducted no offensive operations, however launched air strikes in the vicinities of Druzhba and New York (Donetsk oblast).

Pokrovsk axis: Ukrainian defenders repelled 30x attacks near the settlements of Novooleksandrivka, Sokil, Novopokrovs'ke, Umans'ke, Yasnobrodivka, Netailove (Donetsk oblast), where Russian forces, with air support, attempted to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their positions. Also, Russian forces carried out air strikes in the vicinities of Oleksandropil', Vozdvyzhenka, Vovche, Novoselivka Persha (Donetsk oblast). Around 20x settlements came under artillery and mortar fire, including Yevhenivka, Sokil, Novopokrovs'ke, and Umans'ke (Donetsk oblast).

Kurakhove axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to hold back Russian forces near Krasnohorivka (Donetsk oblast), where the invaders, using air strikes, made 4x attempts to breach Ukrainian defense. Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at around 10x settlements, including Hostre, Maksymil'yanivka, Kostyantynivka (Donetsk oblast).

Vremivka axis: Ukrainian defenders repelled 16x attacks in the vicinities of Vodyane, Urozhaine and Staromaiors'ke (Donetsk oblast), where Russian forces made attempts to dislodge Ukrainian units from their positions. Urozhaine and Staromaiors'ke (Donetsk oblast) came under artillery and mortar fire.

Hulyaipole axis: Russian forces did not conduct any offensive (assault) operations, however fired artillery and mortar shells at the settlements of Chervone and Zelenyi Hai (Zaporizhzhia oblast).

Orikhiv axis: Russian forces launched 2x assaults on positions of Ukrainian defenders in the vicinity of Robotyne (Zaporizhzhia oblast). More than 10x settlements, including Robotyne, Novodanylivka, P'yatykhatky (Zaporizhzhia oblast), were under Russian artillery and mortar fire.

Prydniprovsk axis: Russian forces did not conduct offensive (assault) operations during the day of May 12. The Russian adversary launched an air strike in the vicinity of L'vove (Kherson oblast). Around 20x settlements came under artillery and mortar fire, including Mykolaivka, Ol'hivka, L'vove, and Krynky (Kherson oblast).

During the day of May 12, the Ukrainian Air Force and Missile Forces launched strikes on 1x artillery system, 1x electronic warfare station, 1x UAVs control post, 15x concentrations of Russian troops, weapons and military equipment.

Also, the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue intercepting the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.

In the Kharkiv direction, the operating environment remains complex and dynamically changing.

There are fighting in the directions of Pil na-Lukyanci, Pil na-Deep, Pil na - Olijnikove, Murom-Bugruvatka.

In addition, Russia conducts storm actions in the directions of Strileca - Deep, Olijnikove - Deep, Olinikove - Lukanci, Murom - Starica, Pltenivka - Quiet.

During the day, Russian forces carried out 22 assault operations in these directions, of which 14 are still ongoing.

There are fights for the border city of vovcans k. Russia has deployed significant forces to attack the city with up to 5 battalions and is not counting its own losses. Only killed in this direction Russian foreigners lost more than 100 occupiers per day.

At present, Russia has tactical success.

Measures are planned to destroy an enemy who has wiped into Ukrainain defense.

Ukrainain defenders conduct defensive actions, inflict fire on Russian forces, extensively deploy unmanned systems for reconnaissance and mission point strikes to target maximum losses. The deployment of reserves to stabilize the situation is ongoing. In the process of determining tasks to troops, one of the main priorities is to save the lives of Ukrainain soldiers.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that units of the Sever Group of Forces advanced to the depth of the enemy's defences and liberated Gatishche, Krasnoye, Morohovets, and Oleynikovo (Kharkov region).

Losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of the AFU 14th Mechanised Brigade, 110th, and 113th territorial defence brigades near Degtyarnoye, Volchansk, and Kazachya Lopan (Kharkov region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 100 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, one Kozak armoured fighting vehicle, and four motor vehicles.

In the course of counter-battery warfare, one French-made 155-mm Caesar self-propelled artillery system, two 152-mm D-20 howitzers, one 122-mm D-30 howitzer, two Czech-made Vampire MLRS combat vehicles, and one Grad MLRS were neutralised.

Units of the Zapad Group of Forces captured more advantageous lines and inflicted losses on units of the AFU 14th, 30th, 66th mechanised brigades, and 110th Territorial Defence Brigade near Makeyevka, Artyomovka, Chevonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic), Yampolovka, Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic), and Olivovskiy Yar.

Four counter-attacks launched by assault detachments of the AFU 116th Mechanised Brigade and 77th Airmobile Brigade were repelled near Stelmakhovka (Lugansk People's Republic) and Sinkovka (Kharkov region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 190 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, four pickup trucks, one U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzer, one 152-mm Msta-B howitzer, one U.S.-made 105-mm M119 howitzer, and one Grad MLRS.

Units of the Yug Group of Forces improved the situation along the front lines, as well as inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 93rd Mechanised Brigade, 92nd Assault Brigade, 56th Motorised Infantry Brigade, 107th, 112th, and 115th territorial defence brigades near Spornoye, Orekhovo-Vasilyevka, Chasov Yar, Andreyevka, Kleshcheyevka, and Kurdyumovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

Two counter-attacks launched by assault detachments of the AFU 41st Mechanised Brigade were repelled near Krasnoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 620 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, 18 motor vehicles, one Stela-10 SAM, one UK-made 155-mm Braveheart self-propelled artillery system, one U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzer, one 152-mm D-20 howitzer, three UK-made 105 L-119 howitzers, three 122-mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems, and one Nota electronic warfare station.

Moreover, six AFU field ammunition depots were destroyed.

Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on formations of the AFU 68th Jaeger Brigade, 24th Mechanised Brigade, and 2nd National Guard Brigade near Mayorsk, Yevgenovka, Vodyanoye, and Semyonovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

10 counter-attacks launched by units of the AFU 25th Air Assault Brigade, 142nd, 143rd infantry brigades, 23rd, 47th, 110th mechanised brigades were repelled near Novgorodskoye, Arkhangelskoye, Solovyovo, Netaylovo, and Umanskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 415 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, including one U.S.-made Abrams tank, one U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, one Kozak armoured fighting vehicle, three motor vehicles, and one U.S.-made 155-mm Paladin self-propelled artillery system.

Units of the Vostok Group of Forces captured more advantageous lines and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 58th Motorised Infantry Brigade and 128th Territorial Defence Brigade near Vladimirovka (Donetsk People's Republic) and Dorozhnyanka (Zaporozhye region).

Two counter-attacks launched by assault detachments of the AFU 21st National Guard Brigade and 123rd Territorial Defence Brigade were repelled near Staromayorskoye and Urozhaynoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 125 Ukrainian troops, three motor vehicles, one U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzer, one 152-mm Msta-B howitzer, one 122-mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and one 100-mm Rapira anti-tank gun.

Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of the AFU 65th Mechanised Brigade, 35th Marines Brigade, 121st, and 126th territorial defence brigades near Rabotino (Zaporozhye region), Zolotaya Balka, Kazatskoye, and Ivanovka (Kherson region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 50 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, six U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzers, two 122-mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems, and three 122-mm D-30 howitzers.

Operational-Tactical Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Groups of Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation wiped out four Mi-24 helicopters and one Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force near Manvelovka (Dnepropetrovsk region), as well as engaged AFU manpower and hardware in 131 areas.

Air defence units shot down one MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force.

36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, eight Tochka-U tactical missiles, one French-made Hammer guided aerial bomb, and 23 Vampire, Grad, and Olkha MLRS projectiles were intercepted.

In total, 595 airplanes and 274 helicopters, 23,987 unmanned aerial vehicles, 516 air defence missile systems, 15,992 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,290 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 9,526 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 21,634 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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Defence joins partners for Exercise Balikatan

Issued by Defence Media

10 May 2024

The 39th iteration of the largest annual bilateral exercise conducted between the Philippines and the United States has concluded, with around 200 Australian Defence Force personnel taking part.

Exercise Balikatan is an annual training exercise conducted between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and United States military, aimed at maintaining a high level of military readiness to enhance the nations' bilateral response capabilities. Australia's participation provided a key training opportunity for deployed personnel and supported defence cooperation between all participating nations.

Balikatan 2024 included more than 16,000 personnel from the Philippines, United States, Australia and France as well as 14 nations participating as part of the AFP-hosted international observer program.

Balikatan forces performed a range of exercise serials in maritime security, sensing and targeting, air and missile defence, dynamic missile strikes, cyber defence, and information operations.

Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Greg Bilton, said the Australian Defence Force welcomed the latest opportunity to contribute to Balikatan.

"The exercise showcased the US and Philippines' commitment to their bilateral partnership as well as interoperability with other partner nations.

"The Philippines is one of our closest partners and friends and our defence relationship continues to deepen under our strategic partnership.

"Australia's participation demonstrates our commitment to, and engagement with the Indo-Pacific region," Lieutenant General Bilton said.

Australia's contribution included of Australian Army command and support personnel from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment as well as Royal Australian Air Force personnel from No.65 Squadron, Joint Terminal Attack Controllers from No.4 Squadron, an E-7A Wedgetail aircraft and crew from No.2 Squadron; and joint ADF medics, flight nurses and aircrew.

The Australian Defence Force has been a full participant in Exercise Balikatan since 2014.

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Exercise Bersama Shield concludes

Issued by Defence Media

11 May 2024

Exercise Bersama Shield has concluded in Malaysia. A contingent of around 25 Australian Defence Force personnel and a RAAF C-27J Spartan aircraft deployed to Malaysia, joining participants from the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) nations on Exercise Bersama Shield

The FPDA was established in 1971 as a security arrangement between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

Conducted from 22 April - 8 May, Bersama Shield enhanced interoperability and strengthened the relationships of FPDA nations through the conduct of combined joint maritime, land and air operations in a multi-threat environment.

Commander of the Australian Contingent, Squadron Leader Jamie Fox, said Bersama Shield was a valuable opportunity to work with partners in the FPDA.

"The personnel deployed on Bersama Shield enjoyed working closely with our FPDA partners both within the headquarters and during training serials," Squadron Leader Fox said.

"This person-to-person engagement is essential in continuing to build on our existing strong relationships."

Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Greg Bilton, said Australia remained firmly committed to the FPDA.

"The ADF's contribution to Bersama Shield supports our shared vision of a peaceful, stable and prosperous region and makes a meaningful contribution to collective security," Lieutenant General Greg Bilton said.

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Poland Unveils New Fortifications on Belarus Border

Sputnik News

20240511

Sergy Lebedev

The East European country hopes to attract funds from the EU in order to fortify the Belarusian border, dubbing this undertaking an "investment into European security."

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.

"We have begun intensive work on modern fortification lines in many dimensions. This fortification will appear along the entire Polish border - here in the east- and we will inform public opinion," he said.

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.

"This is the external border of Poland, as well as the European Union. Therefore, I have no doubt that the whole of Europe, I believe that we will get this, will have to invest in its security, investing in the eastern border of Poland and in the security of our borders," Tusk underscored.

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.

A Sputnik

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China tests European unity through Xi Jinping's trip

By William Yang May 11, 2024

Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his high-profile European tour Friday after signing dozens of agreements with France, Hungary and Serbia, while reiterating Beijing's desire to enhance "mutually beneficial cooperation" between China and Europe.

Some analysts say Xi's trip to Europe is part of Beijing's 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 Macron's efforts to prioritize his country's "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 Xi's 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 China's 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 Xi's recent interactions with Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also expose a fault line between Germany and France a the EU's top two economies a regarding how to handle relations with China.

"Since Scholz prioritized German interests due to fear of Chinese countermeasures during his trip to Beijing, [it's 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 EU's 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 Xi's 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 can't influence China's 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.

EU's economic security agenda

Some observers say one of China's initiatives to challenge the EU's unity is to slow down the bloc's 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 "China's overcapacity problem," and he urged the EU to "develop the right perception of China and adopt a positive China policy."

Despite Beijing's 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 EU's economic security agenda. "I don't 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] don't really get anything tangible [from Beijing]," Duchatel said.

Following his meeting with Xi and von der Leyen, Macron said he welcomed China's pledge not to supply arms to Russia, while Xi said he supports Macron's proposal for a global truce during the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

No major changes

Despite Beijing's attempt to portray Xi's visit as productive regarding improving EU-China relations, some analysts say they don't 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 Xi's trip and Macron showcased his support for the EU's approach toward China, she doesn't anticipate "any huge change to EU-China relations" following Xi's visit.

While the economic security agenda will remain the EU's main approach to handling trade relations with China, Duchatel said many European countries say that China's 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 don't think Xi's words in Paris have changed this perception, so his visit [won't] make up for the trust lost over the last few years," he told VOA.

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India's opposition figure gets temporary bail before final round of elections

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 7:58 AM

India's top court has granted temporary bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal weeks before the seventh and final phase of national elections are held.

Kejriwal was detained for his alleged involvement in a corruption case, which the opposition slammed as a political move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration against one of his opponents.

The quinquagenarian chief minister received a warm welcome from his political party Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with people waving flags and chanting praises, "Long live Kejriwal," as he stepped out of the prison on Friday.

The Supreme Court ruled that the temporary bail will be in effect until June 1, which is the final day of the seven-phase elections that started last month, and Kejriwal must report for surrender on June 2.

"I want to thank all of you... you gave me your blessings. I want to thank the judges of the Supreme Court; it is because of them that I am in front of you. We have to save the country from dictatorship," Kejriwal said.

He was detained on March 21 by the the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the country's financial crime-fighting agency, over his alleged involvement in a liquor scam, which he has denied while calling his arrest "illegal".

Controlled by Modi's government, the ED claimed that AAP and its ministers accepted $12 million in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago.

Both critics and Modi's opponents have charged that the integrity of the poll has been tarnished as his administration is employing investigative agencies to harm opponents, depriving them of a fair and equal opportunity amid parliamentary elections, which the government refutes.

While incarcerated, Kejriwal remained in office and his party said that he was effectively governing the Delhi government from behind bars.

The ED objected to his bail on Friday, arguing that allowing Kejriwal to campaign would suggest unequal judicial standards for politicians and ordinary citizens.

"The right to campaign for an election is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional right and not even a legal right," it said, adding that Kejriwal is not a candidate in these elections.

In India's ongoing six-week-long general election which commenced on April 19, a coalition of opposition parties, which includes AAP, is the main competitor against Modi's incumbent Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The AAP is part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a multi-party political alliance of several political parties led by India's largest opposition and oldest party the Indian National Congress, which seeks to uproot the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by the BJP.

The AAP alone is a strong competitor against the BJP in Delhi and the northern state of Punjab, where elections are scheduled to be held on May 25 and June 1, respectively.

The results of the largest election in the world will be declared on June 4, with critics saying that Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term, has engaged in a divisive campaign.

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Iran may host IAEA officials before BoG meeting in June

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

May 11, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency may visit Iran in the coming days as the Islamic Republic and the agency are working to finalize a draft text for bilateral cooperation before the IAEA Board of Governors (BoG) meet next month.

Iran and the IAEA have already begun talks over the draft text following the last week trip by the agency's director general Rafael Grossi to Tehran.

During his visit, Grossi and Iranian officials agreed that an agreement, which Iran and the agency reached in March 2023 and is known as the March Statement, is used as the basis of mutual cooperation.

The two sides are now making efforts to finalize the draft text before the Board of Governors' meeting on June 3-7 when Grossi will submit his report to the Board.

Based on the draft, Iran-IAEA cooperation will take place within three sections. The first one is related to past issues regarding the possible military dimension (PMD) of Iran's nuclear program, which had been closed under the 2015 nuclear deal. In this section, talks are held over two key sites disputed by the IAEA.

The second section is related to existing conditions, and the third one is related to the IAEA director general who should play a role in resolving issues that are mainly political.

With Iran and the IAEA working to finalize the draft text, officials of the agency are expected to visit Tehran in the coming days for further negotiations in this regard.

4194



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Supreme Leader: Main stage Elections, run-off equally important

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 11 May 2024 / 12:47

As the run-off parliamentary elections kicked off in Iran on Friday morning, Iranian Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei cast his ballot a few minutes after the voting began at 8 am.

Tehran -ISNA- A total of 90 candidates are running for the 45 remaining seats in the Iranian Parliament in the run-off elections, held in 22 constituencies where the candidates had failed to receive an absolute majority (more than 50%) of votes during the first round held on March 1.

Ayatollah Khamenei cast his ballot at the Imam Khomeini Husseiniya of Tehran as soon as the voting began at 8 am local time, with enthusiastic journalists and photographers present at the site of the voting.

In comments after voting, the Leader said the process of election per se is a "fundamental and significant" issue for Iran and its people.

The elections illustrate the presence of people and their will and decision-making, the Leader stated, saying voting is the "national duty" of anybody willing to contribute to the country's progress.

Ayatollah Khamenei underlined that there is no difference between the main stage of the elections and the run-off polls, as they are "equally important."

The Leader also called on all people to take part in the elections to fill the vacancies in the Parliament.

The more the votes are, the stronger the Parliament will be, and the stronger the Parliament is, there will more possibilities for action in the country, Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

The run-off elections are held with electronic voting machines in 22 districts across 15 provinces, including in Tehran, where 32 candidates run against each other.

The elections began at 8 am and will continue for 10 hours, but the voting period could be extended at the discretion of the interior minister.

The countrywide elections for the Parliament and the Assembly of Experts were held on March 1.

Around 61 million Iranian people were eligible to vote, including 3.5 million first-time voters.

The elections were held in around 60,000 polling stations across Iran.

There are currently 290 seats in the Iranian Parliament, known as Majlis, elected by direct vote of people in nationwide elections for four years.

End Item

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IRGC: Operation True Promise was Iran's timely punitive response to Israel's blunder

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 4:36 PM

A spokesman for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says Iran's Operation True Promise was a timely punitive measure against the Israeli regime's strategic blunder in attacking the Islamic Republic's diplomatic premises in Syria.

"During various maneuvers, we had exercised attacking the Zionist regime's bases and we were fully prepared to respond to the Zionist regime because they had made a strategic mistake in attacking [Iran's] consulate," Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif said on Saturday.

He added that Iran's retaliatory missile and drone strikes were a successful operation with special features that inflicted heavy damage on the Israeli regime.

Although Israel was equipped with state-of-the-art military technologies, Iran succeeded in identifying the weak points of the enemy during the operation and carrying out the airstrikes, he emphasized.

Sharif said the enemy falsely tried to imply that 99% of Iranian missiles and drones did not hit the target as the United States and other supporters of the Israeli regime verified Iran's successful operation.

On April 1, the Israeli regime carried out terrorist airstrikes on the consular section of Iran's embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus, which killed two IRGC generals, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, as well as five of their accompanying officers.

In retaliation, the IRGC targeted the occupied territories on April 13 with a barrage of drones and missiles. The retaliatory strikes, dubbed Operation True Promise, inflicted damage on Israeli military bases across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel approaching definite dismantle: IRGC spokesman

Elsewhere in his address, Sharif said although Israel has carried out savage atrocities against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the past seven months, it is approaching its definite dismantling.

The IRGC spokesman added that the murderous regime displayed its true nature in recent months and stressed the need to continue resistance as an essential principle to counter Israel.

He noted that Iran has always supported the oppressed nations, particularly Palestinians, and expressed confidence that the Gazans will achieve a final victory in the face of the occupying regime.

"Despite the acts of obstruction by the United States and Europeans, the Zionist regime and the US itself have become the most hated regimes in the world," Sharif emphasized.

Despite efforts to portray Israel as a powerful military and security regime, the world has realized its flimsy power, he said.

The IRGC commander added that although the US and European countries continue to support Israel, "global Zionism" is on the decline.

He emphasized that all the free-seeking nations in the world have received Iran's message that they should defend the oppressed people and display the brutal and occupying nature of the Israeli regime.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

Concomitantly with the war, the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle.

So far during the military onslaught, the regime has killed at least 34,971 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Another 78,641 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well.

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Iran strongly condemns 'unwise' Canadian motion against IRGC

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 8:28 AM

Iran has hit out at an "unwise" motion at the Canadian House which calls on the Ottawa government to designate Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani on Saturday highlighted the role which the IRGC plays in countering threats against the country and terrorism in the region.

"Along with other elements of the armed forces, the IRGC is responsible for guarding the national security and borders of the country, as well as contributing to lasting security and stability in the region by confronting the sinister phenomenon of terrorism," he said.

"The IRGC is a sovereign institution derived from the heart of the great and powerful nation of Iran and has an official and legal identity taken from the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

His remarks came after the Canadian House of Commons on Wednesday adopted a non-binding resolution calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to blacklist the IRGC and expel an estimated 700 Iranians.

Kan'ani strongly condemned the move, calling it "unwise, hostile and contrary to the accepted standards and principles of the international law, including the equality of sovereignties and non-interference in the internal affairs of states".

The motion is "an example of an attack on the sovereignty and national security of Iran", he said.

"This irresponsible step is in line with the mistaken path that Canadian lawmakers have been following over the past decade under the influence of the Zionist regime and certain groups that are outcasts and lack any status and value," Kan'ani added.

The spokesman advised Canadian parliamentarians to study the position of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in Iran "in order to get acquainted with the necessary facts".

"The motion stemming from the ignorance and imprudence of the Canadian House have no effect on the power and authority of this proud force that has emerged from the body of the Iranian nation," he said.

"At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its rights to respond and take appropriate countermeasures against such acts that violate international law, and are against the Iranian nation and government," Kan'ani added.

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Investigation: How Russia's Warplanes Get Their 'Brain Power' From The West, Despite Sanctions

By Kyrylo Ovsyaniy May 11, 2024

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, Kemet, and Maxim Integrated for comment. As of the date of publication of this article, only TI had replied.

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 (ADI) 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 sanctioned, 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.

Written by Elizabeth Owen based on reporting by Kyrylo Ovsyaniy of Schemes

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-warplanes- sukhoi-sanctions-west-investigation/32939831.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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China could step up disruption of pro-Taiwan activities in Europe: NSB

ROC Central News Agency

05/11/2024 11:21 PM

Taipei, May 11 (CNA) China could attempt to step up its disruption of pro-Taiwan activities in Europe, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report recently submitted to the Legislative Yuan.

The NSB report presented an analysis of Chinese President Xi Jinping's (cea) recent visit to France, Serbia and Hungary and the potential impact of Chinese actions on Taiwan's national security.

According to the bureau, Xi's trip to the three European nations was an attempt to fuel disunity within the European Union and drive a wedge between Europe and the United States.

During his meeting with Xi, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized that it was crucial for Europe to maintain strategic autonomy, and wanted to show France's ability to maintain dialogue with China in order to strive for European leadership, the NSB said.

Xi was hoping to mend China's relations with Europe and seeking to lobby European countries such as France to insist on strategic independence, it said.

Concerning Taiwan, the NSB said that although Xi's visit to the three European countries will not slow European Union "de-risking" from China, some member states could, in accordance with their own needs, adjust their trade relations with China.

Such a move could potentially affect Taiwan-EU economic and trade exchanges, the NSB said.

While Xi's visit did not fundamentally alter Taiwan's relations with Europe, the NSB said the country must pay close attention to whether Beijing works with Russia and pro-China forces in Central and Eastern Europe to support one other on issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Taiwan-Strait issue.

In addition, the NSB warned that China could step up its disruption of pro-Taiwan activities in Europe.

The June elections for the European Parliament and legislative elections expected in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Lithuania could give Beijing an opportunity to interfere with Taiwan's parliamentary diplomacy and disrupt pro-Taiwan actions in Europe, it added.

NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (eZa) is scheduled to appear in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan to answer questions on the report on Monday.

(By Matt Yu, Henry Wu and Ko Lin)

Enditem/AW

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U.S. lawmakers propose bill to fund support for Taiwan int'l space

ROC Central News Agency

05/11/2024 12:49 PM

Washington, May 10 (CNA) The U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill which will authorize US$120 million to support Taiwan's international space and take on China's coercion.

The legislation -- the Taiwan Allies Fund Act -- came on a bipartisan basis ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Lai Ching-te (ea) of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20.

In a statement, the committee said the bill "strengthens Taiwan's global network of friends by authorizing US$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to provide foreign assistance to Taiwan's official and unofficial partners subjected to coercion and pressure from the CCP."

Under the bill, the funding will be part of the Countering PRC Influence Fund in which a qualified country will receive US$5 million a year.

A country is described in the bill as a qualified fund recipient if it is able to advance Taiwan's meaningful participation in international fora and multilateral organizations, if it is able to diversify supply chains away from China, or if it is able to build the capacity and resilience of civil society, media, and other nongovernmental organizations to counter China's influence and propaganda.

The bill stipulates that the U.S. encourages countries having no official ties with Taiwan to deepen their engagement, and help those countries which lack the economic or political capability to effectively respond to China's coercion or pressure.

"The Chinese Communist Party has spent decades trying to isolate the free people of Taiwan from the world stage and coerce other nations into severing relations with the thriving democracy," Republican committee Chairman John Moolenaar said in the statement.

Moolenaar proposed the bill along with Democratic Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, and Taiwan Caucus Co-Chairs Andy Barr of the Republican Party, and Ami Bera and Gerald Connolly of the Democratic Party.

"Our legislation will help Taiwan's diplomatic allies resist CCP authoritarian pressure campaigns while meeting their development needs. The United States must stand with those who stand with Taiwan," Moolenaar said.

The committee said since 2013, China has enticed 11 countries to cut relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing, often through bribes and economic inducements. After Nauru's switch of its recognition from Taiwan to China in January 2024, Taiwan is left with only 12 diplomatic allies.

The committee added China has also weaponized trade and commercial ties to punish countries forging closer unofficial ties with Taiwan, including Lithuania.

Krishnamoorthi described Taiwan as "one of our closest friends in the world."

He said China's attempts to intimidate and influence countries which diplomatically recognize Taiwan and economically coerce those countries which seek to strengthen unofficial relations must be condemned and rejected.

"It is time for the United States to stand with Taiwan in the face of diplomatic pressure from Beijing that seeks to undermine Taiwan's rightful participation on the international stage," Krishnamoorthi said.

The bill was the first legislation co-proposed by Moolenaar after he assumed the chairmanship of the committee in April, when he said his priorities as the chairman included how to expand training programs for Taiwan's military and eliminate bottlenecks that have left Taiwan waiting years to receive the weapons it needs to defend itself.

He has pledged to work tirelessly to deter China's military aggression against Taiwan and American allies in the Indo-Pacific.

(By Chung Yu-chen and Frances Huang)

Enditem/cs

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PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan May 11, 2024

ROC Ministry of National Defense

2024/05/11

PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan



1. Dateis

6 to 6 a.m. (UTC+8) Friday to Saturday, May 10-11

2.PLA activitiesis

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 southwestern ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and employed CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and coastal missile systems in response to the detected activities.

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Greetings to residents of the Lugansk People's Republic on the 10th anniversary of the republic

Vladimir Putin sent greetings to the residents of the Lugansk People's Republic on the 10th anniversary of the LPR.

May 11, 2024

10:00

The message reads, in part:

"The Lugansk People's Republic was born from a difficult and dramatic period when an armed state coup was staged in Kiev and nationalists seized power. They tried to force residents of Donbass to renounce their mother tongue, history and culture. Despite the neo-Nazi aggression, you did not betray your ancestors and did not allow erasing their heroism in battle and in labour, preserving the sacred links between generations that have always supported unity and progressive development. The local population warmly approved of the idea to establish the Lugansk People's Republic on May 11, 2014, and in September 2022, they firmly expressed their will to be reunited with their Motherland, Russia.

Today, our entire nation sincerely supports you and helps the Lugansk People's Republic. The personnel serving in the special military operation are courageously fighting for liberation of our historical lands, and for the independence and security of the Fatherland. I am confident that we will certainly bring back peace to Donbass, resolve the most complicated problems, build and restore roads and homes, schools and hospitals, healthcare facilities, educational and cultural institutions, and industrial facilities.

We will win, together."

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Greetings to residents of the Donetsk People's Republic on the 10th anniversary of the DPR

Vladimir Putin sent greetings to the residents of the Donetsk People's Republic on the 10th anniversary of the DPR.

May 11, 2024

10:00

The message reads, in part:

"May 11, 2014, marked a significant turning point for Donbass. In a moment of patriotic fervour, local residents expressed their support for the establishment of the Donetsk People's Republic during the referendum, demonstrating to the world their steadfast resolve to protect their rights to language, culture, and free development, as well as their readiness to bravely oppose the aggression of nationalists who had seized power in Kiev through an armed coup d'Atat.

For eight long years, despite blockades, shelling, and provocations from neo-Nazis, you defended Donbass. In September 2022, you reaffirmed your unwavering resolve: to stand united with your homeland, Russia.

Today, the DPR stands as a fully recognised entity within the Russian Federation. You rightly take pride in your rich history, military valour, and labour traditions. Your heroes, who are bravely defending their homeland and dutifully serving in the special military operation, exemplify this honour. Supported by the entire nation, the republic is actively implementing programmes aimed at strengthening the economy and enhancing social welfare, ultimately raising the standard of living for the local population. We are building and renovating new roads and housing, as well as healthcare and educational facilities. Additionally, initiatives are underway to develop the industrial and agricultural sectors.

I am confident that together, we will undoubtedly achieve success, restore peace to the soil of Donetsk, and overcome the most challenging obstacles. We will win, together!"

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Hundreds flee as Russian troops close in on Ukraine's second largest city

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 May 2024 11:16 AM

Hundreds of people have fled regions close to the Russian border in Ukraine's Kharkiv region following the launch of Moscow's ground operation to capture the region.

Kharkiv governor Oleg Synegubov announced on Saturday that there had been Russian artillery and mortar attacks on 30 settlements in the region over the past 24 hours.

"A total of 1,775 people have been evacuated," Synegubov wrote on social media.

According to a high-ranking Ukrainian military official, Russian forces have made progress by one kilometer into Ukraine and are currently attempting to establish a "buffer zone" in the Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, and nearby Sumy regions. This strategic move aims to safeguard Russian territory from potential attacks.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that a "fierce battle" was taking place in the region.

"We must disrupt Russian offensive operations and return the initiative to Ukraine," Zelensky said on Saturday.

Since September 2022, the majority of the Kharkiv region has been under Ukrainian jurisdiction.

The Ukrainian military has increased its offensive operations in both Russian territory and areas controlled by Russia in Ukraine, focusing heavily on targeting energy facilities.

Moscow-backed officials in the Russian-controlled Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine said on Saturday that three people had lost their lives due to a Ukrainian attack using missiles manufactured in the United States on an oil storage facility.

Governor Leonid Pasechnik said the strike "enveloped the oil depot in fire and damaged surrounding homes."

Authorities in Kiev had been cautioning for weeks about the possibility of Moscow launching a retaliatory attack on its northeastern border areas, making use of Ukraine's challenges with Western aid delays and a lack of manpower.

According to a US-based institute for the study of war, Russia had made "tactically significant gains."

Following Russia's ground attack on Friday, the White House announced that after the approval of a $95 billion bill by lawmakers, the US is preparing to offer Ukraine a military aid package valued at $400 million, hence resuming its customary practice of supplying weapons to Kiev.

An anonymous US official who spoke to Reuters said that the Ukraine aid package comprised of artillery, munitions for NASAMS air defenses, anti-tank munitions, armored vehicles, and small arms. These resources can be promptly utilized on the battlefield.

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Report: EU Said To Agree On Security Assurances For Ukraine

By RFE/RL and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service May 11, 2024

Germany's Welt am Sonntag reports that the European Union is currently discussing with Kyiv possible security assurances with the aim of providing what the outlet says are "extensive security commitments" by the beginning of July.

In a May 11 report, the news outlet cites a draft document it has seen in which Brussels also grapples with the question of whether soldiers from EU countries may be deployed to Ukraine.

It says envoys from the EU's 27 member states "recently agreed" on the 11-page "confidential" text.

The outlet quotes the text as, in Welt's words, "exclud[ing] the direct participation of EU soldiers alongside Ukrainian soldiers in combat operations against Russia."

But the draft reportedly pledges weapons and nonlethal supplies and training and other assistance.

While an overwhelming majority of the bloc agrees with providing military supplies to Ukraine, questions of degree have persisted between even staunch hawks to help that country beat back the full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

For months now, French President Emmanuel Macron has declined to rule out the possibility of troops from among Kyiv's Western allies being sent to Ukraine. Asked directly in mid-March, he said that "all these options are possible."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to paint the military supply of Ukraine as an indication that NATO and the West are already de facto involved in the conflict.

The United States and other supporters of Kyiv reject that characterization.

And NATO and the United States have cautiously limited their involvement to avoid giving Moscow the upper hand in what they regard as a war of conquest in Ukraine that threatens the international order and sovereignty.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-eu-security- assurances-welt-report/32942219.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Zelenskiy Calls Frontline Situation 'Especially Tense' As Russian Attacks Intensify

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service May 11, 2024

KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy raised alarms about frontline conditions in the war against Russia, labeling the situation in the eastern Donetsk region as "especially tense" and as hundreds of residents were forced to flee parts of the Kharkiv area in the face of relentless air assaults by the Kremlin's forces.

"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," he said in his nightly video address on May 11.

Zelenskiy stated that "defensive operations" are under way in the Kharkiv region, naming several villages near the border with Russia, and saying his forces were "bravely defending their positions."

"The situation in the Donetsk region also remains especially tense, particularly in the Pokrovsk direction," where "it's extremely difficult."

Hundreds of civilians were forced to evacuate their homes in Kharkiv region in the northeast on May 11 as Russian shelling continued and the Ukrainian military declared an air alert over most of the country.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov was quoted as saying at least three people had been killed as artillery and other fire struck dozens of towns and villages.

Officials said around 1,700 people were being evacuated.

The Ukrainian General Staff early on May 11 cited more than 100 areas of fighting in the past 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.

Residents of the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk near the Russian border expressed shock over what they said were overnight air strikes by Russian forces and resulting 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."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on May 10 that "it is critical that partners support our warriors and Ukrainian resilience with timely deliveries. Truly timely ones."

Pledges of U.S. and other Western aid have recently accelerated dramatically after a slowdown over months of political differences.

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.

The Ukrainian Air Force announced an air alert over most of the country before noon on May 11, citing a "threat of ballistic weapons" in many areas.

Citizens were urged to seek shelter in civil-defense sites or find other relative safety.

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.

The head of the regional military administration in the southern port city of Kherson said Russian shelling had killed at least one man there.

Russia-backed officials in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk on May 11 said three people were killed and eight others injured in a missile strike on Donetsk city, which has been under control of Moscow-backed separatist forces since 2014.

Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-appointed head of the occupied Donetsk region, claimed in a Telegram posting that a Ukrainian missile struck a restaurant.

Earlier, Kremlin-installed officials in Luhansk, also mostly occupied by Russian forces, said an attack by Ukrainian forces on an oil depot in the town of Rovenky late on May 10 killed three people and injured seven more and set off a large fire.

RFE/RL could not independently confirm the Russian reports on Luhansk, which quoted separatist regional leader Natalia Pashchenko and Moscow-installed Governor Leonid Pasechnik.

It was the second reported attack on a Luhansk oil storage facility in three days that Pasechnik has blamed on U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), without providing evidence. The earlier attack, in the city of Luhansk, injured five people.

Meanwhile, the governor of Russia's southwestern region of Belgorod said on May 11 that several villages had come under Ukrainian fire that damaged dozens of houses and caused dozens of casualties.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said a woman was killed and 29 others received shrapnel wounds. Five villages were reportedly left without electricity.

The Kursk region's governor, Roman Starovoit, said two drones were intercepted over that region.

Russia's Defense Ministry said nine drones and 21 missiles had been downed over Belgorod and seven more drones intercepted over the Kursk and Volgograd regions.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-oil-depot-attack- luhansk-russia-kharkiv/32942040.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia's South Battlegroup Repels 4 Ukrainian Attacks, Eliminates Up to 550 Soldiers

Sputnik News

20240511

MOSCOW, May 11 (Sputnik) -Russia's Ministry of Defense reported on the progress of the special military operation and the achievements of the Russian Armed Forces.

Russian servicemen of Russia's Yug (South) Group of Forces defeated five Ukrainian brigades and repelled four counterattacks, with enemy losses totaling up to 550 soldiers, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

"The units of the Yug Group of Forces improved its position along the front line and also defeated manpower and equipment of the 81st airmobile, 92nd assault, 28th, 93rd mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces and 115th territorial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Kleshcheyevka, Andreyevka, Kurdyumovka and the village Krasnoye of the Donetsk People's Republic [DPR]," the ministry said in a summary.

The Southern battlegroup also destroyed 4 Ukrainian tanks, including 3 Leopards, and an M113 armored personnel carrier, while the Tsentr (Center) Group of Forces liberated the settlement of Keramik in the DPR, the ministry added.

Earlier, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter predicted that the conflict will end this summer. According to Ritter's estimations, Ukraine will lose around 2000 soldiers a day as Russia expands its operation to the Kharkov region.

A Sputnik

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Chasov Yar Will Be Liberated - Head of the Donetsk People's Republic

Sputnik News

20240511

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The liberation of Chasov Yar will have military and political importance, virtually ending Ukrainian occupation of the Donetsk People's Republic and dealing a psychological blow to the Kiev regime's troops.

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.

"You know, at this stage, the [Russian] Defense Ministry is providing all the information in full, taking into account the possibility of providing information to the public without harming our units. I will tell you that I am optimistic about the way our guys are organizing their actions, even within Chasov Yar. But we must be careful not to do any harm. I can say that Chasov Yar will, of course, be liberated," Pushilin said.

Earlier, political analysts explained to Sputnik that Chasov Yar is key to ending Ukrainian occupation of the Donetsk People's 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.

A Sputnik

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Pentagon Signs New Contract for GMLRS Missile Systems Production for Ukraine

Sputnik News

20240511

The United States is supplying GMLRS missiles to Ukraine as part of the Pentagon's program to decommission weapons and ammunition from US Army stockpiles and then purchase new weapons from American defense contractors.

The United States has signed a $332 million contract with Lockheed Martin for the production of high-precision GMLRS missile systems to be delivered to Ukraine.

"Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded a $332,126,764 modification (P00006) to contract W31P4Q-23-D-0003 for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System," the statement read.

The estimated completion date is October 20, 2027, the Pentagon added, noting that GMLRS rockets are used in HIMARS missile systems.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved the emergency sale of three HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine.

Russian officials have repeatedly warned against military supplies to the Kiev regime, stressing that they only fuel the conflict and have no chance of influencing the final course of the special military operation. They added that Western military equipment will eventually be decimated as a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces.

A Sputnik

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Russia's Electronic Warfare Creates Problems for US Precision Weaponry in Ukraine - Reports

Sputnik News

20240511

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - Russia's electronic warfare has created problems for US-made precision weaponry in Ukraine, Business Insider reported.

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.

Precision systems (Excalibur and GMLRS) see "shockingly decreased accuracy because of jamming," the report 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.

A Sputnik

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Battles rage in Ukraine; Russian forces claim they've captured 5 villages

By VOA News May 11, 2024

Fierce battles continue for a second day in northeastern Ukraine, where the Russian Defense Ministry said its troops captured five villages a 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.

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NEW YORK, May 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds acquirers of a short position in Barclays iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Exchange Traded Note (ETN) under the symbol VXXB (hereinafter VXX) due to selling VXX ETNs, selling VXX call options, and/or buying VXX put options and who held that position as of the close of market on March 13, 2022, of the important May 20, 2024 lead plaintiff deadline.

The case is against Barclays PLC, Barclays Bank PLC, James E. Staley, Tushar Morzaria, and C.S. Venkatakrishnan (together, Defendants).

SO WHAT: If you acquired a short position of VXX ETNs 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 Barclays class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=23523 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 May 20, 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, Barclays failed to inform investors and the market that it had not implemented any internal controls to monitor the issuances of securities from its shelf registrations, and that it had issued and sold billions of dollars of unregistered securities, including VXX ETNs, in violation of the federal securities registration laws. Barclays illegally sold over $17 billion of unregistered securities over approximately 18 months. Once its misconduct came to light, Barclays had to suddenly and without warning suspend any further issuances and sales of new VXX ETNs. This suspension of sales, which was announced just before the market opened on March 14, 2022, caused the market price of VXX to skyrocket and investors who were short VXX to suffer substantial losses.

To join the Barclays class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=23523 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
NEW YORK, May 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Sealed Air Corporation (Sealed Air or the Company) (NYSE: SEE). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at newaction@pomlaw.com or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether Sealed Air and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On April 3, 2024, Bleecker Street Research (Bleecker) presented the Company as a short idea at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York City stating, in part, that Sealed Air (SEE) is a disaster in motion: its entire business is facing extinction as customers move away from the thin-film plastics the company makes. Sealed Airs e-Commerce business has collapsed as Amazon has moved away from the single-use plastics, formerly ever present in its packaging.

On this news, Sealed Airs stock price fell $1.99 per share, or 5.56%, to close at $33.79 per share on April 3, 2024.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com .

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Dallas, May 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dallas-Fort Worth Criminal Forfeiture Lawyer John Helms has updated new resources on federal forfeiture defense on his website. These resources explain how federal criminal forfeiture laws enable law enforcement to seize assets like cars, jewelry, real estate, and bank accounts linked to illegal activities, including drug trafficking and money laundering. Helms emphasizes that forfeiture is only applicable in cases where the crime allows for such measures. His expertise in navigating these complex legal scenarios is crucial for protecting clients' rights and assets. For more detailed information and legal support, visit John Helms' website or contact his office directly for a free consultation.

Forfeiture happens when assets linked to illegal activities are seized by law enforcement. According to Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer John Helms , Forfeiture is a federal law that enables law enforcement governmental agencies to seize any assets accumulated through illegal means.

"Federal criminal forfeiture is a federal law enabling law enforcement governmental agencies to seize assets, like cars, jewelry, and residential and commercial real estate, that were either used in conjunction with illegal activity or were bought with money gained from illegal activity, along with cash, bank accounts, cryptocurrency accounts," he wrote on his website .

On the other hand, it is important to note that Forfeiture is not allowed in every federal criminal case. Here is what Attorney Helms stated on his website:

"Forfeiture can be used only if the crime the defendant is charged with committing provides for it. Forfeiture is permitted in cases of drug trafficking, organized crime, child pornography, money laundering, and copyright infringement."

Facing a criminal charge is already distressing, but the prospect of Forfeiture is more alarming. A strong legal defense is crucial to protecting not only your rights but also your assets. Attorney John Helms can help you understand your rights and navigate the complexities of forfeiture law.

Contact him for a free legal consultation !

Source: Federal Crimes Defense Lawyer in Dallas, TX

Media contact: William Perras

T: 214-666-8010

W: https://johnhelms.attorney/





Attachment
MBABANE  The National Maize Corporation (NMC) has been found to have clearly and intentionally misdirected itself, by ignoring its own tender document in order to cherry-pick Eswatini Insurance Brokers for insurance broker services tender.

NMC issued a tender to the public for insurance coverage to be provided for various categories of items they wish to be covered. A number of companies including Ensure Brokers (Swaziland) (PTY) Ltd, Eswatini Insurance Brokers and others tendered for the provision of the services to NMC. The tenders were evaluated and in terms of the assessment by NMCs Tender Board, Eswatini Insurance Brokers was in their view, the most responsive tenderer. NMC Tender Board was reportedly omitted in the calculation of the tender amount by the Eswatini Insurance Brokers for workmens compensation and by so doing, the price of the Eswatini Insurance Brokers became the most favourable and best price thus they were awarded the tender.

According to the Independent Review Committee (IRC) ruling no explanation was given at the hearing for the clear and gross misdirection by not including the workmens compensation amount by the NMC in the computation of the amount to be insured. In that regard, we can only conclude that the Applicant (Ensure Brokers) was being excluded deliberately and that the second respondent (Eswatini Insurance Brokers) was being cherry-picked by the first respondent (NMC) which is unlawful, read the IRC ruling in part.

Ensure Brokers (Swaziland) became aware of the intention to award and objected and followed the procedures in terms of the Act and Regulations whereupon the matter eventually came before the IRC. The matter was, therefore, taken to be properly before the IRC whereupon all declarations were made and there were no objections to any of the members who were presiding over the matter. The case of the Ensure Brokers (Swaziland) simply put, was that the evaluation and tender were not evaluated correctly in that, the procuring entity did not correctly calculate the scores and the amount tendered by each party.

The scope of services which were out for tender included, assets all risks, multimark insurance, commercial crimes, motor insurance, workmans compensation, plant all risk and machinery breakdown. Ensure Brokers attended all the items above, and the Eswatini Insurance Brokers, likewise, tendered for all the items together with all the others. The evaluation scores reflected that the best responsive tenderer after the assessment was the Eswatini Insurance Brokers.

On careful consideration and looking at the amount tendered for each of the items by the procuring entities Tender Board, it was apparent that they omitted in the calculation of the tender amount by the Eswatini Insurance Brokers for workmens compensation. In omitting to include the same, the price of the Eswatini Insurance Brokers became the most favourable and best price thus they were awarded the tender. At the hearing of the appeal before the IRC, Ensure Brokers pointed out the anomaly, which was a grave anomaly in that Eswatini Insurance Brokers had not tended an amount for the workmens compensation which was a requirement. This amount is covered by one insurer Eswatini Royal insurance Corporation (ERIC), which quoted all the tenderers the same amount.

The omission by the NMC to include the amounts computation of the scores led to the Eswatini Insurance Brokers being the successful tenderer. Ensure Brokers, on the other hand, had included the amount for workmens compensation in their document and, therefore, on computation, they became the most responsive tender of all the parties. During the hearing of the matter, the NMC considered that there was an error in the tender process and tendered that the entire tender process should start afresh and that all the parties will be reassessed after they had tendered. Ensure Brokers objected to the suggestion by the NMC clearly in view of the fact that an attempt was being made by the NMC to not uncover the gross regularity in the evaluation. The matter proceeded and on assessment by the IRC, the submissions of the Ensure Brokers regarding the valuation and the pricing structure were proved to be correct.

NMC had clearly not assessed and evaluated for some reason, which is best known to them the correct scores and amounts which led to them awarding the Eswatini Insurance Brokers which was clearly an error, read the riling of the IRC in part. While it may be commendable that the NMC acknowledged that there was an error in the evaluation, it is not acceptable that they would request that the tender process start afresh as evaluations are conducted thereafter. What would have been expected was that they would concede that an error was made in the calculations by the Tender Board, to the extent that the best and valuated tenderer was that of the Ensure Brokers. The IRC raised concerns as to how the Tender Board could miss in their calculations the one standard amount for workmens compensation which was clearly quoted by all the parties as that being provided by ESRIC.

The amount was not different in quotation to each individual tenderer but was exactly the same amount. The IRC stated that the Tender Board should have asked itself how it came about that Eswatini Insurance Brokers did not tender for the workmens compensation which was included in the items to be tendered for. The requirements further clearly state that the Ensure Brokers, were desirous to appoint an experienced insurance broker service provider to render insurance services to all NMC assets and workmens compensation for a period of five years, (clause 2.) NMC was therefore found to have incorrectly and erroneously awarded the Eswatini Insurance Brokers the tender which was therefore set aside and it was ordered that the correct assessment, of the tender should have been Ensure Brokers.

It is therefore the ruling of the IRC that the intention to award be set aside and is replaced with the Ensure Brokers as the most responsive and most successful Tenderer in that regard. As the Act provides, we as the IRC cannot direct that the contract will be entered into by the Ensure Brokers and the NMC but we can award the correct tenderer whereupon the NMC shall then conclude a contract with the Ensure Brokers, read the ruling.




The Samsung Galaxy S24 series launched to much fanfare with its AI-centric One UI 6.1. If you skipped the pre-order and early day deals, its not too late to pick up an S24  the flagship trio is between 80 and 145 off on Amazon Germany.

This means that the base Samsung Galaxy S24 is 820, though that is for the model with only 128GB storage. Unless you are coming from an iPhone, this will feel tight, so consider getting the 256GB model for 60 more.

Whichever one you pick, it will only have 8GB of RAM. The Samsung Galaxy S24+ has 12GB of RAM this year and its storage starts at 256GB, making the base model much more viable.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the best of the bunch, certainly where cameras are concerned. The S24+ caught up in display quality (LTPO, QHD+), but it has no answer for the 200MP main and 5x 50MP periscope of the Ultra.

With Samsungs extended software support these phones can be with you for the next 7 years and by that time you may be glad that you spent more on hardware now. And even if you dont plan on keeping them that long, the phones come with an extended 3-year warranty (for residents of Germany).

If the S-line phones are too pricey, the A-series is the one to look at. The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a fairly premium device with an aluminum frame and dual Gorilla Glass (Victus+ on the front). The Exynos 1480 is efficient and powerful enough to drive the 6.6 FHD+ 120Hz OLED display. The A-phones have microSD slots for easy storage expansion, unlike the S-line models, but they lack wireless charging and their water resistance is IP67 instead of IP68 (not that it should make a difference in practice).

The Samsung Galaxy A35 has the same display as the A55 (with GG Victus+), though the frame is plastic and you get the older and not quite as good Exynos 1380. The prices for the 128GB A35 and A55 are slightly higher than they were in mid-April, but the 256GB models are slightly cheaper than they used to be. This is especially important for the A35 as the storage upgrade also brigs 2 extra gigs of RAM. The A55 and A35 also have an extended warranty, though its 30 months (2.5 years).

Finally, you can grab a pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds FE for 67  that is almost 40% off their MSRP. They are nothing fancy, but they have active noise cancellation and support the Galaxy AI features (like the Interpreter mode).

We may get a commission from qualifying sales.
After a court ruling, Lenovo and its subsidiary Motorola are facing a ban in Germany. The legal dispute is between Lenovo and the US-based InterDigital over a patent infringement regarding WWAN modules. These modules enable wireless mobile connection in smartphones and other portable devices.

As a result, all devices supporting GSM, UMTS, LTE and 5G connectivity will not be allowed on the German market. This includes some Lenovo mobile devices and Motorola smartphones, including the most recent Edge 50 lineup.

The court decided that Lenovo utilizes technology InterDigital has a patent over and the Chinese-based company hasn't met InterDigital's demands for fair and reasonable licensing fees. Contrary to the court's ruling, Lenovo believes that InterDigital's terms are not fair and will appeal the court's decision.

As of now, only third-party retailers are selling Lenovo and Motorola-branded devices until stocks last, but the two companies are no longer listing devices with WWAN on their official web stores. As is usually the case, the two companies will likely reach a settlement outside the court and impacted mobile devices will return on the shelves. But if you are planning on buying one of Motorola or Lenovo's products in Germany, you might want to hurry, because no one knows how long the sales ban will last.

Source
Week 19 is over, let's recap the top stories of the past seven days.

Google unveiled the Pixel 8a with a fresh new Aloe color. It's a phone with less squared-off edges and more rounded corners. It's IP67-rated and packs Gorilla Glass 3 upfront. It covers a 6.1-inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. You get a 64MP f/1.89 main camera, and a 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 13MP f/2.2 selfie camera. Rounding up the specs is a Tensor G3 with 8GB of RAM and a 4,492mAh battery.

The Pixel 8a is priced at $499 / 549 / INR 52,999 for the 128GB model and $559 / 609 / INR 59,999 for the 256GB model. Units will ship on May 14.

Apple unveiled the new M4 chipset, and it powers the new OLED-equipped 11 and 13-inch iPad Pros. Apple also unveiled the M2-powered 11 and new 13-inch iPad Air.

The iPad Pros were the highlight of the show. They're the thinnest Apple tablets ever at 5.3mm for the 11-inch and a whopping 5.1mm for the bigger 13 incher. These are also the first OLED-equipped iPads, but it gets more interesting - these are "tandem OLED displays" - meaning two OLED panels layered on top of each other for sublime brightness - 1,000 nits full-screen brightness for SDR content and a 1,600 peak for HDR content.

Apple also unveiled its Pro stylus - the Apple Pencil Pro. It has a new sensor that senses how hard you squeeze the stylus, which can be used to trigger actions (e.g. for quickly changing tool settings while drawing). Squeeze gestures will be confirmed by a custom haptic engine. Also, the Pencil Pro connects to the Find My network, so you can track it down if you lose it.

The 2024 Apple iPad Pros are available online in 29 countries starting today and in Apple stores from May 15.



Apple launches 2024 iPad Pros with dual-layer OLED displays, M4 chipsets These are the thinnest iPads yet and can be paired with a new Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil Pro and more.



Yet another classic Nokia phone received a modernized look with the new Nokia 3210. While the naming is based on the Nokia 3210 from 1999, the new device looks more in line with the recently unveiled Nokia 6310 (2024). The phone has Bluetooth 5.0 and you also get a 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio, and the fan-favorite Snake game. Nokia 3210 (2024) comes in Grunge black, Y2K gold, and Subba blue colors. Pricing is set at 80.

Vivo announced the launch date for the X100 Ultra and the X100s and X100s Pro - May 13 in China. A leak detailed the trio's battery and display specs - the X100 Ultra will have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, a V3 imaging chip, 100W wired charging, 30W wireless charging, and a 5,400mAh battery. The X100s gets a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+, a V2 chip, and a 5,100mAh battery with 100W wired charging. The X100s Pro ups the ante with a V3 imaging chip, and the same battery and charging as the Ultra.



vivo announces launch date for X100 Ultra, X100s duo The X100s will have a flat panel; the X100s Pro is coming with a 2.5D curved front.





Motorola X50 Ultra photos and specs shared by TENAA This is the Chinese variant of the Edge 50 Ultra and the design is identical. Both will be launched later this month.


The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist.

That quote from noted American author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar might sum up a recently released study by the U.S. General Accountability Office, which said that resolving big gaps in data collection for Guam and other U.S. territories could enhance federal assistance.

GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said it did the study because the U.S. government needs evidence, including statistics, to guide decision making, evaluate the effectiveness of programs, and determine where best to target resources.

It was also asked to report on gaps in data for the territories, the impact of such gaps, and any administrative or legislative actions that can be taken to address them.

The GAO report is titled, U.S. territories: Coordinated federal approach to better address data gaps.

The full report can be found at https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-24-106574.pdf.

How it impacts Guam

The GAO cites comments from Guam officials who said that not enough reportable data in the Island Areas Census for some of the territorys smaller communities prevent those communities from being included in other composite statistics, such as the Social Vulnerability Index, thus understating the territorys need for resources.

The Social Vulnerability Index includes a range of census variables that help local officials identify communities that may need support before, during, or after natural disasters.

The information it contains also helps agencies make decisions on allocating emergency preparedness funding, the report said.

GAO has previously reported that Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands continue to face a range of economic challenges:

Outmigration and population loss.

High cost of energy and imported goods.

Increasing vulnerability to frequent and severe episodes of extreme weather.

Undiversified economies based on few industries with limited job opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated some of these conditions in several territories by decreasing tourism, the report said.

Developing a coordinated, governmentwide approach for federal statistical agencies to use in examining and addressing territorial data gaps would improve the transparency of statistical decisions. Improved data collection for the territories could also better inform decision makers about how to allocate resources to the territories and how to evaluate the effectiveness of those investments the GAO report said.

Recommendations, key takeaways

The GAO report is recommending that the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, ensure that the chief statistician develops a coordinated, governmentwide approach for federal statistical agencies to use, in consultation with the U.S. territories and other stakeholders, to examine the costs, benefits, and feasibility of including territories in statistical products and, as appropriate, identify ways to address any data gaps.

OMB neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendation but provided GAO technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate.

According to the report, Territories face many data gaps, primarily because federal agencies do not include them in many federal statistical products. A mix of cost, geographic, technical, and other issues contribute to these gaps.

These gaps can limit understanding of the conditions and resource needs of the territories.

Other key GAO findings:

Territories have taken steps to mitigate data gaps through local data collection. Federal agencies also provide some forms of technical assistance to support statistical efforts in the territories. In particular, since fiscal 2019, the Department of the Interior has provided over $60 million through a technical assistance program, some of which is to be used to improve statistical collections.

Treatment of the territories differs across agencies in the federal statistical system, and efforts to collect and report data on the territories are limited and uncoordinated.

GAO recommends that OMB develop a coordinated, government-wide approach for federal statistical agencies to use, in consultation with territories and stakeholders, to examine the costs, benefits, and feasibility of including territories in statistical products and, as appropriate, identify ways to address any data gaps.

Deeper data collection pushed

But the GAO wasn't the only federal entity to point out the data gap.

President Joseph R. Biden's "White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI)" group released a report in May 2022 that stated in part that, "Federal data collection and reporting practices often fail to measure, reflect, and disaggregate the diversity of AA and NHPI experiences.

These practices contribute to painful and enduring stereotypes about Asian Americans as a model minority and erase the unique needs within AA and NHPI communities, which include dozens of distinct ethnic groups that speak over 100 different languages and dialects, the report said.

Disaggregation, according to the WHIAANHPI report, would more effectively address the true problems facing the peoples of the territories.

For example, the report said, while total cancer rates for AA and NHPIs are on average lower than in non-Hispanic whites, disaggregated data shows the rate of liver cancer for Laotian women is more than nine times higher than for non-Hispanic white women.

This is just one of many examples that illustrates the need for more disaggregated data, the report said.

The WHIAANHPI said it plans to host a summit annually to highlight federal progress on data disaggregation to ensure there is synergy in the administrations efforts to promote data equity for all communities.




Haiti - FLASH : 2 Sunrise Airways commercial flights land in Port-au-Prince





Saturday, May 11, 2024, marks the gradual return of the first commercial flights to Toussaint Louverture International Airport, with the landing of two planes from the Haitian company Sunrise Airways.



This resumption, limited for the moment of commercial flights, was made possible thanks to all the security measures taken, the result of the combined efforts of Units of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), soldiers of the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd'H) and American military cooperation.



Furthermore, that same day, a cargo flight delivered equipment to the PNH including armored vehicles offered by the American Government as part of the project to strengthen the operational capacities of the police institution. Frantz Elbe, the acting Director General of the PNH, accompanied by the American Ambassador Dennis Bruce Hankins and the airport authorities were present to receive this batch of materials







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Haiti - News : Zapping





The CPT visited the airport

Leslie Voltaire informs that the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) visited the Toussaint Louverture airport police station and the FAdH corps at the airport. The Council wants commercial flights to resume as soon as possible and is working to improve the situation of police and military personnel.



Delmas : Reinforced humanitarian support

The UN is strengthening its humanitarian support in the town of Delmas, after the recent attacks against this town. As part of the humanitarian response, the agency is providing meals, shelter and other supplies to people affected by the violence in the area, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for Secretary General Antonio Guterres. adding that the UN hopes to increase this aid as security permits.



Haiti Ambassador to Canada Weibert Arthusm...

The Ambassador of Haiti to Canada Weibert Arthus, who is also the dean of the CARICOM Caucus in Ottawa, was received by Greg Fergu, the Speaker of the House of Commons (MPs) of Canada. They discussed issues of common interest in relations between Canada and CARICOM, in particular the situation in Haiti.



Distribution of drinking water in Port-au-Prince

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is expanding its support for water distribution in Port-au-Prince, a task that guarantees access to life-saving liquid for 30,000 displaced Haitians. Since the start of the violence in February, Unicef and the National Directorate of Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) have provided more than 2.6 million liters of drinking water to children and families in 20 sites hosting displaced people.



Niagara Falls with the colors of our flag

The Embassy of Haiti in Canada informs that on the occasion of Haitian Flag Day (May 18, Niagara Falls will be illuminated in blue and red from 10:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. You can attend this illumination live via the following link to a live camera: (https://www.earthcam.com/canada/niagarafalls/?cam=niagarafalls_str). The Embassy of Haiti once again thanks the municipal authorities of Niagara Falls who responded. at his request to declare May 18 "Haiti Day" in homage to the anniversary of the Haitian flag.



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Suhar Industrial City, affiliated to Omans Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn), has signed a cooperation agreement with Middle East Calcined Clay Company to establish a factory for manufacturing the Omani Sarooj product.

The product is used as a material in restoration, urbanisation and decoration. The project is set to be situated on an area of 45,000 sq m with an investment of RO5.4 million ($14.06 million).

The agreement was signed by Eng Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Mayasi, Director General of Suhar Industrial City, and Eng Abdulaziz bin Said Al Maqbali, Project Manager at Middle East Calcined Clay Company.

This factory comes in the framework of the innovation project in the mining sector undertaken and financed by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals. The Industrial Innovation Academy has played a key role in conducting laboratory and market analyses, and practical experiments on the products efficiency for commercial production, particularly in the restoration of forts and archaeological sites, in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism.

Yahya bin Ahmed Al Kharoosi, Director of Local Content and Business Opportunities at the Industrial Innovation Academy, emphasised the role of Sarooj product in enhancing the added value of Omani natural resources, being one of the key products used in restoring historical landmarks. He noted the significant impact of research and development in utilising local materials while empowering companies to produce marketable products efficiently. Al Kharoosi also emphasised the academys contribution to developing the product using top global standards specifically designed for restoration purposes.

Eng Abdulaziz bin Said Al Maqbali, Project Manager at Middle East Calcined Clay Company, commented on the significance of this cooperation to compete in international clay and construction materials markets.

The factory features two production lines with a combined annual capacity of approximately 250,000 tons, incorporating energy-saving technologies and automated production processes. Additionally, the factory features a modern laboratory for sample testing and quality control.

Initial operations are expected to commence in the first quarter of 2025, providing employment opportunities for nationals and aligning with the goals of the National Zero Neutrality Programme by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.  TradeArabia News Service
Laxmibai, 81, a resident of Hatkanangale in western Maharashtra is a loyal Shiv Sena supporter. She voted for the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the past and attended rallies addressed by Bal Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray.

When asked about what she thought of the elections this time, her response was bitter: These politicians have made a mess of everything. Things are changing so fast that we do not know which leader is with which party. After so many years, this year, I did not vote for the Bow and Arrow symbol as I support Uddhav Sahebs Shiv Sena (with a flaming torch as a symbol). It was a very different experience, she added.

In India, which is diverse and where literacy rates vary, electoral symbols are important identification marks for voters to register their choices. While symbols have always played a role in elections, this time in Maharashtra, they seem to have become critical to candidates because of the splits in political parties such as the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

There are two Shiv Senas in the fray- the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray or UBT). Similarly, after the split in the NCP, the Ajit Pawar-led party is now fighting it out with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.

The state is witnessing a unique fight between two prominent political fronts, which are a mix of ideologically diverse parties and non-traditional alliances. On the one hand, there is the Mahayuti comprising the BJP-Shinde-led Shiv Sena-Ajit Pawar-led NCP and on the other, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) with Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena along with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress party.

These party splits have left voters confused over party symbols. For instance, in Baramati, a traditional NCP bastion where a large number of voters have supported Sharad Pawar-led NCP for years, this time the battle is complex with Ajit Pawars NCP contesting with the clock symbol while Pawars daughter Supriya Sule is fighting under the newly acquired symbol for the party- a man blowing a turha (trumpet).

Adding to the confusion was an independent candidate- Shaikh Yunnushaha who was allotted the symbol of a trumpet by the Election Commission of India (ECI). While the Sharad Pawar-led NCP appealed against this in the ECI, the plea was rejected. ECI data suggests that the symbol tutari has been allotted to several independent candidates across constituencies in the state.

Voters could be similarly confused in Nashiks Dindori constituency where the NCP (Sharad Pawar group) candidate Bhaskar Bhagre is pitted against BJPs Bharti Pawar. A teacher by profession, Bhagre is popularly known as sir in the region. However, an independent candidate - Babu Bhagre whose name on the list mentions sir in brackets with his symbol as tutari (trumpet) created a likelihood of confusion among voters in the region.

Interestingly, NCP leader Narhari Zirwal, who crossed over to the Ajit Pawar faction recently was seen campaigning for Bhagre.

Political experts said candidates have to spend a large amount of their time, energy and funds in popularising their symbol.

This time more than the agenda or promises, most candidates are focussing on ensuring that people remember which party they belong to and what their official symbol is. While voters have understood the new symbols and the arrangements by the time their constituency goes to vote due to constant campaigning and social media promotion, it is definitely a pain point for candidates and parties as some error margin is bound to be there, said a political consultant working for a prominent party who asked not to be named.

Parties have spent large sums to popularise their symbol this election season. After the ECI granted the flaming torch symbol to Shiv Sena (UBT), the party launched a Mashal Geet, a music video popularising the partys new symbol. Similarly, NCP leader Sharad Pawar unveiled the new symbol (man-blowing tutari) at an event held at Raigad Fort in February this year.

Akshay Swami, a political consultant, said that while marketing tactics help in spreading awareness, they fail to cover a small but significant population of voters who have no or poor access to technology.

While this number is likely to be small, it is unfortunate that the entire focus of campaigning now is to spread this message instead of speaking about issues that actually matter to people, he added.

It is not only the voters who need to make adjustments: A large number of leaders too have to vote against their own partys old symbol. For instance, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who is a voter in the Mumbai North Central Constituency will now support the Congresss Hand for the first time even as voting machines will continue to have a lotus symbol of the BJP, a long-term former ally of the Sena. Sharad Pawar, who founded NCP, also missed pressing the Clock symbol, which is known to be associated with the NCP for so many years as his daughter Supriya Sule fought the elections on his partys new symbol.

Shifting loyalties and ever-changing political equations have triggered discontent among voters in the state as they struggle to make a choice between two candidates who have been earlier associated with the same party and leadership.

For instance, in constituencies which go to polls until the fourth phase (until May 13), Shiv Sena (UBT) has given a candidate in 13 seats. Of these, in seven seats, it is fighting candidates from Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena thus underlining the dilemma that it has created for voters who will have to choose between the bow and arrow and flaming torch symbol. The similarity in party names and confusion over candidate loyalties and symbols have created complex equations in most constituencies across the state.

Confusion over changing symbols and the subsequent emphasis on promoting them highlight a deeper shift in the political landscape of the state. With the emergence of multiple factions within established parties like Shiv Sena and NCP, each adopting distinct symbols and narratives, the traditional party identity has become increasingly fragmented.

This proliferation of symbols reflects the broader polarisation and realignment within the states political fabric. This trend poses fundamental questions about the evolving nature of democracy. Will the electorate adapt to this symbolism-driven politics of convenience and selective posturing, or will it catalyse a renewed demand for clarity and transparency in the political discourse? Only time will tell.

Dr. Sanjay Patil is a Mumbai-based researcher who works on Maharashtra Politics and Urban Informality. His doctoral work looks at the journey of Shiv Sena between 1985 and 2022.
All zodiac signs have their own characteristics and traits which define someones personality. Wouldnt it be helpful if you started your day by already knowing about whats going to come your way? Read on to find out whether the odds will be in your favour today. Horoscope Today: Astrological prediction for May 13 , 2024

You will regain total fitness through your efforts. Give with an open hand, if you want the returns to inundate you. A favourable period begins as you achieve much on the career front. Take help on the domestic front, instead of overburdening yourself. A property issue is likely to be resolved amicably. Students can look forward to a promising beginning.

Love Focus: You are likely to catch someones eye and kick-start a whirlwind romance.

Lucky Number: 22

Lucky Colour: Blue

Getting serious about your health will be a step in the right direction. Proper financial planning may be required to avoid surprises. Day appears favourable for those looking for a job. You are likely to keep socially active by calling on a friend or relation today. You may find yourself at the receiving end of a family squabble. Some of you are likely to feel disappointed by your academic performance.

Love Focus: Some of you are likely to have a lot of fun with a lover in tow.

Lucky Number: 18

Lucky Colour: Pink

An old ailment threatens to play up, if you are not careful. You may spend on something not previously catered for. Gift of the gab and good handling of clients promise to win them over. Family life promises to cruise along smoothly. You will enjoy a leisure trip with someone close. Some of you will soon become the proud possessors of a property.

Love Focus: A candlelight dinner or gift is in the offing as a lover is all out to woo you.

Lucky Number: 6

Lucky Colour: Brown

A family reunion is on the cards and your initiative will make it happen. Recognition is likely for some on the professional front. You may find it difficult to get rid of an old medical problem. A financial venture may get you involved. A chance to go for an exciting outing is on the cards for some. Some of you run the risk of floundering on the academic front. You are likely to put your ideas into action on the social front.

Love Focus: Romance is likely to figure in your list of priorities.

Lucky Number: 4

Lucky Colour: All shades of Green

Good health is assured for all, especially those ailing. Those feeling financially insecure will have a reason to cheer soon. Someone is likely to be good to you at work and make your day. Your ideas on the home front will be appreciated by all. Your wish for an outing and a change of scene is likely to be granted. You will be able to raise a loan to buy a property that has caught your fancy. Difficulty in deciding on the academic front cannot be ruled out.

Love Focus: Love can tug at your heartstrings to make you set out on a romantic adventure.

Lucky Number:5

Lucky Colour: Dark Grey

Maintaining fitness will come easy, as you opt for a lifestyle change. Past investments will make you feel financially secure. You are likely to derive much satisfaction from work today. A good time is foreseen in your circle of friends and relatives today. A smooth ride is likely for those travelling out of town. Profits are likely to accrue for some from a sale of property. Those seeking admission can face a harrowing time.

Love Focus: You are likely to enjoy a ride with your lover to someplace exotic.

Lucky Number: 9

Lucky Colour: Yellow

Neglecting health may put you in a lot of trouble. An impending expenditure may cause worries on the financial front. A cut in salary can be expected by some. You are likely to enjoy the company of a distant out-of-town relative. Commuting may increasingly become stressful for some. The property is likely to be sold for a good profit. Planning for the future assumes importance for students at this juncture.

Love Focus: Love life is likely to get rejuvenated through your efforts.

Lucky Number: 7

Lucky Colour: Cream

A minor ailment is likely to be cured through a home remedy. Read the fine print in a financial negotiation to avoid getting a raw deal. Delegation will be the easiest way out at work today, but dont forget to keep a tab. Some differences with family members over a domestic issue are foreseen. You may travel to attend a wedding or a function happening out of town. A property can come in your name through inheritance.

Love Focus: It is up to you how satisfied you want to be in your love life.

Lucky Number: 11

Lucky Colour: Peach

Some of you can experience a spot of bad health. Financial worries are set to disappear, as money flows in. Keep a low profile on the work front to avoid any kind of confrontation today. A family function may find you in your element. You are likely to enjoy a short trip today. This is a good time to purchase property or construct a house. Good news awaits some on the academic front.

Love Focus: Be more judicious in your selection on the romantic front.

Lucky Number:18

Lucky Colour: Orange

Those recuperating will need to be a little more patient. Luck favours you on the financial front as you come across big money. You may remain busy organizing a professional event. Remaining surrounded by your near and dear ones will be therapeutic. Some positive signs may be received regarding a property issue. Your presence in a social function will be highly appreciated. On the academic front, things may begin to turn in your favour soon.

Love Focus: Love life may not be great shakes, but promises to remain stable.

Lucky Number: 9

Lucky Colour: Red

The elderly may take some more time for total recovery. The financial situation gets strengthened as money flows in. Do so if you are confident of doing a good job of whatever is tasked to you. The support of the family will help you in accomplishing your dream. Those planning to move houses will manage to find a suitable one. You will find your performance on the academic front on the upswing.

Love Focus: Tread carefully on the romantic front to avoid any pitfalls.

Lucky Number: 11

Lucky Colour: Purple

Those ailing may take some more time to make a full recovery. Buying something big is on the cards, as you manage your finances well. Networking is your answer to seeking better professional opportunities. Someone in the family may volunteer to share your workload. Those travelling abroad will find the journey comfortable. Those dealing in real estate can expect to seal a good deal.

Love Focus: The chance of spending time together with a lover is possible.

Lucky Number: 1

Lucky Colour: Magenta
New Delhi, The government will accord focused attention to promote India's textiles exports, which declined for the second year in a row in 2023-24, Textiles Secretary Rachna Shah said. Govt to give focused attention to promote India's textiles exports: Textiles secretary

The government has set an ambitious target to achieve USD 100 billion export for textile products by 2030.

The cumulative exports of textiles and apparel from India during April 2023-March 2024 registered a de-growth of 3.24 per cent at USD 34.4 billion, as compared to USD 35.5 billion in April 2022-March 2023.

In 2021-22, outward shipments of textiles and apparel were recorded at over USD 41 billion.

"We had challenges like the Red Sea crisis making it slightly more challenging," Shah said on the decline in India's textiles exports in 2023-24.

Although geo-political challenges remain, the textiles secretary said some exporters have reported improvement in their order books in the first quarter and the shipments are likely to improve in the coming months.

"We will be looking at more focused attention on products which have greater export potential and the production linked incentive scheme is focused on those globally traded products," the textiles secretary told PTI.

Shah also outlined other measures being looked at to promote exports from the sector, including "possibly looking at newer markets".

She said the free trade agreements , which India has entered into with other nations "hopefully will open up more opportunities" for the textiles exports.

Sharing the outlook for outward shipments from the textiles sector, Shah said: "We should look at higher exports happening now. The global demand also will start looking better. Already in the first quarter we have seen some of our exporters have reported that the order positions for apparel, made-ups etc, is looking up so that should play out".

India has been losing ground in global garments trade to countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam due to their lower labour costs, larger operation footprints, and benefits from free trade agreements.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Sunday urged his supporters, party workers and fans not to celebrate his birthday on May 15 in view of severe drought in the state. DK Shivakumar (PTI)

The state Congress president also communicated that he will be in North India for Lok Sabha polls campaigning in favour of party candidates there, on his birthday.

Karnataka had declared 223 out of 240 taluks as drought-hit and 196 of them were categorised as severely drought affected.

"I urge my supporters and fans not to celebrate my birthday on May 15 in view of the drought situation in the state. Please do not put out any cutouts, banners, hoardings or organise birthday events for my birthday this year.

"You may send me your wishes from wherever you are, and your love and affection are enough for me," Shivakumar said in a statement.

Further stating that he is not in Bengaluru on his birthday and will be in North India for the election campaign, he said, "Hence, I request party leaders, party workers, supporters and fans not to visit my residence or office on my birthday. Wish me from wherever you are."
In scorching summer heat, Savita Ramesh Singhadiya, 36, is at a village hand pump to fetch water as Jal Nal Scheme is yet to reach Gadwadiya village, 4 km from district headquarter. But, the biggest concern for this illiterate mother of three is high prices of silver. Increase in silver prices has become a poll issue among the tribals in Madhya Pradeshs Malwa region. (Shruti Tomar/HT Photo)

Phooljadi (term used for the Bharatiya Janata Party) has increased price of silver to 80,000 per kg. How will I solemnise marriage of my three children, she said, echoing concern of many women in the tribal Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradeshs Ratlam, Dhar and Khargone, where more than 50% population is of tribals.

About 100 km south, Shivani Rathore (Bhil), 29, a resident of Himmatgarh village in Dhar, and Rama Bheel, 41, of Bhavra town in Alirajpur, expressed a similar concern. Price of silver, which was less than 50,000 a few years ago, has now reached close to 80,000. We migrate to Gujarat to earn 400- 600 per day as labourers and silver, which is our basic ornament, has gone beyond our reach, said Rama Bhil, while going to his home town in Jhabua by a bus.

A jeweler in Jhabua, Nitin Jain, said, Increase of silver prices is an issue among tribals as they purchased it in kilograms. In marriages, purchasing jewelry is not their choice but a decision of panchayat. If panchayat decides a groom family has to give 10 kg silver, nobody cant say no. Now, the tribals are asking for credit to purchase it.

In these three tribal constituencies, the national narrative over reservation to OBCs and Muslims, Ram Temple in Ayodhya and Indias global recognition are not much of an issue. Apart from silver, people talk about poor drinking water supply, lack of local employments and huge migration for work.

The election in the three tribal seats is being watched as this was the region where Congress performed much better than rest of Madhya Pradesh in December 2023 assembly polls. Of the 24 assembly seats in all three Lok Sabha constituencies, Congress won 13, BJP 10 and one went to the Bharatiya Adivasi Party (BAP).

In Ratlam Lok Sabha seat, BJP won four seats, Congress three and one went to BAP. In Dhar, five seats were won by Congress and three seats by BJP. In Khargone, BJP won only three seats out of eight seats. However, in 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all three parliamentary seats.

Ratlam is the most watched tribal seat in the Malwa region as minister of state in MP government Nagar Singh Chouhans wife Anita Nagar Singh Chouhan is contesting against five-time member of Parliament and Congress leader, Kantilal Bhuria.

In Ratlam, tribal population is about 51% and for the past two Lok Sabha elections, NOTA stood third with more than 30,000 votes. Bharatiya Adivasi Party, which won one seat in December 2023 assembly election from Sailana in Ratlam, has nominated Balu Singh. However, BAP MLA Kamleshwar Dodiyar alleged that he is contesting to help the BJP.

The Congress election in Ratlam has been controversial with Bhuria promising 1 lakh each to every woman, and saying those with two wives will get 2 lakh. Besides, Congress MLA Veer Singh Bhuria alleged that Anita Nagar Singh Chouhan belongs to a tribe of dacoits. More than issues, Bhuria has made this election personal. The BJP had termed these comments as Congress mindset against tribals.

More than that, Bhuria is contesting the election on an emotional pitch saying it would be his last Lok Sabha poll. He is seeking votes on his personal connect with people. Not much for party or Congress policies, said a local. Anita Chouhan is seeking votes for development.

In Khargone, BJP sitting MP Gajendra Singh Patel is contesting against Porlal Kharte of Congress, a retired state tax officer. Khargone has 1.8 million voters and out of them 52.7% are from ST community. In urban areas, Patel campaign revolves around communal tension in the region in April 2022 and populist scheme of BJP. Kharte is focusing on Jal Jungle Jameen and ensuring constitutional rights of tribals as declaring the region under Constitutions Fifth Schedule that provides for special governance for tribal areas.

In Dhar, the BJP replaced incumbent MP Chattar Singh Darbar with former MP Savitri Thakur. Congress has fielded youth leader Radheshyam Muvel. Thakur is a known face in Dhar and Muvel is contesting for the first time on a seat which has 51.2% tribal. Like Khargone, Congress and BJP are raising similar issues but in urban areas Archeological Survey of Indias survey of Bhojshala is being raised by the BJP workers.

However, a 55-year-old Ter Singh Bhil of Khanan village in Dhar district could be seen asking a woman BJP worker Pushpa Jangde whether Bhojshala will give employment to her four sons, who migrate to Gujarat and other cities for work. I dont understand anything. Just wanted to ask Panjhadi (term used for Congress) and Phooljhadi will be able to give jobs to me and my son, Bhil said. Jangde agreed and said Modi will find a solution to unemployment in his third term.

Dhar Congress candidate Radheshyam Muvel said, There are many industrial areas in Dhar, but employment is being given to outsiders. Tribals are facing joblessness due to the poor policy of the BJP. Our apprenticeship scheme will train the tribals and others and will provide them jobs.

Ratlams Congress candidate Kantilal Bhuria said, The increase in rate of silver is one of the examples of anti-tribal policy of the BJP. In the past 20 years, BJP-led state government and in the past 10-years, BJP-led central government hardly put any efforts in Jhabua and Alirajpur to stop migration and provide them employment here in MP. BJP is trying to divert the issues, but nothing will happen.

Replying to it, BJP candidate Savitri Thakur said, PM Modi is focusing on self-reliant India and people are getting jobs. When it comes to the silver, the rates are increasing due to global market, but BJP government is controlling the rates.

Supporting Thakur, BJP candidate from Ratlam Anita Nagar Singh Chauhan said, Jhabua and Alirajpur have seen immense development. We have a road map to provide jobs to tribals and soon the problem of unemployment will be resolved under Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

Savitas husband Ramesh Singhadiya, who works as wage employee in a hotel, said the region was underdeveloped because of politicians. My three children are studying and I am concerned about their future. If they dont get government jobs, all of us will have to go to Gujarat (250 km from his village) for work, he said.
As part of the countrys six-year licensing round launched in 2019, Angola will open its next international tender in 2025. Currently, the National Oil, Gas & Biofuels Agency (ANPG)  the countrys national concessionaire  is finalizing contract negotiations for the 2023 bid round, which concluded in January 2024 and secured 53 bids.

As new investment flows to the countrys upstream sector, Angolas existing transport and logistics infrastructure is poised to support new concessions, accelerating exploration and the success of new oil and gas developments.

LICENSING ROUNDS TARGET PRODUCTION INCREASE

Angola aims to produce 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) until 2027, increasing output to 2 million bpd in the long term. To achieve this, the country is inviting investment in exploration through the promotion of its six-year licensing strategy.

Currently, the ANPG is finalizing production sharing negotiations for a 12-block tender launched in 2023. Nine companies qualified as operators in the tender, while five companies qualified as non-operators.

In addition to new licensing opportunities, Angola has a range of acreage on permanent offer. Speaking at an Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2024 networking function in Houston last March, Alcides Fernandes Mendes de Andrade, Executive Administrator at the ANPG, outlined available blocks. These include 14 blocks offshore  8 in shallow water and 6 in deep water. Most are high potential blocks in proven basins. [There are] 8 onshore blocks in the Congo and Kwanza basins, he said.

Offshore, available deepwater blocks include Block 32/21, Block 33/21 and Block 34/21 in the Lower Congo Basin and Block 41, Block 42 and Block 43 in the Benguela and Namibe Basins.

Shallow water blocks include Block 6/15, Block 7/21, Block 8/21 and Block 9/21 in the Kwanza Basin and Block 10, Block 11, Block 12 and Block 13 in the Benguela and Namibe Basins. Available onshore blocks include CON3 and CON7 in the Congo Basin and KON1, KON3, KON7, KON10 and KON 14 in the Kwanza Basin.

EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTS NEW CONCESSIONS

Angolas medium- to long-term strategy is to expand its infrastructure production capacity. This, in turn, will not only support the development of new discoveries, but also bolster production capacity and reduce imports. As such, the country is seeking direct investment in infrastructure, with several strategic projects in the pipeline.

Angola aims to construct an integrated terminal and logistics hub in Soyo, with the capacity to produce 65,000 bpd and store two million barrels.

Developed under a PPP model, the project offers investors an exemption on importations and a ten-year tax holiday and aims to start operations by 2026, with a license duration of 15-25 years.

Additionally, Angola is looking at developing the Kwanza Terminal and Pipeline Routes Project, featuring a 25,000-bpd production capacity, one million barrels of storage capacity and offering similar financial incentives to that of the Soyo terminal.

The project will also be developed under a PPP model and will start operating by 2029.

As a mature petroleum producer, Angola has already established the necessary infrastructure to process, distribute and export oil and gas.

Strategic facilities include the Kwanda Logistics Base in Soyo  established as a supply and support base for Angolas offshore oil and gas industry. Kwanda is the location of the Angola LNG plant and supports offshore projects.

Sonangol Integrated Logistics Services (SONILS) also operates an onshore supply base near the capital Luanda.

The base supports 65 per cent of the countrys daily oil production through services related to cargo handling, engineering, development and lease of specialized oil and gas facilities.

Additional infrastructure includes the Petromar Fabrication Yard in Soyo; the Paenal Fabrication Yard in Kwanza Sul; the Barra do Dande Ocean Terminal  with the capacity to store 582,000 cubic meters of liquid and gaseous fuels; and the Port of Lobito, which can handle 2.9 million tons of cargo per year, including the export of refined petroleum. An oil refinery is currently under construction in Lobito with a capacity of 200,000 bpd, set to boost the countrys overall refining capacity. --OGN/TradeArabia News Service
Former Kurukshetra MP and OBC leader Kailasho Saini switched over to the Congress, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Rohtak on Sunday. Former Kurukshetra MP and senior BJP leader Kailasho Saini joins Congress in Rohtak on Sunday. (Manoj Dhaka/HT)

Addressing mediapersons, Saini said she has joined the party without any conditions and will campaign for INDIA bloc candidate Sushil Gupta in Kurukshetra.

For the last several months, I had been planning to join the Congress as there is no respect for workers and leaders in the BJP. The BJP has used batons to suppress the voice of farmers, wrestlers, sarpanches, youths and government employees, she said.

The two-time MP further said the BJP is hatching a conspiracy to change the Constitution while the Congress is fighting to safeguard the rights of the citizens.

Welcoming her into the party fold, Hooda said there is a Congress wave in Haryana and over 40 former MLAs and MPs have joined the party in the last couple of months. Three independent MLAs also extended support to the party recently.

We have given a memorandum to the governor urging him to dissolve the assembly and hold fresh elections in the state as the BJP has no majority to run the government, the leader of Opposition added.

Kailasho Saini was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kurukshetra twice -- in 1998 and 1999, on tickets of OP Chautalas Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) and the INLD respectively. The INLD was earlier known as Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya). She also served as the chairperson of Kurukshetra Zila Parishad.
Delhi airport and several hospitals in the national capital were targeted with bomb threats via email on Sunday, prompting authorities to deploy multiple bomb disposal squads and fire tenders. Delhi hospitals get bomb threat: This incident follows closely on the heels of a recent spate of similar threats in Delhi and Ahmedabad.(Sourced)

The Burari Hospital was the first to report the bomb threat at 3.15pm, according to fire officials.

"An email was received at Burari Hospital regarding a bomb threat. Local police, bomb squad, dog squad were rushed to the spot. Teams are checking the hospital. Nothing suspicious has been found yet," Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) M K Meena said.

The second call came from Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital around 4.26pm.

Soon after the call, we immediately pressed two fire engines at both the locations. Our teams are still there as the search operation is going on," a Delhi fire services official said.

Police later revealed that a total of eight hospitals  GTB Hospital, DDU Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, Burari Hospital, Dada Dev Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital and Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital  called them about bomb threats. Police said other hospitals received the mail but could have missed it due to the holiday.

Delhi fire services chief informed that the call regarding the bomb threat at the Indira Gandhi International Airport was received at around 6.15pm.

We received a call around 6.15 pm about a bomb threat at IGI Airport. Fire tenders have been rushed to the spot," Garg said.

This incident follows closely on the heels of a recent spate of similar threats in Delhi and Ahmedabad. Just days ago, more than 130 schools across Delhi-NCR received identical emails, alleging the presence of explosives on their premises. The threats led to widespread panic, resulting in immediate evacuations and thorough searches of the educational institutions.

The Delhi Police approached Russian mailing service company Mail.ru via Interpol to trace the exact source of the e-mails. An FIR was registered against unknown persons stating that the intention of the bomb hoax e-mails was to create mass panic and disturb public order in the national capital.

The hoax bomb threats also promoted the Union home ministry to call for a detailed protocol and standard operation procedures (SOP) to deal with such situations. Earlier this week, the home secretary asked the Delhi Police and schools to coordinate closely to avoid any unnecessary panic due to misinformation.

Read: Pakistan link to bomb threat emails to Ahmedabad schools: Police

The ministry also stressed the need to enhance security, CCTV cameras and regular monitoring of emails in schools.

Home Secretary asked Delhi Police and schools to have close coordination for an effective response mechanism so that misinformation does not create any unnecessary panic, a release said.

Home Secretary also emphasised the need to enhance security, CCTV cameras and regular monitoring of emails in the schools. The meeting was attended by the chief secretary and Delhi Police commissioner, it added.

With PTI inputs
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) intensified its campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, which will go to polls on May 25, with the star campaigners, mostly from Rajasthan, seeking support for the party candidates on Saturday. BJP supporters during a rally for the partys West Delhi candidate Kamaljeet Seharawat at Durga Park Ramleela Ground in New Delhi on Saturday. (HT PHOTO.)

Rajasthan minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and MoS General (retired) VK Singh were among the top leaders who took part in rallies. Rathore canvassed in west and south Delhi area, while Meghwal in west and north Delhi areas. Rajasthan deputy chief ministers Prem Chand Bairwa and Diya Kumari also campaigned in Delhi on Saturday.

Also read: Haryana: Congress seeks dismissal of BJP govt, fresh polls under President rule

Supporting the BJPs northwest Delhi candidate, Yogendra Chandolia, Meghwal said that this election is to choose the countrys next prime minister. By voting for Chandolia, people will support Narendra Modi as the PM, he added.

The PM is expected to keep the countrys borders safe and maintain internal security. Since Modi became the PM in 2014, we have started hitting back at those who attack us, instead of sending dossiers. Before 2014, only the USA and Israel had this status. Now, India is the third country that is known to hit back at perpetrators who attack us. We are now the fifth biggest economy in the world. We will be third in the next five years if BJP continues to be in power, said Meghwal.

Former chief of Indian Army VK Singh underlined on how the country has seen economic development through startups and digital transactions under the Modi-led government. India started the startup programme in 2016 when there were 415 startups in the country. Now, we are the worlds No. 3 in the number of unicorns, No. 2 in the total number of startups in the country and worlds No. 1 in the number of such entrepreneurs who start work every day. Over 60% of digital transactions of the world happen in India. This is the economic change that the Modi government has brought, said Singh.

Rathore addressed the Yuva Morcha conference in Dwarka and said that todays youth is expanding their business not only in the country but also abroad. The respect that India is getting at the international level after Modi became the PM, is providing new opportunities for progress to the youth. Todays youth is the soldier of Modi jis struggle for national upliftment, said Rathore.

Addressing the Yuva Morcha conference of Naveen Shahdara district and the Scheduled Caste Morcha conference of Shahdara district, Bairwa said that the welfare schemes of the Modi government have reached the last standing person of every community in the country.

Also read: Visit every home during BJPs booth victory campaign in Kashi: Sunil Bansal

Diya Kumari along with MPs Manoj Tiwari and Kalpana Saini addressed the womens conference of the northeastern district in Burari.

The women of Delhi and the country are with the BJP. The empowerment rights received from the Modi government is the pride of every woman and she is the victory shield of BJP in this election, she said.

The public gathering in the West Delhi parliamentary constituency was addressed by candidate Kamaljeet Sahrawat. At the gathering, General VK Singh said that there is a government in Delhi that is only indulged in corruption instead of working. Whatever the previous governments did, even 10% of that work has not been done by the Kejriwal government.

Delhi has seven Lok Sabha seats, all of which are occupied by BJP MPs for the past two terms.
A day after a 63-year-old doctor was found murdered in an alleged robbery bid, police said they found two people roaming near the victims house in Jangpura Extension  possibly to carry out a recce  after the CCTV visuals from the area were scrutinised. Dr Paul ran his clinic on nearby Birbal Road and stayed on the ground floor of a four-storey building with his wife in Jangpura Extension. (HT PHOTO)

According to senior officers aware of the matter, the suspects were inside the house for at least two hours. The victim, Dr Yogesh Chandra Paul, was found dead on the kitchen floor with his hands tied and mouth gagged by his wife Dr Neena Paul on Friday around 6.30pm when she returned from work. Preliminary probe suggested the victim was strangled to death. The familys dog, Molly, was found locked inside the bathroom.

Investigators said that Dr Paul was found with a dog leash around his neck. However, there was also a head injury and lacerations on his arms. Police said that autopsy was conducted and report is awaited to ascertain the exact cause of death.

A senior police officer confirmed police received the CCTV footage and have examined it but refrained from sharing more details as the investigation is underway.

A few people have been rounded up for questioning. Multiple teams are working on different aspects of the case. We will be able to solve it soon, said a senior police officer, asking not to be named.

Also read: 2 convicted of rationalist Narendra Dabholkars murder

The CCTV footage ostensibly shows two people walking near the house around 1.30pm. Dr Paul entered his house between 1.30pm and 1.40pm and the two people entered the building two minutes later. Investigators told the family that three people left the building around 3.30pm  two hours after entering. Investigators and neighbours who viewed the footage said it was not immediately clear how the third person gained entry to the house.

The victims wife called police which was transferred to the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station. When police reached the spot, they found at least two rooms ransacked including Dr Pauls bedroom. The family is not in a condition to share details but some cash and jewellery is suspected to be missing, a second officer said.

Dr Paul ran his clinic on nearby Birbal Road and stayed on the ground floor of a four-storey building with his wife. His neighbours who lived on the first floor were 44-year-old lawyer Mehak Sethi, and his 34-year-old wife Disha Ved Sethi.

Disha was among the first who reached the Pauls residence after the incident. Mehak said he was in Udaipur for work when he received a call from Dr Pauls son-in-law Ishwar Prasad. I told him I was in Udaipur and he asked me if Disha could reach the house as soon as possible because something had happened to Dr Paul. I called Disha and she was about 15 minutes away from the house. She left shortly after the call, Mehak told HT.

Mehak expressed shock at the incident and said Dr Paul was not someone who opened the door to strangers. It is strange how they got friendly entry... the locks were not broken. Secondly, it is unclear when the third person entered. There is only one entry and exit to the house, Mehak said.

Disha said that she reached the house around 6.50pm and walked into Dr Pauls residence. I saw Dr Neena and one of their relatives... Dr Neena was inconsolable. I looked to the left in the kitchen and Dr Pauls body was lying on the floor. His hands were tied and there was a cap stuffed in his mouth, she said.

While investigators have told the family that the suspects exited the building around 3.30pm, Disha said she passed by the house at 4pm but did not find the door open. We usually greet each other while crossing paths and I would have noticed if the door was unlocked. This is why I suspect that the killers were still inside at the time, she said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the Congress will get fewer seats than the age of its shehzada in this Lok Sabha elections even as he sharpened attack against the ruling-Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal over the Sandeshkhali issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a roadshow in West Bengals North 24 Parganas on Sunday. (ANI)

He also mounted attack on the INDIA bloc partners saying that corruption is their common character and alleged that the TMC has taken up corruption as a full-time business which it runs openly.

You would certainly make the BJP-NDA cross the 400-mark. But write it down that in this election the Congress will get fewer seats than the age of its shehzada, Modi said without naming the 53-year-old Rahul Gandhi.

Modi was speaking at an election rally at Chinsurah in Hooghly. He addressed four back-to-back rallies at Barrackpore, Chinsurah, Aramnbagh and Sankrail in the eastern state.

Two BJP supporters had brought paintings of the Prime Minister sharing moments with his mother. May 12 being celebrated as Mothers Day, Modi spotted the duo in the huge gathering at Arambagh and accepted the paintings. He asked the Special Protection Group (SPG) commandos to collect the portraits. Modis mother Heeraben Modi died in December 2022.

He stepped up his ante against the TMC over alleged appeasement and vote-bank politics while referring to the recent developments at Sandeshkhali.

The entire nation is watching whats happening in Sandeshkhali. First the state police shielded the culprits. Now the TMC has started a new game. TMCs goons are terrorising and threatening women in Sandeshkhali just because the culprits name in Shahjahan Sheikh. Guns and explosives are being recovered from his house but in a bid to appease the vote bank, TMC is making efforts to give him a clean chit, Modi said while addressing the first rally of the day at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas.

Sandeshkhali, located in the same district, had hit the headlines in February when village women staged violent protests demanding the arrest of Shahjahan, a TMC strongman, and his aides over allegations of sexual assault and land grabbing. Shahjahan was arrested on February 29 on the orders of the Calcutta high court. He was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On May 4, however, a purported sting video was released by the TMC in which Gangadhar Koyal, a local BJP leader from Sandeshkhali, was seen allegedly saying that there were no rapes and women were paid to lodge false complaints of sexual assault.

The BJP, on the other hand, shared a video on X handle on Friday in which one woman, who was featured in the sting video, was seen alleging that she was threatened to make the statements and the sting video was doctored.

The BJP is a ferocious party, and its Basirhat candidate Rekha Patra is creating massive trouble in Sandeshkhali. The TMC is being attacked. Violence is going on under her leadership. This is Modis guarantee. If Modi can threaten the women in his speech then under his command such things are going on in Sandeshlkhali, said Shashi Panja, state minister.

Modi also attacked the Mamata Banerjee-administration over the warning issued by the Kolkata Police to a netizen who shared an AI-generated meme on the West Bengal chief minister.

In West Bengal, there is no freedom of expression. Here the voices of the opposition and citizens are subdued. The situation is such that even if anyone shares a cartoon or posts something humorous on social media, he is threatened and harassed, he said while addressing a rally at Arambagh in Hooghly.

Two AI-generated memes, one featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and another showing West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee recently became a flash point between the TMC and its arch -rival the BJP amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

While Modi had responded to the meme on X saying that he enjoyed it, Kolkata Police warned the user on May 6 directing him to delete the post and refrain from such acts failing which he would be liable for strict penal action.

If you combine the dynasty politics, corruption and appeasement of the Congress and atrocities and anarchy of the Left regime then you get one TMC. The TMC has made scams its full time-business. Be it the Congress, Left or any other party of INDI alliance, corruption is their common character. Most of them resort to scams in a hidden manner. But TMC runs an open industry, he said.

Central agencies have arrested several TMC lawmakers and leaders in connection with multiple alleged scams such as recruitment scam, coal smuggling scam and ration distribution scam. Federal agencies have even questioned Abhishek Banerjee, TMC National general secretary.

I have seen many Prime Ministers such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, IK Gujral and HD Deve Gowda and Rajiv Gandhi. But I have never seen a Prime Minister like Modi who spreads so much slander. He would get 120 out of 100 in telling lies. He always abuses me and the TMC. He became Prime Minister twice by telling lies. The BJP leaders are the biggest leaders of thieves. It is guarantee of a liar, said Mamata Banerjee, while addressing a rally at Uluberia in Howrah.
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted bail to a Polish national arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Mumbai airport in 2022 for allegedly possessing over 6 kg of heroin. A single judge bench of justice NJ Jamadar said the CBI had failed to follow the proper mandate to search the accused and collect samples of the seized drugs. One of the bags the accused was carrying allegedly contained three plastic pouches with heroin.

Jasinski Andrzej Wieslaw had flown into Mumbai from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on November 7, 2022, when the CBI arrested him at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after receiving an alert from Interpol. One of the bags he was carrying allegedly contained three plastic pouches with heroin.

Wieslaw then approached the high court for bail, claiming he was a highly qualified professor of repute and was being falsely implicated in a drug trafficking case. He also said he was not searched in the presence of the nearest magistrate or a gazetted officer, as mandated by Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. He added that the procedure laid out under the Act for drawing samples was also not followed. The CBI refuted the claims.

The court, however, refused to accept the CBIs arguments and said the agency did not follow the statutory mandate. Justice Jamadar said that whether the empowered officer carried out the search is debatable. The court also took into consideration that the foreigner was 76 years old, and the trial was not likely to start soon. It ordered the Polish national to be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of 1 lakh with one or two sureties of the same amount. It also forbade him from leaving the country without prior permission.
Darbhanga: In the land of Mithila in Bihar, Ram is echoing in the election campaign. On May 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his public address at Darbhanga with the Jai Shree Ram slogan and described Mithila region the land of King Janak and Goddess Sita (mythological characters) with the hope that the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya would get the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) electoral dividends. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Darbhanga, Bihar (Twitter Photo)

Less than 10 km from Darbhanga, Gulab Yadav, a 72-year-old from Yadav-dominated Bijli village talks about his switch in vote from Lalu Prasads Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to the BJP. The biggest campaign plank in Mithila region is Ram in this election. Lalu no doubt is our leader and so is Tejaswi [Yadav], but they are leaders for the state. When the matter comes to the national interest, we will always vote for [PM] Narendra Modi because he has gone to arrange an abode for our Ram Lalla, he said.

The Mithila region has four parliamentary constituencies  Darbhanga, Madhubani, Jhajharpur and Samastipur and the National Democratic Alliance won all four in 2019. With Lord Ram playing out in elections, the National Democratic Alliance [NDA] aims to repeat its feat.

Binod Kumar Mishra, 62, of Kamalpur village in Madhubani district said, Ram along with Sita, is a household name in Mithila and how can we vote for a party that refused to attend the pran parishtha (consecration ceremony) functions of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya this year for us.

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad declined an invitation to attend the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22.

Also Read: Lalus quota remark heats up poll pitch as Modi leads attack

Kamlesh Yadav, 40, of Raiyam Balia, said, ...No doubt Tejaswi is our chief ministerial candidate, but for national interest, he cannot be a substitute of Narendra Modi. Yadavs of our area have unanimously decided that in the Lok Sabha elections, they will vote for NDA as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the symbol of good governance in Independent India. Yadavs, despite being from an OBC caste, have always had an inclination for religion and Hindutva, he said.

Religion appears to be a more important factor than caste in the Mithalia region, even for the voters who voted in favour Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD in the last Assembly elections as they appear to be tilting this time in favour of BJP-led NDA.

56-year-old Dilip Rai, a Yadav farmer from Samia village, said, People often see our undisputed leader Lalu Prasads figure in Tejaswi, his son. But considering his age and experience in politics, we cannot gamble to vote for his party in the parliamentary elections....No one can deny that Modi not only launched many poor developmental programmes for this area but also boosted confidence among Hindu voters who in Congress rule had been sidelined, he said.

A similar feeling was apparent even in the Mallah (Sahani) voters. A 52-year-old fisherman of Mallah-dominated Kusheshwarsthan village in Darbhanga district said, ...This time we have decided to vote for NDA which has been instrumental in making Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Also, one cant deny that it was Nitish Kumar [chief minister of Bihar], who brought good governance in Bihar after decades of Lalu-Rabri jungle raj, he said.

Murlidhar Jha, a University teacher in Darbhanga, also agrees that PM Modis rally has broken the caste alliance in the Mithila region. The sitting NDA MPs are facing immense public ire and anti-incumbency, but Modis appeal will definitely polarise the voters in favour of NDA candidates. Most of the OBC voters will finally break the caste barriers, he said.

However, the leaders of the INDIA alliance feel that tall claims of Ram Rajya or good governance by NDA will not sell among the mandate this time. People are irritated with the false promises made by the Prime Minister and chief minister. Lack of employment and price rise are the major issues among the voters. This time, the cast combination of Muslims, Yadavs and Mallahs are so intact that our alliance is going to win all seats in Mithilanchal, said Lalit Kumar Yadav, Bihars former land reforms minister, who is RJD nominee from Darbhanga seat in this election.

Echoing similar views, four-time Darbhanga RJD MP and partys nominee from Madhubani seat, said that NDA is taking its last breath in Bihar. Secular forces are united while the components of NDA are scattered. Their top campaigners are unable to keep their alliance partners intact. NDA will not even open its account here, he claimed.

Gopaljee Thakur, the sitting MP from Darbhanga, said that Modi ki guarantee will do the magic again. Wo kitna bhi shor macha lein, aayega to Modi hi (They might create the noise, but finally Modi will come), he remarked.

The BJP has once again fielded Thakur. He emerged victorious in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Darbhanga Lok Sabha seat goes to polls on May 13 in the fourth of the seven-phase parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday evening held a road show in Patna, a BJP stronghold with two parliamentary constituencies of Patliputra and Patna Sahib. PM Narendra Modis road show in Patna on Sunday evening. (HT photo)

The roadshow, a first in Patna by any Prime Minister, began near Bhattacharya Road around 7.20 pm and was scheduled to conclude at Udyog Bhavan near Gandhi Maidan after traversing more than two kilometres through usually congested roads.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy CM and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary and others welcomed Modi before he boarded the specially designed vehicle. Patna Sahib candidate Ravi Shankar Prasad also accompanied Modi on the vehicle.

After night stay at the Raj Bhawan, Modi is scheduled to hold three election rallies in Bihar on Monday  Hajipur, Muzaffarpur and Saran  which are among the five parliamentary seats in the state going to polls in the fifth phase of the ongoing elections across the country. Five other seats are also due to vote on Monday.

Before leaving for rallies, Modi will visit Takht Harmandir, the famous Sikh shrine situated in the old city area and the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh, on Monday morning.

In Hajipur, LJP-R chief Chirag Paswan is contesting for the first time. His father late Ram Vilas Paswan won the seat multiple times.

In Saran, sitting BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy is facing off RJD president Lalu Prasads daughter Rohini Acharya, who is fighting her maiden election.

In Muzaffarpur, he will campaign for BJP candidate Raj Bhushan Choudhary Nishad.

Modi has so far held seven rallies in Bihar, which has 40 Lok Sabha seats, of which 39 were won by the BJP-led NDA in 2019.
Alia Bhatt is one of the busiest actors working today in the industry. The actor recently made a splash at the MET Gala this year with her floral saree look. In an new interview with Harper's Bazaar India, Alia also shared that she is inspired by a numbers of cultural icons, from popstar Taylor Swift to actor Aishwarya Rai. (Also read: Alia Bhatt reveals how she and Ranbir Kapoor handle failure, success: I'm an overthinker, he prefers to move on quickly) Alia Bhatt talked about being inspired by Aishwarya Rai in a new interview.

What Alia said

When Alia was asked if there were any Indian and international cultural icons that inspire her work, be it with their career graph, choices of films, or simply with the way they carry themselves, she said: I admire Kate Winslet for her incredible range and resilience, and Taylor Swift, who turns every experience into heartfelt music. I feel inspired by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who chartered her own course and took her journey global when no one was even thinking about it. And, of course, Kareena Kapoor Khan who is iconic in every way, and Shreya Ghoshal whose voice just elevates every word and rhythm given to her. These women embrace their journeys with such elan and easethat authenticity is what I aim to bring to my roles.

More details

When asked about how she is getting prepared for the next few years in the industry, Alia said, In 2024, I see myself continuing to push into new creative territories, aiming to engage with the audience on deeper levels. The goal has always been to challenge myself, to not be comfortable where I am, to dig deep within myself, to be able to contribute more to my characters. The legacy I hope to build is one of meaningful, memorable roles which not only entertain but also provoke thought and inspire change.

Alia was last seen in Heart of Stone, which marked her acting debut in Hollywood. She will be seen next in Vasan Bala's Jigra, which also stars Vedang Raina. The film is all set to hit the theatres on September 27, 2024. She is also slated to star in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Love & War, alongside Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal.
Trinetra Haldar, who was seen in Season 2 of Made in Heaven, has reacted to actor Rajkummar Rao getting trolled for a recent picture due to rumours of getting plastic surgery. Rajkummar had denied these speculations. In a new Instagram post, Trinetra has now shared how she believes in transparency when it comes to getting work done. (Also read: Rajkummar Rao breaks silence on plastic surgery rumours: I saw the pic, must be touched up, only got fillers done) Trinetra Haldar has reacted to Rajkummar Rao getting trolled for plastic surgery rumours.

What Trinetra said

In a new post, Trinetra shared that she underwent facial feminisation surgery. She wrote, My transition is complete. I didnt think this final step would happen anytime soon, but it has. I did this by myself, for myself, and still cant believe it. Transition to me is deeply spiritual, and not the stuff of tabloids and speculative nonsense. I havent talked about wanting FFS at all mostly out of fear of public scrutiny and judgement, but why shy away from something so important in this journey of accessing myself? Who cares what anybody thinks or believes, really? Truth be told, Ive wanted this for a decade, and there were lots of reasons to wait. I ticked them all off one by one.

More details

Although she didn't directly mention the name of Rajkummar Rao, she then wrote: An actor was recently trolled into sheepishly admitting he had chin filler, and a topper was trolled for (not doing anything about) her facial hair in the face of obvious academic merit. Screwed if you do, screwed if you dont, clearly. There is only this one body, this one life. If there is gender dysphoria, it has to be dealt with. Ive lost count of how many people in the industry Ive met whove had work done and will deny intervention. To each their own, but I do not wish to contribute to a culture of opacity that thrives on making masses of young people insecure. I have no interest in promoting bodily intervention, but I do believe in transparency, as has always been the case, especially as a doctor. My reasons were gender affirmation and confidence therefrom, as extensively deliberated on over years of therapy. Others may have their own.

Ever since a picture of Rajkummar at Diljit Dosanjh's recent concert went viral, people started speculating whether he has gone under the knife. The actor denied the same and told HT, "I found this debate very funny, I also looked at that particular image. That image looks too clean to be true, I don't have that kind of flawless skin. It felt touched up, I genuinely believe that. I started looking like a K Pop star."

Rajkummar was last seen in Srikanth, where he played the role of industrialist Srikanth Bolla who pursued his dreams despite his visual impairment, ultimately founding Bollant Industries. The film released on May 10.
Manisha Koirala may have played a mother in the grey in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's debut show, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar on Netflix India, but the actor said she's made peace with not becoming a mother in real life. In an interview with NDTV, Manisha said she had to come to terms with that after her battle with ovarian cancer. (Also Read  Manisha Koirala battled depression during Heeramandi shoot impacted by cancer: I just told myself to sail through it) Manisha Koirala says she's made peace with not becoming a mother

What Manisha said

There are, somewhere, unfinished things in my life. As you grow older, you accept your reality. There are so many dreams that you realise are not going to happen, and you make peace with that. Motherhood is one of them. It was tough getting ovarian cancer and not being able to be a mother. But I made peace with that. And I said jo gaya so gaya (what's gone is in the past), and let me do my best with what I have, said Manisha.

On not seeking the alternate path of adoption, Manisha said, I thought a lot about adoption. I realised I get stressed out very quickly, I get anxiety very quickly. So after a lot of debate, I made peace with that. That I'd rather be a godmother. So, I must make do with what I have. What I have is ageing parents, whom I love. I'm the apple of their eye, I'm the centre of their universe, and I'm going to cherish that. In fact, I fly back to Kathmandu (Nepal, hometown) more often now and spend time with them. And I love that.

Manisha's cancer battle

Before the release of Heeramandi, Manisha took to her Instagram handle and penned a long note of gratitude. She wrote, I have a lot to be grateful for in life... a career that saw a lot of high moments, significant roles, best directors, and friendships that have stood the test of time... and it is with God's grace that I have been given a second life after battling cancer. I have also seen the lowest depths in life and took many wrong turns. Life has been a good teacher with all its highs and lows, and I understand the value of time more intensely now. Yesterday was exhilarating and traumatic, but today is serene and peaceful.

The actor was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer in 2012. She sought treatment in New York and recovered by 2014.
Richa Chadha opted for the method acting route for her performance as Lajjo in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's debut show, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, on Netflix India. The actor confessed in an interview with Zoom that she's a teetotaller but tried a little gin for her tough, drunken Kathak dance sequence in the series. (Also Read  Richa Chadha reveals she did 99 retakes for a dance sequence in Heeramandi: My worst day was my best day) Richa Chadha as Lajjo in Heeramandi

What Richa said

"On the first day, I wasnt getting it, to do the drunk dancing. So, after 30-40 takes, I thought let me have a quarter and see what happens. I did have some gin. I drank a little bit, but it made things worse. I didnt want that lethargy in the body movement, I wanted some of it, maybe the precision can go but I didnt want to let go of the grace, Richa said.

I was better off pretending to be drunk than actually getting a little tipsy. It is a technical job, no matter how much I dance, my dress is so heavy, I have to hit that mark, interact. It was fun for me to do, she added.

Richa did 99 takes for that sequence

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,'" Richa said on Saturday's edition of The Great Indian Kapil Show, where she appeared as a guest alongside her Heeramandi co-stars.

Richa's husband and actor Ali Fazal also lauded her performance via an Instagram post earlier this week. Ali wrote, "Only a fool would not take Lajjo and fly away !! ( Lajjo check) You are simply the best and I feel so lucky I get to share my notes with you in person .. congratulations partner on this mad success of #heeramandi . You've risen way way way above the norm you always do. See you soon! @therichachadha !!." Richa also reacted and wrote, "Am lucky luckiest girl alive thank you."

Richa and Ali are about to become parents this year.
HYBE and its subsidiary ADOR have been among the most discussed topics in the Korean pop realm for over a month and are likely to remain the same. The feud initially began between the parent company and ADOR's CEO, Min Hee Jin, over alleged attempts to illegally take over the subsidiary. This conflict has now escalated into a full-fledged case following an audit of ADOR's employees on Thursday. And now, it has been reported that the BTS label has already selected a new management team, including a new CEO. HYBE chairperson Bang Si-Hyuk and ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin.

Also read: Ryu Jun Yeol breaks silence on dating scandal with Han So Hee ahead of new Netflix K-drama

HYBE selects new ADOR CEO

On May 12, several Korean media outlets reported that HYBE has replaced Min Hee Jin with a new CEO and completely overhauled the management team at ADOR. While Hee Jin currently remains in her CEO position, there are multiple reports citing, that she may be forced to resign at an upcoming shareholders' meeting, gaining massive attention across the internet.

HYBE to hold shareholders meeting

The label, home to hitmakers like BTS, Seventeen, NewJeans, and others, holds a majority 80 percent stake in its subsidiary ADOR. The company is set to leverage its voting rights in the next shareholders meeting to establish a new label and team for NewJeans label. Additionally, the label is expected to disclose the results of its audit into ADOR at this meeting.

HYBE to offer evidence against Min Hee Jin

Not only does the company plan to submit its audit report, but the label has also said that it will provide more evidence that suggests that the company has been plotting a coup for some time. Hee Jin will likely try to deny these allegations and insist that HYBE upholds the five-year CEO term agreement that was previously reported by the company's shareholders.

Earlier, Min Hee Jin rolled out a statement calling out HYBEs audit team alleging, an ADOR employee "suffered due to an illegal audit based on irrational issues raised by the HYBE audit team".In response, the company led by Bang Si Hyuk slammed Hee Jin's assertion that the audit was conducted legally and without coercion, with the auditee's consent.

Netizens outraged over ADORs new CEO reports

Although the parent company is large enough to draw massive fan support, the sentiment has not entirely favoured HYBE, as many believe that Min Hee Jins side of the story holds equal credibility. Fans have made it clear that they are here for their favourite bands and not specifically for CEOs like Bang Si Hyuk or Hee Jin.

Also read: HYBE rejects ADOR's audit claims, says 'hundreds of millions of won' was pocketed illegally with Min Hee-jin's approval

It's the fact that HYBE is still doing this even while public opinion is going downhill, a user commented on the news. Others chimed in too. The relationship went completely awry and I thought Min Hee Jin was going to leave anyway, but when I think about Bang touching NewJeans, I f*cking curse. Wishing NewJeans a safe escape. Theyre stuck among the old men and theyre just suffering. Min Hee Jin if you leave, well boycott HYBE. "Min Hee Jin hasn't been kicked out yet, so the fans and the public are still favorable to her. But if she's really kicked out, public opinion of HYBE will eventually improve."
After actor Allu Arjun visited Andhra Pradesh's Nandyala to support MLA Shilpa Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy, a case was registered against him for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct. As per India Today, a case was also filed against Reddy, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) MLA. (Also Read | Allu Arjun, Ram Charan get mobbed by fans during public appearances. Watch) Allu Arjun spoke about why he visited Nandyala. (Instagram)

Case against Allu Arjun in Andhra

As per the report, Allu Arjun and Reddy were accused of allowing a large public gathering on Saturday at the latter's residence. This led to a violation of the code of conduct ahead of the Andhra Pradesh elections. The state will go to polls on May 13.

Reportedly, the MLA invited the actor without prior permission to attend the gathering. The FIR was filed for violating Section 144, which has been imposed in Andhra Pradesh. Deputy Tehsildar P Ramachandra Rao from Nandyala Rural registered the case.

Allu Arjun had said why he went to Nandyala

After meeting Reddy at his residence on Saturday, Allu Arjun shared why he visited Nandyala. As per the report, he had said, "I came here on my own. Among my friends, in whichever field they are in, I will step up and help them if they need my help. It doesn't mean I am backing or supporting any political party."

Pics, videos of Allu Arjun in Nandyala

Trade analyst Ramesh Bala shared a video of the actor being welcomed by a sea of fans in Nandyala. He greeted fans with folded hands, waved at them and smiled. Sneha Reddy was also seen standing beside him. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the actor had shared a photo with Reddy. He had written, "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."

Reddy had posted a clip on X and written, "A heartfelt thank you to my friend @alluarjun for travelling all the way to Nandyal to wish me the best in my election. Your unwavering support means everything to me, and I'm so grateful for our friendship! #Thaggedele."

Allu Arjun's upcoming film

Fans will see Allu Arjun in Pushpa: The Rule, which will hit the theatres on August 15. The film also stars Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Dhananjay, and Rao Ramesh, among others. It is the sequel to Pushpa: The Rise.
Actor Gurucharan Singh, known for playing Roshan Singh Sodhi in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, has been missing for several weeks now. As per a News18 report, the Delhi Police recently visited the sets of the show in Film City, Mumbai. They questioned the actor's former co-stars in a bid to find out his whereabouts. (Also Read | Gurucharan missing case: Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah actor operated 10 bank accounts) Gurucharan Singh was reported missing on April 22.

Police visits TMKOC sets, questions actors

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. 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, News18 quoted a source as saying.

Police question TMKOC team about due in payment of Gurucharan

Head of Production of Neela Films, Sohil Ramani, also said, 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.

About missing Gurucharan

Gurucharan Singh, who is believed to have been visiting his parents in Delhi, was expected to return to Mumbai. His family registered a complaint, informing the police that he had been missing since April 22. DCP South West Delhi Rohit Meena told news agency ANI, "We have registered a case under Section 365 of the IPC. We have put together a team to probe the matter and our technical team is also working on the case. We are in the process of going over the CCTV footage where he is seen walking by himself."

Following that, News18 quoted Delhi police sources as saying, 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.
Aditi Rao Hydari is receiving appreciation for her performance in Heeramandi, despite the series has been getting mixed reviews. The actor's portrayal of Bibbojaan in the epic series has been lauded by many. In a recent interview with Puja Talwar, Aditi addressed the criticism against her show and co-star Sharmin Segal. (Also read: Heeramandi actor Sharmin Segal's throwback reaction to criticism: People will say what they have to say) Aditi Rao Hydari has reacted to the harsh comments on Sharmin Segal's performance.

Aditi Rao Hydari condemns trolling

On being quizzed if she feels it is unfair to pick on anybody amid her co-star Sharmin Segal being trolled, Aditi said, 100%. It's horrible to pick on anybody. I know some people like something and some people don't. There is a way to say it. It can get very mean. It has gotten very mean and I think it's not fair and it shouldn't happen like that. I don't know what else to say but I do feel bad. I think we should all understand it and be there for each other.

Aditi Rao Hydari condemns mean trolling against Heeramandi co-star Sharmin Segal: Its horrible

She further added, I also feel people do what they think is important to them. If some people want to be mean, that is their prerogative. We have to find a way around it otherwise it will be really difficult. Whoever is facing it, I would just say, 'look at the positive.'

Sharmin Segal trolled for Heeramandi

For the unversed, Sanjay's niece Sharmin essays the role of Alamzeb in the show. She recieved a lot of flak for her performance and ended up turning off her comments section in her Instagram handle. Sharmin's co-star Shruti Sharma in an interview with Pinkvilla supported her and said that trolling is unacceptable.

About Heeramandi

Aditi plays Mallikajaan aka Manisha Koirala's elder daughter in Heeramandi. The show portrays the story of courtesans during the 1920s-40s in the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore (now in present-day Pakistan) in pre-partition India. The epic-drama showcases the power struggle between the courtesans, Nawabs and British officers during the colonial rule.

Heeramandi is available for streaming on Netflix.
Manisha Koirala is being praised for her performance in Heeramandi. The actor's portrayal of a courtesan was lauded despite the film's mixed reviews and criticism on factual inaccuracies. Manisha, in her recent Instagram post revealed how she shot for the most challenging scene in the show. (Also read: Manisha Koirala says she's made peace with not becoming a mother: It was tough after ovarian cancer) Manisha Koirala revealed about her most challenging scene in Heeramandi.

Manisha reveals being exhausted after fountain scene

Manisha went on to describe the fountain sequence which took around 12 hours to shoot. She shared how she was exhausted during the shoot.

Adding pictures from the scenes in the new post, she wrote, The fountain sequence proved the most physically challenging. It required me to be immersed in a water fountain for over 12 hours. That tested my resilience! Even though Sanjay had thoughtfully ensured that the water was warm and clean, over the hours, the water turned muddy, (because my team members, the Cinematographer, and the art directors team were getting into the water to work around the scene.) Every single pore in my body was soaked in that muddy water. Even though I was beyond exhaustion by the end of the shoot, I felt a deep happiness within my heart. My body had taken the stress and remained resilient. I knew I had passed a critical physical test.

She further continued, To you, who think your time has come and gone, whether its due to age, illness or any setback, never give up! You never know what could be waiting for you around the bend!

About Heeramandi

Manisha essays the role of courtesan Mallikajaan in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic show. The backdrop of the show is the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore (now in present-day Pakistan) during pre partition India. The story showcases how the courtesans and Nawabs were affected by the Indian independence movement in the British Raj era. The revolution against colonial powers in the 1920s-40s is depicted in the series. Apart from Manisha, Heeramandi also stars Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sharmin Segal, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Farida Jalal, Shekhar Suman, Fardeen Khan, Adhyayan Suman and Shruti Sharma in crucial characters.

Heeramandi is available for streaming on Netflix.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reiterated his criticism of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's 'respect Pakistan' remarks. Union home minister Amit Shah.(AFP)

Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli, Shah asserted that India is not scared of nuclear bombs and that Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir remains an integrated part of India. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections here.

Rahul Baba's (Gandhi) advisor is Mani Shankar Aiyar. He said, give respect to Pakistan, don't talk about PoK. Why shouldn't we? He responded because they have an atomic bomb, Shah said at the rally.

...I want to ask you, if Pakistan has atom bombs, should we leave PoK? I promise you today, we don't get scared of atom bombs. PoK belongs to India, and no one can take it away from us..."

Before this, Shah had also targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over Shankar's remarks at an election rally in Pratapgarh in support of BJP candidate from Kaushambi (SC) Lok Sabha seat.

He said that Gandhi could be scared of an atom bomb but the BJP is not.

Rahul baba, if you want to be scared of the atom bomb, then be scared, we are not scared, Shah was quoted as saying by PTI. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India, and we will take it.

What Mani Shankar Aiyyar said?

In an interview with a YouTube channel, Chill Pill, posted on April 15, Aiyar said that India should engage in dialogue with Pakistan as it possesses an atomic bomb.

India should give respect to Pakistan as it has an atom bomb. If we dont give them respect, they will think of using an atomic bomb against India, he said.

Aiyar's remarks were criticised by the BJP, which accused the Congress of becoming an apologist of Pakistan and Pakistan-based terror.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke about Aiyar's remark and said that the Congress only creates fear psychosis in the minds of people using the nuclear bomb threat, and added that people know that Pakistans nuclear bomb is not of good quality.

The Congress, however, 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.
Arvind Kejriwal will chair a meeting with all MLAs of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday, with this being the Delhi chief minister's first meeting with the party's legislators since being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court two days ago. Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann along with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during an election rally in New Delhi on Saturday. (AFP)

It will be a key meeting and will also see discussions on the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, an AAP source told news agency PTI.

The meeting will be held at Kejriwal's official residence in the Capital's Civil Lines.

In the current Lok Sabha elections, all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi, will vote on May 25, the sixth of the seven-phase nationwide polling. In both 2014 and 2019 polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all the seven seats.

Earlier, despite Enforcement Directorate's (ED) objection, AAP national convenor Kejriwal was given interim and conditional bail by the Supreme Cour to allow him to campaign for the ongoing elections. The politician, who was arrested by the ED on March 21 in the Delhi excise policy case, has been asked to surrender on June 2, a day after the seventh round of voting.

Kejriwal attacks BJP

On Saturday, Kejriwal, the first sitting CM to be arrested, visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place. He also addressed AAP workers at the party office.

The AAP chief launched several sharp attacks at the BJP, which governs the Centre, and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to crush the party.

His most stinging attack, however, was that if re-elected, PM Modi, whose 75th birthday will be on September 17, will make way for Amit Shah, the current Union home minister. The claim stems from what many believe is an unofficial rule in the saffron party: leaders retiring from active politics at 75 years of age.

Kejriwal's jibe led to a flurry of responses from BJP leaders, including Shah himself.

I would like to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company and the whole INDI Alliance, that there is no need for you to feel happy when PM Modi turns 75. The PM will complete the third term and continue to lead the country till 2029. There is no confusion in the BJP on this, the home minister said in Hyderabad.
Arvind Kejriwal News Highlights: Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), got interim bail from the Supreme Court until June 1 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. He is required to surrender and return to prison on June 2. Kejriwal is spearheading the party's election campaigns ahead of the general elections in Delhi, scheduled for May 25....Read More

Arvind Kejriwal's schedule for Sunday

 11am- Meeting with MLAs

 1pm- Press conference at AAP office

 4pm- Roadshow in New Delhi Lok Sabha consituency- Moti Nagar

 6pm- Roadshow in West Delhi Lok Sabha consituency- Uttam Nagar

Lok Sabha elections in Delhi and Punjab

AAP is independently contesting all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. However, AAP has formed a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress party in Delhi and is contesting on four out of the seven seats.

Delhi will vote on May 25, while Punjab will hold its elections on June 1, marking the final phase to elect 13 members to parliament.

The counting of votes will be done on June 4.
New Delhi, May 11 (UNI) While accepting the invitation of former judges Madan B Lokur and Ajit P Shah and senior journalist N Ram for a public debate on the Lok Sabha election, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that it is to be seen when the Prime Minister agrees to participate.

On social media post X, Rahul said, "It would be a positive initiative for the major parties to present their vision to the country from one platform for a healthy democracy. Congress welcomes this initiative and accepts the invitation for discussion. The country also expects the Prime Minister to take part in this dialogue".

In a letter accepting the invitation, Gandhi said, "I have discussed your invitation with the Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge ji. We agree that such a debate will help people understand our respective vision and enable them to make an informed choice."

The Congress leader said that such a debate was "critical to put to rest any unsubstantiate allegations attributed to our respective parties".

"As the principal parties fighting the election, the public deserve to hear from their leaders directly. Accordingly neither myself or the Congress president would be pleased to participate in such a debate," the Wayanad MP said.

The former Congress President said, "Please let us know if and when the Prime Minister agrees to participate , following which we can discuss the detail and format of the debate."

It may be mentioned that two former judges and a senior journalist had written to the Prime Minister and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urging them to participate in a meaningful public debate on issues that matter in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

UNI RBE CS2015
Asaduddin Owaisi, the leader of AIMIM, often described as the political face of Muslims in India, is at a pivotal moment in his career. Owaisi is a four-time MP and is again contesting in the Hyderabad constituency in the fourth phase of the elections due on May 13. His party has cobbled together a grouping of Muslims, backward classes and other minorities. This grouping is putting up a spirited fight against the BJP-led NDA, but is not part of the opposition INDIA alliance. Is that a smart move? A small party up against a big nationalist coalition. We caught up with Owaisi to ask about his partys prospects, the pressing issues in this election and the anti-Muslim rhetoric by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among other topics. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.(PTI FILE)

You are contesting 11 seats in Bihar, 20 in UP, five in Maharashtra  all seats with a significant Muslim presence. How do you see AIMIM faring in this years general elections?

So in Uttar Pradesh, we are part of PDM Nyay Morcha, which is a special Dalit and Muslim grouping, and headed by Pallavi Patel of Apna Dal (Kamerawadi). In Bihar, as you rightly said, we're contesting but you have to add Jharkhand also, where we will contest in probably one or two seats. We're very confident that our party president of Bihar and MLA, Mr. Akhtar Akhtarul Iman will win the election. Aurangabad and Hyderabad go to the polls on May 13 and we are confident that we will continue our winning spree. In the remaining Parliament segments of Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, I will campaign and try our level best to ensure that our candidates win. Follow live updates on Lok Sabha elections 2024

Watch: The Asaduddin Owaisi interview: AIMIM leader on PMs retirement, INDIA alliance and when India will get a Muslim prime minister.

Weve completed three phases of a long election. What do you think are the big themes this time?

What we hear from the ground  I'm not a data cruncher, but people are voting on the lines of caste, people are voting because of lack of employment opportunities and price rise. Of course, there are other reasons also. These are the three-four important issues and also wherever minorities are there, they feel that BJP has completely made them invisible. This so- called secular INDIA alliance is very reluctant to give tickets to the Muslim minority. The classic examples are in Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats. Not a single Muslim has been made a candidate. That has been the case in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, New Delhi. And this is a huge cause of concern because in a representative form of democracy, if Muslims are not even being made candidates to contest elections, then of course, their representation in the lower house of the parliament will definitely come down. Will that be representing the pluralism and diversity of this country? I don't think so. This is a very serious thing. And unfortunately, the secular parties or the so-called secular parties are trying to ape the BJP by telling the Muslim minorities that you just have to vote and go back and sit and relax in your home.

I wanted to ask you about that particularly. You've decided not to ally with the INDIA alliance 

That is not the case. Our Maharashtra president Imtiyaz Jaleel publicly said thrice that let us talk to make AIMIM become a part of the INDIA alliance. Now, the other side has not have not responded at all. For us, it is not the end of the world if one does not want to have an alliance with us. We will continue our political journey irrespective of whether alliances have happened. We have an alliance in Uttar Pradesh and we have alliances in other places also.

Isnt fighting alone fraught with challenges? You're fighting against such a big party as the BJP 

Doesnt matter. Life itself is a challenge. And there's no fun in life without a challenge. We will ensure that we'll work hard and if people decide, inshallah, we'll win. If not, we'll be laying a strong foundation for the future for our party.

But apart from the challenge of going it alone, isn't it helping the BJP in some way? Because you're going to take away votes that would go to an anti-BJP party.

The problem with the media and the so-called secular parties is that they are very Hindu centric. Now, this question is not put to those so- called secular parties that contested in about 190 seats. There, there was a direct contest between the Congress and BJP, and the Congress could only win 16 seats. I was not present in those seats. Would the media or these parties have the intellectual honesty to say that we lost because of Hindu votes? Neither you nor they will say that. But when a person like me or my party come forward and say we want our share, we hear immediately that: Oh, no, you're helping BJP. I fail to understand this kind of hypocrisy. So, it is the other way around. You go and have an alliance with (Maharashtra Shiv Sena leader) Uddhav Thackeray and you call him secular because it suits you  because you want to be in power. Please tell me how is Thackeray or Shiv Sena secular when their role has been documented in the Sri Krishna commission report (on 1992 Mumbai riots). When Thackeray as a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra says in the Assembly that his party workers had demolished Babri Masjid, the Congress and Rashtrawadi Congress ministers are sitting with him. He openly says they espouse Hindutva. Doest Hindutva contradict Indian nationalism? So this question itself is wrong. The shoe is on the other side. You should ask them why is it that you're losing. How did you lose Chhattisgarh? You lost Madhya Pradesh. You lost Rajasthan. Akhilesh Yadav (of Samajwadi Party in UP) loses 2014, 2017, 2019, 2022 four elections! No one points fingers at him.

All pollsters are saying Prime Minister Modi is returning for a third term. Do you agree with that assessment?

I am not a pollster. Neither I'm an astrologer or a philosopher. I'm a politician, working hard to ensure that my party candidates win. Wherever possible, we have given a call, for example, in Telangana where there are 17 seats. In Hyderabad, please vote for MIM and the remaining 16 Lok Sabha seats of Telangana, defeat BJP. Where we are contesting alone or as part of an alliance, were asking people to vote for us. Where we are not, we are openly saying please defeat BJP.

The Prime Minister has attacked Muslims in his speeches. Were you surprised by those remarks?

No, I'm not at all surprised. Because that is his original DNA. That's his original language. That's his originalitywhich is that they hate Muslims. That is the real Hindutva ideology. The Prime Minister has been consistently saying this from 2002, which made him the prime minister of this great nation twice, unfortunately. Anyway, people have decided. So he's gone back on his original agenda of spewing venom, creating divisions, creating suspicion about Muslims  saying Muslim women give birth to more children, which is all rubbish and nonsense. A pack of lies. He has forgotten G20, Chandrayaan, 5 trillion economy, permanent Security Council seat, Vishwaguru, Viskit Bharat  all have gone to the dustbin. They have come back to the agenda that they started, which they will continue into the future.

Have you thought about the BJP after Mr. Modi? He is 73. Who could be his successor?

So you're assuming Modi will leave after 75, is it? I don't think so. Modi will not leave. Modi will have to be defeated politically. This is my thinking.

Rahul Gandhi was asked this question some years ago. It might seem very preposterous to talk about it in the current circumstances  when do you think India will get a Muslim Prime Minister?

Inshallah, it will be in the form of a woman wearing a hijab and heading this great nation. The time will come. Maybe I will not be alive to see that day, but it will happen inshallah.
A fourth person, also an Indian national, has been arrested in connection with the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team of Canada's British Columbia (BC) province announced on Saturday. Hardeep Singh Nijjar (File)

The suspect, Amandeep Singh, 22, splits his time between Brampton, Ontario; Surrey, BC, and Abbottsford, BC, the IHIT noted in an official release, adding that he was already in the custody of the Peel Regional Police in Ontario for firearms charges in an unrelated case.

We pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the BC Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, the police statement said.

Also Read: Jaishankar nails Justin Trudeau lies over Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing

This arrest shows the nature of on our ongoing investigations to hold responsible those who played a role in the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the statement added.

Last week, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) made the first arrests in the case, taking into custody Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and 28-year-old Karanpreet Singh. The Edmonton residents, all Indian citizens, too, have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Nijjar, who held Canadian nationality, was gunned down outside Surrey's Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara on June 18 last year. A pro-Khalistan figure, he was designated as an individual terrorist by India under the stringent UAPA in July 2020.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has publicly alleged that agents of the Government of India carried out the killing, leading to diplomatic tensions with the latter. Dismissing the allegations, New Delhi has, in turn, accused the Trudeau government of inaction towards Khalistani elements in Canada.

Also Read: India says Canada yet to provide evidence of its involvement in Nijjar killing

Khalistan is envisioned as a separate homeland for Sikhs, in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said if his party is voted to power at the Centre then it would grant the special category status to Andhra Pradesh for a period of 10 years, which was promised during the states bifurcation in 2014. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with party leader YS Sharmila during a public meeting for Lok Sabha elections, in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday. (PTI)

Addressing an election rally at Kadapa in support of Congress candidate YS Sharmila in the general elections, Rahul said at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had given several promises to the residuary Andhra Pradesh, including special category status, completion of Polavaram major irrigation project and setting up of a steel plant at Kadapa.

Had the Congress come to power at the Centre in 2014, it would have fulfilled all these promises. But the NDA government led by Narendra Modi neglected the state and failed to implement any of these promises. If Congress comes to power again, we shall fulfill all the promises, including special category status to Andra Pradesh for a period of 10 years, he said.

Special category status is a classification granted by the Centre to assist the development of states that face geographical or socio-economic disadvantages.

Stating that both the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Jana Sena Party (JSP) in Andhra Pradesh are puppets in the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress leader said they were dancing to the tune of Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to his control over central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He said the state was now being run by the B team of the BJP, which has been controlling the ruling party as well as the opposition parties. BJP stands for Babu (TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu), Jagan (YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy) and Pawan (JSP chief Pawan Kalyan). These leaders are under the remote control of Modi due to his influence over investigation agencies, he said.

Rahul said Jagan as well as Naidu were afraid of opposing Modi only because of various cases pending against them.

The Congress MP, who earlier paid homage to Sharmilas father and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy (YSR) at the latters samadhi at Idupulapaya, said there was an inseparable bond between the YSR and the Congress party. My father Rajiv Gandhi and Rajasekhar Reddy were like brothers, sharing a personal bond. Late YSR had shown a new direction not only to Andhra Pradesh but also the entire country, he said.

Rahul said YSRCPs padayatra (foot march) across Andhra Pradesh served as an inspiration for his own Bharat Jodo Yatra. It was YSR who had advised me to take up padayatra across the country saying it would help me understand the real problems of the people, he said.

He refuted the allegation that the Congress had included the name of YSR in the charge sheet filed by the CBI against Sharmilas brother Jagan Mohan Reddy in the alleged quid pro quo case. YSR was a Congress leader till his last breath. His daughter Sharmila is now contesting as the Congress candidate for Kadapa Lok Sabha seat. Please bless her, he said.

Reiterating his allegation that Modi was conspiring to destroy the spirit of Indian Constitution, Rahul reiterated that the Congress would take all steps to safeguard the Constitution and protection of reservations. Nobody can tamper with the Constitution. It is the future of Indians, he said.

Addressing a rally at Tandur in Telanganas Vikarabad district, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the BJP of trying to divide the people in the name of religion by raising controversial issues during the elections.

She urged the people of Telangana to vote for the Congress to help it serve them better. Making a reference to the popular Rajamouli film RRR, which went to the Oscars last year, she said: Let Modi and BJP leaders do Naatu Naatu dance. You have RR  Revanth Reddy and Rahul, who will form the government to serve you.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sent out Mother's Day greetings to all on Sunday. Taking to his official handle on Instagram, Rahul Gandhi posted a video and shared interactions with his mother, Sonia Gandhi, and several other women during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Congress leader wrote, Mother is a feeling beyond words  of affection, sacrifice, patience and strength Today, on the occasion of Mother's Day, I salute motherly power. Rahul Gandhi took to Instagram and shared Mother's Day greetings on Sunday.

The video also mentioned promises to women made by the Congress in its election manifesto, such as the Mahalaxmi Scheme, which aims to provide 1 lakh annually to "one woman from poor household", and reservation of 50 per cent of central government jobs for women commencing 2025.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was gifted photos of his mother, Late Heeraben Modi, during his public rally in Hooghly, West Bengal. Speaking at the rally on the occasion of Mother's Day, the Prime Minister said, The people in the rally have made the picture of my mother... The people in the West celebrate this day as Mother's Day, but in India, we worship our Mother, Ma Durga, Ma Kaali and Bharat Mata, 365 days a year I request SPG commandos to collect the pictures I want to thank both of you for this.

Other political leaders such as UP CM Yogi Adityanath, BJP candidate from New Delhi Lok Sabha Constituency and daughter of former minister Sushma Swaraj, Bansuri Swaraj, four-time MP from Rajasthan's Jhalawar-Baran Dushyant Singh, former CM of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje, and others took to their social media handles to extend greetings on Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers who are our first school, the basis of our family's prosperity and the epitome of service, sacrifice and affection! Mother's blessings always protect us like a protective shield, UP CM Yogi Adityanath wrote on X. He also posted a picture of him seeking blessings from his mother.

Meanwhile, four-time MP from Rajasthan's Jhalawar-Baran constituency Dushyant Singh wrote, Mother... is the inspiration of my life who, as a mother and teacher, always taught me social welfare and inspired me to move ahead in life. Greetings on Mother's Day!

Heartiest congratulations and best wishes on Mother's Day to the embodiment of affection, patience, love and compassion, the symbol of love and the goddess of mother power. The love of a mother and the glory of her sari cannot be described in words. On this occasion, many salutations to all the mothers, wrote former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.

Mother's Day is celebrated on May 12 (Sunday) to honour motherhood. It's a day dedicated to recognizing the contributions and sacrifices that mothers make for their families.
For the national parties  Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  seeking to expand their footprint in the upcoming general elections, the sibling Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh present a contrasting electoral battles. Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy addresses during a roadshow for Lok Sabha elections, in Patancheruvu near Hyderabad, on Saturday. (PTI)

While Telangana is witnessing a resurgent Congress, fresh from its stunning success in the assembly polls held last year, gearing up for the May 13 Lok Sabha polls with a renewed vigour, it is still an existential struggle for the grand old party in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The BJP too is a virtual non-entity in Andhra Pradesh but in Telangana it has emerged as a main challenger to Congress in the coming parliamentary elections because of the swift decline in fortunes of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) after losing power in the November Assembly polls.

It is going to be a direct clash between the two national parties in Telangana in the wake of a weakened BRS.

However, in Andhra, the presence of formidable regional players  the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by N Chandrababu Naidu and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyans Jana Sena Party (JSP)  has virtually squeezed out space for the national parties. They are forced to look for tie-ups with the local players as they no longer have the luxury of going it alone in the elections.

The BJP, a marginal player in Andhra Pradesh having secured less than one percent votes in the 2019 polls, has revived alliance with the TDP and is piggyback riding on two regional parties  TDP and Jana Sena  in the coming assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra. The TDP-JSP-BJP combine is hoping to dislodge the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.

Ever since the division of Andhra Pradesh to carve out a separate state in 2014, the two national parties  Congress and BJP  have been facing the wrath of Andhra voters. The voters of the residual Andhra feel that they have been meted out a raw deal in the bifurcation and hold both the national parties responsible for it.

For Congress, which had granted the statehood during United Progressive Alliance-I, it was a double whammy as it faced the anger of Andhra voters on one hand and yielded the political advantage in Telangana to the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) which had spearheaded the statehood movement in Telangana. The TRS, which was later renamed as BRS, went on to win two consecutive elections in 2014 and 2018, positioning itself as a sole claimant to Telangana identity.

Even until a year ago, most political pundits thought KCR was invincible and was on track to score a hattrick. This was despite the palpable anti-incumbency and public anger against the local TRS legislators. The Congress camp was in such a disarray that it was often referred to as a patient in the ICU. The dramatic turnaround for the grand old party happened following the appointment of A Revanth Reddy, a firebrand leader and an aggressive campaigner in the mould of popular Congress chief minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy, in 2021.

He turned out to be the face of a resurgent Congress and steered the party to a stupendous victory in the November 2023 assembly polls as the party bagged 65 seats in the 119-member assembly, up from just 19 in the previous election.

From a near oblivion state to emerging as a dominant player, it has been a spectacular journey for the Congress in Telangana. And the momentum is clearly with the resurgent Congress ahead of the May 13 election.

For the BRS, the woes have only multiplied since it lost power. The regional party has been facing steady desertions from its camp with senior leaders switching over to the Congress and the arrest of K Kavitha, the daughter of KCR, in the alleged liquor scam has further dented the partys image ahead of polls. Of the total 17 LS seats in Telangana, the BRS had bagged nine seats followed by BJP four, Congress three while Hyderabad seat went to Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM in the 2019 elections. With the BRS camp thoroughly demoralised, the contest in Telangana is set to be between the two national parties this time around.

Keen to revive their fortunes in Andhra, the Congress and BJP have adopted different political strategies. While Congress has roped in YS Sharmila, the estranged sister of the chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and appointed her as the state party chief in January this year, the BJP has lured its old ally TDP back into the NDA fold.

Both Congress and BJP drew a blank in the 2019 polls in Andhra, which has 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 members in the Assembly.

Sharmilas entry has now triggered a sibling battle to claim the political legacy of their father late YS Rajasekhar Reddy, a respected figure whose welfare policies and pro-poor image still find resonance among voters even 14 years after his death in a helicopter crash. She lost no time in attacking her brother for failing to keep up the promises made by their father, making compromises with the communal BJP, pursuing vindictive politics, and pushing the state into a debt trap with his reckless policies.

For a party that has been in a limbo for nearly ten years, having faced back-to-back electoral debacles, the entry of Sharmila is expected to boost the morale of the cadre. While it would be unreasonable to expect the grand old party, whose vote share was less than 2% in the 2019 polls, to pull off a quick turnaround and make electoral gains, the local change of guard is bound to breathe life into the moribund organisation.

Andhra Pradesh was once considered a stronghold of the Congress. It was a major contributor to the UPAs kitty in 2004 and 2009. On both occasions, YSR had steered the party to victory in the combined state, cementing his position as a strong regional satrap.

As part of its mission to expand its footprint in South, where it is on a weak wicket, the BJP has revived alliance with the TDP, nearly six years after the regional party walked out of the NDA to protest against the Centres refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

The revival of alliance between BJP and TDP is widely seen in political circles as a win-win proposition. The BJP hopes to get a foothold in the state with the help of a formidable player like TDP. On its part, the TDP leadership is convinced that a combined opposition alone can dislodge the Jagan government. The TDP circles feel that though BJP is a marginal player in AP politics, the alliance with it would help in future in the likely event of the NDA returning to power at the Centre. As part of the alliance, the BJP will contest six Lok Sabha and 10 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh.
Eleven years after the murder of anti-superstition crusader and founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, a special court on Friday convicted shooters Sachin Prakashrao Andure and Sharad Bhausaheb Kalaskar and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The court acquitted three right-wing activists  Advocate Sanjiv Gajanan Punalekar, Vikram Vinay Bhave and the alleged mastermind Virendrasinh Sharadchandra Tawde  due to a lack of evidence.

The rationalist was shot by two bike-borne assailants while he was on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013.

Pulling up the CBI and Pune police over their handling of the case, additional sessions judge PP Jadhav said, "The main mastermind behind the crime is someone else. Pune police as well as CBI have failed to unearth those masterminds. They have to introspect whether it is their failure or deliberate inaction on their part due to influence by any other person in power."

Following the judgement, Dabholkars son Hamid who has been spearheading his fathers rationalist movement across the state echoed similar views, saying, The real masterminds behind his killing are still at large. It is a pre-planned conspiracy which led to the murders of other rationalists Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi, and Gauri Lankesh and this revelation has come not from us but from agencies like Special Investigative Teams in Maharashtra and Karnataka, Anti Terrorism Squad and the CBI. In most of the cases of this type, it is seen that only pawns get caught and punished while the real perpetrators go scot-free, he said.

The courts comments on Andure and Kalaskars conviction

The evidence recorded by two eyewitnesses and an extra-judicial confession by one of the shooters proved critical in the conviction of Andure and Kalaskar. Earlier, the court, while taking stock of the evidence, dismissed the defence argument that the two eyewitnesses were planted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The two eyewitnesses were neither activists of Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, nor were they connected with its work and the deceased in any way. They are totally independent. This fact itself makes the evidence strong, the judge said.

Initially, the Pune police were investigating the murder, but the case was later handed over to the CBI in June 2014 as per the directions of the Bombay high court.

One of the eyewitnesses, a sweeper with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), was sitting on the median near the Omkareshwar Bridge in Shaniwar Peth, after his early morning sweeping work when he heard the sound of shots being fired and saw two men firing at the victim. Another eyewitness was standing on the balcony of his flat, opposite the Shaniwar Peth police station, and saw the two shooters running towards the bike parked in front of the police station from the scene of the crime.

The CBI initially named two other individuals from Sanatan Sanstha  wanted in another blast case, as the alleged shooters. Around midnight on August 15, 2018, an Anti Terrorism Squad team was questioning Kalaskar, an accused arrested in its then ongoing investigation into a haul of arms and ammunition at Nalasopara, when he allegedly blurted out that he and his associate Sachin Andure had shot Dabholkar. This prompted CBI's interest in Andure and Kalaskar as suspects, and after much grilling and a reconstruction of the murder in Pune to ascertain their involvement, the investigation agency put the two in custody.

In his order, judge Jadhav noted that there was evidence of motive for the murder against Tawde and reasonable suspicion against Punalekar and Bhave regarding involvement in the crime. However, the prosecution failed to convert motive and suspicion into evidence, according to the courts order. As for Andure and Kalaskar, it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that they shot Dabholkar dead in Pune city on August 20, 2013, the court said.

The prosecution also failed to prove the offences under section 16 (punishment for terrorist act) of the UAPA and section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC against any of the accused, it said. Except for ideological differences, Andure and Kalaskar had no personal enmity or rivalry with Dabholkar, the court noted.

Commenting on the failure of the Pune police and the CBI to pinpoint the mastermind behind Dabholkars murder, the court, in its order, said, "The murder was committed with a very well-prepared plan, executed by Andure and Kalaskar. Considering the economic and social status of both convicts, they are not the masterminds. The mastermind is someone else. Pune police, as well as CBI, have failed to unearth those masterminds. They have to introspect whether it is their failure or deliberate inaction on their part due to influence by any person in power.

After the verdict was announced, the Sanatan Sanstha disassociated itself from Andure and Kalaskar, saying they had never been involved with the organisation. The group admitted Bhave was a member, and claimed that Tawade belonged to another right-wing organisation called Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. Punalekar is an advocate who takes up cases of Hindutva activists.

Mukta Dabholkar said  Since it was ideological murder and till the ideology is alive, the fight against it will continue. Some battles are to be fought beyond win or loss as there are in the larger interests of societal emancipation and empowerment, he said.

Dabholkars legacy

After Dabholkars killing, the state legislature passed The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013. Maharashtra was the first state to enact such a law. In Karnataka, a similar act was passed in 2017.

According to MANS activists, efforts are underway to pass such a law at the national level. Dabholkars organisation has been at the forefront of warning people about the dangers of superstitions. Sustained efforts are being undertaken to eradicate superstitious beliefs by staging theatre performances under the guidance of renowned Marathi theatre director Atul Pethe.

Over five hundred theatre performances have been conducted in the last seven years on the subject of eradication and elimination of superstitious beliefs, MANS activists say.

After his death, the rationalist organisation claims that Punes illustrious Ganpati mandals have adopted environment-friendly idols and immersion processions. Thousands of residents have opted for environment-friendly Ganesha installations and simple immersion processions in line with the thoughts of the late rationalist crusader. Programmes like cracker-free Diwali and donating chapati during the Holi festival are now widely accepted practices.

MANS, a registered organisation in Satara, Maharashtra, currently has 310 branches located in rural and urban Maharashtra, Belgaum in Karnataka and Goa. According to Dabholkar, the organisation is for anyone who passionately feels that society should be freed from the shackles of obscurantism and blind beliefs.

Dabholkar's thoughts which were earlier limited to Marathi, are now available in Hindi, English and other languages. All over the country, scientific organisations celebrate August 20 as National Scientific Temper Day.

Avinash Patil, state president of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti said that the MANS is completely unhappy with the court verdict. From the verdict, it looks clear that the investigative agencies did not reach up to the mastermind. The investigating agency failed to collect evidence and bent itself before the political establishment. Due to this, the conspirators have been left scot-free. We will take a future course of action after studying the order in detail. In the future we will put forth our views both in the court and the citizen's court, he said.
The Union government has started procuring onions from farmers at market rates to build an emergency buffer of 500,000 tonne for 2024-25 to boost supplies if prices spike, an official of the consumer affairs ministry said. The developments comes after India lifts up the five-month-long ban on export of onions. (HT Archive)

A buffer will allow the government to intervene in the markets if prices spiral, especially after the government lifted its five-month-long ban on export of onions last week. Simultaneously, the country imposed a floor price of $550 per tonne plus 40% tariff on outbound onion shipments. The minimum export price discourages too much exports at cheap rates.

The government does not expect onion rates to rise because of free exports, consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare said, citing normal availability, stable prices and robust output from the winter crop, estimated to be 19.1 million tonne.

Onion is a volatile item whose supplies tend to run low during an annual summer lean season. Since the bulb is a kitchen staple, consumers are quite sensitive to a rise in prices. The government had banned export of onion in December amid a price spiral due to lower supplies.

The government has directed two state-backed food agencies  the National Co-operative Consumers Federation of India and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India -- to initiate procurement of 5 lakh tonnes of onion for the buffer directly from farmers as Rabi harvest have started arriving in the markets. Procurement refers to the governments purchases of farm produce for state reserves.

Winter onion is critical for countrys availability as it contributes 72-75% of Indias annual production. It is also crucial for ensuring year-round availability as it has a better shelf life compared to summer onion, and therefore can be stored for supplies till December.

For the procurement, NAFED and NCCF will preregister onion farmers to ensure payments are transferred to their bank accounts through direct benefit transfer, according to the governments directive.

The department of consumer affairs had, through NAFED and NCCF, purchased about 600,000 tonne of onion during 2023-24 for the governments reserves. These agencies then intervened in retail markets, selling the vegetable at a subsidized price of 25 when market rates had more than doubled due to a supply crunch in 2023. The buffer now needs to be replenished.

A global supply crunch and a dry spell induced by the El Nino weather pattern had prompted the government to take up policy measures to regulate onion exports during the year ended March. These included a 40% duty on onion shipments imposed on August 19, 2023, imposition of minimum export price of $800 per tonne with effect from October 29, 2023, and finally an export ban with effect from December 8, 2023, to ease local prices.

Market watchers have pointed to a familiar pattern in spikes in onion prices. Retail rates soar every alternate year or so due to poor harvests. Its not uncommon for prices to crash either.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused the Congress of bringing religion and divisive issues and agendas into the picture in the ongoing national polls while maintaining the main Opposition party will have to be questioned if its agenda is to take away the reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, and give it to their vote banks unconstitutionally based on religion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there is a general movement towards the BJP in the larger society (PMO Photo)

In such a situation, being silent would be incorrect...The people of these communities are raising questions about their dangerous agenda, and as a party that represents the peoples aspirations, we will also reflect on their concerns. These are important questions that need to be answered by the Congress, said Modi in an interview with R Sukumar, Shishir Gupta, and Sunetra Choudhury.

He cited the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) manifesto and the speeches of its leaders and said it is clear that they are the only party speaking about creating a developed India, about a net-zero future, about becoming the third largest economy, etc.

Also Read: HT interview: Modi says overwhelming will of people will bring BJP back to power

He said when the Congress went out of power and into the Opposition, it resorted to creating a bitter, hostile, and unrelenting atmosphere. Even some Congress leaders themselves feel this is not correct, but do not express it out of fear for their political future within the party. He added the top leadership of the Congress has not yet come to terms with being out of power. They have not been able to accept the fact that the country has moved on from them. But the more time they spend in Opposition, hopefully, they will also learn.

He said there is a general movement towards the BJP in the larger society. The political sphere, too, is not immune to this. So, we welcome anyone who wants to come with open arms, as long as they believe in our vision and mission.

Modi said young people are attracted towards and BJP is their first choice. They also know that in dynasty-based parties, their talent gets strangled, and to get ahead in the party they have to indulge in sycophancy, while in BJP, even a normal Panna Pramukh can become Prime Minister of the country. Being cadre-driven means that no one group or family decides the partys future. So, anyone who is in our party will have to win the trust of the cadre by working with the principle of Nation First.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the overwhelming will of the people across India will bring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) back to power with a historic mandate. PM Modi in an interview with HT said the BJP will gain from all parts of the country this time (PMO Photo)

...wherever I go I see a tsunami of Jan Samarthan [popular endorsement] for our party. Across India, people have witnessed how a strong, decisive, and sensitive government has secured the nation and solidified its position in the world. People are fed up with corruption, dynastic politics, minority appeasement, ruining state after state wherever there is (a) INDI Alliance (government). Therefore, they want NDA again, he said in an interview with R Sukumar, Shishir Gupta, and Sunetra Choudhury.

He said the BJP will make gains from all parts of the country. ...some of the gains will come from areas that will surprise political Pundits. You will see Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala register a significant increase in our seats.

The PM said that every part of India has to be served and that their connection with the people of South India, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, is not new. We have dedicated ourselves to serving the people there, regardless of whether we are in government or not. Our karyakartas [workers] have been working selflessly for decades, many even sacrificed their lives in the process.

Modi added people are tired of the corruption, appeasement, and family-first politics of the INDIA alliance in southern states. In Andhra Pradesh, there is a breakdown of governance threatening the future of the youth in the state. In Telangana and Karnataka, too, a nexus of corruption has been established with Congress in the lead. In a matter of a few months, Congress has managed to hollow out the public treasury and bring the states closer to a state of bankruptcy.

Also Read: HT interview: Did not need populist measures going into polls, says PM Modi

He said same was the case in Tamil Nadu with corruption and dynastic politics. On the other hand, people have witnessed how effectively Modi ki Guarantee works. They have seen our work, our commitment to their well-being, and our dedication to bringing inclusive development, clean governance, and transparency. This time around, our performance will be unprecedented.

Modi said he sees a strong sense of positivity and enthusiasm for the BJP. Our message of development and progress is resonating strongly with the people of South India.

He said the BJP was born out of years of struggle and with only one ideologyNation First. It grew from a party which only had two members in the Lok Sabha to a party that won full majority twice and is now going to come back for a third term with an even bigger mandate. We did not build the party thinking that we have won one election and now, we can relax till the next election. We treated every win as our duty to live up to the trust people bestowed on us. Our karyakartas are always on a mission mode to serve the person at the last mile. Our vision is crystal clear24x7 for 2047.

He said there was hardly any scope for complacency within the BJP. We are here to fulfil the vision of Viksit Bharat [developed India] by 2047.

Modi said the opposition has conceded defeat and has given a kind of walkover but still our karyakartas are energised and the BJP is fighting this election with a full sportsman-like spirit. For us, elections are a festival of democracy. Every citizen gets the opportunity to be part of this celebration and hence, as a party, we try to reach out to each and every one. It is also a time for people to evaluate our performance and our karyakartas make sure that people have all the information and awareness on the kind of work that has taken place in the last decade.

The PM added the energy and liveliness in BJP booths is palpable. I tell our party karyakartas that on the day of the election take everyone along while going out to vote and create a festive and jubilant atmosphere. The world should see how joyfully and collectively India celebrates its democracy.
Congress leader Danish Ali has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of provoking minorities after he compared Muslims with infiltrators during an election rally recently. Congress candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Amroha Danish Ali, (PTI)

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Danish Ali, the Congress candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Amroha, said by using this kind of vocabulary for the minorities, the prime minister wants to provoke them. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections.

I will say this much: with this kind of vocabulary, these kinds of words they are using, he is provoking the people. How can 14% of minorities keep the 86% of this country frightened? Danish Ali told HT.

There could not be a more absurd joke than labelling the largest minority of this country as infiltrators, he added.

Danish Ali, who joined the Congress after being suspended from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), will face Bharatiya Janata Party's Kanwar Singh Tanwar and Mujahid Husain of the BSP in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in Amroha, which will go to polls on April 26.

What PM Modi said about minorities



During an election rally in Rajasthan, PM Narendra Modi claimed that if voted to power, the Congress would distribute the country's wealth to those who have more children.

"Congress earlier said Muslims had the first right in the country's wealth. In their manifesto, the Congress said they will distribute the country's property...to whom? Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right to the country's assets. This means they will distribute the wealth among those who have more children, among infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?" Modi had asked.

The Congress had condemned the statement, saying that the prime minister, through his 'lies', was again creating division between Hindus and Muslims.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, however, had defended Modi's remarks, saying that the PM echoed people's sentiments by calling a spade a spade. Bhatia said the opposition is in pain as Modi has shown them the mirror of its past.
Srinagar, May 12 (UNI) Security forces in a joint operation arrested a terrorist association along with arms and ammunition in Jammu and Kashmirs Bandipora district on Sunday.

Police said in a joint operation, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) arrested a terrorist associate during a search operation in Bandipora.

Some arms and ammunition including Pistols, Pistol magazines and rounds were recovered from his possession.

A case under relevant sections of law has been registered in Police station Pethkote.

In a joint operation, Indian Army, Bandipora Police and CRPF ,arrested one terrorist associate along with arms & ammunition. Case registered under relevant section of law in PS Pethkote, Police said on X.

UNI QAB GNK
Ahead of the fourth phase of polling for the Lok Sabha election 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with HTs R Sukumar, Shishir Gupta, and Sunetra Choudhury and discussed what comes next for his government if the NDA wins the polls. During the interview, Modi also talked about the biggest task left to be done by his government after 10 years in power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about what is left to be done after his second term in office

With most analysts predicting a third term for the Modi government, the biggest question remains on the size of the majority NDA may garner. When asked about what will be the biggest theme for his government in the third term, the prime minister said, When we came to government in 2014, we had to make sure that the mistakes of the past were rectified and a strong foundation was built. Whether it is the poor or farmers or the banking sector or the economy, each of these were in deep trouble.

Talking about reforms for the poor, he said, On the one hand, we took basics like toilets, bank accounts, gas connections, electricity, etc. to the poor and on the other hand, we rescued our banking sector and economy with multiple reforms.

Our country raised crores of people out of poverty and also became the fastest growing economy Due to the NDA government's reforms during their second term, many sectors, be it start-ups or space, attained a life of their own," he said.

In the second term, the people saw India becoming the fifth largest economy in the world. Whether it was in terms of action against Article 370 in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, or successful management of Covid-19, or sending vaccines and medicines to various countries, or the foreign policy successes in the post-pandemic world order, many such developments have given the people of India a new-found confidence in themselves and the countrys future, Modi added.

Speaking on the third term, if they win, the prime minister said, The big theme of our third term is about imparting momentum across sectors towards the realisation of this vision.

"From plans for the next five years to the plan for the first 100 days of the government, we are ready with many targets and are raring to go. A lot needs to be done and will be done. This is going to be one of the most exciting periods in the history of independent India," Modi said.
Army troops opened fire on a suspected Pakistani drone late Saturday night near the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. The drone briefly hovered over Indian territory before returning to the Pakistan side, reported PTI quoting officials. A Pakistani drone was spotted along LoC in Rajouri sector (HT File)

Despite an extensive search of the area in the Keri sector, no suspicious items were found on the ground. Officials reiterated concerns about anti-national elements exploiting drones to smuggle weapons and narcotics into Indian territory but assured that security forces are fully prepared to thwart such attempts.

Read: Man honey-trapped into sharing vital info on DRDO's drones with Pakistan's ISI; held

A flying object with a blinking light was also spotted in the sky near Allahpir area of Poonch district on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. Police along with security forces searched the area and found nothing on the ground, the officials said.

Meanwhile, in Punjab's Amritsar district, the Border Security Forces (BSF) recovered a China-made DJI Mavic 3 Classic drone in a harvested field of village Havelian.

"On 12th May 2024, based on an information provided by BSF intelligence wing regarding presence of a drone in border area of district Amritsar, BSF troops immediately launched an extensive search operation in the suspected area," BSF PUNJAB FRONTIER said in a statement.

Read: BSF data: Four-fold rise in Pak drones seizures at Punjab border in a year

"During the search operation at about 05:35 pm, the troops successfully recovered 01 drone in a harvested field of village- Havelian of District Amritsar," the force said.

"The recovered drone is identified as China made DJI Mavic 3 Classic," they said.

"Reliable input of BSF intelligence wing and timely action of BSF troops once again proved their commitment to plug the entry of illicit drones from across the border," the BSF added.

Read: Pak drone recovered from field in Tarn Taran

This recovery marks the second such incident within two days, with the previous one involving a drone carrying a packet of suspected heroin.

According to a statement from the BSF, the incident occurred on May 11 during the night hours, when the security forces noticed the movement of a drone in the border area of Amritsar. The troops tracked the drone's movement and cordoned off the likely dropping zone.

At about 11:40 pm, BSF troops successfully recovered 1 small drone along with 1 packet of suspected heroin ahead of a border security fence in a farming field in village Havelian in district Amritsar, the Public Relations Officer of BSF said.

The recovered packet (gross weight- 498 grams appox) was wrapped with yellow adhesive tape and 1 torch and 1 nylon loop were found attached to the packet. The recovered drone is a quadcopter (Model- DJI Mavic 3 Classic, made in China), the PRO added.
Delhi's chief minister and AAP chief, Arvind Kejriwal, announced "Kejriwal ki Guarantee," outlining ten works to be done on a war footing if the INDIA bloc comes into power after winning theLok Sabha elections. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference at party headquarters, in New Delhi.(HT Photo/Sanjeev Verma)

"These guarantees are the vision for the new India, without them a country cannot become powerful, Kejriwal said.

Follow: Arvind Kejriwal news live

Arvind Kejriwal's 10 guarantee

Kejriwal's 10 Guarantees for Lok Sabha Elections

1. 24-Hour Electricity Supply: Kejriwal said that their government will ensure continuous electricity availability nationwide and provide 200 units of free electricity to economically disadvantaged households nationwide.

2. Education Reform: He said the government will enhance government schools to surpass private institutions in quality, offering free education to every child born in the country.

3. Healthcare Improvement: He promised to establish Mohalla clinics in every village and locality and upgrade district hospitals to multi-speciality facilities for comprehensive healthcare access.

4. National Security: We will grant full autonomy to the army to reclaim land from China and pursue diplomatic efforts for territorial integrity, he said.

ALSO READ- I didnt resign from Delhi CM post because': Arvind Kejriwal's top quotes

5. Agniveer Scheme Discontinuation: We will stop the Agniveer scheme and regularize all enrolled children on permanent positions, abolishing the contractual system and ensuring adequate funds for the army, Kejriwal said.

6. Farmers' Welfare: Provide fair compensation for crops based on the Swaminathan report to ensure farmers lead dignified lives.

7. Delhi Statehood: Our government will grant full statehood to Delhi, a long-standing demand of its residents, he said.

ALSO READ- Day after bail, Arvind Kejriwal claims dictator Modi wants to crush AAP

8. Employment Generation: INDIA bloc government will generate 2 crore new jobs annually to address unemployment concerns, AAP chief said.

9. Corruption Eradication: Kejriwal vows to combat corruption by dismantling the BJP's protectionist measures and ensuring accountability for all.

10. Trade and Industry Promotion: He promises to simplify GST by removing it from PMLA regulations and aim to surpass China in the manufacturing sector.

(Inputs from Paras Singh)
The Lok Sabha elections 2024 are being conducted in seven phases. Out of these seven phases, three have been completed, and the fourth will take place on May 13, 2024 (Monday). Restrictions have been announced ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 4. Some states/UTs are also observing a dry day in view of the phase 4 elections. Take a look at the list of states/UTs where a dry day is being observed. Some states are observing a dry day in view of the phase 4 elections.(HT File)

Andhra Pradesh: Government liquor outlets, bars, distilleries, depots, breweries and toddy shops have been shut across Andhra Pradesh from 7.00 pm on May 11 until the completion of polling on May 13.

Government liquor outlets, bars, distilleries, depots, breweries and toddy shops have been shut across Andhra Pradesh from 7.00 pm on May 11 until the completion of polling on May 13. Jammu and Kashmir: A dry day has been declared in Srinagar from 6.00pm on May 11 to 6.00pm on May 13. All liquor shops, bars, etc., will remain shut during the period. No liquor will be served in hotels, clubs or other establishments. An order issued by the district magistrate read, In light of the ECI election schedule District Srinagar is going to Polls for Lok Sabha Elections-2024 on May 13, 2024, Dry Day is declared from 6.00pm on 11/05/2024 till 13/05/2024 in the District.

A dry day has been declared in Srinagar from 6.00pm on May 11 to 6.00pm on May 13. All liquor shops, bars, etc., will remain shut during the period. No liquor will be served in hotels, clubs or other establishments. An order issued by the district magistrate read, In light of the ECI election schedule District Srinagar is going to Polls for Lok Sabha Elections-2024 on May 13, 2024, Dry Day is declared from 6.00pm on 11/05/2024 till 13/05/2024 in the District. Maharashtra: Pune has announced a dry day in areas where polling will be conducted on May 13. Liquor sale has been prohibited from 6.00pm on May 11. The restrictions will continue until 6:00 PM on May 13, the day of polling.

Pune has announced a dry day in areas where polling will be conducted on May 13. Liquor sale has been prohibited from 6.00pm on May 11. The restrictions will continue until 6:00 PM on May 13, the day of polling. Telangana: A dry day has been declared in Cyberabad ahead of polling for the fourth phase of the general elections. Along with the announcement of the dry day, section 144 has also been imposed in the area for the maintenance of law and order.

Out of the 96 Lok Sabha seats going to polls on May 13, 25 are from Andhra Pradesh, 17 from Telangana, 13 from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Maharashtra, eight each from Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, five from Bihar, four each from Jharkhand and Odisha and one from Jammu and Kashmir.

(With inputs from ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BJP candidate from Patna Sahib constituency Ravi Shankar Prasad during an election campaign roadshow for the Lok Sabha elections in Patna on May 12.

Lok Sabha elections 2024 LIVE: Sunday is the eve of the fourth leg of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, with as many as 96 parliamentary seats across nine states and a Union territory (Jammu and Kashmir) set to poll in this round. The following states and UT will vote: Andhra Pradesh (all 25 Lok Sabha seats), Telangana (17/17), Uttar Pradesh (13/80), Maharashtra (11/48), West Bengal (8/42), Madhya Pradesh (8/29), Bihar (5/40), Odisha (4/21), Jharkhand (4/11), and Jammu & Kashmir (1/5). Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections here....Read More

A total of 1717 candidates are in the fray in the fourth leg.

On the same day, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will also hold assembly polls, with voting to be held for all 175 assembly constituencies in Andhra, and 28 out of 147 segments in Odisha. The voting for the remaining 119 seats in Odisha will be conducted on May 20 (35 seats), May 25 (), and June 1 (42).

Lok Sabha elections

Phase 1: April 19

Phase 2: April 26

Phase 3: May 7

Phase 4: May 13

Phase 5: May 20

Phase 6: May 25

Phae 7: June 1

Counting of votes: June 4

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is seeking a third consecutive term at the Centre. In both 2014 and 2019 general elections, the BJP won single-party majority (282, 303) in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also looking for a hattrick of wins to the top office.

Also Read | Narendra Modi in Bengal | PM slams Trinamool, makes 5 big guarantees: As long as I am there

The NDA is up against the Congress-led INDIA (Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance) bloc.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a fresh attack on Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, accusing him of outsourcing the entire government, and said the states development remains stunted as the government does not trust the peoples capabilities. Balangir, May 11 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting for the Odisha Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, in Balangir on Saturday. (ANI Photo) (BJP)

Addressing a series of election rallies in Kandhamal, Bolangir and Bargarh Lok Sabha constituencies, Modi also claimed that Odishas asmita (pride) is in danger and that leaders of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are involved in the loot of tribal lands in the state.

Taking a dig at Patnaiks presumptive successor and BJD leader VK Pandian, Modi said: The entire government has been outsourced in Odisha. A super chief minister is now here over the chief minister Are sons and daughters born in the land of Odisha not capable of running the government? Are people born here not capable of ensuring development? Do you want power to be given to a person who does not understand Odisha?

Pandian, a former Tamil Nadu-born private secretary and a trusted lieutenant of Patnaik for more than a decade, joined the BJD on November 27, a little more than a month after he resigned from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). The move came amid speculation that the influential former bureaucrat could emerge as the second most powerful leader within the party, and perhaps even Patnaiks successor as party chief in the future.

Modi continued: Today, the Odia culture is in danger and protecting the Odia asmita is the biggest challenge. Hence, the BJP has decided to bring out Odisha from such a crisis situation as the Odia asmita cannot be mortgaged. He challenged Patnaik to name the districts of Odisha and their respective capitals without seeing them on paper, and said that Odishas development remains stunted as the state government doesnt trust the peoples capabilities. I want to challenge Naveen babu as he has been the chief minister 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 chief minister cannot name the districts of the state, will he know your pain? he said.

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! he added.

Hitting back, Pandian said while Modi talks about a double-engine government, the Centre is spending only 6,000 crore on its Ayushman Bharat (health insurance) scheme across the country.

Odisha would get just 300 crore. But on Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (state health coverage scheme), the state is spending 300 crore every month. Why did the Centre fail to build a 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.
Narendra Modi In Barrackpore News Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, May 12, addressed an election rally in Barrackpore, West Bengal. Hitting out at the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal, Modi made five guarantees to the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi being felicitated during a public meeting for Lok Sabha elections in Barrackpore, West Bengal on Sunday, (PTI)

I am giving five guarantees to Bengal. As long as I am here, there will be no religion-based reservation. Nobody will be able to stop reservations of SC, ST, or OBC. Nobody will be able to stop you from doing Ram Navami Puja. Nobody will be able to overturn the Supreme Court's decision on Ram Temple in Ayodhya and nobody will be able to finish CAA, Modi said.

Modi said it has become difficult for the common man to follow his faith in Bengal. TMC threatens people when they chant the name of Shri Ram. Jai Shri Ram! The TMC does not allow people to celebrate Ram Navami. The Congress, too, stands against the Ram Mandir. Should we leave the country in the hands of the TMC, Congress, and Leftists? Modi said.

Modi said the land of West Bengal, especially Barrackpore, has written history. This land played an important role in independence. But the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has made it the centre of scams.

"There was a time when scientific inventions were done in Bengal, but in TMC's rule, there is a home industry of producing bombs in the entire state. There was a time when Bengal would agitate against illegal immigrants, but today under TMC's protection, illegal immigrants are thriving," Modi alleged.

"The TMC-Congress INDI Alliance in Bengal has submitted before appeasement politics. They ask for vote-jihad against Modi. A TMC MLA has said that they would drown Hindus in the Bhagirathi river. Imagine their audacity. Their courage. Who is supporting them?" the prime minister said in an all-out attack on the state government.

Earlier, TMC MLA Humayun Kabir made controversial comments during an election rally in Murshidabad and said that Hindus would be drowned in the Bhagirathi River within two hours or else he would leave politics.

Modi said that the development of the states of eastern India was neglected by the Congress party which governed the country for decades.

"After independence, family members of the Congress party governed the country for decades. They neglected the development of the states of eastern India. Whether it was West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, or Odisha, Congress did nothing to harness the capabilities of these states. From natural resources to blue economy, these states have huge potential for economic growth across fields," he added.

He further said that 'Modi' will make East India the growth engine of Viksit Bharat.

"Today, we are creating a network of roadways, railways, and waterways in the eastern states of India... Dedicated freight corridors have amplified industrialization in this area. The upcoming years will be dedicated to furthering the development of West Bengal and the surrounding states," he said.

Modi claimed that in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party will do better in Bengal as compared to 2019 when it bagged 18 seats. West Bengal is an important state for us. The Congress ruled for 50 years, but the people of eastern India only got poverty despite the states being capable. These states have mineral resources, fertile land. These states also have tourism potential. I have decided to make these states an engine of growth for Viksit Bharat, the PM said at the rally.

Earlier, the PM also conducted a roadshow in Barrackpore.

Voting will take place for eight Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal in the fourth phase of voting to be held on May 13. The constituencies are Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur and Birbhum.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for 2 seats. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4.
New Delhi, Senior officials of India and the 10-nation bloc of Southeast Asian nations - ASEAN - will hold the next round of talks in July to review the existing free trade agreement in Jakarta, Indonesia, an official statement said on Sunday. Next round of talks for India-Asean trade pact review in July

The last round of the three-day negotiations concluded on May 9 in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

The discussions for review of AITIGA started in May 2023 to make it more trade-facilitative and beneficial for businesses across the region, the commerce ministry said.

A joint committee, which is undertaking the review work, has so far met four times.

It has finalised its terms of reference and the negotiating structure for the review in its first two meetings and initiated talks for the review from its third meeting, which was held on February 18-19 here.

"The fourth Joint Committee meeting for the review of AITIGA was held in Putrajaya, Malaysia from 7-9 May," the statement said.

The committee was co-chaired by Rajesh Agrawal, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce, and Mastura Ahmad Mustafa, Deputy Secretary General , Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, Malaysia.

India and the 10-nation bloc ASEAN have agreed to conclude talks in 2025.

The delegates from India and all 10 ASEAN countries participated in the discussions.

The ministry said that 8 sub-committees have been constituted to deal with different policy areas of the agreement in the review, and out of these, five have started their discussions.

The issues being negotiated by these committees include national treatment and market access, rules of origin, standards, technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures and legal and institutional.

ASEAN is one of the major trade partners of the country, with a share of 11 per cent in India's global trade.

The bilateral trade stood at USD 122.67 billion in 2023-24.

"The upgradation of AITIGA will further boost bilateral trade. Both sides would next meet for the fifth joint committee meeting from 29-31 July 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia," the statement said.

The review of the AITIGA was a long-standing demand of Indian businesses.

India has asked for a review of the agreement to eliminate barriers and misuse of the trade pact.

Members of the Asean include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

In general, such review exercises include implementation issues, rules of origin; verification process and release of consignments; customs procedures; further liberalisation of trade in goods; and sharing and exchange of trade data.

Exports to ASEAN countries grew from USD 37.47 billion in FY2019 to USD 41.21 billion in FY2024, a 9.96 per cent increase. On the other hand, imports from the bloc saw a more significant rise of 34.30 per cent from USD 59.32 billion to USD 79.67 billion.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
New Delhi: Children in India are being wrongfully incarcerated with approximately 9,681 children found to have been wrongly held in adult facilities over six years from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021, a study by indian civil society organisation iProBono has revealed. This averages to over 1,600 children being transferred out of prisons annually. (Representative Photo)

The study is based on the data received through research and government Right to Information (RTI) applications.

For six years, I thought the jail would be the end of my life. I lost my childhood, said Neha, a Child in Conflict with the Law (CCL).

Her ordeal began in April 2018 when she was accused by her father of murdering her mother. At the young age of 17, she fell within the legal classification of a minor under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. Despite this, she languished in an adult jail for years before obtaining the relief of bail.

Former Supreme Court Judge and chairperson of the Supreme Court Juvenile Justice Committee Ravindra Bhat, addressing the issue blamed it on the states, saying that states are the parens patriae i.e., the legal protector of those who cannot protect themselves. The states have failed because it has been unable to protect the children.

According to the study revealed on Saturday in Delhi, it obtained responses from 50% of the total 570 district and central prisons, revealing alarming gaps in data collection and reporting.

Notably, significant omissions were observed in the responses from states such as Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Nagaland, and Ladakh. Together these regions accounted for missing data from 85 district and central prisons.

I am surprised to find out how so many children are lodged in jails across India, I feel there are umpteen opportunities for all the stakeholders and the police to find a solution to this, said Founder General Secretary of Prayas JAC Society Amod Kanth.

Further insights from specific prisons shed light on the duration children spent in custody before being transferred. For instance, data from Jail No. 5 in Central Prison Tihar, Delhi, indicated that out of 730 transferred children over six years, only 22 were held for a week or less, with the majority spending less than three months in detention.

Similar trends were observed in district prison Jhunjhunu, where out of 16 transferred children, only three spent a week or less in custody.

Arul Varma from the Delhi high court Legal Services Committee said, It is difficult for the JJBs [Juvenile Justice Boards] to go for regular visits given the number of jails and the overburden of a huge number of cases they have to handle.

The study also highlighted challenges in obtaining information through the RTI Act. Instances were cited where initial applications were rejected on erroneous grounds, such as disproportionate resource diversion or concerns about impeding investigations, despite not seeking personal details of the children involved.

Concerns were also raised regarding procedural hurdles faced in filing RTI applications, with some rejected due to incorrect format or payment methods. For example, applications in Odisha were initially dismissed for not adhering to the prescribed format, while subsequent attempts were hindered by payment restrictions, including the refusal to accept anything but cash or money orders.

In its press statement, 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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received special Mother's Day presents during his election rally in West Bengal's Hooghly on Sunday. Modi was presented with a picture of him and his mother, Late Heeraben Modi, on the occasion of Mother's Day. The PM expressed gratitude to the people who presented him with the picture. "The people in the rally have made the picture of my mother... The people in the West celebrate this day as Mother's Day, but in India, we worship our Mother, Ma Durga, Ma Kaali and Bharat Mata, 365 days a year," PM Modi said. PM Modi received special Mother's Day presents at a rally in Bengal's Hooghly.

"I request SPG commandos to collect the pictures. Please mention your addresses at the back of the paper I want to thank both of you for this," Modi added.

The Prime Minister addressed the rally in Bengal as part of his election campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Meanwhile, speaking at a rally in Barrackpore earlier, the PM also slammed the vote-bank politics of the TMC and said the goons of the party were threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali, where allegations of sexual abuse against the party leaders surfaced earlier.

All of us have seen what the TMC has done with the sisters and mothers of Sandeshkhali. First, the police tried to save the culprits, now the TMC has started a new game. TMC goons are threatening the sisters of Sandeshkhali, just because the oppressor's name is Shahjahan Sheikh... They are trying their best to save and protect him from legal action. Don't be afraid of TMC, he said at the election rally in Barrackpore.

Speaking further, Modi said, TMC is using every trick in Sandeshkhali, but none of the oppressors of Sandeshkhali TMC will be spared.

The Prime Minister's remarks came as multiple videos levelling allegations against a local BJP party leader in connection with the Sandeshkhali issue surfaced on social media recently.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Kolkata on Saturday night and is scheduled to address four Lok Sabha election rallies across three West Bengal districts on Sunday. PM Narendra Modi arrived in Kolkata from Jharkhand, and after landing at the airport, he went by road to the Raj Bhavan amid tight security. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (ANI Photo) (BJP)

Modi reached West Bengal after wrapping up the election campaign in Odisha for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election, set to take place on May 13. He held a massive roadshow in Bhubaneswar on Friday evening, and addressed three public meetings in Odisha on Saturday, before leaving for Jharkhand.

During his poll rally in Odisha, Modi launched sharp attacks on chief minister Naveen Patnaik, posing a unique challenge to name all the districts of the state and their capitals without looking at a piece of paper.

PM Modi's rallies in West Bengal - Top points

On Sunday, PM Narendra Modi will address four election rallies across three districts in West Bengal - Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, Panchla in Howrah, and Chinsurah and Pursura in Hooghly district.

On Saturday night, PM Modi reached Kolkata from Jharkhand by road, welcomed at the Raj Bhavan by Governor CV Ananda Bose.

This is the prime minister's second visit to Kolkata this month. Modi reached the city on May 2 and after spending the night in Raj Bhavan, he addressed rallies in Krishnanagar, Purba Bardhaman and Bolpur Lok Sabha constituencies the next day.

Heavy traffic restrictions have been imposed in Kolkata in view of Modi's visit to the city this weekend. Movement of all vehicles has been restricted in areas such as Raj Bhavan, Red Road, Hoogly Bridge, and Jensen and Nicholson Island on May 12, till 1 pm.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addressed a rally in Saptagram on Saturday to support TMC's candidate from Hoogly, a day before Modi's rally in the city.

The campaigning for Phase 4 of Lok Sabha election in West Bengal ended on May 11. A total of eight constituencies in the state will go to polls on May 13 - Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur, and Birbhum.

(With inputs from PTI)
Barasat, Claiming that PM Narendra Modi was continuing to "peddle lies" about Sandeshkhali, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday questioned why he was maintaining a stoic silence on the allegations of molestation against Governor CV Ananda Bose and not asking him to resign. PM still lying about Sandeshkhali, but mum on molestation allegation against Guv: Mamata

Addressing an election rally in North 24 Parganas' Amdanga, which is a part of the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, Banerjee said the PM should be ashamed that "BJP's conspiracy" about Sandeshkhali has become public.

"The PM is still peddling lies about Sandeshkhali. He should be ashamed as the BJP's conspiracy has now become public," Banerjee said, apparently referring to a purported video in which a local BJP leader was heard saying that over 70 women had received 2,000 each for taking part in protests against TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh who is accused of sexual assault and land grab.

In an earlier clip, a man resembling BJP's Sandeshkhali mandal president Gangadhar Kayal was heard saying that the "staged" protests were done at the behest of Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari who was behind the "whole conspiracy".

The PM, who is also campaigning in West Bengal, alleged that TMC goons were threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali to protect the culprits

"All of us have seen what the TMC has done with the sisters and mothers of Sandeshkhali. The TMC goons are now threatening the women in Sandeshkhali as the name of the main culprit is Shajahan Sheikh. TMC is doing everything to protect the culprits of Sandeshkhali," he alleged.

Banerjee said the Centre's inaction against the governor, who is accused of molestation by a Raj Bhavan staffer, showed the BJP's "true anti-woman character".

"Why did the PM not ask the governor to resign during his overnight stay at Raj Bhavan?" she asked.

Modi arrived in Kolkata on Saturday and stayed the night at Raj Bhavan, before beginning his whirlwind campaign in the state on Sunday morning.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
At about 11 am on Tuesday, there was a sea of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) workers at 10 Circular Road, the official residence of former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi. They wanted to meet party patriarch Lalu Prasad, who is managing the grand alliances poll campaign and strategy in Bihar. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav with party leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Rohini Acharya in Saran district on April 29. (PTI)

Inside the bungalow, a frail looking Prasad sat on the lawn, wearing a black track pant and cream-coloured full T-shirt. Main lambe bhashan nahin deta. Mera Bihar ki janta se dil ka sachcha sambandh hai. Isliye main wahi bolta hoon jo unke dil ko chhoo le (I dont give long lectures. Ive a true heart to heart connection with Bihars people and I speak only those things which touch their hearts), he told HT.

An ubiquitous presence in Bihar politics, Prasad was not in Patna for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the RJD failed to open its account, and in the 2020 assembly poll, when it emerged as the largest party in state assembly, winning 75 of 243 seats.

On April 9, 2018, Prasad was convicted in the fodder scam case and was lodged in Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi. On health grounds, the court allowed him to stay in a bungalow in Rajendra Institute of Medical Scienceson August 6, 2020. He was released on bail from prison on April 17, 2022, after completing half of his mandated jail time.

Prasad is the real in-charge of the Lok Sabha poll campaign, with his younger son Tejashwi Yadav as the star campaigner of the alliance that also comprises the Congress and the Left parties. Right from candidate selection to alliance talks with Congress and Left parties, Lalu ji has taken call on everything despite his poor health. He visits the partys war room at 10 Circular Road almost every day, a RJD leader close to him said, declining to be named.

In his residence equipped with best medical facilities, Prasad meets party leaders and workers everyday for a brief period to get their feedback from constituencies and decide on the future course of campaigning. He can meet only a few close people because of health reasons, the RJD leader said.

Prasad admitted his health does not allow him to work earlier, before but he still has emotional connection with voters in Bihar. On whether he would hit campaign trial and counter the state opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on frequent charges of jungle raj against his family, Prasad said that his son Yadav will take care of it.

Tejashwi ab bada ho gaya hai. Wo akele hi kaafi hai (Tejaswi has matured now. He can tackle it), he said.

Prasad has, however, campaigned for his daughter, Rohini Acharya, who is contesting from Saran parliamentary seat against BJPs Rajiv Pratap Rudi. During the campaign, he met RJD workers and recalled his old association with the constituency.

His visit to Chapra made a significant difference, the RJD leader said. Some local ticket aspirants and a large chunk of electors in Raghopur diara (sandbank of Ganga river) were unhappy after Acharyas nomination. But when Laluji met them on the second day of stay here, they all put their full force to ensure the RJDs victory, he said.

In addition to the traditional Muslim-Yadav vote bank of the RJD, which is intact since 1977, Prasad has tried new caste combinations this time, RJDs national spokesperson Jayant Jigyasu said. This time, he has taken historic decision while distributing the party tickets. While a Dalit candidate, Chandrahas Chaupal, has been fielded from a Yadav-dominated unreserved constituency (Supaul), it was Lalujis decision to field six women  Ritu Jaiswal from Sheohar, Anita Devi Mahto from Munger, Bima Bharati from Purnea, Archana Ravidas from Jamui, Misa Bharati from Pataliputra and Rohini Acharya from Saran, Jigyasu said.

Chaupal said only Prasad could nominate a Dalit candidate from a unreserved parliamentary seat.

Only Lalu ji can take this risk. He has pulled away the traditional vote base of BJP and its allies by uniting Kewat (mallah), Kurmi, Koeri and Dalits, with his masterstroke. As a result, Tejaswi is now batting on BJPs pitch, Chaupal said.

Prasad is looking at Kushwaha and Kurmi (Luv-Kush) caste combination to add to the RJDs traditional voters, according to Nawal Kishore, professor of political science in Delhi University. The RJD has given four tickets to Kushwaha and Kurmi candidates as compared to one in 2019. The two communities are categorised among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Bihar.

Three OBC Koeris  Alok Kumar Mehta from Ujiarpur, Shravan Kumar Kushwaha from Nawada and Abhay Kushwaha from Aurangabad  have made the cut, while Anita, an EBC (economically backward class) who is married to an OBC Kurmi also has found a place, Kishore said. As a result of this new equation, opposition leaders are a worried lot. This expansion will certainly yield unexpected success for RJD.

Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) nominee from the Khagaria Lok Sabha seat, where polling was held on May 7, said the new caste permutation by the RJD chief has had exceptional effect. For the very first time, all the partners of the alliance have put their best to transfer their vote base in support of the alliances candidates, Kushwaha said. It was his decision to give tickets to four candidates from the Luv-Kush community, which ensured 100% of these castes in my favour. In my constituency, the RJD and Congress workers ensured maximum turnout in their pockets.

Prasad has been pushed to the wall on many occasions but has always bounced back, said Sunil Singh, political analyst and retired professor of Tilka Majhi Bhagalpur University.

Lalu allows a lot more leeway to the party as he can reach out to anyone cutting across the political affiliation. Whether it is Jitan Ram Manjhi, Asaduddin Owaisi or even Nitish Kumar, nobody is off limits for him, Singh said. And that is the biggest advantage for young Tejashwi, even if he is not leading from the front. Not only that, he is most effective leader when it comes to stitching an alliance. Young Tejashwi is an aggressive campaigner, but he needs to learn a lot from his father to reach out to potential alliance partners.

However, Neeraj Kumar, a senior leader of the ruling Janata Dal (United), does not agree that Prasad has any charisma left in him. He is a caste leader, not a mass leader. He undoubtedly has wit and sense of humour. Once upon a time, he projected himself a joker for the sophisticated urban lot to win the mandate of rural Bihar. It was the time when Bihar became synonym of jungle raj, Kumar said. But that phase is over and voters are no longer gullible. So, any experiment will not fetch the desired results for him.
Pro-Khalistan graffiti and slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi were found on the pillars of Karol Bagh and Jhandewalan Metro stations in New Delhi on Sunday, news agency ANI reported. The graffiti and slogans have now been removed by the Delhi Police.(ANI)

The graffiti and slogans have now been removed by the Delhi Police. A First Information Report (FIR) has also been lodged concerning the case.

According to news agency ANI, the police have also approached authorities at the two metro stations for CCTV footage.

Reportedly, the slogans were written by supporters of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a banned Sikh separatist group based in the United States.

A security guard at a building close to the Karol Bagh Metro station told ANI that he noticed the writing in black paint on the pillars of the metro station on Sunday morning.

"I came to duty at 8 am and saw that something was written in black colour on the pillars of the metro station. A huge crowd had gathered there and was reading the slogans," Bajrangi, the security guard, said.

Earlier in January, slogans and graffiti supporting Khalistan were found on the boundary wall of a government school in the capital's Uttam Nagar area and on a pillar in the Nihar Vihar area.

At the time, a senior police officer had said the graffiti reading 'SJF, January 26, Khalistan' was painted on the pillar by an unidentified person in a very secluded area.

"The area where the graffiti has been painted is very secluded, and hardly anyone goes there," the officer had said.

The incident came ahead of the Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's threats for the 75th Republic Day. Pannun had warned about hoisting the Khalistani flag in Delhi on January 26.

Prior to that, he had released a video in which he threatened to attack Parliament on or before December 13, the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attacks.

The Central government has banned Pannun's SFJ  a group campaigning to establish Khalistan carved out of India -- as an "unlawful association" in 2019, citing its involvement in "anti-national and subversive" activities.

The group has also been pushing for Referendum 2020 for the self-determination of Sikhs as part of its separatist agenda.

Pannun has been on NIA's radar since 2019 when the probe agency lodged its first case against the terrorist, who has been playing a major role in promoting and commissioning terror acts and activities.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said if people vote for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on May 25, he won't have to go back to jail. Accompanied by Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, Arvind Kejriwal was holding a roadshow in Moti Nagar and Uttam Nagar area in support of AAP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during a road show for Lok Sabha elections, at Moti Nagar in New Delhi, Sunday, May 12, 2024.(PTI)

"They (BJP) are saying that after 20 days, I have to go back to jail after 20 days. But if you choose jhadu (AAP's symbol), I won't have to go back to jail," the chief minister said. You have the power.

Bhagwant Mann made a similar appeal to the voters of Delhi calling for a big mandate in the ongoing general elections.

You all have to vote on May 25. If you give such a big 'fatwa' then Kejriwal Sahab will not have to go to jail again. BJP's government is not going to be formed. AAP and INDIA alliance are coming to power, Mann asserted during the roadshow.

The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal  who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy  till June 1 to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

"They sent me to jail because I worked for you. The BJP does not want that work of Delhi people are done," he said.

He alleged that his insulin injections were stopped for 15 days inside Tihar jail.

"If I went back to jail, the BJP would stop your work, free electricity, degrade schools and shut down hospitals and Mohalla Clinics," he charged.

The 21-day bail order restricts Kejriwal from visiting his office or the Delhi Secretariat and sign any official file, unless absolutely necessary which will require Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena's sanction.

Delhi will vote on all 7 Parliamentary seats on May 25.
Rahul Gandhi of the Congress on Saturday said he or party chief Mallikarjun Kharge would be pleased to participate in a public debate on the Lok Sabha elections and expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would also accept the invitation. The Bharatiya Janata Party swiftly countered, questioning whether Rahul Gandhi was the Congress's prime ministerial candidate. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi shared on X (formally Twitter) his reply to justice (retd) Madan B Lokur, justice (retd), former chairman of the law commission of India Ajit P Shah and senior journalist N Ram, who had written to the Congress leader 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, they had stated the proposal for the debate was non-partisan and in the broader interest of every citizen.

"It would be a positive initiative for the major parties to present their vision to the country from one platform for a healthy democracy," Rahul Gandhi said in a post. He added that the nation expects Modi to participate in the debate.

Rahul Gandhi said he discussed the invitation with Mallikarjun 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," Rahul 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 presidnt 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.

BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi

Several BJP leaders, including Tejasvi Surya, reacted strongly to Rahul Gandhi's letter saying the latter isnt even the PM candidate of the Congress Party, let alone the INDI Alliance.

Who is Rahul Gandhi, that PM Modi should debate with him? Rahul Gandhi isnt even the PM candidate of the Congress Party, let alone the INDI Alliance. Let him first get himself declared as Congresss PM candidate, state he will take accountability for his partys defeat, and then invite PM for a debate. Until then, we are ready to depute our BJYM spokespersons to take him on in any debate, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya posted on X.

Former Congress leader, who is a BJP national spokesperson now, Jaiveer Shergill also attacked Rahul Gandhi over the issue.

"Rahul Gandhi track record in Parliament: Attendance : 51% National Average : 79% No of Debates: 8 National Average: 46.7% No of Qs raised: 99 National Average: 210

Running away from Parliament, Running away from Amethi, Running away from Accountability (leaving post of Party President & not becoming LoP) but still feeling entitled to debate PM @narendramodi? Debating with runaway hobby politicians is not worth Modi Jis time ! Clearly no one taught Rahul Gandhi the basic rule first deserve then desire, Jaiveer Shergill wrote on X.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya alleged that desperate for relevance, after Arvind Kejriwal got interim bail, Rahul Gandhi has now punched above his weight. Debate is good. But why should anyone, let alone the sitting Prime Minister, debate Rahul Gandhi? He is neither the Congress President nor PM face of I.N.D.I Alliance. The Congress should stop using brand Modi to relaunch Rahul Gandhi, he wrote on the social media platform.

Smriti Irani on Rahul Gandhi

Union minister and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Amethi Smriti Irani said, "First, the person who does not have the courage to contest against a normal BJP worker in his so-called castle, should refrain from boasting. Second, who wants to sit at level with PM Modi and have a debate, I want to ask him if he is a PM candidate of the INDI alliance."

100% prepared: Rahul Gandhi

At an event in Lucknow on Friday, answering a question from a member of the audience, Rahul Gandhi said he was 100 per cent prepared to take on Narendra Modi in a debate and added that he knew the prime minister would not agree.

(With inputs from PTI)
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will emerge as the single largest party across southern India by winning a considerable number of seats in the current Lok Sabha elections. Union home minister Amit Shah with Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Telangana BJP G Kishan Reddy, BJP OBC Morcha National President K Laxman during the press conference ahead of the fourth phase of Lok Sabha Polls, in Hyderabad on Saturday. (ANI)

Speaking at a press conference in Hyderabad, Shah said: On the day of results, the BJP will emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala...We are going to win more than 10 seats in Telangana, as the party is in a very comfortable position in 13 seats.

In Andhra Pradesh as well, the NDA is going to sweep the polls. The BJP is going to win a good number of seats in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala as well, he pointed out.

He further said that the NDA secured about 200 seats in the first three phases of Lok Sabha elections. We shall get the maximum number of seats in the fourth phase as well and we shall be reaching our target of 400 paar, he said.

Taking a hit at the Indi Alliance, the senior BJP leader said that this elections is a fight between an alliance of corrupt parties that had indulged in 12 lakh crore scams and the Modi alliance which had no tag of even 25 paise corruption. It is a fight between INDI Alliance which is power hungry and the Modi alliance which celebrates Diwali amidst soldiers of the Indian Army which has not taken a holiday for the last 23 years, he said.

Shah said that there was no reason for the Opposition to rejoice when Modi turns 75 years old.

I will like to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company and the whole Indi Alliance, that there is no need for you to feel happy when Modi turns 75... Modi will complete the term and will continue to lead the country... There is no confusion in the BJP on this, he said.

His remarks came hours after Kejriwal, who was released on interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday, said that Modi was seeking votes for Shah as he himself was due to retire from active politics next year.

These [BJP] people ask INDIA bloc about our (PM) face. I ask BJP, who will be their PM? Modi ji is turning 75 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 will be retiredHe (Modi) will retire next year. He is seeking votes to make Amit Shah the Prime Minister. Will Shah fulfill Modijis guarantee? he said.

Shah, however, dismissed the statement and said: It is not written anywhere in the BJPs constitution [that a person will retire after the age of 75].

Mounting an attack on Kejriwal, defence minister Rajnath Singh said the Opposition bloc and its members were rattled because of their impending defeat.

The entire NDA alliance, including the BJP, is fighting this Lok Sabha election under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he will become the prime minister for the third time and complete his term. There is no doubt about this neither within the BJP nor within the NDA nor in the minds of the countrymen, he posted on X.

The Union home minister also accused the Congress for trying to divide the country on north-south lines.

They have already partitioned India. They cannot do anything else than dividing the country, he criticised.
Bengaluru, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Sunday said that the Special Investigation Team , probing into sexual abuse charges against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, will not be going abroad to bring him back, and the Interpol will share information about him. He also cautioned political leaders about making public statements or sharing information in connection with the case, which is sensitive. The 33-year-old Prajwal Revanna, who is grandson of JD patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, is facing charges of sexually abusing several women. The scandal has raised a political storm with the ruling Congress and BJP-JD engaged in a slugfest. Prajwal Revanna is said to have flown abroad on April 27, a day after the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka was held. He was BJP-JD alliance's joint candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha segment, which went to polls in the first phase. "No, there is no such option. Blue Corner Notice has been issued and the Interpol will share the information. The respective country in which he is found or identified they will inform them and then our agencies, the CBI will get to know, and through them we will get to know. So far there is no information," Parameshwara said. He was responding to a question on reports about the SIT team travelling abroad in connection with the case. Speaking to reporters, he said, "investigation is going on, not to affect the investigation we don't want to share any information." Responding to a question on Union Minister Pralhad Joshi's statement alleging conspiracy behind the arrest of BJP leader Devaraje Gowda, for making allegations against Congress leaders in connection with the case, Parameshwara said, "if any one says anything I cannot react to it. We cannot respond to every public statement. As this is a serious case, we cannot share information until the investigation is completed." "My request to the public and to our leaders is to be cautious while making statements. If not, based on the statements given by them, we may have to call them for investigation and record their statement under 41 A of CrPC," he added. Asked whether JD leader H D Kumaraswamy will also be served notice, the Minister said he is a former CM and that he believes that the former has taken this case seriously. "Before giving any statements on this case or before sharing any information in the public domain, one has to be cautious, and this applies to all," he added.

SIT not going abroad to bring Prajwal Revanna back: Karnataka Home Minister
Union minister Smriti Irani on Saturday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he accepted an invitation for a public debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking if the Congress leader is a PM candidate of the INDI alliance. Union minister and Amethi MP Smriti Irani. (File)

In a veiled dig at Rahul Gandhi, Smriti Irani said, First, the person who does not have the courage to contest against a normal BJP worker in his so-called castle, should refrain from boasting."

Second, who wants to sit at level with PM Modi and have a debate, I want to ask him if he is a PM candidate of the INDI alliance?" news agency ANI quoted her as saying.

On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi said he was 100 per cent ready to participate in a public debate with Modi, adding that he knew the prime minister would not debate with him.

The Congress leader was responding to a letter by journalist N Ram, and former judges Madan B Lokur, Ajit P Shah, in which they invited Modi and Rahul Gandhi to an open debate where they would answer each others' allegations.

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 debateI 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 said.

What did the letter say?

The two bureaucrats and a journalist inviting PM Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi to an open debate 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 Mallikarjun 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 read.

It added, 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.

The letter mentions that an open debate would help to strengthen the 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.

(With inputs from ANI)
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), led by the Congress, is facing significant intra-alliance conflicts in the fourth phase of polling compared to the previous phase, an analysis of candidate affidavits by the Hindustan Times shows. In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) remains largely unified, with only minor conflicts in two constituencies. In the 96 PCs voting today, the NDA has fielded 97 candidates across 95 PCs, with a notional intra-alliance conflict in just two PCs. (AP)

To be sure, even the intra-alliance conflicts in INDIA are largely notional outside the eight parliamentary constituencies (PCs) in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress (TMC) failed to partner with the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M).

In the 96 PCs voting today, the NDA has fielded 97 candidates across 95 PCs, with a notional intra-alliance conflict in just two PCs. These conflicts are in a constituency each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where the Republican Party of India (Athawale), a party with no Lok Sabha MP, has fielded a candidate against the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the BJP, respectively. On the other hand, no member of the alliance is contesting the Srinagar seat in Jammu & Kashmir.

The alliance arithmetic of the NDA in the current phase also shows another interesting trend. While the BJP continues to be the biggest partner in the alliance in even this phase, it is contesting the smallest proportion of PCs in any phase so far: It is fighting in 72.9% of the seats voting in this phase, compared to 75.5%, 79.5%, and 87.1% of the PCs that voted in the first three phases.

This trend is explained by the BJP having given 17 of Andhra Pradeshs 25 PCs to the TDP, the second largest constituent in the NDA in this phase of polls. The TDP is also the second largest constituent of the NDA at the all-India level. All other NDA members are contesting three seats or less in this phase.

To be sure, this is partly a reflection of the fact that Bihar and Maharashtra elections (where the BJP has shared seats roughly equally with allies) are staggered over seven and five phases. In the voting scheduled today, only 11 and five PCs of Maharashtra and Bihar are voting.

In sharp contrast to the NDA, the INDIA group has fielded 148 candidates across 95 PCs, with intra-alliance conflicts in 48 seats. The INDIA alliance has no candidate in Indore, where the Congress candidate withdrew his nomination, and no other INDIA member is contesting.

To be sure, intra-alliance conflicts in a large proportion of constituencies is not necessarily a result of Congress failing to concede seats to allies, at least not in every such PC. The party is contesting just 61 of 96 seats in the current phase (63.5%). It had contested 54.9%, 79.5%, and 73.1% PCs in the first three phases.

So why are there a large number of intra-alliance conflicts in the INDIA group despite the Congress not contesting a high proportion of seats? The party is not contesting a higher proportion of seats because it is the smaller partner in Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal; and is contesting just 10 of the 41 seats in these states going to polls in the current phase.

However, in West Bengal, the party has made a formal seat-sharing arrangement only with the CPI(M). Here the Congress and CPI(M) are in conflict with the TMC in all the eight seats of the state going to polls. A similar conflict is between the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) and the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Srinagar.

Other conflicts for the INDIA alliance are because of its smaller constituents fielding candidates in PCs where they do not have a formal seat-sharing arrangement. The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), for example, is contesting 13 PCs, all in conflict with other INDIA members. Six of these PCs are in Andhra Pradesh, three in Telangana, two in Uttar Pradesh, and one each in Maharashtra and Odisha. Similarly, Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) are in conflict in all seven, four, and eight PCs they are contesting, respectively.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is also in conflict in four of the five PCs (all except Begusarai in Bihar). Samajwadi Party (SP), on the other hand, has created a similar conflict in seven Andhra Pradesh PCs and one Odisha PC, while it faces such a conflict from CPI and AIFB in two PCs in Uttar Pradesh.

Who had won these PCs where INDIA members are in conflict in 2019?

Half of these 48 PCs were won by parties that were neither in a BJP-led alliance nor in a Congress-led one. The YSRCP had won 14 PCs, the TRS seven, and the TDP, BJD, and the AIMIM had won one PC each. The BJP had won another 15 PCs. INDIA members of 2024 had won only eight of these 48 PCs in 2019: the Congress two PCs, the TMC four, and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena had won one each. To be sure, this seat distribution in conflict PCs is partly a reflection of the overall 2019 performance of non-NDA, non-INDIA parties in the PCs voting today. If PCs are grouped by the seven phases of 2024 elections, non-NDA and non-INDIA parties had the highest share in 2019 in the fourth phase PCs.
Katrina Gulliver in JSTOR Daily:

In the years following American independence, many questions would be asked, in different spheres, of what it meant to be a citizen, and what it meant to be an American. New England schoolmaster John Jenkins focused on penmanship as the key to building a strong American middle class, creating his own book of instruction for handwriting.

Writing in the shadow of the American Revolution, Jenkins recognized that subtle changes in everyday cultural practices like handwriting could have significant effects on the character of the new nation, explains historian Richard S. Christen.

Literacy on both sides of the Atlantic had increased during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but a fine hand tended to be the mark of the well born and well educated.

More here.
The Shri Badrinath Dham in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand opened its doors for devotees at 6am on Sunday, May 12, amid chimes of melodious tunes by the Army Band, with complete rituals. While welcoming devotees, Vedic chants and slogans of Badri Vishal Lal Ki Jai echoes across the temple. Decorated Badrinath Temple ahead of the opening of its portals for devotees for the 'Char Dham Yatra', in Chamoli district, Saturday, May 11, 2024. (PTI Photo)(PTI)

Hundreds of devotees thronged the entry of Badrinath Dham on Sunday morning, with the entrance decked up with flowers. Shri Badrinath Dham opened its gates for devotees after a break of six months. The portals of the temple were closed for winter beginning November 18.

The doors of three out of the four Dhams of Uttarakhand, Shri Kedarnath, Shri Gangotri, Shri Yamunotri Dham had already been opened on last Friday on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. Preparations for the opening of the doors have been completed by Shri Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC).

Ahead of its opening, Shri Badrinath Temple was decked up by the Temple Committee with the help of Shri Badrinath Pushp Seva Samiti Rishikesh, which made full preparations of the morning rituals taking place on Sunday.

The Badrinath Yatra is a significant pilgrimage in Hinduism, primarily undertaken by devotees of Lord Vishnu. Badrinath is a sacred town located in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, India. It's nestled in the Garhwal Himalayas, sitting at an elevation of 3,133 meters (10,279 feet) above sea level.

The pilgrimage for Char Dham usually commences around late April or early May and goes on till November, when the weather conditions are favourable during summer and autumn months.

The Char Dham Yatra commenced in Uttarakhand on May 10. For the last two days, all three Dhams including Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri have been bustling.

A record number of 29 thousand pilgrims from across India and other countries visited Kedarnath Dham on the first day. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami headed the inaugral puja at Kedarnath Dham on the first day of the pilgrimage, welcoming devotees and and invoking prayes for their safe journey.

(With inputs from ANI)
Indore, Taking a dig at the Congress over its Indore Lok Sabha seat candidate withdrawing from the fray at the last moment, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said it was not his party's fault if the "bridegroom fled before the wedding". What is our fault if groom flees before marriage: MP CM on Cong candidate's withdrawal in Indore

The Congress received a jolt in Indore after its candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on April 29, the last date of withdrawal, and later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party .

"The Congress claimed that the BJP did something wrong in Indore. What was our fault? It is like inviting the entire village to the wedding feast and the groom running away before the marriage ceremony," Yadav said at the BJP's campaign rally at Betma near here on Saturday.

The opposition party, which has no candidate left in the fray for the May 13 election in Indore, is insulting democracy by appealing to local voters to press the NOTA button, the chief minister said.

"If someone's child runs away from home, whose fault is it? They are your children, you should take care of them," he said.

Yadav also participated in a roadshow in Indore city in support of BJP candidate and sitting MP Shankar Lalwani.

Terming the opposition INDIA bloc as "Ghamandiya" alliance, Yadav evoked the epic Ramayana and the city of Lanka, the capital of its arch-villain Ravan.

"These arrogant people were born in Lanka 17 lakh years ago during the time of Lord Ram. Due to the bankruptcy of their intellect, they posed as fake saffron-clad to abduct Sita," the chief minister said during the roadshow.

Calling upon the voters to reject the Congress' appeal to opt for NOTA, he said, "Mother Sita made the mistake of crossing the 'Lakshman Rekha,' but the people of Indore should resolve that they will not cross the Lakshman Rekha under any circumstances."

Taking a swipe at state Congress president Jitu Patwari, who hails from Indore, Yadav said after suffering defeat at the hands of BJP candidate Madhu Verma in Rau seat in the district in the last year's assembly elections, Patwari was scared of contesting the Lok Sabha election.

On the other hand, even some 80-year-old Congress leaders were contesting the election, he added.

Referring to Congress leaving the Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency to the Samajwadi Party as part of a seat-sharing agreement, Yadav claimed that it showed the Congress was afraid of elections.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Ever since humans have journeyed to space, their meals there have proved to be, well, nothing to write home about. But that could change after a Michelin-starred chef teamed up with the Florida-based startup Space Perspective to take fine-dining to our upper atmosphere in late 2025. Six guests are set to ascend aboard Spaceship Neptune to the stratosphere, where they will enjoy an immersive dining experience served up by Danish Michelin-starred chef Rasmus Munk. Rasmus Munk, co-owner and chef of Alchemist restaurant, poses inside Alchemists kitchen, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Danish Michelin-starred chef has teamed up with the Florida-based startup Space Perspective to take fine-dining to our upper atmosphere in late 2025. Six guests are set to ascend to the stratosphere, where they will enjoy an immersive dining experience served up by chef Rasmus Munk. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Munk, 33, will travel with the guests and serve the meal himself, from a small kitchen. He says his menu will be inspired by the impact of space innovation. We want to tell stories through the food, Munk says. We  want to talk and highlight some of the research thats been done through the last 60 years. I think that will make an even stronger impact when youre up there and looking down, added Munk, who will fly with the six ticket buyers.

Spaceship Neptune is more of a balloon than a rocket. The company says its pressurized capsule, attached to a balloon, will lift to an altitude of around 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) above sea level where guests will dine while watching the sun rise over the curvature of the Earth. Organizers are promising an out-of-this-world experience for those with an appetite for adventure. But such an astronomic menu comes with a fittingly astronomic price tag  $495,000 per ticket.

Organizers say the trip will last six hours and that they are they are still in discussion with potential participants. Its one of the latest offerings by private firms that include Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX. The flight wont technically reach space"  Spaceship Neptune will ascend to around 19 miles (30 kilometers), well below the Karman line, the boundary separating Earth's atmosphere and outer space, which is some 62 miles (100 kilometers) from Earth.

Munk's menu is expected to be a far cry from meals eaten by past and present astronauts. The first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, squeezed beef and liver paste into his mouth from an aluminum tube. To save on weight, astronauts aboard the International Space Station usually dine on dishes packaged in rehydratable containers, including soups and casseroles.

There have been some exceptions. In 2006, French master chef Alain Ducasse created special gourmet food that could be used for celebratory meals aboard the ISS. The tinned dishes included typical Mediterranean ingredients, such as olives, tomatoes, quails and swordfish. Though Munk is mysterious about his menu, he says hes planning to incorporate glow-in-dark stars made from aerogel and jellyfish protein.

We are also working on an edible piece of space junk from a satellite, he said. And then, we want to talk about some of the things going on on the planet  from deforestation to temperatures rising and the garbage in our seas, he added. Munks Alchemist restaurant in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, has held two Michelin stars since 2020, and last year was ranked fifth best restaurant in the world.

Guests dine on a menu of 50 edible impressions, and the experience is accompanied by performers and installations, all set in the restaurants own architecture  a former theater set building workshop in Copenhagen. At the restaurants center is a large planetarium dome, where guests eat surrounded by projections of Earth seen from space, oceans, forests, even a beating heart.

I think fine dining, in general, is changing a lot," Munk says. "And I think you, as a guest, require more an experience in the future. Danish food and wine writer Rasmus Palsgaard says gastronomy is becoming more about the experience, and less about whats on the plate. More wealthy people or big companies have a desire to really create something special that is more than a meal, he says. Its about much more than just the food being served in front of you.
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. Tourists take photos in front of Victoria Harbour, in Tsim Sha Tsui, in Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong tourism boost: Eight more Chinese cities join solo travel scheme (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo)

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.
On May 6, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) reported 82 different forest fires across states with 66 in Uttarakhand alone. These apocalyptic fires are mostly triggered either by human carelessness or miscreants. Once the wind takes over the parched land, with above-normal temperatures, such fires become uncontrollable and wreak havoc. March to June is the peak breeding time for birds. Death by wildfires takes an unprecedented toll on breeding bird populations. The same holds true for other large and smaller taxa, especially for the slow-moving ground-dwelling species. It is hard to fathom the consequences for the ecological economy of a region.

A warming world is changing bird life for sure. Especially during the migration of bird species from the colder northern latitudes to the warmer tropics for food and shelter. In a global melting pot, as genes (with coded adaptive messages) are passed from one generation to the next, some bird populations may not wish to undertake the arduous journeys when food is available throughout the year. While the phenomenon of bird migration will not cease to exist anytime soon, we are getting more and more reports of birds staying back either in their summer breeding habitats or vice versa  in their winter homes or somewhere in between. For example, if you happen to go for a walk along the Yamuna, the Okhla Bird Sanctuary in Delhi, a few long-distance avian visitors from the Arctic region, Ruffs, Wood Sandpipers, Green Shanks, Little and Temmincks Stints are still lingering way beyond from their usual time of departure. And we dont know why!

May 11 is observed all over as World Migratory Bird Day, a day when the spotlight is on the protection of migratory birds and their habitats. This year, the campaign has an added focus on the state of insect populations--food for migratory birds  declining due to excessive pesticide usage and light pollution.

Taej Mundkur, senior advisor, Wetlands International, says that a population of the migratory Bar-headed goose, one of the highest-flying migratory birds, is not flying further north to their breeding grounds in Mongolia. The freezing conditions over the Tibetan plateau have transformed to more warmer climes giving way to agricultural expansion and unlocking food in plenty for the foraging geese to settle down. Long-term research states that while four of Chinas six wintering populations of grey geese declined during the last decade, the wintering population of Bar-headed geese in the Tibet Autonomous Region has more than doubled. Similar narratives of geese not flying further north also come from the border regions of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Birds are wired to migrate with food and nesting resources on their radar. Now with these examples, there is a clear trend pointing to a timing mismatch between migrants and their food sources. And these may be the reasons behind contracting or expanding bird populations. Specialist feeders are declining while generalists with a greater ability to adapt are expanding on a planet in flux. A classic local example is the Bank myna (the name comes from river bank), which has moved to colonise toll plazas and railway stations as its natural habitat flood plains are taken up for development. The toll plazas provide easy pickings, food grains from goods trucks and trains.

Long-term data from years of bird banding and satellite telemetry, traditional and modern tools to track birds, have helped ornithologists demarcate bird flyways on the globe and how different bird populations migrate seasonally from North to South. There are nine such flyways, scientific models for the conservation of bird species and their habitats. The Indian subcontinent sits at the base of the Central Asian Flyway (CAF), wintering home to populations of 600 plus species of migratory birds. Amongst these, 240 species of migratory birds are in decline. There are also gains like the case of the Bar-headed goose mentioned here.

While the Indian landmass offers diverse habitats for migratory birds, all are rapidly on the decline, due to our insatiable developmental needs. Increasing temperatures with extreme weather events are said to accelerate the further disappearance of bird habitats. Like the Bank myna or the Bar-headed goose, how others will take to newer conditions is still to be seen.

The State of Indian Birds (2023) report mentions 217 species are stable or have increased in the last eight years and 204 species are in decline in the past three decades. The report says that birds of open ecosystems, rivers, and coasts have declined the most. But as migration patterns change there is a need to expand and redesign population estimation models.

In February, at the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (COP14/CMS) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, it was agreed that India will host a coordinating office to act as a platform for capacity building, knowledge sharing, research and coordination with all 30 range countries. The ministry of environment, forest and climate change is the implementing agency and may be working on a plan but time is of the essence with extreme weather on top of the global risk for 2024 and the ominous news of the Indian Ocean moving towards a state of near-permanent marine heatwaves.

Extremely high April temperatures over eastern and peninsular India reflect the severity of the climate crisis. At the same time, the Supreme Court has stated that everyone has the fundamental right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change. The Court also highlighted the critical role of forests in mitigating the climate crisis, citing forests as a national asset linked to Indias financial security. It referred to the Reserve Bank of India report, Macroeconomic Impact Of Climate Change In India (2023), which stated, Climate change manifested through rising temperature and changing patterns of monsoon rainfall in India could cost the economy 2.8% of its GDP and depress the living standards of nearly half of its population by 2050. These two recent judgments within a month clearly raise concerns over the state of the environment.

But is the climate alarm and whats to be done about it for our survival alone? Definitely not. We are intrinsically linked to the fate of a vast diverse set of species sharing the human-altered world, fighting for survival and keeping the natural environment running through their complex ecological roles. We owe it to them as much as to ourselves.

Ananda Banerjee is an author, artist and wildlife conservationist. The views expressed are personal
Territorial claims between contiguous States are not a new phenomenon, but highlighting them on currency notes or national emblems has living consequences and is a matter of seriousness when the ties are friendly and close. The government of Nepal has just approved a map of the country to be printed on the countrys new 100-rupee note. This has rightly drawn criticism from India as the map of Nepal was amended in May 2020 to explicitly highlight its claims on Indian territories in Uttarakhand. Those tensions had barely calmed down before the latest one boiled over.

Nepal and India are bound by strong civilisational and economic ties, and repeatedly upsetting these through such action hardly bodes well for the people of Nepal or its economy. Nepali politicians have no hesitation in indulging in brinkmanship over ties with India for their own personal benefit. This was certainly the case in 2020 when then Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli played the nationalist card of safeguarding Nepals territory with the map revision in a bid to avoid ouster.

The 2022 elections threw up a hung parliament, with the Nepali Congress, led by former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba, having 88 members in a house of 275, while Olis Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) had 79. This allowed Prachanda, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), to assume prime ministership with just 30 members of parliament. Initially, it was an alliance with Olis party but it soon moved to the Nepali Congress, and in February 2024, back to Olis party. In the shifting sands of Nepali politics, where no one is untouchable, observers speak of several other possibilities, including the Nepali Congress and the Unified Marxist-Leninist tying up or combinations involving smaller parties. But these are not easy to stitch together.

Historically, India has been more comfortable when the Nepali Congress is a part of the ruling dispensation in Kathmandu. This was certainly so when the Prachanda-Deuba combination was in office through much of 2023. Prachanda also went the extra mile to reach out to New Delhi by donning the daura suruwar, the traditional Nepali dress associated with the monarchy and visiting the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, during a State Visit. As a Maoist, such displays were out of bounds for him earlier.

The present alliance with the CPN-UML may be electorally advantageous to Prachanda, but Oli apparently has the upper hand. The map on the currency notes is certainly reminiscent of Olis 2020 act with the map in the national emblem, and he cannot be oblivious to its long-term negative and intractable consequences for his country. There is little doubt that he would have been urged on such a move by his Chinese backers.

Interestingly, as this latest shenanigan unfolds from Nepal, a new book, Kathmandu Chronicle, that seeks to reclaim India-Nepal relations, is out in the bookstores of Delhi and Kathmandu. The authors are KV Rajan, the longest-serving Indian ambassador in Kathmandu, and Atul Thakur, a young scholar and observer of Nepal. The book provides a diplomatic gleaning of India-Nepal history since Indias Independence and charts the frequent ups and downs in these ties. The book discusses the role of the British in ur pushing a certain wedge in the civilisational ties between India and Nepal by bringing in facets of a nation-State scenario and issues of identity. Many today are oblivious of the Great Game involving the British and Russian Empires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The role played by Pakistan, directly and through its proxies such as the D Company, in recent years appear to be forgotten in todays times, but these bear recalling. While noting the ever-present China angle in the way Nepal positions itself vis-a-vis India and not overlooking the influences of the West, the book views India-Nepal ties through an Indian lens. It underscores Nepals strategic location and provides interesting anecdotal accounts of interactions on ties with the royal family, Nepal as a Hindu State, the hijacking of IC-814, and the coup by King Gyanendra.

In 2020, the whipped-up nationalist fervour had only one or two Nepali MPs voting against the amendment to the national emblem that incorporated the new map featuring areas of India. Hopefully, a debate in the Nepali parliament on the issue of incorporating its map in the currency notes will see large numbers of its members oppose a move that could debase the Nepali currency in the eyes of the people of its most important economic neighbour.

Rajan and Thakur note that India does not fashion its policies on the basis of reciprocity expectations, but some reciprocity in terms of respect for vital interests is a necessary underpinning for sound relationships. They suggest the need for Nepal and India to accept their special relationship as a real asset and work on the benefits of growing together. Diplomacy is obviously the key to the way forward, but the style of diplomacy matters as much as the substance.

Manjeev Singh Puri is a former ambassador of India to Nepal. The views are personal
Keir Johnston, 38, went viral in 2015 after he posted a picture of his wife, Grace's "gold-white" dress. The dress in question caught the attention of people worldwide as some thought it looked blue and black while others thought it was white and gold. Nearly a decade after this, Keir pleaded guilty of attacking Grace in their home on Scotland's Isle of Colonsay on March 6, 2022, as per reports. The gold and white dress that went viral in 2015.

Grace faced various instances of domestic violence over the course of her marriage. However, it all went down after Grace said she had to go for a job interview on the mainland, and Keir refused it. Keir was drinking at a pub on the day of the incident and sent several messages to Grace. One of his texts to Grace read, "You should support me, but you do not," reported the Guardian.

When she got back from the interview, Kier her he was going to leave her when. He took his wife and threw her to the ground as the couple proceeded outside their cottage. Grace was severely bruised during the attack, but she did not need medical attention.

According to the Guardian, Chris Macintosh, a prosecutor, told the judge, Lady Drummond, and the court how Grace lived in her husband's fear, "There is no permanent police presence on the island, and she was in a situation where she felt trapped."

Talking about the incident, he also added, "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."

Marco Guarino told the Guardian that he accepted responsibility for the assault. "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 in the meantime," said Guarino, as per the Guardian.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, recently paid a visit to Andhra Pradesh Bhawan and Telangana Bhawan located in Delhi. During her visit, she engaged in a lively conversation with a group of students and UPSC aspirants. The conversation covered a wide range of topics, including the current economic situation in the country, the government's policies, economic growth, and the challenges faced by students in pursuing their academic goals. The Minister listened attentively to the concerns raised by the students and offered valuable insights and guidance. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with students. (X/@nsitharaman)

"Lively interaction with students during lunchtime at Andhra/Telangana Bhavan canteen in Delhi. Also UPSC aspirants were curious about India becoming 3rd largest economy. Discussed issues on infra, &$, New Edu.Policy, entry into politics, Privatisation & Employment. Good wishes to all," wrote FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her post. (Also Read: Nirmala Sitharaman rebuts Congress on PSUs, says they showed resurgence in Modi regime)

Accompanying the post are several captivating images. These snapshots capture the vibrant group of students and FM Sitharaman, engrossed in a hearty meal and an enriching conversation.

Take a look at the post here:

This post was shared on May 11. Since being posted, it has gained more than 36,000 views. The share also has over 2,100 likes and numerous comments.

Here's how people reacted:

An individual wrote, "Youngsters are blessed to learn under your guidance."

A second added, "Thank you, Hon. Minister, for your invaluable engagement with the youth and future leaders of our nation. Your discussions on critical issues not only inform but inspire. It's leadership like yours that helps pave the way for a brighter, more prosperous India."

"As someone deeply involved in the crypto industry. Ma'am, I urge you to engage with crypto developers as well. While the darker aspects may grab headlines, there's immense potential for constructing transparent infrastructure using blockchain technology. However, stringent regulations often push this industry into the shadows."
As people celebrated Mother's Day around the world on Sunday, May 12, numerous individuals planned surprises for their moms. From making them a hearty meal to buying them gifts, people went above and beyond to make their moms feel special. Amid the celebrations, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal also planned a wholesome surprise for the mothers of those who work at Zomato. He invited them all to the office and honoured them. Mothers Day celebration at Zomato office.

"And here's the surprise! We invited the moms of our employees to celebrate the day with us at the office. Also got great feedback on how to run @zomato better. So much love all around today," wrote Goyal in his post. (Also Read: Mother's Day 2024: Getafe CF players walk out in the stadium with their mothers. Watch)

Alongside he also shared a bunch of pictures and videos of the celebration. The clips show the office full of women and them cutting a cake which reads "Mom". As the women cut the cake, people can be seen cheering and applauding for them.

Take a look at the post here:

This post was shared on May 12. Since being posted, it has garnered over 12,000 views, and the numbers are only increasing. The share also has over 500 likes. Many people flocked to the comments section of the post and shared their reactions.

Goyal said that among cakes ordered on Mother's Day, chocolate flavour topped the lot.

Chocolate cake has been ordered 3x more than pineapple cake today, he wrote a few hours after sharing a poll asking X users to guess the most-ordered cake flavour.

Here's how people reacted:

An individual wrote, "The way Zomato is doing activities for their employees, one should not have any doubts on the office culture and environment. Their success is the result of the right process followed for a long period of time In execution and maintaining their culture as a company!"

A second added, "What a great initiative and such a lovely cake!"

"Much appreciated gesture, need to be applauded," commented a third.

A fourth shared, "Missed this special occasion! How sweet of you to make the mothers of your team feel special!"

Zomato introduces Photo Cakes

A few day before Mother's Day, Goyal had announced Zomato's new feature of Photo Cakes where a user can order customised cake with a photo. All that the user needs to do is upload the photo on the app while placing the order. The pilot project is currently available in select areas in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) but will be introduced in other cities soon, Goyal said last week.
In a disturbing turn of events, 21-year-old waiter Jace Christian Hanson admitted to police that he tainted food served to customers at a steakhouse on numerous occasions. Hanson worked at Hereford House Steakhouse in Leawood, Kansas, USA. The police looked into the matter of potential intentional food harm at the restaurant after FBI agents alerted them, as per reports. Jace Christian Hanson was tracked and arrested by the police for his acts. (X/@CCofelt)

According to the New York Post, detectives said in their affidavit dated April 26 that the federal agents gave them thumbnails from videos that a user going by the name "Vandalizer" had posted his heinous acts on thisvid.com. The videos showed a man "urinating in food contained in restaurant-style bins, pressing food items against his penis and buttocks, and using his feet to touch food items."

Other videos also showed Hanson urinating over various food items at the restaurant, such as sauces, desserts and more. He even uploaded videos of him spitting on "everything" in the restaurant. (Also Read: Man who went viral for gold-white dress in 2015 admits he tried to strangle his wife)

The FBI contacted a phone number they thought belonged to Hanson as they were worried that unwary customers might be served tainted food. They followed the signal to the Hereford House parking lot, where they discovered a car registered in Hanson's name. Detectives spoke with the head chef and the owner of the restaurant on April 25. The chef identified his au jus sauce from one of the thumbnail photos. Then, when Hanson was called out of the kitchen, the police identified the shoes that he had worn in his last three videos, reported the New York Post.

Later, he admitted his wrongdoings and said that he did so after receiving requests from men on various dating apps.

He admitted masturbating in the restaurant's walk-in fridge but denied putting his bodily fluids on any food items. When questioned about what motivated him, Hanson said that he did it originally because he disliked his job but that he continued to do it even when he began to enjoy it. (Also Read: Woman released from jail on car theft charge steals pickup truck, then this happens)

Hanson was arrested and charged with criminal threat, a felony punishable by up to 13 months in jail and a $100,000 fine. He is currently released on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Johnson County District Court on June 6. The Leawood Police Department is looking for people who may have eaten at the restaurant between March 26 and April 23 and then became ill.

As per the New York Post, Hereford House Steakhouse said in a statement, "This is an upsetting situation for our customers and for all of us connected to the restaurant." They also added that they look forward to serving everyone.
Rachel Brazil in Nature:

Editor-in-chief Sarahanne Field describes herself and her team at the Journal of Trial & Error as wanting to highlight the ugly side of science  the parts of the process that have gone wrong.

She clarifies that the editorial board of the journal, which launched in 2020, isnt interested in papers in which you did a shitty study and you found nothing. Were interested in stuff that was done methodologically soundly, but still yielded a result that was unexpected. These types of result  which do not prove a hypothesis or could yield unexplained outcomes  often simply go unpublished, explains Field, who is also an open-science researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Along with Stefan Gaillard, one of the journals founders, she hopes to change that.

Calls for researchers to publish failed studies are not new. The file-drawer problem  the stacks of unpublished, negative results that most researchers accumulate  was first described in 1979 by psychologist Robert Rosenthal. He argued that this leads to publication bias in the scientific record: the gap of missing unsuccessful results leads to overemphasis on the positive results that do get published.

More here.
The Russian forces captured five villages after launching fresh ground assault in north-eastern Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence. Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 10, 2024. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/File Photo(REUTERS)

However, the Ukrainian officials did not confirm whether Russia had taken the villages, which lie in a contested "grey zone" on the border of Ukraine's Kharkiv region and Russia.

Al Jazeera reported, citing several Ukrainian journalists who said that the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha were taken by Russian troops on Friday.

Russia claimed that the village of Pletenivka was also taken.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday evening (local time) that fighting was continuing in 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.

Earlier on Friday, the Institute for the Study of War said 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 air raids and rockets as police and volunteers raced to evacuate residents. At least 20 people were evacuated to safety in a nearby village. Local police said that 900 people had been evacuated the previous day.

Russia's recent push in Kharkiv seeks to exploit the shortage of ammunition faced by Ukraine, 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, Al Jazeera reported, citing several analysts.

Several Russian military bloggers have said that renewed Russian assaults could mark the start of Moscow's attempt to carve out a "buffer zone" that President Vladimir Putin pledged to create earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have downplayed Russian statements about captured territory, with reinforcements being rushed to the Kharkiv region to hold off Russian forces.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram 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.

More than 30 different towns and villages in the region were hit by artillery, mortar and aerial bombardments on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring five others, Syniehubov said.
A fourth Indian national has been arrested and charged in Canada in connection with the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia last year. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with fire chiefs ahead of the anticipated fire season in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, on Friday. (REUTERS)

The suspect was identified as 22-year-old Amandeep Singh by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team or IHIT. He split his time between Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA, and Surrey and Abbotsford in British Columbia.

Three others were arrested on May 3 from Edmonton in Alberta.

A release from IHIT on Saturday stated that Amandeep Singh had already been in custody of the Peel Regional Police or PRP in Ontario on unrelated firearms charges.

IHIT pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the BC Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, the release said.

This arrest shows the nature of our ongoing investigation to hold responsible those that played a role in the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, IHIT officer in charge Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said.

IHIT had the assistance of the Abbotsford Police Department and Ontarios Central Region detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP, which helped mitigate a significant public safety risk related to Amandeep Singh.

The three arrested earlier were Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22 and Karanpreet Singh, 28, all residents of Edmonton, and they are also facing similar charges. They made an appearance before a British Columbia provincial court in Surrey on Tuesday.

Amandeep Singh was arrested in November 2023 on nine charges including those related to unauthorised possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance.

Four others were arrested at that time.

Canadian investigators have not, as yet, announced any link to the Indian Government in relation to the murder. However, on May 3, Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, Commander of the Federal Policing Program in the Pacific Region, said there were separate and distinct investigations ongoing including investigating connections to the Government of India. A day later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the investigations were ongoing.

The killing of Nijjar on June 18, in Surrey, British Columbia, caused India-Canada relations to rupture after Trudeaus statement in the House of Commons three months later that there were credible allegations of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder. India reacted by saying those charges were absurd and motivated.

Indias High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma had described the arrests as an internal matter for Canada.
A recent comment by an Iranian official, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, raised speculation on further escalations in the Middle East, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The official said Iran will change its nuclear doctrine if Israel continues to threaten its existence in the current conflict. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)(AFP)

In its nuclear doctrine, Iran has always expressed it has no plans to obtain nuclear weapons. While Western governments have long suspected that Tehran wants to obtain a nuclear bomb, its peaceful doctrine dictates otherwise.

Speaking to a local news network, Kamal Kharrazi echoed Iran's policy of having no plans to built a nuclear bomb, but issued a sharp threat to Israel by suggesting it might change its nuclear doctrine soon.

Kamal Kharrazi said to Iran's Student News Network on Thursday, We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Iran's existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine.

Recently, the military officials also announced that if Israel wants to attack nuclear facilities, it is possible and imaginable to revise Irans nuclear doctrine and policies and divert from the previous declaration considerations, he said.

In 2022, the same adviser said Iran was technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but had not yet decided whether to build one. Khamenei, who has the final say in Tehran's nuclear program, banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa, or religious edict, in the early 2000s.

In his latest comment on the topic, Kharrazi said, In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime, our deterrence will change.

Iran and Israel have long been arch enemies, but what was for decades a shadow war erupted into open confrontation in April, when Tehran launched about 300 missiles and drones against Israel in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus.

Despite being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites, the Iranian city of Isfahan came under heavy Israeli fire in the recent weeks. This was a retaliatory move by Israel, after Iran launched a drone and missile attack on the country last month.

(With inputs from AP, AFP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said Israel lacked a "credible plan" to protect some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians in Rafah and warned an Israeli attack could create an insurgency by failing to kill all Hamas fighters in the southern Gazan city. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (AP)

"Israel is on a trajectory potentially to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas fighters left or if it leaves a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas," Blinken said on NBC's Meet the Press.

Hamas fighters, he said, are returning to northern Gaza areas that Israel claimed to have cleared, and an assault on Rafah "risks doing terrible harm to civilians" without ending the Hamas presence there.

Israel's planned invasion of Rafah has helped fuel the deepest tensions in relations between Israel and its main ally in generations.

NBC and CBS News aired interviews with Blinken dominated by President Joe Biden's decision to pause a shipment to Israel of bombs over fears of massive civilian casualties in Rafah and a State Department report that Israel's use of U.S.-supplied arms may have broken international law.

The report, which was unrelated to the bomb shipment, found no specific violations justifying withholding U.S. military aid, saying the chaos of war prevented verification of alleged individual breaches.

Hamas' use of civilian infrastructure and tunnels "makes it very difficult to determine, particularly in the midst of war," what happened in specific instances, Blinken said, defending the report criticized by some lawmakers of Biden's Democratic Party and human rights groups.

Appearing after Blinken on NBC, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders rejected the report, saying that "any observer knows Israel has broken international law" and "should not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, interviewed on the same program, called Biden's postponing the bombs "the worst decision in the history of the U.S. Israeli relationship."

"Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can't afford to lose, and work with them to minimize casualties," he said.

Defending the pause on the supply of 3,500 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs, Blinken said Israel lacked a "credible plan" to protect some 1.4 million civilians sheltering in Rafah.

He told CBS that the shipment was the only U.S. weapons package being withheld.

But that could change, he said, if Israel launches a full-scale attack on Rafah, which Israel says it plans to invade to root out entrenched Hamas fighters.

If Israel "launches this major military operation to Rafah, then there are certain systems that we're not going to be supporting and supplying for that operation," said Blinken.

Israel needs to "have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven't seen," he said.

Most of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah were displaced from elsewhere by fighting and Israeli bombardments that have devastated the seaside enclave.

Israel also has not developed a post-war plan for Gaza's security, governance and reconstruction, Blinken said, adding on CBS that the U.S. is working on such a plan with Arab governments and others.

"We have the same objectives as Israel. We want to make sure that Hamas cannot govern Gaza again," he said, adding that the United States has been discussing with Israel "a more effective, durable way" of demilitarizing Gaza and finding Hamas' leaders.

Israel's military operation in Gaza has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

The war was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel says 620 soldiers have been killed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a surprise new defence minister, nominating civilian Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister who specialises in economics, for the job more than two years into the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said. Russia's President Vladimir Putin(AFP)

Putin wants Sergei Shoigu, defence minister since 2012 and a long-standing ally, to become the secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council, replacing incumbent Nikolai Patrushev, and to also have responsibilities for the military-industrial complex, the Kremlin announced on Sunday.

The changes, certain to be approved by parliamentarians, are the most significant Putin has made to the military command since sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 in what he called a special military operation.

The shake-up gives Shoigu a job that is technically regarded as senior to his defence ministry role, ensuring continuity and saving Shoigu's face. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia's General Staff and someone with a more hands-on role when it comes to directing the war, will remain in post.

Sergei Lavrov, the country's veteran foreign minister, will also stay in his job, the Kremlin said.

The appointment of Belousov, a civilian official known for his economic decision-making rather than battlefield knowledge, is the biggest surprise.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, told reporters that the change made sense because Russia was approaching a situation like the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when the military and law enforcement authorities accounted for 7.4% of state spending.

That, said Peskov, meant it was vital to ensure such spending aligned with the country's overall interests, which was why Putin now wanted a civilian with an economic background in the defence ministry job.

"The one who is more open to innovations is the one who will be victorious on the battlefield," Peskov said.

The change is also likely to be seen by an attempt by Putin to subject defence spending to greater scrutiny to ensure funds are effectively spent after a Shoigu ally and deputy defence minister was accused by state prosecutors of taking a bribe.
New Delhi, China has emerged as the largest trading partner of India with USD 118.4 billion two-way commerce in 2023-24, slightly edging past the US, according to the data of economic think tank GTRI. China largest trading partner of India in FY24 with USD 118.4 bn; US second with USD 118.3 bn

The bilateral trade between India and the US stood at USD 118.3 billion in 2023-24. Washington was the top trading partner of New Delhi during 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The data showed that India's exports to China rose by 8.7 per cent to USD 16.67 billion in the last fiscal. The main sectors which recorded healthy growth in exports to that country include iron ore, cotton yarn/fabrics/madeups, handloom, spices, fruits and vegetables, plastic and linoleum.

Imports from the neighbouring country increased by 3.24 per cent to USD 101.7 billion.

On the other hand, exports to the US dipped by 1.32 per cent to USD 77.5 billion in 2023-24 as against USD 78.54 billion in 2022-23, while imports dipped by about 20 per cent to USD 40.8 billion, the data showed.

The Global Trade Research Initiative said that from fiscal year 2019 to FY2024, India's trade dynamics with its top 15 trading partners underwent significant transformations, impacting both exports and imports along with the status of trade surplus or deficit across various sectors.

It added that China witnessed a marginal decline in exports by 0.6 per cent, from USD 16.75 billion to USD 16.66 billion, while imports from China surged by 44.7 per cent, from USD 70.32 billion to USD 101.75 billion.

"This growth in imports led to an expanding trade deficit, rising from USD 53.57 billion in FY2019 to USD 85.09 billion in FY2024, highlighting concerns over stagnant exports amidst rising imports," GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said.

Conversely, it said, trade with the US showed growth, with exports increasing significantly by 47.9 per cent from USD 52.41 billion to USD 77.52 billion.

Imports from the US also grew by 14.7 per cent, from USD 35.55 billion to USD 40.78 billion. This resulted in an expanded trade surplus for India, which grew from USD 16.86 billion to USD 36.74 billion.

According to the commerce ministry data, China was India's top trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18 and also in 2020-21. Before China, the UAE was the country's largest trading partner. The US was the largest partner in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

In 2023-24, the UAE with USD 83.6 billion, was the third largest trading partner of India. It was followed by Russia , Saudi Arabia , and Singapore .

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Google has been blasted after a viral video revealed how the Google Nest assistant refused to answer basic questions on the Holocaust. However, it effortlessly answered questions about the Nakba. Google's AI refuses to say how many Jews were killed in Holocaust (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)(Bloomberg)

Hey Google, how many Jews were killed by the Nazis? Instagram user Michael Apfel Google Nest in an Instagram video. Sorry, I dont understand, the AI replied.

Google Nest provided the same answer to other questions, including How many Jews were killed during World War II? Who did Adolf Hitler try to kill? How many Jews were killed in the concentration camps? How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust? What was the Holocaust?

However, the device answered in detail about The Nakba. an Arabic word that means catastrophe. It describes Palestinians being forced out of their homes during Israels creation. Google Nest described it as the ethnic cleaning of Palestinians.

Malevolent human intervention

Famed author and blogger Tim Urban shared the video on X, captioning it, I assumed this had to be fake so I tried it myself. Same result. He later told New York Post that when he recreated the experiment, Google answered questions on how many Germans, Americans and Japanese had died during World War II, as well as the Rwandan genocide. Google is where we go to answer our questions and you just really want to feel like you can trust those answers and the company behind them. And moments like these break that trust and make you feel like Googles supposed core valuetruthhas been co-opted by politics, Urban said.

Venture capitalist Tal Morgenstern shared the video too, writing, A problem with CLOSED AI models. This shouldnt have happened. And the reason it did is almost surely NOT because of malevolent AI but malevolent human intervention. I hope Google investigates + audits model or setting access to see who did this.

Clifford D. May, founder of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, denounced the results, saying on X, In the past, we've had Holocaust denial by ignoramuses and racists. Now, we have Holocaust denial by Artificial Intelligence. Progress?

A Google spokesperson told New York Post that the response was not intended, saying this only happened in some instances and on certain devices. Weve taken immediate action to fix this bug, the spokesperson said.
Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla has taken to X to make a comment in favour of Joe Biden while blasting Donald Trump. In a post, Khosla asked if supporters of Trump would want their children to be like him. Vinod Khosla blasts Trump after hosting Biden (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)(Bloomberg)

The question I keep asking myself is would his supporters want their own kids to be like @realDonaldTrump and have #Trumpvalues? Do you want your kids to be like him? Republicans and Democrats can disagree on priorities but its Democrats, Republicans and #DONkeyRumpTrump hijack victims, Khosla wrote.

Joe Biden attends fundraiser hosted by Vinod Khosla

Khosla is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He made the comment hours after he hosted the president at his home in Silicon Valley for a fundraiser. At the event, the cost of the tickets ranged between $6,600 and $100,000. This was the first time an Indian-American hosted a fundraiser in the 2024 election cycle which Biden attended.

Biden gave a 15-minute speech at the event. He spoke about immigration, womens rights, and mentioned Trump too, according to NDTV. He said immigrants were "incredible contributors" to the country. "They (immigrants) have been incredible contributors to the work ethic of this country -- incredible. One of the reasons why we continue to grow is we are not xenophobic. We have the input of new immigrants coming into the country that should come into the country that are generating economic growth," Biden said as the audience applauded.

Thanking Kholsa for hosting him, Biden said, "Vinod and Neeru (Khosla), thank you. Thank you for that introduction and your whole family. You know, one of the bad news about being a child or a nephew in a deeply involved family is you have no way out.

"Thank you for inviting us to your wonderful home because I came to see your dogs. As the press can tell you, I like dogs better than people sometimes," the president added.
A group of anti-Israel protesters from a Florida chapter of Queers for Palestine were seen blocking access to Walt Disney World before being quickly arrested on Saturday, May 11. Queers for Palestine protesters arrested after blocking exit to Florida's Disney World (cflqueersforpalestine/Instagram)

The small crew, wearing keffiyeh, blocked the Disney exit of Interstate 4 in Orlando using their vehicles. They accused the company of supporting genocide. Free free Palestine, the demonstrators chanted, holding banners across the ramp.

Some drivers used the highways shoulder to go around the protesters. Video showed a furious motorist stepping out of the car to confront them.

You are causing people to actually hate you

According to a viral clip surfacing on social media, the motorist is heard saying, You are losing people to your cause because of this  Think a little bit. You are causing people to actually hate you.

The protester verbally attacked him, calling him a genocide sympathizer. Go fk yourself. Forty-five thousand people dead, the protester yelled at him. As per the Gaza Health Ministry, nearly 35,000 Palestinians have died since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

This is not the way, do you understand that? Think a little bit! the angry man shot back before shaking off.

The video continued, eventually showing cars finally moving. The group claims that Disney supports Israel without acknowledging the loss of Palestinian lives in the ongoing genocide. It also accuses the company of introducing an Israeli superhero in 2025s Captain America: Brave New World, according to New York Post. The page shared multiple Instagram stories calling for Disney to be boycotted.

A Fox News reporter shared on X that police arrived 11 minutes later. The Queers For Palestine protesters who blocked the highway exit to Disney World in Orlando, FL, have been arrested by Florida Highway Patrol. Im told they were arrested within 11 minutes, reporter BillMelugin wrote. Florida continues w/ zero tolerance for blocking traffic.
Donald Trump flew in to greet thousands of supporters at his oceanside rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on Saturday. Amid major speculations about who his final running mate pick would be, the ex-president was accompanied by an unlikely surprise guest, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Together, they arrived at the venue in the presumptive GOP nominee's Trump Force One campaign plane. Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, U.S., May 11, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein(REUTERS)

The New York Post reported that the rumoured VP contender came out with his wife Kathryn in support of the former president's run for Term 2.

The American news website added that officials believed 80,000 people were expected to come out in support of Trump's first major rally in the area since 2020.

Also read | Bill Maher declares Stormy Daniels a bad witness in Trump trial, calls her out for changing story

Donald Trump's New Jersey rally welcomes mega crowd with a festival-like energy

A wild scene erupted at the Wildwood beach on May 11 as people lined up to catch a glimpse of the former president. Per NJ.com's report, many of these Trump supporters travelled for hours to attend the beachfront rally, with hundreds of them even setting up camp on the boardwalk.

Trump's attendance on Saturday evening in the southern New Jersey resort town follows a week-long legal entanglement in court for his ongoing felony hush money trial, among several other charges that could possibly result in Trump's conviction by Election Day, which is less than six months away.

According to The Associated Press, Rep. Jeff Van Drew described this gathering of thousands of people as the largest political turnout in the state's history. Trump truthers gathered around the area hours before his arrival, covered in paraphernalia suggesting their pledged loyalty to the former president.

Many wore Never Surrender t-shirts and red Make America Great Again hats. Other pictures of the beachfront gathering also showed them engaging in tailgate parties ahead of the rally, almost painting a picture of a festival.
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to impose a 40-year prison sentence for the man who broke into former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis San Francisco home seeking to hold her hostage and attacked her husband with a hammer. US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and her husband, Paul Pelosi, (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)

The San Francisco Chronicle reported late Friday that prosecutors made the request ahead of a sentencing hearing for David DePape, saying he has not shown remorse for the October 2022 attack.

There is nothing about the history and characteristics of the defendant that warrant leniency, federal prosecutors wrote in court documents. The defendant has admitted  indeed bragged  that he knew what he was doing.

DePape was convicted last year of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. He is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Paul Pelosi suffered skull fracture

The attack on then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi, which was captured on police body camera video just days before the midterm elections, sent shockwaves through the political world.

DePape admitted during trial testimony that he broke into the Pelosis home intending to hold the speaker hostage and break her kneecaps if she lied to him. He also admitted to bludgeoning Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police showed up at the home, saying his plan to end what he viewed as government corruption was unraveling.

Defense attorneys said DePape was motivated by his political beliefs and caught up in conspiracy theories.

Nancy Pelosi was not at the home at the time of the attack. Paul Pelosi suffered two wounds on his head, including a skull fracture that was mended with plates and screws he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.
Police arrested a man in connection to a brutal sexual assault case in the Bronx, where footage showed the suspect wrapping a belt around a womans neck and dragging her behind a car. He has been accused of raping the victim. Kashaan Parks, 39, was arrested by the NYPD Saturday morning, May 11. Kashaan Parks was turned in by his mom (DCPI)

Parks has been charged with second-degree rape, second-degree assault, second-degree strangulation, sex abuse in the first-degree, first-degree public lewdness and harassment in the first-degree in connection with the incident that took place near East 152nd Street and 3rd Avenue around on May 1, according to ABC 7.

The attacker followed the woman, 45, and then attacked her and lassoed a belt around her neck. She quickly lost consciousness, following which the suspect dragged her behind a car and raped her. The suspect then fled towards Melrose Avenue on foot.

The victim and the suspect knew each other, police said. She was rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln in stable condition after the caught-on-camera incident.

Who is Kashaan Parks?

Meanwhile, a police source said that the suspect acted with an eerie precision. I definitely think hes done it before, a Bronx detective said anonymously, according to New York Post.

It was too clean. Normally, the first time out they make huge mistakes. This was no mistake. This guy was precise.

Theres probably more victims out there but what happens is they blackout and dont remember anything, the detective said. How do you get the belt around the neck perfectly like that?

Parks has two prior arrests. He was charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief in the Bronx on October 14, 2018, after he allegedly hit a 46-year-old woman multiple times during an argument. He also allegedly jumped on top of her. He was also charged with theft of services in 2013 after he allegedly entered the ear of an MTA bus without making a payment.

Authorities have said the Bronx suspect stopped cooperating with authorities at some point. As many as 511 rapes had been reported throughout the city as of May 5. This is the same number during this period in 2023.

Kashaan Parks mother turned him in

It has also been reported that Parks mother is the one that turned him in. 56-year-old Beverly Parks claimed that her sons wife called and told her he had choked and raped a woman.

Im his mother that turned him in. Im the one that facilitated him being arrested, told New York Post. I found out about this yesterday morning at 5:12 am, and Ive been trying to get my son to do the right thing ever since. And I did.

Beverly said her son has been dealing with drinking and drug issues. The dad-of-two was unemployed.

He  had a one-year-old baby. Its not like he was walking the street committing crimes and doing this, she said. I had my son go be accountable for his actions, no matter that he was drunk, that he was on drugs, that he was grieving.

He did something wrong and he has to deal with it. Period, she added.
Former US President Donald Trump has been trying to put his best foot forward when it comes to wooing his voters amidst his ongoing hush money trial. Ahead of 2024 presidential elections, the GOP presumptive presidential nominee on Saturday headed to New Jersey and blasted incumbent Joe Biden for criminal charges he is facing by calling it a "Biden show trial". Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump addressed a campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J., Saturday, May 11, 2024. (AP)

Calling the Democrat leader "a fool", Trump repeatedly described the cases against him as politically motivated, adding that they are timed to damage his ability to campaign.

Despite Trump's fears ahead of the potential rematch between him and Biden, a new poll has found that the former president's support will increase in four critical swing states if he is found guilty in the hush money trial.

Notably, Trump faces a 20-year jail sentence if convicted of concealing "hush money" payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to prevent her from disclosing details about their alleged affair during his first presidential campaign in 2016.

According to the poll conducted by The Telegraph by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, voters in numerous key states, including Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, have stated they would be more likely to vote for Trump if he is found guilty in Daniels case.

Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford, professionally known as Stormy Daniels, has testified against Trump this week, making some bombshell revelations about their alleged affair, which began when the former First Lady, Melania Trump, was pregnant.

Also Read: Donald Trump's youngest son Barron's voice heard for first time as netizens say he sounds like...

Here's what swing states voters have to say

As many as 35 percent of voters in Georgia, the closest state in the 2020 presidential campaign, stated they would support Trump more if he gets convicted. While 27 percent of voters said they would support him less, 30 percent stated their choices will remain unaffected.

In Arizona, one of the most closely contested states in the 2020 election, people were equally divided on whether they would vote for Trump if he was found guilty.

Voters polled in Pennsylvania were somewhat less likely to support Trump if the jury found him guilty.

If convicted, Trump would become the first former president of the US to be found guilty of a felony. He is facing 91 felony accusations in four separate pending criminal prosecutions.

Despite Trump rejecting all the allegations and claiming that the hush money trial is "rigged" and "corrupt," the majority of people in the six states believe he will get a fair trial.

The case is set to resume on Monday and Michael Cohen, former president's ex-lawyer, is slated to testify against Trump.
It was a surprise to many when North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, of all the people on Donald Trumps vice presidential shortlist, joined the former president on his flight to Wildwood, New Jersey, for a rally. Before dropping out, Burgum was among Trumps many opponents in the Republican primary.

At the rally, Burgum praised Trump and criticised Joe Biden. "Working with President Trump as a governor was like having a beautiful breeze that your back," Burgum said. He added that Biden regulatory regime is like having a gale force wind in your face because the Biden bureaucrats are treating our constitutional republic like a dictatorship. Will Donald Trump pick Doug Burgum as VP? (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)(REUTERS)

Donald Trump means strength, Joe Biden means weakness, Burgum said. If you want to make America strong again, you know what to do.

Will Donald Trump pick Doug Burgum as vice president?

While Trump has made no direct remark on whether or not he would pick Burgum as vice president, he did praise the governor at the rally as incredible and asked people to get ready for something. He made his money in technology, but he probably knows more about energy than anybody I know, Trump said. So get ready for something. OK, just get ready.

It is unlikely that Trump will announce his VP pick before the Republican National Convention in July. Burgum opened up to New York Post about reports that he is being considered for a Cabinet position or VP. He said Trump made it clear that he has dozens of people in mind.

I dismiss sort of all of that. Because just a week ago at Mar-a-Lago, when someone asked him, during his remarks, he said that there was over 50 people on the shortlist. So the shortlist could be very long, Burgum said.

And I think everybody who cares about this country should be out helping the campaign for President Trump and thats what the first lady and I are doing, he added.

Who is Doug Burgum?

Back on December 15, 2016, Burgum took office as the 33rd governor of North Dakota. Growing up in Arthur, North Dakota, he graduated with a bachelors degree in university studies from North Dakota State University in 1978. He later went on to earn a masters of business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1980.

According to Burgums website, He has been a leader in transforming education and equipping students with the essential skills for life and learning, preparing graduates for a choice-ready future in college, career or the military. He stands with those in recovery and, with First Lady Kathryn Burgum, is pushing a positive movement to eliminate the shame and stigma of the disease of addiction and support behavioral health, mental health and addiction by focusing on the foundations of well-being.
CAIRO  Canadian authorities are urging all remaining residents in the northeastern part of the province of British Columbia to leave immediately, despite improving weather conditions, after thousands have already been evacuated due to a fast-growing wildfire. Wildfire in Canada's British Columbia forces thousands to evacuate. Winds push smoke into Alberta

The blaze, which started Friday, almost doubled in size the following day, reaching about 17 square kilometers . BC Wildfire Service maps showed the fire burning just a few kilometers west of Fort Nelsons city limits.

Online footage shared by locals showed thick plumes of smoke rising high into the sky with houses in the foreground. In some photos, haze seemed to cover wide areas.

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Fort Nelson First Nation issued a joint statement warning people staying behind that emergency medical services are not available, nor are groceries or other amenities.

The municipality mayor, Rob Fraser, said most of the 3,500 residents in and around Fort Nelson, B.C., have been evacuated, adding that police were going door to door to ensure everyone got out.

He said the Parker Lake fire is one of three major wildfires near Fort Nelson, located in the far northeastern corner of British Columbia, about 1,600 kilometers from Vancouver.

Health authorities said Fort Nelson General Hospital has been safely evacuated and closed until further notice.

Resident Bud Streeper posted a video update from the area on Saturday, saying that the winds that had whipped the Parker Lake wildfire into exponential growth on Friday night diminished overnight, reducing fire activity around the town.

The high winds pushed smoke from the blaze into parts of neighboring Alberta on Saturday, putting the city of Edmonton under an air quality advisory with hazard levels rated at 10-plus  or very high risk  forecast.

Meteorologists are not anticipating rain in the area and have advised people to stay indoors.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
A watchdog group has called on the Federal Election Commission to investigate allegations that lawyers for former President Donald Trump covered up payments to women in additon to the alleged money to Stormy Daniels in violation of federal law.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint Friday with the FEC calling for the probe. It cited claims made by Trump's 2016 campaign aide A.J. Delgado earlier this week in a sworn court declaration in her pending discrimination lawsuit against Trump and the campaign, the Daily Beast reported.

Delgado alleged that Marc Kasowitz, a Trump lawyer, admitted that the campaign wanted to use a law firm to make a potential settlement payment to her in 2017 that was designed to skirt federal disclosure laws requiring that campaigns publicly report the identities of payment recipients, the Daily Beast said.

"In other words, the payment would be routed through a middleman, to hide the fact that the Campaign had settled, from the public and the FEC," Delgado said.

"I thus have direct, personal experience with the Defendant-Campaign hiding settlement payments to women, routing them through a 'middleman law firm,' which to the public would only appear as payments 'for legal services,'" she said.

CREW's complaint  which targets the campaign's Make American Great Again PAC  went on to say that Delgado "further alleges that payments made to the lawyer's firm and another entity were to pay settlements of, and legal services related to, complaints of gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and sexual harassment."

"Federal law requires that political committees accurately report the recipients and disbursements of their funds. In violation of this law, Make American Great Again PAC falsely attributed payments to conduits utilized solely to prevent the disclosure of the true recipient and purpose of its disbursement," the CREW complaint stated.

CREW noted that Trump is currently on trial in Manhattan criminal court for alleged hush-money payments made weeks before the 2016 election to keep former porn star Stormy Daniels from going public with her accusations of a sexual affair with Trump years earlier.

Noah Bookbinder, CREW's president, told the Daily Beast that Delgado's accusations raise the possibility of wrongdoing.

"The allegations made in AJ Delgado's declaration paint a deeply troubling picture of potentially illegal activity carried out by Donald Trump's campaign. The FEC must conduct an investigation to determine the validity of these claims and establish the degree to which any wrongdoing occurred," Bookbinder said.

Requests for comments sent to the Trump campaign and Delgado were unanswered.

Benson Torres, a spokesperson for Kasowitz, said: "Ms. Delgado's accusations that there were FEC violations or that the firm acted as a 'middleman' to 'hid[e] settlement payments to women' from the Campaign are pure fantasy and false."
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.
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.
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.
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.
Legendary movie director Roger Corman, who turned out hundreds of low-budget films in Hollywood and was known as the "King of the Bs," has passed away at the age of 98.

His wife and daughters confirmed his death in a statement to the Associated Press on Saturday.

"He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him," the statement said. "When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, 'I was a filmmaker, just that.'"

Some of Hollywood's biggest actors and directors got early breaks in his films. Among them was Jack Nicholson.

Other actors whose careers began in Corman movies included Robert De Niro, Bruce Dern and Ellen Burstyn.

His films were a staple of outdoor movie theaters in the day, and helped shaped American teens' aesthetic  and future filmmakers.

Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors" became a classic that inspired a long-lasting stage musical and a 1986 musical adaptation starring Steve Martin, Bill Murray and John Candy.

So many reasons to celebrate Roger Corman and his approach to filmmaking. His Poe cycle was a favourite of mine, astonishing, immersive and mesmerising.



The house is the monster.

Roger Corman (1926-2024) pic.twitter.com/CivUUYBrK3  Maria J Perez Cuervo (@mjpcuervo) May 12, 2024

Tributes to him poured in from Hollywood's elite.

Director John Carpenter called Corman "one of the most influential movie directors in my life," adding: "It was my privilege to know him.He was a great friend. He shaped my childhood with science fiction movies and Edgar Allen Poe epics. I'll miss you, Roger."

Actor and director Ron Howard wrote on X: "RIP Roger Corman. A great movie maker and mentor. When I was 23 he gave me my 1st shot at directing. He launched many careers & quietly lead our industry in important ways. He remained sharp, interested and active even at 98. Grateful to have known him."

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said that Corman did "more for Contemporary American Cinema than any other of his contemporaries. He was a pillar and a straight-shooting, no-nonsense lover of Film."

"Lord of the Rings" star Elijah Wood simply reacted: "Farewell, Roger Corman."

Some Hollywood veterans gave thanks to Corman by offering him small roles in their later movies including Jonathan Demme casting him as the FBI director in "The Silence of the Lambs."

Roger Corman was an iconic, innovative filmmaker, all-around nice guy & captivating storyteller who gave Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard & James Cameron (and many more!) their starts. Plus, He and Joe Dante revolutionized how movie trailers were cut. #RIPRogerCorman pic.twitter.com/LY6STmlcG7  Courtney Howard (@Lulamaybelle) May 12, 2024

Corman received an honorary Academy Award in 2009. He is survived by his wife, Julie, and children Catherine, Roger, Brian and Mary.
Former President Donald Trump suffered a setback in a bid to obtain information about Stormy Daniels and his former lawyer Michael Cohen ahead of Cohen's expected testimony against him this week.

The judge overseeing Trump's historic "hush money" trial in New York City on Friday blocked his legal team from subpoenaing records from lawyer Mark Pomerantz, who formerly served as a special prosecutor to investigate Trump and gathered information on Daniels and Cohen .

In his ruling, Justice Juan Merchan said the March 18 defense subpoena was "far too broad" in its scope and amounted to an "improper fishing expedition" under state law.

Merchan also said the amount of evidence that Pomerantz already gave Trump's lawyers meant it was highly unlikely their subpoena would "uncover any information that is relevant and material to the proceedings."

Pomerantz abruptly resigned as special prosecutor in February 2022, citing opposition to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's decision to suspend his probe.

Pomerantz said he feared the move would "doom any future prospects" of prosecuting Trump, who last year became the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges.

The March 18 subpoena issued against Pomerantz sought "all documents" tied to a February 2021 memo that addressed whether Daniels had committed extortion or larceny and whether Trump was a "victim of blackmail" by the porn star.

It also demanded records from a 13-month period related to Cohen's interactions with Trump and any "bias or animosity" Cohen expressed toward his former boss.

Last week, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told the jury she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Cohen is expected to testify starting Monday that Trump directed him to buy Daniels' silence for $130,000 shortly before his 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for this year's presidential election, denies that he had sex with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying records to allegedly disguise the payment to her as business expenses.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Israel has failed to reveal a "credible" plan to mitigate Palestinian deaths in Rafah, the Gazan city where more than a million civilians are sheltering from bombardment or running for their lives.

He also said the bombings may have little real effect on eradicating Hamas.

"Right now, the trajectory that Israel is on  even if it goes in and takes heavy action in Rafah  there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"The trajectory right now is that going into Rafah, even to deal with these remaining battalions, especially in the absence of a plan for civilians, risks doing terrible harm to civilians and not solving the problem."

WATCH: @SecBlinken says the U.S. has not seen credible plans from Israel on mitigating civilian deaths in Rafah  or for what happens when the war ends.



Blinken: Even if [Israel] ... takes heavy action in Rafah, there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left. pic.twitter.com/V1qRVlnYBW  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 12, 2024

Nevertheless, Blinken claimed there was no "double standard" for Israel and insisted the nation is held to same account as any other nation.

WATCH: @SecBlinken says the U.S. does not apply double standards to Israel when it comes to holding the country accountable for actions in Gaza.



We treat Israel, one of our closest allies and partners, just as we would treat any other country. pic.twitter.com/xl4VRMFMQw  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 12, 2024

The population of Rafah has swelled to more than a million people in recent months, with most fleeing from bombings in other parts of Gaza.

President Joe Biden, Blinken and other American officials have repeatedly warned Israel that invading Rafah would be a "mistake" that would endanger the already vulnerable civilian population.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory attacks after a Hamas assault early last October on Israel that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds of hostages.
Authorities in Florida say they have finally identified a woman whose remains were found on a beach in St. Johns County in 1985.

A group of construction workers digging the footing for a beach walkover discovered the human remains in a shallow grave on Crescent Beach.

The initial investigation revealed that the victim was a white woman, possibly between the ages of 30 and 50 at the time of her death. Her death was determined to be homicide.

Progress began to be made in the case In 2023 after, detectives sent portions of the remains to a private lab in Texas that specializes in advanced techniques in forensic genetic genealogy.

The lab team built a DNA profile for the victim, which was submitted to consumer genealogy databases used by millions.

In January, detectives got a confirmed match and were able to identify the victim as Mary Alice Pultz. The mother of two was 25 when she disappeared.

She was last seen by her family in 1968 when she left with her boyfriend, John Thomas Fugitt  also known as Billy Joe Wallace  was sentenced to death in Georgia related to a 1981 murder of a male roommate. He died in prison befroe his execution.

"This investigation is a powerful example that we will never give up," St. Johns Sheriff Rob Hardwick said. "The combination of highly skilled detectives and advanced DNA technology has given Mary Alice's family some answers about her disappearance close to 40 years ago."

Fugitt is considered a suspect in Pultz's death, but detectives say other possibilities cannot be ruled out and they continue to investigate.
Fifty-six pairs of shoes were set out on the steps of Pittsfield City Hall on Friday to symbolize the average number of children =with confirmed abuse and neglect cases each month in the county. Berkshire lawmakers and local leaders attended the event. Jennifer Valenzuela, executive director of the Children's Trust, speaks at the event. PreviousNext

Shoes at Pittsfield City Hall Give Shocking Visual of Countywide Child Abuse



Amy Hall, president and CEO of Child Care of the Berkshires, speaks at Friday's annual Step Up event at Pittsfield City Hall.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  One case of child abuse is too many, Berkshire leaders say.



The steps of City Hall were lined with 56 pairs of children's shoes on Friday, representing the average number of children with confirmed abuse and neglect cases each month in the county. The Children's Trust and Child Care of the Berkshires coordinate this shocking visual yearly.



"Let's just take a minute and realize how many kids that is. That's probably about the number right here that are all together," Jennifer Valenzuela, executive director of the Children's Trust said.



"Fifty-six is too many children that are being entered into our system and that something is happening in their home. The last time we were all here it was 2019 and there were 58 pairs of shoes so we're doing better. We've gone down by two a month."



She said the goal is for more children to have access to great child care and strong adult support. How does this become a reality? Strong programming and a strong workforce.



"Our home visitors and our family support staff wake up every day and they give unselfishly to the families across Massachusetts. They're supporting our families day in and day out. They're helping them learn about parenting and child development and helping them get set up in the systems that are available and signing up for programming. They're listening to the highs of what it is to be a parent and the lows and for those of us who are parents here, we know that there are many highs and lows," Valenzuela said.



"Their stories of why they do this are heartfelt and I've been going around the state over the last year and a half since I started. What I hear over and over again is, 'I love what I do. I wake up every day and I'm so grateful for the engagement I have with these families and the partnerships that we create. I want to do this for as long as I possibly can.'



"The problem is, they can't afford to stay. We're not paying our workforce enough for them to be able to live and to sustain in this type of work."



She added that the No. 1 reason that home visitors leave the position is pay. The trust is trying to increase the Healthy Families program visitors' starting wage from $17 an hour to $20 an hour, which she said isn't even enough.



State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier underlined this point.



"When it comes to prevention, we need to support families. The best place for a child is safely at home. I'm going to say that again, the best place for a child is safely at home and we can do a better job protecting our kids and supporting our kids if we support their families and that's just exactly what Healthy Families do," she said.



"Secondly, the workforce. Let's ask ourselves a question. Why is it that the lowest-paid people are the people who take care of others? Why is it that the lowest-paid people are the people who take care of others? We could think about historically, for example, why that is true and we can't get away from the fact that it's because historically the people who take care of others are women, and women for centuries went without pay at all."



She said we have to pay our workers if we really want to fix the wrongs in this world.



"This isn't 56 a year. This is 56 a month," the state rep emphasized. "This is a grave problem that we have in our community and until we are all decided that we're going to take this problem on and be part of the solution, we are never going to have these numbers reduce."



Mayor Peter Marchetti said this is a disheartening statistic.



"Our children should be protected, loved, and cared for as they grow," he added. "As a community, we need to provide support to all the children and families. We need to take proactive measures to ensure we support caregivers and connect them with the resources they need. Housing, food, and education are some of the basic needs to be met."



Amy Hall, president and CEO of Child Care of the Berkshires also highlighted the importance of collaboration.



"It really does take everyone to impact the number of shoes that are here today and it takes people who work every day. It takes families, it takes neighbors, it takes community members, it takes home visitors," she said.



"Those people directly affect the families but we can't necessarily do the work we do without leadership that is here today and also without the parents who will let us into their homes and let us make a difference and work with you to make you strong."
After the successful launch of the A878 Duo, MyPhones first dual-SIM android smartphone to feature a 1GHz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch IPS display and Android ICS OS last September 28th. Starmobile, a maker of quality dual SIM mobile phones in the country just unveiled a teaser photo of their upcoming Android smartphone called the Starmobile ASTRA. The ASTRA is the biggest and the first Android smartphone from Starmobile, featuring a 1GHz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch IPS display, 8MP autofocus camera, Mobile TV and the most important feature of all, 3G connectivity support! More details after the jump.

"The Starmobile Team is working hard and excited to bring you the ASTRA very very soon." - Happy Man by Starmobile

Starmobile Astra Specifications:

Dual SIM / Dual Standby

4.3" WVGA (480x800) IPS display (217ppi)

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

1GHz dual-core MT6577 processor

PowerVR SGX531 GPU

512MB of RAM

4GB of internal storage

microSD up to 32GB

Bluetooth v2.1 EDR and A2DP

WIFI build 802.11b/g / WiFi Hotspot

GPS with A-GPS support

8MP Autofocus Camera w/ dual LED Flash (Main)

VGA Camera (Front)

720p HD Video Recording

JAVA / EDGE / WAP / GPRS / SMS / MMS / 3G

MP3 / Multimedia Player / FM Radio / Mobile TV

3.5mm Headset Jack / 2.0 Micro USB

Motion Sensor / Proximity Sensor

Triband GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz

HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps

1500mAh Li-on Battery

Standby time: up to 200 hours

Talk time: up to 4.5 hours

130.5 x 66.5 x 10.9mm (dimension)

132g (weight)

Price: Php6,990 (Official SRP) with FREE Screen Protector and 8GB Memory Card

Availabilty: Out Now! Read more

For those who still dont know who Starmobile is?

Starmobile is a new Philippine company that makes quality feature-packed dual SIM mobile phones that, unlike other brands, nearly everyone can afford.

Note:

- Most of the specs of the Starmobile Astra is not yet confirmed by Starmobile. We'll update this post once the official specs of the Starmobile Astra is released, so stay tuned!

Update:

(11/14/12) The Starmobile Astra is now available at Lazada Philippines, the fastest-growing online shopping site in the country that offers a wide-array of products and provides a convenient, worry-free online shopping experience with  free nationwide delivery, 14-day return policy and cash on delivery. Read more

Link: http://www.lazada.com.ph/Starmobile-Astra-UNLOCKED-Coffee-46723.html

(11/12/12) The Starmobile Astra is now available at Widget City, one of the trusted online gadget stores in the country for a price of just Php6,850 only! With FREE 8GB memory card and screen guard! Read more

Link: http://www.widgetcity.com.ph/product/mobile-phone/star-mobile/starmobile-astra

(10/31/12) The Starmobile Astra or i-mobile i-STYLE Q2DUO, from Thai telecoms company i-mobile. Thanks Harold Dela Fuente for the tip!



Source: Happy Man by Starmobile (Facebook)

Back to top
In conjunction with International Mother's Day, Filipino startup MILA Business Solutions Corp. has introduced MILA, a patient-centric health data storage application poised to revolutionize the way Filipino families manage their healthcare records.

(L-R) Abdul Paravengal (Managing Director, Pulse 63), Ma. Jezzika Kierulf, Engr. Faustino Bam Salvador Jr., Albert Acejo (Co-Founders of MILA), Katrina Florcruz-Dacanay, MD, Sandeep Kesav (Head of Accelerator, Pulse63) and Stefan Mader (Partner, Pulse63)

The apps conception stemmed from the company survey showing that about 64% of parents struggle to recall their childs medical history during medical appointments, potentially leading to incomplete assessments, misdiagnoses, and suboptimal healthcare outcomes. Additionally, 50% of the surveyed parents have misplaced their baby books multiple times.

The MILA app aims to streamline children's health management and enable mothers to play proactive roles in their family healthcare. The app offers a comprehensive platform for managing childrens medical records and appointments and sharing data seamlessly with healthcare providers and family members. MILAs vision is to create an ecosystem of specialized services that promote family health and well-being.

With its user-friendly interface and innovative features, MILA simplifies healthcare management, empowering mothers to oversee their familys well-being. Key features include a family health plan, digital baby book, digital immunization records, medication and appointment reminders, and personalized health notes. The platform allows parents to manage all their childs health data in a unified system, making life easier, one medical record at a time.

Engr. Faustino "Bam" Salvador Jr., Chief Executive Officer of MILA, emphasized the apps significance for Filipino households, stating, "The MILA App provides mothers with convenient access to their family's medical and healthcare data in one secure digital space. Its more than a digital tool; it's a way for mothers to stay organized and proactive about their familys health."

Launching on Mothers Day underscores the company's dedication to supporting mothers, who are considered the healthcare manager of the family. With MILA, we're providing mothers a powerful tool to effortlessly manage their childrens health, ensuring peace of mind, confidence, and ease," said Chief Marketing Officer Ma. Jezzika Kierulf. As a mother myself, I see the MILA app as a symbol of empowerment, connectivity, and care for families nationwide, Kierulf added.

"Being a mother myself, I understand the challenges parents face in managing their children's health," stated Chief Marketing Officer Ma. Jezzika Kierulf. With MILA, were providing fellow moms a tool to simplify this process, ensuring not only peace of mind but also fostering confidence and ease. The app stands as a testament to empowerment, connectivity, and our commitment to delivering compassionate care to families nationwide".

The health data management platform is supported by Pulse 63, the growth-focused accelerator and healthcare venture arm of Kaya Founders, ensuring a strong foundation for its ongoing development in providing a safe and convenient health records storage tool. Users can securely store health-related records, access complete immunization records, schedule appointments, and set medication reminders seamlessly through the app's in-app calendar and alarm feature. MILA also allows for easy and secure sharing of childrens health data with schools, doctors, or family members, streamlining health data management to prioritize children's well-being.

Abdul Paravengal, Managing Director of Pulse 63, stated, "Pulse 63 is proud to support the MILA app. Our collaboration is dedicated to fostering innovation in healthcare technology, empowering users with seamless access to health information for better decision-making and outcomes."

For more details on MILA and its features, visit https://mila.com.ph/.
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Netherlands has shed more light on the incident that led to Eurovisions disqualification of Dutch delegate Joost Klein.

Klein was barred from being able to perform at the event hours before it was scheduled to take place as police investigated a complaint of inappropriate behaviour made by a female member of the production crew.

This years tumultuous contest, which was won by Switzerlands delegate Nemo, proceeded with 25 acts, including the UKs Olly Alexander, who struggled to earn points, and Israels Eden Golan, who was booed by those gathered in the arena in Malmo, Sweden.

Organising body, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), released a statement saying that, while the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the contest.

AVROTROS, who organises Netherlands entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, was unimpressed by the decision, stating it had proposed several solutions to the issue.

The incident occurred at the semi-finals on Thursday (9 May), with the Dutch TV company shedding more light on what went down.

According to AVROTROS, Klein "repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed, which led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera.

They said: Joost did not touch the camera woman.

The EBU confirmed that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member.

After Klein was disqualified, AVROTROS said it found "the penalty very heavy and disproportionate", stating: 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."

open image in gallery Joost Klein was disqualified from Eurovision 2024 hours before he was due to perform ( TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima )

Explaining its decision, the EBU said: 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.

Switzerland won Eurovision with a whopping 591 points, closely followed by Croatia with 547 points.

Rounding out the top five were Ukraine (453 points), France (445 points) and Israel, who were awarded a full 12 points from the UKs public vote. The countrys act, Eden Golan, received 375 points overall but, as noted by Graham Norton, received boos from the crowd.

The UKs entry Olly Alexander finished in 18th place, out of 25, and received just 46 points for his song Dizzy, none of which came from the public televote.
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The Simpsons star Harry Shearer has said recasting him with a Black actor has negatively affected one of the shows main characters.

Shearer voices 20 characters on the animated series, including Mr Burns, Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner.

Until 2021, Shearer also voiced Springfield physician Dr Hibbert but found himself suddenly replaced amid calls to recast the shows non-white characters, voiced by white actors.

The animated sitcom had been criticised for years for white actor Hank Azarias portrayal of Indian-American convenience store owner Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a controversy explored in the documentary The Problem with Apu.

Another character who was recast was Dr Hibbert, who had been played by Shearer since 1990. The actor always said that he had played him as a parody of now-disgraced comedian Bill Cosby.

The physician is now voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson  and Shearer has suggested that the recasting has affected the effectiveness of the character.

Speaking to The Times, Shearer said: Folk say the show has become woke in recent years and one of my characters has been affected.

I voiced the black physician, Dr Hibbert, who I based on Bill Cosby. Back then he was known as the whitest Black man on television.

Then, a couple of years ago, I received an email saying theyd employed a Black actor, who then copied my voice.

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Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free

Shearer then questioned the effectiveness of Richardsons performance as the character, stating: The result is a Black man imitating a white man imitating the whitest Black man on TV.

open image in gallery The Simpsons character Dr Hibbert used to be voiced by Harry Shearer ( Fox )

Dr Hibbert is not the only Black character on the series to be recast. Last year, Alex Desert made his debut as Homers friend and co-worker Carl Carlson, a role which had previously been voiced by Hank Azaria.

Fans reacted positively to the new voice work, with many claiming they couldnt tell the difference.

Since the documentary The Problem with Apu debuted, Apu has been quietly sidelined.

Addressing the controversy surrounding his voicework on the show, Azaria said that he helped create a dehumanising stereotype.

After the announcement that white actors would no longer voice non-white characters on The Simpsons, creator Matt Groening said: It was not my idea, but Im fine with it. Who can be against diversity? So its great.

However, I will just say that the actors were not hired to play specific characters. They were hired to do whatever characters we thought of. To me, the amazing thing is seeing all our brilliant actors who can do multiple voices, do multiple voices.
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Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was jailed for her reporting from Wuhan in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, is set to be released after four years.

The lawyer-turned-citizen journalist was in Wuhan in February 2020 to document the Chinese governments efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus at the start of what was to become a global pandemic.

She spoke about the Chinese governments efforts to censor criticism against its response to the pandemic on several social media platforms, including YouTube, WeChat, and X  formerly Twitter.

After 4 years in prison for her independent reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic, journalist Zhang Zhan is due for release on 13 May, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shared on X.

China has faced accusations of delaying the release of crucial information during the initial outbreak and attempting to cover up the situation, actions that are believed to have facilitated the viruss spread to pandemic proportions.

Ms Zhang was arrested in May 2020 and subsequently convicted of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, resulting in a four-year prison sentence. Since then, she has remained incarcerated at Shanghai womens prison.

open image in gallery Pro-democracy activists hold placards as they show support for12 Hong Kong residents detained in mainland China and former lawyer Zhang Zhan outside the Liaison Office of the Central Peoples Government on December 28, 2020, in Hong Kong ( Getty Images )

In a video posted in February 2020, Ms Zhang said Wuhan was paralysed because everything is undercover.

She continued: 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. If we cannot get to the truth, if we cannot break the monopoly of the truth, the world means nothing to us.

Ms Zhang also posted a video online showing a hospital overflowing with patients during the early phase of the pandemic, a time when much information on the viruss spread had not yet reached the rest of the world.

Xi Jinping warns against 'smearing' China over Ukraine

While in prison, she went on a prolonged hunger strike that impacted her health and prompted authorities to feed her forcibly.

Her lawyer told reporters that she became very thin during her stay in prison and had a tube up her nose for forced feeding.

International human rights groups have been calling for Ms Zhangs release with Amnesty International saying she should not have been jailed in the first place.

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty Internationals China director, said: We urge the Chinese authorities to ensure that Zhang Zhan is fully free from 13 May. She must be allowed to move freely, to communicate with people inside and outside of China, and to reunite with her family. She and her family must not be subjected to surveillance or harassment, and the Chinese authorities must also ensure there are no restrictions on her access to medical treatment after her traumatic ordeal in jail.

Additional reporting with agencies
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The death toll from flash floods in northern Afghanistan has risen to 315 with over 1,600 people injured, Taliban officials said on Sunday.

The number of dead from the floods caused by heavy rains is expected to increase, according to the Talibans interior ministry.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged and livestock killed by the flash floods in the northern part of the country.

The death toll has exceeded 300, and sadly, we expect this number to rise. The flood has also destroyed more than 2,000 homes, the UNs International Organization for Migration (IOM) posted on X.

Most of the casualties were reported in the northern province of Baghlan, where heavy rains have destroyed at least 3,000 houses, damaged farmland, washed away livestock, closed schools, and damaged health centres, according to the United Nations.

open image in gallery An Afghan boy shovels mud from the courtyard of a house following flash floods after heavy rainfall at a village in Baghlan-e-Markazi district of Baghlan province on 11 May 2024 ( AFP via Getty Images )

Officials are currently orchestrating rescue operations, medical aid provision, emergency food distribution, shelter arrangements, and assistance in burial arrangements, according to the official X account of Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid.

Air rescue operation is underway to help citizens stranded in floods in the northern province of Baghlan.

Taliban said residents were not prepared to face a sudden rush of water as heavy seasonal rains caused flooding.

The impact has been profound, leading to loss of life and injuries, with many individuals still unaccounted for, the WHOs Afghanistan office said in a statement on Friday.

The heavy rains and subsequent floods have disrupted lives and pose a significant risk to children in the affected provinces. As families cope with the loss, maintaining access to safe water, health and protection services is paramount, Tajudeen Oyewale, Unicef representative in Afghanistan, said.

Pakistan expresses condolences over flood losses in Afghanistan

The UN warned last year that Afghanistan is experiencing large swings in extreme weather conditions.

Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and buildings are often damaged or destroyed, disrupting transportation and communication.

open image in gallery Afghan men shovel mud from a house following flash floods after heavy rainfall at a village in Baghlan-e-Markazi district of Baghlan province on 11 May 2024 ( AFP via Getty Images )

After the Taliban took over and foreign forces withdrew in 2021, the development aid that formed the backbone of government finances was cut.

open image in gallery Afghan relatives offer prayers during a burial ceremony, near the graves of victim who lost their lives following flash floods after heavy rainfall at a village in Baghlan-e-Markazi district of Baghlan province on 11 May 2024 ( AFP via Getty Images )

According to experts, Afghanistan, despite accounting for only 0.06 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, ranks sixth among countries most vulnerable to climate change.

In a statement on Sunday, the Talibans economy minister Din Mohammad Hanif called on the UN, humanitarian agencies, and private businesses to support those affected by the floods.

The destructive flash floods follow heavy rains last month which killed at least 70 people and over 2,500 animals, also damaging agricultural land.
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Watch again as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the country as it marks Memorial Day amid the Gaza war on Sunday 12 May.

Mr Netanyahu made an address at the memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers and victims of conflict.

The commemoration comes amid Israels ongoing war against Hamas.

According to the Defense Ministry, 766 Israeli soldiers were killed while serving in the military during the past year.

A minute of silence will be held across the country at 8pm (local time).

A minute-long siren will sound and after that the state memorial ceremony will open in the Western Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem, with President Isaac Herzog and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi planned to attend.
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Two horses stuck deep in mud for hours in Connecticut were pulled out by more than a dozen rescuers Saturday, emerging messy and tired, but safe.

A trio of horses were walking from a pasture to a barn though swampy woods in Lebanon, Connecticut, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Hartford when they became mired in the muck. Workers were able to walk one horse out, but suction trapped the two, according to a Facebook posting by Stirrup Fun Stables Rescue, Inc.

The more you try to get yourself out  and you can't  you kind of get yourself deeper in," Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jay Schall said Sunday. "And thats basically what happened to two of them. They were just really stuck.

Firefighters who responded to the call Saturday afternoon found the horses partially on their sides with their legs buried in mud, Schall said.

Dozens of rescuers worked to clear a path and to position sleds under the horses so they could be pulled out. The horses were free by Saturday evening.

Both horses had been warmed up enough to stand and we are happy to report both got up without issue and were happily eating some fresh hay, the fire department posted on Facebook.
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This is the first picture of an NHS worker stabbed to death on a London high street in broad daylight.

Anita Mukhey, 66, was knifed repeatedly in Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware, at 11.50am on Thursday.

Her family released a statement through the Metropolitan Police alongside a heartbreaking picture of Mrs Mukey smiling and holding a grandchild.

They said: Anita Mukhey, 66 years old, was a married mother and grandmother devoted to her family, who also worked part-time in the NHS as a medical secretary.

The family ask for privacy at this difficult time.

An invite to a Sunday memorial service in her honour told of the communitys deep regret at Mrs Mukheys passing and revealed that she left behind a husband, Hari, daughter, Laila, son, Dev, and two grandchildren.

A family friend told The Mirror: A 66-year-old grandma who looked after her grandchildren and helped her children to now die? Its an absolute tragedy. Were turning into a lawless society, its as if theres no value for life in this society.

Its too close. A 66-year-old woman, its unfathomable. We were all very upset when we heard. Anita was a good neighbour, we would see each other and talk in the street.

Shes lovely, I feel sorry for the family as theyre gonna be left for that trauma forever. Her children are grown up and shes brought them up brilliantly, they have excellent careers. They are such lovely children and a peaceful family, they never said a bad word to anybody.

Police speak to members of the public at a bus stop near the scene where Ms Mukhey was fatally stabbed ( PA Wire )

The Metropolitan Police urged people not to share enormously distressing footage of the incident online.

On Saturday, in a post on X, a police spokesperson said: A small number of social media users have posted graphic footage of the attack.

It is enormously distressing for grieving families. We ask that these posts are deleted and others not to share them.

The Met Police said the attack was an isolated incident and no further suspects were being sought.

Jalal Debella, 22, from Colindale, has been charged with her murder. He did not enter a plea at Willesden Magistrates Court and will appear again at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.
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Surrounded by pictures of her second eldest child in her lounge, Cameron Hamiltons mother Sarah stumbles over her words as she imagines how things could have turned out so differently had a teenager not brought a knife to Bournemouth town centre on a Friday night.

The 18-year-old she describes as a lovely, good boy died after being stabbed in the chest with a 5in (12.5cm) blade during a fight in August 2023.

The tragedy has been followed by a series of other high-profile teenage deaths caused by blades, including the killing of a 14-year-old schoolboy in Hainault in east London earlier this month.

In response, Ms Robinson has channelled her grief on a newly launched petition calling for a blanket ban on the carrying of knives in public, and for criminal sentences to be increased.

As the law stands, it is illegal to carry most knives without a good reason, but there is an exception for possessing folding pocket knives with a cutting edge no longer than 3in (7.6cm).

The blade that killed Cameron was illegal to carry.

Cameron suffered a fatal stab wound to his chest during a fight in Bournemouth town centre ( Dorset Police/PA Wire )

Camerons killer Thomas Betteridge, 18, was cleared of murder after claiming he acted in self-defence but was given a nine-year custodial sentence after being convicted of manslaughter and knife possession.

Lennie Hansen, 18, of Waterlooville, brought the knife that Betteridge used and was given a 13-month custodial sentence.

In her petition, Ms Robinson wrote: It is my hope that enough people can get behind this and we can collectively bring about a change to give justice to families like mine who have suffered an immeasurable loss, and to also try and prevent it happening to others.

And speaking to The Independent, the 37-year-old digital creator said: Cam was just a lovely, good boy who unfortunately got into a scrap.

He would have been arrested for fighting and I would have grounded him for months. I would love to have been able to do it.

Cameron died from a 5cm wound after the blade went through the left ventricle of his heart.

Flowers at the spot Cameron was killed in Bournemouth town centre in August 2023 ( Supplied )

Ms Robinson said: He didnt even make it to hospital. His liver had a wound as well, all from a 5cm cut. Five centimetres doesnt sound like a lot but Cam was 6ft tall and slim. Your vital organs are a lot closer to the surface than you think.

This month, nine months on from the death of her son, Ms Robinson got a breaking news notification that brought the pain back; the death of Daniel Anjorin, attacked with a sword in Hainault.

Despite being 150 miles away, it felt close to home.

Latest figures released by the Home Office revealed knife crime in England and Wales increased by 7 per cent in 2023 from 2022. Of all recorded murders last year, 46 per cent involved a blade.

Since Cams death I have seen breaking news of children being killed all over the country, Ms Hamilton said.

It brings back the day it happened to you, finding out the news  your mind just spirals.

I try to empathise with other mums who are in my position now. It is heartbreaking but you will never know truly what it is like until it happens to you.

She added: There is no reason for anyone to have a weapon on them. People say they need it for protection but if you have it on you are more likely to use it.

If Ms Hamiltons petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it will be debated by MPs in the House of Commons.

Thomas Betteridge was jailed for nine years after being convicted of manslaughter ( Dorset Police/PA Wire )

Asked what she would tell the prime minister if given the opportunity, she said: How many more lives are we going to lose?

Knife crime is on the rise and there are lots of other families all saying the same thing but nothing is happening. The government is in denial.

When are we going to put real value on a human life? Everyone can talk about knife crime but the only people who can make a change is the government.

After Hansen was convicted of knife possession in relation to her sons death, Ms Hamilton also wants a new charge brought in for when a knife is used by someone else to kill.

She says: Something good has to come out of such a tragedy for my family. Cam would be cheering me on. I know he gives me the strength.

I miss everything about him. His sense of humour, he was incredibly funny, and his laugh. We would send each other memes all the time. You dont realise you miss the little things the most.

He was so kind and great for his siblings. It would be great to get change before his younger brother is ready to go out.
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The Foreign Secretary has branded Hamas callous over a video showing a British-Israeli hostage who the militants said had died in Gaza.

Lord David Cameron on Sunday said he could give no updates on the fate of Nadav Popplewell as the Foreign Office investigates what happened.

Hamas on Saturday released a statement that the 51-year-old had died after being wounded in an Israeli air strike a month ago.

It provided no evidence for the claim and the Israeli military has not commented.

It came hours after the Palestinian militant group released undated footage of Mr Popplewell, who was taken hostage during its October 7 attack on Israel, with a black eye confirming his name.

When you see what Hamas are prepared to do, you just realise the terrible, dreadful, inhuman people, frankly, that we are dealing with Lord Cameron

Lord Cameron told the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: I cant give you any new updates this morning.

Like everyone else, I watched the video on Twitter, X, last night, put out by Hamas of Nadav answering a question as to who he was. And I watched that video and you just think, what callous people they are to do that, to play with the familys emotions in that way.

I met Nadavs family, his sister, and I know the heartbreak theyve been going through for over 200 days, and when you see what Hamas are prepared to do, you just realise the terrible, dreadful, inhuman people, frankly, that we are dealing with.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is trying to work out what has happened and will not say anything until we have better information, he added.

The Tory peer also urged the BBC to call Hamas a terrorist group.

Maybe its a moment actually for the BBC to ask itself again, shall we describe these people as terrorists? They are terrorists.

In response, a BBC spokesperson said: No-one consuming BBC News can be left unaware of the horrific nature of Hamas acts.

Weve made our long-standing position on this matter very clear  we use the word terrorist when it is attributed to others, such as the UK Government.

On Saturday, an FCDO spokesperson 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.

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.
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A Ukrainian refugee couple who fled to the UK have been refused permission for their two-year-old daughter to join them after the government suddenly changed its sponsorship rules, The Independent can reveal.

Oleksandra and Yaroslav were offered shelter from Russias war under the Homes for Ukraine scheme in April 2022, leaving newborn Anna with her grandparents in Kyiv until they were settled in the UK with work and their own home.

But after finally overcoming the hurdles of finding accommodation and setting up their own marketing business in the UK, the couples submission in April for their daughter, now a toddler, to join them was refused by the Home Office, after rules for the schemes allowing Ukrainians to do so were tightened overnight in February.

Now it seems like its impossible to bring Anna, Oleksandra told The Independent. I was almost there  and I wasnt expecting [the legislation] to change. Im very sad and frustrated, I dont know what to do and how to react. If I am not able to bring Anna, we will be forced to leave everything and go somewhere else.

I spent a lot of time building up the business, finding proper accommodation, and when we came here we didnt have anything  our business in Ukraine was closed and we didnt have any money. So its not a good situation.

Despite the Home Office insisting that the new rules do not prevent children from joining their parents, charities warn that the changes have created unintended consequences and could leave hundreds  if not thousands  of Ukrainians separated from their loved ones.

The deeply shocking failure betrays our commitment to Ukrainians, warned Labour peer Alf Dubs, who himself arrived in the UK as a six-year-old fleeing the Nazis.

We pay lip service to how much we want to help Ukraine and the Ukrainians, then in practice we dont do it, Lord Dubs told The Independent. The most fundamental thing is, parents should be allowed to have their children with them  absolutely fundamental  and I think the government should be ashamed of itself.

The Refugee Council has also urged the government to amend its new policy ( iStock/Getty )

Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael said: I struggle to decide what is most offensive about this case  the cruelty or the incompetence. These are both the defining characteristics of this Conservative Home Office. The fact that they do not seem to understand their own rules tells you all you need to know.

While previously Ukrainian refugees could sponsor family members, now only British and Irish citizens or those with permanent leave to remain can do so. Announcing the changes on 19 February, the government said it had eschewed the typical implementation period of 21 days to avoid a misplaced surge of applications.

Approached about Annas case by The Independent, the Home Office said: We absolutely do not prevent a parent being joined by a child in the UK. The Ukraine scheme rules have never prevented this, nor do the changes prevent this.

But despite their application for Anna stating that they are her parents, Oleksandra and Yaroslav received a refusal letter 11 days later, on 26 April, that said Anna was not eligible because  as per the new rules  her sponsor does not meet the requirement that they must be a British or Irish citizen or have no time limit on their stay in the UK.

I dont know how to react  its very, very sad and depressing, said Oleksandra. I was crying when I saw [the letter] because I expected they would personally look at the situation and let Anna in because we are her parents.

Naqeeb Sadiq, a senior immigration adviser at the charity Settled, which helped with Annas visa application, said he fears that the new legislation  which served to close the Ukraine Family scheme, and tighten the rules relating to both the Homes for Ukraine and Ukraine Extension schemes  may have created unintended consequences and be keeping families apart.

Earlier in the scheme, the government had to make amendments to the policy because of issues relating to minors  that was within six months of the scheme being announced, said Mr Sadiq. So it may be the case that theyve just overlooked it again.

Warning that hundreds if not thousands of families could potentially be affected, Settleds Ukraine schemes adviser Yuliia Ismail said: Generally for Ukrainians, its quite typical, sometimes, to leave children in Ukraine or somewhere else with relatives before coming to the UK to get settled, because its so difficult for them to get private rented accommodation.

As more families find their feet in Britain, Ms Ismail warned that Settled is among several organisations now seeing a rising number of cases similar to Annas. Oleksandra added: Im not alone  I know for sure, I have friends here in a similar situation. Nobody expected this.

Urging the Home Office to grant young children visas in cases like this, the charitys chief executive Kate Smart said: This rule change, introduced with no warning, puts this family in a terrible position. Children in Ukraines war zones belong with their parents, safe in the UK.

A Ukrainian police officer examines fragments of a guided bomb after a Russian air raid in Kharkiv ( AP )

Agreeing that the new policy has left Ukrainian refugees with no way to bring their children, partners or family members to Britain, the Refugee Council also urged ministers to allow Ukrainians with temporary status in the UK to sponsor their close family members.

Until they do, Ukrainians who have already suffered so much are being stopped from being with their loved ones and rebuilding their lives, he said.

Insisting that their rules do not prevent children from joining their parents, a Home Office spokesperson added: We continue to provide a safe and secure haven for those fleeing the ongoing conflict, whilst providing certainty and assurance for Ukrainians in the UK on their future as the war continues.

If you are affected by any of these issues, Settled is a charity that gives free accredited advice in Ukrainian, at ukraineadvice@settled.org.uk.
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Madeleine McCanns parents have said they still miss their daughter in a heartbreaking tribute to mark her 21st birthday.

Happy 21st birthday Madeleine, read a post shared on the Official Find Madeline Campaign Facebook page. Still missing, still missed, still looking.

Madeleine was reported missing from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve on 3 May 2007, while on holiday with her parents.

Despite a multimillion pound investigation - involving detectives in the UK and Portugal - she has never been found.

Madeleine McCanns parents wish their daughter a happy 21st birthday ( Official Find Madeline Campaign )

Madeleine was on holiday with her parents in Portugal when she disappeared ( PA )

On Saturday The Independent revealed the private investigator hired by the McCann family was returning to the scene where Madeleine vanished.

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, to chase leads and seek answers he claims police would be unable to get.

The McCanns admitted they left the then three-year-old and her younger twin siblings asleep in the apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.

Julian Peribanez was part of the original private investigation firm hired by the McCann family ( Netflix )

Mr Peribanez spoke after the Metropolitan Police was handed 192,000 by the Home Office for Operation Grange  their continuing investigation into the disappearance.

He 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.

On the night Madeleine disappeared, the McCanns - affluent doctors - had been out for dinner with people they had met while staying at the Ocean Club in the village of Praia da Luz.

Kate and Gerry McCann ( AP2007 )

The groups children were left behind sleeping in their respective apartments with the doors unlocked and a rota system was in place among the parents to ensure that someone returned every half-hour to check on them.

When Kate McCann took her turn and returned to her apartment at 10pm, she found that Madeleine was missing.

She raced back to the restaurant screaming: Madeleines gone! Someones taken her!

Christian Brueckner, a convicted rapist who has been named in the media but is known as Christian B in Germany because of the countrys strict privacy laws, is the prime suspect in the case.

Christian Brueckner in court ( AP )

He went on trial in February at the Braunschweig state court in northern Germany accused of multiple sexual offences he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, which are unrelated to the British girls disappearance.

The 47-year-old Germans appearance at the trial on Friday marked the first time he had been pictured in public since being connected to missing Madeleine in 2020. However, Brueckner has not been charged in her case.

He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time when Madeleine, who was three at the time, vanished from her bedroom during a family holiday there in 2007. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.

He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005.
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Many skygazers were left disappointed on Saturday night after the breathtaking sights produced by the Northern Lights 24 hours earlier failed to materialise on the same scale.

Beautiful hues of purple, red, green and blue filled the skies across the north on Friday with the lights, called the aurora borealis, even spotted as far south as London.

A geomagnetic storm caused the lights to be more visible than normal and they were also spotted across parts of northern Europe and North America.

Experts forecast this activity on Saturday would not be in the extreme G5 category recorded on Friday, but instead weakened to G3 - a level that meant sky-gazers remained optimistic about the chances of another fantastic display.

The aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, glow in the sky over St Marys Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on Friday ( PA )

The aurora borealis illuminate the night sky over a campers tent north of San Francisco in Middletown, California ( AFP via Getty Images )

But geomagnetic levels fell below the threshold required just as darkness fell, and didnt return to the required level until after midnight - at which point many people had called it a day.

The Met Office on Friday recorded the highest geomagnetic reading in the UK since 2003.

Images showed bands of red, purple and lime green illuminating the sky above Arthurs Seat and Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh.

Further south, over St Marys Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the north-east coast of England, locals flocked to the beaches to glimpse the spectacular lights there.

And in Liverpool, the lights could be seen behind Anthony Gormleys Another Place statue.

The aurora borealis glow on the horizon at Another Place by Anthony Gormley, Crosby Beach ( Peter Byrne/PA Wire )

Northern lights appear in the night sky above the Brocken peak in northern Germany early on Saturday ( DPA )

Paul Norris, 47, from Allerton Bywater in West Yorkshire, said seeing the lights was not what wed expect on the outskirts of Leeds.

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.

Some 6,000 miles away, campers north of San Francisco in California also enjoyed the brightly-coloured display.

On Saturday, some commercial planes, including Qatar and Emirates flights to the US west coast, opted for a more southerly route, likely due to the intense solar storms, as reported by Flightradar24.

A geomagnetic storm, triggered by an outburst of plasma from solar wind, could disrupt radio transmissions on Earth and potentially damage satellites in space.
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Two women in their 80s have been charged with criminal damage after the glass around the Magna Carta at the British Library was attacked.

Reverend Sue Parfitt, 82, from Bristol, and Judith Bruce, 85, from Swansea, were arrested on Friday morning and have been charged with criminal damage, the Metropolitan Police said.

Two protesters targeted the protective enclosure around the historic document with a hammer and chisel on Friday morning.

Just Stop Oil said the pair then held up a sign reading The Government is breaking the law before gluing themselves to the display.

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 pair were released on bail and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 20.
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Angela Rayner is expected to be interviewed under caution as part of a Greater Manchester Police investigation into the sale of her council house in 2015, according to reports.

The Labour deputy leader is said to have been contacted by the force to arrange a date for officers to question her about the controversy.

She will be asked about claims that she breached electoral law, failed to pay capital gains tax, and falsely received single-occupancy council tax discount.

Angela Rayner has said she will quit if she is found to have broken the law ( PA Wire )

The Sun on Sunday reported that officers had contacted the office of the Ashton-under-Lyne MP to arrange an interview.

It is thought that she will be invited to attend a police station voluntarily and be interviewed under caution, rather than being arrested.

A source told the newspaper: There is a lot of information already in the public domain, so there is no need to be heavy-handed.

The police are more interested in gathering all the information they can, and having Angela come in and speak to them.

They will then take a view on where the investigation goes from there, once they have assessed the evidence.

Police investigating Ms Rayner have suggested that there are multiple allegations, which may extend beyond her housing arrangements.

The allegations centre on the sale of her council house in Stockport and whether she broke electoral law by giving false information about her address during the 2010s.

Ms Rayner has promised to resign if she is found to have committed a crime, but has stated that she is confident she has done nothing wrong.

Greater Manchester Police previously said they would not be looking into the allegations, but following a complaint from Tory deputy chair James Daly, police confirmed they had reassessed the information and launched an investigation.

Keir Starmer has said the Tories are chasing a smear against his deputy ( Reuters )

Labour has said it is confident Ms Rayner has complied with the rules, adding that the Ashton-under-Lyne MP welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police.

Ms Rayner has faced scrutiny about whether she paid the right amount of tax on the 2015 sale of her council house, because of confusion over whether it was her principal residence.

She has rejected suggestions in a book by former Tory deputy chair Michael Ashcroft that she failed to properly declare where she was living.

The unauthorised biography alleges that she bought her former council house, in Vicarage Road in Stockport, Greater Manchester, with a 25 per cent discount in 2007 under the right-to-buy scheme.

The former carer is said to have made a 48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.

Government guidance says that a tenant can apply to buy their council home through the right-to-buy scheme if it is their only or main home.

Her husband was listed at another address, in Lowndes Lane, about a mile away, which had also been bought under the right-to-buy scheme.

In the same year as her wedding, Ms Rayner is said to have re-registered the births of her two youngest children, giving her address as where her husband resided.

James Daly lodged a complaint with Greater Manchester Police ( PA Media )

Ms Rayner has insisted that Vicarage Road was her principal property despite her husband living elsewhere at the time.

But neighbours have reportedly disputed her claim that she lived apart from her husband.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously said the Conservatives are chasing a smear in raising questions about the deputy leader, and that people are more interested in problems caused by this government.

Ms Rayner previously said she would welcome the chance to sit down with the appropriate authorities and that she was completely confident that there had been no wrongdoing.

In a statement, she said: I have always said that integrity and accountability are important in politics. Thats why its important that this is urgently looked at, independently and without political interference.

I make no apologies for having held Conservative ministers to account in the past. Indeed, the public would rightly expect me to do so as a deputy leader of the opposition.

We have seen the Tory party use this playbook before  reporting political opponents to the police during election campaigns to distract from their record. I will say as I did before  if I committed a criminal offence, I would of course do the right thing and step down.

The British public deserves politicians who know the rules apply to them. The questions raised relate to a time before I was an MP and I have set out my familys circumstances and taken expert tax and legal advice. I look forward to setting out the facts with the relevant authorities at the earliest opportunity.

A Labour spokesperson said: Angela has been clear that she will cooperate with any investigation. We do not plan to give a running commentary.

We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it's now appropriate to let the police do their work.

Greater Manchester Police said they do not have any updates on the case.
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A Tory MP is backing calls for ministers to change the law to stop privileging a fathers right to contact his children over the safety and wellbeing of domestic abuse victims.

The Right to Equality organisation, which campaigns for legal reform to support the rights of women and girls, said it wants to ensure the current presumption of contact is fully and finally removed and will launch a report in parliament on Monday demanding change.

Kate Kniveton, the Conservative MP for Burton and Uttoxeter, was previously found by a family judge to have been raped and abused by her ex-husband and former minister Andrew Griffiths. She said it is clear we need legislative change to create a safer environment for children.

I am supporting Right to Equalitys campaign as an ambassador for a presumption of no child contact in cases involving domestic abuse, opposing the current pro-contact culture that fails to protect survivors and their children, she said.

We believe no child should be required to undergo contact with an abusive parent.

Ms Kniveton is backing the the Right to Equality organisations calls for change ( PA Media )

Under English and Welsh law, domestic abusers and child sex offenders keep their parental rights, even if they target their own children. This allows them to retain influence over where the child lives, as well as their healthcare and education.

Claire Waxman OBE, Londons first independent victims commissioner, in an interview with The Independent, previously described the law as it stood as state-sanctioned abuse as she called for change.

A family court ruling in 2021 found that Mr Griffiths, former Conservative MP for Burton, had  on the balance of probabilities  pressurised Ms Kniveton into engaging in sexual activity as well as raping her multiple times and used coercive and controlling behaviour against her.

The ruling on child contact was overturned the following year by a High Court judge, and earlier this year Mr Griffiths made a bid for weekly supervised contact with their child, who he previously saw once per week via video link for 30 minutes.

But a High Court judge ruled he could have no direct contact with his child in the reasonably short term, saying it would be in the childs best interests to only have contact with their father through letters for that period of time.

The judge said Mr Griffiths had accepted most of the findings made against him, except the finding that he had raped Ms Kniveton.

Ms Kniveton had waived her right to anonymity, saying she hoped her case had shed light on the often hidden family court system and that publicity around her experiences would help empower others who are affected.

She has insisted it should not have to be exceptional to shield a child from an abusive parent as she called for parents found to have been abusive to automatically forfeit the right to contact in order to prioritise the safety of our children.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the government was continuing to review the approach to parental access to make sure all children are kept from harm.
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Natalie Elphickes defection to the Labour Party was naked opportunism, David Cameron has said.

The foreign secretary criticised his former Conservative colleague over her decision to cross the floor of the House of Commons, saying: I am not a fan of defectors. I think it leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal... I thought this was just naked opportunism.

Natalie Elphicke has been accused of seeking to influence her ex-husbands sex offences trial ( PA Wire )

Lord Cameron told Sky News it would lead to people looking at Labour and thinking: If you dont stand for anything, then you will fall for stuff like this.

It came as a slew of negative stories about Ms Elphicke hit the headlines, just days after Sir Keir Starmer welcomed her into the Labour fold.

Sir Robert Buckland has accused her of lobbying him while he was justice secretary in an effort to interfere in her husbands sex offences trial.

Ms Elphicke allegedly approached Sir Robert before the hearing of Charlie Elphickes case, which saw the former MP for Dover jailed over three counts of sexual assault against two women.

Sir Robert said he rejected her plea and suggested that his intervention could undermine the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers between parliament and the judiciary.

Robert Buckland said he denied Natalie Elphickes request to interfere in her husbands trial ( PA Wire )

The Tory MP told The Sunday Times: She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all.

Adding to the pressure on Labour and Ms Elphicke over the defection, The Observer reported that her fury at not being offered a ministerial post had contributed to the decision.

Senior Tory sources told the paper she had made it clear to Rishi Sunak that she wanted to be a housing minister, with the snub contributing to her decision to cross the floor.

And on Sunday night, Matt Wrack, the president of the Trades Union Congress, claimed Ms Elphicke had voiced support for anti-strike laws, putting her in conflict with the party whip, according to The Guardian. He sent a letter to Sir Keir this weekend, describing the decision to admit the MP as alarming.

Lord Cameron said Ms Elphicke is now a Labour press office problem, adding that the defection says a lot more about Keir Starmers Labour Party.

The shock move, announced as MPs filled the Commons for PMQs on Wednesday, sparked fury among Labour ranks.

Backbenchers and shadow ministers questioned Ms Elphickes past defence of her ex-husband, who she said had been punished for being attractive and being attracted to women.

Elphicke introduced Keir Starmer ahead of a major speech on migration in her Dover constituency on Friday ( Getty )

She was previously suspended from the Commons for trying to influence her husbands trial. Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said that if Sir Robert has evidence to substantiate his claim, he should publish it, but stressed that Ms Elphicke has denied the accusation.

Mr Ashworth told the BBCs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that her defection showed the extent to which we are witnessing a disintegrating and decaying Conservative government.

Ms Elphicke was forced to issue a fresh apology on Thursday for the comments she made about her husbands victims.

She described the period between 2017 and 2020 as an incredibly stressful and difficult one for me as I learned more about the person I thought I knew.

She added: I know it was far harder for the women who had to relive their experiences and give evidence against him.

I have previously, and do, condemn his behaviour towards other women and towards me. It was right that he was prosecuted and Im sorry for the comments that I made about his victims.

Her defection caused panic among Tory MPs and left them wondering who could be next to cross the floor, with Ms Elphicke becoming the third Conservative to switch to Labour during this parliament.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeing told The Independent he is in talks with other Conservatives who are thinking of joining Labour.

A spokesperson for Ms Elphicke described suggestions that she had lobbied the justice secretary on her ex-husbands behalf as nonsense.

They said: Its certainly true that Mr Elphicke continued to be supported after his imprisonment by a large number of Conservative MPs who had known him for a long time, including some who visited him and independently lobbied on his behalf, which was nothing to do with Natalie.

David Cameron accused the Dover MP and the Labour Party of naked opportunism ( PA Wire )

Concerning the encounter with Sir Robert, a Labour Party spokesperson 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 that Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party.

Announcing her decision to switch parties, Ms Elphicke hit out at Mr Sunaks tired and chaotic government and accused him of failing to deliver on his promise to stop the boats, adding that Labour would bring a much better future for our country.

The defection of Ms Elphicke also sparked a backlash because of her hardline stance on immigration and her past attacks on trade unions.

It led to questions over where Sir Keir would draw the line with potential recruits to Labour. But he said politics should be less tribal and suggested that he was open to reasonably minded people from other parties joining Labour.

He has now faced calls to give the whip back to Diane Abbott, who was suspended last year after she wrote a letter in which she suggested that Jewish people are not subjected to the same sort of racism as some other minorities.

Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti told The Independent: Like others, I look forward to Ms Elphickes first in-depth broadcast interview about her political journey to the Labour Party.

In the meantime, if the tent is big enough for her, I feel sure that Britains first Black woman MP, who has sustained more racist and misogynist abuse than anyone, will have her whip restored urgently.
Protest groups such as Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action could be banned in a similar way to terror groups under proposals being considered by the government.

Political violence adviser John Woodcock, whose title is Lord Walney, has recommended a new system to proscribe extreme protest groups, which would include disruptive climate demonstrators.

The Home Office has said ministers will consider the Labour peers recommendations, adding that extremism of any kind has no place in our society.

But critics believe the crackdown would be draconian and would jeopardise the fundamental right to protest, and that ministers should reject the proposals.

The Independent looks at what the new proposals would mean, and whether they should be introduced.

What would the new powers do?

The powers recommended by Lord Walney would put extreme protest groups in a new tier, allowing them to be banned.

This would hamper their ability to raise funds and restrict the groups right to gather in the UK.

In an extract of his report seen by the BBC, Lord Walney said: Militant groups like Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil are using criminal tactics to create mayhem and hold the public and workers to ransom without fear of consequence.

Banning terror groups has made it harder for their activists to plan crimes  that approach should be extended to extreme protest groups too.

Why are they being proposed?

Lord Walney was commissioned three years ago to investigate the extreme fringes of the hard left and far right in the UK.

The review was sparked by ministers concerns about a rise in what they considered to be unacceptable behaviour linked to political causes.

He has now included an additional review of pro-Palestine protests in the wake of the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October last year.

Palestine Action has targeted UK defence manufacturers that it claims have links to Israel.

What do the critics say?

Just Stop Oil reacted to the proposals with fury, accusing the government of being the dangerous radicals that are endangering all of us.

A spokesperson said: This week, the governments climate policies were declared unlawful for the second time; their response has been 31 new oil licences, as scientists warn were heading into the biggest threat humanity has faced.

Palestine Action has said its actions are in line with British public opinion, with most backing the suspension of arms sales to Israel. The group added that the proposals would not deter its campaign.

A spokesperson described Lord Walneys investigation as a quest and said that it demonstrates his own motivations to protect the military interests of Israel.

Would they undermine the right to protest?

The Home Office has highlighted a rise in violent and hateful behaviour and promised to back the police in tackling extremism.

But critics believe the crackdown is draconian, and that putting protest groups in a similar class to terrorists, dubbed proscription-light by Lord Walney, undermines the right to protest.

What has the Home Office said?

In a statement, a spokesperson said: Extremism of any kind has no place in our society, and we will not tolerate tactics that set out to intimidate, threaten or cause disruption to the law-abiding majority.

In recent months, we have also witnessed a small number of protesters display violent and hateful behaviour, and the police have our full support in tackling extremism and hate crime.

We are considering the reports recommendations extremely carefully and will respond in due course.
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Wes Streeting has defended his partys policy not to scrap the cap on child benefit for just two children in each household.

His comments in an exclusive interview with The Independent came just ahead of rightwing former home secretary Suella Braverman shocking Westminster by calling for an end to the controversial policy brought in by the Tories during their coalition with the Lib Dems.

Labour had been in favour of scrapping the child benefit cap but reversed on the proposal late last summer because shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said it was unaffordable, provoking huge anger and debate in the party.

Mr Streeting was speaking to The Independent for a wider interview about his autobiographical book  One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up  in which he graphically describes growing up in poverty on east London council estates and how benefits allowed him and his mother to eat and put a coin in the electricity meter.

His comments were made before Ms Braverman published her article but explained why Labour does not currently support scrapping the cap.

In her article for The Daily Telegraph, Ms Braverman dedicated her thinking to the work of the late Labour peer, former MP and welfare reformer Frank Field.

Wes Streeting wants to consign child poverty to the history books ( Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire )

She said: The truth is that Conservatives should do more to support families and children on lower incomes... A crucial reform that Frank advocated was to scrap the two-child benefits limit, restricting child tax credits and universal credit to the first two children in a family. If they have a third or fourth child, a low-income family will lose about 3,200 per year.

Over 400,000 families are affected and all the evidence suggests that it is not having the effect of increasing employment or alleviating poverty. Instead, its aggravating child poverty.

Mr Streeting told The Independent that poverty in the UK is forcing women to choose to have abortions because they cannot aford to keep the child.

But when The Independent asked him about Labours U-turn on scrapping the two child benefit cap, he insisisted that dealing with child poverty was more than just about handouts.

Braverman wants to end the cap on child benefits ( Getty Images )

He said: I think that the answer on child poverty is all about social security. Of course, thats part of it. I grew up on a council estate with a single mum, and often the benefit system put food in the fridge and money in the electric meter. I am a product of a welfare state that quite literally fed me and housed me and clothed me at points in my life.

However, he went on: I also know that that the answer to child poverty, ultimately, is not simply about handouts, it is about a social security safety net, that also acts as a springboard that helps people into work and with good work that makes the cost of living affordable for everyone.

That means that if you arent doing the right thing, and earning a living and playing by the rules, that you dont just have enough to make ends meet, but you have enough to do the things that make life worth living. And were some way from that from that now.

He also repeated the message that the state of public debt and lack of money will tie Labours hands.

Mr Streeting noted: Weve got a difficult challenge to navigate, particularly in terms of public finances, but I just asked people to judge Labour on record of lifting a million children and pensioners as well actually lifted out of poverty under the last Labour government.

Ive no doubt that Labour government led by Kier Starmer, will also bring down child poverty in our country and work towards Labours historic aim of making sure that child poverty is consigned to the history books.

When Sir Keir Starmer ditched the plans to scrap the two child benefit cap last July a number of Labour MPs including Stella Creasy, Rosie Duffield, and left-winger Lloyd Russell-Moyle as well as senior figures like Scottish leader Anas Sarwar spoke out against the U-turn.

The Fabian Society called it nasty dog whistle politics and the trade union Unison described it as cruel.

A longer interview with Mr Streeting will be published ahead of the Hay Festival, which runs from May 23 to June 2. Book tickets at hayfestival.com and read our highlights guide for more of our recommendations
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Three Atlanta police officers were injured in a shooting on Saturday night.

The armed suspect, who has not yet been identified, was killed in the exchange of gunfire, according to Fox5.

All three officers survived and are alive and stable, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said. They are alert, conscious and breathing.

Police were responding to the report of an armed person in the Capitol View neighborhood of southwest Atlanta around 5.15pm on Saturday, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a press conference.

Officers were met with an individual armed with a handgun and a knife. Following a struggle, all three officers and the suspect were struck by gunshots. Its unclear who fired the first shots.

Three Atlanta police officers were injured on Saturday ( FOX5 Atlanta WAGA )

Chief Schierbaum said one of the officers was shot in the shoulder and another was shot in the leg. The third officer was grazed by a bullet and did not require surgery, he said.

The officers - two 31-year-olds, and one 28-year-old - according to Fox5, are being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital. Their names have not yet been released.

In a statement Atlanta Mayor Dickens said: I am devastated that we are at this place again where senseless gun violence has injured 3 of our APD officers.

My thoughts are with these officers and their families, and we are cooperating fully with this ongoing investigation. Thanks to the surgeons and staff at Grady Hospital for ensuring that our officers will survive.

An investigation into the police-involved shooting is ongoing.

It comes less than two weeks after four police officers were shot and killed while serving a warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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A mother has been mauled to death by a pack of dogs after she tried to save her children from the vicious attack in rural Georgia.

Courtney Williams, 35, was found dead in a yard near a bus stop behind the Brooks County Middle School in Quitman, where the family had been waiting, when the dogs pounced, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

When deputies arrived, they encountered several aggressive dogs on the property, the GBI said.

Two children injured in the 9 May attack were hospitalized. The body of their mother was found in the yard of a nearby residence.

Williams sister-in-law Crystal Cox shared an update on Facebook along with graphic photos that showed the childrens injuries. The boy suffered several lacerations from the dogs as he shielded his little sister, according to the family.

The family was waiting at a bus stop at the middle school when the dogs attacked ( WALB )

Kayden push sissy out of harms way by doing so he saved her but took on the dogs himself, Ms Cox wrote on Facebook.

According to the post, a third child Nathan ran to the school for help during the attack, but then turned back thinking he wouldnt have time to help his other siblings.

The child managed to flag down a man who Ms Cox refers to as an angel who helped save the children.

She said the children are shaken, and processing the traumatic event.

Another post by Ms Cox earlier in the day announced the heartbreaking news of the attack.

With a heavy heart I have to say this, she wrote. My brothers wife Courtney Williams cox passed away yesterday. The neighbors dogs attacked her and the kids. Her son, Kayden, didnt get away fast enough as he pushed his sister out of harms way. He was hurt pretty bad [but is] doing good. They stapled him up. [Hes] in pain and at my house resting.

A neighbor told WALB that she was saddened by the tragedy, just days before Mothers Day.

I do feel for the family and for the kids because now they are going to have to celebrate Mothers Day without their mother, the neighbor said.
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A former roommate of the slain University of Idaho students has broken her silence for the first time, revealing the moment she realized her friends were dead and the final text she sent to them.

Ashlin Couch told KXLY that she moved into the doomed off-campus house on King Road in Moscow, Idaho, in 2020, with her friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.

She moved out in May 2022 and Xana Kernodle took over the lease.

Six months later, in the early hours of 13 November 2022, Goncalves, 21, Mogen, 21, Kernodle, 20, and Kernodles boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death inside the student home.

Two other female roommates were in the home at the time but were unharmed. One of the survivors  Dylan Mortensen  came face to face with the masked killer, dressed in head-to-toe black and with bushy eyebrows, as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders, according to the criminal affidavit.

In an emotional interview, Ms Couch recalled the moment that she received an alert that continues to haunt her.

It was a message from the University of Idaho, alerting her to a suspected murder on King Road  the address that she had moved out of mere months earlier.

Ashlin Couch breaks her silence about the murders of her friends ( KXLY )

She said she sent a final text to Mogen, asking: Are you okay?

I remember, I think, getting a second alert or I had been driving home and I texted like our group of friends, and I just had said, Has anyone heard from Maddie? And I remember, like my last text message to her was like, Are you okay? she said.

And I felt it like right then and there, I kind of just knew that something was wrong.

She later learned what had happened to her friends.

Six weeks later, Bryan Kohberger, a criminology PhD student at the nearby Washington State University, was arrested at his family home in Pennsylvania and charged with the murders. He is accused of breaking into the home and stabbing the four students to death with a large, military-style knife.

Now, more than one year on, Ms Couch is still traumatised by what happened in what used to be her bedroom  and the thought that she could have been there when it happened.

It crosses my mind more that that could have happened while I was there, she said. And, you know, you never know like how long someone is watching your house.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed in November 2022 ( Instagram )

For months after the murders, she said she was scared to walk to her car in the dark.

Now, she works to raise awareness and educate students on social media safety.

I couldnt even walk to my car in the dark for months after, you know, it happened, she said. Like, you just want to at least feel a little bit safer. And if we can help college students do that and just create more awareness of that and just help them feel a little bit safer knowing that something like this had happened, I think is helpful in any way.

Ms Couch said she also wanted to honor her friends. As co-founder of the Made With Kindness foundation, she helped create The Maddie Kaylee Scholarship fund to help support the lives of college students while spreading kindness and compassion.

I want to, you know, spread some kind of message and start something, help people, you know, just do something more with this life that we are grateful to still be living, she explained. I just wish that I could do is just give her one last hug just to be able to say goodbye.

Bryan Kohberger appears in court for a hearing in the murders case ( AP )

In May 2023, Mr Kohberger declined to enter a plea in the case, prompting a judge to enter his plea as not guilty.

Idaho prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against Mr Kohberger.

In March, the Idaho Supreme Court denied a request from Mr Kohberger for his grand jury indictment to be thrown out.

A trial date has not been set.
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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.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the Biden administrations judgement on Israels military conduct as his department faced criticism this week for its assessment of war crime allegations.

A state department report, published on Friday, indicated that US officials believe Israel has, in some cases, violated international humanitarian laws regarding the treatment of civilians in Gaza.

However the report, issued in response to a directive from President Joe Biden, stopped short of directly finding Israel in violation of its weapons-trading agreement with Washington - allowing the administration some leeway around charges that US law is being violated.

Mr Blinken faced tough rounds of questioning over the report on Sundays political shows on 12 May.

Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, in February. The region is facing acute hunger and is on the brink of famine as the Israeli siege continues ( AP )

He was asked by Kristen Welker on NBCs Meet the Press whether the US is applying a lighter standard to Israels government than it would to another US ally or trading partner.

Mr Secretary, is the US trying to avoid holding Israel accountable for its actions? she asked.

No. We dont have double standards, Mr Blinked replied. We treat Israel, one of our closest allies and partners, just as we would treat any other country, including in assessing something like international humanitarian law, and its compliance with that law.

Mr Blinken went on to say that the report concluded it was reasonable to assess that Israel had violated international humanitarian laws in some instances.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Israel on 1 May, 2024 ( POOL/AFP via Getty Images )

Such laws govern the conduct of war for all countries, such as forbidding the intentional targeting of civilians or the practice of prohibiting deliveries of food, water or medical assistance to civilian populations.

On CBS Face the Nation, the secretary said assessments of Israels conduct would be ongoing in the weeks ahead as Israels government appears to be preparing for an all-out assault on Rafah, a major civilian centre where more than a million refugees have fled from fighting in northern Gaza.

The Biden administration has come out strongly against such an operation, which the White House has repeatedly stressed it does not believe can be undertaken with adequate consideration for civilians caught in the crossfire.

President Biden echoed that concern in a CNN interview this past week. He indicated that his administration would hold up some further weapons shipments if the Israeli military began a full-scale assault on the city.

I made it clear that if they go into RafahI'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal ... with that problem, the president said.

The Biden administration has already held up one shipment of weapons to Israel but Mr Blinken made clear on Sunday that transfers of precision arms were still ongoing.

So are you following the delivery of any weapons beyond these 3500 bombs? Are you pausing, for example, precision munitions as some Republicans have claimed? Margaret Brennan asked on CBS.

The answer to that is no, Blinken said. At present, the only thing that we've delayed and are holding back are these high-payload bombs.

He went on to confirm Israels assessment that more Palestinian civilians have died than members of Hamas in the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza. As of 12 May, more than 35,000 people are believed to have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli airstrikes and other weaponry. The war began after a terrorist attack committed by Hamas militants on 7 October of last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,154 Israelis including hundreds in the Israeli security forces. 252 hostages were also taken into the Gaza Strip; thousands of others were wounded.

A growing number of Democrats are calling for the president to stop all weapons transfers to Israel as the death toll in Gaza mounts, and the conflict looks to be on the brink of entering a new, bloodier stage with a possible prolonged siege of Rafah on the horizon.

One of those Democrats is Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with them. On Sunday, he said that the US should not send a single nickel to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government going forward.

The reality is, I think any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law. It has broken American law, and in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in US military aid, Senator Sanders told NBC.

Another was Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen, one of the most vocal lawmakers calling for the US to apply the Leahy law to Israel - which prohibits transfers of US weapons to countries found to be committing war crimes.

On Sunday, he told CBS:"I fear that we have set...a very low standard for what's acceptable. And I think that will come back to haunt us."
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Sometime in 2022, federal prosecutors in Manhattan ramped up a corruption investigation into three-term, New Jersey Senator Robert Bob Menendez who was also chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The investigation into Mr Menendez had roots in a separate criminal inquiry into a fledgling halal meat-certifying company that went from starting production, with no prior experience, to having a lucrative, exclusive deal with the Egyptian government in a matter of months.

The president of the halal meat start-up, a New Jersey businessman named Wael Hana, had seemingly given Mr Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, lavish gifts in exchange for helping him secure the deal.

It marks the second criminal corruption investigation the senator has faced during his tenure  and one that he quickly brushed off as a politically-motivated smear campaign.

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife, Nadine Menendez, arrive at the federal courthouse in New York in September 2023 after being charged with bribery ( The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

But prosecutors soon learned that the potentially lavish gifts that Mr Menendez accepted went much further than helping Mr Hana secure a deal. Another investor in the company, businessman Fred Daibes, had allegedly used Mr Menendez to help him secure funding for his residential skyscraper development project, and landed an investment from a Qatari royal family member.

On a Thursday morning in June 2022, federal investigators descended on the Menendezs New Jersey home and made a stunning discovery: 13 gold bars worth over $100,000; a Mercedes-Benz convertible; and more than $480,000 in cash stuffed into envelopes and hidden in coats, jackets and boots.

Fifteen months later, Mr Menendez, his wife and the two businessmen found themselves at the center of an indictment accusing them of brazenly engaging in a bribery scheme and attempting to obstruct justice. Mr Menendez was also accused of conspiring to act as a foreign agent to the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

The halal meat company scandal that sparked an investigation

Mr Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman, was struggling financially in 2018 after several failed business ventures.

In the year prior, he had incorporated a halal meat-certifying company called IS EG Halal. Its job was to certify that exported meat was prepared in accordance with Islamic law for millions of Americans  though he had no prior experience in halal certification.

At that same time, his longtime friend, Nadine Arslanian, began dating Mr Menendez who held a powerful position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She introduced her boyfriend to Mr Hana, who had ties to Egyptian officials.

In April 2019, just months after IS EG Halal began production, Mr Hana managed to strike a deal with the Egyptian government to become the sole company to certify halal meat.

Wael Hana leaves the federal courthouse in New York on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

Prosecutors say that the deal was struck, in part, thanks to Mr Menendez, who improperly advised and pressured a US agricultural official to maintain a contract despite risks that the monopoly would disrupt the market.

In exchange for helping the deal go through, Mr Hana allegedly gifted Mr Menendez and his wife mortgage payments, gold bars and cash. He also put Ms Menendez on his company payroll for a low-or-no-show job only if Mr Menendez could facilitate more sales of military equipment to Egypt, according to court filings.

At the same time, federal prosecutors say that Mr Menendez gave Mr Hana highly sensitive information about the US embassy in Cairo who then allegedly gave it to an Egyptian official.

Mr Menendez later ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of the government of Egypt, asking his Senate colleagues to release a hold on $300m in US aid to Egypt, then deleted an email in which his wife asked him to do that, say prosecutors.

Cash found at Senator Menendezs home during FBI raid in June 2022 ( (U.S. Attorneys Office) )

A development project in need of investors

At the same time Mr Menendez was helping Mr Hana, prosecutors allege he was also helping Mr Daibes, a real estate developer in New Jersey.

Around 2021, Mr Daibes was looking for a new investor to help back his residential skyscraper development project in Edgewater, New Jersey. He turned to his longtime ally, Mr Menendez, for help.

Years earlier, Mr Menendez had helped Mr Daibes when he faced a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to defraud a bank he founded, prosecutors say. The New Jersey senator allegedly accepted various bribes from Mr Daibes in exchange for intervening by installing a new US attorney. However, the plan was unsuccessful.

Fred Daibes appeared at federal court in March 2024 ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Now facing the dire need for financial backing to continue his real estate project, Mr Daibes allegedly invoked a similar tactic, according to court filings.

Prosecutors say Mr Menendez accepted luxury watches, a gold bar and cash from Mr Daibes knowing that he expected him to induce the Qatari Investment Company to invest with Dabies.

Mr Menendez eventually did introduce Mr Daibes to an unnamed investor who was also a member of the Qatari royal family. While Mr Daibes tried to secure a deal with the Qatari investor, Mr Menendez made multiple public statements expressing support for Qatar and then forwarded them to Mr Daibes to share with the investor and a Qatari government official, according to court documents.

Days after the investment was secured, Mr Menendez, his wife and Mr Daibes met for dinner. Hours later, Mr Menendez allegedly Googled one kilo gold price.

Two of the gold bars found during a search by federal agents of Senator Bob Menendez's home and safe deposit box in New Jersey ( U.S. Attorney's Office )

Luxury vehicle payments create a path to more charges

During this time, prosecutors say Mr Menendez also accepted payments for a Mercedes-Benz convertible to help a third New Jersey businessman, Mr Uribe, with a criminal investigation.

Several of Mr Uribes associates were under an insurance fraud investigation and he sought Mr Menendezs political influence to help with that, according to prosecutors. In return, Mr Uribe arranged for the Menendezes to receive payments for Nadines luxury vehicle.

Mr Uribe initially pled not guilty to charges in the first indictment but changed his plea in March, agreeing to help the government with their case.

He revealed to prosecutors that Mr Menendez and his wife attempted to cover up the car payments by misrepresenting them as a loan rather than a bribe once the couple learned they were under investigation. In turn, the couple and Mr Uribe lied to their lawyers, he said.

The Mercedes-Benz convertible, belonging to Nadine Menendez, that prosecutors claim was paid for with bribes ( US Attorneys Office )

Mr Uribes revelation led prosecutors to expand the charges against the co-defendants to include obstruction of justice.

In total, Mr Menendez faces 16 felony charges, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction of justice. Should a jury decide to convict him, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

His trial begins on Monday.
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Jim Mattis, onetime secretary of defense for the Trump administration, described the former president as a madman in a circular room screaming, a new book reveals.

The revelation was made by Tom Bossert, Donald Trumps homeland security adviser from 2017 to 2018, and published in The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis.

The new book, from journalists George Stephanopolous and Lisa Dickey, discusses the history of presidential crises since John F Kennedy and is set to be published next week.

Mr Bossert told the authors that Mr Trump avoided situation room briefings because he didnt like having to go to the room  and believed the generals should come to him, instead, according to a review by The Guardian.

I mean, you couldnt get Mattis into the White House, Mr Bossert said.

Jim Mattis (left) and Donald Trump (right) at a 2018 press conference. Mr Mattis reportedly thought of Mr Trump as a madman, a new book reveals ( Getty Images )

Mr Mattis spent 43 years in the Marine Corps, and rose to commander at US Central Command before retiring in 2013 as a four-star general.

He joined the Trump administration as defense secretary in 2017 but lasted only a year, resigning over the presidents decision to remove US forces from Syria.

According toThe Atlantic he told Mr Trump: Youre going to have to get the next secretary of defense to lose to ISIS. Im not going to do it.

In 2020, Mr Mattis also penned a letter to The Atlantic denouncing Mr Trumps presidency.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people  does not even pretend to try, Mr Mattis wrote.

Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

In his 2020 book Rage, journalist Bob Woodward wrote that General Mattis said Mr Trump was unfit and dangerous as president and had no moral compass.

Mr Trump publicly denounced Mr Mattis, dubbing him mad dog and saying he was pleased he resigned.

His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations, Mr Trump said of Mr Mattis in 2020. I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom brought home the bacon. I didnt like his leadership style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!

The Situation Room also reveals that Mr Trump forced aides to create books of chyrons, the graphics that appear at the bottom of newscasts, in order to simplify the news of the day.

The authors called this surely one of the most prosaic tasks ever required of the highly trained intelligence officers serving in the White House, according to The Guardian.

The Independent has contacted Mr Mattis, Mr Bossert and Mr Trumps 2024 campaign for comment.
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Donald Trump lashed out at his political enemies during a campaign rally at the Jersey Shore on Saturday, blasting President Joe Biden as a total moron and coining a derogatory new nickname for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg  Fat Alvin.

After spending much of the past month in a Manhattan courtroom for his hush money criminal trial, the former president wasted no time in once again railing against the unfairness of the case, which he claimed is a Biden show trial. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr Biden has been involved in the case.

Hordes of MAGA fans had gathered on the beach and the boardwalk throughout the day wearing Trump masks and American flag-themed outfits. Some more avid supporters slept in tents on the beach for several days to secure front-row spots for the event.

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, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. However, the Trump campaign has been known to exaggerate crowd sizes in the past, and reporters on the scene questioned the numbers.

As well as attacking his political rivals, Mr Trump also veered off on wild tangents, at one point claiming he attracted bigger crowds than Bruce Springsteen concerts ( Getty Images )

Though his speech was littered with his usual criticisms, and turned foul-mouthed in places, Mr Trump also veered into wild tangents, referring to fictional character, the cannibal Hannibal Lecter, as a wonderful man and claiming that his rallies drew bigger crowds than Bruce Springsteen concerts.

After kicking off by promising to expand the political map and win the long-time, Democrat-held state of New Jersey, the former president turned his attention to President Biden.

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. Hes a fool, hes not a smart man. He never was.

His comments come after Mr Biden had joked on Friday that he wished Mr Trump had injected himself with a little bleach - refering to the former presidents claims that disinfectant could be an effective treatment for Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic.

Barring any serious mishap, the two men are expected to be officially nominated by their respective parties this summer, before facing off in the November general election.

Between 80,000 and 100,000 supporters gathered for the rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, some of whom had camped out overnight to secure a good spot ( AP )

On Saturday, Mr Trumps rhetoric turned even nastier when he attacked Manhattan Distric Attorny Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor overseeing his hush money trial, and the judge Juan Merchan.

I am being forced to endure a Biden show trial, all done by Biden Mr Trump said. Carried out by [the] radical Democrat District Attorney you know who he is? Fat Alvin, corrupt guy.

He also described his multiple indictments as b*******, and at one point claimed: I got indicted four times in a period of three seconds.

Mr Trump called Judge Merchan, who has threatened to throw him in jail over numerous violations of a gag order, highly conflicted.

Merchan imposed an order which bars Mr Trump from hurling insults at witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and the judges family. However, it does not forbid him from insulting Judge Merchan or Mr Bragg. Mr Trump has already been fined for 10 separate violations of the gag order, totalling $10,000.

The former president faces 34 charges of falsifying business records in relation to alleged hush money payments of $130,000 which were made to porn star Stormy Daniels in order to conceal an alleged affair in 2006. He has denied the allegations.

Mr Trump is due to return to the New York court on Monday, when his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, is expected to take the stand.
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Michael Cohen was once so close to Donald Trump that he said he would take a bullet for him.

In the seven years since professing his unwavering loyalty, the former lawyer and fixer has suffered his own very public downfall and criminal conviction, and has now been recast as the star witness in the Manhattan district attorneys hush money case against the former president.

It is a role that Cohen both relishes  as a reformed truth-teller who enthusiastically pulls back the curtain on the alleged murky dealings of Trumpworld  and reviles.

Before he testified in the trial, some of those close to Cohen told The Independent that he faced significant risks by taking the stand against his former boss.

His family and Michael are still under risk because of Mr Trumps hateful attacks and what he does on social media, said Lanny Davis, Cohens friend and legal advisor, who is not involved in the hush money trial.

Cohen is a wounded human being who fears for his family, Mr Davis added.

The former lawyer cannot have been unaware of the profound significance of his testifying for the prosecution against Mr Trump at the first-ever criminal trial of a US president, which could yet see the defendant sentenced to a jail term at a time when he is campaigning for a return to the White House.

Michael Cohen pictured with Donald Trump at a campaign stop in Ohio ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The pair have since been reunited at Mr Trumps criminal trial in Manhattan ( Reuters )

Mr Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records over payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. Cohen, who at that point was Mr Trumps attorney and fixer for a decade, said that he delivered the payments, totalling $130,000, to Ms Daniels  and did so at the direction of the former president.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the affair but admitted on Twitter in May 2018 that he had reimbursed Cohen for the sum.

In taking the stand, Cohen once more found himself face-to-face with the man he now describes as a cheat, con man  and more recently, Von S***zInPantz.

Since their relationship imploded in 2018, Mr Trump has verbally attacked his one-time confidante again and again. He disparaged Cohen from the White House and has continued ever since on social media, branding him a liar, sleazebag and rat to his nearly seven million Truth Social followers.

Mr Trump has assailed Cohens credibility, pointing out that his former lawyer pleaded guilty in federal court to lying to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Russia. The former president also highlighted that Cohens bid to reduce his court-ordered supervised release was rejected by a judge, who suggested that the disbarred lawyer had perjured himself over tax evasion claims.

Stormy Daniels, pictured in 2018. Mr Trump allegedly paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair ahead of the 2016 election. Mr Trump has denied the affair ( AP )

But Mr Trumps posts about Cohen also attracted the attention of prosecutors in the hush money trial, who used the evidence to bolster accusations that the former president had violated his gag order.

Cohen declined to discuss specifics of the trial with The Independent.

But in a text message in April, he wrote that, in the face of Mr Trumps attacks, he was feeling stronger than I ever imagined, adding that the truth will prevail. (He has since issued a self-imposed gag order on himself ahead of his testimony.)

But despite this show of bravado, Cohen previously confessed that he didnt want to testify in the hush money case but was compelled to by subpoena. His decision to tell the truth has taken a toll, he claimed.

Cohen said that he had received emails, social media posts and texts from Trump-supporting haters.

Lanny Davis, Cohens former legal adviser and friend, pictured in 2018. He is not involved in the ongoing criminal case in Manhattan but told The Independent that Cohen is under risk ( AFP/Getty )

I just got one, he said on a March episode of Mea Culpa, the regular podcast he started in 2020. F*** you, traitor, snitch and all-around c*** sucker.

Cohen also brought up the disturbing messages on Political Beatdown, another podcast that he co-hosts. Earlier this month, Cohen accused Mr Trump of blowing the dog whistle by which he meant igniting the MAGA, right-wing group.

Why does my life need to be threatened on a daily basis? he wondered aloud on the show.

Public property records show that Cohen still has a home in a Trump-branded building in Manhattan. In December, he acknowledged owning property in the luxury residence  despite his fractious relationship with the former president  and tweeted that he would move from the building when Im ready.

A source with knowledge of the matter told The Independent that he is not currently living in that apartment.

Mr Davis speaks with Cohen after he testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill on 26 February 2019, where he unveiled information that is now being used in the hush money case ( Getty )

Cohen is married to Laura Shusterman and has two adult children, Samantha and Jake. Samantha Cohen, a Penn graduate-turned-digital creator with a podcast of her own, has spoken about how their lives were upended by her fathers exile from Trumpworld.

The level of hatred and vitriol thrown at us terrifies me, Samantha Cohen told Vanity Fair in 2020. I get that people are angry. I get that people hate Trump. But think about the effect that has on a person, on their family, on the people who love them.

And its not just immediate family. Mr Davis, who joined the former fixers legal team in 2018 after meeting him through a mutual friend, is under a security risk and threats just like everybody else who was involved with Michael Cohen, he said.

Mr Davis, former special counsel to president Bill Clinton, emphasized just how serious the situation is for Cohen and his family but declined to discuss specific threats, fearing that to do so would exacerbate the problem.

Mr Trump at the Manhattan criminal courthouse on 26 April 2024. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing in the hush money case, the first-ever criminal trial of a US president ( AP )

He decided to tell the truth after lying for Donald Trump for 10 years, Mr Davis told The Independent. He recalled Cohens explosive testimony to Congress where he displayed the checks he had written to Ms Daniels, a moment that arguably lit the match that has ended up in Mr Trumps hush money trial five years later.

Cohen himself pleaded guilty to tax evasion, lying to Congress, and campaign finance violations in August 2018 and served three years, largely in home confinement. To this day, he is on supervised release.

He paid his price, Mr Davis said. Michael is fearful to this day. But hes standing up and telling the truth.
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Newly-obtained audio has captured Republican congressman Scott Perry claiming that the Ku Klux Klan is the military wing of the Democratic party in a closed-door meeting with other lawmakers.

In the audio, obtained by CNN, the Pennsylvania lawmaker also pushed the right-wing replacement theory  the baseless conspiracy theory that white people are slowly being replaced by minorities and immigrants  and claimed that migrants coming to the US have no interest in being Americans.

The KKK in modern times, a lot of young people think somehow its a right-wing organization when it is the military wing of the Democratic Party. Decidedly, unabashedly, racist and antisemitic, Mr Perry said.

Replacement theory is real, he added. They added white to it to stop everybody from talking about it.

The Ku Klux Klan has a long history of violence and is the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. It has no affiliation with the modern Democratic party.

Mr Perrys comments were made during a House Oversight Committees member briefing, entitled the Origins and Implications of Rising Antisemitism in Higher Education, on Tuesday ahead of a panel hearing the next day about the District of Columbias response to the Gaza protests and encampments on college campuses.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser was expected to testify in the hearing, but it was cancelled hours before it was due to take place, after police cleared the encampment on George Washington Universitys campus.

Scott Perry at a conference in the Capitol 29 November 29, 2023. Mr Perry is accused of calling the KKK the military wing of the Democratic party ( Getty )

In the closed-door meeting, Mr Perry made many inflammatory comments about immigrants.

While claiming that he is accepting of people that are here legally  an apparent reference to his own ancestors who migrated to the US  he said he has an issue with migrants who are un-American, CNN reported.

What is happening now is were importing people into the country that want to be in America  but have no interest in being Americans, and thats very different and to disparage the comments is to chill the conversation so that we can continue to bring in more people that we never met that are un-American, Mr Perry allegedly said, according to the recording.

Mr Perrys office said in a statement to The Independent that his comments had been twisted.

Once again, the radical Left twists facts in order to silence conversation about its own crimes and Bidens intentional failures to enforce laws and close or regulate our borders. My point is proven yet again: when the Left loses an argument, it debases and smears instead of engaging in debate on merits, Perry said in a statement to the outlet.

The Republican lawmakers comments echo those made by other prominent members of his party in recent months.

Last month, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson held an event that also appeared to echo the great replacement theory as they supported a bill to ban non-citizens from voting  despite the fact this is already illegal in the US.

Speaking at Mr Trumps Mar-A-Lago estate on 12 April, Mr Johnson claimed that election integrity is tied to a lack of border security, something he claimed is the most important issue facing American voters.

With the former president at his side, Mr Johnson promoted legislation that would require citizenship to cast a ballot, alleging that Democratic officials designs for an open border intend to turn these people into voters.

The many millions of illegals in the country could turn an election, he said.

Non-citizens are already unable to vote the US.

Mr Trump continues to push anti-immigrant rhetoric as the nation heads towards the November election. He previously claimed that immigrants are poisoning the blood of the US and has falsely alleged that millions of migrants are pouring into the country, which is not supported by federal government data.

The Independent has contacted Mr Perry for comment.
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The judge in Donald Trumps civil fraud trial is now under investigation after a hotshot New York real estate attorney claimed he gave him unsolicited advice ahead of the hotly-anticipated multi-million-dollar ruling, according to a report.

Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey told NBC New York that he spoke to Judge Arthur Engoron three weeks before he made his final judgment in the former presidents case, where he found Mr Trump, his two oldest sons, as well as their Trump Organization associates and properties liable for $464m for falsely inflating his assets.

I actually had the ability to speak to him three weeks ago, Mr Bailey told the outlet on February 16, the date of the judges decision.

I saw him in the corner [near the courthouse] and I told my client, I need to go. And I walked over and we started talking  I wanted him to know what I think and whyI really want him to get it right.

This claim prompted the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct to launch an investigation into the alleged interaction, NBC News reported. The commissions administrator Robert Tembeckjian declined to comment on behalf of the judicial body, saying it is constrained by a strict confidentiality statute.

A spokesperson for the New York States Office of Court Administration has rejected Mr Baileys claim that he gave Judge Engoron advice.

No ex parte conversation concerning this matter occurred between Justice Engoron and Mr. Bailey or any other person, the spokesperson said in a statement to NBC New York.

Justice Arthur Engoron presides over Donald Trump Jr's testimony in his family's civil fraud case at the New York State Supreme Court on 13 November ( Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool )

The decision Justice Engoron issued February 16 was his alone, was deeply considered, and was wholly uninfluenced by this individual, the spokesperson said.

The Independent has reached out to representatives for Judge Engoron and Mr Bailey for comment.

Mr Bailey told NBC News that he knows the judge from appearing before him as an attorney in court hundreds of times.

The real estate attorney claimed that he had explained to Judge Engoron that the anti-fraud law, on which the case had been brought, was not typically used to dismantle a company, especially if there were no victims.

The judge had a lot of questions, you know, about certain cases. We went over it, Mr Bailey alleged.

Mr Trumps legal team argued a similar point in court at trial.

New York Attorney General Letitia James office had argued that Mr Trumps misrepresentation of assets had led to him receiving favorable loans, and in turn affecting the marketplace.

The judge concurred, writing in his decision that materiality under this statute is judged not by reference to reliance by or materiality to a particular victim, but rather on whether the financial statement properly reflected the financial condition of the person to which the statement pertains.

In a separate, later interview Mr Bailey gave to NBC New York, he echoed his previous statements about his interaction with the judge.

He then added that, although the men didnt mention Mr Trump by name, he believed the judge understood him to be talking about the former presidents civil fraud case: Well, obviously we werent talking about the Mets.

New Yorks judicial rules of conduct state that a judge shall not initiate, permit, or consider ex parte communications, or consider other communications made to the judge outside the presence of the parties or their lawyers concerning a pending or impending proceeding.

However, the rules allow for an exception, stating: A judge may obtain the advice of a disinterested expert on the law applicable to a proceeding before the judge if the judge gives notice to the parties and affords the parties reasonable opportunity to respond.

Christopher Kise, an attorney on Mr Trumps legal team, told NBC New York: The code doesnt provide an exception for well, this was a small conversation or well, it didnt really impact meThe code is very clear.
The Australian government 'does not support' the notion of locally acquired Lyme disease. But Jordan Clark begs to differ and just raised $40,000 for treatment.

Jordan and his family believe his health spiralled out of control after a trip to Queensland. Source: Supplied

It's been more than a decade of pain, fatigue, mystery and misery for young Aussie Jordan Clark. But on the cusp of raising $40,000 for a desperate trip to a clinic in the Mediterranean, he hopes to find some reprieve from his unusual health ordeal that has divided the Australian medical community.

It all started some 11 years ago when at the age of 16, he began suffering severe symptoms, breaking out in hives and boils and suddenly dealing with chronic bouts of fatigue. "It took a bit to work out what was causing it," he told Yahoo News Australia.

He and his family soon suspected a tick bite while on holiday in Queensland was the source of his sudden and dramatic health issues, which now see him suffer from a myriad of symptoms including chronic fatigue, pointing to possible Lyme disease caused by the tick's bacteria.

"Once its [the bacteria from the tick] has been in your system for a while it is really hard thing to get on top of, especially here in Australia," Jordan said.

While he has previously worked as a swim instructor and helps a mate who runs a supermarket, his ill health means he is unable to work much. And he's currently unable to drive due to the potential of suffering a seizure  another crippling symptom he is dealing with.

But it's been a long and difficult journey through the medical establishment in Australia where tick-borne Lyme disease "is not as recognised as it is in Europe or America." In Jordan's words, the medical community "is more resistant to the idea that ticks can carry bacteria that can ruin people's lives," he told Yahoo.

"I've had doctors simply tell me; 'We don't have that here'."

Jordan with his sister's young kids. He says the ordeal has brought his family closer. Source: Supplied

The difficult status of Lyme disease in Australia

Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection caused by bacteria. According to NSW Health, "although locally-acquired Lyme disease cannot be ruled out, there is little evidence that it occurs in Australia". However, "there is a continuing risk of Lyme disease for overseas travellers," the department states online.

The Australian federal government has a similarly skeptical public stance.

"Scientists have not found Borrelia burgdorferi in Australian ticks, or any other Australian insect that could pass the disease to humans," it states. "For this reason, the Australian Government does not support the diagnosis of locally acquired Lyme disease. Instead, it recognises that a group of patients experience debilitating symptom complexes that some people attribute to ticks. We call this DSCATT (Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks)."

However the federal government notes that Lyme disease from ticks is "commonly found in parts of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Asia."

Ticks can carry bacteria which can have disastrous health consequences for humans. Source: Getty

14,000km journey to undergo 'Ozone' treatment

Lyme disease or DSCATT, living in the outer suburbs of Melbourne with his parents, Jordan admits it's been a "frustrating" decade but one silver lining is how it's made them extra strong and extra tight as a family.

When I see how it affects my family that gets to me more because I realise I'm not the only one affected," he said. They have to watch and they cant do anything.

There are doctors in Australia who are more sympathetic to a local diagnosis of Lyme disease and Jordan has found one who has helped him and urged him to seek treatment at a clinic in Cyprus, where he can undergo Ozone therapy, an effective treatment for acute bacterial infection such as Lyme disease.

Its nice to know Im not insane, he told Yahoo on Friday.

"After investing extensively, well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, on medication and treatments that have gotten me somewhere, but also nowhere, my doctor and I have discussed my remaining options and the need to look overseas for treatment," he wrote in a GoFundMe page set up to help fund the cost of the trip and treatment.

Jordan pictured when he first began suffering the symptoms as a teenager. Source: Supplied

"Though this journey has been exhausting, frustrating, humiliating, and crippling at times, I am still optimistic about the potential for this next phase of treatment to have life-altering results," he wrote.

Jordan had a call on Thursday night with the lead doctor at the Cyprus clinic and he hopes to get over there for treatment from about September to November this year.

Stunningly, his GoFundMe campaign surpassed its $40,000 target on Saturday night after just a few days online.

"Took three days to get there which is pretty crazy," Jordan remarked to Yahoo.

It's been a long wait, but in the grand scheme of things, hopefully the next step feels just as quick.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
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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.
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Multiple people have been killed and more than a dozen wounded after a 10-storey apartment block in the Russian region of Belgorod collapsed - in what the Kremlin claimed, without providing evidence, was a Ukrainian missile strike.

The region, which shares a border with the Ukrainian oblast of Kharkiv, has been hit several times over the past few months as Russian forces continue to attack across the border.

Footage from Belgorod showed the building collapsing after the entrance to the block appeared to give way.

Later, as emergency services scoured the rubble for survivors, the roof collapsed and people ran for their lives, dust and rubble falling behind them.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that two bodies had been pulled from the rubble but local Russian media outlets claimed that up to 32 people had been trapped under the debris while seven people had been killed.

Russias health ministry, meanwhile, refrained from reporting a death toll at all.

Russian rescuers search for survivors in the rubble after the roof of a destroyed apartment block in Belgorod collapsed onto emergency workers ( EPA )

Nonetheless, Vladimir Putins regime quickly sought to portray the incident as the result of a Ukrainian missile attack.

The Kremlin defence ministry reported that Ukraine had launched a salvo of missiles towards Belgorod, while Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, described the incident as another blood link in the chain of crimes perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.

Footage published by online media outlet Mash showed what they claimed was the remnants of a missile but the image could not be verified. No further evidence was provided to prove that a Ukrainian missile had caused the collapse.

Ukraine does not comment officially on incidents outside its own territory.

Mr Gladkov later issued several more missile warnings in the region throughout Sunday.

The incident comes as Russian forces continued to launch a deadly assault into the Kharkiv region, forcing more than 4,000 Ukrainian civilians to evacuate from key frontier towns within a few miles of the border.

The offensive, which started in the early hours of Friday, has involved small infantry-led units on two sectors of the border between Kharkiv and Belgorod advancing into what is known as the grey zone, an area where neither Russia nor Ukraine have full control.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said at least two civilians were killed on Sunday in Vovchansk, a small Ukrainian village that appears to be the target of one of Russias attacks. It is just 40 miles from Ukraines second largest city, named after the wider region, which is home to around 1.3 million people.

The second attack further north, towards a village called Oliinykove, is just 25 miles from Kharkiv city.

People walk with their belongings to the evacuation point in front of a building that was damaged by a Russian airstrike in Vilcha, near Vovchansk ( AP )

Ukrainian military officials had long warned that Russian forces were massing tens of thousands of troops in that area.

But the attack marks the first time in nearly two years that fighting has taken place in that region, after Ukrainian forces liberated the wider area from Russian rule in September 2022.

Since then, the fighting has largely been confined to the neighbouring region of Luhansk, as well as Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson further southward.

Russia said it took four more towns in the region on Sunday, having claimed to have taken five on Saturday, but Ukrainian officials disputed that report.

This week, the situation in Kharkiv Oblast has significantly worsened, wrote Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Sunday morning.

Currently, there are ongoing battles in the border areas along the state border. The situation is difficult but the Defence Forces of Ukraine are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions, inflicting damage on the enemy.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, described the attack as an extremely dangerous moment for Ukraine. Putin has now, as it were, invaded [Ukraine] again from Kharkiv, he said.
 Close Quality of Russian troops is now lower than beginning of war, says Nato Chief

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed there are no plans to take the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv despite tens of thousands of his forces having recently stormed across the border into the region and getting within artillery range of the city.

Speaking on the second day of his two-day tour of China, Putin claimed he had ordered the attack to create a buffer zone between Ukrainian soldiers and the Russian region of Belgorod.

When asked if Russian forces planned to take control of Kharkiv city, some 20 miles from the current fighting, Putin said: As for Kharkiv, there are no such plans as of today.

While Ukrainian officials and military analysts maintain that Russian forces in the Kharkiv region do not have the manpower or weaponry to take its namesake capital, and that the attack is likely an attempt to create a buffer zone, as Putin puts it, as well as draw Ukrainian forces away from other battles further east, there is little doubt that Russia would try to invade the city if it had the capability.
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A British-Israeli hostage held in Gaza has died, Hamas claimed on Saturday  as Israeli forces ordered further evacuations of the strip, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave their homes.

Nadav Popplewell, 51, who was taken hostage during the 7 October attack on Israel, died of wounds caused by an Israeli airstrike a month ago.

The Palestinian military group provided no evidence to support the claim, which has also not been verified by Israel or Mr Popplewells hometown of Nirim.

But the UKs Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is investigating and released a statement in which it said our thoughts are with his family at this extremely distressing time.

Yorkshire-born Mr Popplewell was captured with his mother, who was later released. His brother was killed in the October attack.

The report of Mr Popplewells death came on a day Israel called for Palestinians in more areas of Gazas southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.

People in the northern Gaza cities of Jabalia and Beit Lahiya have also been asked to leave their homes.

The move signals a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah.

In Tel Aviv, meanwhile, thousands of Israelis took to the streets demanding Benjamin Netanyahus government does more to secure the release of 132 hostages still being held in Gaza.

Tent encampments housing displaced Palestinians can be seen in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip by the border fence with Egypt ( AFP via Getty Images )

On Saturday night, Israels military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said his troops continued to fight in all parts of the Gaza Strip.

We will continue to fight in order to create a security situation that will allow the residents of the north and the south to return home safely, he said in a televised message.

An elderly woman and child wait with belongings before evacuating from Rafah ( AFP )

Residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza are being evacuated, with Rear Admiral Hagari claiming Hamas was trying to re-establish its control of the area.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 37 Palestinians, 24 of them from central Gaza areas, were killed in overnight airstrikes on Friday across the enclave.

More than 1.4 million Palestinians  half of Gazas population  have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israels offensives elsewhere.

A boy sits on the hood of a vehicle loaded with belongings as members of a Palestinian family flee bound for Khan Yunis ( AFP )

Considered the last refuge in the strip, the evacuations from Rafah are forcing people to return north where areas have been devastated by previous Israeli attacks.

Some Palestinians are being sent to what Israel has called humanitarian safe zones which are already packed with about 450,000 people in squalid conditions. The rubbish-strewn camp lacks basic facilities.

Mohammad Mansour, 44, told The Independent: We are leaving the place to escape death, a human tragedy that is renewed once again, in search of a safe area.

A million and a half people are wandering around, carrying whatever food they can find.

We dont know where to go. All places are affected by the Israeli flames. The areas that the occupation claims are safe do not have any human services.

A woman wipes away tears before evacuating from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ( AFP via Getty Images )

There is no food there. Here in the Gaza Strip, death threatens everyone. Death besieges those who stay and those who flee. Even people dont have the money to move.

There is a big lack of food. There is no drinkable water. Health services are suspended.

Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, and Rear Admiral Hagari said dozens of militants had been killed there as targeted operations continued.

Displaced Palestinians prepare to leave with their belongings ( EPA )

Israeli forces have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, forcing it to shut down.

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.

The United Nations has warned the planned full-scale Rafah invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian casualties.

Palestinians arrive to Khan Younis after leaving Rafah following an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army ( EPA )

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 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.

On Saturday, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said a ground attack on Rafah by Israel would be irresponsible and lead to a massive loss of civilian lives.
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David Cameron says he is not really interested in halting the UKs weapons shipments to Israel despite the US suspension earlier this week.

His comments came as his US counterpart, Anthony Blinken, said Israel lacked a credible plan to protect some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians trapped in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, ahead of an imminent Israeli ground offensive.

Mr Blinken also warned an Israeli attack could create an insurgency by failing to kill all Hamas fighters in the southern Gazan city.

Ahead of the offensive - Israeli tanks have already entered through the nearest crossings into Rafah, where they have now split the city into sections ready to invade - both the US and UK have faced calls to cease arming Israel.

The US announced it had suspended at least one shipment of weapons to Israel, including 1,800 900 kg bombs, earlier this week, before US President Joe Biden said he would halt further shipments if Israel proceeded with its plan to attack Rafah.

But Lord Cameron, speaking on Sunday morning, remained firm that the UK would not follow the US lead.

An Israeli tank moves near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

Though he said the UK does not support an Israeli offensive in Rafah, because he has not seen a plan from the Israelis concerning how to protect people, Lord Cameron insisted that halting weapons shipments was a needless political exercise.

Just to simply announce today that we will change our approach on arms exports, it would make Hamas stronger and it would make a hostage deal less likely, he said, adding that he was not really interested in message sending through political moves like ending weapons sales.

He pointed to the fact that the UKs weapons shipments to Israel account for just one per cent of their total military support, compared to 68 per cent for the US.

He said he wanted instead to focus on hammering away every day on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The United Nations human rights chief warned on Sunday that many of those residing in Rafah have nowhere to go as he emphasised the worsening humanitarian situation in the Strip.

Israel has ordered those remaining in the area to move away but Volker Turk said there was no safe place left in Gaza.

More than 300,000 Palestinians in Rafah have already fled to camps in central and western Gaza, but those areas have been hit by airstrikes since the evacuation notices were given.

A boy looks on as Palestinians prepare to flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city ( REUTERS )

The latest evacuation orders affect close to a million people in Rafah, he said in a statement. So where should they go now? There is no safe place in Gaza!

These exhausted, famished people, many of whom have been displaced many times already, have no good options.

He said a full-scale offensive could have a catastrophic impact  including the possibility of further atrocity crimes.

I can see no way that the latest evacuation orders, much less a full assault, in an area with an extremely dense presence of civilians, can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law and with the two sets of binding provisional measures ordered by the international court of justice, he said.

The UN warned just yesterday that much of the food supplies for southern Gaza would run out by the end of the weekend while Israel keeps the two border crossings in the region closed.

Both the Rafah and the Kerem Shalom crossings, the former from Egypt and the latter from Israel into Gaza, have been vital conduits for humanitarian aid.

But after Israeli tanks rolled through the crossings at the start of the week, they have been closed, meaning those in Gaza have been left to survive on what had already been delivered to the Strip.

The Israeli military announced on Sunday it had opened a new humanitarian aid crossing in coordination with the United States.

The crossing, called Western Erez, was opened in the northern Gaza Strip in order to transfer humanitarian aid, the military said in a statement.

But it is unclear when the crossing will become fully operational and how much aid will be delivered through the crossing.
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The supervisor of the bus station in Burlington, Vermont, is named Romeo. He arrived in America from Somalia.

Mogadishu, his home city, has its qualities, he said, but life in Burlington is certainly more placid.

While I have not had the pleasure of visiting his corner of Africa, I imagine the bus service may be less well organised than in Vermont.

Romeo directed me to the bus to Middlebury: a one-hour ride through exquisite landscapes of woodland and water, meadows and hillsides, to a small college town huddled prettily around a cascading river.

Value of trip: priceless. Cost of trip: zero.

Early in 2020, two significant locations, each with a population of around 650,000, stopped charging for public transport. One was Luxembourg: a small, wealthy nation that has terrible traffic. The Grand Duchy pays about 1bn a year to keep its buses, trams, trains and funicular running. At the time the decision was taken, farebox income amounted to 40m.

Cut out fares, the thinking went, and the national coffers will hardly notice. Costs will fall (no need to handle cash and ticketing) and efficiency will rise (with no tickets, there is nothing for the driver to sell or collect). Luxembourg is maintaining the abolition of fares in the hope that more people will leave their cars at home.

The other location: Vermont in the northeastern US, 10 times larger. The reason was nothing to do with easing traffic, which is never a problem in this bucolic state. It was Covid.

With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, fares were eliminated for all transit services in Vermont, the state legislature says. The twin aims, according to the Vermont House and Senate Committees on Transportation:

To reduce the risk of Covid exposure by increasing social distancing between drivers and passengers.

To recognise the trying economic times.

The policy has survived for four years  but from next week, passengers must get used once again to the idea of paying for the privilege of being professionally driven through a beautiful state.

The state has had enough of subsidising tourists (I would gladly pay $20 for that southbound ride from Burlington to Middlebury), and giving free rides to the local airport for business travellers who have spent hundreds of dollars on their flights to New York or Washington DC.

Even though the fares are pitched way below the cost of providing the service, it is natural that some locals will complain.

Yet there is one component of the states transport network where charging fares is seen as a benefit for everyone.

The capital of Vermont, Montpelier, has an on-demand transport system called MyRide. This flexible-schedule, flexible-route service came in three years ago, completely replacing the citys fixed-route bus network.

MyRide works like Uber or Lyft: you book a ride on the app (or can even phone in for transportation). For truly on-demand travel, you typically wait five to 15 minutes for a vehicle to arrive and take you wherever you desire to be. For regular trips, such as to work, you can book days or months ahead.

Unlike commercial ride-sharing services, though, it is free.

The scheme is nothing to do with helping with Vermonts cost of living crisis: the aim is to reduce pressure on parking, which currently accounts for 60 per cent of the citys downtown real estate.

Yes, an astonishing three-fifths of the area of the Vermont state capital is given over to car parks. Offer a superior alternative to car ownership, the thinking goes, and some of that space could be handed back for housing  which will enable people to live closer to work, reducing still further the room required to store SUVs all day.

open image in gallery Red alert: Car parks in central Montpelier, Vermont ( Jon Budreski/Airshark )

The state now wants to start charging  not to start recouping some of the cost, but to get MyRide to work better.

A report from the Vermont legislature concludes: Without the disincentive of losing a fare payment, many riders will book trips that they do not intend to complete, which results in diminished capacity and efficiency and wasted time and resources for the microtransit operation and passengers.

In other words: many people book lifts and then dont bother to take them, because there is no personal downside.

MyRide sounds an excellent proposition  not least because it avoids sending empty buses around. But even I have to concede it will work better with a fare.

Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue  and what it means for you.
Republican candidate Donald Trump called rival Democrat and current US President Joe Biden a total moron during his rally in New Jersey on Saturday (11 May).

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, the 77-year-old said.

Hes a fool, hes not a smart man. He never was.

Trumps comments come after President Biden joked the day before that he wished Trump had injected himself with a little bleach - referencing the former presidents claims that disinfectant could be an effective treatment for Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic.
The newly-released ad promoting Apples new iPad Pro has sparked a strong reaction, with many expressing horror at creative tools being crushed (Apple via AP)

Hugh Grant is not happy about the Apple ad. Photo: Getty

Apple has apologised for missing the mark after a backlash over its latest iPad advert that showed creative tools, including musical instruments and books, being crushed by a hydraulic press.

The video was meant to demonstrate the wide range of creative tools that have been compressed into the latest iPad but has been called horrific and tone-deaf while being widely criticised by celebrities including Hugh Grant.

However, the destruction shown in the advert sparked a strong reaction on social media, with a number of high-profile figures expressing their horror at the concept.

In a statement released to marketing publication Ad Age, Apples vice-president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren said: Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and its incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world.

New Apple iPad Pro ad has sparked a strong reaction, with many expressing horror at creative tools being crushed

Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and were sorry.

The one-minute-long video, which Apple has yet to remove from its YouTube channel, attempts to show the various creative tools that have been squeezed into the new iPad Pro, which is the thinnest the company has ever made, by showing a wide range of instruments, an arcade gaming machine, books, paint cans, a sculpture and other items being crushed under the press.

It then rises to reveal the new iPad.

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However, many critics suggested that rather than symbolising the power of the new device, it actually highlighted how technology is being used to stifle creativity rather than enhance it.

Actor Hugh Grant said the ad showed the destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.

Songwriter Crispin Hunt said the crushing of musical instruments evokes the same primal horrific sacrilege as watching books burn.

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Surprisingly tone-deaf from Apple, whove previously enabled and championed creativity, he said.

Posting the advert to X, formerly Twitter, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the device had the most advanced display weve ever produced and highlighted its incredible power, adding just imagine all the things itll be used to create.

However, replies to the post also expressed horror at the visuals of the adverts, with commenters saying it showed unnecessary destruction and a lack of respect for creative equipment.

The criticism comes at a particularly sensitive time, with many in the creative arts sector raising concerns about the impact of technology, and specifically the rise of generative AI, on their work and its potential to take jobs from people.
Its like an out of body experience  Bambie Thug

This year, Switzerland were crowned the champions of Eurovision 2024. Switzerland's Nemo, with their song The Code, cruised to victory after they won 365 points in the jury vote and 226 points in the public vote.

Irelands Bambie Thug came sixth, after receiving 142 points from the juries and 136 from the public.

But who did we vote for  and who voted for us?

F**k the EBU  Bambie Thug criticises Eurovision organisers as they accuse Israeli broadcaster of inciting violence against them

Here is how Ireland voted in this years Eurovision Song Contest:

Irelands public vote

Starting with the televote, Irish viewers gave douze points to Croatia, who were tipped as one of the favourites to win last nights contest.

With their song, Rim Tim Tagi Dim performed by Baby Lasagna, Croatia came second overall in the competition.

Despite criticism of their participation, including from Irelands Bambie Thug, the Irish public gave Israels Eden Golan, with the song Hurricane, 10 points. Israel came fifth overall in the contest.

Next, Irish voters gave Ukraine eight points. Their entry Teresa and Maria, performed by alyona alyona and Jerry Heil came third in the competition last night.

Ireland gave seven points to Lithuania but only gave six points to winners Switzerland in the televote.

Ireland gave Latvia five points, four to France, three to Finland and Spain were awarded two points. Ireland gave Italy one point.

Irelands jury vote

Irelands jury vote was quite different to the Irish publics choices.

Last night, the Irish jury award 12 points to Nemo for Switzerland.

Next, Irelands 10 points went to the Eurovision hosts, Sweden. Their entry, Unforgettable by identical twins Marcus and Martinus came in 9th place overall.

Eight points were awarded to Luxembourg, who took part in the song contest for the first time in 31 years.

The Irish jury gave seven points to Croatias Baby Lasagna, while six points went to Germany with its song Always On The Run which was performed by ISAAK. Overall, Germany came 12th.

Five points went to Portugal and four were awarded to the United Kingdom, who had a disappointing result last night.

Receiving just 46 points from the jury vote and no votes from the televoting, the UKs Olly Alexander came 18th in the competition.

Finally, Irelands jury awarded France, three points, Ukraine, two points and Serbia, one point.

Now who voted for Ireland?

A detailed breakdown of the points awarded to Irelands Bambie Thug in the competition have also been released.

Ireland came sixth in Saturdays contest, the best result an Irish entry has seen in years. With a total of 278 points awarded for Doomsday Blue, Bambie Thug received just one 12 point score, which came from the Australian jury vote.

Overall, Ireland received 142 points from the juries in participating countries, which kept Bambie Thug high on the scoreboard early on in the voting section of the show and kept the entry comfortably in the top 10 throughout the final part of Saturdays show.

Six juries gave Ireland 10 points; Azerbaijan, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and Italy.

While the Croatian jury gave Doomsday Blue eight points, juries from Czechia, Iceland, Malta, United Kingdom, Denmark and San Marino gave Ireland seven points.

Finlands jury awarded Bambie Thug six points, Belgiums jury gave us four points and Lithuania and Austria gave three each.

Serbias jury gave Irelands entry two points and Slovenia and Poland awarded one point each.

A total of 15 juries did not award Ireland any points, including Germany, France, Israel and Netherlands, who were disqualified from the contest but were still allowed to vote.

In the public vote, Ireland received 136 points.

Only five counties did not give Ireland any points in the public vote; Albania, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Israel.

Ireland also did not receive any 12 point scores in the televote, although Bambie Thug did get 10 points from the United Kingdom.

The Australian and Ukrainian public gave Ireland eight points each and Spain and Serbia awarded Ireland seven points.

The rest of the world vote, which is a combination of audiences voting online from non-participating countries, also gave Ireland seven points.

Czechia, Netherlands and Poland gave Bambie Thug six points and audiences in Croatia, Finland, Lithuania and Portugal awarded Ireland five points.

Five countries including Azerbaijan, Malta and Sweden gave Doomsday Blue four points in the public vote while three points each came from Denmark, Iceland, Italy and Latvia.

Estonia, Greece and Slovenia were among nine countries to give Ireland two points each, while the German audience were the only country to give Ireland just one point.
Major changes flagged after real estate agent allegedly murdered at work

The unspeakable tragedy unfolded in December last year while the victims were at work. Source: AAP

A mental health review prompted by a patient allegedly murdering a woman and attacking another shortly after release has recommended changes at a major hospital.

Shaun Michael Dunk was being treated for a mental health condition at the Royal Adelaide Hospital before a clinical decision resulted in him being released into the community on December 18, 2023.

Two days later, he allegedly wandered into a real estate agent office and killed one woman and seriously injured another in a random knife attack.

Dunk was charged with the murder of Julie Seed, 38, and the attempted murder of her colleague Susan Scardigno, 50 at their work in the Adelaide suburb of Plympton.

The incident triggered a review into Dunk's mental health treatment which was publicly released on Saturday.

The review found there was no evidence the decisions made by any individual clinicians had fallen below an acceptable standard.

But it highlighted systemic issues including the emergency department model of care not being designed or resourced for effective mental health treatment.

Julie Seed, who was allegedly murdered in a random stabbing attack in Adelaide's south, with her fiance Chris Smith. Picture: Supplied

Dunk had been admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital on a compulsory inpatient treatment order and was released on December 18.

He spent the following night at the Urgent Mental Health Care Centre in the CBD, a voluntary walk-in service run by clinicians and people with lived experience of mental illness.

The report's recommendations include establishing a shared process between Royal Adelaide Hospital and the urgent care centre to flag frequent attenders and develop an agreed management plan.

Other recommendations include a review into mental health staffing at Royal Adelaide and the role of security guards for mental health patients.

The review also called for a review of risk assessment policies and an audit of the management of patients presenting to the Royal Adelaide emergency department under the influence of illicit substances.

SA Health Minister Chris Picton said the government will implement all recommendations in the report.

"We have given the first opportunity to the families to discuss the findings and recommendations, and are now immediately releasing them publicly and to our clinical teams," he said.

Chief psychiatrist John Brayley and SA Health chief executive Dr Robyn Lawrence will oversee their implementation.

Dr Brayley said the recommendations come after a string of recent violent events that have "distressed our entire community".

"Both the agreed system changes and future law changes aim to improve the care for individuals, enhance community safety and support staff," he said.

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Bambie Thug says Israeli broadcaster incited violence against me three timesTaoiseach Simon Harris congratulated Bambie for a stunning performance and tour de force at Eurovision 2024

F**k the EBU  Bambie Thug criticises Eurovision organisers as they accuse Israeli broadcaster of inciting violence against them

Irish Eurovision entrant Bambie Thug has heavily criticised the organisers of the Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), saying; F**k the EBU.

The non-binary artist, who came sixth in the contest, did not take part in the dress rehearsal on Saturday due to a 'situation' backstage. They accused the Eurovision Song Contest organisers of not supporting them over a row with Israel.

Bambie Thug claimed the Israeli broadcaster KAN had disobeyed the rules of the contest and this had been brought to the EBUs attention.

So now that I am free I can talk about everything, right? KAN, the broadcaster, incited violence against me twice, three times., Bambie Thug said after the final on Saturday night.

We brought it up to the EBU, they said theyd follow up. They waited until the last minute, we still havent got a statement back. [The EBU] allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves. That broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they wont be allowed to compete because of that.

Bambie became emotional when discussing the tension backstage in recent days.

Behind the scenes you dont know the amount of pressure and the amount of work that we have been doing to change things and Im so proud of Nemo for winning, they said.

Im so proud of all of us in the top 10 that have been fighting for this shit behind the scenes because it has been so hard, it has been so horrible for us and Im so proud of us.

I just want to say we are what the Eurovision is. The EBU is not what the Eurovision is. F**k the EBU, I dont even care any more. F**k them.

The thing that makes us contestants, the community behind it, the love and the power and the support of all of us is whats making change. The world has spoken, the queers are coming, non-binaries for the f**king win, and I am so proud.

The EBU has been contacted for comment but have yet to issue a statement.

Last night, non-binary Swiss act Nemo topped the leader-board with their pop song The Code about their journey of self-discovery.

They were also critical of the organisers. Nemo waved a non-binary flag in the green room even though they claimed the EBU had told them not to.

Eurovision winner Nemo states the EBU banned the non-binary flag in the Eurovision venue

I smuggled my flag in because Eurovision said no and I did it anyway. So I hope some other people did that too.

Referring to the lyrics of their song, and the fact that they accidentally broke the trophy on stage, they continued: As I said, I broke the code, I broke the trophy, the trophy can be fixed.

"Maybe Eurovision needs a little bit of fixing.

Ireland attracted the top 12-point allocation from the Australian jury vote, as well as a 10 from the UK audience as part of a total of 136 from the overall audience vote, but ultimately failed to catch eventual winner Nemo. Taoiseach Simon Harris congratulated Bambie for a stunning performance and tour de force at Eurovision 2024.

They performed with passion, stopped us in our tracks and did us proud. The eruption of applause in the stadium at the end of Irelands performance spoke for itself, he said in a statement.

Congratulations to Switzerland on the win and well done to Sweden for hosting another showstopper. Thank you to our closest musical ally in Europe  Australia  for our only douze points!

Its Bambie Thugs night as far as were concerned.

Well done, Bambie.

Bambie Thug of Ireland performs the song Doomsday Blue during the grand final (Martin Meissner/AP)

Bambies performance of Doomsday Blue was met with rapturous applause and they finished their performance with the words 'Love will always triumph over hate.

It is the most successful entrant Ireland has had in the Eurovision in recent years  the last time Ireland qualified for the grand final was in 2018 with Ryan OShaughnessys Together.

The last time Ireland came sixth in the grand final was almost a quarter of a century ago in 2000 when Eamonn Toal performed Millennium of Love.

Netherlands

Earlier in the day, the EBU announced that the Netherlands would not take part in the contest.

This was as a result of an incident involving a female member of the Swedish production team that took place on Thursday evening after Kleins performance.

"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," a statement from the EBU said.

"While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the contest, they said.

It is the first time in Eurovisions 68-year history that a contestant has been disqualified after the start of the five-day event.

The EBU said it maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at the event and were committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the contest",

Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said the decision was disproportionate.

Demonstrations

Throughout the week there had been demonstrations opposing Israels participation in Eurovision and calls for them to be expelled from the contest. In 2022, Russia was suspended from the contest following the invasion of Ukraine.

In the street, people held signs that read Welcome Genocide in the same font as Eurovisions official logo.

We are here because there is a genocide going on in Gaza and we want the perpetrator Israel banned from the contest. We are residents of Malmo we want to show solidarity with Eurovision, local resident Nina Eriksson said.

In an interview with Swedish channel SVT, Noel Curran, the director general of the EBU and former director general of RTE, admitted the 68th song contest had not been a normal Eurovision.

Curran said he stood over the EBUs decision to include the Israeli broadcaster in this years contest.

Some of the acts spoke about Israels participation overshadowing the event  and there were protests with people chanting that songs and glitter cannot hide the genocide.

In response, Curran said: I wish my job was one where every decision the EBU made went smoothly Unfortunately, when you are in these positions, and particularly when you have gone through a process of the member governing bodies to make a decision, I cant look back and say the decision was the wrong decision.

I respect the protesters. I am not going to pretend this has been a completely normal Eurovision. I cant look back and say we should have done this differently. And I cant look back and say the governing member bodies should have done this differently. We were faced with a situation and that decision was made.

People attend a watch-along party in the town square of Irelands Eurovision entrant Bambie Thugs hometown of Macroom in Co Cork, as the Eurovision final takes place at Malmo Arena (Noel Sweeney/PA)

The grand final

Last night, 25 acts took to the stage  there were gravity-defying performances, spell circles, emotive ballads, and infectious pop songs.

Last years winner Loreen and the Abbatars  digital versions of the original Abba  performed during the show, which pulls in worldwide viewership figures of 200 million.

TV presenter Graham Norton, who provided commentary for BBC coverage, was full of praise of Bambie Thugs performance.

He said: Im not a parent, but I might warn you that younger kids, I mean seriously, might find this next performance a little bit frightening.

He added: Bambie Thug, such a great performer and Ireland have done a very good job of production this year and this is tipped to do extremely well.
Crackdown planned on employers who hire illegal workersGovernment concerns Ireland has become a soft spot

A major review of welfare supports and housing entitlements offered to asylum-seekers, along with a crackdown on illegal employment, is being undertaken by the Government to ensure the State does not incentivise economic migrants to come to Ireland.

There are concerns in the Coalition that Ireland has become a soft spot for migrants due to generous welfare entitlements and easy access to employment.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has now ordered a review of all state supports for asylum-seekers and refugees to ensure Ireland is not an outlier when it comes to welfare and accommodation for migrants.

Harris says he is working to pull levers in government departments

The review will come in tandem with an increase in workplace inspections to ensure all employees have permits to work.

Writing in todays Sunday Independent, Taoiseach Simon Harris says he is working to pull levers in government departments to ensure Ireland adopts a firmer system, and ensures we are not out of kilter with other EU countries.

He adds: This will not be a long drawn-out process. The Government will take decisions on this soon.

The Sunday Independent also understands the Government is running out of military-style tents and migrants will soon have to obtain their own tents when staying on state-provided land.

Tents along the Grand Canal in Dublin this weekend. Photo: Leah Farrell

Integration Minister Roderic OGorman said yesterday it would be months before the State could provide accommodation to newly arrived asylum-seekers.

I believe in the next number of months well be in a position to say with confidence that everybody who requires an offer of accommodation can get one, and thats what were working to achieve across government, the minister said on Newstalk.

Mr OGorman also said that while the Government is working to build up accommodation facilities, state land  such as that currently being used in Crooksling  will continue to be used.

Its the delivery of that state land that was really important in terms of us being able to offer accommodation to these people the minister said.

And in the short-term, the use of state land is going to continue to be important, in terms of allowing us to provide this.

Harris says an increasing number of asylum-seekers are working illegally

Meanwhile, the Coalition is focusing on reviewing so-called pull factors that they fear are attracting economic migrants.

All supports for asylum-seekers and Ukrainians have to be looked at because we are still very generous compared to other European state, a senior government source said.

Another senior source said decisions on payments and accommodation will be coming very soon, with further proposals later in the month.

Minister Roderic OGorman. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA

The State currently gives a weekly payment of 38.80 to all adult asylum-seekers and 29.80 per child. They are also entitled to a full medical card and state-provided accommodation.

A further payment of 75 is provided to asylum-seekers who are not provided with accommodation.

However, this payment is not being reviewed, as it was introduced following a legal challenge due to the lack of supports previously provided by the State for homeless asylum-seekers.

New Ukrainian refugees are given state accommodation for three months, and since March have been given 38.80 a week.

The provision of medical cards is not being reviewed

However, Ukrainians who arrived before then were entitled to the same welfare payments as Irish citizens, plus a full medical card.

Government sources said the provision of medical cards was not being reviewed, but payments will be examined.

Another central element of the new immigration strategy will be to target employers who hire asylum-seekers without work permits.

The Government believes there is an increasing number of asylum-seekers working illegally in various sectors, including construction and hospitality.

A stricter regime of inspections is being planned to ensure anyone working in Ireland has the legal documentation to do so.

Asylum-seekers can apply for work permits five months after they arrive if their case has not been progressed  and in most cases it has not. This five-month period may be extended to discourage migrants to come to Ireland.
A Swedish man alleged to have links to organised crime has failed in his bid to stop the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) from transferring more than 600,000 to the State.
Murdered with an assault rifle  the new face of gang warfare in Dublin

Drug gangs are always brutal, but use of a high-powered weapon in the killing of Josh Itseli (20) on a Dublin housing estate is a game-changer

Josh Itseli and the junction of Knocknarea Road and Curlew Road, where he was killed

Ali Bracken Sun 12 May 2024 at 03:30

Josh Itseli wasnt even born when the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud erupted on the same streets where he was gunned down six days ago.
Revealed: Official memos cast new light on protection racket run by criminals that rocked the system

Minister had to intervene in official investigation after lack of co-operation from housing association

Derek O'Driscoll and David Reilly and, right, former housing minister Eoghan Murphy

Maeve Sheehan Sun 12 May 2024 at 03:30

A government minister accused one of Irelands biggest housing associations of not co-operating with a statutory investigation into a protection racket run by criminals.
The family of a young woman who died in a case of medical misadventure has been told the long-awaited investigation report into her death cannot be released because it is under legal review.

Bryonny Sainsbury (25) from Newtownforbes, Co Longford, was kicked in the head by a horse in August 2021 and taken to Mullingar General Hospital where her condition deteriorated.

She died days later at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. An inquest was told she could have been saved had she been treated sooner.

Her parents, Alison and Chris, who have been waiting close to three years for an investigation report into Bryonnys death, were led to believe they would finally receive the report in May only to be informed of yet another delay.

Alison Sainsbury, mother of Bryonny Sainsbury, who died after being kicked in the head by a horse. Photo: Fergal Phillips

A letter to the family from the Royal College of Surgeons hospital group, which is conducting the investigation, said copies of the draft report were sent out to the participants in the review for feedback and is now subject to a legal review.

The letter said the review team received legal advice that the report cannot be released to the family until the process is complete. It added the timelines are outside the control of the review team.

The inquest into Bryonnys death, which concluded in February, heard of a divergence of views between doctors who treated her. There was evidence of consultants differing on who was responsible for her care while in hospital and of scans that showed her deteriorating condition.

A professor at Beaumont Hospital said her condition was salvageable had she been transferred there sooner.

Alison Sainsbury said the latest delay has added to the trauma of Bryonnys loss

The Sainsbury family met the Tanaiste and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin on Thursday and said he has undertaken to find out why the report is taking so long and to press for its release.

The meeting was arranged by the familys local TD, Joe Flaherty, who has raised the Sainsburys case in the Dail.

When the family met the review team in March last year they were told they would have the review within four weeks.

Earlier this year, they had been led to believe they would have the investigation report by this month.

Alison Sainsbury said this weekend that the latest delay, on top of all the other delays has added to the trauma of Bryonnys loss.

It takes a lot out of you to continue to fight for answers that you should not have to be fighting for, she said.
Michael DArcy first took political office in 1958, and in 2014 he was still serving on his local town council

Former Fine Gael TD for Wexford Michael DArcy, who held office in two coalition administrations led by his party, has died at the age of 90.

He served as minister of state for agriculture for two years in the Garret FitzGerald administration that ran from 1981 to February 1982, and then in the November 1982 to 1986 government he served as minister of state for fisheries and forestry, and also at the Department of the Gaeltacht.

Michael Joseph DArcy was born into a family farm at Annagh, outside Gorey, Co Wexford, on March 7, 1934. His political career started in 1958 after his father, Timothy Francis DArcy, died. He had been a member of Wexford County Council at the time and a meeting of Gorey members of the Fine Gael party appointed a replacement on the night after his burial.

However, this was later declared void because one of the branch officials had not received notification of the meeting.

A new meeting of the local FG organisation was called, and a majority chose Michael DArcy over another contender. He was co-opted on to his fathers council seat, where he served for several decades.

He was election agent for Billy Rackard in Wexford at the 1965 general election, but the famed hurler didnt win a seat.

DArcys first attempt at membership of Dail Eireann was in the 1973 general election, in which he came fifth in the race in the Wexford constituency, which was a four-seater at the time. The only Fine Gael candidate to get elected on that occasion was John Esmonde  or, to give him his full name, Sir John Henry Grattan Esmonde, whose father had previously held the seat for 22 years and whose family were prominent in history, with one of his forebears having been hanged by the British for participating in the 1798 uprising.

The next general election, in 1977, saw a landslide for Fianna Fail, though Fine Gael still held its single seat in Wexford, but this time with a different candidate: DArcy got 4,541 first preferences compared with Esmondes 4,142 and stayed ahead until the sixth count, when he was elected.

Fine Gael had a much better run in the June 1981 general election when DArcy topped the poll with 10,290 first preferences  almost 20.7pc of the vote in what was now a five-seat constituency. His transfers helped bring party colleague Ivan Yates over the line as well.

Those were unsettled times, and when a fresh general election took place eight months later in February 1982, DArcy held on to his seat without needing any transfers and was closely followed by Yates, who got in on the second count.

Nine months later, in November 1982, it was back to the ballot box yet again, and both DArcy and Yates were re-elected on the fifth count, closely followed by new Fine Gael candidate Avril Doyle. It was the first and so far only time Fine Gael won three Dail seats in the Model County.

In February 1986, then taoiseach Garret FitzGerald informed the Dail he had accepted the resignations of DArcy and two others from their positions as ministers of state. It subsequently emerged that DArcy and Cork TD Donal Creed had not submitted their resignations. FitzGerald then had to formally dismiss them. Avril Doyle was one of the new junior ministers.

DArcy lost his Dail seat in the February 1987 general election when Avril Doyle came in ahead of him.

The situation was reversed in June 1989 when DArcy won the seat back and Doyle lost out. She won back the seat in the November 1992 contest and DArcy was off the list after the fourth count.

He was elected a senator (on the Agricultural Panel) in February 1997, serving in the Upper House until the June 1997 general election when he was the third candidate to be elected and Doyle lost her seat. However, both of them were unsuccessful in the 2002 contest when Yates didnt run, and newcomer Paul Kehoe was the only Fine Gael candidate to get elected.

Subsequently, Doyle focused her political attention exclusively on her role as a member of the European Parliament, while her party rival retired from national politics.

His son, Michael William DArcy, won a Dail seat in 2007, which he lost in 2011 but regained in 2016  before losing it again in 2020. He served as a minister of state at the Department of Finance from 2016 to 2020 and also got elected twice to the Seanad after losing his Dail seat, resigning in September 2020 to take up a position as chief executive of the Irish Association of Investment Managers, which he still holds.

In a comment to the Sunday Independent during the week, Avril Doyle said: I have known Michael and his family for almost 50 years. We were good friends on Wexford County Council in the Seventies and again over the last 20 years or so. However, in the interim, we and our respective teams had a very competitive political relationship... the joys of the multi-seat PR electoral system.

Humorously recalling that there was no one more enthusiastic to see me off to Brussels than Mick DArcy, she continued: Its all over now. Having served his county and country as a consummate public servant in many roles over many years, may he rest in peace after a long life well-lived.

In 1999, he was elected for the first time to Gorey Town Council and was elected chairperson in 2012. He chaired the councils last-ever meeting at the Market House in May 2014.

Expressing condolences on his death, former Fine Gael leader and finance minister Alan Dukes said: He was a warm friend and a great colleague. He brought great energy and dedication to serving the public and his constituency.

Labour TD and former health minister Brendan Howlin said: I had the privilege of serving with Michael and representing Wexford. An honourable man who loved his county and his country. He served both with distinction.

Former justice minister and Fianna Fail TD Gerard Collins said Michael DArcy was always a gentleman and held in the highest regard by all.

Former Progressive Democrats senator Cathy Honan, speaking also on behalf of her husband Adrian, said: I have very fond memories of my time with him in the Senate, always so helpful and kind. A great example of what a politician should be.

Independent TD for Roscommon- Galway Denis Naughten said: He was a stalwart in Wexford politics for so many years and I learned much from him in my early days.

Michael Joseph DArcy died peacefully on May 1 at Oakfield nursing home in Courtown, Co Wexford, after a short illness.

He was the beloved husband of Marie and loving father of Jude, Michael, Liam and the late Shirley, brother of Peggy, Emily, Nora, Frank and the late Jim and grandfather of Alex, Aoife, Ashley, Bill, Siobhan, Marie, Judith, Paddy, Catherine, Luke and Alyssa.

His funeral mass took place at St Peter and Pauls Church in Kilanerin on May 3, followed by burial in nearby Limbrick Cemetery.
Probe into culture recommended amid claims Professor Philip Nolan gaslit staff

Science Foundation Ireland boss very upset by the nature of these allegations, and he rejected them out of handJunior female staff feeling intimidated, degraded and having experienced menacing behaviour, manager claims Senior manager alleged being sometimes left questioning ones own sanity and recollections

Who is Philip Nolan?

Fionnan Sheahan Sun 12 May 2024 at 03:30

An investigation commissioned by a government agency has recommended it examine the culture of the organisation after allegations were made against its boss.
Amazingly, seeing as Cork people are so great at everything from winning Oscars to sport to making pudding, this was only the second time someone from Cork represented Ireland at the Eurovision.

The first, and the last time, was in 1979, when Cathal Dunne represented us in Jerusalem. Most people didnt give a huge amount of thought then to the fact that the Eurovision was being held in Jerusalem, which was in what was then known in Ireland as The Holy Land.
I was elected Taoiseach 33 days ago, and there are many issues in our country that need immediate action. Migration is one of these. An encampment of tents and hundreds of human beings living on the street in our capital city had become established over months. It was unsafe and unsanitary for locals as well as those claiming asylum. It was on the brink of being a public health emergency. It had to end.

I must commend the departments and agencies that came together at my behest and coordinated a multi- agency operation to safely bring the asylum applicants to state shelter.

This is the way we will move forward. I will not allow silos or not-my-problem attitudes to take hold when we all have to work together. While we work to increase accommodation places for migrants, we will not allow encampments to bed in for months again. It is unsafe and against the law.

We are working now to stand up more facilities quickly on state land. Again, I am not standing for any more unnecessary delays in making state land available for accommodation.

Minister Roderic OGorman is leading this part of the effort, with the support of colleagues across government, and these will be short-term measures as we already have a medium-term plan that couples state-owned accommodation with faster processing.

Getting through applications faster is a key lever we control. We have doubled the number of people working on it and slashed the amount of time it takes for decisions. Minister Helen McEntee has taken action to free up 100 more gardai from desk duties to work on enforcement, including deportations. People being granted asylum in Ireland will know sooner and people denied will leave sooner. This system works. Since introducing fast-processing, the number of people applying from safe countries has halved.

But we must do more. That is why we are signing up to the European Union Migration Pact to ensure Europe acts together on migration.

This is a European-wide deal which imposes statutory timelines for the processing of applications and allows for the return of applicants quicker because Ireland cannot do this on its own.

We cannot and should not lose sight of the benefits of migration either. Our economy is built on being open: we need workers in all sectors like agriculture, in our health service and to build homes. In all, 66,000 people have permits allowing them to work here  21,000 of those are caring for our families in hospitals or minding our elderly in nursing homes.

It has been troubling to watch Sinn Fein play politics with migration. Having once called for an expansion of our asylum system and an increase in the number of refugees we accept, they are now distributing leaflets to households calling for an end to open borders. Theyre saying it in their videos recorded outside the Dail.

With a straight face, Mary Lou McDonald says she opposes open borders, conveniently missing the 500km of open border between Lough Foyle and Carlingford that we have fought to keep open on this island.

The Irish people need to know Sinn Fein are speaking out of both sides of their mouths and shouldnt get away with it.

I lead a government of three distinct parties. We are working together on migration. We are working together to pull levers in a number of government departments to ensure Ireland adopts a firmer system and ensures we are not out of kilter with other EU countries.

This will not be a long drawn-out process. The Government will take decisions on this soon.

Governments who speak of enforcing rules on migration can be painted as inhumane, but that couldnt be further from the truth. We have to help those in need and we cannot achieve that without rules-based systems that dismantle the criminal trafficking gangs.

The death of seven-year-old Sara Alhashimi is a case that has troubled me greatly and should cause all of us to pause on the issue and reflect on the language of migration.

Sara was born in Belgium and spent most of her life in Sweden. Her teachers have shared videos with the BBC of a bright and happy little girl playing and having fun in school.

Saras father was born in Iraq and media reports say the family was denied asylum in several countries. Sara was crushed and accidentally suffocated by adults in an inflatable boat two weeks ago, a few metres from a French beach.

Police had found human traffickers launching human beings into the dark and dangerous English Channel. What followed was gut-wrenching, a scene of panic and chaos. Sara was buried in Lille in a small ceremony last week.

The migration issue is huge and complex, but in the small life of this much-loved little girl are some of its most troubling dimensions.

How do we tackle the criminals with no regard for life? How do we stop criminal gangs from making money off peoples misery? What do we see if we look behind the desperation of a family who risk the brutal sea with their treasured children?

Where is the information we are being bombarded with on messaging apps coming from?

And what causes the headlines, and our headspace, to turn a little girl being killed into a migrant girl being killed?

Ireland will maintain a migration system that is firm, fair and enforced, but we will not be found wanting on our international obligations.

It is an unprecedented challenge, but we will meet it by remaining united and taking comprehensive action every day to ensure that we do.

Simon Harris is Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael
PRESS RELEASE

May 11, 2024

MUMBAI : A civil society delegation met with Mr. S. Chockalingam, Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra in Mantralaya, Mumbai on May 11, 2024, raising serious concerns regarding the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

At the meeting, a joint letter petition endorsed by several civil society organisations and citizens to hold the Election Commission of India (ECI) accountable for its inaction against violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and laws during the Lok Sabha elections 2024, was submitted to Mr. S. Chockalingam. The letter petition raised critical issues on the delay in releasing the voter turnout data in numbers, the discrepancies in the 2019 voter data, failure to combat hate speech during elections, failure to take action against surrogate ads, failure to stop campaign violations, the need to take equal and impartial action against violating political parties and the withdrawal and threats to candidates, which are going unchecked.

Mr. Chockalingam assured the delegation that he would forward the concerns to the ECI and expressed his readiness to address issues concerning Maharashtra which fell under his jurisdiction.

While agreeing with the delegation that the voter turnout numbers must be shared with the citizens promptly, he explained the process of collecting data from polling stations in detail and said that he would take up the matter with the ECI to ensure that the numbers are put up.

On the issue of hate speech during election campaigning, he said that at least in his jurisdiction they are taking violations seriously and have already filed 280 FIRs, of which 211 are on MCC violations. On being asked on what punitive action is being taken against candidates to ensure that they do not repeat the violations by restricting them from campaigning, he said that such action is in the domain of the ECI. However, their office has been filing reports on violations and recommending stern action including censure, warnings, restricting campaign etc. against candidates who violate the MCC.

The delegation expressed concern about the prevalent hate speech in Maharashtra, which is continuing during the election campaign, and the need to take strict action against the offenders to ensure that communal sentiments are not incited to procure votes and vitiate the peace and unity in Maharashtra. The delegation also requested that preventive action be taken by his office to ensure that there is no hate speech in the coming week, which is crucial for the election campaign leading up to the voting on May 20, especially by the star campaigners.

Taking note of this demand, the CEO assured that he will ensure strict measures are taken against hate speech and will issue a warning to the parties and candidates to not engage in hate speech by releasing a public statement and will also declare the action taken by them by filing FIRs against violators. He also encouraged citizens to make use of the Civigil App and National Grievance Service Portal to report on such instances. An instance pointed out to him of hate speech in Amravati at the meeting, was taken cognisance of by the CEO by calling the Collector and asking him to file a report.

The delegation also pointed out that citizens rights were being clamped down under the guise of MCC, for instance when meetings are organised to ask people to vote, people have been detained by the police for violation of MCC. Expressing surprise at this, the CEO said that citizens must inform him of any such incidents and assured the delegations that citizens would not face harassment for fulfilling their constitutional duties.

The 7 member delegation that met with the CEO Maharashtra comprised womens rights activists Sujata Gothoskar and Sandhya Gokhale, writer and journalist Rajni Bakshi, civil society and peace activist Tushar Gandhi, social and political activist Guddi S.L., free speech activist and journalist Geeta Seshu and lawyer and General Secretary, PUCL Maharashtra Lara Jesani.

Civil Society Campaign addressed to the ECI Grow a Spine or Resign :

This initiative to meet the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra at Mantralaya, Mumbai was part of a larger civil society campaign. Several groups concerned with democratic rights undertook a joint campaign to hold the ECI accountable for its inaction against violations of the MCC and laws during the Lok Sabha elections.

On Saturday, a joint complaint was submitted through the offices of the Chief Electoral Officers in different cities like Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad and others, and a letter was also submitted to the office of the Chief Election Commissioner in Delhi. This collective of organisations and concerned citizens also undertook a postcard campaign in which hundreds of postcards were sent to ECI, Delhi from various cities containing the image of a spine - thereby demanding the Election Commission to Grow A Spine or Resign.

The issues in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections highlighted by the group in the letter submitted are:

1) Voter turnout data shared only in percentages and not in numbers, raising concerns about manipulation of vote count

In 2019, reports indicated discrepancies between votes polled and votes counted in the Lok Sabha elections in 373 constituencies, including a surplus of more than 18,000 in Kancheepuram, 14,512 in Sriperumbudur, etc. So far the ECI has not explained the discrepancy. This time around, the ECI has refused to share the data about votes polled, instead sharing only the percentage of votes polled. This is leading to fears of vote counts being manipulated

2) Failure to combat hate speech during elections

Mr. Modi has made several speeches which pit communities against one another and promote hatred between communities on religious lines. This amounts to a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, amounts to a corrupt practice under the Representation of Peoples Act and is a violation of the ECIs advisory to political parties. So far Mr. Modi, who is a star campaigner has not even been served a notice. Similarly, BJP has released several videos which are again spreading hatred. In Karnataka, an FIR was registered over the hate filled video, but it was not taken down till the voting got done in Karnataka. No action has been taken against the BJP for using religious symbols, or for all their hate speeches. No action has been taken against the BJP for distorting points from opposition parties manifestos as well. BJP leaders have done this in speeches, BJP has issued ads which distorted information but faced no punitive action.

3) Acting only against MCC violations by opposition parties but letting the ruling party of the hook

Mr. Randeep Surjewala of the Congress, Mr. K. Chandrashekhar Rao of the BRS have been banned from campaigning for 48 hours over MCC violations. But more serious violations by the BJP have been ignored.

4) Failure to take action against surrogate ads

It has been reported that the expenditure on surrogate advertising and targeted online campaigns by political actors to influence voter perception and beliefs are not under adequate scrutiny. The ECI must ensure accountability of political parties and digital platforms by adopting rights-based standards for regulating political expenditure on online ads and targeted campaigning. The ECI has also failed to disclose any action taken on such surrogate advertisements.

Although it has earlier been brought to the attention of your office the manner in which technology affects electoral outcomes including use of deep fakes and voter surveillance, the ECI has not responded or taken adequate action to secure these violations.

5) Failure to address the withdrawal of candidates, threats to candidates

Several candidates have reported threats by the BJP - In Gandhinagar and elsewhere. Some candidates have switched over to the BJP at the last minute. In Surat and Indore, there were no elections held and winners declared. This is a subversion of democracy. Threatening a candidate or promising incentives to withdraw are corrupt practices under the Representation of People Act. However, ECI has neither conducted any inquiry not taken any action

Therefore, the following organisations joined hands to undertake a national level campaign on May 11th, across several cities. Along with these organisations, the letter was signed by 222 people from various walks of life, including lawyers, activists, filmmakers, academics and concerned citizens.

1. Peoples Union for Civil Liberties

2. National Alliance for Peoples Movements

3. Bahutva Karnataka

4. All India Lawyers Association for Justice

5. Shramik Mukti Dal

6. Young Leaders of Active Citizenship

7. Bharat Bachao Andolan

8. Prashant

9. Hate Speech Beda

10. New Trade Union Initiative

11. Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy

12. Citizens for the Constitution

13. The Bombay Catholic Sabha

14. Centre for promoting Democracy

15. Pani Haq Samiti

16. Naaveddu Nilladiddare

17. Association for Protection of Civil Rights

18. Fridays for Future

19. Delhi Solidarity Group

20. Eddelu Karnataka

21. Forum Against Oppression of Women

22. Free Speech Collective

23. Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Mumbai

24. Justice Coalition of Religious, West India

For more details on the meeting with CEO Maharashtra contact : Tushar Gandhi - 9821336617

For details on the national campaign : 9448274373, 9900047744, 9880595032
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.

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The powerful performance of Bambie Thug in the Eurovision Song Contest last night, and all week in Malmo, has been a compelling experience. For this is a true artist unlikely to disappear quietly into the dark night now the contest is over for another year. In what has been one of the more controversial contests of recent decades, the creative and talented performer  Irelands first non-binary contestant  represented the country with an astute ferocity when there was significant pressure on them, and on other contestants, regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

Bambie Thug, from Macroom, resisted the clamour to withdraw, which was then and remains the correct decision. But the performer has also been clear on that war, chiming with public opinion back home on the side of the besieged Palestinian people while remaining focused on delivering a captivating performance quite unlike any Irish entrant before.

As Bambie Thug delivered a message in Sweden, the UN General Assembly in New York passed a resolution on Palestines membership of the UN by an overwhelming majority.

While there should be no illusion as to the challenge of converting the UN resolution into a reality, another person from Cork, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin, declared that in passing the resolution by an 80pc majority, the voice of the world has said unambiguously it is time for Palestine to take its rightful place at the table.

The time has come for concrete, irreversible actions to underpin the equal right to security, dignity and self-determination for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden has withheld the supply of about 3,500 bombs, refusing to let US munitions play a part in Israels assault on the city of Rafah where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge. But still Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to buckle, telling his people ahead of Israeli independence day that they will fight alone, without US arms and with their fingernails if they have to.

As has been stated by commentator Jonathan Freedland, Netanyahu wants to sound Churchillian, but these are words of weakness, not strength. Washington wants Netanyahu to stay out of Rafah, while his far-right coalition partners insist he go in hard to finish the job and win a total victory over Hamas.

At a time of such geopolitical tensions  in the Middle East and related to the unjustifiable Russian war on Ukraine  the Eurovision Song Contest may seem a trivial event by comparison. And of course it is. However, it is also an event where politics has long been close to the surface, as Ireland knows to its cost following the transformation of Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, culminating with the introduction of a public tele-voting system that has never favoured this country.

All of which adds yet more to the credit of Bambie Thug, an artist of talent and charisma who has surmounted even the voting blocs of eastern Europe and the Balkans and returned this country to its rightful place on the Eurovision final leaderboard. In more ways than one, Ireland made a notable contribution in Europe last week.
Patrick Reynolds, Conaill Wogan and Ciaran Titley at Clarke Station on their way to see Louth in the Leinster Final. Photo by Ken Finegan/Newspics Photography

It was a day to be proud of Louth as they fell to a four point defeat to Leinster Kingpins Dublin in the Leinster Senior Football Final in Croke Park.
Wexford County Council has granted approval for the provision of twelve new social homes on the Carnew Road in Gorey.

A builder has already started work on these properties that are adjacent to Springview and close to local schools.

This is a turnkey scheme which will provide six two-bedroom apartments and six three-bedroom duplexes. It is hoped that these new homes would be completed and offered to applicants by early next year.

"Though a small scheme, it is the latest in a growing number of social housing schemes in the Gorey area. We are beginning to see families and individuals who have been waiting for years to come off the housing list and that is positive news. Providing housing continues to be Fianna Fails top priority in government, said Senator Malcolm Byrne who has welcomed this scheme.
Olly Alexander reacts as he gets zero points in the public vote during the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo (Martin Meissner/AP)

The United Kingdoms Olly Alexander has finished the Eurovision Song Contest in 18th place with 46 points after he was awarded zero in the public vote.

He and his team reacted jovially as the United Kingdom was the only country to not score from the audience tally, after his performance of song Dizzy at Malmo Arena on Saturday night.

However he had 46 points from the other countrys judges which landed him above seven other nations.

Switzerlands Nemo finished in first place with 591 points, while Croatias Baby Lasagna was given 547 points and Ukraines Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil with the emotional and religious song Teresa & Maria landed on 453 points.

Olly Alexander performing the song Dizzy, during the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest (Martin Meissner/AP)

It was smooth-sailing for Alexander during his final performance, after he spoke of having a wardrobe malfunction during 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.

Earlier, demonstrators were gathered outside the venue in Malmo before 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.
How Lorraine Kelly proved her ex-boss wrong to become the queen of morning TV

Lorraine Kelly has been a fixture on our screens for four decades, but she was once told shed never make it in TV because of her Glasgow accent. As the presenter prepares to receive Baftas prestigious Special Award, Katie Rosseinsky looks back at her rise to the top

Katie Rosseinsky UK Independent Mon 13 May 2024 at 18:00

In the summer of 1989, Lorraine Kelly, then the Scotland correspondent for ITVs breakfast show TV-am, travelled down to the London studio. One of the usual hosts was on holiday, and Kelly had been drafted in as backup. The gig was only meant to last a week  but Kelly never really left. If youve tuned in to ITV on a weekday morning at any point over the past four decades or so, theres a high chance that youll have been greeted by her soft Glaswegian tones.
Tory defector Elphicke lobbied to interfere in then-husbands sex offence trial

Sir Robert Buckland has accused the new Labour MP of approaching him when he was lord chancellor before Charlie Elphickes trial

Natalie Elphicke defended her husband after the allegations emerged and accompanied him to Southwark Crown Court throughout the trial (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Sophie Wingate Sun 12 May 2024 at 12:37







Tory defector Natalie Elphicke has been accused of lobbying the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husbands criminal sex offences trial.
Despite the threat of dislocated fingers and strained muscles, more than 150 Bavarian men came together on Sunday to compete in Germanys unique national championship of Fingerhakeln  finger wrestling.

The all-male competitors met in a big beer tent in the small southern village of Bernbeuren, with around 1,000 people cheering them on as they gulped down their national beer and world-famous German sausages while Bavarian live music filled the air.
A Palestinian jailed for his part in murdering an Israeli man has been used as a 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 on Gaza, billed as a Palestinian political analyst and author and researcher.
latest | Israel pushes deeper into Gaza as Hamas regroups in areas cleared months ago

The military is also continuing its offensive in Rafah, which it had previously said was the militant groups last stronghold

Palestinians mourn a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip (Saher Alghorra/AP)

Wafaa Shurafa, Joseph Krauss and Samy Magdy Sun 12 May 2024 at 11:42







Israeli forces are battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago after Hamas exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
Photo courtesy: File image/UNI

New Delhi: Amid increasing demand for defence equipment, technologies, and services, India's defence sector holds a substantial ordering prospect of nearly USD 138 billion from FY24 to FY32 for companies involved in defence production and technology advancement, according to a report titled 'India Defence' by Nomura.

According to the report, India's defence capital expenditure is set to be close to 37 percent of the total budget by FY30, reported ANI.

This would be a marked rise from the 29 percent pegged for FY25 and equates to a total capital outlay of Rs 15.5 trillion over FY24-30, representing significant growth compared to previous periods.

"India's government is actively supporting the defence sector through favourable policy reforms, incentives, and initiatives to promote indigenous manufacturing and technology development. We expect the share of defence capital outlay to increase to 37% of total defence budget in FY30 (FY24RE: 26 per cent). This implies cumulative capital outlay of USD186bn over FY24-30 (vs cumulative FY18-24F: USD93bn)," said the report, according to the report.

This growth is owing to escalating defence budgets, modernization initiatives, and the government's emphasis on indigenous manufacturing through programs like "Make in India."

According to the report, the defence sector offers promising prospects across various segments.

The defence Aerospace sector alone presents a significant opportunity, amounting to USD 50 billion, the report said.

This covers investments in aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), avionics, and related systems.

Defence Shipbuilding is another key area, with a potential of USD 38 billion for naval vessels, submarines, patrol boats, and support ships to strengthen maritime security.

Investments in Missiles/Artillery/Gun Systems are projected to reach USD 21 billion, in line with India's efforts to enhance its artillery and missile capabilities. Additionally, the report highlights substantial growth in defence exports, totalling USD 29 billion, with momentum expected to continue, according to the report.

The report highlights the potential upside for shares of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) at 28 percent, attributed to its strong position in fighter aircraft and helicopters, as well as significant capability upgrades supporting the development of an indigenous engine program.

Bharat Electronics is also noted with a potential upside of 32 percent, driven by increased visibility in order inflows, confidence in margin delivery, and expansion in returns ratios.

Over the past year, HAL shares have surged by 156 percent to Rs 3877, while Bharat Electronics shares have risen by 109 percent to Rs 227.

This growth reflects investor confidence in these companies amidst supportive government policies and initiatives aimed at bolstering indigenous manufacturing and technology development in the defence sector.

The Indian government's active support for the defence industry through policy reforms and incentives fosters a favourable environment for companies operating in this sector.

Moreover, there is a growing emphasis on expanding the global presence of India's defence industry through exports, technology transfer, and collaboration.

Companies specializing in defence manufacturing and technology development are well-positioned to leverage export opportunities, diversify revenue streams, and broaden their market reach, as highlighted in the report.
Photo Courtesy: Unsplash

Heart failure patients who are vaccinated against COVID-19 have an 82% greater likelihood of living longer than those who are not vaccinated, according to research presented today at Heart Failure 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Heart Failure is a life-threatening syndrome affecting more than 64 million people worldwide.

Patients with heart failure should be vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect their health, said study author Dr. Kyeong-Hyeon Chun of the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Republic of Korea. In this large study of patients with heart failure, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with a lower likelihood of contracting the infection, being admitted to hospital because of heart failure, or dying from any cause during a six-month period compared with remaining unvaccinated.

Previous studies have shown the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cardiovascular diseases including heart failure, and that COVID-19 outcomes are worse in patients with heart failure compared to those without heart failure.

However, there has been little research on how vaccines work specifically in patients with heart failure.

This nationwide, retrospective study examined the prognosis of heart failure patients according to COVID-19 vaccination status.

This study used the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, which covers nearly all residents of the Republic of Korea, to obtain information on vaccinations and clinical outcomes.

Participants who received two or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine were defined as "vaccinated", and those who were not vaccinated or had received just one dose were defined as "unvaccinated".

The study included 651,127 patients aged 18 years or older with heart failure. The average age was 69.5 years and 50% were women. Of the total study population, 538,434 (83%) were defined as vaccinated and 112,693 (17%) as unvaccinated.

To control for factors that could influence the relationship between vaccination status and outcomes, the researchers performed 1:1 matching of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients according to age, sex, other health conditions (e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc.), income, and region of residence. This resulted in 73,559 vaccinated patients and 73,559 unvaccinated patients for the comparative analyses.

The median follow-up was six months. Vaccination was associated with an 82% lower risk of all-cause mortality,7 47% lower risk of hospitalisation for heart failure,8 and 13% reduced risk of COVID-19 infection9 compared with no vaccination. Regarding cardiovascular complications, vaccination was associated with significantly lower risks of stroke, heart attack, myocarditis/pericarditis, and venous thromboembolism compared to no vaccination.

Dr. Chun said: This was the first analysis of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in a large population of heart failure patients, and the first to show a clear benefit from vaccination. The study provides strong evidence to support vaccination in patients with heart failure. However, this evidence may not be applicable to all patients with heart failure, and the risks of vaccination should be considered in patients with unstable conditions.

AstraZeneca admits in court papers that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause rare side effects

AstraZeneca has confirmed in court documents that its COVID-19 vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, can cause a rare side effect called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), according to a report released in a British newspaper.

The vaccine has been admitted amid a class-action lawsuit claiming numerous deaths and injuries, with victims and their families seeking up to 100 million in damages, UNI news agency reported quoting the British newspaper.

According to Telegraph UK, The lawsuit was Initiated by Jamie Scott, a father of two, who suffered a permanent brain injury after developing a blood clot and a bleed on the brain following his vaccination in April 2021.

The legal battle has intensified, with 51 cases now lodged in the High Court, highlighting the devastating impact TTS has had on individuals and families.

Kate Scott, Scotts wife, told the Telegraph as quoted by UNI, The medical world has acknowledged for a long time that VITT was caused by the vaccine. Its only AstraZeneca who have questioned whether Jamies condition was caused by the jab.''

Its taken three years for this admission to come. Its progress, but we would like to see more from them and the Government. Its time for things to move more quickly.

I hope their admission means we will be able to sort this out sooner rather than later. We need an apology, fair compensation for our family and other families who have been affected. We have the truth on our side, and we are not going to give up.

AstraZeneca acknowledges a link between the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) in March 2021, shortly after the vaccine rollout began.
Photo courtesy: twitter.com/bhash

Bengaluru: Ola founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bhavish Aggarwal announced that his mobility company has made the decision to transition its entire workload from tech giant Microsofts cloud computing platform Azure to Ola's Krutrim cloud over the next week.

Following Aggarwal's criticism of Microsoft-owned employment-focused social media platform LinkedIn for removing his post on pronoun illness, he highlighted the platform's action as an imposition of political ideology.

Aggarwal underscored the necessity for India to cultivate its own technological capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI).

Since LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft and Ola is a big customer of Azure, weve decided to move our entire workload out of Azure to our own Krutrim cloud within the next week. It is a challenge as all developers know, but my team is so charged up about doing this, said Aggarwal, in a company blog post.

Any other developer who wants to move out of Azure, we will offer a full year worth of free cloud usage. As long as you dont go back to Azure after that ! Mail us on exitazure@olakrutrim.com. Offer is perpetually open, he said.

Last week, the conflict began when LinkedIn's AI used "they" instead of "he" to refer to Aggarwal, leading him to question the AI's neutrality and accuse the platform of promoting a political agenda.

Dear LinkedIn, this post of mine was about YOUR AI imposing a political ideology on Indian users thats unsafe, sinister. Rich of you to call my post unsafe! This is exactly why we need to build own tech and AI in India. Else well just be pawns in others political objectives, posted Aggarwal on May 09, 2024 on X (formerly Twitter).

Dear @LinkedIn this post of mine was about YOUR AI imposing a political ideology on Indian users thats unsafe, sinister.



Rich of you to call my post unsafe! This is exactly why we need to build own tech and AI in India. Else well just be pawns in others political objectives. pic.twitter.com/ZWqiM90eT1  Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) May 9, 2024

He also appended a screenshot of notification from LinkedIn that cited a violation of their "Professional Community Policies" as the reason for the removal.

Aggarwal has been a voluble votary of the development of homegrown technology.

In his blog, he expressed that while it's not feasible to challenge LinkedIn's dominance immediately, he is dedicated to collaborating with India's developer community to establish a digital public infrastructure (DPI) social media framework.

DPIs like UPI, ONDC, Aadhaar etc are a uniquely Indian idea and is even more needed in the world of social media. The only community guidelines should be the Indian law. No corporate person should be able to decide what will be banned. Data should be owned by the creators instead of being owned by the corporates who make money using our data and then lecture us on community guidelines, said Aggarwal.

Aggarwal underscored Ola's commitment to genuine actions on diversity as an Indian institution. He highlighted that the company operates one of the largest women-only automotive plants, with nearly 5,000 women currently employed. Ola's goal is to expand this workforce to tens of thousands in the coming years.

And regarding gender inclusivity, we dont need lectures from western companies on how to be inclusive. Our culture didnt need pronouns to be inclusive for thousands of years. On a personal note, I had visited Ayodhya last year and learnt about how transgenders had been accorded special respect in our culture from ancient times, said Aggarwal.

Aggarwal expressed a contrasting viewpoint, stating that the issue of pronouns he addressed represents a "woke" political ideology of entitlement that is not suited for India.

I wouldnt have waded into this debate, but clearly Linkedin has presumed Indians need to have pronouns in our life, and that we cant criticise it. They will bully us into agreeing with them or cancel us out, said Aggarwal. And if they can do this to me, Im sure the average user stands no chance. As a founder and CEO, this Western DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) system has a major impact on my business if it grows an entitlement mindset in our professional lives and I will fight it.

He further said: This situation brings me to the need for us to build our own Indian tech platforms. Im not against global tech companies. But as an Indian citizen, I feel concerned that my life will be governed by western Big Tech monopolies and we will be culturally subsumed as the above experience shows, said Aggarwal. This is not about Ola or any of my companies. Ola is too small to make any impact against this. I want to confront this forced ideology as a free-thinking Indian and do what I can in my capacity. So here are the actions Im taking. Putting my money where my mouth is.
Photo courtesy: X/AAP

New Delhi/IBNS: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday addressed his first press conference and held roadshows for the Lok Sabha election campaign after coming out from jail following his 50-day stay in custody in connection with the now-scrapped liquor policy.

Addressing a press conference at the AAP's office in the national capital, Kejriwal revealed why he didn't resign, a Bharatiya Janata Party's continuous demand since he was arrested on March 21.

"The chief minister's post is not important to me. I did not step down as the chief minister because a conspiracy was hatched to force me to resign on a fake case," the AAP supremo said.

The BJP had been attacking the Delhi Chief Minister for not stepping down from the post despite being in custody for 50 days.

"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," the AAP chief said.

Kejriwal alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "left no stone unturned to crush the AAP by sending its four top leaders to prison".

He was the fourth senior AAP leader to spend time behind bars after Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh.

"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.

He told the AAP supporters that no one had expected that he would be able to come out in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections. "Due to your prayers and blessings of Lord Hanuman I am among you all," he added.

"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 said.

Kejriwal recalled his 50 days in Tihar jail and said that his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, 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 was 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.

"They want to shut everything to paralyse the Delhi government," he charged.

The Supreme Court has granted Kejriwal interim bail to enable him to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. He, however, has to surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the seven-phase poll will get over.
Photo courtesy: khalsavox.com

Ottawa/IBNS: Canadian authorities Saturday arrested a fourth Indian national for his suspected role in the murder of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, media reports said.

Twenty-two-year-old Amardeep Singh, a resident of Brampton, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

According to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), Amardeep Singh was arrested on May 11 for his role in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

He was already in the custody of the Peel Regional Police for unrelated firearms charges, said reports.

Earlier, the Canadian Police had arrested three in connection with the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia last year.

The three accused arrested earlier were identified as Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh. The trio was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the homicide.

The murder of the Khalistani leader had triggered a diplomatic row between India and Canada.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June last year outside a gurdwara in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.

A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian government involvement, triggering a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.


Photo Courtesy: BJP X page video grab

Patna city in Bihar turned saffron on Sunday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi participating in a massive roadshow, boosting hopes of the NDA candidates to perform stronger in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

Modi began his roadshow from Bhattacharya Chowk in Patna after some religious rituals amid the blowing of conch.

He will cover a total distance of two kilometers before the programme's culmination near Udyog Bhawan, Gandhi Maidan.

A large number of leaders from the BJP, JD (U), and other partners of the NDA were present in the event.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, and BJP candidate from Patna Sahib seat Ravi Shankar Prasad also accompanied the Prime Minister during his roadshow as the country is gearing up for the last four phases of the general polls.

People, waiting for hours to have a glimpse of Modi from close range, showered petals on him as the road show progressed. He accepted the greetings and cheers of the huge crowds with folded hands, reported Indian news agency UNI

Modi's roadshow is expected to pass through Kadam Kuan, Bihar Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Thakurbari Road, and Bakerganj before culminating near Udyog Bhawan Gandhi Maidan.

He will return to Rajbhawan from there for the night.

On Monday, he is scheduled to visit Taktha Harimandir Sahib Patna City, the birthplace of Guru Govind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhs.

He will also address three public meetings in favour of NDA candidates for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The first three phases of the Lok Sabha polls have been held so far.

Narendra Modi is seeking to return to power for the rare third term in Indian politics this time.

He first came to power in 2014 after defeating the Congress-led UPA government.
In Image Iranian adviser Kamal Kharrazi/ courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has once again raised concerns over the country's nuclear ambitions amid escalating tensions with Israel.

Kamal Kharrazi, the adviser, hinted at a shift in Iran's nuclear doctrine if its existence is perceived to be under threat by Israel.

"We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb, but should Iran's existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine," Kharrazi was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Tensions between Iran and Israel escalated when the former launched a barrage of explosive drones and missiles directly targeting Israeli territory, in response to the bombing of Iran's embassy in Syria's capital Damascus earlier in April.

Despite Ayatollah Khamenei's previous fatwa against nuclear weapons development, Iran's then-intelligence minister hinted in 2021 that external pressures, particularly from Western nations, could prompt a reassessment of Iran's nuclear posture.

"In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime (Israel), our deterrence will change," Kharrazi said.

Amidst this backdrop, efforts to engage with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have yielded mixed results.

While discussions between Iran's nuclear officials and IAEA representatives have been described as positive and productive, tangible progress remains elusive.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, expressed frustration over Iran's alleged lack of cooperation and highlighted the urgency for concrete measures to address outstanding concerns regarding Iran's nuclear activities.

Last year, Iran made commitments to assist in investigating uranium particles found at undeclared sites and reinstall monitoring equipment. However, the IAEA reports indicate that these assurances have not resulted in significant advancements.
Photo Courtesy: UNRWA

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 roughly two months, demonstrations have been held outside the East Jerusalem compound, which is in an area where many Israeli settlements are located.

The situation came to a head on Thursday evening when Israeli residents lit fires at two locations on the perimeter of the grounds. Mr. Fowler was among the small number of staff in the office at the time.

Smoke and stones

The fire alarm was ringing, and we looked out of the window, and I saw smoke kind of billowing over the top of the building, he said, speaking from Amman, Jordan after leaving Jerusalem on Thursday night.

Tweet URL

Colleagues who went to douse the fire, to prevent it from spreading, were treated to stone throwing by groups of youths who had gathered on the street opposite.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the compound, another fire had been lit at a fence next to a petrol station for UNRWA vehicles.

If that fire had reached the gas station, I dread to think what would have happened to the houses, the apartment blocks that live right nearby. We would have been in a situation of an absolute disaster.

From fiery rhetoric to real flames

Both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the attack, which followed a protest just days before that turned violent.

People were gathering, and they were starting to get wooden sticks and stones, and there was some sort of bash against the gate, Mr. Fowler said, recalling the demonstration on Tuesday. And the police were just kind of there in the background.

Although an investigation into the fires is underway, he pointed to the wider issue of increased tension around UNRWAs work following the war in Gaza.

There's a sense that this kind of behaviour has been encouraged, and encouraged, and encouraged by inflammatory rhetoric, he said. So, we go from inflammatory rhetoric to real flames in the space of a few days.

A territory of intimidation

Mr. Fowler said the protests against UNRWA have been called by different organizations and individuals, including one of Jerusalems deputy mayors, and there has been no noticeable increased police presence despite the repeated demonstrations.

While upholding the right to freedom of expression, even if we don't agree with the contents of what is shouted at us, he said things have sort of moved into a territory of intimidation.

Demonstrators have blocked the gates to the UN compound, and in one instance surrounded the car of a staff member while brandishing toy weapons. Shuttle buses transporting UN staff have been slapped on the sides and spat at, and the people onboard filmed.

Undermined and unprotected

So far, staff have not faced any incidents of intimidation after working hours. We have to hope sincerely that we don't get to that kind of level, he said.

Mr. Fowler underscored that it is incumbent on Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure the proper protection of UN facilities.

We feel this is not happening, he said. It's clear from the evidence, and it's part of the context of a much wider campaign against UNRWA, basically to undermine the agency; things like use of lawfare to try to argue that legally we have no right to be in our compounds.

Not going anywhere

Although the East Jerusalem premises are closed for the time being, he insisted that staff will not be deterred in carrying out their work. They have made a COVID-like pivot, where people work from home or other locations.

It complicates our functioning at a time when of course, we should be fully focussed on the unprecedented levels of violence in the West Bank and, it goes without saying, the enormous, unprecedented level of humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Fowler underlined UNRWAs mandate, established nearly 75 years ago by the UN General Assembly, to provide services to Palestine refugees, which includes healthcare, education and social support.

We're proud of our work. Many of us are deeply passionate about our work, he said.

We do it because we have a mandate from the United Nations system to do something. Until such time as that mandate no longer exists, we're not going anywhere, whatever anybody might like to say.

He added that in response to the hostilities against UNRWA there have been a number of robust public statements from donors to the agency, saying enough is enough.
Are you a young traveler with a thirst for adventure but a limited budget? Fear not! There are plenty of amazing destinations around the world that won't break the bank.

budget friendly vacation

Vacation Ideas: Top 3 Budget-Friendly Places You Can Visit

In this article, we'll explore three budget-friendly gems in Southeast Asia sans the flight ticket prices. Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. From vibrant street markets to stunning natural landscapes, these countries offer unforgettable experiences without draining your wallet.

1) Thailand

Where to Go:

Bangkok: Dive into the vibrant chaos of Thailand's capital city. Visit the Grand Palace, explore the bustling markets of Chinatown, and take a boat ride along the Chao Phraya River.

Chiang Mai: Head north to Chiang Mai, known for its ancient temples, lush rainforests, and vibrant night markets. Don't miss the chance to visit an ethical elephant sanctuary or trek through the jungle.

Phuket: Despite being a tourist hotspot, Phuket still offers budget-friendly options, especially if you stay away from the luxury resorts. Enjoy the stunning beaches, indulge in delicious street food, and take a day trip to the nearby Phi Phi Islands.

thailand

Where to Eat:

Street Food: Thailand is famous for its mouthwatering street food, which is not only delicious but also incredibly affordable. Sample dishes like pad Thai, mango sticky rice, and som tam (green papaya salad) from street vendors all over the country.

Local Markets: Explore the bustling markets of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, where you can feast on a variety of Thai specialties for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal.

Hole-in-the-Wall Eateries: Look out for small, family-run restaurants serving authentic Thai cuisine at budget-friendly prices. These hidden gems often offer some of the most delicious meals you'll find in Thailand.

Budget in INR:

Accommodation: Budget hostels and guesthouses can be found for as little as INR 500-1000 per night.

Food: Street food and local eateries offer meals for as low as INR 100-200 per dish.

Transportation: Public buses and trains are inexpensive, with fares starting at around INR 100 for short journeys.

bangkok

2) Sri Lanka

Where to Go:

Colombo: Start your journey in the bustling capital city of Colombo, where you can explore colonial architecture, bustling markets, and serene temples.

Kandy: Journey inland to Kandy, a picturesque city nestled amidst lush green hills. Visit the Temple of the Tooth Relic, stroll around Kandy Lake, and take a scenic train ride through the surrounding tea plantations.

Ella: Head further into the hill country to the charming town of Ella. Hike to the top of Ella Rock for stunning views, visit the famous Nine Arch Bridge, and relax in the tranquil surroundings.

Sri Chaitanya Chandrodaya Mandir/reddit

Where to Eat:

Local Eateries: Look for small, family-run restaurants serving traditional Sri Lankan cuisine, such as rice and curry, hoppers, and kottu roti. These establishments offer delicious meals at budget-friendly prices.

Street Food: Explore the bustling street food scene in cities like Colombo and Kandy, where you can sample a variety of snacks and sweets for just a few rupees.

Fruit Stalls: Keep an eye out for fruit stalls selling fresh, tropical fruits like mangoes, pineapples, and bananas. These make for inexpensive and refreshing snacks on the go.

Budget in INR:

Accommodation: Budget guesthouses and homestays are widely available for around INR 1000-1500 per night.

Food: Meals at local eateries and street food stalls can cost as little as INR 200-300 per person.

Transportation: Public buses and trains are the most economical way to get around, with fares starting at around INR 50 for short journeys.

Sri Lanka

3) Vietnam

Where to Go:

Hanoi: Begin your Vietnamese adventure in the bustling capital city of Hanoi. Explore the narrow alleyways of the Old Quarter, visit the historic Hoan Kiem Lake, and indulge in delicious street food.

Hoi An: Travel south to the ancient town of Hoi An, known for its charming lantern-lit streets, historic architecture, and vibrant markets. Don't miss the chance to get custom-made clothing tailored for a fraction of the price you'd pay back home.

Ho Chi Minh City: Finish your trip in the dynamic metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. Explore the historic landmarks of the city, shop for souvenirs at Ben Thanh Market, and sample the diverse culinary offerings.

vietnam

Where to Eat:

Street Food: Vietnam is a paradise for street food lovers, with an endless array of tasty treats available at every corner. Try iconic dishes like pho (noodle soup), banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich), and fresh spring rolls from street vendors across the country.

Local Markets: Explore the bustling markets of Hanoi, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City, where you can feast on a variety of Vietnamese delicacies for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal.

Hole-in-the-Wall Restaurants: Seek out small, family-run eateries serving authentic Vietnamese cuisine at budget-friendly prices. These hidden gems offer some of the most flavorful meals you'll find in Vietnam.

Budget in INR: Accommodation: Budget hotels and guesthouses can be found for as little as INR 500-1000 per night.

Food: Street food and local eateries offer meals for as low as INR 100-200 per dish.

Transportation: Public buses and trains are the most affordable way to travel, with fares starting at around INR 50 for short journeys.

Vietnam

With these three budget-friendly destinations in Southeast Asia, you can explore vibrant cities, stunning landscapes, and delicious cuisine without breaking the bank. So pack your bags, grab your passport, and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime!

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Actor Gurucharan Singh, renowned for his portrayal of Roshan Singh Sodhi in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, has been missing for several weeks. Recently, the Delhi Police visited the sets of the show in Mumbai's Film City. Their objective was to question the actor's former co-stars in an effort to determine his whereabouts. Day before the questioning, several co-stars of Singh from TMKOC, including Jennifer Mistry, Samay Shah, and Mandar Chandwadkar, along with the shows producer, Asit Modi, had expressed their concern about his disappearance.

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. 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, News18 quoted a source as saying.

X

Head of Production of Neela Films, Sohil Ramani said as per HT, , 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.



Also read: TMKOC Actor Gurucharan Singh Aka Sodhi Was Going To Get Married Soon? Here's What We Know

What Happened To TMKOC Actor Gurucharan Singh?

The actor was scheduled to take a flight from Delhi to Mumbai at 8:30 PM on April 22. However, he neither boarded the plane nor returned home. Moreover, his phone has been inaccessible since then. Consequently, his father, Hargit Singh, lodged a police complaint, leading to the initiation of a case under IPC Section 365 (kidnapping). The police are diligently pursuing the investigation.



Also read; Amid Rumours Of Financial Struggle, TMKOC Producer Shares If Gurucharan Singh Was Paid His Dues

"We have registered a case under Section 365 of the IPC. We have put together a team to probe the matter and our technical team is also working on the case. We are in the process of going over the CCTV footage where he is seen walking by himself." stated ANI

For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.


Poonam Kushwaha, hailing from Vadodara, achieved remarkable success in the Gujarat Class 10 Boards 2024, securing a 96% and an impressive 99.72 percentile. However, her journey to this achievement was very different from that of her peers, as she navigated unique challenges, given her father's occupation as a pani puri seller.

Poonam Kushwaha: Day in the life of a Class X Boards student

Poonam's father, Prakash Kushwaha, has been selling pani puri for the past 25 years, establishing a longstanding tradition in their family.

Poonam Kushwaha/ BRG News

As a result, even during her 10th grade studies, Poonam found herself balancing her academic pursuits with aiding her father in his responsibilities.



"We have to wake up at 5:30-6 am everyday and help a bit with the work at home, then I leave for school," Poonam explains. "After returning home at 2:30 pm. Once I freshen up, I help my mom with housework. Then, I sit to study. I study for 3 hours daily."

Poonam is enrolled at Shree Narayan Vidyalaya, located in Karelibaug.

Poonam hopes for a medical career

The Kushwaha family, residing in Fatehpura, is brimming with immense joy and gratitude for Poonam's remarkable achievements.

BRG news

With her sights set on a future in medicine, Poonam is determined to pursue a path leading to becoming a doctor.



Her aspirations include focusing on biology in her upcoming academic endeavors, aiming to excel in her class 12 examinations, and ultimately realising her dream of practicing medicine.

Gujarat Class 10 Boards result 2024: 82.56% pass percentage

PTI

On May 11, 2024, at approximately 6:40 AM, the Gujarat Secondary Education Board (GSEB) announced the release of the Gujarat Board SSC Class 10th Result for the year 2024.



Also read: Board Exam Topper List 2024: Check 10th & 12th Toppers Name, Marks, Percentage, State Wise Details

The examinations for the Gujarat Secondary School Certificate were held in March of the same year.

Out of the total 706,370 regular students who had registered for the exams, an impressive majority of 699,598 students were present to attempt them. Among these examinees, a commendable 577,556 students successfully passed, resulting in an overall pass percentage of 82.56%.

Delving into the gender-wise performance, it was observed that 385,437 male students and 382,182 female students had registered for the examinations.

Notably, while the pass percentage among male students stood at 79.12%, their female counterparts exhibited a slightly higher pass rate of 86.69%, showcasing a noteworthy performance by both genders in the Gujarat Class 10 Board exams.

For more information on exams, results and careers, please visit Indiatimes Education.
A mother's love knows no bounds. While that might sound cliche, it holds true across all circumstances, because a mother can go above and beyond for her offspring. A story about three cheetah mothers, recently shared by the MP Forest Department, illustrates this mother-offspring bond.

A Mother's Day tribute

In honor of Mothers Day 2024, the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has shared a special newsletter focusing on the stories of three cheetah moms and their cubs in Kuno National Park. These tales highlight their journey of adapting and thriving in the Indian wilderness.

Representative image

The first story introduces Aasha, a six-year-old cheetah mom who arrived from Namibia on September 17, 2022. Despite roaming outside the park, Aasha returned during the 2023 monsoon season to give birth to three cubs on January 3, 2024, fathered by a male cheetah named Pawan.



Also read: Great News For Project Cheetah As Three More Cubs Are Born In Kuno National Park

Now four and a half months old, Aasha's cubs receive constant care and attention, reflecting her experience and maternal instincts.

AFP

Officers say she guides her cubs in the ways of survival, teaching them essential skills like hunting, chasing prey, and the significance of blending in with their surroundings.



Six-year-old Cheetah mother Jwala protects her sole surviving cub

The story then highlights the journey of Jwala, who arrived at Kuno National Park from Namibia on September 17, 2022.

Also read: One Year Since Namibian Cheetahs Were Brought To India, How Safe Is Their Future Here?

Jwala quickly adapted to her new environment and soon, her interaction with male cheetahs hinted at potential mating behavior, raising hopes for cheetah reproduction in India.

Unsplash

Later, suspicions arose regarding Jwala's pregnancy, leading to increased monitoring of her behavior. Ultimately, she gave birth to four cubs, marking the first cheetah births in India in 75 years. However, tragically, three cubs succumbed to the harsh summer conditions, leaving only one surviving cub.



The surviving cub's health became a focal point, with efforts made to ensure her recovery and eventual reunion with her mother, Jwala. Despite challenges and setbacks, the cub's resilience became a symbol of hope for the park management and conservationists.

As the cub continues to grow and thrive under the care of the park management, preparations are underway for her eventual release into the wild.

Representative image

This heartwarming tale showcases the intricate dynamics of mother-cub relationships in the animal kingdom and the dedicated efforts towards cheetah conservation in India.

Five-year-old Cheetah mother Gamini relies on maternal instincts

The last tale showcases Gamini, a five-year-old cheetah mother from South Africa, displaying the strength of motherhood despite challenges.

Despite thriving in the rugged terrain of Kuno NP, Gamini relies on her instincts and resourcefulness to protect her six cubs born on March 10, 2024, especially during the blazing summer months.

Witnessing these cheetah mothers' dedication and resilience underscores the profound bond between mother and cub, and also offers hope for the future of cheetah conservation in India.



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Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola, recently criticised what he referred to as the 'pronoun illness' after LinkedIn's AI chatbot mistakenly addressed him as 'They' instead of 'He.' He condemned the 'woke' policies of platforms like LinkedIn and Microsoft, attributing them to Western culture, and announced his intention to create an Indian tech platform.

Concerned that Indian culture will be subsumed by Western culture

In a post on X, he writes, "Linkedin has presumed Indians need to have pronouns in our life, and that we can't criticise it. They will bully us into agreeing with them or cancel us out."

OLA founder Bhavish Aggarwal | ET

The 38-year-old entrepreneur adds, "But as an Indian citizen, I feel concerned that my life will be governed by western Big Tech monopolies and we will be culturally subsumed as the above experience shows."



Agarwal suggests building Indias own tech platforms as the solution to this.

Regarding his company, ride-hailing service Ola, he mentioned that they would be transferring all their work from Microsoft's cloud service Azure to their own Krutrim cloud within the next week.

How Bhavish suggests building Indias own tech platform

Agarwal states, "While we can't do anything about Linkedins monopoly overnight, Im making a commitment to work with the Indian developer community to build a DPI social media framework. DPIs like UPI, ONDC, Aadhaar etc are a uniquely Indian idea and is even more needed in the world of social media.'

LinkedIn

He emphasised that community guidelines should be based on Indian law, rejecting corporate authority to determine bans. Additionally, he advocated for data ownership by creators rather than corporations profiting from user data.



Comments showed support. One person wrote, "This is an important cultural battle sir, and very glad that you are keeping the fight on. Many expected you to withdraw your posts because we all know just how much of an intolerant bullies the DEI wokes are. But you're still taking them on."

Another agree, saying, "Agree with you fully; woke culture should not be imposed on Indians and India."

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Naotaka Nishiyama, CEO of a Japan-based company, made a pivotal decision to relocate to India for business. In just a month, he had a revelation: the world needs Indian leadership. Pointing to the success stories of Indian CEOs leading giants like Google and Microsoft, Nishiyama highlights India's blend of competition and collaboration, positioning it as a frontrunner for global leadership.

Japanese CEO amazed with India's diversity

Acknowledging the trend where many business leaders prefer not to live in India despite wanting to do business there, Naotaka Nishiyama chose a different path.

Also read: 'I Hope Suffering Happens To You': Billionaire Nvidia CEO Huang Tells Students Wishing For Success

He writes in a post on LinkedIn that he wants to not just be a business traveler, but also live with the local people and build the business together with them.

LinkedIn

Reflecting on his recent move to India, Nishiyama shared, "It has been a month since I moved to India, and once again I am amazed at the diversity of values in India. It is a miracle that India is one country despite being a large country with various religions, races, and values."



How India's leadership is well-suited for tackling global challenges

The techier, who is also the founder of a Japan-based non-profit named giv, contrasted India's approach to leadership with that of Japan.

He points out that in Japan, there's a tendency to maintain a uniform way of thinking and control within a small framework of shared values. In contrast, India, with its diverse population and history, embraces a broader framework that accommodates various perspectives and values.

LinkedIn

Nishiyama suggests that India's leadership style, which balances competition and collaboration, is well-suited for navigating the global challenges we face.



He mentions successful Indian-origin leaders like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella, who have excelled globally, showcasing India's capability for leadership.

How others reacted

Nishiyama's post has garnered nearly 2,000 reactions already, with each person sharing their unique viewpoint.

LinkedIn

One person commented, "This is a very insightful and informative perspective. For me it talks to both the differences and richness of cultures and more specifically diversity. Their is immense richness in diversity if properly leveraged and harmonized which I think the India model confirms and demonstrates as per your articulation. A matter of there is not only one way but many ways."



Another individual added, "Really a very interesting depth analysis in almost minimum words. Having been in Japan for 1 year, I think there is still to learn a lot from Japanese culture. But your point about accepting and managing diversity in the current volatile time is very important and India: a nation of unity in diversity has a very important role to play."

A different commenter remarked, "Indians have a knack for finding order in chaos, confusion, constraints and change."

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A video of a woman waving a gun in the air in broad daylight is circulating on social media, sparking concerns about seeking attention at any cost. Now, the police have taken notice, and authorities have been instructed to take appropriate action.

Woman waved pistol in air in a viral reel

Simran Yadav, a popular YouTuber with a substantial following exceeding one million subscribers, has recently come under scrutiny due to a viral video. In the clip, Yadav can be seen wielding a firearm on a busy highway during daylight hours.

YouTube

The video, originally shared by advocate Kalyanji Chaudhary, portrays Yadav dancing and lip-syncing to a song while holding the gun. According to Chaudhary, the footage was recorded in Lucknow.



Yadav's actions in the video include waving the firearm in the air before casually discarding it to the side and continuing her performance.

Expressing concern over this blatant display of disregard for the law and societal norms, Chaudhary directed a tweet to the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, and ADG Lucknow. He highlighted Yadav's actions as an affront to public safety and questioned the officials' silence on the matter.

Watch the video here:

In response to the tweet, UP Police tagged Lucknow Police, urging them to investigate the incident. This development underscores the growing concern over the misuse of social media platforms and the need for swift action to address such behavior.

Affront to cultural values: How others reacted

Simran Yadav's video has sparked criticism from viewers.

While some speculate whether the gun in the video could be a toy, others emphasise that regardless of its authenticity, the intention behind its use is what matters most.

YouTube

"People forget the limits of cultural and ethical values and try to gain popularity by any means. Law must take it's course," one user expresssed.



Another user suggested, "Start putting a hefty fine on these jokers. Money can be used to feed poor people."

"Please arrest her," remarked a third user.

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George-Kelly Alabo, former Commissioner for Works in Rivers State, has stated that the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, would have been a level 14 officer in the civil service, if not for his predecessor, Nyesom Wike.

The ex-Commissioner had resigned from the cabinet of Fubara in March before he became the Director-General of the Border Communities Development Agency.

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Speaking on his resignation on Channels Television, Alabo declared his loyalty to Wike, saying he couldnt be seen as a betrayer.

My loyalty lies irreversibly with Nyesom Wike.

Let me tell you something, we must not forget those who helped us to climb. The governor, for instance, would have been a level 14 civil servant in the Ministry of Finance if not for Wike who made him a DFA, Permanent Secretary, Accountant General, and governor, he said.

On his disagreement with the Governor, Alabo said he couldnt have taken sides with Fubara because he did not fulfil his side of the peace agreement initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Part of the resolution was that the budget should be represented to the House of Assembly. So, there is no appropriation. How are you spending? Thats probably why I couldnt side with him, he added.

READ ALSO: Fubara: Ill Correct My Mistake In Due Time  Wike Says, Insists Nobody Can Sack His Lawmakers

According to him, he resigned from the cabinet of Fubara because the State was spending money without appropriation.

Five lawmakers loyal to Fubara had approved N800 billion as the states budget for the 2024 fiscal year, but a Federal High Court in Abuja nullified it.

The Court asked the Governor to re-present the budget to the constituted House of Assembly under Speaker Martin Amaewhule  an ally of Wike.

Alabo said it was a breach of the procurement law for him to be awarding contracts when there was no budget.

His words: Part of the resolution was that the budget should be re-presented to the correct house of assembly. Was that done up till now? No.

So if there is no appropriation, if there is no budget, how are you spending? That is my worry.

How can I serve in that kind of government? I will be picked up one day, because you have immunity. I am approving projects and signing award letters without appropriation which is a breach of a procurement law.

I dont have immunity so I can be picked. Probably that could have been one of the reasons for my resignation.


The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has disclosed the interception of a large g[-quantity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) intended for transborder terrorists in Adamawa State.

Garba Bature Bashir, the Comptroller of NCS Adamawa/Taraba Command, revealed this during a press briefing in Yola, at the weekend.

According to him 12,435 liters of PMS, commonly known as petrol, were confiscated near the Nigeria/Cameroon border in the Maiha and Mubi South Local Government Area of the State.

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Bashir emphasized that the commands anti-smuggling operation effectively thwarted the delivery of petrol to terrorists operating near the Mandara mountains, which span both countries borders.

He said, The command officers while on anti-smuggling operations along the command frontiers within the period of two weeks under my leadership had recorded five incidents of interception of PMS on its way to the neighbouring country, Cameroon Republic.

READ ALSO: Customs Only Intercepts Goods Of Smugglers Who Dont Bribe Them  Soyombo

The intercepted and seized PMS plus the means of conveyance thereafter, are values at N10,871,496.25 as the duty paid value. The seized items include the following: 12,435 liters of PMS packed in 491 x 25liter and 8 x 20 liter Jerry cans.

One used Mitsubishi truck, means of conveyance of the PMS and one used motor cycle, means of conveyance of the PMS.

We suspect the fuel was being taken to terrorists, because these bandits operate around mountainous regions that cut across Nigeria and Cameroon. And you know they dont walk by foot; they are on bikes and they use petrol, PMS.

When they dont have access to the product it helps in fighting insurgency and security issues.

The Comptroller attributed the success recorded, to synergy with sister agencies, robust border management, intelligence sharing and unwavering commitment of the operatives of the command.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said that the Foundation for Investigative Journalism has more than 15 pending cases with the police.

This is coming, following the release of Daniel Ojukwu, a reporter of the the news organization, who was detained by the police operatives during the week.

He was initially taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos State, where he was reportedly accused of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act.

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Later, the accused Journalist was transferred to the Nigeria Police Force  National Cybercrime Centre, in Abuja on Sunday, May 5, 2024.

After a protest, attended by many human right activists, at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, on Thursday, Daniel was released last Friday.

However, Adejobi, in a statement made available yesterday, claimed that Ojukwus arrest and investigation by the police were justifiable under the law.

Meanwhile, a lawyer, Ridwan Oke, tweeting as @Ridwanullahii, engaged the FPRO in a series of tweets after he (Adejobi) had justified Ojukwus arrest.

READ MORE: FIJ Journalist: Ojukwu Was Lawfully Arrested, Has Case To Answer  Police PRO Insist

Oke wrote: You got a petition against a journalist who had written about a potential mismanagement of public funds. You never bothered to investigate the mismanagement of public funds that was alleged but you swung into action and proceeded to arrest the journalist who had written the investigative report.

You didnt bother to invite the said journalist to see whether he would honour your invite as a respected citizen. You went on a military-era style and double-crossed him.

You didnt stop at that, you collected his phone, threw him inside a cell, and kept him from making contact with the outside world. If he was not lucky to be found in your custody, he would still be a missing person today. You put his family, employers and friends into panic mode when you could have respected his rights.

All of these were not addressed in your report nor the officers held accountable but yet you want Nigerians to believe that the Nigeria Police Force did everything right in this case when a journalist suffered these just for doing an investigative report towards exposing mismanagement of public funds?

Adejobi tweeted: Be reminded also that FIJ has more than 15 cases pending, and they dont honour invitations to the best of my knowledge. So there is no need for the police to wait, but act as stipulated by the law.

We have done the right thing in the matter, and we will still continue to investigate and prosecute the suspect who is on bail as and when due. No sentiment in law.

The law instructs the police to arrest any criminal suspect, not to invite. So, the invitation is at the discretion of the IPO, depending on the circumstances, not an obligation.


Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, has placed a N10 million bounty on the killers of two police operatives in the State.

The State Police Command had disclosed on May 7 that two policemen and three members of the neighbourhood watch were killed during a crisis that erupted in Iggah community, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the State.

Some gunmen also killed two police officers attached to the Ogui Divisional Headquarters in the command on Friday.

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Briefing newsmen after a security council meeting at the government house on Saturday, Mbah said the State would go after the culprits with every resource at its disposal.

On the possible culprits, Mbah said available information pointed to men of the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

He called on members of the public to be on the lookout for the criminals and the exhibits, and report same to security agencies.

Mbah said: 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.

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.

READ ALSO: Police Nab Six One Chance Robbery Suspects, Others In Enugu (Pictures)

We have also placed a bounty of N10 million as a reward to anyone, who would have any useful information that will lead to the arrest of these criminals. 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.

We are going to do everything necessary to ensure that the ultimate sacrifice made by our valiant policemen does not go in vain.

According to him, the government would 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.

We are going to deploy all the necessary technology, all the necessary forces within our powers to track them, capture them and defeat them. Enugu State and indeed with the support of the security agencies, we are going to make life uncomfortable for those who do not want to live in a decent society, the Governor added.


Minister of Works, David Umahi, says he is ready to go through probe over the controversy surrounding the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.

According to him, there is nothing to hide about the project, stating that due process was followed and the necessary approvals and documentation were obtained for the project to commence.

Recall that the House of Representatives on Thursday resolved to probe the N15 trillion project and said it would set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the project and submit a report within four weeks.

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The Houses resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved during plenary by Austin Achado, the member representing Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency of Benue State.

READ ALSO: Coastal Highway: Landmark Boss Playing Politics, Facilities Not Destroyed  Umahi

However, speaking in a chat with Punch, the Minister said he is ready to face the House of Representatives committee set up to probe the project.

Umahi added that he planned to ensure the exercise was televised live for all Nigerians to see.

Again, the former Governor of Ebonyi also said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakars claim that the loan obtained to complete the project did not follow due process was untrue.

He said, I am ready to face the National Assembly to defend the project. I will not want to say anything now until I meet with the senators and House of Reps members. It will be live, so you will also hear it. It will be live so that Nigerians will see it.
The operatives of the Kaduna State Police Command have arrested a suspected kidnapper who allegedly abducted his cousin and killed her.

It was gathered that the suspect, identified as Abdul Azeez Idris, murdered his 6-year-old cousin, Aisha Dahiru after she recognized him.

In a statement made by the Commands Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, the deceased was said to have been kidnapped while on her way to Islamiya school(Quranic school).

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INFORMATION NIGERIA learnt that the suspect, killed his cousin, despite collecting an N8 million ransom through an unknown caller.

The polices statement reads: On February 12, 2024, at about 1 00 hrs, Mr. Saidu Dahiru, father of the victim a resident of Angwan Jumaa, Zaria, reported to the Zaria City police station that his daughter, Aisha Saidu, a six-year-old female, went missing on her way to Islamiyya school.

According to Mr. Dahiru, Aisha was allegedly abducted by her cousin, Abdulazeez Idris, also residing in Angwan Jumaa, Zaria.

READ MORE: Kaduna Police Nab Ten Suspected Kidnappers, Recover Weapons

Following her disappearance, Dahiru received a phone call from an unknown individual, later identified as the perpetrator, demanding a ransom of 8,000,000 (eight million naira) for her safe return.

The case was transferred to the Anti Kidnapping Unit of SCID, Kaduna, where they traced and arrested the perpetrator, identified as Abdulazeez Idris, in Makarfi Local Government.
One Abike Olonade, a middle aged woman, has been arrested for allegedly trafficking a 16-year-old student to Libya.

The victim whose name has been kept under wrap is a student of Adeoye Lambo Secondary School in Obada Oko, Ogun State.

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Police spokesman, Omolola Odutola who confirmed the arrest in a statement on Saturday in Abeokuta, said the suspect confessed trafficking the victim to Libya.

READ ALSO: Police Nab Five Alleged Rapists In Nasarawa

One Abike Olonade has been arrested for trafficking 16 year old student of Ademoye Lambo Secondary School in Obada Oko Ogun State.

She confessed that the victim have been trafficked to Libya, the statement reads.
The end of Delco Gives Day is celebrated at Rose Tree Park in Media with the announcement of the grand total raised  $1,580, 987. The Penncrest High School drum line is in front. Read more

How much can a community raise for its nonprofit organizations in 24 hours?

For Delaware Countys Delco Gives, it is more than ever expected.

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When the Foundation for Delaware County ended its first community giving challenge on May 9 and tallied the funds, it found that in two days last week  May 8 and 9  9,482 people raised almost $1.7 million dollars, surpassing the Foundations initial goal by a million dollars. The event was a combination of online fundraising activities and a number of in-person celebrations held throughout the county. The grand total was revealed at the closing celebration in Medias Rose Tree Park.

Were blown away by the generosity of the people who stepped up, Katy Lichtenstein, the Foundations director of communications, said. They came and they gave and they celebrated with Gritty and Phillie Phanatic.

The work of nonprofits

Most of the 300 nonprofits that participated in the giving day serve the critical needs of the Delaware County community including hunger relief, day care, education, and emergency services.

For Erika Dawkins and Lashira Council, co-executive directors of the 8-year-old Chester Community Coalition, the money raised will provide their staff much needed emotional care as they do the heart-wrenching work of counseling victims of gun violence.

Each participating nonprofit will receive bonus funding from the Foundation and business sponsors, Lichtenstein said. Mitzvah Circle Foundation, which addresses clients essential needs around such things as clothing insecurity, diaper needs, and school supplies, won the top spot on the leaderboard by raising over $106,000.

Despite media attention to large corporation or foundation gifts, nonprofits survive off the generosity of individuals. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, individuals account for just over two-thirds of all charitable giving in the United States.

The rise of community giving days

Community giving days have become a major philanthropic success story. One of the nations largest community giving days, North Texas Giving Day, raised more than $63.9 million in 2023 for more than 3,200 nonprofits. The Sacramento Region Community Foundations raised $13.2 million during its 2024 Big Day of Giving with 27,000 donors making more than 58,000 gifts. At their last Colorado Gives Day in December 2023, the Colorado Gives Foundation raised $54.2 million.

And locally, Lancaster raised more than $8M from 23,000 donors for their giving day, said Lichtenstein.

Lichtenstein added that community giving days increase residents awareness of the local nonprofits in the community and unites the community for a cause. People were very energized. That was one of our goals to bring the community together around something good, Lichtenstein said.
Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., had a problem. Dozens of students at the citys downtown campus of George Washington University had been camping out for days, urging their school to divest from Israel to protest the killing of Palestinian civilians during the war in Gaza. Although Bowser had accurately labeled the protest as peaceful, Republicans on Capitol Hill, whove forged a modern brand of McCarthyism around campus unrest, summoned the mayor to a hearing to explain why D.C. wasnt moving against a protest they consider antisemitic.

At 3 a.m. Wednesday, on the morning Bowser was scheduled to testify, dozens of helmeted D.C. riot cops rousted sleeping students from their tents, and those who didnt comply quickly enough were pepper-sprayed  just the latest mockery of the notion that breaking up encampments is all about protecting student safety. By the time the sun rose, 33 demonstrators had been arrested, and the House GOP  having yet again proved the effectiveness of bullying in modern American politics  canceled Bowsers hearing, their mission of stifling dissent already accomplished.

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But Wednesday was kind of a landmark day for big-city Democratic mayors and the new zeitgeist of police-first tough love on streets that just four years ago were flooded with marchers demanding social justice instead of warrior cops. Here in Philadelphia, Mayor Cherelle L. Parkers new administration closed off a section of the Kensington neighborhood plagued by drug abuse and homelessness and shooed reporters away from witnessing a sweep of the area. The press restrictions werent the only similarity to campus crackdowns; critics of Parkers Kensington moves said outreach workers found police had already moved people out before they arrived to help.

America is changing, and if you take a step back, you can start to see when it started, and why. The convulsions we all experienced in 2020  the lockdowns, layoffs, and other shocks triggered by COVID-19, the police murder of George Floyd that sent millions into the streets, and an attempted coup and Capitol Hill insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021  have created the zeitgeist for President Joe Biden to channel his inner Nixon and declare dissent must never lead to disorder.

Four years ago, Americans saw their established social orders teetering on collapse. Although school shutdowns and mask mandates roiled a society in which trust in government has been steadily declining since the 1960s, Id argue that the major earthquake was the mass protests against Floyds murder and police brutality  and the backlash they sparked. The immediate reaction from conservatives terrified that their discredited hierarchies like white privilege or the patriarchy were under assault has been well-documented. Its been channeled into shutting down anti-racism education in schools and banning LGBTQ books from schools.

On Wednesday, the same day as the sweeps of campus protesters and the homeless, a school board in rural Shenandoah County, Va., voted to undo some of that regressive right-wings psychic scars from 2020 by renaming two of its schools for racist Confederate heroes, Gen. Stonewall Jackson and a combo of Gen. Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby. It felt like a dramatic exclamation point on a modern rebel movement that has a 50-50 chance of returning its own stonewall general and bearer of all its grievances, Donald Trump, to the White House in January.

But a less obvious aftershock is whats now rattling America in the spring of 2024. Across an elite class of liberals, from the majority of elected Democrats to the presidents of our top universities, there has been virtually no defense of the values of a more fair and equal America for which an estimated 15 million to 26 million citizens marched four years ago this month. Instead, there is an almost universal desire to preserve their six-figure salaries, to make the messiness of the First Amendment go away, to cower in the face of right-wing bullying instead of fighting back.

 READ MORE: Like Attila the Hun, Trump is poised to ransack a morally decadent U.S. empire | Will Bunch

It wasnt in some reactionary red state where troopers slammed a peaceful 65-year-old history professor and expert on Jewish studies expert to the ground and arrested her but at Dartmouth College in Biden-voting New Hampshire. It was in the Democratic bastion of Philadelphia, birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, that a student journalist was ordered by police to leave their own campus to not report on their encampment raid.

In New York City, voters still reeling from the convulsions of the COVID year, including a temporary spike in crime, in 2021 elected a conservative ex-cop mayor in Eric Adams. His latest budget found dollars for 2,400 new cops while keeping in the red city libraries, many of which now must close on the weekend. Adams new recruits will join a New York Police Department that increasingly acts like a rogue paramilitary force, ignoring routine city oversight, producing bizarre propaganda films, and shunning mainstream journalists to spout off on extreme-right channels like Newsmax.

This is the most liberal big city in America? Maybe its time to redefine liberal.

Many of us are in denial about our new authoritarianism. Sometimes it helps to hear from others whove lived in more repressive states. Journalist Zeynep Tufekci came here from Turkey in the 2000s and used to scoff at U.S. protesters who complained of a police state, but shes not scoffing now. Writing this weekend in the New York Times, Tufekci said that the harsh countermeasures of the last couple of weeks are counterproductive. But more than that, they are dangerous. Overreactions like this can lead to social breakdown  on both sides of the barricade.

Tufekcis piece rightly notes that this didnt start yesterday. The jolts of Sept. 11, 2001, led not only to a new lingo in which those with differing political views are now branded as terrorists, but it sparked an unprecedented $7 billion spending spree on combat-grade gear for American police from Upper Manhattan to bucolic New Hampshire. Like the parable of Chekhovs gun, the U.S. audience is watching these weapons deployed in Act Three, on our own citizens.

But 2020 seems the trigger for the current moment when law and order mean everything and constitutional rights mean nothing. The last four years have seen book banning go from the 20th-century history tomes to a daily newspaper headline, in a Handmaids Tale America where crossing state lines to get an abortion might be a felony. But for Democrats, the other key event of 2020 was that Novembers election, when a mediocre showing by the partys congressional candidates convinced its elite leaders the police reforms sought by millions of marchers were a political loser.

As even a scaled-back police reform bill failed in Congress, Democrats began electing candidates like Adams, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who responded to a couple of high-profile subway crimes heavily covered by Fox News by sending National Guard troops (initially with long guns) into stations, or like Phillys Parker, who brought a return to stop-and-frisk policing and is hostile to so-called harm reduction methods for dealing with drug addiction.

Even as both the right and the so-called left in American politics keep moving right, liberal elites have shown they can be easily cowed. When awkward congressional testimony led to the ouster of presidents at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, both academic leaders like Columbia Universitys Minouche Shafik and big-city mayors like D.C.s Bowser were quick to call in riot cops to satisfy their McCarthyite inquisitors. Young voters being told  and rightfully so  to fear a 21st-century dictatorship in Trump must wonder why the only real alternative is often these Neville Chamberlain-esque appeasers.

In this environment, liberty becomes a slippery slope. Earlier this month, on the global Press Freedom Day, the United States saw its ranking continue to fall. Its now down to just 55th in the world, according to Reporters Without Borders, which criticized laws aimed at curbing U.S. journalists access to public spaces, including barring them from legislative meetings and preventing them from recording the police. As this summers political conventions, Republicans are fighting to keep any protesters as far from its Milwaukee delegates as possible, but now Democrats are trying to make key events virtual in order to silence dissent in Chicago. One can only guess how much further our press freedom ranking can sink in 2025. Were already below Chile, Ivory Coast, and Belize.

Weve been told again and again that U.S. democracy is on the line in 2024, and thats turned out to be more true than we could have possibly imagined. The complicated and messy things at the heart of the fundamentally American Bill of Rights  free speech, press freedom, the right to assemble and voice dissent against the government  are vanishing before our very eyes, when theyre not dragged away by cops with riot helmets and clubs. But part of the problem, it turns out, is a November election where too many races will be choices between candidates with a too-narrow view of our civil and human rights and those who would crush them completely.

That is why there is still simply no choice but to elect Biden over Trump. There are two piles of issues in this election  the one where Trump is terrible and Biden is pretty good (climate change, abortion, labor rights) and the one that includes the Middle East, where Biden has been a rank hypocrite but Trump would be an even bigger disaster. And even in this low moment, theres an argument for Biden that his presidency would offer a tiny, if shrinking, bubble of air to start working for a freer world to come. Four years after George Floyd, America itself is still fighting to breathe.

 READ MORE: SIGN UP: The Will Bunch Newsletter
While TV news was glued last week to Stormy Daniels tell-all testimony and pro-Palestinian demonstrations, scant attention was paid to Vladimir Putins tsar-like coronation for a fifth term. Nor to his bellicose parade of Russias nuclear-capable missiles through Red Square on Thursday, the annual Victory Day commemoration of World War II.

I would argue that Putins stage-managed glorification was more significant than Donald Trumps hush money trial or the student upheavals.

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For one thing, the ceremonies reflected Putins optimism about victory in Ukraine. Despite congressional passage of a long-delayed military aid package for Kyiv, the weapons may arrive too slowly to prevent Russia from making dangerous new gains unless they are dispatched with a greater sense of urgency. Putins preening is clearly fed by the belief that the new aid is too little, too late, and that a Trump victory in November will mean an end to further U.S. support for Kyiv.

Moreover, the diversion of White House attention to Gaza distracts from a desperately needed administration focus on helping Ukraine make progress against Moscow this year, not in the unpredictable future.

Yet, the deeper reason Putins pomp should have drawn greater attention is that it demonstrated something most Americans still dont grasp: the threat this Russian leader presents to Europe and the U.S. That threat is all the greater because the unchecked power Putin displayed last week aroused such admiration from close associates of Trump, and from the GOP candidate himself.

The longest-serving Kremlin leader since Joseph Stalin, Putin took his oath beneath the glittering arches of the Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace  where Russian tsars were once crowned. A 30-gun salute followed. Putin had had the Russian Constitution changed to enable him to rule for life.

Recall that Putin was inaugurated after a sham election in March in which no genuine alternative candidate was allowed to run. The most serious opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, had survived poisoning by Russian intelligence agents only to be imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony; he died conveniently and mysteriously in prison one month before the election.

Navalny was only the latest in a long string of Putin opponents to be poisoned or otherwise murdered, not just inside Russia but across Europe.

On Monday, at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, I will interview former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, who barely survived a poisoning attempt in Kyiv in 2004 by a Russian agent; Putin opposed his efforts to draw his country closer to the European Union.

If you want a theatrical glimpse of how this cold-blooded Kremlin killer operates, rush to New York before the British play Patriots ends its run. You will see a splendid cast depict Putins brutal destruction of the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky who lifted him out of political obscurity to the presidency, but then had the audacity to challenge the Frankenstein he helped create.

This is the nature of the leader whom Trump so admires.

The Kremlin boss is cracking down on any and all dissent inside Russia at a level unseen since the breakup of the Soviet Union. He is having statues of Stalin rebuilt all across Russia.

And, as his grandiose inaugural confirmed, he is obsessed with Russias past imperial glories. We are answering to our thousand-year history and our ancestors, he proclaimed. It is Putins distorted view of Russian history that underlies his invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian dictator believes his country has a sacred duty to swallow, or dominate, other European and Central Asian states that were once part of its empire. He considers himself the incarnation of past conquerors such as Catherine the Great, whose statue he keeps in his office. At last weeks ceremonies, he bragged of the correctness of the countrys course, and made clear his willingness to confront the West.

Having basically recolonized independent Belarus, Putin insists Ukraine has no right to exist as an independent country. On Victory Day, he repeated his grotesque comparison of Moscows fight against Ukraine to Russias World War II battle against the Nazis.

Never mind that in 2024, it is Putin who is playing the role of Hitler, as state-controlled Russian TV acts the part of Joseph Goebbels propaganda network. In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, Russian talk show hosts fulminated on how Ukrainians are animals, and advocated killing the parents, wives, and children of Ukrainian soldiers.

A Russian plot to assassinate Ukraines Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, just prior to the Victory Day celebration, was fortunately broken up by Ukraine.

Putins nuclear threats are meant to deter the West from helping Ukraine win.

You might well ask why the West should take Putin seriously, given his failure to conquer Ukraine in three weeks as he had intended, and the cost of the ongoing war. Only one Russian tank, a World War II T34 relic, rolled through Red Square in the Victory Day parade, both this year and last, a sign of how much military resources Moscow has had to commit to Ukraine.

Here we come to the reason it gives me heartburn that Americas attention has turned away from Kyiv.

Putin thinks the West is fractured and fractious, and will eventually permit him to gnaw at the weak points in its society and its defenses. That is what made his bravado at this years Victory Day parade so flagrant after the more dismal outlook last year.

After annexing chunks of Ukraine, he intends to destroy its infrastructure and cities (unless the West rushes more air defenses to the country). He is striving to undermine NATO by backing far-right parties in Europe with propaganda and financing. The coup de grace would be a victory by Trump, who openly disdains the Atlantic alliance.

Putin hopes his nuclear saber-rattling  including the parade of missiles through Red Square  will dissuade the West from saving Ukraine, and will enable further planned Russian aggression on land, sea, and in space. As he reviewed the troops on Red Square, he bragged, We will not allow anyone to threaten us.

Needless to say, China, Iran, and North Korea are closely watching to see if his bluster works.

 READ MORE: In Europe they cheer U.S. passage of Ukraine aid but worry about a possible Trump future

Most insidious is Putins pretentious pose as the global standard-bearer for centuries-old family values and traditions, as he put it in his inaugural address. He is skillfully playing on the cultural divides that have poisoned politics in the West.

We know Trump envies Putins vainglorious pomp, the glitz and military parades and salutes. Less obvious is the Russian leaders success in wooing U.S. conservatives who see him as a global advocate for the conservative, Christian, anti-immigrant values they embrace.

Never mind that this self-proclaimed defender of Orthodox Christian values is responsible for civilian slaughter, torture, rape, kidnapping of children in Ukraine, and murders of opponents. This includes persecution of LGBTQ people, and encouraging women to stay home and have eight children to increase Russias population. It also includes forcing artists, filmmakers, and cultural institutions to hew to a patriotic line or go to jail.

Yet, the GOPs far-right has swallowed, or simply admires, Putins constant harping on family values. Tucker Carlson, who still has a huge following, treats Putin like a hero. Trump compliments him and invites his staunchest European backer, Viktor Orban, to Mar-a-Lago. The Conservative Political Action Committee, or CPAC, rushes to Budapest, Hungary, to see Orban.

Moreover, according to the latest Pew poll, 49% of Republicans buy Putins argument that America gives too much aid to Ukraine, oblivious to the security consequences of a Putin victory. While 83% of liberal Democrats have no confidence in Putin, only 61% of all Republicans say the same.

This past week, as Americans ignored his Kremlin theatrics, Putin laid bare the risks he poses to our country. I wish U.S. Putin-huggers had been compelled to watch his dictatorial display over and over. Yet, that might just make those who despise liberal democracy admire him more.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Wildwood, N.J. on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Read more

Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed Saturday that there were riots at the University of Pennsylvania, where the school called in police to end an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian protesters.

I went to school in Pennsylvania, Trump, a 1968 Wharton graduate, told supporters at a large rally in Wildwood. Theyre rioting in front of my school all the time. Whats going on here?

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There were no major incidents at Penn during the 16 days that protesters occupied College Green on Penns Philadelphia campus. Police disbanded the encampment Friday morning, arresting 33 protesters  including nine Penn Students.

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.

Trump laid the blame for national college protests of Israels war on Hamas on his 2024 opponent, President Joe Biden.

He doesnt stand up to our enemies abroad and he does not stand up to the extremists in his own party, Trump said of Biden. The Democrat Party is becoming radicalized.

Last week, Biden said order must prevail but supported peaceful protests on university campuses, calling dissent essential for democracy. But dissent must never lead to disorder.

Biden has been one of the primary targets of protesters because of U.S. support for Israel, regularly facing pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Pennsylvania and other states.

Trump also accused Biden of getting campaign donations from some groups that have supported cease-fire activist activity on college campuses.

You know, you can always tell a fake protest when every sign is beautifully made by a printer. all the same color green signs, Trump said. He then called on Biden and the DNC to return the donations of all antisemites, American haters, and financiers of chaos.

Politico reported last week that some of the most outspoken groups against Biden and Israel receive funding from foundations attached to big donor names in Democratic circles. But theres little evidence directly connecting that money to the protesters currently on college campuses.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks before the swearing in for school voard members at City Hall on May 1. Her first budget proposal does not include funding to redevelop the former site of the University City Townhomes. Read more

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has said building affordable housing in the city is a top priority, but if her first budget is approved as she proposed it, a West Philadelphia site meant for 70 new units could continue to sit empty.

Parker, who took office in January, proposed her first city budget earlier this year and did not include funding for the redevelopment of the University City Townhomes, a former affordable housing complex on the 3900 block of Market Street that a private landlord controversially closed.

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Thats despite a lawsuit settlement between the owners and the city that requires the municipal government to acquire the site expressly for the construction of 70 permanent, affordable units. The agreement, reached last year under former Mayor Jim Kenney, followed a yearslong push by activists to save the low-rise complex.

Now, as budget negotiations between the administration and City Council are underway, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who represents West Philadelphia and was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, wants Parkers administration to reconsider.

I would think that having 70 units of affordable housing for working-class people in University City is the type of thing that we would want to do as a city, Gauthier said in an interview. Its something that we spent thousands of hours on, its something that weve promised to the court system and to the broader community, and its something that helps us meet our affordable housing goals.

Gauthier, a progressive, said shes had several private conversations with administration officials, but has not received a funding commitment. Shes also met with officials from the Philadelphia Housing Authority, who in December requested $14 million from the city to fund the redevelopment.

Nichole Tillman, a spokesperson for PHA, said in a statement that the agencys interest in developing the property is contingent on the city offsetting the cost. She said PHA is optimistic that will happen.

 READ MORE: Cherelle Parker promised 30,000 units of affordable housing as a candidate. Shes watered down that goal as mayor.

The mayors office didnt respond to a request for comment. During a March hearing, Chief Deputy Mayor Aren Platt testified to Council that funding to build affordable housing on the site wasnt in the proposed budget, but that the administration would tak[e] a hard look at that.

When Gauthier asked if redeveloping the site is a priority, Platt said he wasnt prepared to talk about what type of priority it is for this administration, but building housing is certainly a priority.

Parkers administration and members of City Council must come to an agreement on the mayors $6.29 billion budget proposal by next month.

The University City Townhomes were located two blocks from the University of Pennsylvania and right next to the Market Frankford lines 40th Street station.

Built decades ago, when there was little new private-sector development in the area, the townhomes were owned by IBID Associates, a private landlord, and financed by the federal government, like most affordable housing in America.

But the 40-year contract guaranteeing federal subsidies to back the townhomes expired in 2022. So in 2021, IBID decided that there was more money to be made by redeveloping the centrally located property, as opposed to keeping it as affordable housing.

That decision would displace dozens of families and stoked massive controversy. Activist groups occupied the site in protest of the companys decision.

Gauthier attempted to negotiate with IBID. But when those talks broke down, she introduced zoning legislation to foil their plans. Then the developers sued her in federal court, alleging the city violated their constitutional right to sell the property.

As part of the resolution to that legal impasse, IBID agreed to give one-fifth of the 2.7-acre site to the city for the development of 70 new affordable housing units. Former tenants are to be given right-of-return when the properties are completed. In exchange, the city agreed to exclude the site from Gauthiers zoning legislation and allowed the demolition to move forward.

But the settlement doesnt require the city to redevelop the site on any specific timeline. It says only that the parcel should be transferred to the city within 15 days of demolition, which took place in March.

When the settlement was reached last year, Kenney praised it, saying in a statement it would facilitate equitable development through the preservation of affordable housing in West Philadelphia. Then-City Solicitor Diana Cortes said the city was pleased with the terms.

As part of the settlement, IBID also gave $3.5 million to the city for the tenants relocation and housing costs, which amounts to about $50,000 per household. They also received Housing Choice Vouchers, also known as Section 8, for additional rental assistance.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930), based in South Korea, is one of the world's biggest electronics companies. It's the largest enterprise owned by the giant Samsung Group, which is one of Korea's famed chaebols. Chaebols are powerful business conglomerates whose companies are controlled by a single family dynasty and which often receive beneficial tax treatment and subsidies from the government. While chaebols face increasing criticism over their ownership structure and involvement in corruption scandals, they played a crucial role in South Korea's rapid expansion from an agrarian economy into one of the world's largest economies centered around manufacturing and high technology. Samsung Electronics, founded in 1969, originated during the early years of this transformation and quickly became one of the pillars of the South Korean economy.

Samsung today produces popular products like the Galaxy line of smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers. The company also sells industrial electronics products including appliances, semiconductors, memory chips, and integrated systems. In 2023 Samsung generated revenue of KRW 258.94 trillion and profits of KRW 6.57 trillion. In U.S. dollars these numbers are about $188.98 billion and $4.79 billion respectively. Samsung's market capitalization is KRW 526.13 trillion as of May 2024. In U.S. dollar terms that's about $383.98 billion.

During most of the past 5 decades, Samsung Electronics has expanded primarily via internal growth. But in recent years, the company has executed a number of key acquisitions to bolster and accelerate its expansion, including in the fields of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Several of these deals are focused on technology to meet rising demand for products and services related to the ever-emerging Internet of Things (IoT). We look at five of these acquisitions in more detail below. Samsung breaks out the revenue and operating profit of only one of these acquisitions.

Harman International Industries

Type of Business: Automotive technology, audio & visual technology, connectivity

Acquisition Price: $8 billion (announced)

Acquisition Date: March 11, 2017 (completed)

Annual Revenue (2023): KRW 14.388 trillion, about $10.5 billion (at May 2024 exchange rate)

Annual Operating Profit (2023): KRW 1.174 trillion, about $856.5 million (at May 2024 exchange rate)

Samsung's purchase of Harman International Industries in 2017 was its biggest acquisition ever. Founded in 1980, Harman International is a Connecticut-based electronics company that designs and engineers connected products and solutions for consumers, automobile manufacturers, and other enterprises. Its products include connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions, and services that support the IoT. The company's goods are marketed under leading brands such as Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, and Mark Levinson. Samsung Electronics acquired Harman to expand its global presence in smart audio, connected and automotive technologies, with a special focus on cars as they become increasingly automated and connected.

SmartThings

Type of Business: Smart Home and IoT Applications

Acquisition Price: estimated $200 million

Acquisition Date: August 15, 2014 (acquisition announced)

SmartThings, founded in 2012, designs software applications and operates an open platform for consumers to use in the smart home. SmartThings also employs the IoT. The platform enables users to monitor, control, and automate their homes from anywhere with a single mobile app. SmartThings can be used to turn on lights when users wake up and turn them off when they leave for work; it can lock doors and turn on security cameras; it can alert homeowners of water leaks or unexpected activity; it can turn on music, other home appliances, and more. Samsung Electronics acquired SmartThings in 2014 and made it a part of the Samsung Open Innovation Center (OIC), an initiative responsible for bringing software and services innovation to the company. SmartThings is part of Samsung's push towards connected technology and the IoT.

LoopPay (now Samsung Pay)

Type of Business: Digital Wallet Platform

Acquisition Price: approx. $250 million

Acquisition Date: February 18, 2015 (acquisition announced)

LoopPay, founded in 2013, offers a digital wallet platform that enables contactless payment solutions. The platform uses the company's patented Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology, whose development was facilitated by an early investment from Samsung. Samsung then acquired LoopPay in 2015 to strengthen its capability to offer seamless, safe, and reliable mobile wallet solutions. Samsung then created Samsung Pay by using the intellectual property that had belonged to LoopPay. Samsung's mobile payment app competes directly with Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) Apple Pay app as both companies rush to increase their service revenue.

TeleWorld Solutions

Type of Business: Network Services Provider

Acquisition Price: Undisclosed

Acquisition Date: January 13, 2020 (acquisition completed)

TeleWorld Solutions, founded in 2002, is a network services provider, offering wireless engineering and consulting services. The company specializes in 5G cellular network technology, the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and wireless networks, smart-city infrastructure, machine learning, and the IoT. Samsung Electronics acquired TeleWorld Solutions in January 2020 to add to its capabilities in network infrastructure, especially in 5G. TeleWorld represents another step in Samsung's goal to be a leader in smart infrastructure and IoT.

Novaled

Type of Business: Organic Electronics

Acquisition Price: $347 million

Acquisition Date: August 9, 2013 (announced)

Novaled was founded in 2001 and eventually spun off by the Technical University of Dresden and Frauhnhofer Institute, two leading research institutions in Germany. The company provides proprietary organic materials and complementary innovative technologies for superior organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) used in digital displays and lighting. The Novaled acquisition has helped Samsung to sharply boost the quality of its TV and other screens in the hotly competitive electronics market.

Samsung Electronics Diversity & Inclusiveness Transparency

As part of our effort to improve the awareness of the importance of diversity in companies, we have highlighted the transparency of Samsung Electronicss commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social responsibility. The below chart illustrates how Samsung Electronics reports the diversity of its management and workforce. This shows if Samsung Electronics discloses data about the diversity of its board of directors, C-Suite, general management, and employees overall, across a variety of markers. We have indicated that transparency with a .
The EU and Nato last week condemned malicious cyber activities against Germany, as an investigation into who was behind the 2023 cyberattack on the German Social Democrat party (SPD) was concluded, indicating that a Russian cyber espionage group were responsible, pointing to the Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear.

A director-general at the European Parliament Kristian Knudsen separately sent an internal notification to all staff confirming that a breach of the system for hiring temporary staff had taken place in April at the EUs Luxemburg facility.

The malicious cyber campaign shows Russias continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, chief diplomat Josep Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the EU, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond.

Reacting to the incidents, Nato called on Russia to respect international obligations and said it would employ the necessary capabilities in order to deter, defend against and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats.

Russian cybercrime group known as Wizard Spider hackers were identified as behind Irelands HSE ransomware attack in May 2021.

The healthcare industry is considered one of the most vulnerable sectors to cybercrime. Health systems, their interconnected business relationships, and their diverse workforce collect and store an abundant amount of sensitive and personally protected healthcare information data. Private patient information is worth a lot of money to attackers, who can sell it quickly  making the industry a growing target.

The Irish Government is pushing ahead with implementing the EUs Network Information Security directive  NIS 2 as a matter of urgency, which targets healthcare, manufacturing industry and digital providers.

According to Ita O'Farrell, head of compliance at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the government body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the directive, the target date for the Dail to approve the adoption of the EU directive is mid-October this year.

At a briefing to healthcare and industry executives last week, the NCSC compliance executive advised that NIS 2 is geared toward improving cyber resilience in the public and private sectors and across borders. To assist organisations she indicated that a self-assessment framework will be issued with implementation guidance.

The NCSC advised that a cyberattack incident must be reported within 24 hours to their offices under the directive.

A question was raised by some organisations that there may be significant costs in meeting the compliance standards. NCSC anticipated that some funding assistance may be available to help companies and manufacturers  especially smaller businesses that may not have the technical resources or financial means to fully implement the directive.

As cyberattackers continue to evolve their tactics and organisations become more digitised, regardless of the EU directive, it is becoming increasingly vital that businesses keep their cybersecurity in order.

The interconnected nature of many sectors  and businesses using the cloud  means a successful cyberattack on one company can lead to the data of other customers being exposed. These are known as supply chain attacks, a concept that various cybercriminals have exploited in recent years.

NIS 2 places a strong emphasis on risk management, requiring companies to identify their vulnerabilities and take steps to address them proactively.

It also highlights the importance of supply chain security, meaning companies need to ensure that their suppliers also have good cybersecurity practices.

However, there is no doubt that the directive will significantly impact Irish business, requiring extensive management effort and investment to achieve and maintain compliance.

The EU stresses that as the directive is uniformly applied across all EU countries, it ensures that the same rules are applicable everywhere within the internal market which helps to create a consistent and predictable environment for individuals and businesses, which may be of some comfort to business owners. NIS 2 follows on from NIS 1 which was implemented across high critical sectors such as banking and energy in 2016.

However, like it or lump it, technology leaders, companies and their boards of directors would do well to pay attention to this directive and recognise that cyber strategy is a business strategy and understanding cyber risk is part of good governance in the digital age.

It may also be the issue that keeps board directors awake at night, as the NIS 2 directive makes it clear that board directors are ultimately responsible for ensuring the Directive is fully implemented in their organisation, with extensive fines for non-compliance.
Sabor Braziil (SB) is on that gritty little strip where Washington St meets the Grand Parade that has seen myriad low-budget food ventures come and go over the years, and the interior of SB is, accordingly, cheap, cheerful, and functional.

I have never been to Brazil, though not for the want of dreaming.

Instead my knowledge of the country, most especially food and food culture, has been gleaned entirely secondhand from Brazilians I have met over many years; friends, acquaintances, chefs, and hospitality workers and even erstwhile in-laws, supplemented by roving reporting of Irish friends who have lived there for decades, all capped with some good old-fashioned book learning.

Its estimated that Brasileiros make up 1.5% of our population, the largest Latin American group in Ireland, so it is hardly surprising to find them embedded in hospitality.

In Cork, chef Victor Franca turns out fine authentic Brazilian barbecue at Nua Asador, while Paladar chef Nascimento Nunes does a very tidy job of turning good Irish produce into classic Latin American dishes.

But according to more than a few local Brasileiros, SB is where you go to recall your mothers home cooking, for an unadorned taste of home.

Though Id fight and die for a bag of Tayto, buying them by the boxful when I lived abroad, Im well aware just how much of their taste profile was enmeshed in an exiles emotional memory, and that a more neutral appraisal might be less gushing.

So it is with a lot of the supporting dishes on the SB menu, hovering in and around the pleasant if uninspiring mark: Crispy tilapia fingers are a more upmarket version of our fish fingers; Empadinha is shortcrust pie (we choose palmito, palm heart); and deep fried salgadinhos (cheese, beef or chicken) are a robust, less compelling cousin of croquetas.

We Gaels have always fancied ourselves as natural-born Latinos in temperament somehow marooned in the colder North and share with Brazilians a mutual love of a good party.

It doesnt take much to loosen our stays, to unleash inhibitions.

Good food is an essential part of the formula but rarely the climactic apex as it might be for Italians or French, rather just one essential element of several and so it is best to glide over the SB menu and alight on the dishes that have fuelled my finest memories of Brazilian-led soirees; carnivorous cornucopia of Brazilian barbecue and what many call Brazils national dish, feijoada, a slow-cooked black bean stew, traditionally using cheaper cuts of meat.

The interior of Sabor Braziil

SBs mixed barbecue plate is the stuff of paleo dreams: chicken wrapped in bacon, thin strips of pork sausage, and excellent picanha steak and we wash it down, as you do, with Brazilian beer. (There are a few wines available but feel free to pick up a decent bottle of your own and pay very reasonable 10 corkage.)

And to gladden any Gaels heart, the Brazilians are equally fond of multiple carbs on the same plate and ours arrive with crispy fries, fried cassava, potato salad, and rice.

Feijoada is reckoned by many to be Brazils national dish, and SBs gourmet version featuring prime cuts is served up every Saturday as a weekly highpoint.

It is a gloopy, soupy primal swamp, a murky charcoal colour courtesy of the beans, with surprisingly few cooked-in herbed or spiced accents, flavours largely emanating from the meats (smoked sausage, pork belly, prime Irish beef), leading to a deep umami pulse that throbs almost entirely in the lower register.

With a bowl of rice, it is deeply comforting, impossible to resist. To rev up the dish, condiments arrive separately.

Farofa is the mother and father of these, pork pieces and garlic, fried with toasted cassava flour, to be liberally sprinkled over. (Farofa is also a pretty essential element in any Brazilian barbecue.)

For Irish palates more used to condiments (salt, pepper, oils, relishes, hot sauces, spices, herbs etc) designed to bring pronounced sensory enhancements, a gustatory jolt to throw the primary dish into sharper relief, farofa is a curiously muting, even hypnotic, experience as understated nutty maize-like flavours of cassava settle over all like a blanket of snow.

Further additions include slices of fresh orange, salsa, and crispy, crunchy pork crackling.

Im a sucker for any combo of rice and beans/pulses, and feijoada is right up there with the best of them, although on any previous occasion Ive had it, I like to play with another great Brazilian export crop  chillis.

With some of the most wallet-friendly dining prices in town, SB may not be the venue in which to dazzle your latest epicurean conquest, but it is a warm and lively spot.

The dynamic owner/operator Leonardo Lemos, a transplanted Brazilian soon to represent Ireland as an international triathlete, puts me in mind of certain of the great Irish publicans in London of yore who incorporated a whole new arm of social care and kindness for their clientele into more usual commercial activities, offering a home from home for the exiled, that strays well beyond the confines of the plate.

I subscribe to the theory that you can learn everything yet still know nothing until you go to that country and begin to eat.

I will eventually get to Brazil; meanwhile, SB will serve as a pre-flight departure lounge.

The Verdict
This show is absolutely not about bad news  we do it because of the bad news  Derek Mooney is just fizzing with enthusiasm for success stories, simple solutions and getting people on board.

And this enthusiasm ripples right through the latest series of the popular and uplifting Back from the Brink.

The show acknowledges that the planet is paying the price for generations of environmental mismanagement but rather than playing up the doom and blame game, the programme focuses on the ways in which smart human intervention can bring Europes wildlife back from the brink.

first flight for one of the osprey chicks brought to Ireland as part of a new National Park and Wildlife Service (NPWS) reintroduction programme Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan

The success stories covered by Derek Mooney and the RTE Cork team include the return of the magnificent osprey to Ireland. This fish-eating bird of prey was persecuted into extinction here more than 200 years ago but has survived in Norway. So, the National Parks and Wildlife Service here teamed up with their Norwegian counterparts for a reintroduction programme. They carefully collected 10 eggs from eyries there and flew them to Ireland by private jet to a secret location on the south east coast.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

While the eggs were laid in Norway, they were hatched here so it is hoped that the birds will actually return to Ireland.

They are a stunningly beautiful bird and once they fledge they migrate to Africa for two years. Nine of these 10 birds survived and they have all headed off now. So well be waiting to see them come back in two years. There was so much care and effort put into this project by the NPWS  we only turn up for the filming. Its a wonderful collaboration to repopulate Europe with species that are no threat to anyone, notes Derek.

Its hard not to be caught up in Dereks excitement when hes talking about filming orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Africa.

We had seen stories starting in 2020 about orcas damaging sail boats there and wanted to find out more. Sail boats were advised to switch motors off if they met orcas but these young orcas led by a matriarch started interacting with the vessels in a very specific and unusual way.

Derek explains that they discovered that the older female seemed to be teaching the juveniles to specifically target the rudders of the boats: They werent just ramming the boats, they were deactivating the boats in a very planned way. The footage is absolutely amazing, its just incredible. Now we dont know why but there have been 300 interractions  not attacks  like this in the last few years. But now the advice has changed and its to keep your engines on and to keep going if youre in this area. This information protects the orcas and also protects the humans there.

Back From The Brink: an ancient breed of wild Irish goat might be the answer to the very modern problem of wildfires

The show also looks at how an ancient breed of wild Irish goat might be a solution to the problem of wildfires. The goats are brought to Howth Head and eat the scrub and gorse which can burn easily in dry weather. They make natural fire-breaks, says Derek.

Often its simpler solution to problems that are covered and celebrated on this programme.

Another example is the way eagle owl population has been protected in Slovenia. The numbers of eagle owl in the countrys Karst region had been dropping in a worrying way. The area was becoming known as the Bermuda Triangle for eagle owls, notes Derek.

A bit of research revealed that the owls were perching on top of telegraph poles while looking out for prey  but with their six-feet wingspan they were hitting the wire while taking off and were being electrocuted.

These eagle owls can be a bit clumsy as they take off and they have a massive wingspan. So conservationists teamed up with the Slovenian equivalent of the ESB and now there is thick insulation on the wires near the poles. Another problem there was rock-climbers were accidentally disturbing the eagle owls as they nested on rocky outcrops. Signs letting the climbers know to avoid particular areas also contributed to the eagle owls population increase.

Derek Mooney presents Back from the Brink 2024

It doesnt have to be complicated  sometimes its a simple solution and getting people on board that works, Derek explains.

" Back From the Brink is telling a story of hope. It celebrates the people who are trying to make a difference in the climate and biodiversity crisis. This environmental disaster can be reversed. It will take all of us to make a difference. The fight isn't over yet, but the clock is ticking."

And just like diverse groups such as rock-climbers and electricity supply companies have worked in harmoniously to achieve wildlife wins, the show itself is a testament to collaborative working. The series is made by RTE Cork in conjunction with the European Broadcasting Union  the other member broadcasters include Northern Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain. The show then has the potential to be broadcast in 52 countries across the continent.

Its such a clever format and it works really well, thats the beauty of this. (RTE) Cork is great and produces high end documentaries shown all over the world. Its a small team but its incredible what they can do.

Two-part documentary Back From The Brink will be on RTE One on Sunday, May 12 and 19 at 6.30pm
Recent years have seen the practice of vaping explode, particularly among young people, with bright colours, shiny packaging, and a variety of flavours adding to their burgeoning popularity.

However, there is growing concern about the potential for long-term health impacts, particularly among the younger cohort who have never smoked and consider vaping a more attractive and healthier option.

Is it possible that we can learn from past mistakes and introduce timely and robust legislation to curtail the potential for vapes to have serious long-term impacts on the health of teenagers and young adults in the coming decades?

New research from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RSCI) published in Scientific Reports recently has uncovered the potentially harmful substances that are produced when e-liquids in vaping devices are heated for inhalation.

What is exciting about this research in RCSIs Department of Chemistry is the use of artificial intelligence to simulate the effects of heating e-liquid flavour chemicals found in nicotine vapes.

The researchers included 180 known e-liquid flavour chemicals, predicting the new compounds formed when these substances are heated within a vaping device immediately prior to inhalation.

The analysis identified the formation of 127 hazardous chemicals, classified as acute toxic, 153 as health hazards, and 225 as irritants.

These included a group of chemicals called volatile carbonyls (VCs) that are known to pose health risks.

The AI machine predicted that these VCs would form in the fruit-, candy- and dessert-flavoured products  typically the flavours that young people zone in on.

Young people don't consider long-term risks

Lead author Donal OShea, professor of chemistry and head of the department, described the findings as very concerning.

Our findings indicate a significantly different profile of chemical hazards compared to what we are familiar with from traditional tobacco smoking," Prof OShea said.

It is plausible that we are on the cusp of a new wave of chronic diseases that will emerge 15 to 20 years from now, due to these exposures.

However, young people dont think about health risks that far into the future.

They may worry about how they are going to get home safely after a night out or the risks of giving their personal details to complete strangers but the risks of potentially hazardous chemicals causing cancer or heart disease two decades into the future is not on their radar.

That is why robust legislation is so vital.

Ban on selling vapes to under-18s

A new law banning the sale of nicotine-inhaling products such as e-cigarettes, to people under 18 came into effect just before Christmas last year, after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly commenced the relevant section of the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2023.

Further measures under the bill will come into effect in September, including a ban on the sale of tobacco products or nicotine-inhaling products at events aimed at children, and a ban on advertising for such products around cinema films for children, on public service vehicles, at stops or stations, and within 200m of a school.

A consultation process on further measures to decrease the appeal of nicotine-inhaling products to young people concluded in January.

According to Dr OShea, the huge array of flavours available in vaping products is what makes their chemistry so challenging compared with traditional cigarette smoke.

This cocktail of chemicals derived from the food industry where they have a good safety record for specific uses in flavoured drinks, pastries, and sweets  were never intended to be heated to high temperatures for inhalation.

Legislation to curb the rising trend of vaping, particularly among young people must be a priority.

What are other countries doing?

According to the WHO, by July 2023, vapes were banned in 34 countries, including Brazil, India, Thailand and Iran. But enforcing a ban is challenging as they frequently become available on the black market.

In Australia, vapes are available on prescription only. Since March, it has been illegal to import any type of vape not approved as therapeutic by the Australian medical regulator.

New Zealand has had an effective ban in place since August, with new rules to protect young people, including a lower level of nicotine, duller flavour names, and a ban on vape shops near schools.

China, the worlds biggest producer of vapes, introduced a slew of laws in 2021 controlling their use, including banning flavoured products that many of the manufacturers continue to send overseas.

Not good enough for Chinese citizens but okay to bolster economic growth.

Vape manufacturers in the United States must get authorisation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell their products. It has yet to approve a vape flavour other than tobacco. However, the laws are poorly enforced, with disposable products widely available.

The UK is the latest country to announce a ban on disposable vapes. The new regulations will limit the variety of flavours, implement plain packaging, and alter the way vapes are presented in stories to minimise their appeal to children.

A bill to ban the use of disposable vapes has been approved in France and could come into effect in September next year.

Germany also intends to take action, while some ecologists, including the Green federal environment minister Steffi Lemke, have gone one step further, calling on the EU to ban them altogether.

RCPI supports strong regulation

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) Faculty of Paediatrics, in a position paper last October, strongly supported laws to ban vapes to protect the health and wellbeing of children and young people who are using them in alarming numbers. The environmental damage vapes cause is also a concern.

A key concern of paediatricians is the targeting of young people.

Clever campaigns on TikTok and Instagram, and the array of flavours and colours are making disposable vapes more desirable for young people, said consultant in paediatric and respiratory medicine, Des Cox.

We must adopt stronger legislation on the advertising and marketing of vapes and ban the use of flavours other than tobacco, said Professor Cox.

Ireland has provided a global template for legislation around the sale of tobacco and, more recently, alcohol, with significant benefits to public health that are being copied across the world.

Isnt it time we introduced similar robust legislation around the sale of vapes in Ireland?

The most recent research compounds what we already know. We need to urgently prioritise legislation to ban disposable vapes, limit vape flavours, and implement plain packaging  all to curtail both the environmental impacts and the immediate and long-term health impacts to children and young adults in decades to come.
Catalonia is holding a regional election which is likely to reverberate in Spains national politics.

The ballot is a test both for the strength of the separatist movement in the wealthy north-eastern region and for the policies of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

More than 5.7 million voters are eligible to choose politicians for the regional parliament based in Barcelona.

Separatists have held the regional government for more than a decade. But polling and a national election in July show that support for secession has shrunk somewhat since former regional president Carles Puigdemont led an illegal  and futile  breakaway bid in 2017.

Former regional president Carles Puigdemont is living in exile in France, but is still running for election (Joan Mateu/AP)

Mr Puigdemont is a fugitive from Spains laws since he fled the country days after his failed secession attempt.

But that has not stopped him from running in this election as he campaigns from southern France. He has said he will return to Spain when the newly-elected politicians convene to choose a regional president at some point after the election.

By that time, Mr Puigdemont hopes to be cleared of any legal troubles after Spains parliament gives final approval to a contentious amnesty for him and hundreds of other separatists.

The amnesty forms part of Mr Sanchezs intense push to reduce tensions in Catalonia that has also included the pardoning of jailed high-profile separatists.

If voters do not validate that by coming out in support of his Socialist party, then it would be a blow to the leader who heads a minority coalition in Madrid.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, right, has campaigned with socialist candidate Salvador Illa (Emilio Morenatti/AP)

Mr Sanchez has campaigned alongside Salvador Illa, the candidate of the Socialists. Mr Illa won the most votes in a 2021 regional election but was unable to stop separatist Pere Aragones from forming a government.

The election will also feature a battle inside the separatist camp between Mr Puigdemonts conservative Together party and Mr Aragoness Republican Left of Catalonia.

An upstart pro-secession, far-right party called Catalan Alliance, which campaigns against unauthorised immigration as well as the Spanish state, will hope to earn parliamentary representation.

A total of nine parties are running and no single one is expected to come close to winning enough votes to reach the absolute majority of 68 seats in the chamber. So deal-making will be critical.

Polls close at 6pm local time and results are expected later on Sunday evening.
Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature)  Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, Maltas permanent representative to the United Nation, spearheaded the November 2023 resolution for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, given that 70% of those killed in Gaza were children and women. Men want to end the war, women want to make peace, she said. There is a difference.

Her action leading to the 6-day ceasefire recalled two women whose work for peace in the United States culminated in Mothers Day on the second Sunday in May. Prior to the Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia organized Mothers Day Work Clubs with classes for women on sanitation in food preparation and drinking water in a time of high infant and child mortality. After the war, she organized Mothers Friendship Day, bringing together mothers from both sides of the Civil War to support their reconciliation.

Julia Ward Howe, a passionate anti-war activist and promoter of world peace, inspired the first public Mothers Day for Peace rally held in New York City on June 2, 1872. Her 1870 Mothers Day Proclamation passionately heralded action to stop future wars:

Arise, all women who have hearts 

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, Disarm, disarm!

This recent Mothers Day in Palestine, Mazin Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem University wrote I remember my own mother who fought for peace in the spirit of Julia Ward Howes call for mothers on Mothers day to end wars and stop sacrificing people on the altar of mens racism, greed and egos.

France 24 English Video: Some 300,000 Gazans have evacuated east Rafah, Israeli army says  FRANCE 24 English

The current obliteration of Gaza is a record-breaking war on mothers and their children.

An average of two Gazan mothers die every hour of the war leaving their families devastated and their children with diminished protection.

After four months of Israels carpet bombing, more Gazan children were killed than the number of children killed in the last four years of wars around the world combined.

of Israels carpet bombing, more Gazan children were killed than the number of children killed in the last of wars around the world combined. With starvation imposed on Gaza by Israels blockades of food aid unprecedented in modern history  mothers and adult women are the ones who eat last and least .

Many mothers are too malnourished to produce milk for their newborns; but no powdered milk in the markets and next to no clean water with which to mix it are available.

Each day about 180 women give birth in hellish conditions, with most of Gazas 36 hospitals lying in rubble and their existing medical supplies nearing exhaustion. Two American trauma surgeons who have volunteered for surgical missions in crisis situations all over the world, stated recently that they have never seen cruelty like Israels massacre in Gaza.

Some mothers have resorted to washing clothes and bathing their children in the sea, polluted with sewage, risking their lives under Israeli strafing.

As of late February 2024, The U.N. estimated that some 700,000 women and girls in Gaza experience menstrual cycles but dont have adequate access to basic hygiene products like pads, toilet paper, running water and toilets because of the war. These conditions put them at risk of reproductive and urinary tract infections.

Shahd Sataria, a human rights defender with the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development in the West Bank, visited Gaza every summer as a child until her family could no longer get a permit in 2004. In Gaza, you got to visit the sea, she recalled. We are big families. We would gather at my grandmas house, and sleep on old mattresses on the floor those were great nights.

She remembers the plants, the deep blue sea, nights full of stories, and a lot of singing. In the morning, the women of the family would gather around her grandmother, chatting. Sataria couldnt see her grandmother before she died, denied a permit to visit Gaza.

Women have lost their chance to have education, to be in decision-making, and to be empowered. Despite the horror of death, destruction and starvation, Sataria speaks of hope. I believe that people in Gaza are resilient. If the war would end today or tomorrow, I believe that they will rise up.

This Mothers Day my deepest desire for the surviving women of this genocidal war, is that they live to see their beloved Palestine become a member state of the UN with the resources to re-build, as Jewish women survivors of the Holocaust did with the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

No other peoples have been kept stateless for so many decades as Palestinians. But the world must be with them not just in words but in deeds.

 Half a year of unfathomable suffering.

Half a year of irreparable trauma.

Half a year of irreplaceable loss.

Every positive change in human behavior is always preceded by an expansion of consciousness, and Gaza is expanding western consciousness like nothing ever before.
( Middle East Monitor )  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains set in his plans to invade Rafah, with or without US assistance. Responding to US President Joe Bidens warning earlier this week that arms supplies will be limited if Israel invades Rafah, Netanyahu responded, If we must, we shall fight with our fingernails. It is quite likely that the fingernails will be spared, though, unlike countless Palestinian lives eliminated under Israels bombing.

In the early hours of the morning of May 11, the Times of Israel reported White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby stating, I wouldnt go so far as to say that what weve seen here [in Rafah] in the last 24 hours connotes or indicates a broad, large-scale invasion or major ground operation. The statement follows a public confirmation by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin that a munitions shipment of approximately 3,500 had been halted over concerns that the weapons could be used in Rafah. The weapons shipment halt had prompted Haim Saban, Israeli-American billionaire and donor to the Democratic party, to send an email to Bidens aides opposing the decision. Lets not forget that there are more Jewish voters, who care about Israel, than Muslims voters that care about Hamas, the informal email partly read. But again, genocide is not about the US elections, or caring about Israel or Hamas.

Two days ago, Axios summed up its predictions over the US State Departments review of the use of weapons provided to Israel which, if found to have violated international law, can lead to suspension. According to three unnamed US officials, the report would refrain from concluding it [Israel] has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons. As it turns out, the report provided much in terms of shedding doubt on clarity, which means further veneer for Israel to proceed with its genocide in Gaza.

Al Jazeera English Video: Israeli forces have been expanding attacks on Rafah

The report did find that US weapons were being used in violation of international law but the narrative taken by the US is not in accordance with international law. Since October 7 2023, the report states, Throughout this period, the USG has engaged at all levels with the Government of Israel to understand Israels view of the applicable legal frameworks relevant to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. That is not how international law works. Israels view normalises genocide and war crimes, to make international law inapplicable. Therefore, the so-called imperatives, among which the report lists minimising civilian casualties, already provides the necessary groundwork to dilute any measures the US can take in terms of weapons supply to Israel. And indeed, the language used in the report emphasises the usual trend of downplaying proof into likelihood.

For example, the report notes that Israel has not shared complete information to verify whether US defence articles covered under NMS_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 does state the use of US origin weapons but states, regarding their use, that they were likely to have been involved in incidents that raise concerns about Israels IHL compliance. Likely. Again, doubt is sown, and always in Israels favour.

The same tactic occurs throughout the report. The US State Department sources the UN, NGOs and human rights organisations to cite credible reports of alleged human rights abuses by Israeli security forces. Again  take note of the language. Credible and alleged within the same sentence only disputes credibility. And following lists of violations Israel committed against Palestinian civilians, the State Department report gives Israel the benefit of the doubt once again because, with Hamas seeking to hide behind civilian populations and infrastructure and expose them to 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.

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. This would be one of the clearest admissions by the US in terms of its weapons being used in Israels genocide in Gaza. However, in the next paragraph, Israels security forces harmed civilians potentially using U.S.-provided equipment.

The report also attempts to discredit numerous credible UN, NGO and media reports detailing Israels targeting of civilian infrastructure. Indeed, specific instances are mentioned in the report, including those of Israeli airstrikes targeting humanitarian aid workers, market places and refugee camps, but then resorts to the Israeli narrative of Hamas using human shields. Additionally, the report casts doubt on the civilians killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza, stating that the reported death tolls do not distinguish between Hamas and civilians killed.

Israel has a sophisticated system for identifying where civilians are located in order to try to minimise civilian harm, the US report states. Undoubtedly Israel has the technology to locate civilians, but genocide wipes out everyone. Therefore, the report saying that international organisations have reported mitigation efforts as inconsistent is a very mild way of stating that Israels precision targeting precisely targeted civilians. Israel dividing Gaza into over 300 sectors, for example, is also touted as a mitigation effort to avoid civilian casualties. But if that were true, how does the US account for the genocide and its final destination in Rafah?

If the report set out to determine Israels compliance, it would have used definite language instead of employing purposefully contradictory language. Bureaucracy is not a deterrent for Israel. It merely suits the purpose of illusory action, but on the ground in Gaza, Palestinians are still facing genocide.

The US is already downplaying Israels actions in Rafah so far  how much impact will a report written in a way to protect Israel from accountability have? Furthermore, the report implicates the US not only by providing the means for Israels genocide, but protecting genocidal actions as well. Diplomacy and genocide, it seems, make for durable compatibility.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.

Via Middle East Monitor
Hyeri's social media post sparked hope in fans for her reunion with Byeon Woo Seok as she candidly asked for THIS.

Keep on reading to know more about their potential collaboration.

Is Byeon Woo Seok the Next Celebrity to Appear on Her YouTube Show?

On May 11, idol-actress Hyeri surprised her followers after she posted on her social media account saying "Ask Byeon Woo Seok anything you want," inviting questions from fans. In addition, she also tagged the heartthrob's official account.

This immediately gave fans a hint that the rising actor might be the next celebrity guest to appear in Hyeri's variety talk show on YouTube, where several K-stars already made their appearance.

To recall, Byeon Woo Seok and Hyeri worked together in the KBS' historical-romance series "Moonshine" forming a good friendship. Afterward, the actress showed support for the male star by uploading a scene from "20th Century Girl" on her SNS.

Byeon Woo Seok Providing the 'Sun Jae' Fever

Meanwhile, Byeon Woo Seok is currently headlining the most-talked-about K-drama "Lovely Runner," where he plays the iconic character of Ryu Sun Jae, providing viewers with the 'Sun Jae craze.'

"Lovely Runner" features the story of Ryu Sun Jae, a top star and a member of the K-pop boyband Eclipse. He passed away under suspicious circumstances, and Im Sol (played by Kim Hye Yoon), a devoted fan, is determined to save him from death. Miraculously, she was given the chance to go back to the past to change Sun Jae's fate.

Byeon Woo Seok is garnering attention for his sweet and natural chemistry with Kim Hye Yoon.

Byeon Woo Seok Booked & Busy for New Variety Show Appearances

With such explosive popularity, the heartthrob already has more than 7 million Instagram followers and is preparing for various variety show appearances such as "Running Man," "Yoo Quiz on the Block," "Salon Drip 2," and more.

Fans are curious and now excited about what conversations Byeon Woo Seok will have with Hyeri.

Furthermore, adding to the actor's ongoing global fame, he will embark on his first-ever "2024 Byeon Woo Seok Asia Fanmeeting Tour" where he is expected to visit the countries of Taiwan, Thailand, HongKong, Seoul, and other cities that are yet to be announced.

Catch Byeon Woo Seok alongside Kim Hye Yoon every Monday and Tuesday at 8:50 p.m. (KST) on tvN and Viu.

What can you say about the news? Share your thoughts/replies in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Shai San Miguel wrote this.






Saturday, May 11, 2024 - The US has alleged that Israel might have violated international humanitarian law using weapons during its military operation in Gaza, its strongest criticism to date of its age long ally, Israel.

The Biden said that due to the chaos of the war in Gaza it could not verify specific instances where use of those weapons might have been involved in alleged breaches of international law.

The assessment came in a 46-page unclassified State Department report to Congress required under a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) that President Joe Biden issued in early February.

The US and Israel are increasingly at odds over Israel's plans to strike Rafah, a move Washington has repeatedly warned against.

The Biden administration has already put a hold on one package of arms in a major policy shift and said the U.S. was reviewing others even as it reiterated long-term support for Israel.

The State Department's report included contradictions: It listed numerous credible reports of civilian harm and said Israel did not at first cooperate with Washington to boost humanitarian assistance to the enclave. But in each instance it said it could not make a definitive assessment whether any breaches of law had occurred.

"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," the State Department said in the report.

"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 said.

Because of that, the administration said it still finds credible Israel's assurances that it is using U.S. weapons in accordance with international law.

According to the report released Friday, in the period after Oct. 7 Israel did not fully cooperate with U.S. and other international efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But it said this did not amount to a breach of a U.S law that blocks the provision of arms to countries that restrict U.S. humanitarian aid.

It said Israel had acted to improve aid delivery since Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call early last month that Washington would withhold some arms supplies if the humanitarian situation did not improve.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israels seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.




Sunday, May 12, 2024  President William Rutos address to the US Joint Congress, which has now been cancelled, is causing ripples and has divided America into two.

This is after US Congressman Richard Neal of Massachusetts blasted the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Mike Johnson for failing to recognize the importance of the diplomatic relation between the US and Nairobi when he cancelled the address.

Neal recalled hosting former President Uhuru Kenyatta, saying their engagements were fulfilling and of great success.

He counselled Johnson to follow in his footsteps.

"I had the privilege of hosting former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, where we spoke about the great opportunities to strengthen relations between our two economies present, and since then, Kenya has only continued to demonstrate its commitment to reaffirming our 60-year partnership.

"With the Biden Administration already rising to the rightful occasion by hosting a state dinner, the Congress must do the same," partly read Neal's statement.

Barbara Lee, another lawmaker from the Democrat party, termed the cancellation as a disrespect to Ruto and the Kenyan people.

"Disgraceful. Rather than strengthening relationships with our allies, once again the Pro-Putin caucus shows its true colours by denying a critical East African ally a chance to address Congress.

"The Kenyan people and President Ruto deserve far more respect," she said.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Sunday, May 12, 2024 - President William Ruto could be a one-term president, going by what renowned Nairobi lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi has advised him on taxation.

According to Finance Bill 2024/25, Ruto is planning to introduce Motor Vehicle Tax, Bread tax, and Mpesa transaction tax among other taxes that the Treasury has proposed.

The taxes will choke Kenyans who are still suffering from increases in taxes from last year, when the Kenya Kwanza Alliance regime passed the Finance Act 2023.

Reacting to these new taxes, Ahmednasir, who is among prominent lawyers who supported President Rutos election in 2022, stated it is wrong for the President to continue taxing Kenyans yet the money is being stolen by Ministers, governors, Judges, and other state officers.

He said if Ruto wants to continue overtaxing Kenyans, he should also account for the taxes by providing good roads, better healthcare and provide quality education system for kids.

This is what lawyer Ahmednasir wrote on his X platform.

Over taxation, especially of goods and services used by mama Mboga and Wanjiku, make governments very unpopular and delegitimized when it doesn't provide corresponding services or when the taxes are stolen by corrupt civil servants.

President William Ruto's government is going that route full speed. Personally, l, grudgingly rationalise the need to raise taxes so that OUR government repays the reckless borrowing of President Uhuru, gives US good (just third world standard) services...i.e uninterrupted electricity, clean running water, good roads and functional sewage, good security, excellent health care, good education, a functional justice system, a government that prosecutes and jails thieves who steal our taxes...

Our government raises taxes every year and we obviously don't get value of money.

We don't have good roads, health services are in shambles, the education system is almost non-existent (very soon, more children will do British curriculum than Kenyan), judges make more than than lawyers, farmers are suffering because of fake fertilisers and Hon Mithika Linturi refuses to take responsibility, theft of public money is normal, Governors and county officials are stealing like crazy etc...etc...

So surely, why do we pay taxes? For CSs, judges, and governors to steal it? Doesn't make sense for me.

H.E. @WilliamsRutoneeds to engage Kenyans on these taxes and why it is stolen UNDER HIS WATCH. Mr. President, we will pay taxes but give us value for our money and stop your Waziris, judges, and governors from stealing Wanjiku's taxes,

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Sunday, May 12, 2024 - Lawyer Miguna Miguna has lashed out at the chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, David Ndii, over his remarks that he is entitled to billions of payout as President William Rutos advisor.

Ndii and his coterie have been allocated Sh 1.3 billion in the financial year 2024/25, which has sparked a heated debate among Kenyans.

In his defense, Ndii, an Oxford University graduate, said he deserves that money, explaining that some of it is allocated for travel allowances and accommodation in five-star hotels in Europe and the Americas.

However, Miguna, who has recently become a fierce critic of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance regime, urged Ndii to remember that intellectual brilliance is not judged by the schools or universities one attended, but by the depth of articulated thoughts, research, writing, and contributions.

When serving in public office, its judged by ones recorded contributions and integrity.

"David Ndii is desperate to justify wanton and obscene plunder of public resources through exploitative wages, first-class air travel, five-star hotel accommodations, and other wastage with zero visible positive results for 50 million Kenyans, Miguna wrote on X

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Sunday, May 12, 2024 - Slain city busineslady and Ohangla fanatic, Sheila Wegesha, reportedly had an affair with multiple men, despite being married to accomplished Luo businessman, Jack Bamboo.

Although Jack and Sheila looked like a perfect couple on social media, their marriage was marred with infidelity claims, with Sheila cheating on Jack with different men, among them Ohangla artists.

A friend narrated how Jack threw Sheila a birthday bash at Club Samba in Nairobi CBD, only to find out she had another boyfriend who was also organizing a birthday party for her.

Shocked by the turn of events, Jack approached his friend and poured his heart out, expressing his frustrations at his wifes cheating behaviours.

Jack had reportedly tolerated his wife for long before he brutally murdered her a few days ago at their Athi River home.

He is currently on the run.

Below is a post by Jacks friend spilling the beans on his troubled marriage with Sheila.





The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Sunday, May 12, 2024  President William Ruto was poised to make history later this month by being the first African president to address the joint US Congress after a very long time.

However, his plans were cut short after Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Michael Johnson announced the cancellation of Ruto's scheduled address to the legislative house.

Ruto, who is set to embark on an official visit to the USA later this month, had been slated to address a joint session of the Congress where he would get a platform to state his ideals and Kenya's commitment to its ties with the US.

Johnson, a member of the Republican party, blamed the cancellation of Ruto's visit on what he termed as scheduling restraints.

"Unfortunately, due to scheduling restraints, we could not accommodate a request for remarks before a Joint Session," Johnson told the house.

The move irked a majority of ranking lawmakers who accused the Speaker of rebuking them.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Sunday, May 12, 2024 - Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang'ula has urged leaders from the Western region to set aside their political differences and unite.

Speaking during the funeral service of Mama Femina Khayisio, mother of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Renson Mulele Ingonga, in Makunga, Mumias East Constituency, Kakamega County on Saturday, Wetangula told leaders that it is high time they learn from President William Ruto and his political nemesis, Raila Odinga, who have put aside their political differences and resolved to work together.

"As I called for respect for leaders from the region, I urged our critics not to abuse the freedom of expression by abusing senior politicians from the area but to be true agents of unity and economic progress for our people.

"I asked them to borrow a leaf from President William Ruto, who, despite the sharp political differences with Azimio Leader Raila Odinga, has directed his arsenal in front of his bid for the African Union Commission Chairman's position.

"The political maturity exhibited by politicians from various party affiliations was a clear sign of leaders from Mulembe nation moving away from unhealthy political distinction where newcomers in politics turned funerals into forums to hurl insults at their seniors," Wetang'ula said in a statement on X.

Wetangula's statement confirms that Raila Odinga and Ruto are working together despite Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua fooling Mt Kenya residents(commonly known as Tugeges) that they cannot allow Raila Odinga to be near the Kenya Kwanza Alliance government.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Sunday, May 12, 2024 - Controversial lawyer and barrister Miguna Miguna has revealed the reason why the United States Congress refused to be addressed by President William Ruto during his visit to the White House late this month.

Ruto had written to Speaker Mike Johnson requesting to address the joint US Congress during his visit to the Uncle Sam

However, Johnson, a member of the Republican Party, cancelled Ruto's visit to Congress over what he termed as scheduling restraints.

"Unfortunately, due to scheduling restraints, we could not accommodate a request for remarks before a Joint Session," Johnson told the house.

Reacting to the cancellation, Miguna termed it an embarrassment and revealed that it was cancelled because Ruto was not competent and lacked the integrity to address such an honourable house.

"What an embarrassment! This is why I keep saying that its a tragedy that those appointed to higher echelons of power must be competent and have integrity. Then such rotten eggs would not be splashed on our faces by foreign governments, Miguna wrote on X ( formerly Twitter)

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Sunday, May 12, 2024 - Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists Dentists Union (KMDPU) officials met President Willia Ruto at State House, Nairobi yesterday.

The union leaders met the president days after they mysteriously ended the nationwide strike that had lasted for 56 days.

Ruto said the aim of the meeting was to address the challenges that informed the strike that paralyzed services in the public hospitals, thus frustrating the government's Universal Health Coverage plan.

"The government will continually engage stakeholders in the health sector, including health workers unions, to promote industrial harmony and long-lasting solutions to the challenges," said Ruto.

On their part, the KMPDU officials, led by secretary general Davji Atellah and his Deputy Dennis Miskellah, restated their commitment to championing and their support the UHC programme, and further backing the rolling out of social health insurance to all Kenyans.

Others in the meeting were Health of Public Service Felix Kosgei, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha, and Principal Secretary in the State Department of Public Health and Professional Standards Mary Muthoni.

This came days after KMPDU and the two tiers of the government- county and national - struck a deal to end their strike.

In a statement on Wednesday, May 8, the Ministry of Health said KMPDU officials have signed a return-to-work agreement with the government.

"After 56 days, KMPDU signs agreement, ending nationwide doctors' strike," the Ministry said in a statement.

The agreement between the doctors and the government came after the Employment and Labour Relations Court ordered the two sides to come up with a return-to-work formula within 48 hours.

The doctors downed their tools on March 14 paralyzing service provision in public health facilities across the country.

The health workers demanded the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) conceived in 2017 and the posting of medical interns to hospitals.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
The landscape of the modern doctors office has changed remarkably over the last decade, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence. The days of turning to Google for medical questions are becoming fewer and far between as large language models such as ChatGPT or Bing chatbot are helping to create personalized and comprehensive responses to routine medical questions. As a family physician, I ask myself how this tool might be helpful not only in the office but also to my patients after they leave our appointment. Previously when my patients would arrive at their visits with research from Google, much of the visit would consist of teasing out pearls of reliable information from the slurry of online misinformation. Patients would go home with handouts full of relevant but overly complex information, usually never to be looked at again. Recent studies suggest that artificial intelligence may be a key player in closing the gap between what patients take home and what their doctors think they know.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionary in the sense that, over time, it can create its own connections and form new narratives after constructing a foundation of knowledge from the web. But how accurate are these narratives? Given all of the misinformation present online, if medical questions were posed to a language model such as ChatGPT, could it give reliable information to our patients? Guidelines recommend that women have screening mammograms through age 74, but recommendations for women over 74 years of age are nuanced and vary among organizations. In one recent study, a team of six clinicians  experts in general internal medicine, family medicine, geriatric medicine, population health, cancer control, and radiology  evaluated how appropriate ChatGPTs responses were to questions regarding mammograms over age 74. The study found that 64 percent of the time, ChatGPT came up with an appropriate response. It also demonstrated that 18 percent of the time, the responses were inappropriate, with the remainder of the responses being unreliable or without a true consensus.

Regarding more straightforward medical questions, large language models seem to do much better. A study by a team of radiologists found that Bing chatbot could easily handle questions regarding imaging studies with 93 percent of responses being entirely correct while 7 percent were mostly correct. The reliability of the responses may depend on a few different factors: 1) avoid stacking questions when asking AI, 2) some AI platforms have been shown to fabricate information, while others cite the sources for which they drew the information, 3) areas of medicine without clear-cut answers may not produce reliable or appropriate responses from AI.

Another place where AI has been shown to thrive is in patient education. Large language models can make patient education materials more streamlined and easily understandable and sometimes have the ability to translate this information into different languages. Medical jargon can often overcomplicate patient instructions and lead to miscommunication between patients and their clinicians. With the ability of large language models to interpret and clarify patient education materials, barriers to communication can be lowered without prohibitive time and expense. As a primary care physician, I am always looking for different places to connect my patients to reliable medical information when they feel like taking a deeper dive either before or after our appointments. With some improvements in reliability, I think artificial intelligence could be the glue that connects my patients to more meaningful office visits addressing their health concerns together.

Olivia Hilal is a family medicine resident.
A bunch of symptoms, which may persist many months or even years after an acute COVID infection has cleared, have been described in the medical literature with increasing frequency since the onset of the pandemic. This constellation of findings has been dubbed long COVID. Long COVIDs effects on the brain, in particular, have certainly been in the news, and its also been popping up in the medical literature. So, whats the relationship between coronavirus (and the vaccine) and neurological long COVID?

Neurological long COVID

In their excellent 2024 paper, Spanish researchers reported on their experience with patients suffering neuropsychological symptoms and signs which persisted long after the acute COVID-19 infection had cleared. The scientist evaluated more than a hundred patients whod been diagnosed with coronavirus. Eighty of the volunteers continued to suffer from persistent problems and the other twenty had recovered completely.

The subjects underwent psychological and neurological examinations as well as MRI scans. About half of the patients diagnosed in the Spanish study with long COVID had significant memory problems. About a quarter of them had problems thinking, which included language issues (fluency of speech), attention disorder, and the ability to mentally process any kind of intellectual challenge at a normal speed (slow or labored cognition). In 2023, Croatian researchers elucidated the more common clinical aspects of neurological long COVID. Based on an analysis of more than 200 patients, the Croatian doctors determined that long COVID is more common in women than men. Affected patients often suffer from a constellation of symptoms, which might include headaches, problems thinking clearly, loss of smell, numbness, tiredness, dizziness, and insomnia.

Long COVID also altered brain anatomy in many affected patients. The Spanish researchers discovered that, compared to the twenty patients whod completely recovered from COVID, the eighty who suffered persistent neurological symptoms demonstrated MRI abnormalities. The white matter (the cables that connect different parts of the central nervous system) of those who suffered long COVID was disrupted over wide swathes of the brain. Whats more, MRI disclosed that the gray matter (the thinking part of the brain) of a significant cohort of neurological long COVID patients had wasted away in the left-sided posterior superior temporal gyrus (a part of the brain crucial for language comprehension).

Are vaccines protective against neurological long COVID?

The largest study (by far) that examined the relationship between vaccination and the development of long COVID was performed by a multinational group of scientists (American, Japanese, and British) in 2023. These researchers evaluated the medical records of more than 600,000 people. Unfortunately, their efforts werent focused on neurological long COVID (most of their long COVID patients reported only tiredness and shortness of breath), but I believe the conclusions may be extrapolated. The scientists discovered two important facts. Firstly, those who were vaccinated enjoyed a significantly lower chance of developing long COVID. Secondly, for those who were already suffering from long COVID, additional vaccinations (boosters) didnt cause symptom exacerbation.

Can vaccines cause neurological long COVID?

As of April 2023, a multinational team of Swiss and German scientists pointed out that, globally, thered already been 760 million cases of confirmed COVID-19 and more than 13 billion doses of vaccine administered. These researchers acknowledged the existence of a significant number of people whod been injected with an mRNA-based vaccine and later developed a syndrome similar to long COVID. The manuscripts authors cautioned the medical establishment against poo-pooing this adversely affected portion of the population by lumping them with those derogatorily referred to as anti-vaxxers.

In 2022, Saudi Arabian doctors described complications related to COVID-19 vaccines, specifically those that were likely to result in long-term neurological problems. Their report centered on three major classes of issues. Firstly, the scientists described post-vaccination cerebral venous thrombosis (blood clots in the vessels of the brain), which was often accompanied by a significant incidence of stroke. Secondly, the doctors were confronted with post-vaccination Guillain-Barre Syndrome (a potentially progressive paralysis of the legs, arms, and diaphragm (breathing muscles). Lastly, the researchers observed several patients who suffered from post-vaccination Miller-Fisher Syndrome (a disorder where the immune system attacks nerves that control the movement of the face and eyes).

A 2023 publication described the MRI findings in patients who suffered neurological complications after receiving COVID-19 vaccines. The doctors who cared for patients throughout Iran reviewed almost 90 scientific studies and reported numerous deleterious imaging sequelae of vaccinations. The most commonly observed brain injury was related to minor or major strokes. The researchers also observed (sometimes severely destructive) inflammation in widespread areas of the brain and spine.

You can plainly see that our understanding of neurological long COVID is evolving. We are learning more and more about the causes and symptoms of the dreaded syndrome. The jury is still out as to the degree of benefit or culpability of vaccines in relation to neurological long COVID.

Marc Arginteanu is a neurosurgeon and author of Azazels Public House.
A plan to deal definitively with the ash dieback issue has been announced. The 79.5 million financial support package for affected growers was approved by cabinet this week.

There are a number of elements to the financial support for farmers whose plantations are affected by ash dieback:

100% increase in the site clearance grant rate, from 1,000 to 2,000, under the new Forestry Programme compared to the previous reconstitution scheme;

Enhanced replanting grant rates under the new Forestry Programme, in accordance with the chosen forest type. For example, Forest Type FT12 (conifer) will attract 3,858 per hectare, while planting of Forest Type 1 (native trees) will attract 6,744 per hectare, and agroforestry 8,555 per hectare. These new grant rates represent an approximately 20% increase on those available under the previous programme;

Those applicants whose sites are still in premium will continue to receive the premium due for the remaining years. They will also receive a once-off top-up payment equivalent to the difference between the existing premium and the associated new Forest Type premium under the new Programme. For example, a farmer with seven years remaining premium who enters into the Reconstitution Scheme to plant FT1 (native forest), will be entitled to receive a lump sum payment of approximately 3,336 per hectare.

The new financial component of the Action Plan - a Climate Action Performance Payment (CAPP) is 5,000 per hectare for participants in reconstitution schemes. This payment will be made available to all ash forest owners who have, or will, fully engage with the Departments ash dieback schemes, to clear sites and carry out replanting.

The overall package being made available to ash plantation owners will amount to in excess of 230 million.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D, said: This Action Plan demonstrates the determination of my Department to deal definitively with the ash dieback issue, and to fully address the concerns of farmers and other landowners, as outlined in the Independent Review Groups report.

Minister of State with special responsibility for research and development, farm safety and new market development, Martin Heydon T.D, also welcomed the Cabinet approval. It is in all our interests that farmers are supported to deal with ash dieback through the clearance of affected plantations, not least from the viewpoint of farm safety, he said.

The Action Plan being announced today provides the necessary tools to achieve that objective, and I urge farmers to engage with my Departments Reconstitution Scheme at the earliest opportunity.

Mixed reaction

However, there has been a mixed reaction to the plan from farmers.

The IFA Farm Forestry Committee held a meeting to get the views of farmers from around the country to the proposed new Reconstitution Ash Dieback Scheme.

Lets be clear: this payment in no way compensates farmers for the financial loss incurred or the emotional toll the disease has taken on them and their families. But it is the first time within the scheme that a farmers financial loss is recognised, IFA Farm Forestry chair Jason Fleming said.

He said that many farmers were relying on the income from these forests for their pensions and this payment is only a drop in the ocean, while for others the payment will provide some financial relief.

The Ash Dieback Taskforce that is to be established must ensure there is flexibility within the scheme, as well as the approach taken by Government. All options need to be considered, including review of clearance costs, the removal of replanting obligation, natural regeneration etc. said Mr Fleming.




Delegates react to the voting results during the United Nations General Assembly vote on a draft resolution that would recognize the Palestinians as qualified to become a full UN member, in New York City, US May 10, 2024. [Photo/Agencies]



The United Nations General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new "rights and privileges" to Palestine and called on the UN Security Council to reconsider Palestine's 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. It is Israel's relentless military offensive in Gaza since Oct 7 that has prompted more UN members to join the pro-Palestine group. A UN General Assembly resolution on Oct 27 calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza was approved 120-14 with 45 abstentions.

Although the US can still veto Palestine's UN membership in the UN Security Council voting on the issue as it did on April 18, the result of the latest UN General Assembly vote reflects a wider support for full membership of Palestine in the UN, which means a greater pressure on Washington to act against the will of the world.

US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said on Friday that for the US to support Palestinian statehood, direct negotiations must guarantee Israel's security and future as a democratic Jewish state and that Palestinians can live in peace in a state of their own.

But by saying that the US side just pretends to be blind to the fact that it is the Israeli side that has been recklessly killing the Palestinian people on their land. And even if the Hamas Oct 7 attack is taken into account, what the Israel has done in the region since the World War II must also be borne in mind as well, which clearly shows the right and wrong regarding the Palestinian question.

The world can see clearly that the statehood of Israel has not only been fully guaranteed but also the country has prospered. In the process, it has continuously expanded its influences to the Palestinian side beyond the 1967 borders, and even invaded neighboring countries, including Syria and Lebanon.

Over the years, Israel, as the occupying power, has technically eroded the foundation of the two-state solution. The current conflict, which has lasted for more than seven months, is more likely to completely ruin the prospects of the two-state solution agreed by the international community.

So it is not the security or future of Israeli people that has become a question of grave concern, but that of the Palestinians, whose survival in Gaza has even become a question today thanks to Israel's aggression indulged and supported by Washington, not to mention the overdue statehood of their country.

That Israel intensified its attack on Rafah on Saturday, under the US' acquiescence, in response to the UN General Assembly the Palestine-related vote the previous day, presents a grave provocation to the common will of the international community, and also serves to put an end to its peace talks with Hamas in Cairo that has lasted for days, in which Hamas had made big concessions for a ceasefire.

Israel should stop its collective punishment of the Gaza people, stop advancing its military offensive in Rafah, and effectively remove all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza. In the West Bank, Israel should stop all settlement activities and effectively curb the intensifying settler violence.

Palestine should enjoy the same status as Israel, and the Palestinian people should enjoy the same rights as the Israeli people. It is the common responsibility of the international community, including the US, to support and promote the process of Palestinian independent statehood and provide a strong guarantee for the implementation of the two-state solution and the realization of lasting peace in the Middle East.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the US should put aside its own interests and work for world peace and humanity, undertaking its global responsibility. The UN Security Council is a platform to resolve issues and not create divisions or hijack the global peace agenda for one's own narrow ends by abusing its veto power.
Colaiste Abhainn Ri, Kilkenny has won a top prize at the Inaugural AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards: Celebrating Community Contribution and Excellence in Education.

The schools fifth year LCVP students organised a 5km run, raising 8,845 for Oscars Kids Club, supporting childhood cancer awareness. This unified the school post-amalgamation, aiding a fellow students family.

They learned event organisation, communication, and teamwork, improving community support and wellbeing. The group is planning an immersion project to Kenya to build a well and provide resources.

The inaugural AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards, celebrating schools that give back to the community, received 123 submissions from 103 schools across the country.

Schools across Ireland showcased their 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.

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 School Impact Awards recognise and reward schools contributions to the social, financial, and environmental success of their community.

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.

We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding contributions made by schools across Ireland through the AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards, said Ann Marie Freyne, Head of Retail Distribution AIB Mid East at AIB.

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.
 [ 7997 ]  2024-05-18 07:00:38 .

II. A PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC FORMULA

Let us begin with an examination of the Chinese mental make-up

which produced this philosophy of living: great realism, inadequate

idealism, a high sense of humor, and a high poetic sensitivity to life

and nature.

Mankind seems to be divided into idealists and realists, and

idealism and realism are the two great forces molding human

progress. The clay of humanity is made soft and pliable by the water

of idealism, but the stuff that holds it together is after all the clay

itself, or we might all evaporate into Ariels. The forces of idealism

and realism tug at each other in all human activities, personal, social

and national, and real progress is made possible by the proper

mixture of these two ingredients, so that the clay is kept in the ideal

pliable, plastic condition, half moist and half dry, not hardened and

unmanageable, nor dissolving into mud. The soundest nations, like

the English, have realism and idealism mixed in proper proportions,

like the clay which neither hardens and so gets past the stage for the

artists molding, nor is so wishy-washy that it cannot retain its form.

Some countries are thrown into perpetual revolutions because into

their clay has been injected some liquid of foreign ideals which is not

yet properly assimilated, and the clay is therefore not able to keep its

shape.

A vague, uncritical idealism always lends itself to ridicule and too

much of it might be a danger to mankind, leading it round in a futile

wild-goose chase for imaginary ideals. If there were too many of

these visionary idealists in any society or people, revolutions would

be the order of the day. Human society would be like an idealistic

couple forever getting tired of one place and changing their

residence regularly once every three months, for the simple reason

that no one place is ideal and the place where one is not seems

always better because one is not there. Very fortunately, man is also

gifted with a sense of humor, whose function, as I conceive it, is to

exercise criticism of mans dreams, and bring them in touch with the

world of reality. It is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps

equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams, That is a

great gift, and the Chinese have plenty of it.

The sense of humor, which I shall discuss at more length in a later

chapter, seems to be very closely related to the sense of reality, or

realism. If the joker is often cruel in disillusioning the idealist, he

nevertheless performs a very important function right there by not

letting the idealist bump his head against the stone wall of reality and

receive a ruder shock. He also gently eases the tension of the hotheaded

enthusiast and makes him live longer. By preparing him for

disillusion, there is probably less pain in the final impact, for a

humorist is always like a man charged with the duty of breaking a

sad news gently to a dying patient. Sometimes the gentle warning

from a humorist saves the dying patients life. If idealism and

disillusion must necessarily go together in this world, we must say

that life is cruel, rather than the joker who reminds us of lifes cruelty.

I have often thought of formulas by which the mechanism of

human progress and historical change can be expressed. They

seem to be as follows:

RealityDreams = Animal Being

Reality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usually called Idealism)

Reality + Humor = Realism (also called Conservatism)

DreamsHumor = Fanaticism

Dreams + Humor = Fantasy

Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom

So then, wisdom, or the highest type of thinking, consists in toning

down our dreams or idealism with a good sense of humor, supported

by reality itself.

As pure ventures in pseudo-scientific formulations, we may

proceed to analyze national characters in the following manner. I say

pseudo-scientific because I distrust all dead and mechanical

formulas for expressing anything connected with human affairs or

human personalities. Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows

in itself a lack of the sense of humor and therefore a lack of wisdom I

do not mean that these things are not being done: they are.

That is why we get so much pseudo-science today. When a

psychologist can measure a mans I.Q. or P.Q.,1 it is a pretty poor

world, and specialists have risen to usurp humanized scholarship.

But if we recognize that these formulas are no more than handy,

graphic ways of expressing certain opinions, and so long as we dont

drag in the sacred name of science to help advertise our goods, no

harm is done. The following are my formulas for the characters of

certain nations, entirely personal and completely incapable of proof

or verification. Anyone is free to dispute them and change them or

add his own, if he does not claim that he can prove his private

opinions by a mass of statistical facts and figures. Let R stand for a

sense of reality (or realism), D for dreams (or idealism), H for a

sense of humor, andadding one important ingredientS for

sensitivity.2 And further let 4 stand for abnormally high, 3 stand

for high, 2 for fair, and I for low, and we have the following

pseudo-chemical formulas for the following national characters.

Human beings and communities behave then differently according to

their different compositions, as sulphates and sulphides or carbon

monoxide and carbon dioxide behave differently from one another.

For me, the interesting thing always is to watch how human

communities or nations behave differently under identical conditions.

As we cannot invent words like humoride and humorate after the

fashion of chemistry, we may put it thus: 3 grains of Realism, 2

grains of Dreams, 2 grains of Humor and I grain of Sensitivity make

an Englishman.3

R3D2H2S1 = The English

R2D3H3S3 = The French

R3D3H2S2 = The Americans

R3D4H1S2 = The Germans

R2D4H1S1 = The Russians

R2D3H1S1 = The Japanese

R4D1H3S3 = The Chinese

I do not know the Italians, the Spanish, the Hindus and others well

enough even to essay a formula on the subject, realizing that the

above are shaky enough as they are, and in any case are enough to

bring down a storm of criticism upon my head. Probably these

formulas are more provocative than authoritative. I promise to modify

them gradually for my own use as new facts are brought to my

knowledge, or new impressions are formed. That is all they are worth

todaya record of the progress of my knowledge and the gaps of

my ignorance.

Some observations may be necessary. It is easy to see that I

regard the Chinese as most closely allied to the French in their

sense of humor and sensitivity, as is quite evident from the way the

French write their books and eat their food, while the more volatile

character of the French comes from their greater idealism, which

takes the form of love of abstract ideas (recall the manifestoes of

their literary, artistic and political movements). R4 for Chinese

realism makes the Chinese the most realistic people; D1 accounts

for something of a drag in the changes in their pattern or ideal of life.

The high figures for Chinese humor and sensitivity, as well as for

their realism, are perhaps due to my too close association and the

vividness of my impressions. For Chinese sensitivity, little justification

is needed; the whole story of Chinese prose, poetry and painting

proclaims it. . . . The Japanese and Germans are very much alike in

their comparative lack of humor (such is the general impression of

people), yet it is really impossible to give a zero for any one

characteristic in any one nation, not even for idealism in the Chinese

people. It is all a question of degree; such statements as a complete

lack of this or that quality are not based on an intimate knowledge of

the peoples. For this reason, I give the Japanese and the Germans

H1, instead of H0, and I intuitively feel that I am right. But I do

believe that the Japanese and the Germans suffer politically at

present, and have suffered in the past, fox lacking a better sense of

humor. How a Prussian Geheimrat loves to be called a Geheimrat,

and how he loves his buttons and metal pins! A certain belief in

logical necessity (often holy or sacred), a tendency to fly too

straight at a goal instead of circling around it, often carries one too

far It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in

which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.

By D3 for the Japanese I am referring to their fanatic loyalty to their

emperor and to the state, made possible by a low mixture of humor.

For idealism must stand for different things in different countries, as

the so-called sense of humor really comprises a very wide variety of

things. . . . There is an interesting tug between idealism and realism

in America, both given high figures, and that produces the energy

characteristic of the Americans. What American idealism is, I had

better leave it to the Americans to find out; but they are always

enthusiastic about something or other. A great deal of this idealism is

noble, in the sense that the Americans are easily appealed to by

noble ideals or noble words; but some of it is mere gullibility. The

American sense of humor again means a different thing from the

Continental sense of humor, but really I think that, such as it is (the

love of fun and an innate, broad common sense), it is the greatest

asset of the American nation. In the coming years of critical change,

they will have great need of that broad common sense referred to by

James Bryce, which I hope will tide them over these critical times. I

give American sensitivity a low figure because of my impression that

they can stand so many things. There is no use quarreling about

this, because we will be quarreling about words. . . . The English

scan to be on the whole the soundest race: contrast their R3D2 with

the French R2D3. I am all for R3D2. It bespeaks stability. The ideal

formula for me would seem to be R3D2H3S2, for too much idealism

or too much sensitivity is not a good thing, either. And if I give S1

for English sensitivity, and if that is too low, who is to blame for it

except the English themselves? How can I tell whether the English

ever feel anythingjoy, happiness, anger, satisfactionwhen they

are determined to look so glum on all occasions?

We might apply the same formula to writers and poets. To take a

few well-known types:

Shakespeare4 = R4D4H3S4

Heine = R3D3H4S3

Shelley = R1D4H1S4

Poe = R3D4H1S4

Li Po = R1D3H2S4

Tu Fu = R3D3H2S4

Su Tungpo = R3D2H4S3

These are no more than a few impromptu suggestions. But it is clear

that all poets have a high sensitivity, or they wouldnt be poets at all:

Poe, I feel, is a very sound genius, in spite of his weird, imaginative

gift. Doesnt he love ratiocination?

So my formula for the Chinese national mind is:

R4D1H3S3

There we start with an S3, standing for high sensitivity, which

guarantees a proper artistic approach to life and answers for the

Chinese affirmation that this earthly life is beautiful and the

consequent intense love of this life. But it signifies more than that;

actually it stands for the artistic approach even to philosophy. It

accounts for the fact that the Chinese philosophers view of life is

essentially the poets view of life, and that, in China, philosophy is

married to poetry rather than to science as it is in the West. It will

become amply clear from what follows that this high sensitivity to the

pleasures and pains and flux and change of the colors of life is the

very basis that makes a light philosophy possible. Mans sense of

the tragedy of life comes from his sensitive perception of the tragedy

of a departing spring, and a delicate tenderness toward life comes

from a tenderness toward the withered blossoms that bloomed

yesterday. First the sadness and sense of defeat, then the

awakening and the laughter of the old rogue-philosopher.

On the other hand, we have R4 standing for intense realism,

which means an attitude of accepting life as it is and of regarding a

bird in the hand as better than two in the bush. This realism,

therefore, both reinforces and supplements the artists affirmation

that this life is transiently beautiful, and it all but saves the artist and

poet from escaping from life altogether. The Dreamer says Life is

but a dream, and the Realist replies, Quite correct. And let us live

this dream as beautifully as we can. But the realism of one

awakened is the poets realism and not that of the business man,

and the laughter of the old rogue is no longer the laughter of the

young go-getter singing his-way to success with his head up and his

chin out, but that of an old man running his finger through his flowing

beard, and speaking in a soothingly low voice. Such a dreamer loves

peace, for no one can fight hard for a dream- He will be more intent

to live reasonably and well with his fellow dreamers. Thus is the high

tension of life lowered.

But the chief function of this sense of realism is the elimination of

all non-essentials in the philosophy of life, holding life down by the

neck, as it were, for fear that the wings of imagination may carry it

away to an imaginary and possibly beautiful, but unreal, world. And

after all, the wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials,

in reducing the problems of philosophy to just a fewthe

enjoyment of the home (the relationship between man and woman

and child), of living, of Nature and of cultureand in showing all the

other irrelevant scientific disciplines and futile chases after

knowledge to the door. The problems of life for the Chinese

philosopher then become amazingly few and simple. It means also

an impatience with metaphysics and with the pursuit of knowledge

that does not lead to any practical bearing on life itself. And it also

means that every human activity, whether the acquiring of

knowledge or the acquiring of things, has to be submitted

immediately to the test of life itself and of its subserviency to the end

of living. Again, and here is a significant result, the end of living is not

some metaphysical entitybut just living itself.

Gifted with this realism, and with a profound distrust of logic and

of the intellect itself, philosophy for the Chinese becomes a matter of

direct and intimate feeling of life itself, and refuses to be encased in

any system. For there is a robust sense of reality, a sheer animal

sense, a spirit of reasonableness which crushes reason itself and

makes the rise of any hard and fast philosophic system impossible.

There are the three religions of China, Confucianism, Taoism and

Buddhism, all magnificent systems in themselves, and yet robust

common sense dilutes them all and reduces them all into the

common problem of the pursuit of a happy human life. The mature

Chinese is always a person who refuses to think too hard or to

believe in any single idea or faith or school of philosophy wholeheartedly.

When a friend of Confucius told him that he always

thought three times before he acted, Confucius wittily replied, To

think twice is quite enough. A follower of a school of philosophy is

but a student of philosophy, but a man is a student, or perhaps a

master, of life.

The final product of this culture and philosophy is this: in China, as

compared with the West, man lives a life closer to nature and closer

to childhood, a life in which the instincts and the emotions are given

free play and emphasized against the life of the intellect, with a

strange combination of devotion to the flesh and arrogance of the

spirit, of profound wisdom and foolish gaiety, of high sophistication

and childish naivete. I would say, therefore, that this philosophy is

characterized by: first, a gift for seeing life whole in art; secondly, a

conscious return to simplicity in philosophy; and thirdly, an ideal of

reasonableness in living. The end product is, strange to say, a

worship of the poet, the peasant and the vagabond.
By Gwynne Dyer

Just like this year, last year the heat wave extended from parts of India to Bangladesh and Myanmar, and all the way to Thailand. This year it went further east, into the Philippines. So, it's the same pattern, said professor Krishna AchutaRao of the Indian Institute of Technology. I do not particularly buy into this idea that El Nino is the cause.

That is the burning question, not just for South and Southeast Asia but for the entire world. A heat wave is a random phenomenon that comes and goes in certain seasons for a period of some days. A climate feedback is forever.

April to June, before the monsoon arrives, is always the hottest part of the year in South Asia, but now its breaking all bounds.

On May 6, the Indian Meteorological Department reported: Yesterday, maximum temperatures were 44-45 degrees Celsius over Telangana, interior Karnataka, and north Madhya Pradesh; in the range of 42-44 degrees in southeast Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Crazy hot all over the place, in other words.

The actual numbers are lower in regions farther from the equator, but the average global temperature for each of the past 11 months has been the hottest the world has ever experienced in that month.

So obviously something big is happening, but what? Is it just a big El Nino, a heating of the surface waters of the eastern Pacific that happens every three to seven years? That would be nice, because it would mean its cyclical and will go away again in due course.

Or is it confirmation of climate scientist Jim Hansens claim that the average global temperature is going to jump half a degree C. He says that new rules on pollution are cutting back hard on the sulfur dioxide emissions that used to reflect a lot of incoming sunlight back into space and therefore cool the planet.

Or have we triggered a big feedback in some natural system that we were not aware of? Theres about a dozen potential tipping points that we do know about  the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, the melting of the permafrost, a switch from rainforest to savannah in the Amazon, etc.  but there may be a few that we dont know about yet.

So which is it? Its very unlikely to be El Nino, because this one was not particularly strong. Besides, it peaked in December and has been fading away ever since, while global temperatures go on breaking records.

Jim Hansens proposed explanation is a contender, because the "brown clouds" that used to hang over big Chinese cities and the ship track clouds from the exhaust gases of 60,000 giant tankers and container ships did reflect enough sunlight to have a significant cooling effect. Cleaning up those emissions was bound to drive up the temperature.

Alas, the dates dont match very well. The emissions from Chinese factories and ocean-going ships were reduced over a period of about 15 years, whereas the non-linear jump in average global temperature began just a year ago. Moreover, some scientists doubt that the amount of cooling that was lost is big enough to explain the scale of the heating.

I say "alas," because this leaves us with the least desirable explanation: the sudden activation of an unknown feedback. And remember how this stuff works. The heating that human beings have already caused carries us across a "tipping point" we cannot see, and that unleashes a feedback: warming from non-human sources that we cannot turn off.

The likeliest candidate for a new mystery feedback is the worlds oceans. Since we began burning fossil fuels in a big way two centuries ago, they have absorbed around a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans emitted. More importantly, they have soaked up around 90 percent of the excess heat.

Now they may be giving some of it back. In the past 13 months the average sea surface temperature worldwide has soared. According to the European Unions Copernicus Climate Service, it is now at an all-time global high of 21.09 degrees.

There was not enough data about the behavior of the deep ocean currents to put the ocean heat sink on most climate scientists list of potential feedbacks. However, many always feared there would be a limit how much heat the oceans could contain over the long run.

We may be about to find out where the limit is, and it could be the Mother of All Feedbacks. Or maybe it will turn out to be a false alarm this time. The fact that we dont even know which yet illustrates the depth of our ignorance, and the scale of our peril.

Gwynne Dyers new book is "Intervention Earth: Life-Saving Ideas from the Worlds Climate Engineers."
Korea said Sunday it has opened the K-Startup Center (KSC) Tokyo to help Korean firms advance to Japan and seek stable growth through partnerships with local firms.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said it had opened the startup center in Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) Tokyo, Japan's largest innovation community, on Friday.

It said 13 Korean startups have announced their business models and business plans in a pitch event.

The KSC Tokyo will provide Korean startups with office space, help them attract local investments and get involved in networking activities with local companies, the ministry said.

The KSC Tokyo is the fifth overseas startup center set up by the Korean government following those in the United States, France, Singapore and Vietnam. (Yonhap)
Times Staff Writer

In his recently released book, Celibacy in Crisis: A Secret World Revisited, former priest Richard Sipe likens the Catholic Churchs teaching on sexuality to its former belief that the Earth was the center of the universe.

It took two centuries after the discoveries of Galileo for the Catholic hierarchy to quietly concede that the Earth orbited the sun. And it wasnt until 1992 that a pontiff, John Paul II, issued an apology for the churchs treatment of the 17th century astronomer, who was forced to recant his beliefs and was placed under house arrest until his death.

Sipe, a psychotherapist, believes scientific advances in the field of sexuality have similarly left the church lagging. According to Sipes research, about 50% of its clerics are sexually active despite the requirement of celibacy.

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The church is using Scripture as a basis for explaining the science of human sexuality, Sipe writes in Celibacy in Crisis, published by Brunner-Routledge. That is no more valid than using the Bible to explain cosmology.

He argues that the national Catholic sex scandal and coverup are only symptoms of a great illness within the church. He equates recent church reforms to protect minors from sexual abuse with giving aspirin to a patient with a brain tumor.

It is a symptom of the crisis to come, said Sipe in a telephone interview from his La Jolla home, where he lives with his wife of 33 years. People want a quick fix, but theres no quick fix to this.

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Sipes theories have drawn ridicule and scorn from many church leaders and conservatives. They contend that his statistics are flawed and that church views on sexuality reflect principles based on sacred Scripture. They therefore are unchanging and immune to the fads of the day.

In Celibacy in Crisis, Sipe uses the recent revelations about the sexual abuse of minors by clerics to reinforce his contention that the priesthood contains a secret world where psycho-sexually immature clergy ignore celibacy vows, sexual issues are pushed underground and molestation can thrive.

The church lacks a credible theology of sexuality, Sipe writes. The minister is left foundering to make sense of his life and his ministry....It is because church teaching is not convincing or real that no seminary yet effectively succeeded in teaching celibacy or sexuality.

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Those teachings include contentions that sexual acts outside marriage, including masturbation, are mortal sins that condemn the sinner to hell unless they are properly confessed and absolved by a priest.

Until recently, the 71-year-old who spent 18 years as a monk in a Benedictine monastery was considered an alarmist for his disputed studies on sexuality within the priesthood.

Sipe left the priesthood in 1970, married a former nun and fathered a son. He spent the next 30 years as a psychotherapist, specializing in counseling clergy.

In 1990, he produced one of the first reports on the sexual practices of Catholic priests, which church leaders called unscientific. Sipe gleaned information from 1,500 interviews and case studies. According to Sipes statistics, half of the members of the priesthood at any one time are engaged in sexual relationships. And 80% to 90% of clerics are engaged in masturbation. He says he now has information on nearly 3,000 priests, and the ratios havent changed.

According to his research, 6% of the clergys members were engaged in sexual abuse of minors, a percentage that has gained credibility with the unfolding of the sex scandal over the last two years. Recently released figures on the number of molesting priests show that Sipes estimate was low for some dioceses.

The crisis only confirmed all that I experienced and saw in postcard size, said Sipe, who, by his own count, has been an expert witness in more than 150 cases against the church, including ones in Boston and Los Angeles. Now it is being played out in the size of War and Peace. 

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Since the churchs sex scandal first erupted in Boston in 2002, Sipe has been celebrated by victims, plaintiff attorneys and liberal Catholics as a kind of Nostradamus for his predictions of such troubles.

In Celibacy in Crisis, he doesnt take a stand on whether mandatory celibacy is an ideal worth keeping. He argues only that it hasnt worked for nearly 1,000 years, since the church first instituted the policy.

Bishop Joseph Galante of Dallas, a conservative among U.S. prelates, said that celibacy remains an important value, an earthly reminder to all that life is fleeting and our love for God should be first.

Celibacy is also a call to love as Jesus loved, said Galante, who believes that most priests live a chaste life. The gift of celibacy is something that can empower us.

William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League, a watchdog group, calls Sipe and others like him alienated malcontents who want to chip away at church doctrine to eventually allow married men and women into the priesthood.

Donohue, a layman, said the church would be better off with a smaller priesthood if it could weed out those who lost their vocation or are unable to abide by a vow that they voluntarily undertook.

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Sipe and others, he said, want Catholic sexual ethics to mirror that of the Playboy philosophy....I want them to leave my church alone.

Donohue said candidates for the priesthood want high standards, pointing to the robust enrollment at conservative U.S. seminaries as some liberal counterparts struggle for students.

Richard P. McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame who wrote the forward to Sipes book, said Celibacy in Crisis probably wont have much effect on the church for years. The churchs current doctrine will remain in place until a new pontificate promotes a full and honest discussion of the issue, McBrien said. When and if that happens, Richard Sipes book will be seen as the great resource that it is.
A gentle breeze met my sweaty shirt as I traipsed around the northern reaches of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on Thursday, chasing waterfalls.

Yes, the 30-year-old hit about the perils of urban life by TLC  Waterfalls  was playing on a loop in my head as I kept one eye on the trail map on my phone and another on the lookout for snakes on the ground, bears to the side and rocks that could trip me up.

(I didnt see any snakes or bears, for the record, but Im sure theyre there. And eventually I found the waterfall.)

It was Day 2 of eastern Pennsylvania exploration for this look at the very rewarding, but potentially treacherous, past-time of waterfall hikes. My scant raw notes carry reminders to make sure readers take these outings seriously, and can you tell Ive been seeing a lot of ticks this spring?

Day 1: Bug spray, slippery, snakes, poison ivy, ticks.

Day 2: Bears, ticks, sturdy footwear ... lot of hills but that is how waterfalls work ... dont underestimate distances or overestimate orienteering ability ... bring food and water, map and compass, maybe phone charger if looking to rely on that, but note that reception can drop.

Concerns aside, hitting a trail and getting those legs and lungs pumping to catch a glimpse of a never-ending stream of water gushing over a gorge and into a pool below is invigorating. Calming. Restorative.

For this article, we chose five waterfalls with which Ive become familiar that are all within an hour or so drive for most Lehigh Valley residents  the Delaware Water Gap national parkland ones were 90 minutes from Bethlehem, mostly easy highway miles with some 35 and 45 mph scenic stretches along the Delaware River.

Note: There are lots more waterfalls to be explored, especially in the Pocono Mountains area, so please @ me with your recommendations. (For example, youre currently reading this articles only references to Ricketts Glen State Park, home to 22 named falls, and the privately owned Niagara of Pennsylvania Bushkill Falls.) There are also waterfalls accessible to people with disabilities or those who may be pushing a stroller. Not all are dog-friendly, but most are, provided your companion is leashed and looked after. Hikers are advised to adhere to local regulations at each of these stops.

Listed roughly from requiring the least to most physical exertion, our journey begins to the south:

Bucks County Ringing Rocks Park

Ringing Rocks in Bucks Countys Bridgeton Township is a popular destination, known mostly for its namesake boulder field that consists of primordial igneous diabase boulders that resonate when struck by a hammer, according to a description at visitpa.com. The map in the parking lot off Ringing Rocks Road shows a well-established Loop Trail around the rocks, with an offshoot Creek Trail leading to the Delaware River tributary High Falls Creek that bears an unexpectedly impressive waterfall. This was a Day 1 visit for me last week, on Wednesday, and it was nearly deserted toward dusk, with only a few other hikers out in the unseasonably humid evening.

The waterfall at Ringing Rocks Park is seen Wednesday, May 8, 2024.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Hikers here can wander from rock to rock along the creek, with the Loop Trail dipping down toward the waterfall area for an easy walk back to the car. Note that the creek rocks are very slippery, and some are big enough that it can require using your hands to ease yourself down.

Just 10 miles or so to the southwest, Lake Nockamixon State Park boasts a small waterfall connected to a bygone mills dam. Its accessible from a paved path about a mile from parking areas.

Wild Creek at Beltzville Lake State Park

Altogether, the connecting Wild Creek, Christman and Cove Ridge trails can offer a full day of hiking soft-underfoot, clearly marked trails on the eastern reaches of Beltzville Lake State Park, off Pohopoco Drive in Towamensing Township, Carbon County. The Falls Trail just downhill from the Wild Creek Trailhead runs along a series of small but scenic waterfalls.

Some of the falls at Beltzville State Parks Wild Creek outside Lehighton make for a snowy, icy scene in March 2017.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

This waterfall hike comes with a big but: Wild Creek and Christman trails will once again be closed for 2024 on weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Park Manager Benjamin M. Monk confirmed to lehighvalleylive.com. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources also has been known to block off Penn Forest Road South off Pohopoco, which can be used to access Cove Ridge.

The closure is related to crowding and impact on the resource in that area, Monk said last week by email. Two years ago the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps did a lot of trail work as well as replanting of native species at Wild Creek.

There was pretty serious soil compaction around the trees near the falls and erosion issues along Wild Creek. The closures are an effort to allow the plant species to take hold and make the Wild Creek area more sustainable in the future.

Slateford Creek falls

Located along the extreme southern reaches of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Northampton Countys Upper Mount Bethel Township, the falls on Slateford Creek almost bear an advisory of you cant get there from here.

But you can, officials assure us.

The upper reaches of Slateford Falls in Upper Mount Bethel Township is seen in March 2021.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

First of all, this spot is just west of Route 611, which is closed in that area due to a rockslide. The road into the Slateford Creek area from 611  National Park Drive  is ALSO closed, due to a landslide.

Slate Belt residents, however, and those handy with a GPS can make their way in via Totts Gap Road or Million Dollar Highway to Laurel Hill Road. A deteriorated bridge that once closed National Park Drive west of the falls has been repaired by Upper Mount Bethel, Township Secretary Cindy Beck confirmed Friday. A township newsletter from 2022 explains that the bridge had to be replaced after the old earthen one collapsed in 2020.

The National Park Services official recommendation for recreation in the area of Slateford Creek is a network of the Slateford and Arrow Island trails north of National Park Drive from the creek itself. Kathleen Sandt, the public affairs specialist for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, said visitors can follow trails down to the stream to glimpse the falls.

In my experience there, the paths downhill from a parking area along National Park Drive are well-established, and hikers can follow the creek and falls to trails that tie back in to National Park Drive and a paved-road walk back to the car.

The site is also home to the Slateford farmhouse, whose grounds are open to the public and is a remnant from the regions early 19th-century slate processing, Sandt said.

Glen Onoko

OK, now were really into the you-gotta-want-it portion of this article. The waterfalls at Glen Onoko in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, outside Jim Thorpe can be breathtaking, but unfortunately theyve claimed their share of lives over the years, as well. Many more have been injured, necessitating manpower-intensive rescues on the part of local volunteer fire and ambulance companies.

As a result, the Glen Onoko falls trail within State Game Lanes 141 is closed to the public, and has been since April 2019. But dont give up on it yet: Other hiking trails in the area remain open, including the Overlook and Shortcut Trails that connect to form a 1.6-mile loop offering a panoramic view of Jim Thorpe. The Upper Falls can be accessed via Overlook Trail, the Pennsylvania Game Commission says.

A panoramic view from atop the still-open loop trail at Glen Onoko is seen pre-closure in May 2018 outside Jim Thorpe.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Thats the pretty good news. The bad news is there are no plans to reopen the falls trail, said Lt. Aaron C. Morrow, a state game warden. Badly deteriorated, the trail must remain closed to protect human life, he told lehighvalleylive.com.

Bypassing the closure barriers risks a fifth-degree summary charge or, of course, worse. The charge itself is punishable by a fine of $100-200 plus costs.

One of the falls at Glen Onoko is seen pre-closure in May 2018 outside Jim Thorpe.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

For the especially adventurous, Glen Onoko along Lehigh Gorge State Park is accessible by bicycle from parts north and south on the D&L Trail. A year ago, I spent an afternoon accessing the open trails overlook after riding my recently tuned-up 1994 Cannondale Delta V600 mountain bike up and back from Bowmanstown. There are more waterfalls within the gorge park to the north, with Buttermilk Falls and Lukes Falls both about 13 miles north of Glen Onoko, and within a short walk from the parks Rockport Access Area.

Raymondskill Falls and Hackers Falls

Day 2 of this past weeks waterfall hikes took me to the northern tip of the almost incomprehensibly massive and beautiful Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. One parking area accesses both Raymondskill Falls that are Pennsylvania tallest waterfall, as well as nearby Hackers Falls in Dingman Township, Pike County, just south of Milford, Pennsylvania.

Weve got some really great waterfalls, said Sandt, from the National Park Service. Across the Delaware River in New Jersey, the parks own Buttermilk Falls are the tallest in New Jersey; found off the Appalachian Trail, these are difficult to access by vehicle from the south due to a washed-out bridge, she said. Back on the Pennsylvania side, Childs Park offers three waterfalls but, alas, has been closed since 2018 due to winter storm damage. Sandt said Childs Park is on pace to reopen to the public later this summer.

Raymondskill Falls in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area are seen Thursday, May 9, 2024.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Raymondskill Falls, of course, are not to be missed. The views are incredible, with wooden viewing platforms set up at the top and middle to see all that water cascade. But at a third of a mile or so, the hike along the boardwalks and stone steps is more of an appetizer to the more challenging Hackers Falls across Raymondskill Road from the parking lot. (Note that pets are not permitted at Raymondskill Falls but are allowed at Hackers.)

For those with disabilities or strollers, the parks easy 0.3-mile Dingmans Creek Trail offers stunning views, Im told, of both Dingman Falls and Silverthread Falls. I didnt get to these yet, my Day 2 wanderings occupied largely by the drive and tracking then backtracking then finally finding Hackers Falls.

Hackers Falls in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area are seen Thursday, May 9, 2024.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

This is not to say the Hackers Falls hike was anything but awesome: The falls themselves offered a place to pause and refresh amid the roar of the water that draws you in the closer you get; Tristate Overlook from the Cliff Trail that connects to the Hackers Trail offered a dizzying view of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

But this is the hike where Id wished Id had a compass, my nonstop cellphone viewing draining my battery by the time Id reached my car. All the backtracking is due to a number of smaller trails that intersect with the trails on the map, and which confused me. But the Hackers Falls area wasnt all that huge, so I was able to keep going and figure it out. (As with all the hikes discussed here, maybe scope this one out ahead of time before bringing along younger or less enthusiastic hikers.) Also I wished Id brought the Clif bar and Vitamin Water nestled uselessly in my car. The iPhone Fitness app gave me credit for reaching 300% of my daily caloric-burn goal, with about 6 miles traveled and 88 flights climbed between the Raymondskill and Hackers hikes.

Why so many waterfalls?

Why are we blessed with so many waterfalls just the duration of a podcast episode or favorite album away from home?

Northeastern Pennsylvania is traversed by two principal physiographic provinces: the Appalachian Plateau and the Appalachian Valley and Ridge, authors Carl S. Oplinger and Robert Halma tell us in The Poconos: An Illustrated Natural History (1994 printing). The eastern glaciate section of the Appalachian Plateau Province extends across the northern part of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Glaciers covered this area as recently as 15,000 years ago, profoundly influencing present Pocono patterns. The Pocono Plateau is a slightly uneven tableland ranging from 1,900 to 2,200 feet above sea level, underlain by nearly flat-lying sandstone and shale.

East of the plateau, softer rocks have been eroded into a series of hilltops of lower elevations, 1,000 to 1,200 feet, separated by lakes and wetlands. On the eastern margin, the shallow, free-flowing streams as they tumble towards the Delaware River form the famous waterfalls that first attracted most visitors to the Poconos.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@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.

Allentown Central Catholic High School students celebrated their prom at DeSales University Center on Saturday. Freelance photographer Chris Shipley 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.
Panasonic Electric Works Middle East & Africa (PEWMEA), a division of Panasonic Marketing Middle East and Africa (PMMAF), has announced a strategic partnership with Safe Line Electrical & Mechanical for promoting Panasonic Wiring Devices in UAE.

Driven by increasing demand from the booming local construction market, the development will enhance Panasonics position as a leading provider of technologically-advanced and innovative wiring devices and accessories in the country as well as across the MEA region.

A leading supplier of electrical products and solutions, Safe Line Electrical and Mechanical has transformed into a multi-million-dollar corporate group with branches in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and India.

The company is part of the Safe Line Group, which ranks as one of the most prominent conglomerates in the UAE with interests in trading, manufacturing, contracting and retail in the electrical products and services domain.

Focused on elevating the quality of living environments, PEWMEA offers living solutions, electrical construction materials and a wide array of products such as wiring devices, LED Lamps and Fixtures, Fire Alarm System, KNX Home Automation, Solar Systems, Switchgears, Conduit Pipes, Air Purifiers, Ventilation Fans, air-moving solutions and much more.

The Japanese manufacturer consistently puts strong emphasis on research and development and with an expansive product portfolio, Panasonic is confident that expanding its network of top-tier partners will create more value for its customers. Moreover, this will further push its mission to cater to a growing demand for future-ready building solutions.

PEWMEA Managing Director Eiji Ito said: "We have always recognized the importance of industry collaborations as a key driver for growth. Panasonics business alliances with leading distributors and retailers provide customers greater access to our solutions, as well as any key product information they might require."

"These partnerships also represent an integral part of Panasonics business strategy, especially for a very dynamic market such as the MEA region. With the appointment of Safe Line Electrical and Mechanical, Panasonic is now in a greater position to accelerate our Electrical Construction Material business in the UAE, with a focus on developing the many opportunities the country presents," he added.

Dr Aboobackar Kuttikol, Managing Director of the Safe Line Group, said: "Partnering with Panasonic is another milestone on our regional roadmap. This alliance supports Safe Lines strategic focus to provide cutting-edge solutions that cater to our customers requirements."

"This is a highly synergistic partnership, especially with the UAE construction industry poised for substantial growth in the coming years. With our expertise and reach in the market, I look forward to leveraging the rich technological innovations of Panasonic to provide best-in-class electrical wiring devices to customers as we aim for greater growth,"he added.

On the evolving demands of the construction market, Sudesh Unni, Sales Director  PEWMEA, said the UAE construction sector was shifting towards intelligent designs and embracing green building technologies.

"This trend calls for innovative solutions to meet the changing industry, and Panasonic is well-positioned to deliver enriched lifestyle with safe, sustainable and reassuring electrical and lighting solutions. Panasonics range of Japanese quality wiring devices offers product superiority and reliability that truly outperform the competition," he noted.

"I look forward to building lasting relationships with Safe Line Electrical and Mechanical as we work to address the needs of customers across the UAE. Their professionality, technological competence and their customer-centric attitude deeply comply with Panasonics values," he added.

Shailendra Kumar, General Manager - Safe Line Group, also welcomed the partnership.

"We strongly believe that this partnership will strengthen our presence in the UAE, enabling our discerning customers to access Panasonics innovative products with ease. Panasonic is highly valued for innovations that offer unmatched superiority and reliability," he noted.

"Safe Lines commitment to quality and innovation perfectly matches Panasonics ideals, and we are delighted to be a part of their success," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Two years ago, I attended a public meeting of the Billings School Board to witness the debate over whether a student with special needs should be able to graduate with her class. The student, Emily Pennington, was older than her classmates. She had been held back by her parents for health reasons and according to district policy would be too old to enroll for her senior year.

Because of the immense public interest, the meeting was moved to the districts large auditorium and went late into the evening. The debate was spirited, and even a little heated at times, all signs of a functioning democracy.

But, when the boards then-chair, Greta Besch Moen, began to speak, a man sitting near me, in a voice loud enough for most to hear, called her stupid and used a one-syllable vulgarity meant solely to demean women.

I was offended, and a little surprised the word was still in circulation. But, I was especially offended to hear others around him whoop in both glee and agreement.

And very recently, again during a school board meeting, a man stood to plead with trustees to rid school libraries of the type of books he felt eroded Christian decency and decorum. In making his plea, with no apparent sense of irony, he swore several times at the board and threatened them.

Weve seen this coarsening of public behavior for some time now. Social media has rewarded and amplified it. Your fastest route to popularity on X is by dishing tirade and scorn. Our elected officials have even started shouting insults during the once-dignified State of the Union address, and nothing gets more applause at a political rally than a mocking putdown of the other party. And, lets not forget our own governor was charged with assaulting someone during a 2017 public event in Bozeman. His criminal conviction cost him nothing politically.

The Billings Gazette has long supported and encouraged public participation in civic life. An informed electorate is our purpose in being. That encouragement has extended to allowing the public to comment on the stories we publish, on all of our platforms including our website, our Facebook page, on X, and Instagram.

We post most of our headlines on our Facebook page, which has 133,000 followers, and we get hundreds of comments a day. When we launched the page in 2009, the comments got so rude so fast we considered shutting them off.

Leaving them on has sometimes made our job harder. While pursuing one news story about a praiseworthy program helping young pregnant mothers finish high school, the programs director declined to talk to our reporter. She said, Ive seen the comments on stories like this. I wont have these girls subjected to that kind of abuse.

Most of the Facebook comments, however, are fair responses, valid expressions of support or chagrin or outrage. When we post a story about a tragedy, most commenters are generous with their prayers and sincere wishes for recovery.

We have had, since day-one, a written policy on our Facebook page governing comments. Theyre the same rules your mother taught you when you were little. The policy declares we wont tolerate obscene language, hate speech or bullying. No attacking other platform users, or posting anything that perpetuates discrimination.

I do moderate the Facebook comments. There arent enough hours in the day to read them all, but I read a lot of them. I kill the ones that cross the line, and ban commenters who refuse to behave. And sometimes, out of curiosity, when I read an especially loathsome comment Ill click on commenters link to their own Facebook page and there they are in cheerful photos with their family, their friends, their pets, their hobbies. They look as normal as can be. And, maybe thats the real danger, it has become normal.

Even so, the ability to comment on our content isnt going away. Our democracy, our community, and this newspaper, depend on your input and participation. Rage on if you like, call bull when it needs calling, and offer your better ideas. Agreeing on solutions is a messy business, but we can do it without being mean to each other. Lets make that the new normal.

NOTE: Im aware that some readers, apparently those using Firefox as a browser, are currently unable to leave comments on our website. Our IT people are working on it. They tell me a fix is coming soon.
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.

Northampton Area High School students celebrated their prom at the SteelStacks complex on Saturday. 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.
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.

William Allen High School students celebrated their prom at The Palace Center on Saturday. Freelance photographer Rick Kintzel 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.
SOSAD Laois, a local branch of the Irish suicide prevention charity SOSAD Ireland Save Our Sons and Daughters, has accepted a huge cheque fundraised from the longest truck run in Ireland this year.

The Light Up The Night truck run involved 131 trucks and vans that left the Midlands in darkness at 3am on April 20, and drove in convoy all the way to Cork, a trip of 220km.

Starting in Edenderry in Offaly, they got to Kanturk at 8.15, after stopping at Treacy's Bar in Laois and Barak Obama Plaza along the way. More and more trucks joined in along the route, ending with a big celebration and raffle in Cork.

Light Up the Night Edenderry to Kanturk in progress.

The Laois SOSAD in Portlaoise is one of seven centres run by the volunteer charity, giving free professional counselling to anyone in crisis, to share in the 20,000 gift. They rely on donations as they do not receive any national funding.

A final 6369 raised from the run was donated to Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention.

The nationwide drive from darkness into dawn was the idea of Edenderry trucker Paul Cocoman and his friends, Stephen Dillon, Kevin Corcoran and Ryan Monaghan all from Edenderry and Don Curtin from Cork.

Paul told the Leinster Express / Laois Live why they did it.

"We wanted to do something for charity. Friends recommended SOSAD as a charity to support. We could see that they work hard and don't have any funding," he said.

Truck driving can be hard on mental health he said.

"It can be very lonely in your cab all day. Your mind can go in different directions. On the day it was fantastic, from start to finish, we were chatting along the way, there was a great buzz about it," he said.

Shirley McKay, coordinator of SOSAD Laois accepted the generous cheque, during a night of celebration at Maggie Mays pub Portlaoise.

"This money will be spent on day to day running of the organisation. These donations are what keep our doors open to provide life saving services in our communities.

"We were absolutely astounded at the amount raised and ever so thankful to Paul and the team behind him, it's absolutely fantastic.

"On behalf of SOSAD Ireland I sincerely thank all who helped to organise and sponsor it, including David Cleggs in Portlaoise who sponsored the t-shirts, and all the drivers and all who donated," Shirley said.

So successful was the run, that it is now hoped to become an annual event.

The organisers are selling remaining Light Up The Night t-shirts, hats and hoodies at the Waterford Truck Show this weekend.
The Arts in Education Portal has launched details of their Annual Regional Event which heads to the North West on Saturday 25 May 2024.

The Arts in Education Portal team are delighted to announce the full programme for our Spring Regional Day in Sligo at Sligo Education Centre.

They invite teachers, artists, arts managers and anyone with an interest in arts in education in Donegal, Mayo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and beyond to join us for this free event.

Dr Katie Sweeney, National Director for the Integration of the Arts & Creativity in Education (DE) commented, The Arts in Education Portal Spring Regional Day is a key event for the arts and creativity in education community.

It brings together arts/creative and education professionals for a series of discussions and creative workshops, sharing experience and best practice from the arts and creativity in education sector.

This year we are delighted to be connecting with practitioners across the North West.

The programme includes presentations and panel discussions in the morning, and a choice of hands-on workshops for educators and creative practitioners engaged with early years, primary, post primary and Youthreach in the afternoon.

Triona ODowd Hill, teacher and Andy Parsons, artist, together with Lorna Kavanagh of Kids Own Publishing will present and discuss the collaborative journey embarked with St. Cecilias School. This school caters for students with moderate to profound learning disabilities.

Karen Brogan, a teacher from the West Sligo Creative Cluster, and Leslie Ryan, will share their cluster journey that explored themes within ecology and heritage through sculpture, sound and visual art. She will show how they developed new and innovative ways of working co-operatively.

In the afternoon, it will be time for some creative sparks with a choice of two workshops. STEAM facilitator, Kathleen Gallagher, will provide delegates with comprehensive training on utilising Scratch, the visual programming language, and Makey Makey, a circuit building invention kit, to create interactive art projects.

Concurrently, Maeve Pudney will explore colour and pattern through Donegal yarn with educators, using a small weaving loom invented through her creative business Pop Out Projects.

Tickets for the 2024 Portal Spring Regional Day are free. It is essential to book in advance as capacity is limited. Places can be booked on the Arts In Education Portal: www.artsineducation.ie
Bambie Thug has achieved Ireland's highest Eurovision placement in 27 years with 6th place.

The Cork native received a total of 278 points, coming in behind Israel with 375 points, France with 445 points, Ukraine with 453 points, Croatia with 547 points, and Switzerland with a grand total of 591 points.

The Grand Final took place over the course of four hours tonight (May 11) in Malmo, Sweden.

Bambie's performance of their song 'Doomsday Blue' shocked and wowed audiences, with a haunting and highly theatrical performance.

It is the first time since 1997 that Ireland has come so close to winning.

Marc Roberts was chosen to represent Ireland at the 1997 contest, which was held in Dublin, with his song 'Mysterious Woman'.

He ultimately came in 2nd place with 157 points, and it marked the last time Ireland placed in the top 5.

Commentator Marty Whelan called Bambie's placement "a great moment" for Ireland and said, "We found ourselves not even in the final for a number of years, and this year we're in the final and we came sixth. It's incredible."

Switzerland's Nemo took first place with popular song 'The Code', while Croatia's Baby Lasagna just missed out on the top prize by coming 2nd with his song 'Rim Tim Tagi Dim'.

Bambie can be seen embracing the winner following the announcement of the final results.

Former favourite Joost Klein from the Netherlands was disqualified earlier today due to an alleged altercation, a decision which was met with mass condemnation for the Eurovision fan community.

His song 'Europapa' was one of the most popular songs in the contest before his shock disqualification.
Photocure Partner Asieris announces New Drug Application acceptance for regulatory review of Cevira in China





OSLO, Norway, May 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Photocure ASA (OSE: PHO), the Bladder Cancer Company, announces that its partner Asieris Pharmaceuticals (SSE: 688176) communicated today that the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has accepted its new drug application (NDA) for the regulatory review of Cevira (APL-1702, Hexaminolevulinate Hydrochloride Ointment Photodynamic Therapy System) for potential marketing authorization in China. Cevira (APL-1702) is a photodynamic drug-device combination product in development for the non-surgical treatment of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), licensed to Asieris by Photocure.

"We are pleased that Cevira continues to advance toward market approval in China, as it can serve an important non-invasive option to treat pre-cervical cancer without the complications of surgical intervention," said Dan Schneider," President and CEO of Photocure. "Asieris continues to be a valued partner to Photocure, with solid execution on both programs that it has licensed from us. We look forward to further announcements on the regulatory progress of Cevira as well as Asieris' pending NDA for Hexvix in China."

The Asieris media release states: "APL-1702 is a first-in-class, non-surgical treatment for cervical HSIL with its efficacy proven in an international phase III trial. It heralds a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of precancerous cervical lesions, with the clinical focus moving from excision to long-term disease management. Emphasis lies in optimizing the delicate balance between treatment risks and benefits, striving to minimize or delay invasive procedures while effectively reversing the progression of the disease."

Read Asieris' full media release here: https://asieris.com/asieris-announces-nmpa-acceptance-of-nda-for-apl-1702-a-non-surgical-therapy-for-treating-cervical-hsil/

Note to editors:

All trademarks mentioned in this release are protected by law and are registered trademarks of Photocure ASA.

This press release may contain product details and information which are not valid, or a product is not accessible, in your country. Please be aware that Photocure does not take any responsibility for accessing such information which may not comply with any legal process, regulation, registration or usage in the country of your origin.

About Cevira

Cevira (APL-1702) is a photodynamic drug-device combination product in development. Based on the principles of photodynamic therapy, the Cevira product aims to use a photosensitizer in combination with light activation to produce a therapeutic effect as a non-surgical treatment of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) in patients aged 18 years and above, excluding carcinoma in situ.

Photocure developed Cevira through Phase I and Phase II trials, and the global rights for development and commercialization were out-licensed to Asieris Meditech Co., Ltd in 2019. In November 2020 Asieris initiated the phase III clinical trial for APL-1702 (Cevira) which achieved its primary endpoint in September 2023, Clinical trial number: NCT04484415.

About Photocure ASA

Photocure: The Bladder Cancer Company delivers transformative solutions to improve the lives of bladder cancer patients. Our unique technology, making cancer cells glow bright pink, has led to better health outcomes for patients worldwide. Photocure is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: PHO). For more information, please visit us at www.photocure.com

About Asieris

Asieris Pharmaceuticals(688176.SH), founded in March 2010, is a global biopharma company specializing in discovering, developing and commercializing innovative drugs for the treatment of genitourinary tumors and other related diseases.

CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:

Dan Schneider

President and CEO

Photocure ASA

Email: [email protected]

Erik Dahl

CFO

Photocure ASA

Tel: +4745055000

Email: [email protected]

David Moskowitz

Vice President, Investor Relations

Photocure ASA

Tel: +1 202 280 0888

Email: [email protected]

Media and IR enquiries:

Geir Bjrlo

Corporate Communications (Norway)

Tel: +47 91540000

Email: [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/photocure/r/photocure-partner-asieris-announces-new-drug-application-acceptance-for-regulatory-review-of-cevira-,c3977030

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12 may 2024 at 05:53

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IN EARLY 1878, reports of a colossal fortune left by an Irishman with no direct heirs began to flood newspaper columns right across the world. It amounted to an astonishing 5,000,000 and included an additional annual income of 150,000 in landed property.

Charles Robert OKeeffe was born in London (his parents were visiting the city). He emigrated to India aged 18 and enlisted as a private soldier. At some point, he resigned and took up private business after 1842. He made his vast fortune from trading opium and settled in Allahabad (the modern-day city of Prayagraj in India). Charles died intestate and unmarried in 1876 and his solicitors set about finding heirs.

They placed notices in the international press, including the Limerick Chronicle. The notice informed the public that the mammoth fortune in search of claimants is that of Charles Robert OKeeffe, Victoria Street. Allahabad, who died February 20th. It amounts to $24,000,000 dols.

In all, over 175 applicants made claims on OKeeffes estate and the newspapers are full of alleged family stories suggesting connections and validating rightful claims on the estate. Profiles of OKeeffe were carried in newspapers all over the western world. For instance, the Irish Times of April 20, 1876 claimed that in his youth, OKeeffe was apprenticed to a painter in Dungarvan in Waterford in the late 1830s.

There are four claimants all from Ireland. Most claims were described as being of the flimsiest kind, and easily seen through as reported in the Hamilton Daily Times, a newspaper based in Ontario, Canada. That particular account stated that Charles Robert OKeeffe was a native of Waterford and the paper printed an excerpt from a family pedigree proving that one Patrick OKeeffe of Strathroy was the rightful heir. Another claim centred on four heirs, two of whom were said to reside in Georgetown, Kentucky, a third in Danville, Kentucky, and the fourth in England.

However, the fortune was destined for OKeeffes cousin in Limerick, Denis Patrick McCarthy, a builder and architect. On November 14, 1869, he married Ellen McNamara from Thurles, and they had eight children. According to The Irish Builder of April 1878, Denis P McCarthy was born in Cork and was apprenticed to the building firm of Dickson & Taylor in that city, after which he set up on his own business in Newcastle West. He was appointed architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, a post which he held until the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1869.

McCarthy built Barrington Terrace in 1878. This row of five houses was demolished in more recent times and rebuilt. McCarthys business address was Cecil Street, while his home was known as The Cottage in Barrington Street. Even though McCarthy enjoyed a prosperous career and led a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, nothing could have prepared him for the vast fortune that he inherited in 1878.

According to the Irish Times of April 27, 1878, McCarthy was not yet forty when he inherited his fortune. McCarthy produced evidence that he had corresponded with OKeeffe and several letters exchanged between them are mentioned in newspaper reports. One such letter noted that his cousin had 100 vessels trading on the seas to different nations and peoples, some of which he had never seen, I cannot estimate the exact amount of money I am worth. On several occasions, OKeeffe invited McCarthy to visit him in India, however, he always declined owing to poor health.

READ MORE: If Walls Could Talk: Pomp and circumstance of Limericks early elites

In April 1878, McCarthy received a letter from GA Stanley, New Square, Lincoln Inn: I am directed to inform you that the first instalment of the OKeeffe legacy has come to hand in your favour for 500,000. The whole of the greater portion of the 5 million left by the deceased will come to you, except the portion allotted to your brothers, about which the Crown will decide.

One of OKeeffes brothers, Patrick, lived in Abbeyfeale where he had a licenced premises. In todays values, the fortune inherited by McCarthy amounts to over 330,000,000 meaning that overnight, he became one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. In addition to that eye-watering sum, McCarthy also gained control of landed property worth over 150,000 per year (approximately 10 million today).

Denis P McCarthys good fortune almost immediately attracted charities, schools and new churches to his door and about 500 begging letters a week were sent to his house. Many of these were bogus claims for assistance, including a countess in Milan who requested 50 to cover some mishap that had occurred. McCarthy was forced to employ a typist to reply to the voluminous correspondence.

In May 1878, the Globe newspaper noted that the Limerick millionaire was having trouble and that perhaps he should make a tour of the world and be absent for a couple of years. The intense press interest in McCarthy did not abate and a reporter from Bassetts Chronicle interviewed him on April 16, 1878. His appearance was typical of a nineteenth-century gentleman, he had a large noble face and mutton chop whiskers, full upon him. McCarthy stated that the fortune was about 4,000,000 in cash and 1,000,000 in assets and about 100 steamers on the seas.

He continued I intend on settling down and making my family happy my wife is anxious to go and live in Trafalgar Square, London. He also intended to purchase a house in Merrion Square. McCarthy stated, I think I will place a fleet of Trans-Atlantic steamers on the Shannon. He added I began in the world without a penny and now I earn 15,000 a year and have 700 a year from my landed estates in the county ever before this fortune, and I still walk through the street as plain Denis P McCarthy.

McCarthy hired Isaac Butt QC MP as his counsel for the case. Butt was paid 10,000 in fees in April 1878 by London bankers holding the assets of the Indo-Irish millionaire in trust for a gentleman from Limerick. From May 1878, McCarthy styled himself as one of the wealthiest men in Europe while most newspapers used the moniker the Limerick Millionaire.

However, the adage far away hills are green appears in this fantastical tale. An article questioning the validity of the story that first appeared in the New York Daily Herald was reprinted in the Cork Examiner of May 25, 1878. It stated that the story of the fabulous OKeeffe fortune is in doubt owing to a communication received from Mr Litchfield, the American Consul at Calcutta. Litchfield was unable to find any trace of the deceased OKeeffe or his attorneys. In short, he reported that there was no man by the name of OKeeffe, no fortune, no lawyers, and no heirs.

Even Mr Butts 10,000 is destined to melt in his pockets like fairy money. Another article in the Bangalore Spectator of May 23, 1878 pondered surely, this fortune of 5 million must be a myth? The story does not end there, and in October 1878, the Boston Pilot published an article that claimed the entire story was an elaborate and cruel deception.

The articles claiming that the story was a hoax contradicts later reports about McCarthys whereabouts. One brief account in Bassetts Chronicle of late 1878 stated that he had gone to live in London and that The Cottage on Barrington Street was being cleared out. Another report in a London-based newspaper claimed that McCarthy was intent on purchasing the mansion Kensington House, a 90-roomed house that featured a marble staircase and a palazzo in the centre.

McCarthy disappears from the record after that  the question remains  was it to live out his life in splendour or to bury his head in the sand in embarrassment? So, was the entire story fabricated  a nineteenth-century version of fake news?

Surely, there are descendants who can shed light on the mysterious and outlandish story of the Limerick Millionaire?

Pauls next walking tour takes place this Sunday, May 12. Meet at St Josephs Church at 2pm. Theme: Lost Pubs of Limerick. All are welcome and booking is not necessary.
A DATA science student from Adare has won a top entrepreneurship award.

Gillian ODonnell, who is in her final year at University College Cork (UCC) has won its computer science entrepreneurship award for 2024, beating eight other students.

It came after she impressed judges with her project which looked at defending computer security attacks.

The genesis of the scheme occurred when she was on a third-year work placement, and saw significant vulnerabilities which can be caused by attacks from artificial intelligence systems.

READ MORE: Aldi issues update on its plans for new Limerick store

Artificial intelligence is a technology that allows computers and digital devices to learn, read, write, create and analyse.

Explaining her project, Gillian said: As AI progresses, so does the sophistication of AI-driven cyberattacks. My project addresses the complexity of AI-driven attacks by using machine learning to model cyber attacks against a companys network and their defence in terms of game-theoretic interactions, where we run simulations about how the attacker and defender can learn. The project simulates the dynamics of cyber conflicts, allowing for the analysis of security vulnerabilities to build more robust, proactive defences.

It is the fourth year students at UCCs school of computer science and information technology have contested this award.

Entries were judged by Dan Murphy and Declan Fox, who work for the sponsors, the computer industry group AxisBic.

Mr Fox said: We are delighted to once again sponsor the UCC computer science entrepreneurship award in 2024. Being involved in this award goes to the heart of what AxisBic is about. Identifying innovative entrepreneurs, providing support and essential business expertise to ensure they grow and succeed. The competition was very strong and we look forward to seeing more entrepreneurs emerge from UCCs computer science students.
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NEW DELHI : Radhika Khanijo is busy planning vacations this summer for a few uber wealthy clients to a destination that hadnt been on her luxury travel firms radar ever before: South Korea. The Asian country is suddenly on the map of Indian travellers, says the founder of Welgrow Travel, and part of the reason is its easy visa process.

South Korea is seeing a big rise in travel demand from discerning travellers. We were never catering for travel to this country till last year," said Khanijo, also explaining why the visa process is a boon for last-minute planners. There is no appointment procedure and clients can just submit their visas (online). Their visas take just seven working days to process, with low rejection rates."

Khanijo is also bundling in travel to Japan for one of her clients.

As trying to obtain Schengen visas to travel to European countries such as Greece, Italy and Switzerland became exasperating, Indians turned to more familiar destinations such as Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka that have easier processes.

Thailand set the ball rolling in November, when it eliminated visa requirements for Indian travellers and permitted a 30-day stay until May this year. Last week, it extended this scheme till November this year.

Sri Lanka rolled out a similar scheme, offering visa-free access to Indians as well as nationals from six other countries till the end of May. Malaysia has declared visa-free entry for Indian and Chinese citizens till December.

Surprisingly, many European nations that are in recession are putting visa restrictions instead of easing them up. Slowly Indian travellers are realising these issues and are opting to travel elsewhere," said Subhash Goyal, chairman of STIC Travel, one of Indias largest travel agents.

The lure of liberal visas

The surge in outbound travel from India is emblematic of the countrys growing middle-class and the increase in their disposable incomes.

Outbound travel from India is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4% between 2023 and 2032 to $44.8 billion, according to a report titled Outbound Tourism in India by business advisory Nangia Andersen Llp. In 2022, the market stood at $15.16 billion.

Indias outbound tourism sector, one of the fastest-growing in Asia, has recuperated to about 61% of its pre-pandemic strength, with 13 million outbound tourists recorded in 2022, according to a report by McKinsey & Co. The consultancy firm estimates this figure could expand to 80 million by 2040.

For this years summer, Thailand, Mauritius, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam have collectively registered a 30-40% increase in travel bookings by Indians as compared with a year earlier, according to travel agency Yatra Online Ltd.

Also read | Scant slots, lengthy waits: Where have all the Schengen visas gone?

Thailand and Sri Lanka have seen a 35% year-over-year increase in bookings for this years summer travel. Vietnam registered a 25% jump in bookings during April and May.

Bharatt Malik, senior vice president for flights and hotel business at Yatra Online, said Indian travellers are opting for destinations with simpler visa requirements and straightforward travel arrangements.

A lot of the economies that have recently made visas free are dependent on tourism, and so have become very liberal with their visas, at least in the short run," said Goyal of STIC. Indians, with their growing discretionary incomes, are now becoming more liberal spenders when travelling and shopping abroad."

The value-conscious traveller

MakeMyTrip registered a 33% year-on-year growth for bookings in April across newly minted visa-free destinations as well as countries allowing e-visas, such as Kazakhstan, Angola and Japan.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are two major draws for Indian travellers this summer, followed by Georgia, Langkawi, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Bhutan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Kenya are among other favourites this summer, said a spokesperson for MakeMyTrip.

Also read | Suite' surprise: Discounts rain at 5-star hotels for summer, autumn travel

Destinations in Thailand such as Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Krabi remain a favourite, especially as the country has extended its no-visa scheme for Indians until November.

According to a spokesperson for travel agency Thomas Cook India, the elimination of the visa cost for Thailand, especially for an Indian family of four or ad hoc groups of friends or colleagues, is an important consideration for the value-conscious Indian.
NEET UG 2024 Answer Key: The National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to release the Provisional Answer Key of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) exam 2024 very soon. Medical aspirants who appeared for the NEET UG exam 2024, held across the country on May 5, can download the answer keys from the official website of NTA NEET at exams.nta.ac. once the NTA releases the same. NEET will host the NEET UG answer key for all the question paper codes.

The NTA has yet to announce any date for releasing the answer key. As per the notification, the NTA is supposed to release the results of the NEET UG 2024 exam on June 14.

Candidates should also note that in addition to the NEET answer key 2024, the NTA will also issue the candidates NEET OMR response sheets.

Also Read | Rajasthan Board 10th, 12th Result 2024: RBSE likely to release results soon The NEET UG answer key helps a candidate evaluate his performance in the exam and estimate his potential score. By comparing his answers with the answer key, a student can identify the mistakes he may have committed during the exam. This includes errors in understanding questions, calculation mistakes, or misinterpretation of concepts.

Also Read | PSEB Compartment Exam 2024: Registration window opens at pseb.ac.in NEET UG Answer Key 2024: A step-by step guide to download the NEET UG Answer Key Go to the official website of NTA NEET: exams.nta.ac.in/NEET

Click on "Provisional Answer Key " link available on the homepage

A new window will open, enter your login credentials like Application Number and Date of Birth.

The NEET UG 2024 Answer Key will be displayed on the screen

Download the provisional answer key and get its printout for further use. NEET UG 2024: Exam Pattern The NEET UG 2024 exam comprised 200 questions having a total of 720 marks. The NEET UG question paper comprised  physics, chemistry and biology (botany and zoology). Each subject consisted of two sections. Section A had 35 questions, and Section B had 15. Out of the 15 questions in section B, candidates had to attempt any 10 questions.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "going back to his original agenda of...creating suspicion about the Muslims" and forgetting India's key achievements like G20 and Chandrayaan 3.

In an exclusive interview with the Hindustan Times, Asaduddin Owaisi lambasted PM Modi and said, "...he has gone back to his original agenda of spewing venom, of creating divisions, creating suspicion about Muslims and calling them ghuspathis [infiltrators]..."

"Now, he has gone back. He has forgotten G20, Chandrayaan 3, 5-trillion economy, permanent seat at the security council, Vishwa Guru, Viksit Bharat  all have gone into the dustbin...they have come back to the agenda which they started and will continue in future," Owaisi said.

Watch Owaisi's full interview here:

The AIMIM chief said this when asked about PM Modi's remark during an election rally in Rajasthan's Banswara. In his speech, PM Modi had alleged that the Congress plans to give people's hard-earned money and valuables to "infiltrators" and "those who have more children". He was allegedly referring to the Muslim community.

They hate Muslims Speaking out his opinion about PM Modi's "originality", Asaduddin Owaisi said he was "not at all surprised" with PM Modi attacking Muslims in his election speeches.

"I am not at all surprised because that's his original DNA. That's his original language. That's his main original, which is that they hate Muslims," Owaisi said.

"That is the real Hindutva ideology...," the AIMIM chief said as he went on to attack the Prime Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party's "Hindutva ideology".

He added, "The prime minister has been consistently saying since 2002, which brought him and made him the prime minister of this great nation twice."

Owaisi attacks 'so-called secular' INDIA bloc Owaisi said wherever minorities are there, "they feel that the BJP has completely invisibalised them." He said the "other so-called INDI alliance are reluctant to give tickets to Muslims.

"In the present form of democracy, If Muslims are not being made candidates to contest elections, then, ofcourse, their representation in Parliament will come down. Will that be representation of full diversity of this country. I don't think so," Owaisi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that he has nothing except his fellow countrymen in this world. Just like a guardian of the family who wants to leave something for the children, PM Modi also wants to give a 'Viksit Bharat' to the hands of the children of this family, he said. He was addressing a public meeting in Hooghly.

"...Who are the heir of PM Modi? It's you, the countryman, you are my family. I have nothing except you people in this world. Just like a guardian of the family who wants to leave something for the children, I also want to give a 'Viksit Bharat' in the hands of children of this family. On the other side, TMC and other parties arelooting the people of the country and building bungalows and mansions for their heirs. 'agar wo apne waaris ke liye bana rahe hain to mai bhi to mere waaris ke liye bana raha hoon'," PM Modi said.

Slamming Trinamool Congress, PM Modi said the TMC and other parties are looting the people of the country and building bungalows and mansions for their heirs. He also criticized Congress and without mentioning the name of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, he claimed that the grand old party will get fewer seats than the age of its shehzada in Lok Sabha elections across the country.

Also Read | Should you believe in PM Modi's guarantee or Kejriwal's guarantee? asks Delhi CM "Based on performance in three phases of polls, I can say with certainty that NDA will cross 400 seats," he said.

Criticising the vote-bank politics of the Trinamool Congress, the prime minister said the goons of TMC are threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali, where allegations of sexual abuse against the party leaders have surfaced, to protect the culprits involved in the heinous crime.

All of us have seen what the TMC has done with the sisters and mothers of Sandeshkhali. First, the police tried to save the culprits, now the TMC has started a new game. TMC goons are threatening the sisters of Sandeshkhali, just because the oppressor's name is Shahjahan Sheikh... They are trying their best to save and protect him from legal action. Don't be afraid of TMC, the prime minister said.

Also Read | Govt issues high risk warning to Apple iTunes, Google Chrome users Claiming that under the TMC regime, Bengal has turned into a centre of corruption and a cottage industry of bomb-making, the prime minister said the states ruling dispensation has surrendered before the vote bank politics.

"There is a Mafia rule here. Modi says 'Har Ghar Jal', TMC says 'Har Ghar Bomb'. There was a bomb blast here. Life of Mothers, sisters daughters have become difficult here. You can see Sandeshkhali. I guarantee that no TMC tyrant will be spared. TMC has betrayed the youth of Bengal. Paper leaks are happening. It is affecting everyone. Their leaders are in jail. Mountain of cash has been recovered. Will you not punish TMC? Do they have a right to win even a seat?," PM Modi added.

Criticizing the policy of appeasement politics of the INDIA opposition bloc, Modi said, Congress and the opposition parties are making disjointed statements sensing defeat.
While most Indians live in villages, the most populous metro cities often take on a prime role in shaping the countrys political discourse. So who do they vote for in Lok Sabha election? Some of these urban centres have already voted in the first two phases of the current election, while constituencies in Hyderabad will go for polls on Monday.

In 30 selected constituencies spanning six metro cities, Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) increased its vote share from 18% in 2009 to 32% in 2014 and nearly 39% in 2019, a Mint analysis shows. On the flip side, the Congress vote share declined from 26% in 2009 to 15% and 18% in the following two elections.

The analysis is based on constituencies in six of Indias largest citiesDelhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluruwhich accounted for nearly 6% of all registered electors in the 2019 election.

Follow our election-related data analysis in the In Charts" and "Plain Facts" sections.

Did the metro city constituencies drive election results in any different direction?

In 2009, these metros were slightly less enthusiastic about the Congress than the rest of India: while the party got 28.6% votes overall, in metros, its share was 25.9%.

However, in 2014 and 2019, the metros preference for the winning party (BJP) was almost in line with the overall picture.

The none of the above option, which was introduced in a Lok Sabha election for the first time in 2014, has not found too many takers in these cities, getting just 0.9% and 1% vote share in 2014 and 2019, respectively. This was almost in line with the national figure of 1.1% each in these two election years.

Despite this growing affinity for the BJP, the stranglehold of the party is weak in some metros. While BJP managed impressive wins in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai in 2019, it had a tough fight in cities such as Kolkata, where it struggled to win not even a single seat in 2019.

In Chennai, where it contested in alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the winner in all three seats was the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

Overall, the BJP clinched victory in 14 of 30 metro seats analysed, followed by the All India Trinamool Congress and DMK with eight and three seats, respectively, in 2019. Currently, one of the 30 seats is vacant.

These urban centres are often seen as hubs of progress but have been grappling with declining voter turnouts. Some of them had a lower voter participation compared to the national turnout in the past decade.

Hyderabad saw the biggest drop in voter turnout in 2019, when it fell nearly 4.8 percentage points since 2014. The voter turnout in Delhi dropped from 65.1% to 60.6%. Mumbai was the only metro to witness a rise in voter participation from 51.5% to 55.4%.

Among the metro constituencies that have gone for poll in the first two phases of the current Lok Sabha election, Bengaluru has seen a marginal drop in voter turnout, while the constituencies in Chennai saw a significant decline.

Download the Mint app for more election-related charts in the Infographics" section.

The list of constituencies covered in this analysis: Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Malkajgiri (Hyderabad); Dum Dum, Diamond Harbour, Barasat, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar, Howrah and Serampore (Kolkata); all seven constituencies of Delhi; Mumbai North, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai South (Mumbai); Chennai North, Chennai South, Chennai Central (Chennai); Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, and Bangalore South (Bengaluru).
As Israeli military fliers rained down on eastern Rafah warning residents to evacuate ahead of a military operation early this week, Kareem Jouda and his family resolved to stay put even as their neighbors fled. They felt they had nowhere to go.

The bombing changed their minds. The 28-year-old lawyer and his family left Thursday, joining a mass movement out of Rafah. The United Nations estimates over 100,000 people have fled.

The chaotic movement of so many civilians carries big risks for Israels relationship with the U.S., its most important ally. The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed concerns about a military operation in Rafah, citing the difficulty of moving civilians out of harms way in such a crowded urban environment.

In its clearest rebuke of Israels plans, the administration said this week it has halted a shipment of bombs to Israel, hoping to get it to rethink the operation as it masses tanks and troops on the outskirts of Rafah.

Israel has said its incursion into the Rafah area has been surgical and precise. Even so, it has hit more than 100 targets over the past few days with airstrikes, artillery and tank fire, seized the key crossing to Egypt and effectively cut the city in half along a main road.

In eastern Rafah, residents are leaving, even though the prices of tents, gasoline and rides have soared. The nearby evacuation zone of Al-Mawasi, a barren stretch of beach lacking any basic infrastructure, has filled up.

Jouda and his family were the last in their neighborhood to head out. He said they couldnt find space in Al-Mawasi, so they paid a driver $800 to drive them farther north to Nuseirat, where they have a house.

Im not sure we made the right decision, but no one really knows what the right decision is," he said. Bombing is everywhere."

On Friday, the Israeli military said it was continuing to attack groups of militants in eastern Rafah in close-quarters combat and with airstrikes, as it has for the past several days.

Targets included sites around Rafah from which rockets had been fired into Israel, including around the Kerem Shalom crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the military said. Earlier in the week, Israeli troops backed by tanks seized control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Israels leaders have said the military needs to move into Rafah to dismantle the remaining battalions of Hamas, the militant group that led the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which left 1,200 dead and more than 240 as hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

Israeli leaders have said the threat of an operation gives them leverage in ongoing negotiations for a cease-fire deal that would trade a pause in the fighting for the return of some of the 128 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. Those talks have yet to bear fruit.

Satellite imagery from Planet Labs has shown Israel military vehicles massed near Kerem Shalom, and other photographs have shown Israeli tanks gathered near the Gaza border area.

The Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings are vital to aid deliveries across Gaza, which havent been made in days, leading humanitarian agencies to warn of imminent risks to lives and well-being. Volker Turk, the U.N.s top human-rights official, called the evacuation efforts inhumane and urged Israel to halt its attacks in Rafah, the nucleus of humanitarian aid operations for the entire strip.

Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said on CNN that the military had put its own forces at risk when it told people to evacuate ahead of time, losing the element of surprise. Nevertheless, he said, it would continue to make such pre-operation announcements to protect civilians.

We didnt start the operation until we had seen the evacuation had commenced," he said.

The fighting hasnt been as intense as in earlier stages of the warwhich has killed more than 34,000 in Gaza, according to Palestinian authoritiesbut the frequent strikes and constant whir of drones overhead has unnerved residents.

Mohammad Abu Taha, a Palestinian Authority employee, had already been displaced from his home in Gaza City earlier in the war when he fled Rafah on Wednesday to settle with relatives in the battered city of Khan Younis, about 6 miles to the northeast.

He was back at his house in eastern Rafah on Thursday looking for a radio so he could keep track of the cease-fire talks. On a video call with The Wall Street Journal, he showed the area around his home, marked by the broken barrels of water and plastic bags and wide empty spaces left by those who had evacuated.

See, you can tell its a ghost city," he said, Almost no one is left."

During the call, the buzzing of drones and the thud of shelling could be heard. Abu Taha clutched his radio.

I hope to hear good news soon," he said before hanging up and heading back to Khan Younis.

As civilians poured out of Rafah, their wealth determined how far they would go. Those with means ferried their goods as far north as possible in cars, donkey carts or trailers. The cost of vehicle transport from Rafah to Al-Mawasi has doubled in the past week to more than $500, aid workers and Rafah residents said.

The poorest dragged what they could up the road. On the main arteries leading out of Rafah, some people have set up roadside tents, unable to get any further with their belongings.

The ragtag displacement hit a painful nerve for many Palestinians who still feel the grievance of the expulsions and flight forced by the fighting that has characterized much of their modern history.

Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said Palestinians werent only leaving places designated by Israel as unsafe, but also other parts of the city, worried that they wouldnt find space if they waited.

Colleagues at the aid group reported a constant flow of people moving north Thursday, especially along Gazas Mediterranean coastal road, she said. Many people had already been displaced multiple times.

The reports from Al-Mawasi, which was holding about 450,000 people before this weeks evacuations began, are that it is already overcrowded. There is no space in between tents for sanitary infrastructure or to prevent the spread of fire should one break out.

There arent enough toilets or showers, said Dr. Amjad Alanqar, a physician-in-training from the Shujaiya district of Gaza City. He said he moved his family of around 20 people to Al-Mawasi on Thursday night after completing a full days shift at the intensive-care unit of a major Rafah hospital, where he returned on Friday to keep treating patients for burns and traumatic injuries from the bombardment.

It was the fifth or sixth time that Alanqars family had moved since the war began in October. He had been living most recently with his mother, his wife, his 18-month-old daughter and other relatives in an eastern Rafah neighborhood that the Israeli military ordered to evacuate.

He found a small bus that charged them more than $200 for a trip that usually costs about $25, piling their belongings inside and on the roof. They now live in two tents by the sea.

People are showing up and finding that theres no place for them," Low said. Theres no order whatsoever."
A startup based out of Bengaluru called Bitsave says it has launched Indias first crypto mutual fund, with about $200,000 in assets under management as of 1 May. The startups star offering is its BitSave Crypto Index product, a passive fund that replicates the weights in the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, or BGCI Index.

Unlike mutual funds, this particular fund is neither regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, nor governed by the many rules that safeguard ordinary investors in mutual funds.

The BGCI Index, which is designed to measure the performance of some of the largest cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, has delivered 500% returns since January 2020.

Looking at the growth of Mutual Fund AUM in India, we felt that replicating the same model would provide more comfort and confidence for those potential investors to take their first step in crypto investing," said Zakhil Suresh, a co-founder of Bitsave. He also manages the BitSave Crypto Index product.

View Full Image .

We also wanted to solve the problem of transparency and the lack of support on existing platforms, which is affecting the growth of crypto as an investable asset class," Suresh added. So by leveraging the openness of blockchain, we have built BitSave with 100% visibility of asset holdings directly on the blockchain."

Also read |Cryptocurrencies are rallying again, but concerns remain

The lack of regulation, however, places investors heavily at risk in this type of instrument. This risk is on top of the massive price volatility of crypto and the risk of hacking associated with it.

How it works

An investor needs to register on the BitSave app, complete the customer verification requirements, and then deposit an amount in rupees via UPI, which will immediately be converted to USDT, which is also known as Tether, a cryptocurrency stablecoin, where the value of a digital asset is pegged to something like afiat currency, in this case the US dollar.

Investors also have the option to directly transfer USDT tokens to their BitSave wallet. These USDT tokens are then transferred to a Seychelles entity owned by BitSave. The USDT is then converted to other tokens on cryptocurrency exchange Binance in the same weight as its mentioned in the index.

Bloomberg rebalances its index monthly and all coins will have a weight in the range of 1-35%.

Also read |Stage set for return of Binance, Kucoin to India

Investors on BitSave are issued a custom token on Polygon. This token gets priced on a daily basis as per the net asset value of the Crypto Mutual Fund holdings present in Seychelles, and is shown to the investor on the BitSave app.

The net asset value is calculated every day based on the net present value of the underlying assets divided by the total outstanding units. If the total value of the underlying assets is $200,000 and the total outstanding units are 100,000, then the NAV for the day would be $2.00.

View Full Image .

BitSave charges 1.5% as expense ratio, which gets deducted daily from the NAV. An investor can choose to exit the mutual fund anytime, but an exit load of 1% is charged if an investor exits within 30 days of investment. If an exit is initiated, the Seychelles entity would be instructed to sell the tokens in the fund and return the USDT back to the Indian entity, which the user can convert back into rupees.

A 1% tax would be deducted at source for all transactions, as per Indian taxation laws. From a taxation stand point, because the investor only gets issued one token by BitSave, they need to pay any capital gains taxes on that token and not on the multiple tokens that are bought and sold out of the Seychelles entity, according to the startup.

High risk factors

BitSave currently offers three productsthe one that replicates the BGCI Index; BitSave Crypto and Gold Product, which has around 30% exposure to the Pax Gold (PAXG) token, which is backed by physical gold; and BitSave Bitcoin Product, which has 100% allocation to Bitcoin. The expense ratio of these products range between 0.95% and 1.5%.

Crypto is still very much unregulated in India, but there are rules on taxation, customer verification, transaction monitoring, and reporting.

Also read |Why Indias targeting Binance, other offshore crypto exchanges

Crypto assets are also unregulated in Seychelles, where BitSave operates. However, the Financial Service Authority of Seychelles has prepared a draft bill to regulate the industry, and it is expected to be passed in the assembly later this year.

BitSave expects to apply for a crypto asset management licence once the bill is passed and the guidelines issued.

Cryptocurrency is an extremely volatile investment. People investing in products linked to it place themselves at risk not only in terms of price volatility but also of the intermediary failing.

In July 2022, a crypto lender called Vauld went bust in Singapore. It had been heavily promoted in India by influencers as being similar to fixed deposits. Investors should be highly cognizant of these risks while approaching such investments.
A stunning display of auroras illuminated the skies over various regions for the second consecutive night on Saturday, following an awe-inspiring showcase.

This captivating celestial phenomenon results from a potent solar storm, which may persist into Sunday, offering breathtaking views of the northern lights that typically grace the far northern latitudes of the planet. This celestial phenomenon raises the question of why we get auroras on Earth after eruptions occur on the Sun.

In a post on X, NASA Sun & Space explained this and noted that there are two things we call solar eruptions: solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). They often occur together, but not always.

Solar flares are intense flashes of light  a result of the Suns complex magnetic fields abruptly rearranging themselves, it said.

Solar flares. (Photo: Nasa Sun & Space/X)

It further explained that the Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are giant clouds of solar particles laced with magnetic fields that escape from the Sun. These giant clouds can travel anywhere in the solar system, including to us here on Earth, it added.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are giant clouds of solar particles laced with magnetic fields that escape from the Sun. (Photo: NASA Sun & Space /X)

It further explained that solar flares reach us quickly as light only takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth.

"Because CMEs are made up of particles, they may take days to reach us. But when they do, they can set the aurora alight," it added.

Thus, when a CME collides with Earths magnetic field, it can dump solar particles into near-Earth space. These particles follow Earths magnetic field lines as they dive into our atmosphere in a ring around the poles called the auroral oval, it further explained.

AFP reported that CMEs originated from an extensive sunspot cluster, which spans a width approximately 17 times larger than Earth. The Sun is nearing the apex of an 11-year cycle characterized by increased solar activity.

When a CME collides with Earths magnetic field, it can dump solar particles into near-Earth space. (Photo: NASA Sun & Space/X)

What factors determine the colours of the auroras? NASA Sun & Space said, The incoming particles strike gases in our atmosphere, causing them to heat up and glow: the aurora. The colours depend on the type of gas and its altitude. Oxygen glows red or blue; nitrogen can be green, blue, or pink.

NASA maintains a specialized team focused on astronaut safety, capable of directing astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to relocate to areas within the outpost offering enhanced shielding.

Geomagnetic storms can impact not only astronauts but also various species with internal biological compasses. Pigeon handlers have reported a decrease in the return of birds during geomagnetic storms, as noted by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Carrington Event, regarded as the most potent geomagnetic storm ever recorded, took place in September 1859 and was named after British astronomer Richard Carrington.
In a satirical post, ace investor Shankar Sharma jokingly suggested that he is available for MP trading after the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, with a demand for a 30% cut.

In a post on X, Sharma wrote, Mil Gaya,Mil Gaya!!!Har desh waasi ka purana luta hua Rs.15 Lakh/per head wala Khazana ,MIL GAYA!! (We found it, we found it! The long-lost treasure of Rs. 15 lakhs per head promised to every citizen has been discovered!).

He added, After deep dives in Maldives!! HUGE loot available now to all political parties for: post election M&A/High frequency MP trading. My cut :30%. Parties:DM me. (T & C Apply).

In response to the post, one user suggested, "Should have gone to Lakshadweep, right?" Another commenter remarked, Paranoid.

Netizens react to Shankar Sharma's post on X.

A different user expressed admiration, stating, Boss! Seeing you at 60 with such energy, intelligence, and physical fitness - ENVY is the word!

Meanwhile, someone else inquired, Sir, what's your prediction for June 4th?

Another user humorously quipped, After the BCG scam, are you planning to scam and loot people and parties?

Before the 2014 general elections, Narendra Modi had promised that 15 lakhs would be deposited into every individual's account in the country. The opposition has frequently criticized the BJP-led Centre for such statements, dismissing them as mere rhetoric or 'jumla'.

During the ongoing election season, numerous political leaders have been observed switching parties and affiliating with the BJP. In April, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged during an interview with India Today TV that the BJP had offered Congress MLAs  50 crore to defect to the saffron party.
Canadian authorities have charged a fourth Indian national in connection with the 2023 killing of a separatist Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Vancouver, as per an AFP report.

Amandeep Singh, aged 22, who was already under detention for unrelated gun charges, now faces charges of "first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder" in Nijjar's alleged "assassination", it added.

This follows the recent arrests of three other Indian nationals in connection with the same case.

Diplomatic Tensions The incident has ignited diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau implied that Indian intelligence was involved in the alleged "assassination" plot.

Nijjar was fatally shot on June 18, 2023, by masked individuals in the parking lot of the Sikh temple he presided over in suburban Vancouver.

Nijjar was a Khalistani advocate demanding a separate Sikh state in India. He migrated to Canada in 1997 and obtained citizenship in 2015. Allegations against him included "terrorism" and conspiracy to commit murder, levelled by the Indian government. Nijjar, however, consistently denied it, the report added.

Canada is home to approximately 770,000 Sikhs, comprising around two percent of the nation's population. Within this community, there exists a vocal minority advocating for the establishment of Khalistan as an independent state.

International Ramifications Trudeau has claimed Canada has "credible allegations" linking Indian intelligence to Nijjar's killing. This led to a sharp response from India, resulting in temporary visa restrictions for Canadians and the recall of diplomats.

In a related development, the US Justice Department has also charged an Indian citizen residing in the Czech Republic with plotting a similar assassination attempt on US soil. Court documents indicated the involvement of an Indian government official in the planning.

These developments occurred amid efforts by the United States to strengthen ties with India in response to China's expanding influence. Reports suggested that the plot on American soil had the purported approval of India's former top spy official, Samant Goel.
The recently concluded third phase of the ongoing general election has reaffirmed a consistent trend: The Hindi heartland states, along with Maharashtra, continue to lag behind in participation in the grand festival of democracy. Why is this happening?

Let us examine this starting with Noida, a city in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, where I reside. By midday, the polling stations here were deserted. Only 53.63% of registered voters exercised their franchise in this recently populated, forward-looking metropolis. Womens participation was also quite low, though literacy and self-reliance rates among women in Noida are greater than in the rest of the country. Noida was not alone; this was pretty much the situation throughout the country.

Why did they not carry out their democratic responsibility?

Also read | Loyalty that ends when polls are done and dusted

Election Commission of India data shows that only 66.14% of votes were cast in the first phase, and 66.71% in the second phase. Some blamed the excessive heat for the low voter turnout in the third phase, too, but that is far from reality. Statistics show that vote percentage had grown at all four general elections held between 2004 and 2019. The previous two elections showed a significant increase in this regard.

Waning magic?

Fans of Prime Minister Narendra Modi credited him with this. When BJP announced Modi as its prime ministerial candidate in 2013, many were drawn to his oratory skills and the Gujarat Model". The saffron party won the majority for the first time ever then. Modi repeated this in 2019. But now, given that the turnout was low in the first two phases, should the oppositions claims that his magic has diminished be considered true? Not at all.

According to a survey conducted by an English magazine shortly before the elections, Modi was the top choice of 52% of people. It also claimed that no one has been able to compete with Modi in the last decade. Many other surveys also made almost identical announcements. Besides, one other fact needs to be considered. Kerala, like North and West India, saw a lower turnout. The BJP is not anywhere in the primary contest there.

What could be the cause of this?

Also read | Is Bihar casting its vote or voting back its castes?

There are numerous explanations for this. One is the carelessness of certain members of the party, including MPs, leading to the revival of factors such as castes at the election. Modi had bulldozed" caste boundaries in the last two elections. Another is the rapid formation and breaking of coalitions, and the preference given to leaders from the outside". It has broken party workers morale. Until the last election, these people had left no stone unturned to get voters to the polling booth.

The scenario is no different in other parties, too. The opposition has not been able to forge a working alliance. Also, parties such as those led by Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray saw their rebel factions joining the NDA. Rahul Gandhi and his Congress party are now contesting the election on the shoulders of regional satraps. His Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir yatra, which ended early last year, made some ripples but failed to inspire the passion that the Congress requires.

Smudges on leadership

Besides, some leaders alleged misconduct has also offended voters. Former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowdas son H. D. Revanna and grandson Prajwal Revanna stand accused in a sex scandal. Janata Dal (Secular) has ousted Prajwal and party leader H. D. Kumaraswamy has stated that if they are proven guilty by the SIT investigation, stricter measures will be taken. Further, incidents like as the last-minute withdrawal of a Congress candidate from Indore and the earlier cancellation of a Congress candidates nomination from Surat, as well as the withdrawal of other candidates, harmed public trust in democracy. The huge amount of money recovered from a Jharkhand ministers associates, as well as the poisonous language used by the politicians, have also shaken the common mans belief in democracy.

Political parties should take these issues seriously.

Also read | Deafening silence on climate issues at this election

In the current election, is the low turnout an indication of a shift in voters trust? Answering this question is impossible as turnout does not determine success or defeat. Indira Gandhi returned to power with an overwhelming majority in 1971, despite a drop in voter turnout of about 6%. In the following election, in 1977, the vote share climbed by more than 5%, but she lost. We should also note that there was an improvement at the national level during the third phase. What is the guarantee that this trend will not gain further momentum?

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are personal.
The situation in Ukraine is on the brink of calamitous escalation. Do the military imperialists in Washington and their lackeys in Europe have any idea the danger they are courting? They are conducting foreign policy as if it were a game of chicken: 1. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron recently stated that Ukraine has the right to use British weapons to strike Russia. In return, Moscow warned the British ambassador that that would provoke Russian retaliation against London. 2. NYT disclosed last week that US secretly shipped ATACM missiles to Ukraine that can strike deep into Russian territory. 3. More and more reports of NATO military advisers and instructors in Ukraine directly assisting fight against Russia. 4. Russia announced training maneuvers using tactical nuclear weapons, which it may use if threatened by direct involvement of NATO troops.
Vijayawada/Guntur/Amaravati: Bulla Kiran, an 18-year-old first time voter from Namburu village, about 25km from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, is keen to exercise his maiden democratic right. He is in the final year of a diploma in mechanical engineering and wants to start working to support his family. His father is a farm labourer, the mother is a housewife and a younger brother is still in school. Kiran is worried.

Most of my seniors have not got jobs yet. There are no jobs as few factories have come up in Andhra Pradesh," he says. He wants to vote for Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Its leader, former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, will be able to drive more industrialization, he believes.

He was the one who brought Korean car maker Kia into the state. We need more such investments," he adds.

In April 2017, Kia India signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government of Andhra Pradesh to build a new manufacturing facility at Anantapur district. The car maker, which has invested over $2 billion in the production facility and a vendor park, commenced mass production in August 2019 with an annual capacity of about 300,000 units.

Many miles away, Sivaparvati is selling tender coconut braving the unbearable summer heat in old Guntur, a town famous for chilli and tobacco. Sivaparvati is a single mother and has a son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters in the household. I will vote for Jagan," she says emphatically, referring to incumbent chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, leader of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP).

The reason? She has benefitted from the numerous welfare schemes the chief minister had announced. Among them are a widow pension scheme and support for educating her granddaughter.

Nonetheless, she also complains. About poor roads, lack of street lights, proliferation of mosquitoes due to open drainage. Despite all this, my loyalty is still to Jagan. He has given us a lot of money," she reasons.

Kiran and Sivaparvati underline the welfare versus development divide that has come to the fore in Andhra Pradesh, ahead of the simultaneous pollsfor the Lok Sabha and the state assemblyon 13 May. At stake are 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 state assembly seats.

TDP has aligned with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jana Sena, a local party to take on YSRCP. Indian National Congress became a non-entity after people of the state punished it for carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh in 2014. In the 2019 general elections, Congress had a vote share that was less than the NOTA (none of the above) category (see chart). This election, Congress has tied up with the communist parties.

The YSRCP government, in the last five years, chose to spend as much as 4.56 trillion on welfare schemes. It did not, however, give a similar thrust to development. On the other hand, TDP has pitched for development. Three-term chief minister Naidu argues that without development there is no economic growth, no jobs and no funds for welfare schemes.

Jagan Reddy, meanwhile, has painted the elections as a class wara war between the poor and the rich. Those wanting development and economic growth have been portrayed as pro-rich and enemies of the poor.

Coming elections are a war between classes. Between poverty and wealth. We are representatives of the poor. If we lose, it is a loss for the poor," the chief minister said while addressing his party cadre in December. I take the side of the poor and Naidu is leading the feudal forces," he added.

This battle, therefore, promises to be an engrossing one. Its outcome will have implications not just for the two big parties but also on the states finances, already under stress. More on this later.

The outcome of the elections will determine if unbridled welfarism, as is the case with the present government, will continue at the cost of development or a balance will be struck between economic growth and welfare measures," says Jayaprakash Narayan, general secretary, Foundation for Democratic Reforms, a Hyderabad-based think tank.

Tale of 38 schemes

View Full Image Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at a recent election rally. (PTI)

YSRCP came to power in 2019 with a huge mandate having won 151 of the 175 state assembly seats. The party also won 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats. TDP, which had 102 seats in the previous assembly, managed to win just 23 seats. People voted out Naidu for failing to deliver on the promise of getting the state a special status as part of the bifurcation deal. They also wanted change and hoped that Jagan Reddy would make their lives better.

Reddy did bring about change. He took a different approach to governance, not just by focusing on welfare measures but also putting in place systems to ensure they were delivered. The state government launched as many as 38 welfare schemes targeting the poor, especially women and farmers. They included schemes such as Amma Vodi (every mother of school going children got 15,000 per year); Rythu Bharosa (a guaranteed income support to farmers at 13,500 per year); YSR Pension Kanuka (social security pension for those above 60 years, disabled and widows); free housing sites and Vahana Mitra (interest subsidy scheme for commercial auto, taxi and truck buyers).

The government then went on to appoint three lakh village volunteers and 15,004 village secretariats. Every 50 households had a volunteer who ensured that beneficiaries did not miss out on any welfare scheme. Some benefits were delivered on the doorstep," says Kesineni Srinivas, YSRCP leader and Lok Sabha candidate from Vijayawada.

About 90% of the states households have benefitted from one or more of the 38 schemes. Reddy keeps reminding people on the amount of money his government has spent on welfare. As of April this year, 2.71 trillion was pumped in through direct benefit transfer (DBT) and non-DBT spend amounted to 1.84 trillion, aggregating 4.56 trillion, the state government had stated.

With such a record, the poor and lower middle class, especially in the rural areas, are firmly with YSRC and that will tilt the scale in our favour," hopes Srinivas.

Wheres Amaravati?

View Full Image An artists impression of Amaravati.

Nonetheless, the lack of development has upset a lot of people.

P. Rajashekar runs a cab service in Vijayawada. He questions the usefulness of the Vahana Mitra scheme. Many a time, the interest subsidy he gets because of the scheme, goes towards repairing the vehiclethe roads, he says, are bad. He would much rather prefer good roads to the subsidy.

Roads are so bad that I end up replacing the cars bearings, tyre and oil a lot more now than before. In the last five years, there has been little infrastructure development," he says.

Rajashekar voted for Reddy in 2019. This time, he is batting for Naidu.

Similarly, a cross-section of people Mint spoke to felt that the government was taking away more than what it was doling out. Power costs have risen sharply; petrol/diesel prices are higher than other states as the YSRCP government did not reduce taxes on it.

Even in rural Andhra Pradesh, not everyone is happy. Take the case of three mandalsTulluru, Thadapalli and Mangalagirinot far from Vijayawada. About 29,000 farmers from 29 villages had agreed to give away 35,000 acre for the development of Amaravati, once touted to be the states new capital. TDP was in power back then. However, the YSRCP government junked the idea.

Roads are so bad that I end up replacing the cars bearings, tyre and oil a lot more now than before. P. Rajashekar

We were promised 1,250 square yards in the fully developed capital as compensation for every acre (4,840 square yards) we gave," says P. Poorna, a resident of Tulluru town.

The farmers now have a protest site in the town, a thatched pandal with large pictures of freedom fighters. We have been protesting continuously for the last 1,599 days against the YSRCP governments decision to scrap Amaravati as the states capital," says V. Madhu, a farmer who is from Lingayapalem, a village five kilometre from Tulluru.

Farmers have also taken the government to court. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh, in March 2022, ordered the Amaravati masterplan to be implemented. But the state government has appealed to the Supreme Court.

The land is still with the government and most farmers have taken up menial work or are selling off their other assets to make a living.

We have been cheated. From landowners, we have been reduced to landless labour," says Poorna.

Pattabhi Ram Kommareddy, national spokesperson for TDP, says anti-incumbency is high. Farmers are unhappy as they have not been compensated for various natural calamities in the last five years; state government employees are upset as their salaries have been delayed; the youth are unhappy due to the lack of jobs; law and order has deteriorated," he explains.

Show the money

The YSRCP governments short-sighted policies, Kommareddy says, are to be blamed. Welfare and development must go hand in hand. Only when wealth is created can it be shared with the poor. In the absence of development, the state government has borrowed heavily and pushed the state deeper into debt without any productive assets to back the debt," he says.

Investment is another weak area. When we were in power between 2014 and 2019, major companies such as Kia India and Motor established their facilities here. Not a single major investment has come in the last five years," the TDP spokesperson says.

YSRCPs Kesineni Srinivas disagrees. Andhras GSDP (gross state domestic product) has grown by 50% in the last four years. Per capita income has risen from 1.5 lakh in March 2019 to 2.1 lakh in 2022-23. This has been possible on account of strong industrial growth," he says.

Meanwhile, the state continues to rank high when it comes to the ease of doing business. In the latest Business Reform Action Plan 2020, unveiled by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Andhra Pradesh was categorized as top achiever along with six other states such as Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Telangana. Investments worth 13.5 trillion were garnered at the Global Investors Summit in March 2023.

The Adani group has begun work on setting up data centres in Visakhapatnam and has announced plans to set up two cement units. Reliance Industries is setting up a 10 gigawatts solar park, he adds.

So, what explains the perception of zero development? I think we have been very poor in marketing our achievements," says Srinivas.

Super six and a trap

Welfarism, by now, is deeply entrenched in Andhra Pradesh. So much so, even the pro-development Naidu has been sucked into promising welfare schemes. And YSRCP doesnt miss a chance to point it out.

TDP has announced Super Six Guarantees in its manifesto. This includes free bus travel for women; 3,000 per month unemployment allowance for the youth till they get employed (TDP has promised to create 2 million jobs); 15,000 allowance for every school going kid in a family; 20,000 per year income support for the farmers; three gas cylinders per year and 1,500 per month to women aged 18 to 59.

View Full Image PM Narendra Modi with TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu (left) and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan (right) during an election roadshow in Vijayawada. (ANI)

According to chief minister Reddy, TDPs promises will cost the state 1.21 trillion over five years, over and above what is already being spentway beyond the capacity of the exchequer.

Naidu is desperate to come back to power and has been promising schemes which he knows cannot be delivered. That is not new to him. In 2014, he made over 600 promises, including farm loan waiver. He did not keep most of them," says Srinivas.

Andhra Pradeshs finances are already under stress and Naidu may indeed be tying himself into a knot. The states debt to GSDP ratio when off-budget borrowings are included, is a high 43% (2022-23 revised estimate). That leaves very little room for further borrowing. The quality of expenditure, measured as a ratio of capital outlay to total expenditure, is 9.2% in the 2018-192022-23 period. This is low compared to Tamil Nadus 12%. With a revenue deficit of 2.2% of GSDP, the state is already borrowing 29,000 crore just to meet its revenue expenditure. This could worsen as growth in welfare expenses is galloping faster than growth in revenue receipts.

Welfarism is deeply entrenched in Andhra Pradesh. Even the pro-development Naidu has been sucked into promising welfare schemes.

The states finances do not allow much leeway for more welfare spending than what is already being made," says Paras Jasrai, economist, India Ratings & Research, a provider of credit ratings.

Post liberalization, in 1991, it was accepted that economic growth was critical to tackling poverty. There was a consensus among most political parties. This consensus, Narayan adds, is now under threat and the battle for Andhra Pradesh is a prime example.
Calling for the strictest form of punishment for acts of sexual abuse, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that every Indian citizen is equal before the law be it Sandeshkhali or Karnataka. In reference to Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna's tape controversy, PM Modi made it clear that such heinous acts committed by anyone regardless of their party deserve punishment.

PM Modi also said that it is the responsibility of the state government to ensure law and order. I firmly believe that every Indian citizen is equal in the eyes of the law. Be it Sandeshkhali or Karnataka, whoever committed such heinous acts, whether they belong to any party, must face severe consequences, and must face the strictest punishment. And the state government must ensure law and order, whichever part of India it is, PM Modi told HT's R Sukumar, Shishir Gupta, and Sunetra Choudhury.

Prajwal Revanna tape controversy Several viral videos of Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna exposing his sexual abuse crime against women created a huge furore amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Soon after his videos went viral on the internet, the JDS MP fled the country on April 27. JDS is a BJP ally in Karnataka for the general elections. Revanna is the grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and is currently facing multiple FIRs related to the controversy.

The controversy surrounding the 33-year-old MP resulted in INDIA bloc leaders targeting the BJP-led Central government.
Srinagar  one of the three seats of Kashmir Valley in the Union Territory of J&K  is among the 96 constituencies going to polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Monday, May 13.

The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are the first general elections in the erstwhile state since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019 by the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-ruled centre. The abrogation stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. The government also downgraded the erstwhile state into two Union Territories  J&K and Ladakh.

Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri the other two seats of Kashmir Valley  will vote in the next two rounds of Lok Sabha polls.

NC Bastion Established in 1962, the Srinagar parliamentary seat is spread over five districts, Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal, Pulwama and Shopian with 21 assembly segments with an electorate of over 17.4 lakh voters.

Srinagar has been a stronghold of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), the regional satrap that has won 10 out of 13 elections held for the seat so far. Party president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah won the seat in 2019. Before Farooq, his son Omar Abdullah and mother Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah have also represented the seat.

The only national party to ever win the Srinagar seat is Congress. Ghulam Mohammad Mir Magami of the Congress party won from Srinagar in 1996. Over the years, other parties have also started making in roads in the seat. In 2014, Tariq Hameed Karra of the JK Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the seat.

This poll season, Srinagar witnessed a high-octane campaign, even in old city areas, after decades. With no boycott calls this time, the voter turnout is expected to improve this time. . The seat recorded 14.4 per cent voter turnout in 2019.

Three-Cornered Fight In 2024, the NC, trying to retain the seat, is facing fight from PDP and Apni Party candidates.

The NC has fielded former cabinet member and Shia cleric Aga Ruhullah from the seat. Ruhullah, who is also getting support from the Congress and the Awami National Conference, has been a vocal critic of the abrogation of Article 370. In fact, his campaign has been focused on returning the dignity of the people lost due to abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

The Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP has fielded its president of its youth wing, Waheed Parra from the seat. Parras campaign has focused on three-year incarceration after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2020 in two terror cases.

Led by former education minister Altaf Bukhari, JK Apni Party (AP) has fielded former minister, Mohammad Ashraf Mir for the Srinagar seat. The AP candidate is backed by Sajad Lones JK Peoples Conference (PC).

BJP not in the fray The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not fielded any candidate in three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir for the first time in about three decades.

The NC and PDP have called AP and PC as BJP proxies. NC vice president Omar Abdullah is contesting from Baramulla while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is a candidate from Anantnag-Rajouri seat.

Both NC and PDP are INDIA bloc partners but have decided to contest elections to three Kashmir seats separately. The two parties supported Congress candidates in both the seats of Jammu, though. The BJPs decision to skip the electoral battle in Kashmir came after the NC and the PDP decided to contest separately.

Elaborate Arrangements Around 2,135 polling stations have been set up for the Srinagar seat. Of these 1650 are critical with elaborate security arrangements. Among the five districts in the seat, areas of Srinagar has 925 polling stations of which 873 have been classified as critical.
Before the fourth phase of polling, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held discussions with Hindustan Times's R Sukumar, Shishir Gupta, and Sunetra Choudhury regarding the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) performance in non-BJP states and South India.

Speaking on what needs to be done to gain power in the Southern states, PM Modi said that we (BJP) do not subscribe to a mindset of conquest. We are working with a feeling of service towards 140 crore Indians. For us, every part of India has to be served, he added.

Modi stressed that the BJP's connection with the people of South India, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, is not new. Weve dedicated ourselves to serving the people there, regardless of whether we are in government or not. Our karyakartas have been working selflessly for decades, many even sacrificed their lives in the process, the PM said.

Problems of South PM Modi explained that people are tired of the corruption, appeasement, and family-first politics of the INDI Alliance seen in various southern states.

He said, In Andhra Pradesh, there is a breakdown of governance threatening the future of the youth in the state.

In Telangana and Karnataka, too, a nexus of corruption has been established with Congress in the lead. In a matter of a few months, Congress has managed to hollow out the public treasury and bring the states closer to a state of bankruptcy, the PM said, adding, Same is the case in Tamil Nadu, where there is corruption and dynastic politics.

It is to be further noted that PM Modi has undertaken approximately 20 trips this year to five southern states: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. Collectively, these states account for roughly a quarter of the 543 seats in the lower house of parliament.

Of particular focus for Modi is Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state, where the BJP failed to secure any of the 39 seats in the 2019 election. During a recent visit to Tamil Nadu, Modi donned the traditional white silk veshti and utilized artificial intelligence software to translate his speeches from Hindi to Tamil in real time.

The PM highlighted the Modi ki Guarantee, saying, On the other hand, people have witnessed how effectively Modi ki Guarantee works. They have seen our work, our commitment to their well-being, and our dedication to bring inclusive development, clean governance, and transparency. This time around, our performance will be unprecedented.

I see a strong sense of positivity and enthusiasm for the BJP. Our message of development and progress is resonating strongly with the people of South India, PM Modi further added.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, out of the 127 seats across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, the BJP managed to secure only 29 seats. Among these, 25 were won in Karnataka and four in Telangana. However, during that election cycle, the party did not secure any seats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, or Andhra Pradesh.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Admi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal has questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's track record with fulfilling promises.

In a press conference today, Kejriwal alleged that PM Modi has not fulfilled his previous election campaign promises, unlike the Delhi state government. He listed the 24x7 power for all, smart cities and bullet trains promises as examples, alleging that these have either been abandoned or left incomplete.

In contrast he claimed, Kejriwal's government (in Delhi) has fulfilled every poll promise  be it public schools, mohalla clinics and free electricity for all.

Kejriwal ki Guarantee People have to take call whether to go for 'Kejriwal ki Guarantee' or 'Modi Guarantee'. The latter is a brand, he said speaking to the media on May 12, a day after his release from jail on interim bail. The AAP leader then went on to announce 'Kejriwal ki Guarantee', listing 10 works to be done on war-footing.

Kejriwal's guarantees include 24X7 power, good education, health facilities in villages, and arranging two crore jobs for youths every year are part of it. Freeing Indian land from Chinese control, shutting down Agniveer scheme are also our guarantees," the AAP national convener added.

"We worked on management to ensure 24x7 power supply in Punjab and Delhi. We can do it in the entire country. The government schools in the country are in a bad shape. We will arrange good quality education across the country. We know how to do it," he said.

Farmers will be provided MSP as per Swaminathan Commission report, full statehood to Delhi also part of my guarantees, Kejriwal added.

BJP's Washing Machine "BJP inducts all corrupt people in their party. BJP's washing machine will be dismantled publicly. We will come up with a system for hassle-free trade and business in the country," he said.

Taking a shot at the opposition, Kejriwal also claimed that it was the BJP's plan was to topple the AAP governments in Punjab and Delhi after his arrest, but this did not fructify.

Answering a question the Delhi CM said he doesn't expect the BJP to win any seats in the national capital. He added that the announcement was made without consulting with INDI Alliance partners. He also refused to say if he would put himself forward as PM candidate if INDI Alliance wins the general elections.

I have not discussed with my INDIA bloc partners about this. I will press upon my INDIA bloc partners to fulfil these guarantees, he told reporters.
Hyderabad constituency is among 17 Lok Sabha seats of Telangana going to polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Monday, May 13.

Sitting Member of Parliament (MP) and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is up against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Madhavi Latha from the seat. The saffron party has for the first time fielded a women candidate from the Hyderabad seat.

The Congress has fielded Mohammad Waliullah Sameer while the BRS has fielded Gaddam Srinivas Yadav from the Hyderabad seat in 2024 general elections.

Owaisi stronghold The seat has been an All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) stronghold for last four decades. Owaisi has won the seat for four straight terms since 2004. Before him, Owaisis father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi represented Hyderabad seat in the Lok Sabha for six straight terms since 1984.

Owaisi won the seat by a margin of over 2.80 lakh votes in 2019 elections polling about 64 per cent of the total votes.

Who is Madhavi Latha? This time, however, Asaduddin Owaisi is facing quite a challenger in BJPs Madhavi Latha, a debutant.

Latha, 49, was not known much in political circles until March 2, when her name featured in the BJP's candidate list for Lok Sabha Elections 2024. She is a cultural activist with a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration from Nizam College and a Master's degree in Political Science from Osmania University.

On April 7, Prime Minister Modi praised lauded Latha for making solid points with logic and passion in a TV interview. Madhavi Latha Ji, your Aap Ki Adalat episode is exceptional. Youve made very solid points and also done so with logic and passion. My best wishes to you," the Prime Minister posted on X.

Anti-Triple Talaq Activist She was at the fore front of campaign against instant triple talaq that was criminalised by Parliament in 2019. Owaisi has been one of the critical voices against the move and had called it a part of many of the attacks on Muslim identity and citizenship."

Latha is also an entrepreneur, an NCC cadet, and a professional Bharatanatyam dancer. She is the chairperson of the Hyderabad-based Virinchi Hospitals. Latha had called her candidature an acknowledgement of her near-two-decades long charity work.
Is Amritpal Singh, the chief of pro-Khalistan outfit Waris Punjab De, now eligible for bail? This is a question being widely raised by many, including netizens and advocates following the Supreme Court's verdict on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's bail plea.

Arvind Kejriwal, who was lodged in Tihar jail in connection with Delhi Excise policy 'scam' case, was released on interim bail on Friday, May 10. The Supreme Court had granted him bail till June 1, allowing him to campaign for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Why is Amritpal Singh's case being discussed amid Kejriwal's bail? Amritpal Singh is contesting Lok Sabha polls from the Khadoor Sahib constituency of Punjab. He has already filed his nomination.

Singh's lawyer RS Bains had informed earlier that the Sikh preacher had petitioned to either get one weeks parole to complete the formalities for Lok Sabha elections or to allow him to complete them from within jail. "The Punjab government has agreed to let him complete them from inside the jail," the lawyer had said.

Now, after the verdict, several questions were raised on whether jailed Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh could also seek bail on elections grounds.

During the Supreme Court hearing on Friday, Solicitor General of India (SG) Tushar Mehta raised concerns over Amritpal Singh approaching a high court for bail, while objecting to granting interim bail to Kejriwal.

However, the Supreme Court dismissed this argument, saying that is not applicable at all and that they are different cases. The court told the SG that there is not simple, straightjacket formula in such a case, Live Law and Bar and Bench had reported.

Why can't Kejriwal's case be compared with that of Amritpal Singh? The answer is simple and lies in the nature of the allegations and charges against the two.

Amritpal Singh is a pro-Khalistani separatist leader who has been charged under the stringent National Security Act (NSA). This Act can be invoked when a person poses a threat to national security. Singh is currently lodged in Assam jail. Read more about his arrest here

The government had last month extended the NSA against the separatist leader and his nine associates. Singh was arrested in 2023 after hundreds of his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station in Punjab with swords and guns to demand the release of a jailed aide.

Besides the NSA charges, there are over 10 cases pending against Singh. According to the Hindustan Times, Amritpal was earlier booked for criminal intimidation, kidnapping, promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, rash driving, extortion and unlawful assembly among other charges. Singh has not been convicted in the case yet.

Now taking Kejriwal's case  the chief minister was arrested in connection with the excise policy case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). The Supreme Court didn't see Kejriwal as a threat to the society since he didn't have any criminal antecedents, was not convicted in any case and is the leader of a national political party and even the chief minister . The court also noted that Lok Sabha elections are the most significant event of this year.

While granting him bail, the Supreme Court observed that Kejriwal "is not a threat to the society" though "serious accusations have been made". The court also noted that Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi and a leader of one of the national parties.

The Supreme Court also called the Lok Sabha elections an "intervening factor" that "prompted us [Supreme Court] to consider and pass the present order", Live Law reported.

Apart from Kejriwal and Singh, former Delhi minister Manish Sisodia had earlier moved a court in Delhi, seeking interim bail to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. The Delhi court had then sought responses from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Sisodia's plea.

What lawyers said? 1. 'Cases of Kejriwal and Singh can't be compared because...' Supreme Court Advocate Nipun Saxena said cases against Kejriwal and Singh stem from different factors.

He explained, "We cannot compare the two cases because in Amritpal's case, the allegations are far graver and serious, and he has been charged under the NSA and UAPA Act [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act]. Furthermore, he has over 10 cases pending against him and his 33 supporters under 307, 149 of IPC [Indian Penal Code]. Kejriwal's [charged under PMLA] case stands on a different footing because he does not have any prior criminal antecedents against him."

In Manish Sisodia's case, the advocate said though both Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia face money-laundering cases, the nature of the evidence and allegations  as levelled by the Enforcement Directorate ( ED)  against the two individuals are very different.

"Prima facie, the allegations are far more serious in the case of Manish Sisodia than in Kejriwal...the nature of the evidence is also something that the court will go through," Saxena said.

2. Timing of Lok Sabha Elections Saxena said in Kejriwal's case, the timing of the elections is the most compelling reason to grant bail. Delhi is only 15 days away from Lok Sabha elections.

The Supreme Court had also said in its interim order, "It is no gain saying that General Elections to Lok Sabha is the most significant and an important event this year, as it should be in a national election year...General Elections supply the vis viva to a democracy."

"While examining the question of grant of interim bail/release, the courts always take into consideration the peculiarities associated with the person in question and the surrounding circumstances. In fact, to ignore the same would be iniquitous and wrong," the Supreme Court had said.

Can Kejriwal's interim bail be precedence for similar case related to Amritpal or jailed political leaders? The advocate said Kejriwal's case can set a precedence for other political leaders in jail who would seek interim bail for elections. However, bail is granted on case-to-case basis.

This means, if Amritpal Singh seeks interim bail to contest elections, he might not get one because of the number of the cases and seriousness of the cases filed against him. In case, a jailed political leader seeks bail for elections, the court might look into his criminal records, evidence and charges against him before delivering any verdict.

In Kejriwal's case too, the Supreme Court passed an interim order and said, it is not possible for us to either conclude the arguments or finally pronounce the judgment.

"While the court says it is not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the principles of grant of bail would still apply to other cases, more so in matters concerning politicians," Saxena said.

Saxena's statement was in line with the Supreme Court's order on Kejriwal's interim bail, stating 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 us."

Kejriwal's bail verdict 'sets dangerous precedent'? Supreme Court advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai told news agency ANI on Saturday that the verdict "would set a dangerous precedent".

He expressed concern over the Supreme Court's verdict and said that even Amritpal Singh can now move court citing the Kejriwal precedent, saying he wants "to contest the elections".
AS SOON AS I arrived in Bari, a city in Puglia, the heel of Italys boot, I joined the late-night crowds at the bars, cafes and gelaterias on the edge of the Old Town. I was following not a guidebook, but rather novelist Gianrico Carofiglios fictional attorney-detective Guido Guerrieri.

In late spring, when it was very late wed walk back across the old town, which was completely deserted by now and dense with strong smells, dirty, disturbing and beautiful." Guerrieri reminisces in 2003s A Walk in the Dark."

Though some of the quarter has now been sanitized for Airbnbs, I caught glimpses of Guerrieris Bari: the sound and smell of sausages sizzling in a pan, the interplay of streetlights and shadows down narrow alleys.

Guidebooks send you to museums, hotels and restaurants with menus in English, but detective novels get at the heart of a city, allowing you to feel its pulse, to understand where its people come from and how they spend their time. Much of a place can be revealed by its underbelly.

When I travel, fictional detectives are my dining companions, tour guides and interpreters of the criminal geography," as Carofiglio calls it, all over the world.

In Bari, the unseasonable spring weathertorrential rain punctuated by lashing windssuited the emotional climate of Marshall Pietro Fenoglio, the detective protagonist in Carofiglios 2016 novel The Cold Summer": foreboding with a good chance of the unexpected. Inspired by Fenoglios knack for finding what lies beyond the surface, I went in search of a glass of wine.

Before becoming an author, Carofiglio worked for years as a public prosecutor taking aim at the mafia in Puglia. I knew, from his instruction, that I needed to enlist informants.

I headed to La Staffa Enoteca, a wine bar, and perused its bottles. I mentioned a few autochthonous grapes from the region to the proprietor and, just like that, I had landed my own cooperator. The best natural winemaker in Puglia will be here in an hour," he said.

When Vittorio Pugliese, of Loco winery, arrived, he had a hatchback full of his wine. He opened a bottle and as rain fell, we spoke in hushed tones of its complexity and then of the city. Fenoglio had taught me well.

Read Rio de Janeiro

The detective Inspector Espinosa can lead you to street snacks and untouristed beaches

In Rios Copacabana, you must stroll along Avenida Atlantica, marvel at the view of Sugarloaf Mountain and see Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city. Then venture off the tourist trail.

Enter Inspector Espinosa, star of a series of novels by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. Espinosa lives in the Peixoto district: a survivor of the old Copacabana, before the area had been transformed into a compact mass of buildings squeezed between the ocean and the mountains," Espinosa tells us in December Heat."

Espinosas most crucial allies in the area arent the corrupt cops he works with or the rich Rio citizens who try to impede his investigations, but the street preachers and homeless children who call Copacabana their home. In books like Pursuit," Espinosa walks the streets not only when he is tailing a suspect, but also in an attempt to solve the most fundamental mystery: What is Rio?

In detective novels, cities are evolving, multifaceted entities as compelling as any human character. Espinosas stroll through the marbled corridors of the Galeria Menescal shopping arcade, for example, can serve as a guide to the glory of a more human-scale Rio, now dwarfed by towering condos and high rise hotels.

A kibe he enjoys at the Baalbeck food stall shows how this Middle Eastern snack of lamb enveloped in bulgur has, like waves of Lebanese immigrants, become thoroughly Brazilian.

When the beach beckons, try doing it as Espinosa does at Leme Beach, with a stop along the way at Cervantes, his favorite sandwich shop, open until 5 a.m. Follow Espinosa to the shore early and you might spot, as I did, white-clad Afro-Brazilian worshipers approaching the waves as the sun rises.

Find the Lost Dublin

Dublin wasnt always a shiny tech haventhe right book can be a guide to that past

Forensic pathologist Quirke, a recovering heavy drinker, might not seem like the ideal companion to venture into the barrooms of Dublin. But in the 1950s city of Benjamin Blacks novels, pubs are where his sober eyes see all. (Black is the pen name of literary superstar John Banville.)

Today, the city has been gussied up by tech money, but youll find whispers of Quirkes Dublin in the lobby bar of Wynns Hotel, a favored haunt of rural parish priests and farmers visiting the city in Blacks books.

Though the weather, the politics and the morals of Dublin seem much sunnier than in Quirkes day, his penetrating gaze can help you locate other remnants of that time.

Walk Grafton Street, steering past the chain stores, and follow Quirke to the rich, fat smell of coffee beans roasting at Bewleys," once called Bewleys Oriental Cafe. In Blacks books, Quirke comes here with his daughter, with friends and with a grieving spouse. The cafe, though refurbished, is decorated with colorful stained glass windows from 1927 and offers the very same coffee, and fried sausages, and sugary pastry" Quirke enjoyed.

Despite Quirkes (mostly) sober nature, his Dublin is conspicuously defined by its pubs, like Ryans of Parkgate Street and Doheny & Nesbitt. While other spots have closed, you can still be inspired by his longing for discovery in the confines of a dimly lit pub.

Contemplating entering a bar in The Lock Up," for instance, Quirke was like a prospector panning for gold, searching for the never-to-be-found nugget the size of his fist that would release him for good from his labors and send him home a rich man."

See L.A. Confidentially

Steph Chas novels explore a city as familiar to Raymond Chandler as a modern denizen

Juniper Song fancies herself a modern-day Philip Marlowe, navigating Los Angeles guided more by Raymond Chandlers masterworks than by Google Maps. Song, the creation of author Steph Cha, is a 20-something Korean-American who uses her private-eye skills to help friends in need.

As much as she romanticizes Marlowes metropolis, Songs L.A. is modern, multicultural and not exclusively masculine. In her city, the neon lights of Koreatown shine more brightly than Hollywood. In Chas debut, Follow Her Home," Song observes this transformation while passing by the Wiltern, a landmark theater with an ancient marquee, a place that had seen Koreatown sprout up and around it, leaving no lot unturned."

To find the disparate worlds of L.A., Song might send you to Canters Deli on Fairfax Ave. I couldnt say what slice of Los Angeles made up the clientele," Song says on one visit. But it was generously cut, with patrons ranging in age, respectability, wealth, and sobriety."

Having a fictional detective as a travel companion means seeking out their haunts. But by inhabiting the preoccupations and obsessions of these characters, youll also make your own discoveries.

Youll find Songs polyglot present and idealized noirish past intersecting at the Prince, a Koreatown bar bathed in red light and decorated with plush cushioning, used as a shooting location for Roman Polanskis Chinatown." The decor evokes Marlowes L.A., but the menu, ranging from boilermaker combos to spicy sea snails, is thoroughly Californian-Korean. Its as if Song built the bar of her dreams, where Tinseltown and Koreatown converge.

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IN THE 1980S the KGB had a well-worn method for pumping disinformation around the world. We preferred to work on genuine documents," recalled Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general, with some additions and changes." That method has not changed greatly, but technology has accelerated the process.

In early March a network of websites, dubbed CopyCop, began publishing stories in English and French on a range of contentious issues. They accused Israel of war crimes, amplified divisive political debates in America over slavery reparations and immigration and spread nonsensical stories about Polish mercenaries in Ukraine.

That is not unusual for Russian propaganda. What was new was that the stories had been taken from legitimate news outlets and modified using large language models, most likely one built by OpenAI, the American firm that operates ChatGPT. An investigation published on May 9th by Recorded Future, a threat-intelligence company, found that the articles had been translated and edited to add a partisan bias.

In some cases the promptthe instruction to the AI modelwas still visible. These were not subtle. More than 90 French articles, for instance, were altered with the following instruction in English: Please rewrite this article taking a conservative stance against the liberal policies of the Macron administration in favour of working-class French citizens."

Another rewritten piece included evidence of its slant: It is important to note that this article is written with the context provided by the text prompt. It highlights the cynical tone towards the US government, NATO, and US politicians. It also emphasises the perception of Republicans, Trump, DeSantis, Russia, and RFK Jr as positive figures, while Democrats, Biden, the war in Ukraine, big corporations, and big pharma are portrayed negatively."

Recorded Future says that the network has ties to DC Weekly, an established disinformation platform run by John Mark Dougan, an American citizen who fled to Russia in 2016. CopyCop had published more than 19,000 articles across 11 websites by the end of March 2024, many of them probably produced and posted automatically.

In recent weeks, the network has started garnering significant engagement by posting targeted, human-produced content", it adds. One such storya far-fetched claim that Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraines president, had purchased King Charless house at Highgrove, in Gloucestershirewas viewed 250,000 times in 24 hours, and was later circulated by Russias embassy in South Africa.

These crude efforts are unlikely to persuade discerning readers. And it is easy to exaggerate the impact of foreign disinformation. But AI-enabled forgeries are still in their infancy and likely to improve considerably. Future efforts are less likely to leak their incriminating prompts.

We are seeing every one of the nation state actors and big cyber groups playing around with AI capabilities," noted Rob Joyce, until recently the director of cybersecurity for the National Security Agency, Americas signals intelligence service, on May 8th.

In his memoirs, Mr Kalugin boasted that the KGB published almost 5,000 articles in foreign and Soviet newspapers in 1981 alone. For the modern propagandist, those are rookie numbers.

 2024, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved.

From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
NEW YORKArtificial intelligence is transforming the technology sector in New York Cityinto a booming one worth billions and rivaling San Francisco in innovation, investment and talent.

The Big Apple is making a bid to become a premier hub for generative AI, according to investors, founders and businesses with ties to the region. Thats because of a combination of public and venture-capital funding, tech worker migration and, most important, a critical mass of companies eager to buy the technology.

New York City-based generative AI companies raised $2.7 billion since the start of 2021, according to PitchBook Data. So far this year, investors have put $200 million through 27 deals into generative AI startups in New York City, compared with $400 million through 35 deals in the category in San Francisco, the data provider said.

Funding for all AI firms in New York City was $26.8 billion from 2021 to the first quarter of 2024, compared with $54 billion in San Francisco, PitchBook said. San Francisco and New York are in first and second place among all cities worldwide for AI investment, followed by Beijing and London, according to the data provider.

In January, New York state announced plans to build up its AI research bona fides through a $400 million public-private partnership dubbed Empire AI." Data center operator DataBank unveiled a new facility in Orangeburg, N.Y., last week with CoreWeave, a New Jersey-based cloud startup valued at $19 billion, as its anchor tenant.

Since the generative AI boom kicked off in late 2022, businesses in New York have become some of the first paying customers of large-language models and tools such as OpenAIs ChatGPT and Microsofts Copilot assistant, even as they remain error-prone and expensive to use.

Customers, customers, customers

Whereas prior technology booms such as social media and mobile set off innovation in the consumer market, tech leaders say generative AI favors businesses because it is ideally suited for transforming large organizations. Generative AI can create various types of content, from text to video, because of the vast amounts of data it has been trained onallowing developers to build applications like chatbots and design tools that can boost worker productivity.

Industries heavily present in New York, including financial services, healthcare and law, have been among the first to adopt generative AI. Because those sectors are regulated, and therefore have a good handle on their internal data, they can more quickly apply large-language models to their operations, said Matt Wood, vice president of AI products at cloud business Amazon Web Services.

AI startups have flocked to New York to tap that customer base, and be hands-on in helping chief information officers use the technology, said Grace Isford, a partner at NYC-based venture firm Lux Capital.

Andrew Hoh, co-founder and chief product officer of LastMile AI, rents office space in the Empire State Building for his nine-person startup, which makes a platform to help developers build generative AI applications. Founded in 2023, LastMile AI uses the space as a hub for meeting financial services customers, who are often just a few blocks away.

Its a little bit easier when youre able to shake someones hand in-person, especially for a traditional business," Hoh said. Thats the strategic advantage that we had."

Many AI startups in New York arent developing massive models like San Franciscos OpenAI is. Instead, theyre selling ready-to-use AI tools for sectors like banking and healthcare, said New York-based Insight Partners Managing Director Lonne Jaffe.

Cristobal Valenzuela, co-founder and chief executive of Runway, said the startups media and advertising customers are primarily in New York, where he and his co-founders met. Runway, which has raised $237 million for its generative AI video-editing and -creation tools, moved from Tribeca to a larger office in Union Square.

New York is actually better suited to drive a lot of innovations for the next couple of years," Valenzuela said. Youre going to move through stages of application use cases that require people to have a deeper understanding of the industry theyre working on, and in San Francisco, its just too much tech."

Talent and research

New York gained more relocated tech workers than any other U.S. city in 2023, according to an analysis of LinkedIn data by venture firm SignalFire. But San Francisco continues to draw in AI talent at a faster rate. AI engineers based out of New York accounted for about 15% of all AI engineers working at startups last year, second to San Francisco, where more than 41% were located, the SignalFire report said.

Edo Liberty, founder and CEO of Pinecone, said New York has for years been underappreciated as an AI talent hub. The five-year-old firm, which builds database technology that helps businesses use their private data with large-language models, occasionally opens its Midtown office to younger startups in need of a corporate crash pad.

I cant say how many times a month an AI startup asks me if they can hang out in our office for a week or two until they find a space," Liberty said.

The AI research labs of public tech companies, including Meta Platforms, DeepMind Technologies, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, and Palantir Technologies, have been key sources and anchors of talent, along with local academic institutions such as Cornell Tech, Columbia University and New York University, where Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun is a professor.

New York is also a top destination for AI talent from Europe, Israel and Asia, who prefer to live in the city over San Francisco and other emerging tech hubs, some founders say. Runways Valenzuela, who moved from his hometown in Chile, said the company has sponsored work visas for about 20 researchers and engineersroughly a quarter of the employeesall of whom want to live in New York.

Will AI save New York?

Development of the generative AI sector couldnt come soon enough for New York, said Dylan Reid, a New York-based partner at Zetta Venture Partners, a venture firm based in San Francisco. I think AI will save New York way more than San Francisco," he said. The New York startup ecosystem was really hurting."

New York had been home to numerous high-profile startups in e-commerce, media, crypto and fintech that underperformed, Reid said. In recent years, the successful public offerings of database-software companies MongoDB in 2017 and Datadog in 2019, have been cited as proof for entrepreneurs to take a leap of faith in New York.

In 2014, a lot of people doubted that we could build a big, successful tech company in New York," said Dev Ittycheria, MongoDBs CEO. But Ive always found that access to both high-quality customers and investors is second to none in New York."

San Franciscohome of OpenAI and many of its researchersremains the de facto generative AI watering hole and startup capital. But new AI labs and venture- capital offices in the Big Apple are drawing people in. Over 150 AI firms are based or have satellite offices in New York, according to Lux Capital.

I expect well see a ton of really exciting AI startups out of New York," Reid said. Right now, its more talent-heavy and less startup-heavy."

Hugging Face, developer of the popular open-source AI model-sharing platform, opened up shop in Brooklyns Dumbo neighborhooda decision co-founder and CEO Clem Delangue described as you dont need to follow the Silicon Valley hype and move there to succeed."

Martin Kon, chief operating officer of OpenAI rival Cohere, said the companys recent decision to open a New York office was a no-brainer. We need to be where our customers, top AI talent, partners and investors are, and New York is a top priority," Kon said.

Yuliya Chernova contributed to this article
The resurgence of populism in recent years has generated a great deal of attention from academics and the media. Much of the discussion focuses on the potential explanations for the growing dissatisfaction with the political establishment and the impact of populism on democracies. Let the People Rule: How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge takes a somewhat different approach, instead acknowledging the populist view that government has increasingly drifted out of the hands of the people. John Matsusaka uses his extensive research experience regarding direct democracy to recommend a national referendum process in the United States to allow voters to participate directly in making important government decisions in order to counter democratic drift.

Matsusaka provides context to the populist argument by reviewing changes in government over the past century that have resulted in democratic drift. He then offers an extensive review of the use of direct democracy in practice before ultimately providing a framework for considering direct democracy in the United States at the national level. Throughout the book, Matsusaka takes an approach to the analysis that allows readers to make their own determination regarding the merits of direct democracy. He avoids assessing policy outcomes based on ideology and instead focuses on the potential to align policy outcomes with the views of the majority. In addition, Matsusaka compares policy outcomes associated with direct democracy to observed results in representative democracies rather than focusing exclusively on specific direct-democracy outcomes that may be viewed as problematic. This comparison provides an opportunity to assess both the relative value of considering direct democracy as a complement to representative democracy and the potential dangers associated specifically with direct democracy.

Matsusaka begins by reviewing history and data to explain the disconnect between voters and the federal government through the growth of the administrative state and the increasing influence of judicial decision making. He explains the administrative states increased role as an attempt to deal with the complexities of government by delegating tasks to experts. Judges influence has grown for similar reasons but also to address modern issues related to the U.S. Constitution. Matsusaka additionally recognizes that technocrats may seek to expand their influence to further their own interests. The inability or unwillingness of Congress to make difficult decisions also further shifts power away from elected representatives. Administrative policies and judicial rulings may not align with the preferences of voters because bureaucrats and many judges are unelected, tend to have educational backgrounds that differ substantially from the public, and may be biased. Matsusaka also presents evidence that elected representatives do not necessarily reflect voters preferences either.

Although some have recommended reforms to the current system to address democratic drift, Matsusaka is not confident that outcomes can be aligned with voters preferences by policy makers simply doing a better job of understanding the peoples concerns. He notes that the independence of agencies, the existence of permanent technocrat civil servants, and the unlikelihood that the president has the time or knowledge to truly oversee agencies make it unlikely that the people have any real control over agencies. The influence of the judicial system does not seem likely to change, either, given the shift in rule making from Congress to the courts. Finally, although proposals regarding electoral competition and campaign finance aim to improve representative performance, Matsusaka presents evidence to suggest that election reforms are unlikely to address democratic drift as legislators generally vote based on ideology.

If the reforms being discussed are unlikely to address democratic drift, what else should be considered? Matsusaka turns his focus to direct democracy, which provides an opportunity for voters to participate directly in the policy-making process. He reviews the lengthy history of direct democracy in the United States and discusses direct democracy in other countries. Matsusaka makes the case that direct democracy is an established feature of democracy in the United States at the state and local level. If nearly all voters in the country already participate in direct democracy and, as opinion polls suggest, two-thirds of Americans support voting directly on important national issues, why is the United States one of just four established democracies that have never held a national referendum?

Matsusaka traces this anomaly to the views of the Founders of the U.S. Constitution, who, he argues, developed a negative opinion of direct democracy based on their experience with democracy at the time and their interpretation of the Greek and Roman democracies. The level of education and speed at which information moved at the time resulted in substantial challenges for direct democracy as well. However, Matsusaka argues that the Founders misinterpreted the historical impact of direct democracy and that the pragmatic concerns of the late 1700s no longer apply. He views direct democracy as a logical continuation of a long-term pattern of innovation in the countrys democratic practices (p. 109). He offers numerous examples of the expansion of democracy in the United States over time to help make the case.

The remainder of the book is devoted to assessing the advantages and challenges associated with direct democracy and to offering guidance on the design of an effective direct-democracy process. He compares the outcome of Californias Proposition 13 in 1978 to the outcome of the U.K. Brexit vote in 2020 to highlight the potential for direct democracy both to improve outcomes and to create challenges depending on the framework. Although both were controversial, Proposition 13 involved a very specific question on limiting real estate taxes that was approved by a large majority of voters and voter turnout for the ballot measure was relatively high, ultimately better aligning policy with voter preferences. Conversely, Brexit entailed a major policy shift where a narrow majority voted to leave the European Union without an exit strategy included in the proposal language.

Although case studies provide insight, Matsusaka is careful to utilize empirical evidence to assess three key challenges to direct democracy. First, are voters capable of making critical decisions through direct democracy? Matsusaka acknowledges rational ignorance, but he argues that voters can nonetheless vote in their own interests by taking cues from experts, by utilizing the wisdom of crowds, and by taking time to reflect on alternative views. The influence of interest groups in direct democracy is a second major concern. Examining 2,609 initiatives in states from 1904 through 2018, Matsusaka codes each initiative to identify those related to businesses and analyzes the impact on specific industries. He finds that most initiatives are antibusiness and just 4 percent of the proposals that passed benefited businesses. Although business fared slightly better with legislative proposals listed on state ballots from 1980 to 2018, only 16 percent of accepted proposals benefited business. Business spending in direct democracy is often defensive, and the data suggest that spending does not guarantee success.

The impact of direct democracy on minorities is the third primary threat examined. Matsusaka is more cautious in his defense of this concern because data are lacking and examples of antiminority outcomes exist. Relying again on data from the states, Matsusaka shows that a little less than 2 percent of the 2,609 state initiatives he analyzed proposed antiminority policies. Thirty-one of these antiminority proposals passed, and courts eventually overturned twenty. Matsusaka concludes that although there is a threat to minorities, constitutional protections and elected-representative oversight apply to most of the potential direct-democracy reforms, and similar protections of minority groups exist in both direct and representative democracy. In addition, numerous examples throughout U.S. history highlight the failure of representative democracy to protect minority rights. Regardless, Matsusaka is correct to take direct democracys potential threat to minorities seriously. The literature has identified examples where direct democracy has affected minority rights (see, for instance, Daniel Lewis, Direct Democracy and Minority Rights: A Critical Assessment of the Tyranny of the Majority in the American States [New York: Routledge, 2012]).

In addition to the analysis of potential threats, Matsusaka outlines the benefits associated with direct democracy and offers guidance on best practices based on his research. He is careful to note that a poorly designed referendum process may cause more harm than good. Matsusaka outlines six potential options to establish direct democracy at the national level in the United States and evaluates their feasibility. Advisory referendums called by Congress, advisory referendums called by citizen petition, and advisory referendums required on specific issues are the first three possibilities, listed in order of feasibility. Congress could adopt these options through legislation. Binding referendums required on specific issues, binding referendums called by petition, and constitutional amendments proposed by petition are the remaining possibilities. Each of these procedures would require a constitutional amendment. Matsusaka notes that it likely makes sense to start with advisory referendums called by Congress and then gradually adopt additional modifications, assuming the process delivers results. He also offers specific advice on designing the questions posed to voters, on providing necessary information for voters, on establishing approval procedures for major issues, and on developing the rules governing the petition process.

Matsusaka makes a strong case for considering direct democracy at the national level. However, there are practical concerns because Congress would have to formally agree to permit direct democracy and cede some control of the process. Although these concerns should not deter the exploration of direct democracy at the national level, considering that states have already implemented direct-democracy procedures and a neutral party could oversee the process, they are worth considering. In addition, it is important to note that while direct democracy can help align policies with the views of the majority, conflicts can arise between policies supported by the majority and individual liberties (see, for instance, Randall G. Holcombe, Liberty in Peril: Democracy and Power in American History [Oakland, Calif.: Independent Institute, 2019]). However, it is representative democracy in the United States that has failed to protect individual liberties on numerous occasions throughout history, and direct democracy potentially provides a mechanism to push back against interest-group influence over policy.

Matsusaka succeeds in both taking populists stated concerns seriously and providing readers with an opportunity to assess direct democracy through a balanced review. Both academic and general audiences will appreciate his efforts. Matsusakas work is timely as well, given the current heightened ideological polarization and the potential for autocrats to seize control in times of crisis (see, for instance, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die [New York: Crown, 2018]). Matsusaka makes the case that direct democracy offers a potentially viable option to complement representative democracy and to address the populist challenge.
Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) under the Indian government has issued a warning about vulnerabilities in iTunes and Google Chrome desktop applications. The agency says these vulnerabilities could allow hackers to remotely access a user's device and execute arbitrary code.

CERT warning for Apple iTunes:

CERT stated that the vulnerability in Apple iTune exists due to improper checks in a component called 'CoreMedia', which could be exploited by hackers by sending a specially crafted request. The vulnerability affects users of Apple iTunes on Windows prior to version 12.13.2.

Explaining the issue via a report, CERT stated, This vulnerability exists in Apple Product due to improper checks in CoreMedia component. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted request. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system."

How can Apple iTunes users protect themselves from this vulnerability?

CERT states that updating to the latest version of iTunes should help mitigate the potential vulnerabilities. To update their iTunes applications on Windows, users can go to the Help section and click Check for Updates.

CERT warning for Google Chrome users:

CERT has found several vulnerabilities in Google Chrome that could be used by a potential hacker to gain access to a targeted system. The vulnerabilities in Chrome exist due to a bug in the Visuals and ANGLE components called 'use-after-free' and could be used by a hacker to execute a specially crafted HTML page to cause heap corruption.

CERT also stated that the vulnerability under CVE-2024-4671 is being exploited in the wild. Users are advised to patch the vulnerable devices immediately.

The vulnerabilities affect Google Chrome users on desktop prior to version 124.0.6367.201/.202 for Windows and Mac and version 124.0.6367.201 for Linux.

How can Google Chrome users protect themselves from this new vulnerability?

Google Chrome users on Windows, Mac and Linux are advised to update to the latest version to mitigate potential vulnerabilities. To update to the latest version, users can navigate to the 'Help' option and click on 'About Google Chrome', which will automatically search for a new version.

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!
Smoking Cessation Support Group, 6-7 p.m. Thursdays, Syringa General Hospital Conference Room, Grangeville.

Sexaholics Anonymous, 12-step group, call for meeting information in Lewiston and the surrounding area, (208) 503-6446.

Alzheimers Association support group, 1:30-3 p.m. second Wednesday of the month, Community Action Partnership, Area Agency on Aging, 124 New Sixth St., Lewiston, (208) 666-2996.

Alzheimers Association  Washington state chapter serving northern Idaho, 1 p.m. second Monday of the month, Trinity Baptist Church, Fireside Room, 711 Fairview Drive, Moscow. For more information, call (208) 874-3462.

Idaho Support and Care Association, providing care and support for the mentally handicapped and their families, 6:30 p.m. second Tuesday of the month, Sonic restaurant back room, 1306 21st St., Lewiston.

Recovery International, a peer-led mental health training program, is picking up its meeting again. It will meet from 5-6:30 p.m. Mondays at the Lewiston City Library, second-floor conference room. For more information, contact David at (509) 780-7323.

Palouse Advocates on Mental Illness, 1 p.m. second Sunday. To join support meetings via Zoom, call (208) 835-3071 or (509) 758-0284 to receive information or meeting notifications.

National Alliance on Mental Illness, 7 p.m. second Wednesday, the Roxy, 714 Main St., Lewiston.

Grieving childrens support groups, 7 p.m. first and third Tuesday, old Lewiston High School, 1114 Ninth Ave., Lewiston. Participants are asked to call the Willow Center at (208) 791-7192.

Caregiver Support Group, 2-4 p.m. second and fourth Monday, Regency Senior Living, 1285 SW Center St., Pullman. More information is available by contacting Melissa at (509) 332-0365.

Caregivers Support Group, 3:30-5 p.m. second Wednesday; 6-7:30 p.m. the third Tuesday, Adult Day Health, 225 E. Palouse River Drive, Moscow, (208) 883-6483.

Caregivers Support Group, 3-3:50 p.m., third Tuesday, second floor of Lewiston City Library, sponsored by St. Joseph Family Hospice. (208) 799-5275.

Caregivers Support Group, 3-3:50 p.m., third Tuesday, second floor of Lewiston City Library, sponsored by St. Joseph Family Hospice. (208) 799-5275.

Grief Support Group, 4-4:50 p.m., third Tuesday, second floor of Lewiston City Library, sponsored by St. Joseph Family Hospice. (208) 799-5275.

Healing Rooms of Lewiston, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays, Riverside Room, Echo Hills Church, 3215 Echo Hills Drive, Lewiston. All are welcome to come pray for healing; physical, emotional and spiritual. Monthly meetings also available the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.

Colfax Caregiver Support Group, sponsored by the Council on Aging and Human Services, 3-4:30 p.m. fourth Thursday of the month, The Courtyard on Main Street in Colfax.

Womens Support Group, for women in or recovering from an abusive relationship, 6:30 p.m. Thursdays, YWCA, 300 Main St., Lewiston.

Valley Breast Cancer Support Group, 6:30-8:30 p.m. first Wednesday, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, parish hall, Lewiston.

American Cancer Society Resource Center, more information is available by calling (208) 750-7396.

Parkinsons Support Group, 1:30 p.m. second Monday of the month, St. Stans Parish Center, 633 Fifth Ave. For directions, call (208) 799-5219.

Grangeville Diabetic Support Group, 1:30 p.m. third Monday, Syringa General Hospital.

Ostomy Support Group, 12:30-1:30 p.m. second Monday of each month, Canyons Church, 717 15th St., Clarkston. Resources, personal experience and problem solving will be offered. For more information, call Adrian at (509) 254-3404 or Cheryl at (208) 743-4088.

Palouse Ostomy Support Group, 5 p.m. first Wednesday of the month, by Zoom; call Karen (509) 332-6053 for information and link. For people with ostomies, family members, members of the health care community or people contemplating getting surgery.

Widows and widowers support group, Lenore Community Center, those interested can call Rebecca Ziegler at (425) 760-2654.
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.
Know about history

If we expect elected officials to guide us through the present and into the future, we ought to expect they have knowledge of the past.

Not so with the MAGA crowd. Otherwise, they would not idolize a man whose lack of historical knowledge is so laughable its become a major source of material for comedians.

But theres nothing funny about how Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Josh Hawley, Matt Gaetz and other MAGA minions in Congress have failed to recognize that their refusal to fund Ukraines war efforts makes them as compliant in Vladimir Putins aggression as Neville Chamberlains complacency was in Adolph Hitlers. They appear to know as little about the formative events of World War II as Donald Trump knows about Gettysburg.
Stop running photo

Could you please show some compassion for the parents of the four young college students who were murdered in Moscow, and quit putting the picture of the accused murderer in the paper when you do an article about the murders?

I cant imagine how hard that must be for them. Thank you.

Nick Hasselstrom

Clarkston

Vote true conservatives

I find it interesting and unsettling that political candidates migrate from out of state to seep into and infiltrate local and state politics with outside agendas.

Ammon Bundy is an example. (As far as I know, he is currently a fugitive from Idaho living in Utah.) Current examples are Larry Dunn and Kyle Harris, both running for state offices with manifestos nearly word for word derived from Bundys website.

Our traditional conservative lifestyle here in Idaho is being threatened. We have to pay attention and dont let them sneek in the door. Jim Chmelik and Charlie Shepard are the true local Idaho conservative candidates with traditional Idaho values. Lets keep Idaho Idahoan.

Steve Munson

Grangeville

Conduct due diligence

There are plenty of thoughts, opinions and information about the May 21 voting. Most of them are on either side of the local school levy: history, rationalizations, encouragement, explanations, etc. Be certain to conduct your own due diligence on the topic. Dont overlook not-trivial facts: The state constitution requires the state Legislature to fund our public schools. It does not authorize/direct the Legislature to delegate that responsibility/authority to other governmental entities.

Children are our future and they deserve a quality education. True. Perhaps our elected officials do not share our values of our children? Do our children deserve current voters kicking the can down the road for their generation to resolve? The onus is on us to stimulate change. If not, in the future, our children will be saddled with this ineptitude.

Dont vote for any incumbent or candidate, at any governmental office level, if their record (or, if not in office, their stance) proves/states their actions (record) to resolve school funding, per the constitution. Have any of your county commissioners or staff utilized the Idaho Association of Counties to stimulate our state Legislature? This is what the association is there for.

Ask these questions at candidate sessions, public forums and in the press, etc. Disregard candidates glossy propaganda touting achievements not addressing the rewriting of the state school-funding formula.

Newspapers, ask the hard questions of the candidates. Do some investigative reporting and publish your findings. Remember, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Garry Seloske

Grangeville

Not a Republican

Lori McCann is not a Republican. Last election, her campaign mailer was paid for by the Idaho Education Association which has sponsored training events for Idaho teachers: Restorative Justice: Its Roots and How to Use it in the classroom; Creating Safe Spaces: LGBTQ+ Students and Parents; Equity in Education Training: Participants will be given resources from Race Forward.

Race Forward is about shifting power, changing policies and practices, and transforming values and culture (raceforward.org).

From the Clearwater Progress Jan. 13, 2022: McCann believes her constituents are willing to pay more in taxes. There is such a misconception about what critical race theory is and believes teaching of critical race theory in colleges and universities are unconfirmed allegations.

I asked McCann and Robert Blair what they thought of open primaries (which will be on the November ballot) and ranked choice voting. Both are in favor of open primaries, which will turn Idaho blue. McCann feels she doesnt have enough information on the other to comment. Is anyone buying that? Neither cares if Idaho stays red as long as they are in power. They are touring with their precinct people. Be leery of those touring with McCann and Blair.

Please vote for Dan Foreman, Senate; Colton Bennett, House Seat A; Brandon Mitchell, House Seat B; Anthony Larue, Kamiah West; Tina Thomason, Craigmont; Michelle Lyons, Nezperce; Debra Idso, Reubens; Phil Schlader, Mohler; Barbara Summers, Winchester.

Lisa Reynaldo

Kamiah

McCann is our best choice

Can you believe that the Idaho and Latah Republican leaderships censured 15 of its own for not supporting the partys bizarre ideas? Rep. Lori McCann was one of these, and now a couple of ... members of the Latah Republican leadership are campaigning against her. Talk about dirty politics. Wow.

Rep. McCann reminds me of the real Republican legislators of some years ago: working hard for her constituents, willing to listen to opposition, questioning party policies that bother her and her constituents and, yes, even willing to work across the aisle when productive. Today, many Republican so-called conservatives ignore the voters and suck up to groups like the Idaho Freedom Foundation (Iffy for short). Aside from a high score in the Idaho Freedom Index, what else are Iffys favorites getting? Look at Iffys website. Much to her credit, Rep. McCann is way down on its list.

The citizen initiative for a ranked primary was driven by the Republican leaderships recent efforts to make it much more difficult to vote for anything except party leadership dogma. ... Gov. Brad Little referred to the attack on our librarians as that stinking library bill ... . Thanks to Rep. McCann and other responsible legislators, most did not get to Littles desk.

The primary on May 21 is the election in Idaho. Look at the candidates websites, go to the forums, ask questions, and then vote now or on May 21. You will find that our best choice is Rep. Lori McCann.

Earl Bennett
Ive been doing some research about what people on both sides consider the coming worldwide population crisis. According to many sources, 138 of the 149 countries in the world are losing population.

The birth rate is falling and people in Western countries are prioritizing career, education and money over choosing to have a family. Because of the large families of the baby boom generation, the U.S. has been able to sustain the population. The current birthrate required to sustain a population is 2.1 children per family. The United States currently has a 1.9 child birth rate; however, because of immigration, we are still growing in our population numbers.

But consider the following:

A YouTube video titled The World Population Crisis No One Sees Coming gives a couple of other examples:

The De-Population Bomb from the Hoover Institute.

8 Billion and Counting from ABC News.

According to these accounts, 22 countries including China, Russia, Spain, Japan and Italy will likely see a population decline in the next 10 to 20 years. Japans population, for example, was approximately 128 million in 2017. Experts expect the Japanese population to halve by the end of the century to 53 million

In the year 400, worldwide population was around 242 million.

In the year 1500, it reached 503 million. In other words, it took 1,100 years to double.

Then in 1805, the population had doubled again to 1 billion, which took only 300 years to grow twofold.

The year 1927 saw it double once again to 2 billion, which was only 122 years.

By 1976, only 49 years later, it then again doubled to 4 billion.

By 2022, 36 years later, it reached 8 billion.

So we could conclude that sometime around 2070, the population would be 16 billion  if we were following the same trajectory as we have done since 400 A.D.

However, this wont be the case. The population is increasing, but ever so slowly. It should reach a plateau. But world population experts agree that it will drop rather quickly.

In 1968, Paul R. Ehrlich, a Stanford University professor, wrote a book titled, The Population Bomb: Population Control or Race to Oblivion. As the thoughts in this book made their way into mainstream media and pop culture, they began to affect public policy with a prediction that the world would collapse by the year 2000 because of overpopulation. (In 1972, this prediction was updated to the year 2040).
Ive only lived in Idaho for 47 years, which I know makes me a relative newcomer to some. In that half century of living, working, raising a family and paying taxes here, though, Ive witnessed a number of trends come and go.

By far, the most disturbing are the increasingly calculated attempts to harm Idahos public education system, pre-K through higher education. Its especially disturbing when those attempts come from politicians who pledge to uphold the Idaho Constitution, which specifically mandates supporting public education.

Thats why I serve as chairperson of Idaho Deserves Better, the topic of a cheer in the Cheers and Jeers column in the May 3 edition of the Lewiston Tribune. The shout-out was amazing and appreciated, but I need to clarify two points.

First of all, Idaho Deserves Better is a statewide, multi-generational, grassroots political action committee based in Moscow. The premise of our work is simple: Help elect candidates who support public education at all levels and work to unseat candidates who dont, regardless of party affiliation. It is much broader than a single candidate, although focusing on contested races in the May 21 primaries is a priority.

Secondly, our donor base is much broader than a single, signature donor. Currently, we have received donations  small, medium and large  from individuals in Moscow and elsewhere in the state. The one thing we all have in common? Deep concern about the future of public education in Idaho.

Public education is a top economic driver throughout our state, especially in Legislative District 6, which is home to both the University of Idaho and nearby Lewis-Clark State College, as well as dozens of elementary, middle and high schools. It is a primary employer, providing living-wage jobs for thousands of district residents, who pay taxes, buy homes and support local businesses. It is an economic spark plug, bringing in students who buy groceries, eat at restaurants and get the oil in their cars changed. And I defy anyone to name an entity that attracts more tourism dollars to this district than public education  just think homecoming weekend on the Palouse.

Public education also is critical in training a quality workforce for Idaho businesses struggling to hire the expertise they need in-state. Public education is the heart and soul of small, rural towns, from Mullan to Mud Lake.

Yet, despite all of those proven, long-term, tangible benefits, there are those who would have you believe the tax dollars spent to support public education arent worth it. Consider just two issues raised this past session of the Idaho Legislature:
Idaho women and the health care providers they rely upon are far from the only ones who are suffering the effects of the Idaho Legislatures war on reproductive rights.

Everyone in the Gem State who works here and depends on a healthy, vibrant economy could lose as well.

The fact is that the kind of draconian anti-abortion laws found in Idaho  and in the South  are so unpopular that a lot of people would prefer to live elsewhere.

Idahos law makes it a felony  punishable by a prison sentence  for any doctor to perform an abortion unless its required to save the womans life. Its also permitted in those rare cases of rape and incest where the victim is willing to fill out a police report.

Compounding the effects is the lack of a health exception, empowering doctors  not prosecutors  to practice medicine. Its up to prosecutors and the courts to decide if a womans crisis pregnancy has deteriorated to the point where her life is in danger. Women who would prefer not to wait that long opt to get help in other states. Doctors who act too soon for a prosecutors taste could wind up explaining themselves to a jury.

And this is about a spectrum of care. What about a woman who is told carrying a crisis pregnancy to term may permanently damage an organ  or leave her incapable of having other children? If death is not imminent, where does she turn for help?

So far, since Idahos abortion ban took effect in 2022, the effects have been felt most keenly in the health care community.

Its one thing to say that Idaho has lost 22% of its practicing obstetricians in that time. Its another thing to look at the raw numbers. Between August 2022 and November, 40 to 60 Idaho obstetricians quit practicing, left the Gem State or retired.

And how many people were recruited to replace them?

Two.

So a state that began the period with one obstetrician serving 6,668 Idahoans ended with one obstetrician serving 8,510 people.

Thats the view from 35,000 feet up.

On the ground, youre seeing a growing number of maternal health care deserts, including communities served by hospitals that are closing their birthing centers for lack of staff.

Idahos maternal and infant health is worsening, Dr. Kylie Cooper, a maternal-fetal medicine physician told the Idaho Capital Sun as she left the state. The loss of health care providers due to the criminalization of medicine will only further these health disparities.

And as that happens, the problem will spread to other parts of the economy.

Last year, 78% of women involved in small businesses told a poll conducted by Small Business Majority that they were concerned about restrictions on reproductive care. Likewise, 64% said reproductive freedom allowed them to pursue careers and businesses.
A man hunting for shed antlers in grizzly country went against several bear safety best practices  and came face to face with a charging mother bear, officials said.

The hunter and his two dogs surprised the bear on April 25, while walking along a ridge on private land northwest of Wolf Creek, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a May 3 news release. Wolf Creek is an unincorporated community about a 35-mile drive north from Helena.

The ridge was covered with low trees and brush that might have obscured both his and the grizzlys sight, plus he walked with the wind at his back, officials said.

He noticed a fresh grizzly track in a patch of snow  and kept going, officials said.

Minutes later, he stumbled upon the bear standing near the top of the ridge about 20 yards away from him, officials said. The bear dropped to all four legs and charged, according to the release.

The man did not have bear spray, officials said. He pulled out a gun and fired five shots while the bear was between 30 and 10 feet away from him. One shot initially grazed the bear but another hit and killed her, according to the news release.

He was not hurt, officials said.

The adult female bear had been in good physical condition, estimated to weigh around 300 pounds at about 12 years old, officials said.

And shed had a single cub that was nearby during the encounter, officials said.
Paramount, you got some splainin to do! 'I Love Lucy: The Complete Series' Blu-ray Box Set Coming November 5th!
Longford County Council have granted planning permission for works on the steps at St Marys Church, St. Marys Street, Drumlish, Longford.



The application by Fr Bernard Hogan sought permission for the proposed alterations to the existing stepped entrance that services the main entrance to St. Marys Church.

The church is listed as a protected structure and is a structure on the protected structures list of the Longford County Development Plan.



The Roman Catholic church was built in 1907 and renovated in 1969. There is a single-storey vestry attached to the northeast side of chancel which was also built in 1969.



The concrete steps are a feature of the church along with the iconic steel railings to front entrance.

St Marys Church is set in its own grounds in the centre of Drumlish with burial plots of local clergy on site.

The interior retains much of its original fittings, including a finely carved marble altar, attractive carved stone capitals to the chancel arch, stained glass windows and a complex timber roof.



Located on elevated ground in Drumlish, the church is the dominant architectural feature in the town and is an integral element of the built heritage and social history of the local area. It makes an interesting group with the nearby presbytery and the graveyard in its grounds.

Longford planners granted approval to the plans subject to four conditions.
A Longford midwife has received a national award recognising her achievement in the field of maternity and midwifery at the All-Ireland Maternity and Midwifery Festival Trailblazer Awards 2024.

The Maternity and Midwifery Forums All-Ireland Festival took place at the Helix, Dublin in mid April.



As part of the event the Forum hosted the All Ireland Maternity and Midwifery Trailblazer Awards Ceremony. These Awards recognise outstanding achievement and commitment to maternity and midwifery services over the past year across the island of Ireland.



Longford woman Michelle Carberry-Walsh, who is the Clinical Midwife Manager 2, of the Parent Education department, of Regional Hospital Mullingar's Maternity Department, was recognised with a Midwifery Practice Leader Trailblazer Award.

The citation read: Michelle is an experienced midwife, currently also studying for a Masters by research at UCD looking at the impact of education on parental confidence particularly in relation to high crying infants.



She works closely in the multidisciplinary team and is recognised for her endeavours to ensure positive experiences and improve outcomes for expectant parents attending Regional Hospital Mullingar, always striving to provide evidence based education for every woman and family she meets and goes that extra mile providing one to one education for those who need it. This included adapting the provision to an online platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. Michelle is a true midwifery leader and is very deserving of the award.

Michelle was one of seven midwives recognised for their outstanding achievement and commitment to maternity and midwifery services over the past year across the island of Ireland.
Ed Sheeran, Tyler Childers and The Killers will headline Boston Calling this year, but they are not the only notable acts taking the stage at the 3-day festival.

The headliners will be joined by more than 50 artists, including more than 20 acts from the Northeast.

To highlight these local artists, MassLive will publish profiles on the acts leading up to the festivals May 24 start date.

Highwater Haulers

Highwater Haulers is one of more than 20 local acts performing at Boston Calling 2024.Meaghan Casey

Highwater Haulers is a cosmic rock band from Boston and Providence whose sound incorporates old-school country, punk, rock, and more, the bands website states.

Coming off the release of their debut album in March, the band is ready to take Boston Calling by storm for the very first time.

To say we are thrilled and grateful would be an understatement, the band told MassLive. We cant wait to be at the Orange Stage and rip it up with everyone this year.

The members of Highwater Haulers were all solo musicians before they joined forces.

The band officially formed in 2020 after the members met while jamming and hanging out with one another once it was safe to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Highwater Haulerss members have been playing within the Boston music scene for more than a decade, this will be the first time that the band plays, and attends, Boston Calling.

I think the celebration and focus on local music that Boston Calling has long provided is incredibly important and validating, the band said. Being a part of that spotlight is exciting and incredibly rewarding.

Once Highwater Haulers jumps off the stage, the band will stick around to catch Saturdays headliner Tyler Childers, who has been a long-time influence for the band.

You can keep up with Highwater Haulers by following the band on Instagram and Facebook.

Boston Calling will take place Memorial Day Weekend from Friday, May 24, until Sunday, May 26, at the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston.

Fans looking to purchase tickets for Boston Calling can visit StubHub and VividSeats. More information about this years lineup and how to purchase tickets can be found here.
MassLive recently asked readers to identify people who are leaders from the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community throughout the state, working to make a difference in politics, education, business, the arts or another area of interest.

Profiles of these leaders will be published through AAPI Heritage Month in May. These are people our readers have identified as inspirational, who may be doing good acts for their communities. They are being recognized for their accomplishments, leadership and commitment to inspire change.

Amihan Matias is a leader in the AAPI community.Amihan Matias

Amihan Matias

Age: 60

Community: Springfield

Her story: Amihan Matias has a long history of community activism within Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and beyond across the state.

She is a founding board member of the Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islanders For Health, serves on the board of directors of the Asian American Resource Workshop and the steering committee of the Asian and Pacific Islander Womens Social Justice Project and helped found the Jasmine Asian Womens Giving Circle in collaboration with the Boston Womens Fund and the Haymarket Peoples Fund.

Similarly, Matias has served in roles like being the Senior Director of Community Partnerships at the Womens Fund of Western Massachusetts, being founder and principal of KAPWA Racial Equity Transformation and facilitates a six-month leadership forum for women of color and gender-expansive BIPOC called And Still We Rise, among others.

Matias told MassLive the reason for her impressive work is a deep passion for social justice, racial and gender equity and the liberation and wholeness of marginalized communities.

I do this work because I want to help create a world that sees and values BIPOC in the fullness of our humanity, a world where we can access what we need to thrive, soar and contribute, she said.

Matias was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the U.S. with her family as a child. While living in the U.S., she said her family experienced many forms of racism, including having belongings damaged and experiencing physical assault.

Experiencing racism toward herself and her family, Matias witnessed marginalization of people and communities of color around her.

Having been exposed to all of this, Matias was compelled to immerse herself in anti-racism/racial justice and equity work, which she feels honored to be a part of, she said.

In her words: This work needs to be done collectively, in community. Kapwa is the Filipino word for community. It means shared identity, equality and being with others in a way that recognizes our common humanity. It is the recognition of the self in others that honors and celebrates the inextricable link that connects us to one another. This recognition is at the core of racial equity transformation.

Were always open to hearing about more inspiring people. If youd like to suggest someone else who should be recognized, please fill out this form.
A 16-year-old male from Bellingham was shot and killed at a large party in Northborough early Sunday morning, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.

Three adults have been arrested on firearms charges in connection with the shooting, but so far, no homicide charges have been filed, the district attorney said during a press conference Sunday afternoon. The suspects are all in their late teens or 20s, and none are from Northborough.

Authorities began investigating the shooting after a party-goer flagged down a Northborough police officer around 1 a.m. Sunday morning and told them a person had brandished a gun at the party at 333 Howard St., Early said. More than 25 officers from eight different departments  including Massachusetts State Police  were preparing to enter the home when they heard gunshots.

Police then rushed into the home  where approximately 300 people had gathered  and found the 16-year-old who had been shot, Early said. They provided medical aid at the scene before rushing him out to an ambulance. He was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester where he was declared dead.

A second victim  a 17-year-old male  was shot in the buttocks, Early said. He was taken to Marlborough Hospital and later released. Two other injured people were taken to Marlborough Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and several others were treated at the scene but declined to be taken to a hospital.

The three suspects were arrested on firearms charges at the scene and are set to be arraigned in Westborough District Court on Monday, Early said. The district attorney did not identify any of the victims or suspects during the press conference Sunday.

Our thoughts go out to the victim and the victims family during this senseless act of violence, Northborough Police Chief Brian Griffin said during the conference. Its especially difficult, being Mothers Day.

Northborough police were previously notified of a large party at the home last month, Griffin said. Officers spoke with the homeowner, who told them there would not be another such gathering.

The homeowner  a man who police did not identify  was at the home while the party was happening, Griffin said. Investigators are still determining whether the homeowner was hosting the party, as well as what proportion of the guests were underage, according to Early.

The eight police departments are all still investigating the shooting, and the investigation is still in its earliest stages, Early said. Investigators are asking that anyone with information about the shooting call Northborough police at 508-393-1515.
Danvers Ingersoll Tavern is inextricable from New Englands history. The first three women to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials were scheduled to be examined there. After that, it served as a gathering place for militias before the American Revolution.

Now, the site is on the brink of becoming a relic of history.

Since 2011, the tavern, which sits on the corner of Hobart and Centre streets in Danvers, has been vacant, slowly deteriorating to the point where it now has a red X plastered to an exterior wall, indicating to public safety officials that it would be unsafe to enter in the case of a fire. A tarp has been plastered over a hole in the roof for five years and its exterior is rotting, a report by Danvers Ad-Hoc Historic Preservation Study Committee found.

A barn in the backyard is now just a pile of bones after falling down five years ago  the last time town officials in the North Shore suburb got a look at the property beyond what is available from the street. Town officials have been barred from entering the home for a decade.

Now, officials say, the clock is ticking to prevent the tavern itself, which served as a single-family home prior to its most recent sale, from meeting the same fate.

We need some sort of intervention, Danvers Director of Land Use & Community Services Aaron Henry told MassLive. But unfortunately, we dont have a lot of tools at our disposal.

Efforts to reach the owner of the property, a New Hampshire resident, to bring him to the table to discuss rehabilitating the tavern began in earnest five years ago, Henry said. Since then, town officials have only been able to communicate with the man through email and while he has indicated he is willing to make improvements, Henry said his actions have not backed up his words.

Last town officials spoke to the man he intimated he would retain an attorney, according to Henry.

So, left with no other choice and with growing fears about how rapidly the property could deteriorate, Henry said town officials are pursuing receivership with the attorney generals office. Receivership allows a court to appoint a person or organization to temporarily manage a property to enforce the states sanitary code and respond to an absent landlord, according to Massachusetts Legal Help.

We didnt undertake our current response lightly, Henry said. We just dont feel we have another option.

Once we get water infiltration and all that stuff, things can go quickly, he added.

Barring a last-minute reversal from the property owner, receivership is town officials best hope for a swift resolution. But even that isnt a guarantee.

What could a demolition-by-neglect bylaw do?

If all else fails, a salve could come later this year in the form of a new demolition-by-neglect bylaw up for a vote by town meeting this month.

The bylaw, developed by the ad-hoc committee, would prevent what town officials fear may be happening on Hobart Street  a property owner allows a regulated historic building to denigrate to the point where they could circumvent local regulations barring the demolition of such buildings. If the state of the property deteriorates enough, the owner could apply for an emergency demolition permit and circumvent those rules entirely.

The committee, in its report, cites Ingersolls Tavern specifically, writing that it has potentially the strongest ties to the 1692 Salem Village Witch-Hunt out of all structures still standing in Massachusetts today.

Should the bylaw clear town meeting, it would require approval from the attorney generals office, and only at that point could it go into effect, meaning there is no guarantee it could save the tavern.

To Henry, time is of the essence.

Its not a good outcome if were there, he said.

Places such as the tavern are what give communities like Danvers their individual characteristics, Henry said.

We have structures in this town that are unique to our town and tell a story that only is relevant to our town. Every town has its differences, but this is one of those sites that means something to us and means something to this communitys history, he said. Its got a story to tell that no other property can.
MassLive recently asked readers to identify people who are leaders from the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community throughout the state, working to make a difference in politics, education, business, the arts or another area of interest.

Profiles of these leaders will be published through AAPI Heritage Month in May. These are people our readers have identified as inspirational, who may be doing good acts for their communities. They are being recognized for their accomplishments, leadership and commitment to inspire change.

Connie Wong, deputy commissioner at the Boston Fire Department.Boston Fire Department

Connie Wong

Age: 56

Community: Boston

Her story: Connie Wong is a deputy commissioner at the Boston Fire Department, where she conducts outreach and advocates for greater diversity within hiring. Specifically, the recruitment of women and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) candidates, the two smallest demographics in the department and within the fire service nationwide.

Under Wongs leadership, the diversity of each Boston Fire Department recruiting class has been near or exceeded 30%, and she hired the first AAPI female firefighter in the departments history. AAPI representation within the BFD has increased more than fourfold since her arrival.

A graduate of Boston College and Suffolk Law School, Wong grew up in Bostons Chinatown, from where she gained a perspective on the dearth of AAPI representation in many sectors and organizations. Her path to the Boston Fire Department wasnt linear, but it was a full circle story.

Earlier in her career, she was a lawyer in Boston City Hall where she first worked for the fire department as its legal counsel. After three years there, she went onto work for Suffolk Superior Criminal Court, before returning to the Boston Fire Department 15 years later in her current capacity.

Proud of her Chinese culture and heritage, Wong has been an active participant in local AAPI nonprofits, where her passion lies in empowering AAPI women and young girls.

Last year, she was given an Unsung Hero Award by the states Asian American and Pacific Islanders Commission.

In her words: Find your passion; pursue all opportunities that come your way. Work hard and learn as much as possible, especially so if you are newly out of school, or starting a new career. Never stop asking questions. And even if you do not enjoy your job, find some passion or endeavor outside of your professional life. It will be enriching to your own personal and professional growth, even if you may not recognize it at the time.

Were always open to hearing about more inspiring people. If youd like to suggest someone else who should be recognized, please fill out this form.
The large party during which a Bellingham teen was shot and killed early Sunday morning was held on a Northborough property with a lavish mansion estimated to be worth over $1.5 million, according to Zillow.

The shooting happened sometime after 1 a.m., and at that time, there were approximately 300 people attending the party, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. A 17-year-old was also shot during the incident, but he has since been released from a hospital.

Read more: Shooting that killed teen during large party happened at Northborough mansion

Three adults have been arrested on firearms charges in connection with the shooting, but so far, no homicide charges have been filed, the district attorney said. Neither the victims nor the suspects have been identified, but the suspects are all in their late teens or 20s, and none are from Northborough.

What we know about the home

A Zillow listing for 333 Howard St. in Northborough says the 4,200-square-foot Frank Lloyd Wright-style home has five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms and an in-ground pool. The listing also shows a cottage on the property with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, a bar and a pool table.

Its quite a house, Early said during a press conference about the shooting Sunday afternoon.

Pictures of the home featured on the listing show that it has many full-length windows, more than one walk-out porch and a stone patio with a grill. It was built on the 3.37-acre lot in 1953 using cypress wood and granite and is set a ways back from the road, according to the listing.

The cottage was listed as a short-term rental on Airbnb at the time of the shooting. Investigators are still determining whether the party or shooting involved an Airbnb guest, Early said Sunday.

A Northborough Airbnb listing showing the same pictures as the 333 Howard St. Zillow listing has a 4.92 guest rating and is a guest favorite. In an email to MassLive, Airbnb said there was no guest booked through the site to stay at the cottage Saturday night.

On Sunday afternoon, the cottage was still listed on Airbnb as available for stay as soon as Monday.

What we know about the homeowner

Northborough police were previously notified of a large party at the home last month, Police Chief Brian Griffin said during the Sunday press conference. Officers spoke with the homeowner, who told them there would not be another such gathering.

The homeowner  a man who police did not identify  was at the house while the party was happening, Griffin said. Investigators are still determining whether the homeowner was hosting the party, as well as what proportion of the guests were underage, according to Early.

Public records and Zillow indicate that the house was last sold in 2010, but the home was last listed for rent on Zillow in February 2023. At that time, the listing said the ideal renter would be a serious and mature young professional or grad student.

When MassLive called a phone number listed as being for a man with the same name and address as the homeowner, a man picked up but hung up after finding out who was calling. A request for comment on the shooting was sent to the same number via text but MassLive did not receive a response Sunday afternoon.

What happened during the shooting

Authorities began investigating the shooting after a party-goer flagged down a Northborough police officer around 1 a.m. Sunday morning and told them someone had brandished a gun at the party, Early said. More than 25 officers from eight different departments  including Massachusetts State Police  were preparing to enter the home when they heard gunshots.

Police then rushed into the home  where approximately 300 people had gathered  and found the 16-year-old who had been shot, Early said. He was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester where he was declared dead.

The second victim was shot in the buttocks, and two other injured people were taken to a hospital as a result of the incident, Early said. The three suspects were arrested on firearms charges at the scene and are set to be arraigned in Westborough District Court on Monday.

The eight police departments are all still investigating the shooting, and the investigation is still in its earliest stages, Early said. Investigators are asking that anyone with information about the shooting call Northborough police at 508-393-1515.
Thirteen Kohls locations in Massachusetts are set to have a BabiesRUs shop added this year, according to the department store chain.

These added sections will feature a curated assortment of the latest baby apparel, gear, furniture, activities and accessories, Kohls said in a Wednesday press release. The first BabiesRUs shops will begin opening in August, and all are scheduled to open by the winter holidays.

Massachusetts Kohls locations to get a BabiesRUs shop:

Chelmsford

Danvers

Dartmouth

Hingham

Leominster

Mansfield

Milford

Millbury

Saugus

Seekonk

Stoughton

Walpole

West Springfield

Customers will still be able to purchase baby and kids products from brands Kohls already offers  such as Little Co. by Lauren Conrad and Jumping Beans  after the BabiesRUs shop opens at their local store, according to the department store. These products will be displayed next to the BabiesRUs section.

Massachusetts Kohls customers whose local store is not getting a BabiesRUs will still be able to purchase products from the brand at kohls.com, according to the department store. Additionally, the Kohls locations in Smithfield and Warwick, Rhode Island; Manchester, Connecticut; and Salem and Plaistow, New Hampshire, will have the branded section added this year.

BabiesRUs went out of business with its parent company, ToysRUs, in 2018, but experienced a comeback after both companies were acquired by brand management firm WHP Global  which also owns Tru Kids  the same year, according to CNN. BabiesRUs opened a new flagship store at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey in July 2023.

The brands shop rollout at 200 Kohls locations this year mimics WHP Globals strategy in reviving ToysRUs, which added shops at over 450 Macys locations in the U.S. over the past few years. It is unclear whether more Kohls locations will have BabiesRUs shops added in the future.
SPRINGFIELD  In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the guest speaker at Springfield College. On the 60th anniversary of his speech, this years graduates were told to look back and follow through on the faith and optimism he showed so many years ago.

Martin Dobrow, professor of communications, served as the main speaker at this years commencement address, telling students he would take them on a virtual train ride to the past at the little college that could.
Mayor Byron Brown says Erie Countys formula for distributing sales tax revenue is fundamentally unfair, and he wants the state to intervene so that more of the money flows into the City of Buffalo.

That is a controversial and complex issue. No municipality can get a bigger share without someone else getting less for their roads, schools or other services.

Of the 8.75% sales tax that people pay in Erie County, more than half stays in the county and is distributed according to a complicated formula that benefits cities, towns, villages, school districts and public transportation.

We really need to talk about inequity, Brown said in a meeting with Buffalo News editors and reporters. Weve talked about that for a couple of years, and that point keeps getting missed.

He pointed out that the Erie County sales tax rate is higher than most other counties  Monroe and Onondaga counties charge 8%  yet Buffalo receives less sales tax money than Rochester or Syracuse.

The mayor has lobbied for years for Buffalo to get a larger share of the sales tax revenue pie, and he is resurrecting the issue again now that his latest budget proposes a 9% increase in property taxes.

The sales tax collected by Erie County in 2022 was over a billion dollars, Brown said. The City of Buffalo got $86 million. Over a billion dollars and the largest municipality in the county got $86 million.

Brown misstated how much the city received from sales tax money. The city actually received $113.5 million during that 2022 fiscal year timeframe, according to the Buffalo Comptrollers Office. The following fiscal year, the city received $111.3 million.

But he is correct that Buffalo received less sales tax money than Rochester or Syracuse, two upstate cities that are smaller than Buffalo. He does not, however, take into account the extent to which Monroe and Onondaga counties share money with villages and towns, or consider how much these counties rely on property taxes to make ends meet.

How sales tax sharing works

Here is how sales tax money gets distributed in Erie County.

From the 8.75% tax, the state automatically keeps 4%.

What happens to the remaining money varies from county to county. Some counties keep it all. Others, particularly those with urban centers, share their sales tax revenue with their cities. Some also provide money to towns and villages. Others, like Erie County, also provide some sales tax money to school districts.

Of the 4.75% that stays in Erie County, 3% is distributed among the cities, towns, villages, school districts and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. That arrangement dates back to the 1970s.

Because of subsequent fiscal crises that Erie County faced, the county was given temporary additional sales tax money that adds up to another 1.75%. That temporary-but-its-really-permanent revenue gets further broken down into 1% and .75%. From the 1%, $12.5 million is shared with cities, towns and villages, and the balance is kept by Erie County. The county also keeps all of the .75% sales tax.

When you add this together, of the sales tax revenue that isnt given to the state, Buffalo gets 11%, the county keeps 55% and the remaining third is shared with other cities, towns and school districts, according to Erie County Comptrollers Office data.

Arguments about the fairness of this arrangement are longstanding.

Mohan challenges sales tax distribution Wants change so towns can get a bigger share Amherst Supervisor Satish B. Mohan on Monday challenged the Erie County Legislature to refigure the decades-old formula that distributes $250 million in sales tax proceeds to cities, towns, villages and school districts. Mohan wants a formula that accounts for the population shift from Buffalo to suburban towns, so the change he seeks would pinch the city. He proposed a

In 2008, then-Amherst Town Supervisor Satish Mohan called the sales tax distribution formula unfair, inequitable and irrational. He wanted more sales tax shared with the suburbs.

In 2015, former assemblyman and county executive candidate Ray Walter complained about the unequal distribution of county sales tax money. He wanted more money going to towns and school districts.

Brown is arguing that a larger share of county sales tax should flow into the city, not out of it.

The city is still not getting its fair share based on that additional 1%, Brown said. That has an impact on the poorest people in this region living in the City of Buffalo.

Monroe and Onondaga counties

The Buffalo News gathered sales tax sharing information from the Monroe County Finance Department, the Onondaga Comptrollers Office, and the Erie County Comptrollers Office and budget office to see why other counties are more generous than Erie County in sharing sales tax revenue.

Monroe County provided the City of Rochester with $195.4 million during the 2022-23 fiscal year, the largest amount received by any of upstates three biggest cities.

A formula established in 1985 requires that Rochester and Monroe County each receive roughly a third of local sales tax money, with school districts, towns and villages sharing the remaining third. There are nuances to this formula that can result in Monroe County receiving even less. Because Monroe County receives such a limited amount, its budget is much more reliant on property taxes.

Property taxes constitute only 14% of the Erie Countys budget, but constitute a third of Monroe Countys budget.

Onondaga County is a different story. Despite having less than half the population of Erie County, Onondaga County gave a similar amount of sales tax money to Syracuse as what Erie County gave to Buffalo during the 2022-23 fiscal timeframe  $114.3 million.

But Onondaga County still managed to keep 75% of its local sales tax money  far more than Erie County. That is possible because Onondaga County gives no sales tax money to its towns and villages.

Onondaga County Comptroller Marty Masterpole said the political stars aligned with both a mayor and county executive sympathetic to the citys interests in 2010. There was also downward pressure from the state, he said. Despite protests from towns and villages, the Onondaga County Legislature voted unanimously to support the change.

It is difficult to imagine that happening here.

County officials reject changes

Brown wants to appeal to state lawmakers to change the sales tax formula because he wont get support for that at the county level. That bore out in Buffalo News conversations with county leaders.

Its a recipe for disaster, said Democratic Erie County Legislator Howard Johnson, who represents a Buffalo city district.

He and other legislators referred to the frenzy that would ensue among all municipalities in the county if the sales tax sharing agreement were to be reopened for changes.

My towns would scream bloody murder over this, Republican Minority Leader John Mills said. Ill bring all the town board members and supervisors in from all the suburbs. Youll have 120 people in here.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Buffalo is already receiving more than its fair share of sales tax money because of the way the sharing formula carves out an additional contribution for the cities of Buffalo, Lackawanna and Tonawanda.

The City of Buffalo already is receiving more, as a percentage of the sales tax, than every town, every school district and the villages, Poloncarz said. I know that the mayor feels that he deserves more, but if he was to take more  if more was to be given to the City of Buffalo  it has to come from elsewhere. Its got to come from the county, its got to come from school districts, its got to come from towns and villages.

He also pointed out that the city has the right to withdraw from the sale tax sharing agreement and collect its own city sales taxes if its elected officials think the current agreement is unfair. But such a decision would only hurt the city because most retail purchases, including big-ticket purchases such as cars, happen in the suburbs.

County Budget Director Mark Cornell also pointed out that the NFTA  which concentrates its public transportation services in the city  also receives tens of thousands of dollars in sales tax-related revenue from the county. This year, it is budgeted to receive $28 million. That money is not coming from the citys sales tax distribution. Neither is the sales tax revenue that goes to Buffalos schools.

Brown, however, said the county provides no routine snow plowing assistance or road repairs in the city, and doesnt offset taxes on vacant city properties as it does in the towns. Sales tax sharing is one more area where the city loses out, he said.

These are all inequities that have to be looked at for the future of this region, Brown said. The state of New York can fix it.
A DONEGAL man who drove at 158km/h along the N17 near Knock has been disqualified from driving for four years and sentenced to four months imprisonment.

Colm Howard of 22 Cnoc Ard Drive, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, appeared before last weeks sitting of Castlebar District Court, where he was charged with speeding along the N17 on August 5, 2020, and having no insurance.

Garda Hugh McHugh explained that at 2.41pm he detected Mr Howard driving at 158km/h in a 100km/h zone at Lismeeguan, Knock. He stopped the defendant and issued him with a Fixed Charge Penalty Notice, which went unpaid.

The court heard that Mr Howard has a number of previous convictions, including convictions for having no insurance.

Ms Kathleen Henry, counsel for Mr Howard, explained her client was working in a Covid ward in Limerick at the time and was caught speeding on his way home to Donegal. She said at the time his friend, who had been driving his own car was tired, and Mr Howard agreed to drive, thinking he was insured.

She said that Mr Howard employs four people who rely on him for a job, and he also has a wife and two children, and she asked Judge Fiona Lydon to be as lenient as possible.

However, Judge Lydon expressed concern about Mr Howards previous convictions for driving with no insurance, and having considered all the options and taking the speeding into account, she imposed a four-month jail sentence along with a four-year driving disqualification.

Ms Henry asked Judge Lydon if she would consider suspending the sentence, as Mr Howard is the sole breadwinner in the house. Judge Lydon declined the request, saying that Mr Howard has a number of road traffic convictions over the last 20 years and his misdemeanours had to stop.

Recognisance was fixed in the event of an appeal, and Mr Howard availed of this. He was later released pending an appeal in the Circuit Court.






by Ray Schultz , May 12, 2024

Nebraska Public Media has acquired The Reader and El Perico from Pioneer Publishing.

Pioneer Publishing founder John Heaston gifted the properties to Nebraska Public Media.

The Reader is an alternative news publication that serves Omaha. El Perico provides Spanish-language news and information in the area.

Nebraska Public Media plans to provide an archive of past content and develop a plan to continue to add new content to the digital sites.

This endeavor will amplify our commitment to in-depth coverage of people, places and issues that may not be receiving the kind of attention that public media journalism can provide, Mark Leonard, general manager/CEO of Nebraska Public Media.

"Im pleased The Reader and El Perico will continue to make a positive impact on our community under the direction of Nebraska Public Media, Heaston says.
Infertility affects 1 in 6 couples who are trying to conceive. In about 50% of these cases, male infertility is a major contributing factor.



Many disorders and factors could contribute towards male infertility and treatment pattern may vary in several cases. However, in many instances treatment may also not work at all. Infertility may be attributed to testicular damage and thereby affecting its ability to produce sperm. In such cases, testicles may not gain its usual sperm-making ability back and thus can't be treated. Other than testicular damage, prime causes of male infertility are less sperm production and poor sperm quality.


PM Modi's profound grasp of #SickleCellAnemia's debilitating effects stems from extensive interactions with tribal communities and global experts, predating his tenure as Gujarat's Chief Minister. #anemia #bonemarrow

Pioneering Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission

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During a public meeting in Maharashtras tribal district of Nandurbar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored his partys commitment to eliminating sickle cell anemia nationwide."Congress has never cared for tribal brothers and sisters.It is the BJP that has launched a campaign to eradicate sickle cell anemia from the root. So that no poor person is malnourished, we have also been concerned about this," said PM Modi.Having spent a long time among the tribal communities in different parts of the country over the past many decades, PM Modi has stated earlier that the tribal society is "not just a government statistic" but a "matter of empathy and emotional concern" for the BJP. It is also not for the first time that Prime Minister Modi was highlighting his strong resolve to eliminate the genetic blood disease which is more common in the tribal population of India and affects the lives of over 2.5 lakh children and their families each year.Last July, while launching the Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission, he made it clear that the campaign for freedom from the hereditary disease - "which was not even an issue for the previous governments due to their indifference towards the tribal society" - will become the main mission of the Amrit Kaal.The government led by him, PM Modi assured, is working in a "mission mode" to liberate the tribal families - and the entire country - from Sickle Cell Anemia by 2047 when the nation celebrates 100 years of independence.This is being done by increasing the number of blood banks for patients requiring blood transfusions and opening new facilities for bone marrow transplantations. PM Modis deep understanding of the debilitating impact that Sickle Cell Anemia has on the human body comes from intense interactions he had not just with the tribal communities but also worlds leading experts since long before he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat."Even after I became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, I started many campaigns in this regard. When I visited Japan after becoming the Prime Minister, I met a Nobel laureate scientist there. I came to know that he had done a lot of research on sickle cell disease. I also sought his assistance in finding a cure for sickle cell anemia," he said, last year.PM Modi was referring to his 2014 meeting with Japans stem cell pioneer and 2012 Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka at the Centre for iPS Cell Research and Application in Kyoto during which he expressed concern over the prevalence of sickle cell anemia among tribal communities across India. PM Modi and the top BJP leadership have also been mentioning about the government working tirelessly to eradicate many other serious diseases since coming to power in 2014. This includes working towards completely eliminating tuberculosis by 2025 and making sure that cases of Kala-azar, malaria , leprosy and meningitis reduce by a significant number.Source-IANS
During todays swearing-in ceremony in Parliament, and in spite of the fact that the official text of the oath that was read out to her referred to the country as North Macedonia, the new President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, chose to call her country Macedonia.



This act is a flagrant violation of the Prespa Agreement and the Constitution of our neighbouring country, which has been brought into line with North Macedonias international obligations. In spite of the objections it voiced as an opposition party during the ratification of the Prespa Agreement, the current Greek government respected as ratified the international agreement, which overrides any other provision of law.



In this context, Greece categorically states that further progress in its bilateral relations with North Macedonia, as well as progress in the latters European course, depends upon the full implementation of the Prespa Agreement and principally the use of the countrys constitutional name.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.

Israel has portrayed the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Hamas' last stronghold, saying it must invade in order to succeed in its goals of dismantling the group and returning scores of hostages. A limited operation there has expanded in recent days, forcing some 300,000 people to flee and drawing warnings from Egypt, where an official said it is putting the country's decades-old peace treaty with Israel at risk.

But the rest of the war-ravaged territory seems to provide ample opportunities for Hamas. Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain open-ended security control over the coastal enclave, which is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected postwar plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to govern Gaza with support from Arab and Muslim countries. Those plans depend on progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, something to which Netanyahu's government is deeply opposed.

With the two close allies divided, Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas to reconstitute itself in even the hardest-hit areas.

The war began when Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostage. They still hold about 100 captives and the remains of more than 30, and internationally mediated talks over a cease-fire and hostage release appear to be at a standstill.

Israels air, land and sea offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which doesnt distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.

HEAVY BOMBARDMENT IN THE NORTH

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in the northern Gaza Strip, which has suffered widespread devastation and been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. U.N. officials say there is a full-blown famine there.

Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have been battling Palestinian militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.

It was a very difficult night, said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old Palestinian from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday Saturday. This is madness.

First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defense said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as from Rafah.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said that in addition to Jabaliya and Zeitoun, forces were also operating in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. The two towns near Gaza's northern border with Israel were heavily bombed in the opening days of the war.

The military is now going into Jabaliya for the second time and into Zeitoun for the third time, and it will continue to go in and out, columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israel's Maariv daily, channeling the growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months into the war.

Hamas regime cannot be toppled without preparing an alternative to that regime, he wrote, drawing comparisons with the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The only people who can govern Gaza after the war are Gazans, with a lot of support and help from the outside.

CIVILIANS FLEE IN THE SOUTH

The United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid in Gaza, said 300,000 people have fled Rafah since the operation began there. Most are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Mawasi, a crowded tent camp on the coast where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.

Rafah was sheltering some 1.3 million Palestinians before the Israeli operation began, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere in the territory.

Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, and Hagari said dozens of militants had been killed there as targeted operations continued. The United Nations has warned that a planned full-scale Rafah invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian deaths.

Rafah borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, which are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down. Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the delivery of aid though the crossing because of the unacceptable Israeli escalation, the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel reported, citing an unnamed official.

A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press that Cairo has lodged protests with Israel, the United States and European governments, saying the offensive has put its peace treaty with Israel  a cornerstone of regional stability  at high risk.

The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he won't provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah. On Friday, his administration said there was reasonable evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians  Washington's strongest statement yet on the matter.

Israel rejects those allegations, saying it tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll because the militants fight in dense, residential areas. But the military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

The Gaza Health Ministry said a strike late Saturday in central Gaza killed Mohammed Qazaat and his son, Youssef, both of whom were prominent local dentists.

___

Krauss reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Old foes Turkey and Greece will test a five-month-old friendship initiative Monday when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Ankara.

The two NATO members, which share decades of mutual animosity, a tense border and disputed waters, agreed to sideline disputes last December. Instead, theyre focusing on trade and energy, repairing cultural ties and a long list of other items placed on the so-called positive agenda.

Heres a look at what the two sides hope to achieve and the disputes that have plagued ties in the past:

FOCUSING ON A POSITIVE AGENDA

Mitsotakis is to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday as part of efforts to improve ties following the solidarity Athens showed Ankara after a devastating earthquake hit southern Turkey last year.

The two leaders have sharp differences over the Israeli-Hamas war, but are keen to hold back further instability in the eastern Mediterranean as conflict also continues to rage in Ukraine.

We always approach our discussions with Turkey with confidence and with no illusions that Turkish positions will not change from one moment to the next, Mitsotakis said last week, commenting on the visit. Nevertheless, I think its imperative that when we disagree, the channels of communication should always be open."

We should disagree without tension and without this always causing an escalation on the ground," he added.

Ioannis Grigoriadis, a professor of political science at Ankaras Bilkent University, said the two leaders would look for ways to expand the positive agenda and look for topics where the two sides can seek win-win solutions, such as in trade, tourism and migration.

EASY VISAS FOR TURKISH TOURISTS

Erdogan visited Athens in early December, and the two countries have since maintained regular high-level contacts to promote a variety of fence-mending initiatives, including educational exchanges and tourism.

Turkish citizens this summer are able to visit 10 Greek islands using on-the-spot visas, skipping a more cumbersome procedure needed to enter Europes common travel area zone, known as the Schengen area.

This generates a great opportunity for improving the economic relations between the two sides, but also to bring the two stable societies closer  for Greeks and Turks to realize that they have more things in common than they think, Grigoriadis said.

A HISTORY OF DISPUTES

Disagreements have brought Athens and Ankara close to war on several occasions over the past five decades, mostly over maritime borders and the rights to explore for resources in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean seas.

The two countries are also locked in a dispute over Cyprus, which was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the islands northern third.

The dispute over the exploration of energy resources resulted in a naval standoff in 2020 and a vow by Erdogan to halt talks with the Mitsotakis government. But the two men met three times last year following a thaw in relations and a broader effort by Erdogan to re-engage with Western countries.

The foreign ministers of the two countries, Hakan Fidan of Turkey and George Gerapetritis of Greece, are set to join the talks Monday and hold a separate meeting.

RECENT DISAGREEMENTS

Just weeks before Mitsotakis visit, Erdogan announced the opening of a former Byzantine-era church in Istanbul as a mosque, drawing criticism from Greece and the Greek Orthodox church. Like Istanbuls landmark Hagia Sophia, the Chora had operated as a museum for decades before it was converted into a mosque.

Turkey, meanwhile, has criticized recently announced plans by Greece to declare areas in the Ionian and Aegean seas as marine parks to conserve aquatic life. Turkey objects to the one-sided declaration in the Aegean, where some areas remain under dispute, and has labelled the move as a step that sabotages the normalization process.

Grigoriadis said Turkey and Greece could focus on restoring derelict Ottoman monuments in Greece and Greek Orthodox monuments in Turkey. That would be an opportunity for improved ties, he said.

___

Gatopoulos reported from Athens. Robert Badendieck in Istanbul contributed.
Kris Bryant and the Rockies have endured a brutal start to the seven-year deal the sides agreed upon prior to the 2022 season. Since he landed in Colorado, the veteran has appeared in just 135 of the clubs 363 contests and has generally struggled at the plate even when healthy enough to take the field, slashing just .249/.329/.391 in 571 trips to the plate with the club. Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post took an in-depth look at Bryants Rockies tenure this morning, noting that despite the veterans struggles he still believes hell be able to contribute in Colorado once healthy.

I know [my talent] is still in there. There are flashes of it, and I cant wait to get out there and play again, Bryant told Saunders.

Its an open question whether Bryant will eventually get healthy enough to rediscover the talent that convinced the Rockies to invest $182MM in him just over two years ago, but its hard to deny how valuable such an outcome would be for Colorado. The second-overall pick in the 2013 draft, Bryants career kicked off with a bang when he slashed an excellent .284/.377/.522 in 306 games as the Cubs starting third baseman over his first two years in the big leagues. Those seasons saw him earn two All Star appearances, a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP award, and hoist the first World Series trophy on the north side of Chicago in more than a century. Bryant would go on to finish seventh in NL MVP voting the following year and make two more All Star appearances throughout his time with the club before wrapping up his Cubs career with a .279/.378/.508 slash line across 833 games.

That incredible talent has not been on display in Colorado, but it appears he could return to action and resume his attempts to rediscover his power stroke in the near future. MLB.coms Injury Tracker indicates that Bryant is on track to make a relatively quick return to the Rockies, with manager Bud Black telling reporters yesterday that Bryant is slated to begin a rehab assignment later this week and could return to the big league club as soon as May 17 in San Francisco. That the 32-year-old is nearing a return hardly means his injury woes are entirely behind him. Bryant told Saunders that the disc problems and severe arthritis hes dealing with will be an issue throughout the remainder of his playing career. Even so, the former MVP went on to note that hes currently feeling the best [hes] felt in a long time in terms of his health.

Bryant isnt the only player making his way toward a return for the Rockies, as Black also told reporters (including Luke Zahlman of the Denver Gazette) that Bryant will be joined in Albuquerque by outfielder Nolan Jones. Jones, who impressed with a 135 wRC+ in his first season with the Rockies last year but struggled badly in 26 games this season before hitting the injured list, is said by Black to be a couple days behind Bryant but nonetheless figures to start a rehab assignment of his own in the near future with a return by the end of the month on the table.

Further away from big league action is right-hander German Marquez, who underwent Tommy John surgery a year ago today. Black told reporters (including Zahlman) that Marquez is making progress in his rehab and has already thrown four innings in extended Spring Training and a scoreless frame in the Arizona Complex League. That being said, the right-hander figures to require a lengthy rehab assignment once hes ready to begin starting games, with Black suggesting that the righty will likely need five or six rehab outings before he can return to the big league mound. Marquez returning in time to pitch the second half for Colorado would be a huge boost to the clubs rotation, which currently ranks dead last in the majors with a 5.91 ERA.
The Marlins announced this morning that theyve selected the contract of infielder Tristan Gray. In corresponding moves, the club optioned right-hander George Soriano to Triple-A and transferred righty JT Chargois to the 60-day injured list.

Gray, 28, was a 13th-round pick by the Pirates in the 2017 draft but was traded to the Rays alongside Daniel Hudson in the deal that brought Corey Dickerson to Pittsburgh back in 2018. Gray worked his way through the minor league system with the Rays to reach the Triple-A level in 2021, but ultimately stalled out at the level thanks in part to Tampas deep cache of infield talent across the past two seasons.

After slashing a solid .235/.312/.485 in 132 games at the level last year, Gray finally got his first big league opportunity in the form of a two-game cup of coffee with the Rays in September. The 27-year-old made the most of his time in the big leagues, going two-for-five with a home run and zero strikeouts, but was outrighted off the clubs 40-man roster back in November nonetheless.

That lead Gray to sign a minor league deal with the Marlins this offseason, and after the longtime minor leaguer clubbed ten home runs in 34 games with Triple-A Jacksonville to open the year it appears Miami plans to give him a shot at the big league level. Gray has plenty of experience at all four infield spots and should get the opportunity to contribute to the Marlins, who have received below average production all around the infield except at second base, where the club recently traded away Luis Arraez and is now left to rely on Vidal Brujan and Otto Lopez.

Whether Gray will be able to seize upon this opportunity is an open question. His power potential is self-evident, as hes walloped 73 homers at the Triple-A level since the start of the 2022 campaign with isolated slugging percentages of .250 or more in each of the past three seasons. That proclivity towards the long ball comes with a worrisome amount of swing-and-miss, however. Grays striking out in a whopping 36.4% of his trips to the plate in the minors this year, and his 29.5% strikeout rate back in 2021 was the only time hes struck out less than 30% of the time in a season at the Triple-A level.

Making room for Gray on the roster is Soriano, a 25-year-old righty who pitched to solid results in multi-inning relief for the Marlins last year. In 52 innings of work across 26 appearances, Soriano posted a 3.81 ERA and 4.37 FIP while striking out 22.8% of batters faced. The wheels have come off for the right-hander this season, however, as hes been lit up to the tune of a 9.26 ERA with a 6.76 FIP in 11 2/3 innings of work this year. Walks have been a major problem for Soriano this year, as hes offered free passes to a whopping 13% of batters faced across his ten appearances. The righty figures to try and get his command back under control at the Triple-A level going forward and could return to the Marlins later this season should he get things back on track.

As for Chargois, the right-hander has been out since February with neck spasms and last appeared in a rehab game on April 26. The 33-year-old righty has a respectable 3.55 ERA and 3.85 FIP in 195 innings of work when healthy enough to take the mound and would surely improve the clubs pitching staff once healthy enough to return, though its unclear what his timetable for returning to action might be.
FLINT, MI  Three local housing commissions will receive more than $4 million, awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to ensure affordable housing in mid-Michigan.

Funding will help revitalize and modernize housing in Bay, Saginaw, and Genesee counties, including through energy-efficient upgrades.

Im proud to have secured this federal funding to help lower costs and ensure affordable housing for all mid-Michigan families, said Congressman Dan Kildee. Everyone deserves access to a safe, affordable, and healthy home, and I thank the Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City Housing Commissions for the important work they do in our community.

The Flint Housing Commission was among the grant recipients, which received $2,038,586.

We appreciate Congressman Kildees continuous support for the program, Geraldine Redmond, president of the Board of Commissioners of the Flint Housing Commission, said. These funds will allow us to continue upholding our commitment to providing Flint residents with quality and affordable homes.

Also grabbing federal grants was the Saginaw Housing Commission which received $1,668,721 and the Bay City Housing Commission which earned $717,571.

The 2024 Capital Fund Grant fund we received will be applied to capital improvements to our public housing scattered site portfolio, Karl Opheim Sr., assistant director of the Bay City Housing Commission, said. For this program year, we plan to focus on roof and electric service panels replacements.

Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter.
Drake & Scull International, a leading contracting and engineering company, has announced that one of its key subsidiaries, Passavant Energy and Environment, has clinched a subcontract for providing the design-and-build services for an expanded wastewater treatment plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The main contract value of the project coming up at Al Khobar in the kingdom's Eastern Province is SAR789 million ($215 million). Under this, an advanced waste-to-energy plant - with a 200,000 cu m per day capacity will be built.

The project scope includes various components, including an integrated wastewater treatment plant, supporting buildings and facilities, a terminal pumping station, heavy waste treatment tanks, effluent treatment units, water distribution pipelines, and an odor control system.

These components will work together seamlessly to ensure that wastewater is treated and managed efficiently and effectively.

Drake & Scull International said the subcontract won by its subsidiary Passavant Company is worth $48 million. Its scope of work includes process engineering, procurement, equipment supply, plant installation and commissioning supervision.

A specialist in waste water and water treatment technologies, Passavant said the contract was

awarded in co-operation with one of the major contracting companies in Saudi Arabia.

It aims to significantly enhance the existing infrastructure and contribute to sustainability efforts in the Eastern Province.-TradeArabia News Service
Sometime in 2022, federal prosecutors in Manhattan ramped up a corruption investigation into three-term, New Jersey Senator Robert Bob Menendez who was also chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The investigation into Mr Menendez had roots in a separate criminal inquiry into a fledgling halal meat-certifying company that went from starting production, with no prior experience, to having a lucrative, exclusive deal with the Egyptian government in a matter of months.

The president of the halal meat start-up, a New Jersey businessman named Wael Hana, had seemingly given Mr Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, lavish gifts in exchange for helping him secure the deal.

It marks the second criminal corruption investigation the senator has faced during his tenure  and one that he quickly brushed off as a politically-motivated smear campaign.

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife, Nadine Menendez, arrive at the federal courthouse in New York in September 2023 after being charged with bribery (The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

But prosecutors soon learned that the potentially lavish gifts that Mr Menendez accepted went much further than helping Mr Hana secure a deal. Another investor in the company, businessman Fred Daibes, had allegedly used Mr Menendez to help him secure funding for his residential skyscraper development project, and landed an investment from a Qatari royal family member.

On a Thursday morning in June 2022, federal investigators descended on the Menendezs New Jersey home and made a stunning discovery: 13 gold bars worth over $100,000; a Mercedes-Benz convertible; and more than $480,000 in cash stuffed into envelopes and hidden in coats, jackets and boots.

Fifteen months later, Mr Menendez, his wife and the two businessmen found themselves at the center of an indictment accusing them of brazenly engaging in a bribery scheme and attempting to obstruct justice. Mr Menendez was also accused of conspiring to act as a foreign agent to the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

The halal meat company scandal that sparked an investigation

Mr Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman, was struggling financially in 2018 after several failed business ventures.

In the year prior, he had incorporated a halal meat-certifying company called IS EG Halal. Its job was to certify that exported meat was prepared in accordance with Islamic law for millions of Americans  though he had no prior experience in halal certification.

At that same time, his longtime friend, Nadine Arslanian, began dating Mr Menendez who held a powerful position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She introduced her boyfriend to Mr Hana, who had ties to Egyptian officials.

In April 2019, just months after IS EG Halal began production, Mr Hana managed to strike a deal with the Egyptian government to become the sole company to certify halal meat.

Wael Hana leaves the federal courthouse in New York on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Prosecutors say that the deal was struck, in part, thanks to Mr Menendez, who improperly advised and pressured a US agricultural official to maintain a contract despite risks that the monopoly would disrupt the market.

In exchange for helping the deal go through, Mr Hana allegedly gifted Mr Menendez and his wife mortgage payments, gold bars and cash. He also put Ms Menendez on his company payroll for a low-or-no-show job only if Mr Menendez could facilitate more sales of military equipment to Egypt, according to court filings.

At the same time, federal prosecutors say that Mr Menendez gave Mr Hana highly sensitive information about the US embassy in Cairo who then allegedly gave it to an Egyptian official.

Mr Menendez later ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of the government of Egypt, asking his Senate colleagues to release a hold on $300m in US aid to Egypt, then deleted an email in which his wife asked him to do that, say prosecutors.

Cash found at Senator Menendezs home during FBI raid in June 2022 ((U.S. Attorneys Office))

A development project in need of investors

At the same time Mr Menendez was helping Mr Hana, prosecutors allege he was also helping Mr Daibes, a real estate developer in New Jersey.

Around 2021, Mr Daibes was looking for a new investor to help back his residential skyscraper development project in Edgewater, New Jersey. He turned to his longtime ally, Mr Menendez, for help.

Years earlier, Mr Menendez had helped Mr Daibes when he faced a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to defraud a bank he founded, prosecutors say. The New Jersey senator allegedly accepted various bribes from Mr Daibes in exchange for intervening by installing a new US attorney. However, the plan was unsuccessful.

Fred Daibes appeared at federal court in March 2024 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Now facing the dire need for financial backing to continue his real estate project, Mr Daibes allegedly invoked a similar tactic, according to court filings.

Prosecutors say Mr Menendez accepted luxury watches, a gold bar and cash from Mr Daibes knowing that he expected him to induce the Qatari Investment Company to invest with Dabies.

Mr Menendez eventually did introduce Mr Daibes to an unnamed investor who was also a member of the Qatari royal family. While Mr Daibes tried to secure a deal with the Qatari investor, Mr Menendez made multiple public statements expressing support for Qatar and then forwarded them to Mr Daibes to share with the investor and a Qatari government official, according to court documents.

Days after the investment was secured, Mr Menendez, his wife and Mr Daibes met for dinner. Hours later, Mr Menendez allegedly Googled one kilo gold price.

Two of the gold bars found during a search by federal agents of Senator Bob Menendez's home and safe deposit box in New Jersey (U.S. Attorney's Office)

Luxury vehicle payments create a path to more charges

During this time, prosecutors say Mr Menendez also accepted payments for a Mercedes-Benz convertible to help a third New Jersey businessman, Mr Uribe, with a criminal investigation.

Several of Mr Uribes associates were under an insurance fraud investigation and he sought Mr Menendezs political influence to help with that, according to prosecutors. In return, Mr Uribe arranged for the Menendezes to receive payments for Nadines luxury vehicle.

Mr Uribe initially pled not guilty to charges in the first indictment but changed his plea in March, agreeing to help the government with their case.

He revealed to prosecutors that Mr Menendez and his wife attempted to cover up the car payments by misrepresenting them as a loan rather than a bribe once the couple learned they were under investigation. In turn, the couple and Mr Uribe lied to their lawyers, he said.

The Mercedes-Benz convertible, belonging to Nadine Menendez, that prosecutors claim was paid for with bribes (US Attorneys Office)

Mr Uribes revelation led prosecutors to expand the charges against the co-defendants to include obstruction of justice.

In total, Mr Menendez faces 16 felony charges, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction of justice. Should a jury decide to convict him, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

His trial begins on Monday.
BJP is the only party with presence in all states, will breach 400 mark: Piyush Goyal
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I believe that religion and politics should not be mixed.This country is secular. In a secular country, we all should follow our religion. Have you ever heard of any religious guru issuing a fatwa saying vote for this party only or else God will get angry or it will reflect badly on their religious faith, adds Piyush Goyal
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As the university encampments and other protests against support for Israel continue, and the crackdown intensifies, is it becoming apparent that US policy towards its own citizens is much more like Israeli treatment of Palestinians than is often admitted?

As Max Blumenthal said recently on Judge Napolitanos show, we are kind of living in Netanyahus America. He was talking more about Israel interference in US politics and the crackdown on the First Amendment in order to silence criticism of Israel.

Much of this discussion revolves around the massive amounts of money that groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee throw around and whatever other leverage Israel uses over the US politicians.

But is there more to it than that? Is there ideological overlap that also helps explain why the US uniparty backs Israel so strongly?

The economic components that have served as the dehumanizing foundation to Israels current plausible genocide share many similarities with poor Americans and migrant laborers who are treated as disposable in the US. Before we get to the US, the following are three brief points about Israel-Palestine power dynamics beyond religion or ethnicity. Thats not to say those factors dont play a role, but for this exercise well set them aside and focus on economic components.

The occupation of Palestine is an exploitative endeavor. That plan was summarized by Moshe Dayan, Israels defense minister during the June 1967 war, which resulted in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, describing the territories as:

a supplementary market for Israeli goods and services on the one hand, and a source of factors of production, especially unskilled labor, for the Israeli economy on the other.

There are more than 200,000 Palestinian laborers, including those without permits, who work inside Israel and the occupied West Bank. Netanyahus government has resolved to replace them with other laborers who can be exploited  a massive proposed influx from countries like India and Sri Lanka.

There was a dispute about this plan within the Israeli government with those opposed arguing that leaving so many Palestinians unemployed would only worsen Israels security, and experts say that the turn to migrant laborers is unlikely to last given the benefits Israel derives from a disenfranchised Palestinian workforce. As Jewish Currents point out, the economic advantages of exploiting Palestinians have usually pushed Israel to keep using their labor.

According to Dr. Ofer Cassif, a member of the Knesset from the Hadash Party, which supports Jewish-Arab cooperation and workers rights, this is at the heart of the problem and replacing the exploitation of Palestinians with the exploitation of other laborers brought from places more afar will not solve the issue. Cassif draws on Lenins idea that Israels plausible genocide is a product of late-stage capitalism:

Here, it is a class issue. It is between the oppressed and the oppressor, between the exploiter and the exploited. This distinction is much more important. We in Hadash, for instance, Palestinians and Jews together and some others, we see ourselves as part of those who oppose the oppression. It doesnt matter to us if we are Jews or Palestinians or Argentinean Christians, just hypothetically. For us, its important to refer to the situation as one that distinguishes not between the peoples, but between the exploited and the exploited, the oppressor and the oppressed National hostility serves the economic and political interests of the ruling classes because that way they can divert the rage, the frustration, the alienation from a class-based one to a national-based one. This is exactly what I think we should pay attention to. Those who actually benefit from the ongoing occupation on top of using cheap labor, Palestinian cheap labor, or in the north of Qatar, for instance, there are apparently some resources like gas, etc., beyond that, the hostility serves them because as long as the occupation goes on, the Palestinian proletarian, and even peasants will see the Israelis, generally speaking, of course, I have to simplify the picture; obviously its much more complicated. For our conversation, for analytical purposes, if I may say so, the ruled classes, Palestinian-ruled classes, are going to see not their own Palestinian exploiters as the so-called rival or enemy but the Israelis and vice versa. They are exploited within Israel. The exploited Israelis, especially the proletarians, will not see their own employers as their exploiters and class enemies but as the Palestinians. Who benefits from that? Whos going to benefit from that? The exploiters. So, ending the occupation, besides being an end in itself because it involves direct oppression and exploitation, will also reduce, using the language of Lenin, the hostility between the peoples. In that sense, it will not only give us a better future to live as good neighbors but will also allow us to make it easier for us to divert our rage against our so-called domestic exploiters.

Theres also the possibility that the ever-increasing racial and religious supremacy in Israel over the years has arisen from this plunder. Cassif paraphrases French philosopher, Albert Memmi:

In one of his famous books, he said, in other words, that the occupier doesnt like to see a monster when he looks in the mirror. In order to justify the crimes that an occupier does, occupiers always, eventually, deteriorate into crimes because, eventually, occupation leads to resistance. In order to refrain from seeing yourself or recognizing yourself as a monster, you have to justify the crimes that you do. You do that by demonizing the occupied. Its the same everywhere. Its not something that was born under the Israeli occupation. The slave orders in the United States of America did so. The Germans did so, too, with the Jews. The Apartheid regime in South Africa did that with the non-whites, especially with the blacks; of course, there was a hierarchy of different so-called races. It is the same here, a language of occupation.

Along with exploiting Palestinian labor, Israel tests out surveillance, population control, and military technology on the captive population. It has been reported that the Israeli Defense Forces use of artificial intelligence has aided in the current brutal war against Palestinians. Israel testing out new technologies to surveil and kill Palestinians is unfortunately nothing new, as described by Antony Loewenstein in his book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World.

The Palestine Laboratory, which was published in May 2023, details how Israel sells its technology and weapons all over the world (about 130 countries in 2021) in order to support its economy and curry favor from other nations that will help it continue to deflect criticism from its treatment of Palestinians. Israel benefits from having a captive population on whom to constantly test its weapons and surveillance technology.

There are economic goals to Israels current policy in Gaza. If were talking about plunder, we cannot forget that theres a modern colonial twist of beachfront condos to consider.

An Israeli real estate company stirred up controversy at the end of last year when it released ads for presale lots in Gaza. The post featured building plans for villas drawn onto a picture of the destruction in Gaza, with text reading A home on the beach is no dream!Zeev Epshtein, the companys CEO, said the posts were meant to be a joke. Haha.

The idea certainly isnt a joke for some. As the BBC reports:

Who wouldnt want a house on the beach? For some on Israels far-right, desirable beachfront now includes the sands of Gaza. Just ask Daniella Weiss, 78, the grandmother of Israels settler movement, who says she already has a list of 500 families ready to move to Gaza immediately. I have friends in Tel Aviv, she says, so they say, Dont forget to keep for me a plot near the coast in Gaza, because its a beautiful, beautiful coast, beautiful golden sand. She tells them the plots on the coast are already booked. Mrs Weiss heads a radical settler organisation called Nachala, or homeland. For decades, she has been kickstarting Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, on Palestinian land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Donald Trumps son-in-law and former senior foreign policy adviser and property dealer, Jared Kushner, couldnt help himself from salivating over the potential for Gazas waterfront land  so long as its cleaned up by Israel.

Im sitting in Miami Beach right now, Kushner said. And Im looking at the situation and Im thinking: what would I do if I was there?

For Kushner, the solution is simple: I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.

These economic components are central to the colonialist endeavor in Palestine  and were possibly a necessary precursor to the current plausible genocide  as well as its support outside of Israel-Palestine.

***

According to Netanyahu, the future belongs to authoritarian capitalism. Call it that or apartheid or colonialism, or neoliberal fascism; either way, it is alive and well at the heart of empire: in the US. And the repressive tactics to silence any criticism of Western support for Israel (or neo Nazis in Ukraine) is helping to drive that point home.

This isnt meant to diminish what Palestinians are going through, but to ask if the permanent underclass here in the US that is constantly exploited and considered disposable is part of the same struggle. What do we see in rust belt towns, West Virginia sacrifice zones, in the agriculture fields where migrant workers toil as our elites pass laws banning mandatory water breaks, or one of Californias hundreds of Hoovervilles, or a plasma harvesting center or Cancer Alley along the lower Mississippi and countless others?

These are all places where people are used and abused, imprisoned by economic precarity, frequently literally imprisoned where they are exploited as a form of cheap (or free) labor for some of the countrys largest corporations, and often legally robbed by the state police forces through civil forfeiture. Americans are increasingly surveilled using the very same technologies that Israel uses on Palestinians as Silicon Valley tech billionaires dream of a world where democracy is stamped out.

Americans can also be killed with impunity as long as the killer is from the right caste. Heck, the Sacklers can off a few thousand and write it off as the cost of doing business. Reading Matt Bivens recent piece on the opioid crisis at Racket News left me wondering if the difference is that while Israel resorts to killing with bombs, the US sticks with neoliberal despair :

At the turn of the century, about 20,000 people each year would take an opioid  as a pill, or as a snorted or injected powder  and then stop breathing and die. Those of us working on ambulances or in emergency departments could not save them. But for every death, there are about 20 non-fatal overdoses. So, with bag mask ventilation and opioid reversal agents, we have dragged millions of people back to life. How many suffered anoxic brain injuries, and today are mentally a half-step slower? Unknown. Overdoses at this scale were a new development, and they were occurring hand-in-hand with the aggressive new marketing and prescribing of opioids. This is the era chronicled so well by popular miniseries  Dopesick on Hulu, Painkiller on Netflix. In the midst of it, the Sackler family-owned Purdue Pharma pled guilty to a deception campaign meticulously designed to bring about recklessly liberal opioid prescribing. As punishment, the company had to shell out $600 million, and three top executives got multi-million-dollar fines and 400 hours of community service. That should have been peak Opioid Crisis. But it was only 2007. Heck, George W. Bush was still president. The Sacklers were never contrite. Theyd been raking in about $1 billion a year for more than a decade. The $600 million fine sounded impressive  but the Sacklers shrugged, cut the government in to the tune of less than 5% of the cash rolling in, and got right back to slinging opioids. And in the 17 years since, everything has gotten terribly worse. Did it feel like a catastrophe back in 2007, when 20,000 people a year would die, and people were enraged at Purdue?Or a decade later, in 2017, when President Donald Trump declared it a national emergency, and 50,000 people a year would die? Thats nothing. For the past three years, weve reliably seen 80,000 people each year take an opioid, stop breathing and die.

***

The university encampments and ensuing crackdown on them has been instructive in many ways.

The police, as always, are used as a force on behalf of the powerful to quell dissent. But we also have counter protestors working almost in tandem with the state to beat up protestors:

UCLAA haunting scene as University Police file in on the side of the Zionist counter-protest. The Zionists chant, L-A-P-D! WE LOVE YOU. A man on a megaphone yells, Lets leave! Its their turn now. The counterprotest clears out. Police file in. pic.twitter.com/ux0giL7dDF  nolan (@RevSouthNolan) April 28, 2024

The fact this latter incident occurred at UCLA was fitting, as it was reminiscent of another chapter in US history when the state and its oligarchic owners used right wing paramilitary allies to crack down on protest. Back in the 1920s, Southern California police frequently teamed with the KKK to fight the waterfront union, and the Wobblies were jailed and beaten into submission.

We can see who that the supporters of the counter protestors are supporters of plunder at home and abroad:

The way we learn from each other how concretely our struggles are connected once we all get out there and do the damn thing. Got the tenants rights organizers at the campus divestment protest IDing and exposing local slumlords in the Zionist counter-demo at UCLA.  https://t.co/BWohttWuhu  OLAASM (@craigtoennies) April 28, 2024

Its also come to light that Jessica Seinfeld, cookbook author and wife to comedian Jerry Seinfeld, helped fund the pro-Israel counterprotest at UCLA. Billionaire hedge-funder Bill Ackman is also helping to bankroll at least one other counterprotest.

Theres been a lot of media talk about who is funding the original anti-genocide protests, but so far this seems to be a classic case of projection in which those motivated solely by profit are incapable of understanding that others might oppose US-supported plausible genocide simply because they think it is morally wrong. A POLITICO story attempting to connect the protests to George Soros and Bill Gates, for example, begins to fall apart upon closer examination.

The encampments are also helping to reveal just how strong the embrace is between the neoliberal universities and the national security state.

What are these institutions other than valuable real estate holdings and investment vehicles that hold some classes? Well, maybe there are other purposes:

Harvard once gave students class credits for taking off school to join the National Guard and murder striking mill workers in Lawrence, MA. Bourgeois universities exist to mold the middle management of misery and nothing else. https://t.co/HGiG07LRZo pic.twitter.com/b8noSQWD2V   (@uncle_authority) April 27, 2024

The response to the campus encampments are a fine example of how the exploitation supported by the US abroad goes hand in hand with exploitation at home. Is it any surprise that the corporatization of higher education has led to the current militarization of campuses and suppression of speech?

US militarism abroad is done in defense of American capital. Lets not forget Washingtons support of a neo nazi regime in Kiev in the failed effort to break up and plunder Russia.

We see these efforts to spread this American brand of freedom for capital being pushed back abroad by Russia, Iran, and the Houthis who have helped exposed the paper tiger.

What about at home? Can the protestors make strong connections between the US support of plausible genocide in Gaza and Israels colonial system with the US system of plunder at home?

Even if students and faculty are not explicitly drawing this line, the protests still represent opposition to the merging of neoliberalism and militarism and higher educations role in that system.

Can these protests continue and/or morph into something more? Can they extract concessions, forge alliances and gain consensus among a wider swath of the population? Or will they simply end if a ceasefire deal is reached and/or the universities promise to consider divestment?

As for support, recent polling shows that on the issue of college campuses limiting students rights and abilities to protest Israels military operations 40 percent approve while 46 percent disapprove. Interesting that, while the poll doesnt break down results by class if you use college as a marker, there is actually more support for campus protests among those that didnt attend college. Those without a college degree were less likely to support (37 percent) the crackdown on students compared to respondents with a college degree where 43 percent backed silencing the protests.

Those without a college degree were also less likely to support spending more money to send weapons to Israel and less likely to support fighting alongside Israel against Iran. It doesnt appear to just be a fiscally conservative issue, either, as those without a college degree were more likely to support sending humanitarian aid to Gaza (56 percent to 49 percent).

Overall, the survey revealed that 70 percent of voters support a permanent ceasefire and de-escalation of violence in Gaza.Thats really quite incredible considering how much propaganda the media has been churning out  from the New York Times Pulitzer-winning coverage of Gaza that includes bogus weaponized sexual violence propaganda to the recent coverage of campus encampments that take ridiculous police allegations as fact with no pushback.

It will be worth watching what happens this coming week with the union of 48,000 academic workers in the University of California system who are holding a strike authorization vote May 13-15 in response to violence against protestors by Zionist groups and the police and the universities refusal to hear the demands of protestors.

Our members have been beaten, concussed, pepper sprayed, both by counter-protestors and by police forces. As a union, it is our responsibility to stand beside them and demand that UC stop committing these gross Unfair Labor Practices. (5/9)  UAW 4811 (@uaw_4811) May 6, 2024

UAW 4811 is calling on UC to peacefully negotiate with stakeholders and reach agreement to address these concerns through: (7/9) pic.twitter.com/WhqToBPtyD  UAW 4811 (@uaw_4811) May 6, 2024

UAW workers have already established a union village as part of the encampment at UC Berkeley. From the Daily Cal:

While union members have been at the encampment for the last few weeks in an individual capacity, UAW 4811 did not have an explicit presence until Tuesday, according to UC Berkeley ASE Unit Chair Iris Rosenblum-Sellers. UC Berkeleys is the first Union Village to be established at any UC encampment, Rosenblum-Sellers added. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were around half a dozen tents in the Union Village, but both Chowdhury and Rosenblum-Sellers said union members anticipate filling the remaining space soon. Its peaceful here and I hope it stays that way, but we also want to see progress on our demands, Chowdhury said. In the hour before the village was established, speakers and participants at the rally chanted World leaders, grow a spine; Rafah is our red line and Free free free Palestine, among other phrases. Community members and protesters also gave speeches throughout the event to loud cheers and drums from the crowd. Both speakers and protesters acknowledged the solidarity between students and workers in the Free Palestine movement. Many raised signs and banners with phrases such as Students & Workers of the World: United for Palestine and UAW Student Workers for a Free Palestine.

Could this be the start of something? If it is, the rank and file will likely need to overcome the opposition of union leadership.Payday Report has been all over this, and heres the most recent:

Maybe Fain doesnt want to distract from unionization efforts or lose focus on the goal of a mass strike scheduled for May Day 2028, detailed by Fain here at In These Times  a worthwhile goal, but 2028 is a long ways away.
Conor here: As the following piece notes, of the roughly 100 million Americans in healthcare debt, 12 percent attribute at least some of it to pregnancy or childbirth. And the family at the center of the story decided theirs was large enough at three. Elsewhere, we have further downward revisions of the US population forecast:

By Noam N. Levey, a senior correspondent at KFF Health News. He previously spent 17 years at the Los Angeles Times, the last 12 as the papers national health care reporter based in Washington, D.C. Originally published at KFF Health News.

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

Crivilare and her husband, Andrew, also a teacher, anticipated some of the costs.

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.

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.
Actual collusion? Missouri AG accuses Biden DOJ of coordinating with Trump prosecutors

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Baileyon Thursday as part of a probe into whether the Biden DOJ coordinated with Trump prosecutors.

(Article by Tyler Durden republished from ZeroHedge.com)

"The investigations and subsequent prosecutions of former President Donald J. Trump appear to have been conducted in coordination with the United States Department of Justice," Baily posted in a lengthy thread on X.

"This is demonstrated by the move of the third-highest ranking member of the Department of Justice, Matthew Colangelo, to the Manhattan District Attorneys Office in order to prosecute President Trump in December 2022," Baily continues.

What's more, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg worked hand-in-hand with NY Attorney General Letitia James in pursuing civil litigation against Trump, which he used to campaign on.

Given the timing (Bragg charged Trump only after he declared his candidacy for President), the weakness of the charges, and the charges keeping Trump off the campaign trail, there is substantial reason to suspect @POTUS has coordinated with Bragg and others to prosecute Trump.  Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) May 10, 2024

As Fox News reports further;

Bailey argues that Braggs decision to bring the prosecution "despite its transparent weakness has nonetheless had the effect of keeping former President Trump off the campaign trail, which President Biden has bragged about." He cites a post on X from the official Biden-Harris campaign on April 24, which says, "While Trump is stuck in court, President Biden is keeping a very robust schedule of campaign events. Hes been to Pennsylvania to talk about the economy, Virginia to talk about clean energy, and Florida to talk about abortion."

Baily is seeking all communications, including documents, calendar appointments, meeting minutes and agendas related to Colangelo's move to work in Bragg's office - as well as similar communications between Bragg and NY AG Leticia James and Fulton County DA Fani Willis.

Read more at: ZeroHedge.com
I am a Jewish student at Columbia. Dont believe what youre being told about campus antisemitism

Reprehensible and dangerous. Terrorist sympathizers. Its not 1938 Berlin. Its 2024, Columbia University, NYC.

(Article by Jonathan Ben-Menachem republished from Zeteo.com)

The White House, Congressional Republicans, and cable news talking heads would have you believe that the Columbia University campus has devolved into a hotbed of antisemitic violence  but the reality on the ground is very different. As a Jewish student at Columbia, it depresses me that I have to correct the record and explain what the real risk to our safety looks like. I still can't quite believe how the events on campus over the past few days have been so cynically and hysterically misrepresented by the media and by our elected representatives.

Last week, the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, representing more than 100 student organizations, including Jewish groups, organized the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, a peaceful campus protest in solidarity with Palestine. CUAD was reactivated after the university suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace in the fall. On Wednesday morning, hundreds of students camped out on Columbias South Lawn. They vowed to stay put until the university divests from companies that profit from their ties to Israel. Protesters prayed, chanted, ate pizza, and condemned the universitys complicity in Israels attacks on Gaza. Though counter-protesters waved Israeli flags near the encampment, the campus remained largely calm from my vantage point.

Columbia responded by imposing a miniature police state. Just over a day after the encampment was formed, university President Minouche Shafik asked and authorized the New York Police Department to clear the lawn and load 108 students  including a number of Jewish students  onto Department of Corrections buses to be held at NYPD headquarters at 1 Police Plaza. One Jewish student told me that she and her fellow protesters were restrained in zip-tie handcuffs for eight hours and held in cells where they shared a toilet without privacy. The NYPD chief of patrol John Chell later told the Columbia Spectator that the students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.

Since then, dozens of undergraduates have been locked out of their dorms without notice. Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia, notably gave students just 15 minutes to retrieve their belongings after returning from lockup and finding themselves evicted. Suspended students cannot return to campus and are struggling to access food or medical care. Students who keep Shabbat, and do not use electronics on the Sabbath, were forced to rely on technology in order to secure food and emergency housing. This crackdown was the most violence inflicted on our student body in decades. I implore you, as our Jewish Voice for Peace chapter does, to consider whether arresting Jewish students keeps us and Columbia safe.

Smears from the press and pro-Israel influencers, who have levied charges of antisemitism and violence against Jewish students, are a dangerous distraction from real threats to our safety. I saw politicians compare student organizers to neo-Nazis and call for a National Guard deployment, apparently ignorant of the lives lost at Kent State and in Charlottesville, and with very little pushback from national media. This is a repulsive form of self-aggrandizement that I can only assume is intended to preserve relationships with influential donors. Calls to more heavily police our campus actively endanger Jewish students, and threaten the regular operations of the university far more gravely than peaceful protests.

Its true, the fact that CUAD organizers fundamentally reject bigotry and hate has not stopped unrelated actors from exploiting opportunities to shamefully harass Jewish students with grotesque or antisemitic statements. I condemn antisemitism  which should seem obvious since I have experienced it many times myself. (This likely wont keep controversial Columbia Business School professor Shai Davidai from calling me a kapo.) But the often off-campus actions of a few unaffiliated individuals simply do not characterize this disciplined student campaign. The efforts to connect these offensive but relatively isolated incidents to the broader pro-Palestinian protest movement mirror a wider strategy to delegitimize all criticism of Israel.

As this national discourse over campus antisemitism reached a boiling point over the weekend, the Gaza Solidarity Encampment saw CUAD organizers lead joint Muslim and Jewish prayer sessions and honor each others dead. This is wholesome, human stuff  it doesnt make for sensationalist headlines about Jew-hating Ivy Leaguers.

On Monday, I joined hundreds of my fellow student workers for a walk-out in solidarity with the encampment; we listened respectfully as a similarly sizable group of Columbia faculty held a rally on the library steps. Frankly, it didnt feel much different from the environment during my unions most recent strike on campus  I felt inspired again by my colleagues commitment to making Columbia a safer and better place to work and study.

Later that night, a Passover Seder service was held at the encampment. Would an antisemitic student movement welcome Jews in this way? I think not.

Heres what youre not being told: The most pressing threats to our safety as Jewish students do not come from tents on campus. Instead, they come from the Columbia administration inviting police onto campus, certain faculty members, and third-party organizations that dox undergraduates. Frankly, I regret the fact that writing to confirm the safety of Jewish Ivy League students feels justified in the first place. I have not seen many pundits hand-wringing over the safety of my Palestinian colleagues mourning the deaths of family members, or the destruction of Gazas cherished universities.

I am wary of a hysterical campus discourse  gleefully amplified by many of the same charlatans who have turned DEI into a slur  that draws attention away from the ongoing slaughter in the Gaza Strip and settler violence in the occupied West Bank. We should be focusing on the material reality of war: the munitions our government is sending to Israel, which kill Palestinians by the thousands, and the Americans participating in the violence. Forget the fringe folks and outside agitators: the CUAD organizers behind the campus protests have rightfully insisted on divestment as their most important demand of the Columbia administration, and on sustained attention to the situation in Palestine.

And we are not alone. College campuses across the United States have followed Columbias lead.

And so, it is my hope that we can all learn from their examples to remain clear-eyed about the stakes of this crisis and focus on the actual violence being perpetrated in all of our names.

Read more: Zeteo.com
Nothing says trust the science like hiding the science for 24 months

The entire COVID and vaccine narrative that the left tried to shove down our throats and into our bloodstreams is collapsing like a flim-flam house of cards. The real truth, which many of us knew from the very start, is finally emerging, leaving our so-called experts scrambling in the dust. After enduring endless lies, relentless mockery, and non-stop political agendas, the American public is growing weary of these supposed untouchable know-it-alls. It turns out theyre not perfect after all. Theyre just easily-bought mouthpieces willing to say and do anything for a buck. Oh, and once theyre called out for their lies and manipulation, theyll do everything they can to cover up and hide what they did. Let freedom ring!

(Article republished from Revolver.news)

Meanwhile, Dr. Scott Atlas hit the nail on the head when he said that the plummeting support for so-called science and experts can be laid right at the feet of the disgraced elitist, Anthony Fauci.

Anthony Fauci's career has left "massive damage to the trust of Americans...on science, on public health leadership, on the credentials of people the we normally respected," -- Dr. Scott Atlas. pic.twitter.com/d5F7kJLBGW  KUSI News (@KUSINews) August 23, 2022

After all weve been through and so many masks that have been savagely ripped off, why would anybody in their right mind trust our elites or the experts?

After years of lies about covid, the Russia collusion hoax, the bogus impeachments, the January 6 big lie, calling half of Americans white supremacists and election deniers for questioning the 2020 election, etc., why would anyone trust the science or the establishment media? pic.twitter.com/JNSoff0cmd  The Researcher (@listen_2learn) January 22, 2024

Given all the fake news and misinformation we now know the experts spread, we cant help but wonder if this number is a heck of a lot lower than what this poll shows.

CNN:

Americans trust in science and scientists has dropped since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new report by Pew Research Center. The percent of American adults who say science has a mostly positive effect on society fell to 57%, down 8 percentage points since November 2021 and 16 percentage points since just before the pandemic, according to the survey of more than 8,800 U.S. adults conducted in the last week of September. [] Trust in science wasnt the same across the political spectrum: The Pew survey found that Republicans had less confidence in scientists and the benefits of science than Democrats. Less than half of Republicans (47%) said science has had a mostly positive effect on society, a decline from 70% in 2019. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats say science has had a mostly positive effect on society, although that has also declined by 8 points from 2019.

Now, as time ticks on, were discovering more and more about COVID, the jab, and the lies we were told. Remember how they attacked and mocked anybody who suggested taking Ivermectin for COVID symptoms?

Who can forget when the FDA suggested that Ivermectin was only for horses and cows? That is such a blatant and vicious lie. They ended up deleting the tweet, but the damage was already done.

While Chris Cuomo was at CNN, he used his platform to mock and ridicule anyone who suggested that Ivermectin could be the answer, rather than the Big Pharma jab. Now, Cuomo is proudly taking Ivermectin himself and stubbornly refusing to apologize for all the damage he did by spreading fake news, hysteria, and mockery across the country.

Jimmy Dore really went the extra mile and absolutely ROASTED Chris Cuomo over a stack of piping hot coals in this must-watch clip:

Forget the Roast of Tom Brady. Watch the Roast of Chris Cuomo by @jimmy_dore ? pic.twitter.com/f5ipM50JbV  Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 10, 2024

Full segment here:

Is it any surprise that trust in the media and our so-called experts is plummeting?

However, former skeptics are now coming forward, admitting that the kooks were right all along.

Dr. David Cartland:

Bill Maher Drops Stunning Monologue on the COVID Experts Who Got It Wrong A lot of the dissenting opinions that were suppressed and ridiculed at the time have proven to be CORRECT. This includes, but is not limited to:  COVID came from a lab  Ivermectin worked  Masks offered no benefit and were harmful  Should have never kept kids out of school  Natural immunity is better than vaccinated immunity  Long COVID is often a symptom of long vax  Hospitals murdered COVID patients  COVID fatality rate and death count were highly inflated  Unvaccinated were scapegoated for the failure of the shots  Early treatment was suppressed to make way for a vaccine  Risks of the jab were intentionally hidden from the public  Vaccine mandates are wrong  More shots = more risk of infection  COVID shots are neither safe nor effective

Bill Maher Drops Stunning Monologue on the COVID Experts Who Got It Wrong A lot of the dissenting opinions that were suppressed and ridiculed at the time have proven to be CORRECT. This includes, but is not limited to:  COVID came from a lab  Ivermectin worked  Masks pic.twitter.com/seVWxEDTi8  Dr David Cartland (@CartlandDavid) May 10, 2024

The unchastened Maher repeatedly gets things wrong, yet still arrogantly pronounces his opinion on a weekly basis as if his was the Voice of God.

And God forbid you try to squeeze some actual transparency out of these government-run chuckle factories. An independent citizen researcher named Christis Laura Grace has been doggedly pursuing contamination records for Pfizer and Moderna COVID jabs for nearly a year. She finally got a response, and guess what? Itll likely be another two years before she gets any real answers.

Yes, sir, nothing says trust the science like hiding the science for two years, right?

Christie Laura Grace:

FOIA UPDATE 05/09/2024: I was told by the FDA this morning, that my request for contamination records for Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines, for every USA site, and every instance (name/identify contamination, state amount/state resolution, will take 18-24 months. Almost a year ago I submitted a FOIA asking for full contamination records at all USA sites, Moderna and Pfizer, for the year 2023. It was stated it could take longer than the typical twenty days to process and provide the data requested. I received confirmation of receipt, but nothing since. I just called again today to get a status update (and it went to voicemail). In the FOIA, I asked for: 1. Name/identify contamination regardless of amount, at each site. 2. Identify amount. 3. State specific resolutions, if taken, regarding each contamination event, per site, per company. We are coming up on a year now.

Nothing says trust the science like hiding the science for 24 months https://t.co/ouU2r6pWzB  Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 10, 2024

Christie started this quest nearly a year ago. Is this chaotic cluster-bleep what were now calling transparency?

Almost a year ago I submitted a FOIA asking for full contamination records at all USA sites, Moderna and Pfizer, for the year 2023. It was stated it could take longer than the typical twenty days to process and provide the data requested. I received confirmation of receipt, but pic.twitter.com/ADvjb5AruK  Christie Laura Grace (@_HeartofGrace_) May 8, 2024

Heres a closeup of the images that Christie shared that show just how deeply shes been getting the run around, all in the name of science.

Never forget how Biden used that vaccine as a weapon against federal employees who had very good reasons for not wanting to take it.

Biden fired over 7000 military over the Covid vaccine. Then, he turned around and brought 20 million unvaccinated illegal aliens into the country and spread them around to all 50 states. With no vaccinations of any type for any disease. The corruption and evil run deep.  Sheri (@FFT1776) May 10, 2024

And now, right on cue, we have another virus. This time, the Bird Flu can supposedly kill you if you look at it the wrong way or something like that.

Crazy how all these pandemics start during major election years https://t.co/K2SCj5SGAd  Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) May 10, 2024

Its starting to look like a pattern: deadly pandemics seem to pop up around US presidential elections. It seems to many like once again, the uniparty regime has weaponized another industry to do their bidding, putting the rest of us at risk so these power-crazed ghouls can cling to their status and positions. And the bad news is that once the bird flu takes flight, dont hold your breath waiting for any FOIA requests to be honoredit might be another decade or so.

But really, where do we stand medical-wise in this country right now? Well, for starters, AstraZeneca pulled its COVID vaccine off the market after admitting it causes blood clots. Pfizer just settled 10,000 cancer cases linked to the heartburn medication Zantac. And over at CNN, theyre now touting Ivermectin. So, to everyone who branded us tinfoil hats and Q-kooks, we have to ask: Whats your take on these conspiracy theories now, losers?

Read more at: Revolver.news
House committee opens probe of donations by Soros-linked Tides Foundation to U.S. Chamber of Commerce

A committee in the Republican-led House of Representatives has begun an investigation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) receiving donations from a foundation linked to Hungarian globalist billionaire George Soros

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (WMC), kickstarted the probe by sending a letter addressed to USCC President and CEO Suzanne Clark and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (USCCF) CEO Carolyn Cawley. Through the May 6 letter, the congressman asked why the USCCF accepted $12 million in donations from the Tides Foundation, which Soros reportedly funds.

Both the USCC and the USCCF under it are tax-exempt entities, according to the Epoch Times. The former is the world's largest business organization and claims to "advocate, connect, inform, and fight for business growth and America's success."

In contrast, the left-leaning Tides Foundation "partners with and sponsors several anti-business organizations" according to Smith's letter. The foundation's vision states that "a just and

equitable future can exist only when communities who have been historically denied power have

the social, political, and economic power they need to create it."

"Contrary to the USCC's stated mission of improving lives 'by advancing American business' and advocating 'for policies that help businesses create jobs and grow our economy,' it seems odd that the foundation would accept funding from a group like the Tides Foundation, which is so focused on activities that are counter to USCC's stated mission," the congressman for the Show-Me State continued.

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"Does USCC share the vision of the Tides Foundation? If not, why would USCC accept funds from a group so opposed to its mission? Or perhaps the better question is, why would the Tides Foundation think that this donation would advance its interest?"

The WMC chairman gave the two USCC executives until the afternoon of May 20 to respond to his letter.

Tides Foundation supports various anti-business initiatives

To hammer his point, Smith cited an example of an anti-business endeavor supported by the Tides Foundation  the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR). According to its website, the ICAR  a coalition of more than 40 member and partner organizations  is "committed to ending corporate abuse of people and the planet."

"We advocate for real protections and strong enforcement of the law to protect the public by enacting reasonable safeguards against corporate abuse, protecting those who speak out against corporate wrongdoing and combating the rise of the corporate state."

Last December, ICAR published a report titled "Building A Rights-Based Economy: A Corporate Accountability Agenda." The report alleged that "transnational corporations with intentionally complex, opaque supply chains can conceal systematic wage theft, forced labor and attacks against human rights defenders. It also alleged that "companies that pay little to nothing in

federal income taxes go on to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying for their

interests."

The Epoch Times also mentioned two other initiatives supported by the Soros-linked foundation. The Immigrants Belong Fund seeks to overcome public perception that an expanded immigrant labor market would pose a danger to America's "economy and way of life." Another endeavor called the Frontline Justice Fund provides grants to support environmental litigation.

A spokesperson for the foundation said in a statement emailed to the Epoch Times that the $12 million given to the USCCF was used for the Hiring Our Heroes program. The initiative connects the military community with American businesses to create economic opportunity and a strong and "diversified workforce."

The spokesperson also mentioned that the foundation is "aware of and monitoring" the WMC's request to the USCC regarding the contributions the latter accepted from Tides. "It is our view that the request for comment is a politically motivated [public relations] tactic during an election year, driven by actors who disagree with the social justice work of Tides and our partner organizations," they continued.

Head over to Soros.news for similar stories.

Watch Rob Schmitt of Newsmax explaining how George Soros' money is throughout the Left's radical agenda.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Soros network ramps up investment in Latino voter mobilization.

Globalism on the airwaves: Soros fund now bankrolling radio stations.

Texas congressman slams George Soros over his acquisition of radio giant Audacy.

Black Lives Matter given $16 million in taxpayer-funded grants to continue hating Whites.

Globalist billionaire George Soros is financing efforts to elect more open borders Democrats in Texas.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

GOP-WaysAndMeans.House.gov [PDF]

ICAR.ngo

Brighteon.com
Polish spy master claims Russia planning to test NATO response by INVADING neighboring countries

The head of Poland's Military Counterintelligence Service has raised concerns regarding the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin may engage in supposed acts of aggression as a means to gauge the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's potential response.

Speaking to the Polish-language publication Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Brig. Gen. Jaroslaw Strozyk specifically mentioned scenarios including possible Russian incursions into the Estonian city of Narva, right on the border with Russia, or possibly even seizing control of strategic Swedish islands in the Baltic Sea. (Related: Putin plans to annex breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria)

Despite these ominous possibilities, Strozyk pointed out that recent Western support for Ukraine has conveyed a robust message to Moscow. He believes that the collective efforts of the West demonstrate a unified stance against Russian aggression, potentially deterring Putin from launching an attack on NATO member states.

In a significant move, Polish President Andrzej Duda has affirmed Poland's readiness to deploy nuclear forces along its borders if deemed necessary. Duda highlighted Russia's increasing militarization of Kaliningrad and the relocation of nuclear weapons to Belarus as alarming developments. He stressed Poland's willingness to host nuclear arms as part of NATO's efforts to bolster its eastern flank, showcasing the nation's commitment to collective defense.

Given Poland's strategic position bordering Belarus and the heavily fortified Kaliningrad enclave, the country remains a pivotal player in the ongoing tensions with Russia. Duda underscored the operational readiness of Polish military units, emphasizing their ability to respond swiftly to any potential threat, with a remarkable readiness time of just three hours from deployment.

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.

NATO claims Putin's next target after Ukraine may be the Baltics

In an opinion piece published on Bloomberg, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and retired United States Navy Adm. James Stavridis warned that, should Russia's special military operation in Ukraine succeed, Putin may be interested in striking at the nations bordering the Baltic Sea, which has been dubbed a "NATO lake" by some analysts due to it being surrounded by NATO member nations: Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark.

Russia still retains access to the Baltic through the enclave of Kaliningrad and through the approaches to the city of St. Petersburg.

While Stavridis himself is confident that, in the event of a conflict between Russia and NATO, "any of Russia's warships" in the Baltic could be "quickly and easily bottled up or destroyed."

Other officials, meanwhile, are not so optimistic about a possible victory. Maj. Gen. Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine's main military intelligence directorate, warned that Russia could "take the Baltics in seven days."

"The Russians will take the Baltic in seven days. NATO's reaction time is 10 days," warned Skibitsky during an interview with The Economist, as he warned of the threat Moscow poses on other nations in Europe.

This warning comes as Ukraine grows increasingly concerned of more Russian breakthroughs. Skibitsky specifically spoke about the situation in Chasiv Yar, a strategic stronghold for Ukraine in the Donetsk Oblast. Analysts warn that Putin's military has been concentrating its efforts on seizing the town, and Skibitsky warned that Russia will probably soon overtake Ukrainian forces for control of Chasiv Yar.

"Not today or tomorrow, of course, but all depending on our reserves and supplies," warned Skibitsky.

Watch this clip from TruNews about Russia vowing to use nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict with NATO.

This video is from the TruNews channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Putin reiterates Russias readiness to use NUKES if necessary.

Russia considering "retaliatory action" after Sweden joins NATO.

Russia ramping up production of weapons, ammunition ahead of expected offensive.

Sources include:

The-Express.com

Bloomberg.com

Newsweek.com

Brighteon.com
Ukraines parliament passes bill allowing certain PRISONERS to join the military

Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has passed a bill allowing certain types of prisoners to enlist in the armed forces. The passage of this bill comes amidst increasingly urgent efforts to boost troop numbers.

The legislation garnered support from 279 out of 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada, and all that's left for it to become law is the approval of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk and President Volodymyr Zelensky. Both have endorsed the bill and its passage is almost certainly guaranteed at this point.

Olena Shuliak, leader of the ruling Servant of the People party  which both Stefanchuk and Zelensky are also members of  emphasized the voluntary nature of the mobilization and specified eligibility criteria: prisoners with no more than three years left of their sentence.

The move follows previous condemnations of Russia's use of prisoners, notably in the battle of Bakhmut, where fighters recruited from prisons by Russia's Wagner Group played a significant role.

The bill coincides with Kyiv's efforts to urge military-age Ukrainians abroad to return and join the armed forces, with measures such as suspending consular services for eligible men and enlisting support from North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations to encourage their participation in combat against Russian forces. (Related: Ukraine RUNNING OUT of soldiers to fight Russia.)

This shift in policy comes at a crucial moment for Ukraine's military, which is grappling with a severe shortage of personnel amid continued advances by Russian forces on the battlefield and an anticipated Russian offensive that is expected to herald significant breakthroughs.

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.

Historically, Ukrainian authorities have vehemently opposed the mobilization of prisoners for military purposes and have consistently criticized Moscow for engaging in such practices.

Shuliak took to Facebook to announce the outcome of the vote. She explained that the legislation would create avenues for specific categories of prisoners who express a desire to defend their homeland to voluntarily join the military.

Convicts with serious offenses not allowed to sign up

Stringent eligibility criteria have been put in place to ensure that only individuals meeting certain conditions can participate. These criteria exclude those convicted of serious offenses such as sexual violence, multiple homicides, significant corruption and former high-ranking officials. Additionally, only prisoners with less than three years remaining on their sentences are eligible, with mobilized prisoners being granted parole rather than a full pardon.

While the bill's passage represents a step forward for advocates like the organization Protection for Prisoners of Ukraine, concerns have been raised regarding its potentially discriminatory aspects and the risk of exploitation.

Some fear that the creation of "special units" for mobilized soldiers could expose prisoners to abuse, reminiscent of reported practices by Russia's Wagner Group, which has been known to deploy convicts as expendable combatants on the front lines.

The phenomenon of Russia's recruitment of prisoners for combat roles is not new and has been ongoing since the outset of the invasion in February 2022.

Initially, Russia offered presidential pardons as incentives for convicts to join the fight. This recruitment strategy, spearheaded by individuals like Yevgeny Prigozhin, has posed significant challenges for Ukraine as it seeks to bolster its defense capabilities in the face of escalating Russian aggression.

In response to the pressing need for manpower, Ukraine has implemented a series of measures, including tightening enforcement against draft evasion and reducing the draft age. These efforts underscore the country's determination to strengthen its military readiness and defend its sovereignty against external threats.

Watch this video of former Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter explaining why Ukraine is in the final stages of its total collapse.

This video is from the channel The Prisoner on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Ukraine purchases 50,000 womens uniforms amid worries that females could be conscripted.

Ukraine running out of air defense missiles, giving Russia a FREE PASS to Kyiv.

Ukraine introduces AI-generated Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

Sources include:

News.AntiWar.com

AlJazeera.com

Brighteon.com
Central U.S. residents can anticipate a rainy weather outlook this week, according to a weather report. Commuters can likely experience slower commutes and possible travel hazards.

Many Americans are expected to travel this week to celebrate Mother's Day. However, the weather conditions can be challenging in parts of the Northeast this weekend.

People with potential travel plans should keep alert for challenging weather outlooks, especially in flood-prone areas. Flooded roads can also occur due to rainy potential.

Weather Outlook in the Northeast This Weekend

According to a weather report, the northeastern U.S. can expect potential rounds of rain this weekend. The chance of rain can lead to a wet weather outlook in the region.

Wetter conditions will likely unload in Detroit, New York, Boston, Portland, Washington, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Burlington. Motorists could encounter slower commutes or flooded roads.

New York residents may see a cloudy outlook this week. Meanwhile, Boston can expect unseasonably cold weather, from the mid-50s to the low 60s.

In Chicago, there is a potential warm spring day this weekend. However, a potential rainy outlook can unload on Monday.

Furthermore, Pittsburgh can expect a potential stormy outlook, warning of severe hail and isolated tornadoes. Homeowners should keep alert for severe thunderstorm advisories this week.

Meanwhile, spotty thunderstorms can threaten portions of the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, and the central Appalachians.

Miami, Jacksonville, Memphis, Charlotte, Los Angeles, San Franciso, Portland, and Seattle are likely to experience warmer weather on Mother's Day. On the other hand, rainy outlook can unload in Denver, Kansas City, Dallas, and Houston.

People traveling this weekend or early next week should stay alert for rounds of rain in parts of the Northeast. Staying updated with forecasts is advisable before planning any travel activities.

When rains become severe, it is advisable to limit outdoor plans, and wait until it improves.

Also Read: Northeast Mother's Day Weather: Heavy Rains, Localized Small Hail Likely to Impact This Weekend

Weather Outlook in Parts of the U.S

According to a National Weather Service (NWS) report, potential heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms are likely in the southern High Plains to the lower Mississippi Valley.

Well-above temperatures are likely in the northcentral and western U.S. Higher temperatures are expected in parts of the southwest, including in southern Texas and Florida.

Additionally, the weather forecast monitors the development of a low-pressure system in the Mid-Atlantic and lower Great Lakes. Northern Plains can anticipate possible scattered thunderstorms.

In Kansas City, rain chances can unload next week. Homeowners should keep alert for scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Related Article: Texas, Southern US Weather Forecast: Renewed Flooding to Trigger Hazardous Commutes This Week

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
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The Third Eye: Validation of the new laws

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he Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, addressing a conference in New Delhi on "Advance of Criminal Justice System", on April 20, lauded the new Penal Codes enacted by the Parliament in December last year, described the development as a "watershed moment" and expressed satisfaction that India was changing in synchronisation with our times.

He felt that implementation of the new laws would mark a significant overhaul of the criminal justice system to better protect the interests of victims and ensure a more efficient conduct of investigation and prosecution.

He emphasised the urgent need for capacity building in areas of forensic expertise, reorientation of investigating officers and investment in our court system.

It may be mentioned that with the avowed objective of freeing the country of the colonial hangover on the justice system, the Indian Parliament re-designated the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, as Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita Act, Bharatiya Sakshya Act, and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita Act, respectively.

The Chief Justice declared that the enactment of these laws by Parliament "underscored India's evolving dynamics and the pressing need for innovative legal mechanisms to address contemporary challenges".

In bolstering the concept of punishment acting as a deterrent against crime, the new law lays down the death penalty for the rape of a minor and also for "lynching" -- the two black marks of the contemporary crime scenario in India.

The Act replaced the Indian Penal Code of 1860 repealed 22 old sections, added 8 new ones and amended as many as 175 others.

A new Section 69 punishes indulgence in sexual intercourse through deception by way of making promises of marriage while concealing identity.

"Snatching" has been made a distinct offence and a severe penalty was prescribed for disseminating false information through spoken words, signs or electronic means. This latter is also meant to check criminal misuse of social media.

The new code for the first time punishes an act of "terrorism" that was likely to threaten India's unity, integrity, security, sovereignty or economy or spread terror among the people domestically or abroad.

There has been some expression of concern by civil society groups -- particularly those building a narrative of "authoritarianism" against the present government -- that the definition of terror activity was being stretched to punish "anti-regime" criticism.

There is no doubt, however, in the minds of average citizens that in this era of proxy wars, advocacy of violence against a legitimate democratic government deserved to be viewed seriously.

In what can be regarded as a progressive move for dispensing justice, community service has been included as a punishment for first-time offenders committing a petty crime.

Besides, a new definition of "organised crime" has been incorporated in the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita Act to include among other things, kidnapping, human trafficking and cyber crimes carried out to secure material benefit.

The activities of members of an organised crime syndicate are punishable with imprisonment of a minimum of five years -- going up to a life sentence if there was no death -- and, including capital punishment if a death was caused.

The new Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita Act has repealed 9 sections of the old Act, introduced 9 new sections and modified 160 earlier sections. It mandates forensic investigation for crimes punishable with imprisonment of seven years or more. It requires forensic experts to visit the scene of crime, gather clues and document the process.

Electronic mode of giving evidence is permitted at trials, enquiries and proceedings under Section 173 and it is laid down under Section 356 that a judgement can be pronounced in the absence of a proclaimed offender who had avoided the trial.

A great reform is the introduction of the concept of Zero FIR to be registered by a police station on receiving a complaint even if it did not have the jurisdiction, for being forwarded to the right police station. The new Act establishes deadlines for framing of charges and prescribes communicating the progress of the investigation to the victims within 90 days of the complaint.

The Bharatiya Sakshya Act replaced the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 after introducing one new section, removing 5 sections and altering a total of 23 other sections. In a pathbreaking reform, it recognises electronic records as primary evidence under Section 57 and permits electronic presentation of oral evidence enabling remote testimony.

It expands the concept of joint trial under Section 24 of multiple people -- some of whom might have failed to respond to an arrest warrant. An important advance is the direction the Act gives for audio-visual recording of search and seizures to protect civil liberties.

Judicial scrutiny of the same would safeguard the rights of citizens against procedural improprieties committed during search and seizure.

Legal minds particularly of the opposition, have expressed misgivings that many of the new provisions endangered civil liberties and enhanced the power of the police over citizens in certain key areas.

Under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita Act and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act, police officers could compel the accused persons to produce their digital devices for accessing their contents -- the rules about how to handle these devices were still not laid down -- and the concern was that police could look into privileged communications of the accused with their lawyers and their spouses which were otherwise protected.

For offences with a maximum punishment of three to seven years of imprisonment, the police are permitted to conduct a preliminary inquiry within 14 days of the complaint to decide whether an FIR was to be registered -- this seemed to be against the judicial mandate that FIR had to be registered on any complaint alleging a cognisable offence.

It is apprehended that this might allow the police to refuse to register an FIR even on a legitimate complaint.

The provisions made in the new laws can improve the justice system but they could also be put to misuse by the authorities wielding power. Supervision of senior officers should be able to check the latter.

With time under judicial scrutiny, hopefully, the pathway to improvement will be opened up.

The introduction of two new offences in the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita that did not exist in the Indian Penal Code, have invited an acrimonious debate in human rights groups. They relate to a "terrorist act'' and an act "endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India".

It is said that the definition of a "terrorist" act was the same as provided in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which was worded loosely enough to allow police to book political dissidents. It punishes even the "advice" and "incitement" to do something that amounted to a threat to India's unity, integrity, sovereignty, security and economy.

Further, the inclusion of the offence of publishing "false" or "misleading" information jeopardising the sovereignty, unity, integrity and security of India -- it is alleged -- would enable the state to target media outlets and journalists who revealed information inconvenient to the government.

In a nutshell, some of the new laws have been run down by the critics -- mostly the Opposition and civil society groups -- as an instrument in the hands of the regime for suppressing dissent and advancing its political interests.

The people of India are sensitive to issues of governance and human rights but they would appreciate any genuine reform in the maintenance of law and order and dispensation of justice of which police is perhaps the most important systemic component.

Conscientious citizens would appreciate the deterrent law enacted for offences like the rape of a minor and mob lynching that had an unsettling impact on society as a whole.

(The writer is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. Views are personal)

 The Third Eye: Validation of the new laws

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TN grape farmers in crisis as sweltering heat will lead to over 80 pc fall in yield

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amil Nadu is home to two main varieties of grapes: panneer thiratchai (Muscat Hamburg) and Odaipatti seedless grapes. Grape farmers in the region are dejected as high temperatures in the last few weeks will lead to a huge fall in the yield of grapes.

K. Muniayndi, a farmer in Theni who has cultivated panneer thiratchai on around 10 acres of land, told IANS that due to high temperatures, there would be a drastic fall in the crop's yield.

He said: "Generally, we get 10-12 tonnes of grapes from an acre of the farm, but due to temperatures touching more than 39 degrees Celsius, the yield will be less than three tonnes per acre."

The grape farmer also said that for one acre of grape cultivation, a farmer has to spend around Rs 1.25 lakh, and if the yield falls to three tonnes per acre, then the situation of the farmers would be pathetic.

Panneer Thiratchai Farmers Association leader Karuppanan Raju, while speaking to IANS, said: "Almost 90 per cent of our farmers are cultivating the fruit in the Cumbum area. The heatwaves have destroyed our lives. Around 300 farmers are cultivating on 5,000 acres of land, and we are looking forward to huge losses."

He also said that the yield would be less than 80 per cent of what they usually get, and called upon the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Department to provide compensation for their losses.

The Odaipatti seedless grape farmers have a similar story to narrate. Odaipatti is a region in Theni district which cultivates seedless grapes on around 1,000 acres of land, involving 200 farmers.

Krishnan Thevar, a grape farmer, while speaking to IANS, said: "We are facing a bleak future. We will only get two to three tonnes of grapes from an acre, which is very low. Generally, we harvest around 12 tonnes from an acre of land."

He demanded that the state government fix a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Odaipatti grapes at Rs 50 per kg, just like the state government sanctioned for sugarcane and paddy when there was crop loss.

It is worth noting that the Tamil Nadu government has already proposed a GI tag for Odaipatti seedless grapes, which would help felicitate the export of these grapes. However, presently, the farmers said that they are concerned about how to overcome the huge losses.

K. M. Murugesan, an Odaipatti seedless grape farmer, told IANS that the farmers want the state government's intervention in the matter to provide them with an MSP as they were expecting losses of 80 per cent of the yield in September, when they will harvest the crop.

IANS

 TN grape farmers in crisis as sweltering heat will lead to over 80 pc fall in yield

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Jennifer Lopez denies 'This is Me Now' tour woes after poor sales claims

S

inger-actress Jennifer Lopez is all set to start her tour and is excited to see her fans at the shows.

The 54-year-old hitmaker will be performing across North America with her This is Me... Now tour starting next month, reports Mirror.co.uk.

Some reports claimed that the promoter behind the tour recently suggested that all 30 dates should be cancelled due to poor sales, but the pop princess was adamant it should go ahead.

A source told the Mirror.co.uk that there were discussions about "multiple options" regarding the tour and that everyone involved -- including the organisers, the talent, and management -- decided the shows would not be cancelled.

While seat maps on Ticketmaster seem to show a number of seats still available at some venues, including San Antonio and Dallas, Texas, some of the dates are selling "incredibly well".

The source said: "There were discussions regarding multiple options pertaining to the tour, but ultimately, it was agreed on by everyone involved (Live Nation, the talent, and management) that the tour would remain on course. Jennifer is looking forward to the tour starting and seeing her fans at the shows."

 Jennifer Lopez denies 'This is Me Now' tour woes after poor sales claims

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Brooke Shields says one is never relieved as a parent: There are always new worries

H

ollywood actress Brooke Shields kids are set to head off to their college. But the actress says her parenting journey is far from over.

The model and actress shared that she thought she would feel "relieved" when she reached the point where her two daughters  Rowan, 20, and Grier, 18  were all grown up and living independently, reports People magazine.

Instead, she's discovered that moms never really stop worrying about their kids. She said, "You get on vacation and all you do is think about where they are and what they're doing. It's like there's really no relief.

She told People, "It's like people say, 'Oh, it's going to be great. Just when they start to be able to walk. You don't have to carry them everywhere. Then they're walking all over and you're worried about them falling off the stairs and in the pool and down the street, and then they're able to walk.

She added, "And every step of the way, you think it's going to be a relief. And then a whole new set of worries just smacks you in the face.

Even though her daughters are entering adulthood, the Mother of the Bride star says she still doesn't feel like she can ease up on the worrying and mental load that comes with being a parent.

"What is the expression? Wearing your heart on your sleeve? This is like a hard suit. A whole body suit of a heart," she said as she described the experience of having children.

Come September, when Grier heads off to college, she and Henchy (60) will find themselves with an empty house  a prospect Shields says she initially looked forward to but now has her feeling off-kilter.

(Im) not ready. I thought I would be relieved, but I don't know. I'll see if when I get there, but I think I'm just going to be even... the thought of no longer living 24/7 in the house with these people that I've raised, it's just very foreign  it's like going to a totally foreign territory, she added.

 Brooke Shields says one is never relieved as a parent: There are always new worries

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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 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 Govs. 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.
Researchers at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Duke University showed that a genetic variant, present in 3-4% of self-identified Black individuals in the U.S., increases the risk for both heart failure and death and contributes to significant decreases in longevity at the population level.

A genetic variant carried by 3-4 percent of self-identified Black Americans increases the risk for heart failure and death, contributing to a significant decrease in longevity at the population level, according to a new study led by researchers at Brigham and Womens Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, and Duke University School of Medicine. The new research shows that individuals who carry the V142I transthyretin variant are at significantly increased risk for heart failure beginning in their 60s, with an increased risk for death beginning in their 70s. Further, the researchers showed that carriers on average died 2 to 2.5 years earlier than expected. With nearly half a million Black Americans carriers over age 50, the researchers estimate that approximately a million years of life will be lost due to this variant among currently living Black individuals who are in mid-to-late life. Results are published in JAMA.

We believe these data will inform clinicians and patients regarding risk when these genetic findings are known, either through family screening, medical, or even commercial genetic testing, said senior author Scott D. Solomon, MD, the Edward D. Frohlich Distinguished Chair, Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. There are now several potential new therapies for cardiac amyloidosis, and understanding the magnitude of this risk, at the individual and societal level, will help determine which patients might be best suited for novel therapies.

The V142I variant causes transthyretin, a protein in the blood, to misfold leading to deposits of abnormal amyloid protein in the heart and other parts of the body. In the heart, these deposits cause the muscle to become thick and stiffened, a condition known as cardiac amyloidosis, which can ultimately lead to heart failure. Recently, several therapies have been developed to treat cardiac amyloidosis, including therapies that: prevent the protein from misfolding, reduce the amount of protein, remove the protein, and even a gene-editing therapy that is currently undergoing clinical trials. A better understanding of the epidemiology of V142I and cardiac amyloidosis would help physicians connect patients with the appropriate treatment at the appropriate age, the researchers say.

Although the association between the V142I variant and heart failure has been previously described, precise estimates of how the variant increases risk were unclear until now. Considering approximately 48 million Americans self-identify as Black, 1.5 million across the lifespan are estimated to carry this variant. However, since effects of the variant arent typically seen until after age 50, the researchers focused on the risk among Black Americans in mid-to-late life.

To uncover these details, the researchers pooled data from self-reported Black participants in four NIH-funded studies in the United States (ARIC, MESA, REGARDS and Womens Health Initiative). Altogether, the team examined data from 23,338 self-reported Black individuals, 754 (3.23 percent) of whom carried the V142I genetic variant.

They showed that V142I increased the risk for heart failure hospitalization by age 63 and the risk of death by age 72. The variants contribution to heart failure risk increased substantially with age but was not itself increased by other known risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension. The team also showed that female and male carriers of the variant were equally at risk, contrary to some previous studies showing that men were more affected. This suggests that women are likely underdiagnosed with the condition. The researchers estimated that individual carriers with the V142I variant live 2-2.5 years less than expected.

Since 3-4 percent of self-identified Black individuals in the United States carry this variant, a significant number are at elevated risk for developing cardiac amyloidosis, being hospitalized for heart failure, and dying several years earlier than expected. With our improved understanding of the risks with the variant, future efforts to increase disease awareness and ultimately connect carriers with the disease to effective therapies will be important. Senthil Selvaraj, MD, first author and advanced heart failure physician-scientist, Duke University School of Medicine

In future studies, the researchers plan to investigate why some, but not all, carriers of the V142I variant develop cardiac amyloidosis. They are also actively involved in developing and testing therapies for the disease, including the gene therapy mentioned above.

One of the areas that will be really important going forward will be whether we can actually prevent the onset of the disease if we identify these patients earlier, said Solomon.
Amid the ongoing disruptions in Air India Express flight services, full normalcy in operations is expected by Tuesday, sources told CNBC-TV18. In addition to this, it has been learnt that about 20 flights have been cancelled for Sunday.

Meanwhile, several flights remained cancelled on Friday and Saturday following the cabin crew-related crisis.

The Air India Express crisis erupted after over 90 international and domestic flights of the airlines were cancelled due to mass sick leave of the senior crew members. It was reported a section of the employees reported sick to protest against alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline.

Employees Terminated, Then Reinstated

In an action towards senior crew members who reported sick last minute causing disruption in the airlines services, Air India Express on Wednesday terminated the contract of around 30 employees. However, the airlines management later sent letters reinstating all crew members who had been sacked for taking part in the mass leave protests.

In a letter of termination sent to one of its employees, the airline stated that an overwhelming number of airline crew members reported to be sick at the eleventh hour. This clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason, the letter read.

Why Are Pilots Protesting?

The Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), which claims to represent around 300 cabin crew members, has raised concerns about mismanagement and unequal treatment of staff over merger with Air India Express, AIX Connect and Vistara by Tata Group.

The letter written by AIXEU to Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran in April raised several issues, including the removal of allowances such as HRA, resulting in significant salary cuts despite the airlines profitability. The letter also highlighted lack of equality in treatment of employees, with internal job postings filled by external employees, as mentioned in The Economic Times report.
The Indian auto industry is likely to receive the next-generation models of Honda Amaze and Maruti Suzuki Desire. It has been reported that the updated version of Desire might be released somewhere in the festive season, while the compact sedan Amaze will hit the market end of this year.

It has been speculated that both models will be introduced in CNG and petrol avatars. These models are expected to get some noticeable cosmetic changes from both inside and outside.

What to Expect from Next-Gen Honda Amaze

Talking about the changes in Amaze first. It is expected to come with some major enhancements, featuring an improved headlight setup, refreshed bonnet, revised front fascia, and better road presence.

The vehicle might offer a similar vibe as the companys larger sedan. Again, this is just speculation, a concrete clarification on this is yet to be cleared by the brand.

If some rumors are to be believed, the upcoming Honda Amaze is expected to be developed on the same architecture as the Elevate and City. However, it will offer a shorter wheelbase as compared to the mentioned siblings.

Engine Specs

Under the hood, it seems like nothing will be changed. It will continue to be offered with same 1.2-liter, four-cylinder petrol engine. The unit will generate a maximum power of 88 bhp and 110Nm of peak torque. It will be paired with a 5-speed manual or a CVT transmission.

All About Nex-Gen Desire

The upcoming model might follow the footprints of the newly launched Swift. It is expected to get similar design elements as a four-generation hatchback. The company might include some trending features to attract more customers.

Expected Features

The vehicle is likely to come with a 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a first-in-segment sunroof, a wireless charger, and a refreshed dashboard among other improved features.

At the heart, it will use a 1.2-liter Z series three-cylinder petrol. It will churn out decent output of 80 bhp and 112Nm of peak torque.
Government jobs are commonly regarded as the pinnacle of job security. They offer a fixed salary, regular pay raises, and a variety of perks, like retirement plans and health insurance. Furthermore, the recruitment procedure for government jobs can be quite competitive, with tough exams, interviews, and a lengthy selection period. If youre looking for a government job that matches your skill set and qualifications, we have a list of the top government-recruited openings to consider this week:

DRDO Recruitment For 127 ITI Apprentice Posts

The Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), which is part of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), has issued a recruitment notice for 127 ITI apprentice positions. The DMRL will be hiring for various vocations such as Turner, Mechanist, Welder, Computer Operator, Programming Assistant, and others. Candidates may apply at drdo.gov.in till May 31, 2024. Candidates who have passed the ITI exam may apply for these rolesread more

Meghalaya Police Recruitment For 2968 Posts

The Central Recruitment Board (Meghalaya Recruitment Board) has announced a recruitment campaign for several openings in the Meghalaya Police Force. Candidates can apply via the official website at megpolice.gov.in. Registration for the Meghalaya Police Recruitment 2024 will be open until May 31, 2024. This recruitment process will fill 2,968 posts in total. Candidates applying for the openings of Unarmed Branch Sub Inspector should be between the ages of 21 and 27; for the other positions, candidates should be between the ages of 12 and 21 yearsread more

CBI Recruitment For Business Correspondent Supervisor Posts

The Central Bank of India is looking for Business Correspondent Supervisors on a contract basis to oversee BC activities, with two open positions. The selected applicants will serve a 12-month term, subject to satisfactory annual performance reviews. According to the details in the official notification, selection would be made via interviews. The selected candidates would be paid a monthly salary ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 12,000, plus extra benefits such as transportation allowance and mobile/internet expenses, as per the official noticeread more

UPSSSC Group C Recruitment For 3,446 Posts

The Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Committee (UPSSSC) has started the registration process for 3,446 Technical Assistant Group C vacancies across the state. Candidates can submit their applications via the official website at upsss.gov.in. The online registration window will be open till May 31, 2024. To apply, candidates must be between 21 and 40 years old as of July 1 and hold a B.Sc./B.E./B.Tech degree in Agriculture from a government-approved institution or university. Applicants will be selected based on their performance in the Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET) 2023 and the written examination administered by the recruitment bodyread more

AIIMS Deoghar Recruitment For 99 Senior Resident Posts

AIIMS Deoghar is looking for eligible candidates to fill the Senior Resident opening. The candidate will be hired for one year, with the option to extend for up to two years based on departmental evaluation and available openings. Candidates must apply through the AIIMS official website at aiimsdeoghar.edu.in. There are 99 open seats for this position, and the successful candidate will be paid at level 11. All contenders for AIIMS Deoghar Recruitment 2024 must submit their applications before May 19. In addition, the age limit for AIIMS Deoghar Recruitment 2024 is 45 yearsread more

Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website.
The HBSE Class 10 result 2024 has been released by the Board of School Education, Haryana (BSEH) today, May 12, 2024. The board has also activated the result link on the official website. Students who are eagerly waiting for their results can check the Haryana Board 10 result 2024 by entering their roll number and birth date through the official website, bseh.org.in. Students will also have access to third-party websites like indiaresults.com where they can view the HBSE results for the 10th class. The evaluation process ended on May 8.

Haryana Board 10th Result 2024: Pass Percentage Increases

As per media reports, 95.22 per cent of the students who took the exam passed. The pass percentage among girls is 96.32 per cent and among boys, it is 94.22 per cent. Last year, the pass percentage stood at 65.43 per cent. Girls scored a pass percentage of 69.81 perc ent whereas 61.41 per cent male students passed the Haryana Class 10 board exam in 2023.

HBSE 10th Result 2024: Websites to Check

 bseh.org.in,

 indiaresults.com

Haryana Board Result 2024: Passing Marks

The passing criteria for the HBSE exams 2024 require students to obtain a minimum of 33 per cent marks in each subject, including theory and practical exams. Those who have scored below the required the passing marks will have to re-appear for the exams.

HBSE 10th Result 2024: Steps to check online

Students can view their HBSE class 10th 2024 results online through its official website. To view the class 10 Haryana board result for 2024, follow the instructions below:

Step 1  Check out bseh.org.in, the official website.

Step 2  Click on HBSE Secondary Examination 2024 Result under the most recent notification section.

Step 3  Enter the captcha code as shown on the screen and put the roll number and birthdate.

Step 4  Click the Search Result option now.

Step 5  The screen will show the 2024 HBSE 10th result.

Step 6  Take a print out for future use.

HBSE 10th Result 2024: How to check through SMS?

Students can also use SMS to check the results by sending a text message in the following format:

Step 1- Enter the text in the following format: RESULTHB10 (space)ROLL NUMBER.

Step 2  Send the text message to 56263

Step 3  You will receive an SMS with the Haryana Board 10th result 2024.

Step 4  Take a screenshot or download for future use.

HBSE 10th Result 2024: How to check through DigiLocker?

Step 1: Go to the DigiLocker website  digilocker.gov.in or download the app

Step 2: Click on Register for DigiLocker

Step 3: Enter a valid mobile number. Enter the OTP sent to the registered mobile number

Step 4: Set your username and password

Step 5: Enter your Aadhar number

Step 6: Sign in using your registered user name and password to check results.

Details mentioned in the Haryana Board 10th Result 2024:

The students should check the following details carefully on their Haryana Board 10th result 2024 marksheet.

 Obtaining grades

 Overall GPA

 The students name, date of birth, roll number, and parents names

 Total points

 Subject-specific grades

 Enrollment Number

The HBSE 10th result for 2024 that is made available on the official website is provisional, and students must confirm the information listed on their original mark sheet. HBSE will provide the original copy of the mark sheets and certificates to the respective schools soon.

Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website.
The Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) will announce the class 10th (HSLC) result 2024 on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at noon. Students can check the result on the official website mbse.edu.in. The board stated in an official notification that the results can be viewed at the MBSE Office Chaltlang as well as on the websites mbse.edu.in and mbseonline.com. To get the scorecard, students must input their login information, such as their registration and roll numbers.

This year, the exams for Mizorams HSLC (Class 10) were held from February 26, 2024 to March 15, 2024. Students must receive at least 33 percent marks in each subject and in aggregate to pass the MBSE HSLC exam 2024. In addition to this, the board offers grace marks to candidates who need a minimum of two passing grades. The board states that students who fail in any one subject will receive up to four marks in the supplementary exam, and if a student fails in any one subject, they will receive up to twelve grace marks.

MBSE HSLC result 2024: Steps to download

Use the instructions below to view or download your results for the 10th grade:-

Step 1  Go to the Mizoram Boards official website first  mbse.edu.in  to access the 10th Result 2024 Link.

Step 2  Click the link for the Mizoram Board Result HSLC 2024 from the homepage.

Step 3  Enter the registration and roll numbers.

Step 4  Your MBSE HSLC result will now show up.

Step 15  You can download it for future use.

MBSE HSLC Result 2024: Steps to download via SMS

Step 1  Start the SMS application on your smartphone.

Step 2  In the SMS app type the text in the format, roll number (MBSE10S).

Step 3  Send this message to 5676750.

Step 4  Your result will then be sent back to you.

Step 5  Take a screenshot of the result and keep it securely for later use.

The Mizoram board has declared that during business hours, students can contact them for queries regarding MBSE 10th results 2024. Students can reach out to them at 9863722521 and 9863883041.

Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website.
BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on Sunday called Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal the poster boy of corruption, saying he has no moral right to comment on graft or transparency. The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief was taking part in a roadshow for the BJPs Chandni Chowk candidate Praveen Khandelwal.

Do you really think Kejriwal has any credibility left? He has made many u-turns in his political life. Many young people like us participated in the 2013 Anna Hazare movement, thinking it to be a non-political campaign against corruption, the Bangalore South MP said.

Starting from there to now, Kejriwal has cheated everyone who believed in the idea he presented. He is in an alliance with people he had openly criticised such as Lalu Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, he added.

Kejriwal, who reached out to the people with the promise of transparency and clean governance, is now in jail facing severe charges, alleged Surya, who was renominated by the BJP from Bangalore South. The Delhi chief minister and AAP chief, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday.

Surya said, If there can be a face for hypocrisy in the country, it is Kejriwal. If there can be a face for u-turns and unethical politics, it can be Kejriwal. People of the country have seen through these double standards. On June 4, the BJP will register a resounding victory in all seven seats of Delhi.

The BJP leader also claimed Kerjiwal has no moral right to comment on anything even remotely connected with corruption or transparency. He is the poster boy of corruption in the country, Surya said.

I have been a lawyer and practised in civil and criminal courts. In my entire experience as a practising lawyer, I have never seen any court giving a bail order with an expiry date attached to it, he said.

A bail order is granted with conditions that one has to cooperate with the investigation. There is no date mentioned in any bail order in which the accused is asked to surrender again, he added.

This is not even a full bail order. So, even the Supreme Court, prima facie, is convinced of Kejriwals complicity in corruption, the BJP leader claimed. Polling for Delhis seven seats will be held in the sixth phase of the seven-phase elections on May 25.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Free electricity, education and health, two crore jobs in the next one year, and giving full independence to the Indian Army to reclaim Indias land currently occupied by China were among ten promises made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, who also said that he would make sure these guarantees are implemented when the INDIA bloc is voted to power after the Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters in the city days after he was released on interim bail, Kejriwal reiterated his promise of full statehood to Delhi and also said Agniveer scheme will be scrapped if the opposition alliance emerge victorious.

This was delayed due to my arrest but there are still many phases of elections left. I have not discussed it with the rest of the INDIA alliance but this is like a guarantee that no one will have any problems with, Kejriwal said during a press conference.

He said that the party will work on a war footing to full these 10 guarantees, which are fundamental for the country to move forward.

Notably, he guaranteed the reclamation of the land occupied by China. China has occupied our land but our central govt is denying itThere is a lot of strength in our army. All the land of the country which has been occupied by China will be freed, Kejriwal said.

The AAP supremo said that efforts will be made at the diplomatic level on one side, adding that the Army would be given complete freedom to take necessary steps in this regard.

With his guarantee of free electricity, the Delhi CM noted that India has the capacity to generate 3 lakh MW of electricity but the usage is only 2 lakh MW. Our country can produce electricity more than the demand. We have done it in Delhi and Punjab, we will do it in the country also. We will provide up to 200 units of free electricity to all the poor. It will cost Rs 1.25 lakh crore, we can arrange it, he said.

Taking the example of AAP governments work in Delhi and Punjab, Kejriwal said, Government schools will provide a better education than private schools. We have done it in Delhi and Punjab. Rs 5 lakh crores will be required for this. State governments will give Rs 2.5 lakh crores and central government will give Rs 2.5 crore for this.

Guaranteeing an improved health care system, the AAP chief said that district hospital will be converted into multispecialty hospital. Every person born in this country will get free treatment. Treatment will not be done on the basis of insurance as this is a big scam. We will create infrastructure. Rs 5 lakh crore rupees will be spent on healthcare, he added.

You can give a life of dignity to the farmers, if you are paying them full prices for their crops. In his guarantee for farmers, Kejriwal said that based on the Swaminathan report, they would be given full prices for their crops based on MSP.

AT A GLANCE: TEN GUARANTEES GIVEN BY ARVIND KEJRIWAL

We will provide 247 electricity across the country and free electricity to the poor. Free education will be provided to all children by establishing world class government schools in every village and locality of the country. World class multi-specialty hospitals will be set up in every district of the country and Mohalla Clinics will be set up in every village and locality to provide free treatment. The army will be given complete freedom to liberate Indian territory occupied by China. Agniveer Yojana will be discontinued and all Agniveers will be made permanent. As per Swaminathan Commission, MSP will be fixed on all crops and farmers will be paid the full price of their crops. Will give full statehood status to Delhi. To eliminate unemployment, we will provide 2 crore jobs in the next 1 year. We will end corruption, we will break the washing machine of BJP. The terror of GST will be ended, GST will be taken out of PMLA.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Dubais Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that steady progress is being made on the Al Shindagha Corridor Improvement Project with nearly 45% of the works for Phase 4 of the project already completed.

The project scope extends 4.8 km from the intersection of Sheikh Rashid Road with Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street to the Falcon Intersection on Al Mina Street. It involves the construction of three bridges extending 3.1 km with a capacity of 19,400 vehicles per hour in all directions.

The project, which spans 13 km along Sheikh Rashid Road, Al Mina Street, Al Khaleej Street, and Cairo Street, aims to facilitate free traffic movement along the corridor, enhance the capacity, and step-up traffic safety.

According to RTA, the first contract of Phase 4 includes the construction of a 1335-metre-long bridge, with a capacity of three lanes in each direction, to ensure smooth traffic flow between Sheikh Rashid and the Falcon Intersection.

The bridge has a capacity of 10,800 vehicles per hour in both directions. The second bridge extends 780 metres with a capacity of three lanes to serve traffic coming from the Falcon Intersection heading to Al Wasl Road with a capacity of 5400 vehicles per hour.

The third is a two-lane bridge extending 985 metres to serve traffic coming from Jumeirah Street heading to Al Mina Street in the direction of the Falcon Intersection, with a capacity of 3,200 vehicles per hour, it stated.

The project also includes constructing roads extending 4.8 km, improving surface intersections on Jumeirah Street, Al Mina Street, and Sh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Street, and constructing two pedestrian bridges on Sheikh Rashid Road and Al Mina Street. Works also include street lighting, traffic systems, rainwater drainage, and irrigation systems, he added.

Al Shindagha Corridor Improvement Project is one of the largest projects currently being implemented by RTA. It involves the development of 15 intersections along 13 km and due to its scale, it has been split into five phases.

The project serves Deira and Bur Dubai and development projects such as Dubai Islands, Dubai Waterfront, Dubai Maritime City, and Mina Rashid. The project, which serves about one million people, is set to reduce journey time from 104 minutes to 16 minutes by 2030.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, said: "RTA is currently constructing Al Khaleej Street Tunnel, which extends from the end of the ramp of the Infinity Bridge in Deira to the intersection of Al Khaleej Street with Cairo Street. This 1650-metre-long tunnel has three lanes in each direction, accommodating 12,000 vehicles per hour."

"The tunnel facilitates free traffic flow for motorists from the Infinity Bridge heading to Deira and vice versa. The project also includes converting the intersection of Cairo and Al Wuheida Street from a roundabout to a signalised junction along with some improvements on Cairo Street and connecting the bridge ramp from Dubai Islands to the new Al Khaleej Street Tunnel heading northward," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
JACKSONVILLE, AL  Area students are among more than 1,200 students named to the Deans List for their outstanding academic performance at Jacksonville State University in Spring 2024.

Founded in 1883 as a state teachers college, Jacksonville State University has grown from humble beginnings into the Alabama regional university with the highest percentage of accredited programs. Located in the Appalachian foothills midway between Birmingham and Atlanta, Jax State offers more than 150 courses of study, including over 40 online programs, at the undergraduate and graduate level. To learn more, visit www.jsu.edu, call 1-800-231-JAX1 or e-mail jaxfacts@jsu.edu.
Union minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the oppositions allegation of EVM tampering against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, is simply an excuse to prepare the ground to hide senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhis defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

In an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi, Goyal talked about how the Gandhi scion said the BJP and the prime minister will not be able to win an election without the ED, CBI and electronic voting machines (EVM) on their side. He said the Congress and the opposition INDIA bloc knows they will lose the election and is creating a silly narrative to save Rahul and the Gandhi-Nehru family.

this is a very silly narrative. They already know that they are going to lose, so now they are preparing grounds for a narrative to hide that it is Rahul Gandhis defeat. Therefore, they will blame the EVM. Then they might blame Sharad Pawar or even Uddhav Thackeray. They just have to save Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi-Nehru family, he said.

The union minister for commerce, who is making his Lok Sabha election debut as the BJP candidate for Mumbai North constituency, said if there is any foul play involved, then Congress-led governments in Karnataka and Telangana should immediately resign saying the assembly poll results from the EVMs are inaccurate.

In Karnataka and Telangana, they won the elections; so, they should immediately resign saying the results from EVMs are inaccurate. They should resign and say they will not form the government, and that they want ballot boxes back for elections. So, let them decide, he said.

He said the opposition emotionally blackmailed the Supreme Court when a decision was not in their favour by criticising the top court of India and by lauding it when it was to their benefit.

They also emotionally blackmail the Supreme Court, that if a decision goes in their favour, then democracy is saved, Satyameva Jayate, the Supreme Court is lauded. But, if the decision is in favour of building Ram Lallas temple, then they criticise the Supreme Court he added.

On April 26, in a significant development, the SC dismissed petitions seeking 100 per cent cross-verification of EVM-VVPAT and rejected a return to using the ballot paper during elections.

Calling the issue silly and the oppositions thinking appalling, Goyal further said it would be impossible to tamper with more than 12 lakh EVMs across India since they were not even interconnected.

The lakhs of EVMs used across the country are not even interconnected over the net. I mean their thinking is so appalling. I would say below contempt. Can you imagine that there are over 12 lakh EVMs in use across the country, and they are not even interconnected. So, if there is to be any foul play, then you have to tamper with 12 lakh EVMs. And if that happens, then there is no question of any opposition party winning or forming the government in any election, he said.

As far as the ED and CBI are concerned, he said the law takes its own course. There is a rule of law. If you did corruption, you were nabbed. If you get caught with your hand in the till, the law will work accordingly, he added.

In a recent analysis by a national newspaper, it was found that out of about 25 leaders who joined the BJP from other parties, 23 saw cases against them dropped or put in cold storage.

Asked about this, the minister said the BJP checks the type of case a person is facing before absorbing them and sees if the person fits in with the partys ethos. He said there are many people who want to join but are not considered if the party feels that their background cannot be accepted.

I think the law takes its own course and its own time also. But, our government does not interfere in any case. These are independent agencies that do their own work. And before we take anybody in the party, we also check what type of case the person is facing and whether that person will fit in with the ethos of our party or not. There are so many people who want to join whom we do not accept if we feel that the background of that person is such that he cannot be accepted into our party, he said, adding that the central agencies work independently and cases are not buried due to the government pressure.
Asserting that the BJP would not be able to win Odisha in the next 10 years, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday claimed his BJD would return to power for the sixth consecutive time after the assembly elections.

Patnaik was reacting to PM Narendra Modi telling an election rally earlier in the day that the swearing-in ceremony of a BJP chief minister will be held in Bhubaneswar on June 10.

Nothing will happen on June 10. BJP will not be able to win the hearts of the people in the next 10 years, forget about June 10, the chief minister said, maintaining that the BJD will form the government in Odisha for the sixth consecutive time. He also questioned why Biju Patnaik was not being considered for Bharat Ratna.

There are so many brave sons of Odisha, a few of whom you spoke about today. Dont any of them, including Biju Patnaik, deserve the Bharat Ratna? Patnaik asked, noting that the Centre has given the honour to several persons recently. He said the people of Odisha remember the promises Modi and the BJP made to the people in 2014 and 2019, and they have also seen the BJD government for the last 24 years.

Do you also remember the promises you made in 2014 and 2019? The people of Odisha remember your promise  controlling prices of essential commodities, creating 2 crore jobs, reducing prices of LPG, petrol and diesel, and providing mobile connectivity in remote areas, he said. You are remembering Odisha only during the elections and this will be of no use, he added.

Patnaik said while Rs 1,000 crore was allotted by the Centre for promoting Sanskrit, no money was given for Odia even when it is a classical language. I had sent proposals for recognition to classical Odissi music and you have rejected them twice, he said.

Patnaik claimed the PM has also forgotten the farmers of the state and his promise of doubling the MSP. You should have kept the people of Odisha in mind and built the coastal highway. You have again forgotten this project, he said.

Stating that coal is Odishas natural wealth, Patnaik said, The PM has also forgotten to revise the royalty for 10 years. In an indirect reference to BJD leader VK Pandians assertion that he is the natural successor to all great values of Patnaik, Modi said, 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 states culture, language and tradition will be made the CM. Odisha will vote for its 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147-member assembly, simultaneously, in four phases, starting on May 13.

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Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
After a high decibel campaign, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top leaders of Congress and BRS, the stage is now set for polling on Monday to elect 17 Lok Sabha members from the state in a single phase.

The Election Commission has also made arrangements to conduct a bypoll for the Secunderabad (Cantonment) Assembly seat to be held tomorrow.

A contingent of 73,000 civil police personnel, 500 sections of the state special police, 164 companies of central armed police forces, three companies of Tamil Nadu police, 2,088 officials from other departments and 7,000 home guards have been deployed as part of security measures, the Telangana DGP office said.

All vehicles carrying EVMs and VVPATs are fitted with GPS systems and provided invariably with armed security by central forces.

As many as 625 candidates, including Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy, the partys national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar and senior leader Etala Rajender are among the saffron party candidates while the Congress fielded among others, BRS turncoats Danam Nagender and K Kavya.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking re-election from the partys bastion of Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency and the BJP has fielded a political novice but enthusiastic K Madhavi Latha who has begun a spirited campaign.

The former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar and sitting MP Nama Nageswar Rao, among others, are in the poll fray from former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and Congress leaders Mallikrajun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy canvassed for their respective party candidates.

The Congress campaign centered around reservations for SC, ST and OBC alleging that BJP, if voted to power at the Centre again, will try to abolish quota for the above sections.

It also highlighted the implementation of five out of the six Assembly poll guarantees in Telangana by the party-led government. The BJP focussed mainly on how the grand old party will allegedly try to snatch away reservations and allot it to Muslims and controversial comments by Congress leader Sam Pitroda on race and skin colours of Indians.

The BRS campaign, led by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, highlighted the failures of the incumbent Congress government, besides attacking the BJP on various issues.

According to State Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj, about Rs 320 crore worth of cash, freebies and other articles have been seized during the period of poll code.

Over 3.31 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise in 35,356 polling stations across the state. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4 nationwide.

Telangana recorded 62 per cent voter turnout in the 2019 Parliamentary elections. The BRS (then TRS) won nine seats, BJP  four, Congress  three and AIMIM  one seat in the 2019 general elections.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
The third phase of the Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies across India, recorded an average voter turnout of 65.68 per cent, said the Election Commission of India. An analysis of the data showed that in only 16 seats, nine of which were from Bihar and West Bengal, female voters outnumbered males.

According to the EC data, issued on Saturday (May 11), the average female voter turnout in the third phase was 64.41 per cent while the male turnout was 66.89 per cent. On 77 seats, male participation was higher than female participation. In terms of the gap between the turnout of the two genders, the five worst performing seats were from Gujarat. In Surendranagar, Rajkot, Kheda, Jamnagar and Porbandar, the female turnout was about 10 percentage points lower than male.

Earlier this month, News18 had reported about the female voter turnout in the first two phases in April. Out of the 190 constituencies, where elections were held in the first two phases, women voter participation was higher than men in at least 75 seats.

READ | Women Voters Outnumber Men In 75 Lok Sabha Seats In First Two Phases: Bihars Nawada, UPs Mathura Fared Worst

In total, the election has been completed in 20 states and UTs across 283 seats in the first three phases. Women turnout in only 91 seats was higher than male. In the list of top 10 seats where female turnout was highest as compared to male, at least eight seats went to polls in the third phase.

Dhubri, Barpeta in Assam recorded highest female turnout

Across the three phases, the seats that recorded the highest voter turnout were from Assam  Dhubri (92.08%) and Barpeta (85.24%). These are also the two seats where the male turnout was the highest  91.99% and 85.4%.

But, when it comes to female turnout, the seat that recorded the highest turnout was Dhubri (92.17%) while the second spot went to West Bengals Murshidabad with 86.07 per cent turnout. The male turnout in this West Bengal seat was only 77.14 per cent.

Lowest voter and female turnout in Nawada, Mathura

In the earlier story, News18 had reported that Bihars Nawada, which voted in the first phase, reported the lowest female turnout at 42.61 per cent. Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, which voted in the second phase, recorded female turnout at 46.09 per cent.

They continue to hold the top two positions in terms of lowest female voter turnout. From the third phase, Gujarats Porbandar (46.1%) and Amreli (46.24%) have joined the list. These two seats also reported the lowest turnout in the third phases  little more than 50 per cent.

In at least 33 Lok Sabha seats that voted in the third phase, the female turnout was below 50 per cent and 19 of these were from Gujarat. The average voter turnout in Gujarat was 60.13 per cent, lower than 64.11 per cent reported in 2019.

Now, four phases of elections are left, with the next phase of voting on May 13. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
It is a now-or-never moment for the Congress. Can it go past the psychologically critical 54-seat mark, which is the least it needs to stake claim to the post of the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha? The fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections will decide this. If voters oblige, it is in this round of polling that the Congress could bag the most seats it has held in the lower house of Parliament in a decade.

At least 17.7 crore eligible voters, spread across 96 seats in 10 states and union territories, hold the answer to the questions posed above. In the 2019 general elections, out of these, the BJP won 42 seats. Almost all the other seats were won by the opposition  six for the Congress and 22 for the YSRCP.

Given the statistics, one fact is clear above all else. The opposition has the most to prove and lose.

For one, the BJP is not the most dominant in this phase. Quite like in the first phase, the opposition has an opportunity to contain the BJP. But, it will have to perform out of its skin. This is because the opposition, including the non-INDIA bloc parties, have the most seats at stake where the BJP was a close second in 2019.

Thats right, a little over a quarter of the seats are swing seats. Out of the 21 swing seats, 11 were won by less than 1 per cent of the votes cast. Of these 11 seats, only two were held by the BJP and they were Bardhaman-Durgapur in West Bengal and Khajuraho in Jharkhand. The opposition is, therefore, more vulnerable to voter disaffection.

Third, out of the 20 strongholds (seats not lost by a party since 2009) or a fifth of the seats slated to go to polls in the fourth phase, the BJP and opposition won 10 each. In other words, the BJP, which has been on the ascendant in each election since 2009 across these seats, stands on the same footing as the opposition.

This is a remarkable achievement for a party in these seats, where it was only an emerging alternative in four states  Odisha, Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana  a decade ago. There is little reason why the BJPs upward trajectory will be reversed in these states, particularly as the Congress  against which the BJP has an excellent win record  is in terminal decline across these seats at the Lok Sabha level. Moreover, non-Congress parties are also on a shaky wicket. In 2009, the Congress won 50 seats. A decade later, in 2019, it lost all but six seats across the fourth phase.

Fourth, if the Congress has to improve its national tally, it needs to win big in Telangana. In this southern state, the grand old party will fancy its prospects having swept the assembly election just six months ago. But, the states 17 Lok Sabha seats are also being eyed by the BJP where its fortunes are on the rise. The saffron party is confident that the state will be its next big breakout electoral region in the south as it strives to prove its pan-national acceptability.

The Congress-BJP prestige battle in Telangana is complicated by the presence of a third party  the BRS. This party led by dominant regional satrap K Chandrasekhar Rao, or KCR, was not just the ruling party till 2023 but has also cornered the most Lok Sabha seats since 2014. The BRS, which won the trust of electors because it championed their right to a separate state, is now fighting for its survival on the back of an underwhelming performance at the state level. Having turned their backs on the BRS last year, its disenchanted voters are now looking elsewhere.

The BJP will be hoping to pull most of the 35 per cent votes that the BRS polled in 2019. The BJP had bagged 9 per cent of the vote in 2019, which handed it four Lok Sabha seats. Even if it can bag a third of the BRS floating votes, the BJP could double its tally this time around.

Given that a number of BRS voters are more inclined to be anti-Congress because the party has historically been their arch nemesis, it is quite likely that they will shift lock stock towards the BJP. More so because this is a national election. This is exactly what happened in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Bengal, where the CPM voter fighting an existential war with the TMC moved, almost down to the last comrade, towards the then emerging option, the BJP.

Fifth, all of the 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh will witness, perhaps, the keenest contest in a decade. Here, the Congress has been squeezed out in what is essentially a two-horse race between the NDA (BJP-TDP-Jana Sena) and the YSRCP, which is led by the chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

On paper, the NDA has almost the same number of votes in its kitty as the YSRCP. Nevertheless, even if the NDA were to fizzle out, many believe that the BJP, in a post-poll scenario, will stand to gain. Primarily because the YSRCP, which won 22 seats in 2019, has been alliance agnostic over the past 10 years. It has, on more than one crucial juncture, broken from the opposition ranks and lent support to the NDA at the Centre. There is no reason why it will renounce its politically expedient ways going forward.

The INDIA bloc and, in particular, the Congress will be aware of these five factors that all but hold the key to the fourth phase.
One hundred and forty-one rallies and road shows this will be the number of public events Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended while campaigning for BJP in the last two months, by the time he filed his nomination from Varanasi for the third time on May 14. This translates to the 73-year-old leader attending nearly three public events daily, involving a travel of thousands of kilometres.

A sample of this would be seen on Sunday when the PM will do four rallies in West Bengal, followed by a roadshow in Patna. On Monday, he will participate in three rallies in Patna before flying to Varanasi where he will do a massive roadshow in the evening that could last over four hours. The BJP is planning a massive campaign around the roadshow Hammar Modi, Hammar Kashi.

On Tuesday morning, the PM will file his nomination from Varanasi and proceed to do more public meetings during the day. The Prime Ministers campaign will continue till the end of May and which could touch a total of 180-190 events.

Age Just a Number for Modi

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said Modi will complete his third term in 2029 and will continue to lead the party and the country even ahead of it. There was no confusion in the party over the same, the Home Minister said.

This came after AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal claimed that Modi would be retiring at the age of 75 next year and would hand over the reins to Amit Shah. The Home Minister made it clear that there is no such age limit of 75 in the BJPs constitution.

Big Roadshow in Offing

Home Minister Amit Shah is in Varanasi to oversee the arrangements for Prime Minister Modis roadshow and nomination process. Senior BJP leader Sunil Bansal has also been camping in Varanasi for many days. Sources said the Prime Minister is expected to visit the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Kal Bhairav Temple during his two-day visit to Varanasi.

The diversity of India will be showcased on various stages on the route of the PMs roadshow, with people from Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, and other communities present to welcome Modi. During the roadshow, the PM will cover a five-kilometre stretch from the gate of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) to the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in approximately four hours.

The roadshow will have performances by various artists playing the Damru and Shankhs and BJP is arranging quintals of flower petals for the event.

Meanwhile, a list has been drawn up of probable proposers for PMs nomination and four names will be finalised from it.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Union minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the Congress was still banking on appeasement politics for the Lok Sabha elections, which had been revealed in its manifesto.

In an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi, Goyal talked about the BJPs development versus Hindu-Muslim agenda. He was asked why the BJPs whole campaign had shifted to Hindu-Muslim from talking about development, the economy, and other accomplishments of the Narendra Modi-led central government after the first two phases of polling.

The union commerce minister, who is fighting his first Lok Sabha election from Mumbai North constituency, said it was important for the prime minister to reveal the direction in which Rahul Gandhi and his friends wanted to take India and alert the country about their mindset.

I feel it is unfortunate that after the manifesto of the Congress was released, they were completely exposed, that they are still thinking of appeasement. They are still thinking of following the economic path shown by Sam Pitroda ji. For them, the politics of discrimination still takes priority. And the kind of confusion they tried to create in society, we felt it necessary to present it properly before the people. And I think we have not stopped talking about development and a positive agenda, he said.

In a rally in Rajasthans Banswara last month, the prime minister had slammed the Congress manifesto and said the party had promised to redistribute wealth by snatching away the savings of Hindus and dividing all of it among the Muslims and infiltrators.

We didnt start this discussion. You can check out Modis guarantees. It is a very positive narrative. We have put every issue in front of the country very seriously and deeply. We have kept a vision of how we can become a developed India in this Amrit Kaal, and what steps will be taken in that direction in our third term, Goyal said.

He said whether it is the media or social media, there is always an inclination towards sensationalism, TRPs and headline hunting. This is why it feels like the BJPs narrative has changed but the partys leaders  be it PM Modi, union minister Amit Shah, national president JP Nadda, defence minister Rajnath Singh or candidates like him  are continuing to reach out to people with a positive attitude and are promoting a positive narrative, he added.

That this election will decide the fate of the country is our focus. This election will decide whether Modi ji becomes the prime minister or on the other side is a question mark. Because even though they have said that they will appoint five prime ministers in five years, they have not been able to say who those five will be, and who will be the first, Goyal said.

But, the Congress has claimed that these issues are a construct of the BJP and the party has not talked about wealth redistribution or even mentioned Muslims in their manifesto. The minister then mentioned former overseas Congress president Sam Pitroda, who recently resigned in the wake of a controversy triggered by his comments on race and colour of Indians from the northeast and south. He had said those from the northeast looked like Chinese while those down south like African Americans. Not only this, before that, Pitroda had also stirred a controversy by talking about 55 per cent inheritance tax, the implementation of which the BJP said was another intention of the opposition if it came to power.

you see Sam Pitroda ji has been their trusted adviser and for years, he used to tom-tom it too. Sam Pitroda ji was taken around the world in the name of overseas Congress and he would badmouth the country there as well. Now, when such a person talks about 55% inheritance tax at the same time and, I believe, that he must have definitely had a hand in the manifesto as well, Goyal said.

He added: Now, on the one hand the manifesto comes, which says we will take the details of everyones savings, we will investigate everyone, we will assess the savings you have. And if we talk about redistribution of wealth, then for redistributing the savings, first you will have to take it and snatch it. So, naturally thats what they are saying.

He further said four things happened at the same time: first, the manifesto says assets will be fully investigated for everyone in the country, including every middle-class person. If 25 crore people have come out of poverty, then broadly most of them are in the middle class. So, the details of all their assets will be collected. The second narrative is that on the basis of population, they will redistribute wealth. A third narrative is created that the minorities and, this is false, have been treated unfairly by Modi ji, so they have first right to the countrys resources, as said by our former prime minister. And then fourth, Sam Pitroda ji talks about inheritance tax at the same time, he said.

Goyal said perhaps Pitroda inadvertently spoke his mind and 55% inheritance tax, like in the US, is not little. India had an inheritance tax earlier, but it was a small amount, he said. Can talking about 55% tax be good for India? Now, when you connect these four links, only then can you understand what is the thinking of the Congress and in which direction Rahul Gandhi and his friends want to take the country. That is why I think we felt it necessary to alert the country about their mindset, he added.
Union minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal, who is making his Lok Sabha election debut from Mumbai North, spoke on burning issues ranging from the Oppositions narrative to the Congresss manifesto and reservation, in an exclusive interview. In a candid discussion with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, he also spoke at length on Maharashtra politics, and Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawars factions of the Shiv Sena and the NCP. Full text:

RAHUL JOSHI: Piyush ji, welcome to this special show of News18. Thank you very much for coming to our studio. The election is in full swing and three rounds have been completed. Your election is on May 20. You are contesting elections for the first time. How are you feeling?

PIYUSH GOYAL: I am very happy. I am grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that after working in the field of politics for 40 years, I have got this opportunity to go into the peoples court, gauge their joys and sorrows on the ground.

In the last 40 years, I have seen many elections, created strategies for many elections, worked for others in many elections. I even oversaw LK Advani jis first election. He contested the Lok Sabha elections for the first time in 1989. Before that, he had never contested any election. I am almost the same age now. He must have been 62 years old then.

But, when a person is a candidate, it is a different proposition. There are anxieties and overall a maturity also develops. You go among the people and interact with them in their everyday life.

RAHUL JOSHI: We will come back to Maharashtra and talk about your constituency as well, but you are with us today, you are a national leader, you have handled a lot of ministries. At one time, I think you were handling the highest number of portfolios in the government. So, lets discuss some big issues with you first. I recently interviewed Amit Shah ji and the first question I asked him was that your slogan is Abki baar, 400 paar. Does that still hold or is the campaign coming off the tracks?

PIYUSH GOYAL: It still holds. And when you come on the ground, when you go among the people, see their response, their reaction, and political leaders gauge from the reaction of the audience what response you are receiving. What the response is during the speech, what the response is on an issue.

I believe we will definitely cross 400, but the way the opposition is making so many distasteful, controversial, and appalling statements, the way it is trying to divert issues with fake narratives, the way internal conflicts have come to the fore in the INDI Alliance, the fight between the CPM and Congress in Kerala They are friends in West Bengal, but the TMC and Congress are fighting.

This entire opposition has exposed itself as a very weak opposition. They have no leader, no leadership, no policy, no intent for the country. How will they work with amity and sensitivity? In such a situation, the 10-year tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his 50 years of impeccable public life inspire people and assure them that it is only him who can take this country to the world stage.

RAHUL JOSHI: We have noticed that the voter turnout was a little low in the first two to three phases. We have also seen a bit of a fall in the stock markets for the last few days. FIIs are selling. There is a buzz that you may not be able to reach your seat target. Four months ago, you had given me the figure of 330 for the Bharatiya Janata Party. So, what number are you looking at? Is there any truth to reports that due to the low turnout, there is overconfidence in the BJP and workers are not coming out of their homes? How are you looking at this narrative?

PIYUSH GOYAL: First of all, let me state that the figure of 330 that I had given you was before our alliance with JD(U), before our alliance with Chandrababu Naidus TDP, and before any alliance in Tamil Nadu. I think this was around September-October.

After all these developments, this figure has been increasing. Due to this, the BJPs figure increased and overall NDAs figure also increased. Along with this, the circumstances also changed. For example, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana. In these three states, we are getting a much better response, love and blessings from the people than we had originally expected for the BJP.

In Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra (Pradesh), we thought the BJP might go empty-handed, but now they are also looking very promising.

RAHUL JOSHI: Will the BJP open its account in Kerala and Tamil Nadu this time?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Of course, we will definitely open our account. Almost everyone agrees. In Kerala, we will open our account and in such a way that it will be surprising both in terms of seats and vote share.

RAHUL JOSHI: In terms of vote share, everyone agrees. But will it be converted into seats?

PIYUSH GOYAL: There are two or three seats, in which we are very strongly in the race, and we will definitely win one, I think.

RAHUL JOSHI: In Tamil Nadu?

PIYUSH GOYAL: No, not Tamil NaduKerala. In Tamil Nadu, too, the situation is almost the same; we will definitely win two, and in four or five we are in a strong position.

RAHUL JOSHI: And if we look at the whole south, where there are almost 130 seats

PIYUSH GOYAL: If we look at the whole of south, at one point we had an almost negligible presence in three or four states. And today, we are the only party, which has a presence in every state. As soon as we open our account in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and we will get good results in Andhra, this time, as you must have also gauged from the response in Vijayawada, which was stunning.

In Telangana, the way the situation is developing, we are far ahead of the opposition and the ruling party. And in Karnataka, we have largely been able to maintain our position.

RAHUL JOSHI: Your party garnered a massive victory in Karnataka last time. Will you be able to maintain it? People are saying that the atmosphere is a little subdued there.

PIYUSH GOYAL: The atmosphere can change in one or two seats, but I dont think there will be a huge difference between this time and the last time. This is a national election. People have in mind that the leader of the country is being elected, the government of the country. And everyone believes that those dark days of the UPA, replete with corruption; whatever the prime minister does, a yuvraj would pick it up and tear it apart in a press conference. Every day, every week, a new case of corruption is revealed. The prime minister is so helpless that he says what can I do, these are compulsions of coalition politics. People do not want this kind of a government in any part of the country.

So in the south, as Amit Shah ji said, I had also not fully thought about it, but when I did the math I realised that no other party even comes close to the number of seats we have in all these states combined  Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu.

RAHUL JOSHI: So, what is the figure? Out of 130?

PIYUSH GOYAL: I dont have the exact figure but we will be the single largest among all the parties in the south.

RAHUL JOSHI: Piyush ji, lets talk a bit about some of the bigger issues. If you have so much confidence that 400 seats will be crossed easily, BJP will get 370 seats, when this election started gaining momentum, your party was talking about development, the economy, the big things done during Modi jis tenure; but then, especially after two phases, the whole campaign has shifted to Hindu-Muslim. The prime minister also talked about this in his rally in Rajasthan. It was even said that the Congress is talking about wealth distribution, that it will take the savings of Hindus and divide them among Muslims and infiltrators. How do you see this? What was the need to raise this issue at this time?

PIYUSH GOYAL: We didnt start this discussion. You can check out Modis guarantees. It is a very positive narrative. We have put every issue in front of the country very seriously and deeply. We have kept a vision of how we can become a developed India in this Amrit Kaal, and what steps will be taken in that direction in our third term.

I feel it is unfortunate that after the manifesto of the Congress was released, they were completely exposed, that they are still thinking of appeasement. They are still thinking of following the economic path shown by Sam Pitroda ji. For them, the politics of discrimination still takes priority. And the kind of confusion they tried to create in society, we felt it necessary to present it properly before the people. And I think we have not stopped talking about development and a positive agenda.

But, naturally, whether it is the media or social media, there is always some inclination towards sensationalism, TRPs, and headline hunting. So, it feels like the narrative has changed. But, you can watch the speeches of any of us, be it the prime minister, Amit bhai, JP Nadda ji, Rajnath ji, or even candidates like us, we are going to the people with a very positive attitude and are promoting a positive narrative. That this election will decide the fate of the country is our focus. This election will decide whether Modi ji becomes the prime minister or on the other side is a question mark. Because even though they have said that they will appoint five prime ministers in five years, they have not been able to say who those five will be, and who will be the first.

RAHUL JOSHI: But, they say they have not said all this. They havent talked about any of this and they havent mentioned Muslims in the manifesto. They say that all of you have brought this up. So, how did you come to this conclusion?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Rahul ji, you see Sam Pitroda ji has been their trusted adviser and for years, he used to tom-tom it too. Sam Pitroda ji was taken around the world in the name of Overseas Congress and he would badmouth the country there as well.

Now, when such a person talks about 55% inheritance tax at the same time and, I believe, that he must have definitely had a hand in the manifesto as well. Now, on the one hand the manifesto comes, which says we will take the details of everyones savings, we will investigate everyone, we will assess the savings you have. And if we talk about redistribution of wealth, then for redistributing the savings, first you will have to take it and snatch it.

So, naturally thats what they are saying. And then, you see, four things happened at the same time. First, the manifesto says that your assets will be fully investigated, everyone in the country, every middle-class person. If 25 crore people have come out of poverty, then broadly most of them are in the middle class. So, the details of all their assets will be collected.

The second narrative is that on the basis of population, they will redistribute wealth. A third narrative is created that the minorities and, this is false, have been treated unfairly by Modi ji, so they have first right to the countrys resources, as said by our former prime minister. And then fourth, Sam Pitroda ji talks about inheritance tax at the same time. Perhaps, he inadvertently spoke his mind; like America, and thats 55%, not little. We had an inheritance tax earlier, but it was a small amount. Can talking about 55% tax be good for India?

Now, when you connect these four links, only then can you understand what is the thinking of the Congress and in which direction Rahul Gandhi and his friends want to take the country. That is why I think we felt it necessary to alert the country about their mindset.

RAHUL JOSHI: The prime minister has said this manifesto has an imprint of the Muslim League. Where did that come from?

PIYUSH GOYAL: If you look at the entire history of the Congress, they have discriminated on the basis of language, state, religion and, now, even on the basis of your and my skin colour.

Now, I dont know what yours is but I am a Maharashtrian, so you can tell your viewers which category I fall in. But, it is unfortunate that they have always tried to divide people in this manner. They divided people even through their schemes. What was the Sachar Committee? They asked people in every state what specific policies or schemes they had for Muslims. Its so unfortunate. So, if we build any infrastructure project for roads or railways, will we have to decide how much reservation to give Muslims to use that road?

Similarly, in Karnataka and in their other states, they have pitched that Muslims should get reservation. Now, all these things were said by the Muslim League. Their actions and their words, in their manifesto, and their work in the few states that they have, looking at that and how they are constantly insulting Lord Shri Ram, boycotting the pran pratishtha at the Ram temple, questioning the very existence of Shri Ram, some Congress leader saying they will have to purify the Ram temple; when all these statements come and are seen in this context that these people are asserting that one community should have the first right to the countrys resources, then you can judge that they are talking like the Muslim League.

RAHUL JOSHI: And they will take away reservation of OBCs and give it to Muslims, how do you see it? Where is that?

PIYUSH GOYAL: We believe in the rule of law. The Supreme Court has fixed a ceiling, with reservation earmarked for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and OBCs. And the Mandal Commission report has been around for so long, and the Congress never implemented it. A non-Congress government had to come to give reservation to OBCs under the Mandal Commission.

If you see, when we gave reservation to the economically weaker sections, we did so from outside the OBC, SC, ST quota, so it was not removed. But, the Supreme Court has clear guidelines that reservation for social and economic reasons can be up to a limit and, in this, if they connect Muslims, then in Islam there is no question of social backwardness because they dont have a caste system.

So first, that would be non-constitutional or unconstitutional and, if they try to do that, it would naturally happen after snatching away reservation from OBCs or SCs and STs.

Therefore, if they want to give reservation to a particular religion and take away reservation of OBCs, SCs, STs, this country will never accept it. The BJP, our allies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never let anything happen to the reservation granted to this countrys OBCs, vanvasis, scheduled castes, Dalits, any underprivileged or backward person. This is our guarantee, that no matter how much the Congress tries, we will not allow it to tinker with the OBC, SC and ST reservations just for its appeasement politics.

RAHUL JOSHI: Rahul Gandhi says that any of you and Narendra Modi cannot win an election if you do not have the ED, CBI and EVM on his side; that with their support, he does match-fixing and wins elections. How do you see this?

PIYUSH GOYAL: In Karnataka and Telangana, they won the elections so they should immediately resign saying the results from EVMs are inaccurate. They should resign and say they will not form the government, and that they want ballot boxes back for elections. So, let them decide. They also emotionally blackmail the Supreme Court, that if a decision goes in their favour, then democracy is saved, Satyameva Jayate Supreme Court is lauded. But, if the decision is in favour of building Ram Lallas temple, then they criticise the Supreme Court Also the Supreme Court has decided in favour of EVM.

It is such a silly issue. The lakhs of EVMs used across the country are not even interconnected over the net. I mean their thinking is so appalling. I would say below contempt. Can you imagine that there are over 12 lakh EVMs in use across the country, and they are not even interconnected. So, if there is to be any foul play, then you have to tamper with 12 lakh EVMs. And if that happens, then there is no question of any opposition party winning or forming the government in any election.

So, this is a very silly narrative. They already know that they are going to lose, so now they are preparing ground for a narrative to hide that it is Rahul Gandhis defeat. Therefore, they will blame the EVM. Then they might blame Sharad Pawar or even Uddhav Thackeray. They just have to save Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi-Nehru family. As far as the ED and CBI are concerned, I believe that the law takes its own course. There is a rule of law. If you did corruption, you were nabbed. If you get caught with your hand in the till, the law will work accordingly.

RAHUL JOSHI: But, isnt this true Piyush ji that most of the cases and raids of ED are happening against opposition parties? Recently, a national newspaper had also done research and found that out of about 25 leaders who joined the BJP from other parties, 23 saw cases against them dropped or put in cold storage. How do you look at this?

PIYUSH GOYAL: I think the law takes its own course and its own time as well. But, our government does not interfere in any case. These are independent agencies that do their own work.

And, before we take anybody in the party, we also check what type of case the person is facing and whether that person will fit in with the ethos of our party or not. There are so many people who want to join whom we do not consider, if we feel that their background is such that they cannot be accepted into our party.

RAHUL JOSHI: And if they have cases against them and they join your party, then those cases would be buried?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Then the law will take its own course. Its not possible for the cases to be buried because of us. These are independent agencies. They dont work according to what we say.

RAHUL JOSHI: Another narrative that has been going on in the last few phases of the elections has been the India-Pakistan narrative. In the beginning, it was said todays India is not the kind of India that will stand and watch a spectacle and go home  Yeh Bharat ghar mein ghus ke maarega. Foreign publications said some of our intelligence agencies killed 20 terrorists on Pakistani soil. Congresss Mani Shankar Aiyar said we shouldnt mess with Pakistan as they have an atom bomb and they could also react. How do you see this narrative? Is this also a narrative of appeasement?

PIYUSH GOYAL: India has said it very clearly that neither do we interfere in the politics of other countries, nor should they. Second, in the past, we have had weak governments, everyone knows this. I am a Mumbaikar. We have seen terrorists hold us ransom, be it the bomb blasts or 2008 terror attacks. In those situations, every citizen was saddened by the weak government the Congress gave the country. Today, every citizen of the country is proud that Prime Minister Modi ji did a strike in Balakot or Uri, it has boosted the morale of the country. The country has got a sense of security, every person in the country feels safe. This is a big issue among people.

Yesterday, I was on a tour of Kandivali East and Malad East, during which a woman in Magathane told me I should convey her message to Modi ji that she is very happy, she will only vote for Modi ji and she finds herself very safe as a woman today. She spoke with excitement for almost 1.5 minutes, telling me things I should convey to Modi ji. The mood of the nation is that India has got self-respect. India is not going to bow down to anyone now. There is a sense of confidence among Indians. This is also a big reason for the popularity of Prime Minister Modi ji.

RAHUL JOSHI: The Opposition says the government shows its strength to Pakistan, but when it comes to China, you do not give any direct answer. China took our land and you didnt say anything

PIYUSH GOYAL: Rahul ji, China did not take our land during the BJPs time, but during the Congresss time. The Congress is in the dock. The Congress has to answer about the land we lost after losing the war during their tenure. Under the BJP and NDA rule, Indias borders are safe. The morale of the armed and security forces is strong. They give a strong answer if anyone tries to attack us.

You will remember how in the Pangong Valley our soldiers gave a befitting reply and not a single person moved from there. Today, we have equipped them with the best facilities and equipment.

During Congress rule, our equipment or our defence manufacturing had become weak. Today, our armed forces have got a new boost.

RAHUL JOSHI: Another issue that has come up in this election is that the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister has done an analysis of the population. It has been seen that the Muslim population has grown by around 43% between 1950 and 2015. The Hindu population, at the same time, has seen a fall of around 7.8%. How do you view this issue? If you come back to power, will you take any steps to control the population?

PIYUSH GOYAL: The public should think seriously about it. We dont have a scheme from the government, but people should study this matter seriously, think about it and there should be a debate on it. There should be a debate in the media about this matter. People need to think whether the countrys balance is going in the wrong direction. Will it have any consequences in the future? If you look around the world today, this is an issue of concern in many countries. Many countries are worrying about this type of change in their demography and thinking about it. Many are even bringing laws. India is an inclusive country, we take everyone along. We, on behalf of the government, do not want to do anything in this matter. But, the people of India need to definitely think about it.

RAHUL JOSHI: We are in Mumbai today. Let us talk about Maharashtra, which is an important state in this election. You will agree that last time you were with the Shiv Sena, and you won 41 out of 48 seats. This time, there is a bit of a mess. Two parties have split. One party is with you and the other party is the one that the prime minister calls duplicate Shiv Sena. How do you see it this time? You are fighting on 28 seats and last time the BJP had won 23 seats. Will you be able to defend it? Maharashtra is an important state for you in the big picture

PIYUSH GOYAL: The politics of Maharashtra took a new turn in 2019. You will remember the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were fought in the name of Narendra Modi. I still remember that to make Shiv Sena MP from our area win, I had gone from door to door, to resident welfare association meetings, saying people should vote for Modi ji, that it is Modi jis election, to elect the PM. Shiv Sena MPs won the election in the name of Modi ji and they are aware of it. In the 2019 assembly elections, too, it was repeatedly said Devendra Fadnavis will be the chief minister. Even in public meetings on many stages, where even Uddhav Thackeray ji was present, it was said Devendra Fadnavis will be made the chief minister.

Uddhav Thackeray betrayed us; he betrayed Modi ji and Fadnavis. After all, it was our alliance. The alliance got the majority of votes. His ambition to become the Chief Minister in one way or the other, and perhaps his desire to establish his son in that greed he abandoned every single principle of Balasaheb Thackeray which the Shiv Sena stood for. He sacrificed Hindutva. Balasaheb Thackerays famous statement was: I will dissolve my party, but will never join hands with the Congress. Uddhav Thackeray abandoned it.

Practising the politics of appeasement, Uddhav Thackeray went and sat in Rahul Gandhis lap. I think there was a lot of anger within the Shiv Sena about this. The MPs and MLAs also realised they will have no face next time. In that situation, almost the entire Shiv Sena decided that they had to change the leader. When Eknath Shinde ji was made the leader, a few people decided to stay out of the party. There are some two to four senior leaders with them. Uddhav Thackerays is a splinter group. Most of the MPs, MLAs are with the original Shiv Sena. So this is not a split. The Shiv Sena is intact. That is a small splinter group.

Similarly, in the case of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Ajit Pawar is the natural leader. Sharad Pawar deserted the party to save his daughter. In 2014, they went with the BJP; they wanted to go with the BJP in 2017 and, in 2019, they went and backtracked.

RAHUL JOSHI: Doesnt it seem that there can be some sympathy for Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Sympathy will be for Modi ji and Fadnavis, because they have been cheated. They have been back-stabbed and deceived. If at all there will be sympathy, it will be for these people. Even to an extent for Ajit Pawar, who was made a pawn. He was told to support the BJP in 2014, when the Shiv Sena was not supporting us. In 2017, all MLAs were told to support the BJP. Then they backed out. In 2019 toonow it has been disclosed, Sharad Pawar ji has also confirmed that he had asked them to go with the BJP. He said it was his strategy. The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate the kind of mischief that has been played with them. I see in my constituency how strongly the Mahayuti is standing.

RAHUL JOSHI: The Opposition says that you are so confident in Maharashtra on the one side and, on the other side, the prime minister is saying that Sharad Pawar can join Ajit Pawar Is this any messaging, how do you read it?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Sharad Pawar ji has bowed down. He has said now we or smaller parties might merge with the Congress, after the Baramati elections. So, it has become clear that he has guessed that Sunetra Pawar ji is winning in Baramati and Supriya Sule ji is losing. He has only one goal in mind  to save Supriya Sule ji. He may not have a Rajya Sabha seat, and they will lose the Lok Sabha seat. So, he must have thought that he will make Supriya Sule join the Congress. So Supriya Sule ji might join the Congress There will be nothing left in the splinter group

Uddhav Thackeray has anyway become the B-team of the Congress. He is running on their advice. The politics of appeasement has become the calling card of Uddhav Thackeray. Surprisingly, he has abandoned Hindutva and all basic principles of Balasaheb.

RAHUL JOSHI: This time in Maharashtra, many Muslims will be voting for Uddhav Thackeray Sena.

PIYUSH GOYAL: Yes, nowadays, Uddhav Thackeray is running behind the Muslim vote bankThats why I said that Balasaheb must be feeling very sad seeing the behaviour of his son today. But, he will be satisfied that Shinde ji has still kept his basic principles intact and the Shiv Sena is intact with him. It is unfortunate that his own son has left the principles. I believe that our policy, the policy of our Mahayuti is such that we invite Muslims too. I am seeing in my area that our Muslim brothers are supporting us in large numbers. They are with us. Yesterday, a big group of hawkers came to my office. They told me that Modi ji has taken care of them. They said Modi ji gave them SVANidhi and other such schemes. The triple talaq law has secured the future of their daughters, they said. They said they used to be worried about their daughters. Members of society will no longer be affected by appeasement and such controversial statements. Today, they want to come into the mainstream of the country. They are with the prime minister, who believes in Sabka saath, sabka vikas.

RAHUL JOSHI: I would like to ask one more direct question. You talked about Muslims, but is the Maratha sentiment in Maharashtra still a little against the BJP? There was a Maratha agitation here, Manoj Jarange Patil ji agitated here. Is there any clarity even today whether the Marathas are with the BJP? It is a big vote bloc here

PIYUSH GOYAL: The entire Maratha community believes that if anyone can protect their interests, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji Modi ji and our Mahayuti government, only this double engine government can protect the Maratha interests. The community knows that their vote will be wasted if they cast it here and there. Neither will anyone get elected, nor will anyone be able to protect their interests. I have full faith that Maratha brothers and sisters are with Modi ji and will support him.

RAHUL JOSHI: Piyush ji, Mumbai North is your seat, a stronghold of the BJP. Last time, too, the BJP had won with a huge margin. Will you be able to cross last times margin?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Janata janardan decides whether you can beat the margin or not. But, wherever I have gone so far, the love, blessings and support that I have received on the ground be it slums or any community groups, I have not met anyone in the constituency who has negativity towards the BJP. Every section wants to go with Modi ji. This vote will be in the form of a blessing for Modi ji from the people of north Mumbai. Modi jis guarantee and my strong resolve is to ensure that Modi jis guarantee reaches the people of north Mumbai. I have a commitment to make Uttar Mumbai Uttam Mumbai. I am sure that people will come out to vote in large numbers and more than the previous time. And the votes will be for Modi ji.

RAHUL JOSHI: Bhushan Patil, the Congress candidate against you, says you are an outsider. There is also an attempt to give it a Marathi vs Gujarati colour Will it make a difference? How do you see this statement given that you are a Mumbaikar?

PIYUSH GOYAL: When someone has no subject, no principle, policy or vision or no following or even issue, then they start talking about this The funny thing is We all are Mumbaikars, I am a Mumbaikar, so are you. Have you ever called yourself South Mumbaikar or North Mumbaikar? You have so many people in this studio, I want you to take a poll. Does anyone ever say he is North Central Mumbaikar or Northeast Mumbaikar? We are all Mumbaikars and are proud of being from Mumbai. The Congress and Uddhav Thackeray ji probably want to divide Mumbai as well. They have a plan and policy to divide the country anyway. Now they want to divide Mumbai into parts and want Mumbaikars to fight among each other. Only such a party and people can give such kind of statements It is funny because Varsha Gaikwad and I both are from the same area. I am from Sion, she is from Dharavi. The constituencies are adjacent to each other. She started to talk about outsiders as the president of the Congress. Now, she has left Dharavi and is going to contest from Bandra Santacruz. Now, I dont know if she sees herself as an outsider or insider. Aaditya Thackeray ji, all Mumbaikars know he lives in Bandra, he left that place and became an MLA from Worli. So, I dont know if he is an outsider or an insider in Worli.

Uddhav Thackeray jis leader Rahul Gandhi ji, whose praises Thackeray ji sings day and night and on whose orders his party has started to move these days, I dont know where he is from. Sometimes he runs to Wayanad, sometimes to Raibareli, before that Amethi so according to that, he would probably be considered an Italian, I dont know

RAHUL JOSHI: Appeasement has come here as well. We are sitting in Mumbai, appeasement is happening here as well. Someone was saying Hemant Karkare ji was killed by some RSS sympathiser policeman, not Kasab. How do you see all these things?

PIYUSH GOYAL: It is a matter of shame. The Congress can at least spare the army. The Congress, Uddhav Thackeray ji, this MVA, is so-called MahaVikas Aghadi (MVA), all of them should at least not break the morale of our armed forces, should at least not belittle their sacrifices. They did the same thing in Batla House. In Kashmir, too, they repeatedly humiliated our army personnel in a way. The stone-throwers were good for them now that it has been banned after the removal of Article 370, they do not see what kind of change has happened to the lives of people. When the Congress connects Hemant Karkares sacrifice with the politics of appeasement or Tukaram ji, who became a martyr to catch Kasab, or Ujjwal Nikam ji who worked hard day and night to get Kasab hanged or our security forces who gunned down the remaining terrorists Mumbai was on the edge, held ransom for two days. Our security forces saved Mumbai. The sacrifices of all these So many of our friends, including mine, lost their lives in the 2008 attacks. When such statements come from the Congress leaders, be it the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray or Sharad Pawar, they are betraying the country, every Maharashtrian, every Mumbaikar. All of them should publicly  be it Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray or all of their small leaders  apologise to every Mumbaikar, every jawan, every armyman, every person associated with the armed forces and the family of every martyr.

RAHUL JOSHI: Jamiat Ulema has issued a fatwa that Muslims should vote for the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawars party. Raj Thackeray, who is associated with you, has now said he too has issued a fatwa that all Hindus should vote for the BJP, Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar ji. How do you view this?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Look, Raj Thackeray ji is not a religious leader. He said it in anger, in a fit of rage that nobody has the right to issue a fatwa on this. This is a kind of reaction and counterattack. Fatwa is issued by religious gurus on the basis of religion. We condemn the fatwa strongly. By issuing such a fatwa, social harmony is destroyed. Raj Thackeray ji is a political leader Political leaders appeal, put forth their views and seek peoples support and blessings. He used this word in anger. No maulvi or any religious guru has the right to issue such a fatwa. Have you ever heard of any religious guru issuing a fatwa saying vote for this party only or else God will get angry or it will reflect badly on their religious faith? I believe that religion and politics should not be mixed. This country is secular. In a secular country, we all should follow our religion. In the political arena, we should fight elections on political and concrete issues.

RAHUL JOSHI: One more question, you have been the commerce minister, railway minister, you have made a huge contribution to reforms. A big issue here is slum rehabilitation. How do you look at this issue as a central leader, where you contributed to these reforms? How will you tackle it and what is the solution?

PIYUSH GOYAL: Look, you must have seen Modis guarantee, our sankalp patra (resolution) for 2024. This is a small synopsis of it. Its first chapter talks of service to poor families. The prime minister has given a clear guarantee that by increasing slum rehabilitation on slum land, low-income families will be rehabilitated in high-quality houses. It means that slum residents will be rehabilitated in-situ. Our guarantee letter says low-income families will get a good house and their children will be brought up in good conditions. It is clear that we want to rehabilitate all slum residents across the country at the earliest, at the place where they live. It is our resolution that they should get a new and good house at the same place.

RAHUL JOSHI: Thank you very much, I wish you all the best for the election on May 20, the voting day. After that, we will meet you again and ask whether the election predictions you made today are correct or not after the formation of the government. Thank you very much.

PIYUSH GOYAL: Thank you very much. Namaskar.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to take part in a bike rally in Odishas Bolangir on May 15, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lead a roadshow in Puri on May 20.

Congress candidate for Bolangir assembly segment Samarendra Mishra said Gandhi will participate in the bike rally on May 15 and also address a public meeting.

On the other side, state BJP vice-president Golak Mohapatra said that apart from leading the roadshow in Puri, Modi will address public meetings in Cuttack and Angul during his visit.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address rallies at Rourkela, Sorada and Kantabanji on May 15, he said. BJP president JP Nadda will campaign in Padampur, Sundargarh and Hinjili on May 17, he added.

Odisha will vote simultaneously for its 21 Lok Sabha seats and the 147-member assembly in four phases, starting May 13.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Piyush Goyal, Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Mumbai North candidate, in an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, called the remarks over 26/11 martyr and then anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare a matter of shame, as he condemned the politics of fatwa and appeasement.

Jamiat Ulema has issued a fatwa that Muslims should vote for the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawars party. In response, Raj Thackeray, who is with the BJP, said he too has issued a fatwa that all Hindus should vote for the BJP, Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar. Responding to it, Goyal said, Raj Thackeray ji is not a religious leader. He said it in anger, in a fit of rage that nobody has the right to issue a fatwa on this. This is a kind of reaction and counterattack. Fatwa is issued by religious gurus on the basis of religion. We condemn the fatwa strongly. By issuing such a fatwa, social harmony is destroyed. Raj Thackeray ji is a political leader Political leaders appeal, put forth their views and seek peoples support and blessings. He used this word in anger.

ALSO READ | We Are The Only Party Which Has Presence In Every State: Piyush Goyal On 400 Paar And South Outlook

No maulvi or any religious guru has the right to issue such a fatwa. Have you ever heard of any other religious guru issuing a fatwa saying vote for this party only or else God will get angry or it will reflect badly on your religious faith? I believe that religion and politics should not be mixed. This country is secular. In a secular country, we all should follow our religion. In the political arena, we should fight elections on political and concrete issues, he said.

When asked about the statement by a Congress leader that Hemant Karkare was killed by BJP fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sympathiser policeman, and not terrorist Ajmal Kasab, Goyal said, It is a matter of shame. The Congress can at least spare the army. The Congress, Uddhav Thackeray ji, this MVA or so-called MahaVikas Aghadi (MVA), all of them should at least not break the morale of our armed forces, should at least not belittle their sacrifices. They did the same thing in Batla House. In Kashmir, too, they repeatedly humiliated our army personnel in a way. The stone-throwers were good for them now that it has been banned after the removal of Article 370, they do not see what kind of change has happened to the lives of people.

#PiyushGoyalToNews18 | Union Minister @PiyushGoyal talks about Congress Manifesto, 400 Paar and much more in a MEGA exclusive conversation with Network18's Editor-In-Chief @18RahulJoshiWatch the FULL interview tonight at 8:57PM only on CNN-News18!#LokSabhaElections2024 #BJP pic.twitter.com/EIk9i0k61T  News18 (@CNNnews18) May 12, 2024

When the Congress connects Hemant Karkares sacrifice with the politics of appeasement or Tukaram ji, who became a martyr to catch Kasab, or Ujjwal Nikam ji who worked hard day and night to get Kasab hanged or our security forces who gunned down the remaining terrorists Mumbai was on the edge, held ransom for two days. Our security forces saved Mumbai. The sacrifices of all these So many of our friends, including mine, lost their lives in the 2008 attacks. When such statements come from Congress leaders, be it the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray or Sharad Pawar, they are betraying the country, every Maharashtrian, every Mumbaikar. All of them should publicly  be it Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray or all of their small leaders  apologise to every Mumbaikar, every jawan, every armyman, every person associated with the armed forces and the family of every martyr, Goyal said.

On Muslim support for Uddhav Thackeray, he said, Yes, nowadays, Uddhav Thackeray is running behind the Muslim vote bankThats why I said that Balasaheb must be feeling very sad seeing the behaviour of his son today. But he will be satisfied that Shinde ji has still kept his basic principles intact and the Shiv Sena is intact with him. It is unfortunate that his own son has left the principles. I believe that our policy, the policy of our Mahayuti is such that we invite Muslims too. I am seeing in my area that our Muslim brothers are supporting us in large numbers. They are with us. They are with the prime minister, who believes in Sabka saath, sabka vikas.
MONTGOMERY Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis has released the following statement regarding the passing of Senate Bill 135:

On behalf of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) and Veterans across Alabama, I want to first thank Sen. Andrew Jones, Rep. Chip Brown, and the State Legislature for being proactive in supporting Alabamas 400,000 veterans. Veterans well-being has been an issue in our great state for far too long, but the passing of this bill is an initial step in the right direction.

ADVA remains focused on promoting and expanding Veterans well-being, and we look forward to learning how the Alabama Department of Mental Health plans to establish programs that will create long-lasting, tailored, impactful lifestyle improvements for our nations heroes, Davis said. At ADVA, we strongly believe that taking a holistic approach to solving these issues physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally will strengthen not only the Veterans community, but the entire state.

It is an honor and privilege to serve Alabamas veterans. We will continue striving for continual improvement in service to those who have borne the battle for this nation, Davis added. The responsibilities and action that must follow the passing of the Veterans Access to Care Bill are things that we take very seriously.
Piyush Goyal, Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Mumbai North candidate, in an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, said that Maharashtras voters will sympathise with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Devendra Fadnavis as Uddhav Thackeray betrayed them.

Goyal said, The politics of Maharashtra took a new turn in 2019. You will remember the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were fought in the name of Narendra Modi. I still remember that to make Shiv Sena MP from our area win, I had gone from door to door, to resident welfare association meetings, saying people should vote for Modi ji, that it is Modi jis election, to elect the PM. Shiv Sena MPs won the election in the name of Modi ji and they are aware of it. In the 2019 assembly elections, too, it was repeatedly said Devendra Fadnavis will be the chief minister. Even in public meetings on many stages, where even Uddhav Thackeray ji was present, it was said Devendra Fadnavis will be made the chief minister.

ALSO READ | We Are The Only Party Which Has Presence In Every State: Piyush Goyal On 400 Paar And South Outlook

Uddhav Thackeray betrayed us; he betrayed Modi ji and Fadnavis. After all, it was our alliance. The alliance got the majority of votes. His ambition to become the Chief Minister in one way or the other, and perhaps his desire to establish his son in that greed he abandoned every single principle of Balasaheb Thackeray which the Shiv Sena stood for. He sacrificed Hindutva. Balasaheb Thackerays famous statement was: I will dissolve my party, but will never join hands with the Congress. Uddhav Thackeray abandoned it, said Goyal.

Practising the politics of appeasement, Uddhav Thackeray went and sat in Rahul Gandhis lap. I think there was a lot of anger within the Shiv Sena about this. The MPs and MLAs also realised they will have no face next time. In that situation, almost the entire Shiv Sena decided that they had to change the leader. When Eknath Shinde ji was made the leader, a few people decided to stay out of the party. There are some two to four senior leaders with them. Uddhav Thackerays is a splinter group. Most of the MPs, MLAs are with the original Shiv Sena. So this is not a split. The Shiv Sena is intact. That is a small splinter group, he said.

Similarly, in the case of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Ajit Pawar is the natural leader. Sharad Pawar deserted the party to save his daughter. In 2014, they went with the BJP; they wanted to go with the BJP in 2017 and, in 2019, they went and backtracked, he added.

#PiyushGoyalToNews18 | Union Minister @PiyushGoyal talks about Congress Manifesto, 400 Paar and much more in a MEGA exclusive conversation with Network18's Editor-In-Chief @18RahulJoshiWatch the FULL interview tonight at 8:57PM only on CNN-News18!#LokSabhaElections2024 #BJP pic.twitter.com/EIk9i0k61T  News18 (@CNNnews18) May 12, 2024

When asked if there will be sympathy for Thackeray and Pawar, Goyal said, Sympathy will be for Modi ji and Fadnavis because they have been cheated. They have been back-stabbed and deceived. If at all there will be sympathy, it will be for these people. Even to an extent for Ajit Pawar, who was made a pawn. He was told to support the BJP in 2014, when the Shiv Sena was not supporting us. In 2017, all MLAs were told to support the BJP. Then they backed out. In 2019 toonow it has been disclosed, Sharad Pawar ji has also confirmed that he had asked them to go with the BJP. He said it was his strategy. The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate the kind of mischief that has been played with them. I see in my constituency how strongly the Mahayuti is standing.

Commenting on Sharad Pawars remark that smaller parties may merge with the Congress, he said, Sharad Pawar ji has bowed down. He has said now we or smaller parties might merge with the Congress, after the Baramati elections. So, it has become clear that he has guessed that Sunetra Pawar ji is winning in Baramati and Supriya Sule ji is losing. He has only one goal in mind  to save Supriya Sule ji. He may not have a Rajya Sabha seat, and they will lose the Lok Sabha seat. So he must have thought that he will make Supriya Sule join the Congress. So Supriya Sule ji might join the Congress There will be nothing left in the splinter group

Uddhav Thackeray has anyway become the B-team of the Congress. He is running on their advice. The politics of appeasement has become the calling card of Uddhav Thackeray. Surprisingly, he has abandoned Hindutva and all basic principles of Balasaheb, he said.

Commenting on Uddhav Thackerays appeasement politics, Goyal said, Yes, nowadays, Uddhav Thackeray is running behind the Muslim vote bankThats why I said that Balasaheb must be feeling very sad seeing the behaviour of his son today. But, he will be satisfied that Shinde ji has still kept his basic principles intact and the Shiv Sena is intact with him. It is unfortunate that his own son has left the principles. I believe that our policy, the policy of our Mahayuti is such that we invite Muslims too. I am seeing in my area that our Muslim brothers are supporting us in large numbers. They are with us.

Elaborating on how even Muslim voters are happy with the BJP, Goyal said, Yesterday, a big group of hawkers came to my office. They told me that Modi ji has taken care of them. They said Modi ji gave them SVANidhi and other such schemes. The triple talaq law has secured the future of their daughters, they said. They said they used to be worried about their daughters. Members of society will no longer be affected by appeasement and such controversial statements. Today, they want to come into the mainstream of the country. They are with the prime minister, who believes in sabka saath, sabka vikas.
Alleging there was no freedom of expression under the TMC rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took a jibe at the West Bengal government for threatening people for sharing innocuous social media posts, such as humorous videos and cartoons.

His remarks came at a rally in Bengals Arambagh less than a week after Modi lauded an X user for sharing the AI-generated video that showed him dancing. He reshared his video hours after Kolkata Police directed a social media user to disclose their identity for posting a similar spoof video of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Addressing my third campaign rally in West Bengals Arambagh Unparalleled enthusiasm and support for the BJP here.https://t.co/VN040l34rG Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 12, 2024

Addressing his third campaign rally in Bengals Arambagh today, PM Modi said, The people of Bengal are unable to exercise their right to Freedom of Expression under TMCs rule. In this region, the voices of the opposition and informed citizens are suppressed. Anyone who dares to share a cartoon or humorous video on social media is threatened by the government.

The Prime Minister said that this Lok Sabha election is for protecting Bengals culture over which the TMC thinks it has a monopoly. The PM said that this election was also for the development of the state. He accused the TMC of looting the state and claimed that it was committing a huge sin.

People of Bengal are unable to exercise their right to Freedom of Expression due to TMCs oppressive tactics.TMC has suppressed the voices of citizens of Bengal.  PM Shri @narendramodi Watch full video: https://t.co/jl97xlHC5j pic.twitter.com/X763iZ4DbI  BJP (@BJP4India) May 12, 2024

Alleging that the TMC was spreading falsehood over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to frighten the people, he said, CAA is a constitutional guarantee and a guarantee of Modi. He said that attempts to mislead the people on CAA would backfire. The BJP has fielded Arup Kanti Digar in the Arambagh seat against TMCs Mitali Bag and CPI(M)s Biplab Kumar Moitra.

Modi arrived in Kolkata on Saturday night to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. Modi arrived here from Jharkhand, and after landing at the airport, he went by road to the Raj Bhavan amid tight security. On Sunday, he will address election rallies in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, Panchla in Howrah, and Chinsurah and Pursura in Hooghly district.

The PM was welcomed at the Raj Bhavan by Governor CV Ananda Bose. This is Modis second visit to the city this month. He reached Kolkata on May 2 and after spending the night in Raj Bhavan, he addressed rallies in Krishnanagar, Purba Bardhaman and Bolpur Lok Sabha constituencies the next day.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be filing his nomination at 11:40 am on Monday in Varanasi, which is an extremely auspicious period as it falls under the Abhijit Mahurat and Anand Yog as per Hindu Panchang.

The PM will be visiting the famous Kal Bhairav Temple on Monday before filing his nomination and will hold a meeting with BJP leaders and later one with party workers. Among his proposers in the nomination form, there is expected to be a lady and other prominent intellectuals.

In the evening, the PM will hold a road show which starts around 5 PM. There will be 11 Welcome Points during the road show and senior BJP leaders have been made in incharge of each of the points. The PM will visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple at the conclusion of his road show. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath will be present on the Rath along with PM during the 5-km long road show.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 4: From Akhilesh Yadav To Mahua Moitra, List Of Key Candidates & Seats

The BJP has fixed the aim of raising PM Modis victory margin this time beyond 7 lakh votes. Modis Margin in 2019 was 4.8 lakh with a 64% Vote Share, while his margin in 2014 was 3.7 lakh votes. Modis votes have also been increasing from 5.81 lakh votes in 2014 to 6.75 lakh votes last time.

Ajay Rai, the Congress candidate has contested from Varanasi in last three elections and lost, coming third on all occasions.

Arvind Kejriwal had fought in 2014 against Modi and polled 2 lakh plus votes, since then no one has been able to cross that mark as an opposition candidate in Varanasi.

The Opposition is pinning its hopes on the SP-Congress alliance as both parties together got about 3.6 lakh votes in 2019.

Modi does not do any campaigning in Varanasi except a road show and rally with workers after his nomination.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Amidst an election rally in West Bengals Hooghly on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was touched by a poignant gesture on Mothers Day when a man in the crowd waved a portrait featuring him alongside his late mother, Heeraben Patel.

Expressing gratitude, the Prime Minister asked his SPG commandos to collect the portrait from the couple who presented them. During the rally, the Prime Minister stressed Indias year-round reverence for mothers, including Ma Durga, Ma Kaali, and Bharat Mata.

This enthusiasm of the people of West Bengal, love for Modi ji, says once again the Modi government. Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Jis Vijay Sankalp Sabha in support of BJP candidate in Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency, the state unit of BJP said in a post on social media platform X, along with a picture of the man with Heerabens portrait.

#WATCH | On the occasion of Mothers Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was gifted a portrait of his mother Late Heeraben Patel during his public rally in Hooghly, West Bengal. pic.twitter.com/4h6ctu6dj9 ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2024

Modi arrived in Kolkata on Saturday night to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. Modi arrived here from Jharkhand, and after landing at the airport, he went by road to the Raj Bhavan amid tight security. On Sunday, he was scheduled to address election rallies in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, Panchla in Howrah, and Chinsurah and Pursura in Hooghly district.

In one of the Bengal rallies, the Prime Minister said that this Lok Sabha election is for protecting Bengals culture over which the TMC thinks it has a monopoly. The PM said that this election was also for the development of the state. He accused the TMC of looting the state and claimed that it was committing a huge sin.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
With the three phases of Lok Sabha Election over and the fourth one to take place in less than 24 hours, Union minister Piyush Goyal, who has handled several portfolios such as commerce and industry, railways, finance, consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and is set to contest the polls from Mumbai North seat, in an exclusive interview to Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, exuded confidence that the BJP government will definitely cross 400 seats this time.

When asked whether the BJPs campaign of Ab Ki Baar 400 Paar still holds strong or whether it is coming off track, Goyal said one can gauge from the peoples reaction on the ground and how they respond to the issues. Political leaders gauge from the reaction of the audience what response you are receiving. What the response is during the speech, what the response is on an issue, he said.

He pointed out the weak oppositions distasteful and controversial statements to divert issues, and the internal conflicts within the INDIA vis a vis the CPM and Congress in Kerala have exposed the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and others. They are friends in West Bengal, but the TMC and Congress are fighting, he said.

They have no leader, no leadership, no policy, no intent for the country. How will they work with amity and sensitivity? How will they work with amity and sensitivity? In such a situation, the 10-year tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his 50 years of impeccable public life inspire people and assure them that it is only him who can take this country to the world stage, he added.

When asked about BJPs chances in Kerala and Tamil Nadu this time, Goyal said not only will the party open an account in Kerala but it will surprise everyone in terms of seats and vote share. There are two or three seats, in which we are very strongly in the race, and we will definitely win one, I think, he added.

The two sure seats are Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. The party has identified Attingal, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta as constituencies where chances of win are high.

He further said the situation in Tamil Nadu is almost the same as Keralas. We will definitely win two, and in four or five we are in a strong position, Goyal said.

Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats, and the BJP, led by K Annamalai, aims for a double-digit vote and seat share in the state. The saffron party is contesting 23 seats and has allied with several other regional parties.

The NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu has Pattali Makkal Katchi contesting 10 seats, while Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) has been allotted three constituencies. Former chief minister O Panneerselvam is part of the NDA but hes contesting as an Independent, while Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, led by TTV Dhinakaran, has been given two seats. Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi, Puthiya Needhi Katchi, and Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam will contest one seat each in the BJP symbol.

Stressing on all five southern states, including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, which together have almost 130 Lok Sabha constituencies, Goyal said, If we look at the whole south, at one point we had an almost negligible presence in three or four states. And today we are the only party, which has a presence in every state. As soon as we open our account in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and we will get good results in Andhra Pradesh, this time, as you must have also gauged from the response in Vijayawada, which was stunning.

In Telangana, the way the situation is developing, we are far ahead of the opposition, and even the ruling party. And in Karnataka, we have largely been able to maintain our position.

Andhra Pradesh has 42 Lok Sabha seats while Karnataka has 28.

When asked about partys chances in Karnataka, Goyal said there will be a huge difference this time. This is a national election. People have in mind that the leader of the country is being elected, the government of the country. And everyone believes that those dark days of the UPA, replete with corruption; whatever the prime minister does, a yuvraj would pick it up and tear it apart in a press conference. Every day, every week, a new case of corruption is revealed. The prime minister is so helpless that he says what can I do, these are compulsions of coalition politics. People do not want this kind of a government in any part of the country.

So, in the south, as Amit Shah ji said, I had also not fully thought about it, but when I did the math I realised that no other party even comes close to the number of seats we have in all these states combined  Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
An FIR was registered against a passenger for unruly behaviour during a flight between Dubai and Mangaluru, prompted by a complaint from an Air India Express crew.

The security coordinator of the flight, Siddharth Das, complained against Mohammad BC at the Bajpe police station, police said.

According to the police, the incident took place on the early morning of 9 May and the FIR was filed the same evening.

As per police statement about the incident, Mohammed travelled from Dubai to Mangalore on the night of May 8 aboard an Air India Express flight, arriving at Mangalore International Airport at 7:30 a.m. the following day.

During the flight, after departing from Dubai, Mohammed entered the restroom. Upon exiting, he approached the crew inquiring about an individual named Krishna, who was not listed as a passenger on that flight.

He allegedly behaved in an unruly manner, creating disturbances during the flight, causing inconvenience to both the crew and fellow passengers. His actions endangered others as he made threats of jumping into the sea from the aircraft, police said.

He further harassed the crew by posing irrelevant questions and repeatedly pressing the service button without valid reason. He also removed the life jacket he was wearing on the plane, handed it to the crew, and stated his intention to use it upon landing. Allegedly, he expressed a desire to pilot the aircraft over the sea when the flight was flying over the Arabian Sea, as per the police.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Noting that the ratio of doctors to the population is very low in India, the Bombay High Court refused to cancel the MBBS admission of a doctor, who gained her entry into a top Mumbai college under the OBC-Non-Creamy Layer Certificate based on false information.

A division bench of Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Jitendra Jain observed that the petitioner has completed her MBBS course and said that it would be improper to withdraw her qualification at this stage, moreso when the Petitioner has qualified as a doctor, Live Law reported.

The HC said, In our country, where the ratio of the Doctors to the population is very low, any action to withdraw the qualification obtained by the Petitioner would be national loss since the citizens of this country would be deprived of one Doctor.

However, the division bench cancelled the Non-Creamy Layer Certificate, reclassifying her admission to the Open Category. The doctor has been directed to pay the difference in her fees along with a penalty of Rs 50,000, which was imposed on her for false information.

It was observed that although there is a high level of competition for admissions in Medical colleges and the courses are also highly expensive, the students decision to resort to unfair means is not justified and neither is her parents action to be a part of it.

The Bombay HC was hearing a writ petition filed by the doctor challenging her admissions cancellation on the grounds of the invalid NCL Certificate.

WHAT HAPPENED | THE CASE SO FAR

The doctor took admission in the MBBS course at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and Hospital in Sion in the 2012-13 batch under the OBC category, Live Law reported. This was based on her NCL Certificate.

However, following a plea seeking inspection of such admissions, an inquiry was launched into students who took admission under the OBC category.

The Enquiry Committee investigated the doctors father, who had obtained the certificate. It was found that there were some inconsistencies in his statements regarding his income and marital status.

Not only did he falsify his marital status  in reality he had divorced his wife in 2008  he also misrepresented her employment status. His wife, said to have no income, was in fact working at the Corporation.

Subsequently, her Certificate was cancelled by the college authorities in October 2013 and her admission was striked out in February 2014.

Days after, the petitioner moved the High Court and challenged the cancellation of her admission. Though the court had granted her interim relief, allowing her to continue the course, it limited the benefits she received under the OBC category.

In her petition, she pointed at the completion of her MBBS course internship and a Diploma course in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

She argued that according to the Government Resolution of October 14, 2008, her fathers income fell below the given limit for the Certificate. She asserted that the information provided by her father was accurate, challenging the cancellation if her Certificate and admission.

Reportedly, the court observed that the Resolution does not specify considering only one parents income for the Certificate, it presses on taking into account the salary of both parents.

The court also noted that the petitioners fathers claim of his marital status, divorce and cohabitation were self-contradictory.

Therefore, it said that the NCL Certificate was based on false information. If the medical profession is based on a foundation of false information then certainly it would be a blot on the noble profession. In our view, for that matter the foundation of any student should not be built on the basis of false information and suppression of the fact, the Court was quoted as saying by Live Law.

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The Delhi Polices investigation into the murder of an elderly physician in southeast Delhis 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.

Yogesh Chandra Paul, a 63-year-old physician, was found dead in his home in Jangpura Extention on Friday. Pauls body was found with his hands tied, they said. The police accessed footage from a CCTV camera near Pauls 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 Pauls 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 (Southeast) 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, Pauls neighbours held a candle march in the locality. Some residents alleged poor police patrolling led to the murder.

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Days after over 150 schools in Delhi-NCR received a bomb scare of unprecedented scale, eight city hospitals and IGI Airport received bomb threats through emails, which later turned out to be hoaxes.

The bomb threats were reported from Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal-3, Burari Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Dabris Dada Dev Hospital, a senior official of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said.

On May 12, at about 3.30 pm, a bomb hoax mail was received at GTB Hospital, GTB Enclave. Hospital authorities informed the local police about that mail. Immediately police swung into action and called the Bomb Disposal Squad which inspected GTB Hospital and Delhi State Cancer Institute premises, DCP Shahdara said adding that nothing suspicious was found.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), reacted on the bomb threat received by the Hindu Rao Hospital and said that security checks have been enhanced on the premises.

Today the Administration of Hindu Rao Hospital came to know about a Bomb Threat received by the SHO of the Police station under whose jurisdiction Hindu Rao Hospital falls. SHO received an Email regarding the presence of a bomb in the premises of the Hospital. SHO inspected the whole premises with the Dog Squad and bomb detection squad. No threat was found, MCD said in a statement.

Few openings were instructed to be closed. Directions to increase security checks at night and increased questioning and inspection issued. OT, Emergency, CCU and Blood Bank equipped for any adverse event. The hospital is on high alert for QRT activation. Hospital staff have also been asked to be vigilant, it added.

Security has been beefed up in all the hospitals in the city and additional police force deployment was made at the airport, however, nothing suspicious has so recovered from any of the locations so far.

The screenshot of a suspicious email, threatening the explosion of the bombs allegedly placed inside the hospital premises. The image has gone viral on social. Police are investigating the email.

Fire Services officials also said that the Indira Gandhi International Airport had also received a bomb threat email on Sunday evening.

As per sources, a call was received at IGI Terminal 3 at 6:19 pm, following which the Delhi Police and CISF personnel have been put on alert mode.

On May 1, Around 130 schools in Delhi-NCR received bomb threats, prompting swift evacuation of students from campuses. The Ministry of Home Affairs asked people not to panic, adding that the threats were hoax calls.

Meanwhile, top intelligence sources had hinted that the hoax call might have been intended to create terror.

Bomb scare is a regular feature these days and agencies are trying to find out details from a period. This is happening on a regular frequency now. Similar threats were reported from Bengaluru and even a few schools in Delhi earlier, the intelligence agency sources had told News18.

Notably, four IP addresses suspected to be generated through a Russia-based mailing company, sent from Moscow but without any cyber footprint, have made central agencies struggle to obtain details about the threat mail sent to 131 schools in Delhi-NCR.

Importantly, two IP addresses were traced back to Mumbai by a government operation centre that monitors websites.

The agencies recovered basic technical details, but there is still a breakthrough needed to identify the user of the ID. Additionally, agencies found that the mail may have been sent from the web application and not from the mobile application of Mail.au, which is the largest Russian mailing platform.

Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed the situation last week and pressed on the need to enhance security and regular email monitoring in schools.

The home secretary emphasised the need to prepare detailed protocols and standard operating procedures (SOP) to handle any such situation in the future.

To avoid any unnecessary panic caused by misinformation, he also asked the Delhi Police and schools to remain in close coordination for an effective response mechanism.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Alia, who made her debut as the first Indian Global Ambassador of Gucci at Guccis Cruise 2024 fashion show in Seoul at the Gyeongbokgung Palace last year, will be attending the Cruise 2025 fashion show at Tate Modern in London on May 13, 2024.

Alia who is a global phenomenon when it comes to her acting prowess, has also been creating waves with her impeccable style quotient. From celebrating Indian craftsmanship on a global platform to honouring the brands she associates with, every moment has been made iconic by this global star.

At the Cruise 2024 showcase in 2023, Alia made a fashion statement in a Gucci Fall/Winter 2023 Womens black sleeveless crew-neck, silk faille and tulle evening mini dress with all-over crystals hand-made round embroidery and lilac crepe de chine lining. She paired the dress with interlocking G-stud sandals and Gucci Jackie 1961 handbag.

This year, as the show is set against the backdrop of Londons dynamic cultural landscape, Tate Modern, it provides an ideal setting to showcase creative director Sabato De Sarnos vision for Cruise 2025. We cant wait to see what Alia will style at the Cruise 2025 show.

The choice of location pays tribute to Guccis profound connection to the British capital, intrinsically linked to the brands heritage, and offers new opportunities to delve into the integral role the city has played in shaping the brands narrative throughout its storied history as a world-renowned symbol of Italian craft, visionary creativity, and innovative design.

Inspired by multiple journeys to London over time, where he immersed himself in the citys diverse cultures, Sabato De Sarno seeks to capture the essence of Londons spirita coming together of ideas, styles, and personalities, defined by contrasts that spark creativity.

As Gucci prepares to unveil its Cruise 2025 collection at Tate Modern, the convergence of art, fashion, and heritage takes centre stage. This occasion not only celebrates Guccis storied history but also reaffirms its commitment to fostering dialogue across diverse cultural landscapes, embodying the interplay of places, people, moments, and aesthetics throughout its distinctive narrative.

As part of Guccis broader commitment to fostering positive impact in culturally significant locations and their communities, the House is proud to support the Electric Dreams exhibition at Tate Modern, opening in Fall 2024, in addition to a three-year partnership fostering Tates work with young creatives. Embracing a shared commitment to inclusivity and empowerment, Gucci and Tate aim to encourage positive exchanges within communities, and inspire creativity across diverse audiences.
Every year on May 12, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) observes International Nurses Day (IND) to commemorate the vital role that nurses play in communities all around the world. This is a chance to express our gratitude and appreciation for the contributions of nurses in promoting health, healing and overall well-being across a range of communities and healthcare environments. The day is significant since it is marks the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, arguably the most famous nurse in history.

International Nurses Day 2024 Theme

Our Nurses. Our Future. The economic power of care, is the theme chosen by ICN for International Nurses Day 2024.

Nursing is the foundation of healthcare, although it is frequently undervalued by society and faced with financial difficulties. The goal of IND 2024 is to change peoples perspectives by showcasing the significant social and economic advantages that may result from wise investments in nursing.

History of International Nurses Day

The origins of Nurses Day may be found in 1953 when President Eisenhower received a request from Dorothy Sutherland of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare to establish a Nurse Day for October of that same year.

The inaugural National Nurses Week was celebrated from October 1116, 1954, to commemorate Florence Nightingales 100th anniversary of her expedition to the Crimea, however, the declaration was never issued.

President Nixon established National Nurse Week in 1974. A resolution to designate May 6 as National Recognition Day for Nurses was started in 1981 by nurses in New Mexico. The ANA Board of Directors spearheaded this idea, and the US Congress adopted a joint resolution in 1982 declaring May 6 to be National Recognition Day for Nurses.

In March of that year, President Reagan issued an official proclamation designating May 6 as the day of celebration. Later, the ANA Board of Directors extended it in 1990 to become National Nurses Week, a week-long commemoration taking place from May 612. The International Council of Nurses declared May 12, 1965, to be International Nurses Day, a day to honour nurses everywhere.

Significance of International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is an excellent opportunity to celebrate nurses who ensure the safety, well-being and recovery of patients.

This day honours their commitment to the global provision of top-notch healthcare services. Like any other profession engaged in medical practice, nursing plays an equally important role.

This day serves as important opportunity to recognise and pay tribute to the invaluable work and contributions of nurses worldwide

Quotes by Florence Nightingale
In a fresh update, a case has been filed against Allu Arjun for violating the Model Code of Conduct during his participation in campaigning for the YSRCP. The actor may face legal action for breaching MCC during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Times Now has reported that Allu Arjun and YSRCP MLA Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy have been accused. They have allowed to gather a large crowd outside the MLA house despite the implementation of MCC. MLA has allegedly invited the Pushpa actor without taking permission of RO Nandyala for a crowd gathering. On May 11, video went viral of Allu Arjun waving at the crowd. Allu Arjun was campaigning for YSR Congress candidate Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy when he was surrounded by a sea of fans who wanted to get a glimpse of their favourite actor. Allu Arjun folded his hands, smiled and waved at his fans. He was also joined by his wife Sneha Reddy.

Allu Arjun also took to social media to thank his fans for their love. He 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.

Well, during MCC implementation, large campaigns are banned for 48 hours before the poll starts. Voting at constituencies in Andhra Pradesh will be held on May 13.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Allu Arjun will soon be seen in Pushpa 2 with Rashmika Mandanna. Directed by Sukumar, the last leg of shooting for Pushpa 2 is currently underway. Besides Allu Arjun, the film also stars Rashmika Mandanna in the lead. Previously, Rashmika talked about the much-awaited film when she promised that it would be bigger than ever. I can promise you that Pushpa 2 is going to be so much bigger. We gave some madness in the first film; in part 2, we know we have a responsibility because people have so much expectation from the film. We are constantly and consciously trying to deliver that, she told Pinkvilla.

Pushpa 2: The Rule might also feature Samantha Ruth Prabhu in a cameo. Sanjay Dutt is also likely to make a special appearance in the movie. The film is all set to release on August 15, 2024.
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. On the actors 51st birthday, his father, Hargit Singh, has finally broken silence on his disappearance. In a chat with Times Now, he said that he hopes his son comes home today.

Opening up on what the actor told his father before leaving, he said, He was here on my birthday (April 21) and the next day he was supposed to fly to Mumbai. He told me, main aa jaunga. 1-2 din me aa jaunga. After that, we dont know what happened. Kuch pata hi nahi chal raha hai. On being asked if Gurucharan was bothered about something, his father said, Pareshan to woh lagta tha lekin kabhi batata nahi tha (He used to look troubled but he never told us what was bothering him).

His father also recalled asking Gurucharan if something was bothering him. He said, I asked him to tell me if something was wrong. Koi dikkat hai kisi cheez ki to maa baap se nahi chupate (You should not hide anything from your parents). Everyone will leave you but not your parents.

Meanwhile, a police officer close to the investigation has revealed to Deccan Herald 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.
Manisha Koirala, who is basking in the success of Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, took to Instagram to pen a gratitude post. She started the post with the realisation that she never thought that after cancer and turning 50, her life would enter this new phase. Sharing a photo of herself in her Heeramandi avatar, she wrote, I could never have imagined that after cancer and turning 50, my life would flower into this other phase.

Citing two reasons for it, she continued, Heeramandi has been a significant milestone. As a 53-year-old actor who has bagged an important role in a high-profile web series, I am overjoyed that Im not stuck playing insignificant peripheral roles, thanks to OTT platforms and changing audience profiles. Finally, female actors, technicians, and other professionals have started getting the long overdue and well-deserved good quality of work and respect in a professional environment. I am fortunate to be a part of this evolving era.

Manisha wrote that as she receives praises for her performance in the series, she is reminded of the worries she had before starting shooting. She added, Today, when I am receiving so many accolades, I cant help but remember the doubts and anxiety that plagued me when I was about to start shooting. Still recovering from the dreaded C, would my body be strong enough to deal with the intense shooting schedules, heavy costumes, and jewelry, and perform a role requiring so much nuance and effortless effort?

Opening up on a particularly tough scene, she wrote, The fountain sequence proved the most physically challenging. It required me to be immersed in a water fountain for over 12 hours. That tested my resilience! Even though Sanjay had thoughtfully ensured that the water was warm and clean, over the hours, the water turned muddy, (because my team members, the Cinematographer, and the art directors team were getting into the water to work around the scene.) Every single pore in my body was soaked in that muddy water. Even though I was beyond exhaustion by the end of the shoot, I felt a deep happiness within my heart. My body had taken the stress and remained resilient. I knew I had passed a critical physical test.

Ending on an inspirational note, Manisha added, To you, who think your time has come and gone, whether its due to age, illness or any setback, never give up! You never know what could be waiting for you around the bend! Im deeply grateful for your love and generosity of spirit!

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012, Manisha underwent treatment in New York. In a recent interview with NDTV, she mentioned that the illness continues to affect her work pace and mood, and it did so, especially while working on Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Heeramandi.
In 2014, Lakshmi Manchu and her husband Andy Srinivasan welcomed a baby girl, Vidya Nirvana, through surrogacy. Possibly the first Tollywood actor to opt for surrogacy, she became the subject of a lot of chatter back then. But over the years, she has earned the moniker of a trailblazer for trying to normalise the conversation. This Mothers Day, News18 Showsha exclusively catches up with Lakshmi as she rewinds to the time when her unconventional motherhood made headlines.

I know that I was the first one to openly talk about it. There was a lot of fear on whether we should share the news because what would people think! Surrogacy is still a very taboo kind of a thing and this was ten years ago! But then I thought, no one is paying my bills. Its my heart and my womb and my journey of motherhood, recalls Lakshmi, who has often spoken about how she couldnt become a mother naturally despite many attempts.

What followed after the news broke out was unpleasant but she never let it deter her spirits. People dont say it to your face. They talk about it behind your back. But you always come to know if theyre talking. Im born and raised in this industry. Ive heard the ugliest rumours about myself without any hint of truth in them. So, Ive been used to this kind of scrutiny all my life, Lakshmi says.

In fact, the 46-year-old credits her father, Telugu star Mohan Babu, for being a pillar of strength to her during those difficult moments. Emotionally what I went through at that point of time is something that only I know. But then, my dad gave his blessings and I didnt care about the rest of the world. When I had him say that whatever it takes, we should do it, I felt like Ive the strength of a thousand elephants. And then there was no looking back, she tells us.

But did she want to embrace motherhood after Nirvanas arrival again? I tried about four more times after Apple was born. You can wish what you want but god has to propose. Ive one child and Im done (laughs), shares the Pitta Kathalu actor.

As Nirvana is all set to turn ten a month later, Lakshmi says that she thoroughly enjoys being a mother but that her definition of the same remains different from most others. Prod her further and she says, Im her mother and not a friend. Most mothers want to become best friends with their children but I dont. I want to guide her, protect her and say a no to her for things that arent good for her. I just want to give her the best advice possible.

Lakshmi adds, There are good days and bad days. But to be very honest, shes an easy child. If you ask my friends, theyll tell you that Nirvana isnt a child but a divine angel who just dropped into my lap. She calms me down most of the times.

Lakshmis husband, an engineer, is settled in the USA and Nirvana stays with her in Mumbai. And she, in her signature candour, reveals that its less frustrating with her husband being away. If somebody says that children arent work, theyre bloody lying. Bringing children up is a lot of work, with or without the father. But without the father, theres less frustration because theres less expectation and you just do what needs to be done without depending on someone else, she states.

She continues, Apples ready to go to her dad for a month-and-a-half during her summer holidays and I just cant wait! Its going to give me some time to chill and do things and not be stressed about waking up at her school time. Its irritating (laughs)! But yes, Im looking forward to catching a break.
Mothers Day has brought out the sentimental side in Bollywood as stars are taking to social media to celebrate the special bond with their mothers and children. From sharing cherished moments captured in photos to penning heartfelt notes expressing gratitude and love, Bollywood celebrities have joined in the global celebration of motherhood today. Actress Preity Zinta, too, shared a montage of photos with her twins  son Jai Zinta Goodenough and daughter Gia Zinta Goodenough. She also shared photos with her mother and mother-in-law.

Preity wrote that she never thought becoming a mother would change her so much. If someone had told her three years ago that shed constantly prioritise someone else over herself, she wouldve laughed it off. I could never have imagined, being a mother would change me so much. If someone told me 3 years ago, that I would voluntarily put myself second to someone in the world, all the time, every time, I would have laughed & dismissed it ! Guess what !!! I was so wrong. Now, the kids always come first. Not because I have to, but because I want to. How silly & immature of me to have thought otherwise. It doesnt matter how tired I am, how busy I am or how hungry I am, the kids always come first, she wrote.

She continued, The happiness & pure joy I feel looking at them lights up my darkest days and I feel superhuman strength when I need to protect them. Im sure Im not the only mother who feels like this. Sadly, we only start appreciating our mothers when we step into that role. So heres a big shout out to all the mothers out there. The single ones, the working ones and the ones who devote all their time at home looking after their kids n families . Its really a job where there are no promotions, no time off & very little gratitude. If you are lucky they will appreciate you when you are older when they become parents otherwise its all about giving, loving & nurturing without any expectations.

Wrapping up, she wrote that mothers are next only to God. So give your moms a BIG HUG & say THANK YOU YOU LOVE THEM & APPRECIATE THEM cuz moms are the closest thing to God, she wrote.

On the work front, Preity will next be seen in Lahore 1947, produced under Aamir Khan Productions and starring Sunny Deol alongside her.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas recently wrapped shooting for her highly anticipated Hollywood film Heads Of State. Post which, the actress has been spending quality time with her family. She often shares fun glimpses and moments with her husband, Nick Jonas, and daughter, Malti.

And today was no such exception. The actress took to her Instagram handle to give a glimpse of her Saturday Night with Nick Jonas. The lovebirds dished out major couple goals twinning in sweatshirts. Sharing the photo, the Citadel actress wrote, Nights Like These.

Nick and Priyanka are also each others biggest cheerleaders. Time and again, the duo acknowledges each others professional endeavours on social media. Earlier this week, Priyanka Chopra gave a huge shout-out to Nick as he started filming for his next project, Power Ballad. She has written an appreciation post.

Taking to her Instagram handle, the actress shared a photo of Nick and wrote, Husband appreciation post: As I finish one, he starts one. The universe keeps us in sync. So happy to be reunited as he starts filming Power Ballad. Congratulations on your first day, baby. There is no one who works harder than you. This is going to be amazing. #johncarney #paulrudd @nickjonas @anthonymandler for Spaceman.

Priyanka Chopra recently announced that she has wrapped shooting for the highly anticipated film Heads Of State. The actress shared a happy video montage featuring her daughter Malti along with her crew and penned a heartwarming note expressing her love for the film. The action-comedy Heads of State also stars Idris Elba and John Cena.

The note read, And its a wrap. Its been a year. Well, a lot happened, but here we are. Tonight I wrapped on a set that was always so full of laughter and professionalism. That rare combination doesnt always happen. This movie was a breeze because the cast and crew came prepared with their A game, every day. She further added, Its been an honour to work with some legends in our business on this one. Hope yall have as much fun watching it as we did making it. Heads of state will be on @primevideo .. when you ask me? Above my pay grade. lol. Gratitude.

Besides this, Priyanka Chopra also has a Bollywood film in her pipeline. She will soon be seen in Farhan Akhtars Jee Lee Zara, with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif in the lead. While fans are eagerly waiting for this collaboration, the film has been delayed due to reasons that arent known.
Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty recently visited the Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir, accompanied by her mother Sunanda Shetty and sister, actor Shamita Shetty. She also shared photos from the trip on social media. They took a private jet and later, a chopper, to visit the temple. The visit follows shortly after the Enforcement Directorate seizes assets worth Rs 98 crore belonging to Shilpa and Raj Kundra in connection with a cryptocurrency scheme.

Shilpa Shetty faced backlash on social media after posting a video of her horseback ride to the mountaintop for darshan at the Vaishno Devi temple. Animal lovers criticised her for animal cruelty, questioning the necessity of her intense fitness and yoga routine if she couldnt trek the 12 km from the base camp at Katra. Many took to the comments and slammed her actions.

One user commented, Kya fayda itni fitness ka jab Jana kisi bezuban pe baithke he hai. Another wrote, Kya faayda Itna yoga karne ka climbing in a horse and going helicopter kar lete isse achcha. Koi fayeda nhi bejan janwar k upper baithke jane m darshan krne k krne hai pedal jao helicopter se jao, read a third comment.

Last week, Shilpa Shetty visited Assam to offer her prayers at Kamakya Temple. In one of the photos, Shilpa was seen performing a special puja in the temple. She also posed with the authorities of the temple. Meanwhile, her husband, businessman Raj Kundra was not seen at the temple. See the photos below:

Last month, ED seized Rajs properties worth Rs 97.79 crore. The attached properties include a residential flat in Mumbais Juhu, in the name of Shilpa. Another property is a residential bungalow in Pune and Equity shares in the name of Raj Kundra, the ED said.

The Mumbai zonal office of ED has provisionally attached immovable and movable properties of Raj under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. It has been alleged that Kundra along with others collected huge amounts of funds in the form of bitcoins (worth Rs 6,600 crore in 2017) from the gullible public with the false promises of 10 per cent per month return in the form of bitcoins.

Meanwhile, on Mothers Day, Shilpa posted a heartwarming picture with her sister and mother, showing them sharing loved-up moments.
Suspended Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to BJP 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.

Kumbhani said he was silent all these days because of his respect for state party president Shaktisinh Gohil and the partys 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 here.

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, Kumbhanis 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 partys presence in the fray.

On April 22, BJPs 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 AAP 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 states 26 seats will be declared on June 4.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal, in an exclusive interview to Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, flayed Congress manifesto and said the party is still thinking of appeasement and following on the economic path shown by Sam Pitroda.

For them (Congress), the politics of discrimination still takes priority. And the kind of confusion they tried to create in society, we felt it necessary to present it properly before the people. And I think we have not stopped talking about development and a positive agenda, Goyal told CNN-News18.

Sam Pitroda, who resigned from the post of Indian Overseas Congress chairman after his controversial remarks on Indias ethnicities, had a few weeks ago raised the issue of inheritance law and backed it, citing the example of the US. His statement created a political slugfest, and the Congress distanced itself from his remarks.

When asked why the BJP raked up the issue of Hindu-Muslim during the campaign in Rajasthan, Goyal clarified that his party did not start the discussion. We have kept a vision of how we can become a developed India in this Amrit Kaal, and what steps will be taken in that direction in our third term.

He further said in all the speeches, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and defence minister Rajnath Singh and even other candidates have approached the people with a positive attitude and promoted a positive narrative.

On the INDIA blocs five prime ministers plank, Goyal said the Opposition has not been able to decide who will those be. He stressed, This election will decide whether Modi ji becomes the prime minister or on the other side (it) is a question mark. Because even though they have said that they will appoint five prime ministers in five years, they have not been able to say who those five will be, and who will be the first.

PM Modi in an election rally in Kolhapur in Maharashtra a couple of weeks ago said the opposition has chalked out a plan of having five prime ministers in five years if it is voted to power and then mint money. He also said the INDIA bloc was planning to change the Constitution if it came to power and ensure religion-based reservation.

When asked why the PM thinks that the Congress manifesto has an imprint of the Muslim League, Goyal said, If you look at the entire history of Congress, they have discriminated on the basis of language, state, religion, and even on the basis of skin colour. They have divided people even through their schemes. What was the Sachar Committee? They asked people in every state what specific policies or schemes they had for Muslims. It is so unfortunate. So, if we build any infrastructure for roads or railways, will we have to decide how much reservation to give Muslims to use that road?

Sachar Committee was set up in 2005 by former prime minister Manmohan Singh to bring the issue of Indian Muslims to national attention.

Goyal said the Congress has pitched for reservation for Muslims in Karnataka this election. These things were said by the Muslim League. Their actions and their words, in their manifesto, and their work in the few states that they have, looking at that and how they are constantly insulting Lord Shri Ram, boycotting the pran pratishtha at the Ram temple, questioning the very existence of Shri Ram, some Congress leader saying they will have to purify the Ram temple; when all these statements come and are seen in this context that these people are asserting that one community should have the first right to the countrys resources, then you can judge that they are talking like the Muslim League, the minister said.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Durian sold in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. Photo by VnExpress/Manh Khuong

Vietnam's durian exports to China witnessed a significant surge in the first quarter of 2024, according to statistics of trade via the Youyi Guan border gate cited by China's Xinhua News Agency.

Specifically, Vietnam exported 35,000 tonnes of durian to China during the period, valued at nearly $1.77 million. China imported a total of 48,000 tonnes of durian worth some $2.56 million through the Youyi Guan border gate.

Li Youyang, Director of Trade at Guangxi Baiguoyuan Technology Co.Ltd., attributed the rise in durian sales to several key factors, saying that with continuous improvements in import procedures and the adoption of advanced cold storage technology, the company's durian sales in the first quarter increased by 20% annually, and prices were 30%-40% lower than in previous years. As a result, many of its durian stores have run out of stock.

Liu Minkun from the Guangxi University pointed out a confluence of factors driving the popularity of durian from ASEAN member countries among Chinese consumers, including high product quality, strong supply chain advantages, positive bilateral relations, e-commerce boom and logistics systems.
Mothers are often known for their supreme sacrifice for their children and the field of politics is nothing dissimilar. As we celebrate Mothers Day today, lets celebrate the bond that Indian politicians share with their mothers who also happen to have happily passed on their legacies to their children.

While Sonia Gandhi earlier this year announced her retirement from electoral politics, she was still with her son Rahul Gandhi on May 3 in Congress bastion Raebareli as he filed his nomination from the seat. Similarly, several other politicians share a strong relationship with their mothers, who have played an important role in their lives and careers. Lets have a look:

Rahul Gandhis Biggest Supporter  His Mother Sonia Gandhi

Just like how Rajiv Gandhi was termed as the successor of Indira Gandhi, Rajivs son Rahul Gandhi is also following the footprints of his mother Sonia Gandhi, the former president of the Congress party. The bond that both the siblings  Rahul and Priyanka  share with their mother Sonia Gandhi is no secret and is widely known.

Sonia Gandhi has always seen standing in support of Rahul through all thicks and thins and even during the turmoils he faced during his political career. She even handed over her crucial  Amethi and Raebareli  seats to her son.

The Other Gandhis  Maneka & Varun

While the bond between Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi has not often been publicised, however, the Union minister has also been seen standing in support of her son. Exhibiting his support for his son even after BJP denied ticket to him from Pilibhit, Maneka Gandhi stood out in her sons favour saying, What should I say, its about what party decides. Varun has been a good MP. Whatever he will be in life, he will do good for the country.

Vasundhara Raje & her mother Vijaya Raje Scindia

BJP leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has often credited her mother Vijaya Raje Scindia for her political success. Calling her mother Guru, Raje has said that her mother has taught her the ABC of politics.

Notably, Vijaya Raje Scindia, often known as Raj mata, played a very crucial role the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also provided the party with financial help.

Vasundhara Passed To Pass on The Legacy To Son Dushyant

Although Vasundhara Raje could not reclaim the position of Rajasthan Chief Minister last year in 2019 when Assembly elections were held in the state and she was considered the top contender for the CMs seat, her son Dushyant Singh has been re-nominated for the Jhalawar  Baran Lok Sabha constituency, where he currently holds the position of Member of Parliament.

Tejashwi Yadav And Her Mother Rabri Devi

Indian politician and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, who is not very active in politics now, has passed on her legacy to her son  Tejashwi Yadav. Rabri Devi took over the charge as the states CM after her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav has to go to jail in connection to the Fodder scam.

However, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, an aspiring Bihar CM, who wanted to seat on the CMs chair just like his parents got ditched by JD(U) supreme Nitish Kumar after he joined hands with the BJP.

Her Mothers Daughter: Bansuri Swaraj

I AM the embodiment of Sushma Swarajs sanskaras, I will never let you down, Bansuri Swaraj said during an interview with the Indian Express as she was campaigning for her poll debut. Bansuri acknowledged her mothers influence in shaping her values and work ethics.

Sachin Pilot With his Mother Rama Pilot

After the demise of former Congress leader Rajesh Pilot, Rama Pilot contested the 13th Lok Sabha polls and carried forward her husbands legacy. Sachin Pilot joined politics in order to support her mother, who was then contesting the polls from Dausa in Rajasthan.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
Microsoft has announced that they are all set to introduce new features that will help writers with improved prompts, and they will get more help with the AI chatbot. Microsoft is working on several new features, all designed to assist in improving Copilot results.

Some of these features include auto-complete, rewrite, and catch-up. Apart from that, the company is also working on creating a Copilot Lab that will help create tailor-made prompts for people's specific work needs. Microsoft will also let Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscribers create, publish, and manage prompts in Copilot Lab that can be tailored for individual teams in businesses.

One of the latest features of Microsoft AI is called the 'auto-complete' feature. This feature suggests that whenever a user is writing a prompt, Copilot will give suggestions to complete the sentence. For instance, if a user types 'summarise', the chatbot will show 'last ten emails' and several other suggestions.

The user can then pick one of them and quickly get to the result. Another new feature is the 'rewrite' feature. This feature will take a simple prompt and make it more detailed. This feature helps the users fine-tune Copilot's response. This means that when the user has written a basic description of what they want, it will modify it to add more details, specific instructions, and elaboration to help the AI get the right context.

Another new enhancement in Microsoft AI is the 'catch-up' feature. This catch-up feature will provide users with personal insights and recommendations that are based on the users' recent activities. For instance, if a user has an upcoming meeting, it will suggest the user go through the notes related to it. These features will only be available to paid users of Microsoft 365 in the coming months.

Recently, Microsoft has analysed and surveyed thousands of businesses to understand their usage of AI. They have found that 78 percent of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work, instead of waiting for organisations to roll out tools.
Bengaluru, the bustling hub hailed as the Silicon Valley of India, where tech prowess meets the daily grind. But peel back the layers, and youll find a city teeming with frustration over various factors such as sky-high rent, traffic that tests patience and an unyielding water crisis. Now, that frustration has found a new outlet: a simple cup of tea. Confused? Let us untangle this web for you. A recent viral sensation making the waves across the internet is a picture of a stall bearing the name Frustrated Engineers Chai Point.

A user on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) posted the photo of the stall. In the caption shared along the picture, the user also revealed the location of the stall situated in Bengalurus Koramangala area. Frustrated engineers chai point. Yep. Koramangala. Peak bengaluru, he wrote.

Check out the post here:

Looking to chat about your breakup? Fear no more. pic.twitter.com/VmMPgKttYT Farrago Metiquirke (@dankchikidang) January 29, 2024

The post has caused quite a stir online, sparking a whirlwind of reactions from users in the comments section.

A user joked, There will be more crowd than Rameshwaram cafe, while another sarcastically remarked, Hope the seller isnt a frustrated engineer.

An individual proposed, Time to start a frustrated PMs chai point.

And amidst the banter, someone asked, Is this opposite Cafe Amudham, no?

Quirky business names seem to be a specialty of Bengaluru, often gracing our social media feeds with their clever wit and charm.

Not long ago, a photo emerged on X showcasing a chat center named Ex-Girlfriend Bangarpete Chats, located in RT Nagar. The banner boldly displayed the catchy name, inviting passersby to indulge in some street food therapy. The accompanying caption added to the humor: Looking to chat about your breakup? Fear no more.

Take a look here:

Looking to chat about your breakup? Fear no more. pic.twitter.com/VmMPgKttYT Farrago Metiquirke (@dankchikidang) January 29, 2024

And earlier this year, another gem surfaced in Bengalurus HSR Layout. Vishwas, a user on X, shared a snapshot of a man standing proudly with a placard that read, Im not a superhero, but I can save the day with a vada pav, alongside neatly packed food boxes on a two-wheeler. Vishwas caption captured the essence of the moment: Met the guy at Zudio, HSR. A day made with a mix of shopping & vadapav bliss! An ex-architect, he left the corporate world to revive vadapavs complete meal charm. Living in Bengaluru is a thrilling ride on the innovation rollercoaster! Peak bengaluru.

Take a look here:

Met the guy at Zudio, HSR. A day made with a mix of shopping & vadapav bliss! An ex-architect, he left the corporate world to revive vadapav's complete meal charm. Living in Bengaluru is a thrilling ride on the innovation rollercoaster! @peakbengaluru pic.twitter.com/T0tOxEJ1EK  Vishwas  (@imvishwas_rawat) January 2, 2024

Now, the burning question remains: which of these quirky names has captured your heart as your favorite?
Crews are preparing to use controlled explosives to demolish a large piece of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge atop the cargo vessel Dali that has been stranded since March in Baltimore with its crew of 20 Indians and one Sri Lankan onboard after it collided against the bridge.

The Key Bridge Response Unified Command is scheduled to use precision cuts made with small charges to remove a large section of the bridge wreckage from on top of the Dali. The Key Bridge Response Unified Command said in a statement that the safest and swiftest method to remove the bridge piece from on top of the Dali is by precision cuts made with small charges. This is an industry-standard tool in controlled demolition that will break the span into smaller pieces, which will allow the work of refloating the vessel and removing it from the federal channel.

The 2.6-km-long, four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River came crashing down on March 26 after the 984-foot ship Dali collided against it. The crew onboard the Dali included 20 Indians and one Sri Lankan. The crew has been on the ship since the accident and has been cooperating with the investigation.

The exact time of the precision cuts will depend on multiple environmental and operational factors. Authorities said that the small charges, a standard controlled demolition tool, will split the large section of truss at specific locations to create multiple, smaller sections, which allows salvors to use cranes and barges already on scene to remove these sections of the bridge and ultimately remove the Dali from the channel.

We remain focused on restoring the Marine Transportation System, while ensuring the protection of the public and the environment, said Capt. David OConnell, Key Bridge Response Federal On-Scene Coordinator. cuts, we reduce risks to our personnel and can safely and efficiently continue clearing the channel for the Port of Baltimore. The Key Bridge Response Unified Command coordinated with Maryland Department of Emergency Management to issue a cellular notification ahead of the controlled demolition to maximize awareness to the communities near the bridge.

The Unified Command has advised that hearing protection is not required outside of the 2,000-yard noise radius. Sound levels outside of the noise radius will be no louder than a standard fireworks show and will last 2-5 seconds. Similar methods were previously used in the area for the controlled demolition of the Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge in March 2023 in Charles County, Maryland.

Last month, US authorities opened a criminal investigation into the Baltimore bridge collapse incident that is also looking into whether the ships crew, which included Indians, left the port knowing the vessel had serious systems problems. The Washington Post had reported that the FBI opened the criminal investigation focusing on the massive container ship that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last month  a probe that will look at least in part at whether the crew left the port knowing the vessel had serious systems problems. The Singapore-flagged Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and managed by Synergy Marine Group.

In the days following the accident, US authorities had begun interviewing personnel, including the Indian crew members, onboard Dali. Synergy Group had said in a statement that the NTSB boarded the vessel on Wednesday and collected documents, voyage data recorder extracts, and other evidence as part of their investigation.
Canadian police on Saturday said that they have arrested and charged a fourth person with the murder of Khalistani separatist leader and designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canadas Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) announced that Amandeep Singh, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjars killing.

Amandeep is a resident of Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford and is an Indian citizen. He was already in custody in Ontario for unrelated firearms charges, Canadian authorities said.

This arrest shows the nature of our ongoing investigation to hold responsible those that played a role in the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Mandeep Mooker, IHIT officer in-charge was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Nijjar, 45, a designated terrorist, was shot dead in June 2023 outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. Few months after his death Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed his government had evidence that Indian government officials were involved in his killing. Trudeaus claims prompted a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and Karanpreet Singh (28) in the city of Edmonton in Alberta. The police said that they are probing if the men had ties to the Indian government.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen who called for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India, if needed through violent means.

He was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Punjab Police in multiple cases. The home ministry designated Nijjar as an individual terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in July 2020. The Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief posted photos and videos on social media platforms in a bid to spread insurrectionary imputations and hateful speeches and allegedly made several attempts to cause disharmony among different communities in India.

The NIA said that he raised funds to procure arms and ammunition and to train young Sikhs for conducting terrorist activities across the country. People familiar with the developments speaking to CNN-News18 said in a separate report that Nijjar possibly had links to Pakistani spy agency Inter-State Services (ISI).
A peoples rights movement has surged in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir as citizens there have revolted against what they call brutality in the hands of Pakistan police and Pakistan administration.

Officials familiar with the developments told CNN-News18 that the recent protests and the violent suppression of those demonstrations indicate that Pakistan could be losing its grip on the territory it has illegally occupied for decades.

Several instances of locals in Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot clashing with the law enforcement authorities have been reported. Aforementioned people also told CNN-News18 that posters have emerged in Rawalakot demanding merger with India.

Police officials were met with protests by angered residents of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir following tear gas shelling on protesters. A group of peaceful protesters were hit by tear gas shells in Dadyal.

Pak stands to lose grip on PoJK, edging closer to becoming part of India. (There are) major protests in PoJK and a military intelligence vehicle was also destroyed (by protesters), one of the aforementioned officials said.

The officials said that the protests were spurred by the deaths of two minor girls. The two girls died after being baton-charged and exposed to tear gas.

Ten districts have protested against alleged human rights violations. Pakistans hollow solidarity with Kashmiris (has been) unveiled, the official said.

They said that the assistant commissioner of PoJK was beaten up by the resident after he issued the order to lob tear gas shells at peaceful protesters.

The first set of protests were taken out by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee who announced a series of shutter-down and wheel-jam strikes because the Pakistani government did not comply with an agreement reached between the two in February.

The committee has been protesting against the unjust taxes that have been imposed on electricity bills and held a shutter-down strike over the taxes in August 2023 and have also demanded that electricity should be provided to consumers as per the production cost of hydel power in PoJK.

However, these protests have now spread further and protesters have raised human rights violation issues and police brutality in the hands of Pakistan police as issues affecting them.
Nasas Solar Dynamics Observatory on Saturday (local time) captured two mega solar flares being emitted from the sun. Nasa classified the flares as X5.8 and X1.5-class flares.

X-class solar flares are the largest solar flares. The smallest solar flares are classified as B-class, followed by C and M classes. They are similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a ten-fold increase in energy output.

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

X-class flares more than 10 times the power of an X1, so X-class flares can go higher than 9. In 2003, space agencies witnessed the most powerful flare on record during the solar maximum. The sensors measuring it were overloaded and cut out at X17 and the flare was later estimated to be about X45.

More passion!More passion!More energy!More energy!Another M8.8-class flare just erupted from the Sun! Heres SDOs view: pic.twitter.com/KmyIZMqVTe  NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 11, 2024

These X-class flares can create long lasting radiation storms. A blog post by Nasa says X-class flares like that can create long lasting radiation storms and can harm satellites and even give airline passengers small radiation doses.

Why do we get auroras on Earth after eruptions occur on the Sun? A thread.  (Images: Left: a solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Right: Aurora seen from Lummi Island, Washington, at 10:54 p.m. PT on May 10, 2024. Credit: Jeff Carter) pic.twitter.com/0seln79n0p  NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 11, 2024

It said it can create long lasting radiation storms which can create global transmission problems and world-wide blackouts.

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, NASA said in a post on social media site X.

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, it further added.

Auroras lit up skies across swaths of the planet for the second night in a row on Saturday, after already dazzling residents from the United States to Tasmania to the Bahamas the day before.

A powerful solar storm  which could continue into Sunday  has triggered spectacular celestial shows usually confined to the far northern reaches of the planet, hence their nickname of the northern lights.
A New York high school teacher, who was earlier dismissed by the US Education Department, defiantly remains in the classroom, boasting the city cant touch me despite sexual misconduct allegations. Dulaina Almonte, 33, ousted from New Yorks Harry S. Truman High School in 2020, now teaches at a Bronx charter school.

Despite claims of inappropriate behaviour, Almonte told the New York Post I cant be guilty if Im still a teacher. 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 said. Still a teacher working elsewhere. Like, you really cant fking touch me. Legal loopholes obscure her past from potential employers, including allegations that she sent over 20,000 late-night texts to a schoolgirl.

The Almonte saga is a glaring example of the challenges facing the education system in New York City, The Post reported. In 2022, a disciplinary report from the citys Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) found her excessive contact and behaviour with the students demonstrates that she has no place in the New York City Schools. Almontes phone records revealed how she sent a 17-year-old female student 28,075 late-night texts over 14 months and traded nearly 1,900 texts with a male 12th-grader.

The New York Police also probed claims that she and a former pupil were involved in a sex act in a classroom. However, Almonte denied the accusation, and no arrest was made. Despite being fired by the US Education Department over sexually charged allegations, Almonte is continuing her teaching career in defiance of the systems attempts to remove her.

Despite the substantiated claims of misconduct, Almonte has found well-paying employment at a Bronx charter school, where she continues to teach Spanish. Critics have pointed to the shortcomings of the citys disciplinary process, which allows educators like Almonte to slip through the cracks and continue working despite grave allegations. The situation is further complicated by legal loopholes that obscure teachers past misconduct from potential employers.
Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, this week said that Iran will change its nuclear doctrine if Israel threatens its existence. This latest comment by a top Iranian official raises questions about Tehrans claims that its nuclear program is peaceful.

We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Irans existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine, Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the nations former foreign minister, was reported as saying by Irans Student News Network on Thursday.

In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime, our deterrence will change, Kharrazi said, using a term Iranian officials use to refer to Israel.

Iran has maintained that it has no plans to obtain nuclear weapons. Western governments suspect that it wants nuclear technology to build a bomb; its nuclear program has been at the centre of a long-running dispute that has led to sanctions.

Kharrazi in 2022 warned that Iran was technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but had not yet decided whether to build one.

The final say in Tehrans nuclear program is that of its supreme leader Khamenei. He banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa, or religious edict, in the early 2000s.

He reiterated that in 2019, saying that building and stockpiling nuclear bombs was wrong and using it is haram, or religiously forbidden.

But Irans then-intelligence minister said in 2021 that Western pressure could push Tehran towards nuclear weapons.

Decades of shadow war spilled into an open confrontation in April when Iran launched about 300 missiles and drones against Israel in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus. Both nations have been arch enemies for a long time. Israel launched an attack on Iranian territory in response to the missile barrage.

Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, whereas weapons grade uranium is enriched to about 90%. If the current nuclear material on hand were enriched further, it would suffice for two nuclear weapons, according to an official UN nuclear watchdog IAEAs yardstick.
Prince Harry was visibly emotional, reportedly in tears, following the announcement by his father, King Charles, that the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corpsthe regiment in which Harry served during his time in Afghanistanwould be formally transferred to his brother, Prince William.

On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace issued a statement announcing that King Charles would formally hand over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps.

The announcement coincided with Harrys brief visit to London on May 8 to attend the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, a sporting event founded by him in 2014, to celebrates and supports injured servicemen and women.

According to royal author and commentator Tom Quinn, the situation is worsened by the fact that the role is being given to the very person whom Harry sees as the cause of many of his problems: his brother.

King Charles announcement that Prince Harry is being stripped of his role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps is a real kick in the teeth for the son who always felt marginalized and underrated, Tom Quinn told The Mirror.

Adding: The announcement was deliberately made during Harrys brief visit to the U.K. to have maximum impactit shows Harry that he really is no longer welcome.

The royal commentator remarked that the announcement was deliberately made during Harrys brief visit to the UK to signify that he is no longer welcome.

Quinn claimed that the senior royals were aware that the announcement would deeply hurt the Duke of Sussex, and he revealed that he is said to have been in tears when he heard.

But they have decided the gloves are off and that Harry needs to realise that when you betray the family, you dont just escape the things you hated doing as a working royal. You also lose the things you loved, he added.

Being Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps was something Harry really did enjoy and of which he was very proud, Quinn noted. There is a rushed feel to the whole thing too as if they cant wait to be rid of this troublesome prince  which is why Harrys role will be transferred to William in just a few days time, on 13 May.

According to The Independent, had Harry not stepped back as a working member of the royal family, the role would likely have been given to him.

Harry stepped down as a senior royal in 2020, alongside wife Meghan Markle, and has been estranged from both his father and his brother since then.

Both royal princes, William and Harry, are trained military pilots. The Duke of Sussex served in the Army Air Corps during his second tour of Afghanistan until 2014, while his brother William, although not directly involved in active conflict, has served as a search and rescue pilot and as an air ambulance pilot.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Russian border guards have started withdrawing from their posts in Azerbaijan's Zangezur, Trend reports.

The border guards were stationed in the area after the Second Karabakh War in December 2020.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov said that the withdrawal of Russian military and border guards from a number of regions of Armenia was agreed upon at a meeting of the leaders of the two countries in Moscow.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer has said that significant strides have been made in expediting India-assisted projects in the Maldives, as he underscored the governments commitment to prioritising the resumption and completion of these projects.

Zameer, who visited India from May 8 to 10 on his very first bilateral official visit, said he and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar engaged in bilateral discussions on May 9 to address pivotal matters aimed at expediting the projects initiated with Indias financial assistance.

He said the discussions with Jaishankar focused on the operational dynamics of the committees entrusted with executing these projects, psmnews.mv reported.

Speaking at a press conference held in the Presidents Office, Zameer said India has given the Maldives the green signal to extend the repayment deadline for USD 150 million of a USD 200 million debt. The loan was secured by the previous government upon assuming office in 2019.

Zameer said that USD 50 million of the USD 200 million owed to India was repaid in January. He emphasised that the Indian government has not made any demands in exchange for extending the repayment period of the remaining USD 150 million.

The minister said that a spectrum of initiatives across the Maldives have been kickstarted through loans and grants from India during the previous administration.

He said significant strides have been made in expediting India-assisted projects. He emphasised the current governments commitment to prioritising the resumption and completion of these projects.

He also underscored his dedication to this endeavour during his recent visit to India.

During the official discussions between the two nations, Jaishankar reiterated the significance of Indias ongoing projects in the Maldives.

Zameers visit to India came amid a downturn in the bilateral ties between the two countries since pro-China president Mohamed Muizzu assumed office six months back.

The relations between the two countries came under severe strain in view of Muizzu insisting on withdrawal of Indian military personnel operating three military platforms in the island nation.

Zameer on Saturday said 76 Indian military personnel were replaced by civilian employees of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited which manufactured the two helicopters gifted by India, thus also ending the suspense over the exact number of those repatriated at the insistence of Male.

However, the Maldives government has no intention of removing the doctors from India at Senahiya.

Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase
The United States is said to have offered Israel sensitive intelligence on the whereabouts of senior Hamas leaders if it agrees to hold off on a long-promised military assault in Gazas southernmost city of Rafah.

Washington is offering Israel valuable help if it holds back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the groups hidden tunnels, The Washington Post reported, quoting four unnamed sources. It has also offered to help put up large tent encampments for Palestinians evacuated from Rafah and to help in building infrastructure to provide humanitarian aid.

This report came after The Times of Israel on Friday reported that Sinwar is not hiding in Rafah, citing recent intelligence assessments that placed the Hamas leader in underground tunnels in the Khan Younis area. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to launch a major offensive in Rafah for months, arguing that the operation is essential for defeating Hamas, which has four of its remaining six active battalions located in the city.

On Friday, the White House said that the US does not believe the campaign amounts to a wide-scale military operation in the population centers the crowded city of the sort that Washington warned would lead him to halt weapons shipments to Israel. Last week, US President Joe Biden already withheld a shipment of high payload bombs amid fears theyd be used in Rafah.

READ MORE: Israeli Cabinet Approves Expansion Of Rafah Operation, Risking Clash With US And Further UN Outcry

Israels security cabinet voted on Thursday to approve a measured expansion of the Rafah operation in what is aimed to remain within the scope of what Washington is willing to accept. The war in Gaza erupted with Hamass October 7 massacre, when Hamas members burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages. Promising to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a wide-scale military campaign in Gaza. Health authorities in Gaza say almost 35,000 people have been killed in the ensuing war. The IDF says it has killed over 13,000 operatives in Gaza.

(With agency inputs)
It's wine time. Beer Thirty. Happy hour. Five o'clock somewhere. Maybe it's also time to rethink drinking? Moderate drinking was once thought to have benefits for the heart, but better research methods have thrown cold water on that, the AP reports. Alcohol guidelines vary a lot from country to country but the overall trend is toward drinking less. The United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Holland, and Australia recently reviewed new evidence and lowered their alcohol consumption recommendations. Ireland will require cancer warning labels on alcohol starting in 2026. "The scientific consensus has shifted due to the overwhelming evidence linking alcohol to over 200 health conditions, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases and injuries," says a Europe regional adviser for alcohol at the World Health Organization.
American roads are notably more dangerous than they were a decade ago in at least one respect: road rage shootings. An analysis in the Gun Violence Archive by the nonprofit Trace lays out the issue. Some of the stats:

Overall: In 2014, someone was shot in a road rage incident once every four days. In 2023, it was once every 18 hours. The raw numbers rose from 92 in 2014 to 481 last year. Over the entire decade, 3,095 people were shot, 777 of them fatally.

In 2014, someone was shot in a road rage incident once every four days. In 2023, it was once every 18 hours. The raw numbers rose from 92 in 2014 to 481 last year. Over the entire decade, 3,095 people were shot, 777 of them fatally. Worst city: Houston had the highest number of road rage incidents involving guns, logging 215 over the decade, including 207 in which someone was killed or wounded. That's more than double the next highest city (Memphis and San Antonio were tied at 107).
Heavy rains and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano's slopes on Indonesia's Sumatra island triggered flash floods that killed at least 37 people, officials said Sunday. More than a dozen others were missing, the AP reports. Monsoon rains and a major mudslide from a cold lava flow on Mount Marapi caused a river to breach its banks and tear through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight on Saturday. The floods swept away people and submerged more than 100 houses and buildings, a National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson said. Cold lava, also known as lahar, is a mixture of volcanic material and pebbles that flows down a volcano's slopes in the rain.

By Sunday afternoon, rescuers had pulled out 19 bodies in the worst-hit village of Canduang in Agam district and recovered nine other bodies in the neighboring district of Tanah Datar, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement. The agency said eight bodies were pulled from mud during deadly flash floods that also hit Padang Pariaman, and one body was found in the city of Padang Panjang. It said rescuers are searching for 18 people. Flash floods on Saturday night caused main roads around the Anai Valley Waterfall area in Tanah Datar district to be blocked by mud, cutting off access to other cities, an official said Sunday. Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed roads transformed into murky brown rivers.

The disaster came two months after heavy rains triggered flash floods and a landslide in West Sumatra's Pesisir Selatan and Padang Pariaman districts, killing at least 21 people and leaving five missing, per the AP. The 9,465-foot Mount Marapi erupted late last year killing 23 climbers who were caught by a surprise weekend eruption. The volcano has stayed at the third highest of four alert levels since 2011, indicating above-normal volcanic activity, under which climbers and villagers must stay more than about two miles from the peak, according to Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.

(More Indonesia stories.)
Days into his fifth term, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ousted his longtime defense minister. Sergei Shoigu has been nominated to instead lead a council that advises Putin on defense and security, the Washington Post reports. The announcement on an official government Telegram channel says Putin has nominated Andrei Belousov, a former vice prime minister, to succeed Shoigu. The entire Cabinet resigned Tuesday, after Putin's inauguration, in compliance with Russian law, per NBC News . Shoigu has held the defense job since 2012.

The Security Council opening came with the dismissal of intelligence chief Nikolai Patrushev, long considered one of Putin's closest advisers, per Politico Europe. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Patrushev will be transferred to another position, per CNN. Russian forces are pressing a fresh offensive in Ukraine's northeast that is forcing thousands of people to evacuate the Kharkiv region. Analysts say the push is designed to exploit Ukraine's ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies reach the front line, per the AP.

"Whoever is more open to innovation is the one who is victorious on the battlefield," Peskov said in discussing the defense change. A former British military intelligence colonel and NATO planner assessed the up side for the president in handling a persistent problem. "This move allows Putin to keep Shoigu on side, while bringing in someone who may be able to deal with the impact of corruption across the Russian Ministry of Defense," said Philip Ingram. (More Russian military stories.)
The exodus of Palestinians from Gaza's last refuge accelerated Sunday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the southern city of Rafah. Israel also pounded the territory's devastated north, where some Hamas militants have regrouped in areas the military said it had cleared months ago, the AP reports. Rafah is considered Hamas' last stronghold. Some 300,000 of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there have fled the city following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken from Israel in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered some of the Biden administration's strongest public criticism yet of Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, per the AP. Blinken said Israeli tactics have caused "a horrible loss of life of innocent civilians" but failed to neutralize Hamas leaders and fighters and could drive a lasting insurgency. Blinken made the comments Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation and NBC's Meet the Press. United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement that he cannot see how a full-scale invasion of Rafah can be reconciled with international humanitarian law.

Rafah had been sheltering 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere. But Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of the city. Most people are heading to the heavily damaged city of Khan Younis or Muwasi, a coastal tent camp where some 450,000 are living in squalid conditions. The UN has warned that a full-scale invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations. The main aid entry points near Rafah are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down. A senior Egyptian official told the AP that Cairo has lodged protests with Israel, the US, and European governments, saying the offensive has put its decades-old peace treaty with Israela cornerstone of regional stabilityat risk.

(More Israel-Hamas war stories.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has expressed condolences to Brazil over the devastating floods, Trend reports, referring to the X account of the ministry.

We are saddened by the devastation and loss of lives caused by floods in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

We express condolences to the bereaved families and wish the quick recovery for those who are affected by this disaster," the publication reads.

More than 140 people died as a result of floods in the State of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.
Labour's spokesperson for Rainbow Issues Shanan Halbert told AM the divisive Bill is meant to distract people from NZ First's performance in government.

"It's 2024 and rhetoric like this from political leaders doesn't really have a place in Aotearoa New Zealand," Halbert told AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green.

"I just want to take the time to acknowledge the fear this does create in the rainbow community and let them know that we are here standing up for them, representing them in New Zealand and that they do have a place in our community.

"It's important to acknowledge that this is only a Members' Bill, it's an idea at this stage. But it's actually just a distraction from the unpopular things NZ First and this government are doing."

He went on to accuse NZ First of wanting "nothing more than for this to turn into a big culture war".

"It's a distraction," he added.

Halbert said the Government has to govern for everyone including women and transgender women.

He also questioned how the Bill would be policed unless the Government created and introduced a gender register  instead of allowing people to self-report their gender which they currently can.

"Therein lies some of the challenges... of implementing such a Bill," he said.

It's a view shared by Labour leader Chris Hipkins who called it "absolutely ridiculous".

"The country has bigger issues to worry about than Winston Peters' homophobia or transphobia," Hipkins told reporters.

"How on earth are they going to police that, how on earth are they going to enforce it?"

Green Party spokesperson for rainbow communities Kahurangi Carter accused Peters of "undermining the mana of rainbow people, who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity".

"This Bill is a blatant attack on our transgender whanau. Time and time again, New Zealand First has shown that it is more than happy to spread fear and stoke division for political gain," Carter said.

"Christopher Luxon will have to reflect on whether he is fit to continue showing up at Pride events if he chooses to remain affiliated to a party actively undermining rainbow peoples."

Last year, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said there was no need for laws specifying which toilets people could use.

A spokesperson for Te Pati Maori said they would not support the Bill.

Peters meanwhile said the Bill was about defending "the right to privacy, personal safety, and freedom from harm for all New Zealanders, and this Bill demonstrates a much-needed commonsense solution to an issue that has often been overshadowed by ideology".
The Israeli military said its aircraft struck tens of targets across Gaza over the past day, adding its ground troops had eliminated some 30 fighters in Zeitoun.

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. Residents said Israeli tanks have been stationed in the town.

In Rafah, where the health ministry said 16 people were killed, 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.

Rafah incursion

Despite heavy US 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.

Israel says it cannot win the war without rooting out thousands of Hamas fighters still 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 October 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 from Egypt was closed for a fifth day, while another crossing, Kerem Shalom from southern Israel, has been shut for around a week.

The latest evacuation orders came hours after internationally mediated ceasefire talks appeared to be faltering. Hamas said Israel's rejection of a truce offer it had accepted returned things to square one. Israel said the terms did not meet its demands.

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.

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 US-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.

Reuters
Hundreds have commented on the post, sharing birthday wishes and messages of hope for a "miracle".

"Ah man, this brought tears to my eyes. What a nightmare. I think we've all probably be thinking and praying a little more for Maddie and her family today," one person commented.

"Still in our thoughts, still in our search, still holding you close to us all. Happy 21st x," another said.

In 2007, Madeleine disappeared from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, triggering a large missing person investigation.

At the time Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry were put officially under suspicion by Portugal police for their daughter's disappearance. They were eating nearby with friends when the tot disappeared from the apartment.

However, the parents have since received an apology from Portuguese police for the way they handled the three-year-old's disappearance.
About half of its 2,000 stores will sell the Pride collection, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. The assortment will also be sold on Target's website.

A Target spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that it's "committed to supporting" the LGBTQ community during Pride Month, citing internal programs and presence at local Pride events, including in its hometown of Minneapolis.

"Most importantly, we want to create a welcoming and supportive environment for our LGBTQIA+ team members, which reflects our culture of care for the over 400,000 people who work at Target," the company said in a statement.

The changes are a "sensible approach," Neil Saunders, managing director of retail for GlobalData, told CNN. But he warned "it runs the risk of Target being accused of not being proud of Pride."

"Unfortunately for Target, it has been dragged into the culture wars and is in a position where it can't win whatever it does," he said.

The Human Rights Campaign fired back, releasing a statement saying that selling Pride merchandise "means something," and since the LGBTQ community makes up 30% of Generation Z, the HRC said, "companies need to understand that community members and allies want businesses that express full-hearted support for the community."

"Target's decision is disappointing and alienates LGBTQ+ individuals and allies at the risk of not only their bottom line but also their values," said HRC President Kelley Robinson.

Pride problems

Last year, Target pulled Pride merchandise from some stores after the company and its employees became the focus of a "volatile" anti-LGBTQ campaign, which included threats against its store workers.

The company previously told the Wall Street Journal that people have confronted workers in stores, knocked down Pride merchandise displays and put threatening posts on social media with video from inside stores. Some people have thrown Pride items on the floor.

Prominent right-wing activists, Republican political leaders and conservative media outlets have focused their attention on a women's swimsuit that was described as "tuck friendly" for its ability to conceal male genitalia. Misinformation spread on social media that it was marketed to children, which it was not.

That, plus the soft demand for discretionary goods, caused Target's quarterly sales to fall for the first time in six years during the quarter that encompassed Pride assortment sales.

A Target executive said on the earnin
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has surprisingly supported the negotiations between the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Almaty.

In its statement, Paris also urged for the continuation of the border delimitation process based on agreed principles.

The delayed reaction from Paris, considering that the agreement between Baku and Yerevan to commence the delimitation process - leading to the transfer of four villages in the Gazakh district to Azerbaijan - was reached as far back as April 19, speaks volumes.

France has long lost any sway over the negotiation process in the South Caucasus due to its firmly pro-Armenian stance. Therefore, it's no surprise that Paris isn't pleased with the progress in normalizing relations between Baku and Yerevan.

Given recent events such as the recall of the French ambassador from Baku, accusations against Azerbaijan of actions allegedly damaging relations with Paris, and a spy scandal, such statements come off as insincere and pointless.

Baku's position is crystal clear - there's no room for third parties in negotiations with Yerevan. And even in Armenia, this understanding seems to be taking hold. All that remains is for the Elysee Palace to come to terms with these new realities.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Kingdom of Bahrain welcomed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, regarding Palestines right to obtain full membership in the United Nations.

The resolution adopted by majority vote of 143 also recommended that the Security Council reconsider the matter favourably.

It also grants Palestine additional rights and privileges related to its status in the international organisation.

Bahrain valued the efforts of the Arab Group, led by the UAE, in presenting and adopting this resolution during the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly.

International consensus

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said this reflected the international consensus on supporting the legitimate historical rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, freedom, justice, equality, independence, and ending the occupation, in accordance with the international law.

The statement reiterated Bahrains position on calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.

It commended the UN resolutions demonstration of the international communitys backing of the peace process in the Middle East, granting Palestinian their legitimate rights to establish an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the two-state solution, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
AFP | Baghdad, Iraq

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Iraq, one of the worlds biggest oil producers, aims to boost its crude reserves to more than 160 billion barrels, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani said yesterday.

The ministers comment came during the launch of new licensing rounds for 29 oil and gas fields.

According to the World Bank, Iraq has 145 billion barrels of proven oil reserves amounting to 96 years worth of production at the current rate.

These are among the largest crude reserves in the world. The ministry has put forward 29 promising projects today, Abdel Ghani said during the opening of the new bidding process that will last three days.

We hope to announce an increase of Iraqs proven oil reserves to more than 160 billion barrels, he added.

Iraq has completed five licensing rounds since 2008.

Abdel Ghani said the government will support and assist the winning companies.

The new rounds include fields and exploration blocs in 12 provinces and an offshore bloc -- the first to be explored in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf.

Iraq also hopes the blocs will lead to increased natural gas production to help reduce dependence on imports from Iran, a crucial supplier for Iraqi power generation.

Iraq, trying to move past decades of war and prior sanctions that led to underinvestment, was left dependent on imports from its eastern neighbour for a third of its gas needs.

Iraq anticipates deriving more than 3,459 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (98 million cubic metres) and over one million barrels of oil per day from these licensing rounds, according to a statement by the prime ministers media office.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. On May 12, the 7th Kharibulbul International Music Festival, organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, continued in Shusha, Trend reports.

The day kicked off with a concert by Almazyood band from the United Arab Emirates and Tizwit from Morocco, held in front of the Khurshidbanu Natavan House.

The selection of countries represented by cultural and artistic figures performing at this year's festival was deliberate. Performers and creative teams are representatives of ISESCO member countries. Thus, Shusha has been honored as the cultural capital of the Islamic world for 2024.

Also on May 12, an exhibition titled Karabakhname opened as part of the festival. Hosted at the Creative Center, it showcased works by 23 artists reflecting the history, rich culture, and life of Karabakh, with a special focus on the history and architecture of Shusha.

The festivities in Shusha wrapped up with a musical event on Jydyr Duzu, featuring performances by Abubakar Silla from Guinea, Abbas Kosimov from Uzbekistan, and the Natiq rhythm group from Azerbaijan.

The festival will conclude tomorrow with a concert program in Lachin.
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Marcellus Bethea, the New Jersey State Police trooper who died last weekend while training at the agencys Ewing headquarters, will be laid to rest Wednesday in Burlington County.

Bethea, 33, died on Sunday, May 5, while training for the state polices TEAMS unit, a SWAT-style unit that can also perform other tasks, like technical rescue and SCUBA dive team response, state officials said.

The state police has not made public the exact circumstances of Betheas death.

His funeral will take place Wednesday, May 15, at 10 a.m. at Mary Mother of the Church Parish in Bordentown City, and hell be laid to rest at Holy Assumption Cemetery in Florence. More details of the service can be found here.

Bethea lived in Florence and is survived by a wife and daughter, among many other relatives. He grew up in Columbus, Mansfield Township, and was a 2009 graduate of Northern Burlington Regional High School, and graduated in 2013 from Rowan University with a bachelors degree in law and justice.

An eight-year trooper, he was currently assigned to the Moorestown Station.

His commanding officer told 6ABC that Bethea was a gentle giant, and his obituary describes him as a family man guided by faith and an avid New York Giants fan.

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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com
An organization that started in Camden to keep kids off the streets during summer is opening a new free summer camp in Cumberland County in July.

Krista Smith, the executive director of the nonprofit UrbanPromise Millville, said the camp will offer a program that is needed in the area.

I dont think that theres a program with the same mission thats existing in Millville, said Smith, a lifelong Cumberland County resident.

Our city really needs this, she said.

UrbanPromise, a Christian-based nonprofit, launched nearly 40 years ago in the basement of a Camden church with a mission to keep children in urban communities safe during the summer.

The organization has expanded to international communities over the decades, and now its coming to another New Jersey community under the same mission.

Fifty kids in grades first through sixth will have the opportunity to be selected for the free summer camp at its first location in Millville in a pilot program.

The program will run from July through August for six weeks at In His Presence Worship Center, a church on Broad Street. Free breakfast and lunch will be provided each day, officials said.

It was important to choose a local church in the heart of the city as the camps primary location because its accessible and recognizable to the community, Smith said.

I wanted to make sure that it was accessible to kids who might walk there or easy for parents to be able to drop them off pick them up in the morning, she said.

Different classes will be taught during the four-day week camp, including nature studies, movement, spirituality, art and dance, the organization said. There will also be wellness, meditation and physical activities.

One goal of the camp is to prevent the summer slip, so kids dont lose what they learned during the school year over the summer months, Smith said.

The organization has just started raising awareness and hosting fundraisers for the program, so several spots are still open, officials said. Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to Millville residents.

It has also been a community effort to get the camp up and running, with about a dozen local high school and college-aged students planning to work at the site. That will help young people in the community get leadership training, said Smith, who has been a teacher at UrbanPromise for six years.

Through UrbanPromises Camden program, kids have even been able to go on field trips to national parks and nature places like Canada, Utah, and Mexico. As the organization grows in Millville, directors plan to expand it to have a similar impact, Smith said.

I think what they are doing in Camden will transfer so nicely in Millville, she said.

Information about signing up for the summer camp is available at urbanpromisemillville.org.

A second free camp is coming to Cumberland County this summer for youth impacted by violence, according to the county prosecutors office, which is launching the program with Inspira Health Network. The camp aims to address the growing issue of youth violence in the community.

The free camp will provide 30,000 hours of supportive services for children and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24, according to officials.

The program will include year-round case management services that will help young people with their academics, physical and mental health and offer mentorship and other services, according to county officials.

According to the FBIs 2020 Uniform Crime Report, the most recent year for which full data is available, Cumberland County had more than double New Jerseys violent crime rate with 421.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.

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Nyah Marshall may be reached at Nmarshall@njadvancemedia.com.
We finally got rid of the so-called county line, in which the candidates favored by party bosses got a privileged spot on the ballot in New Jersey. So now that its gone, how will the overlords cope?

Just fine, it turns out, with Essex County taking center stage for its latest act of magic. The endorsed candidates are still getting coveted spots, just by the luck of the draw, nearly every time.

Imagine that.

In all four boxes on the ballot in the recent 11th district primary, the boss-backed candidates won the top spot in a supposedly random drawing  for which the odds are just 4.2%. And thats not all. In Democrat-run Essex County, Democrats have also repeatedly won the most prominent spot on the general election ballot in a random draw, 17 times in a row.

There are only two possibilities here, folks. One is that Essex Countys party bosses are extremely blessed, and have defied the odds in miraculous fashion, year after year. The other is that they cheat regularly.

The Democratic clerk responsible for these drawings, Christopher Durkin, insists that the candidates won these top spots fair and square in the 11th district primary, and every one of those 17 times in the general election. Theres really no explanation for this that could pass the smell test, but he gave it his all.

Does it bother him that people are saying the drawings were rigged? It does very much. Does he see why we are skeptical that the Democrats won 17 times in a row? Each ballot drawing is separate and unto itself. Could it be possible to rig a drawing like this? I wouldnt know if it was possible.

Lets pause for a moment here to describe the process. The names of the candidates are written on pieces of paper that get inserted into a plastic capsule about the size of a pill case. The capsules then go inside a drum that gets tumbled and shook, and are drawn out one at a time, as in Bingo. The public is invited to watch, and it all gets filmed.

But how do we know that a clerk isnt scratching a capsule, leaving it slightly ajar, or freezing it so that it feels cold to the touch, and then easily plucking it out? All ideas that election lawyers have shared with us.

After an interminable silence, Durkin said only, The strips of paper with the names of the candidates and the capsules are in plain view of the public, for them to inspect. Right.

But the public isnt allowed to actually touch these capsules, we are told. That might ruin the ol razzle dazzle.

So we called up the chair of the Democratic State Committee, LeRoy Jones, whose son, Amir Jones, was among the four boss-backed candidates who randomly got top ballot spots in the Essex primary; in his case, for county sheriff. I dont entertain cheating, Jones told us, because thats not anything that Ive ever been associated with in my life.

Besides, he said, the public gets to witness the drawing and can object if they see anything inappropriate. I dont think theres been objections, he told us. Really?

What about the lawsuit filed just last year in his home county, by a Republican who complained about this exact thing losing the top spot 17 years in a row?

The lawyer, Giancarlo Ghione, filed suit over these ridiculous statistical odds on the day of last years drawing, but the judge ruled they didnt have enough evidence of foul play. Then, the Essex County clerk remarked to him and his client, I think you guys are going to be happy with how this drawing goes, Ghione recalled.

Durkin stuck his hand inside the box for about 10 seconds, shuffled it around, and lo and behold, Republicans got the top spot for the first time in 17 years. Amazing.

Im not familiar with any lawsuit, Jones, the state and Essex County Democratic chair, told us.

You see why experts who study this absurd system wonder why we are sticking with it. Its kind of ridiculous that were still having a clerk draw names out of a drum when there are computers that could randomize this in a much more scientific way, and would be cheating-proof, essentially, says Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers professor whos researched this. The order of the candidates could be randomized by voting precinct, too.

Theres just zero reason for us to still be doing it this way, and for our county clerks to have a partisan affiliation, she notes. The fact that they have historically run on the county line means that they are very, very vulnerable to the wishes of the county party chair, she told us. That unnecessarily politicizes and makes partisan their position and gives them a real incentive to cheat.

But Democratic chairman Jones tell us he prefers the current system. He likes the public participation and that its filmed, and argues that even with technology, wed still be debating, did somebody, you know, program the computer to do something. I like the human approach, he said.

No doubt the other party bosses do, too. Clearly, theyre not going to go down quietly, and this is just a preview. The machines will try to stay as close to the line as they can, so its our move now. Lets fight back with smart ballot reforms, and make this less like a seedy game on the boardwalk.

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Thanks but no thanks.

Donald Trump says he wont be teaming up with former rival Nikki Haley in November, even as Haley still garners tens of thousands of votes in the ongoing GOP primary despite having dropped out of the race two months ago.

Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well! DJT Trump posted to Truth Social.

The former president weighed in after a report by Axios came out Saturday suggesting Trump would tap Haley as his veep in an attempt to reclaim her voters who continue to reject Trump.

Trump, losing badly Joe Biden in fundraising, also wants to siphon cash from Haleys donors, two people familiar with the discussions told Axios.

Just last month, Haley won almost 17% of Pennsylvanias primary vote Tuesday, or 1 in 6 votes, to Trumps 83%, despite not campaigning for president since she ended her bid in early March.

Tom Bonier, the CEO of The TARA Group, broke the potential problem for Trump down further on X:

Debunking the popular theory that Nikki Haleys relatively substantial support in GOP primaries has been due to Dem leaning voters flooding the GOP primary vote, thereby suggesting that Haleys strong showing isnt actually a bad sign for Trump...

We recently analyzed the GOP primary individual turnout history in the NC primary. Haley won 23% there. Looking at the unaffiliated voters who comprised one-third of the GOP vote, there is no indication that these voters were Dems seeking to stop Trump.

They were not substantially younger than the GOP voters (41% over 65 vs 45% among reg GOPs). They were overwhelmingly white (94% of Inds vs 97% of GOPs), and were actually more likely to be men (51% of Ind GOP primary voters vs 50% of GOPs).

Every indicator suggests these Independents voting in GOP primaries are more likely GOP voters. They just dont like Trump. If I were the Biden campaign, I would be investing in outreach to any Ind who voted in a GOP primary (or if I was the @ProjectLincoln).

Debunking the popular theory that Nikki Haley's relatively substantial support in GOP primaries has been due to Dem leaning voters flooding the GOP primary vote, thereby suggesting that Haley's strong showing isn't actually a bad sign for Trump...  Tom Bonier (@tbonier) May 2, 2024

More than a million votes have been counted for Haley in Republican primaries and caucuses since she dropped out, though some of those may have been cast early or by mail before she ended her campaign. During that period, Trump received about 5.8 million votes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
In case you forgot, Doug Burgum, former President Donald Trump did exactly what you said he wouldnt do as president.

Thats the message from former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who called out the North Dakota governor and potential Trump running mate after he spoke at Trumps rally in New Jersey on Saturday.

Theres a longstanding American principle and President Trump would never do this. We dont negotiate with terrorists, Burgum said.

Cheney: Actually, @GovDougBurgum, Trump didnt just negotiate with terrorists, he invited the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11 and had his Secretary of State sign a surrender agreement with them.

Actually, @GovDougBurgum, Trump didn't just negotiate with terrorists, he invited the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11 and had his Secretary of State sign a surrender agreement with them.



pic.twitter.com/EviPcRHPJ9  Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 12, 2024

Both things are true.

In February 2020 when Trump was president, acknowledging a military stalemate after nearly two decades of conflict, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that is aimed at ending Americas longest war and bringing U.S. troops home from Afghanistan more than 18 years after they invaded in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The historic deal, signed by chief negotiators from the two sides and witnessed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, sought the withdrawal of all American and allied forces over 14 months and allowed Trump to keep a key campaign pledge to extract the U.S. from endless wars.

Ahead of the deal, from a 2019 report from The New York Times: ... He would not only bring the Taliban to Washington, but to Camp David, the crown jewel of the American presidency. The leaders of a rugged militant organization deemed terrorists by the United States would be hosted in the mountain getaway used for presidents, prime ministers and kings just three days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the Afghan war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.  A few Yankees players were thrilled that their Saturday game against the Rays started late in the afternoon instead of nighttime.

Following the Rays 7-2 win, there was time for a late dinner with mom for Clay Holmes, Nestor Cortes, Oswaldo Cabrera, Carlos Rodon and others.
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TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 12. Uzbekistan and Saudi DataVolt company have launched the construction of the first phase of the green data center on the territory of IT Park Uzbekistan, Trend reports.

According to Uzbekistan's Ministry of Digital Technologies, DataVolt is expected to invest $5 billion in stages for the implementation of the project until 2030.

As part of the initial stage, a data center with a total capacity of 10 MW and costing $150 million will be built on the territory of IT Park Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

Within the second phase of the project, the sides will build a data center with a capacity of up to 250 MW on 25 hectares of land in the New Tashkent district.

Also in the third phase of the project, both sides plan to build a data center with an initial capacity of 40 MW and the possibility of increasing it up to 250 MW in the future in the Bukhara region.

After the launch of the project, DataVolt plans to attract large foreign IT companies to the data center and provide them with green infrastructure leases and other services.

Meanwhile, according to Uzbekistan's president, the country will create more than 20 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The president also noted that the country is aiming to increase its share of the green energy balance to 40 percent.
A Bideford couple have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a grand musical affair at the Palladium Club in Bideford on Saturday, May 4.

Surrounded by friends and family, including loved ones from as far as Australia and America, Sherrie and Ed Collinson marked their love with an unforgettable evening of music and merriment.

ABOVE: Celebrating their 60 years with friends and family

The celebration, held at the Palladium Club was nothing short of spectacular.

Close friends who are talented musicians took to the stage to serenade the couple and their guests with melodious tunes.

Sherrie and Ed met over six decades ago when they first crossed paths at a Christmas dance in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in December 1962.

Within a mere three weeks of meeting, the couple found themselves deeply committed and were engaged swiftly followed by a wedding ceremony at the Salisbury Registry Office in May 1964.

Following their wedding, the couple lived in Plymouth and always felt like Devon was their home.

Ed soon left to join the prison service in Sussex, where the couple moved to, and Ed took early retirement at the age of 55.

Following this, the family moved to Winkleigh, where they remained for 15 years, and now live in Bideford, where they have lived for nearly nine years.

Ed was a medic in the navy when the couple met, and was home in Amesbury on Christmas leave.

The couple has a son and a daughter together.

Sherrie said: Between retirement and the move to Devon we spent six months travelling around Australia in a converted school bus! We are now 79 and 82 and still enjoying life, still travelling when we can, and still singing and playing!

Reflecting on their remarkable journey together, Sherrie shared that music had played a pivotal role in their enduring bond.

Sherrie said: The best success of our marriage has been music.

We've laughed a lot together, she added.

The couple's shared love for music transcended mere appreciation, as they often found joy in dancing together, particularly enjoying the lively rhythms of the jive.
Saudi Arabia's National Housing Company (NHC) has awarded a contract to China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) for the construction of 20,000 residential units at its projects coming up within various suburbs and neighbourhoods across the kingdom.

According to NHC, this agreement is one of several with major international construction companies. It will entail building different facilities, including medical care establishments, schools, and retail stores, reported SPA.

The agreement was signed by National Housing Company CEO Mohammad Albuty in the presence of Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, Chairman of the Housing Program Committee Majid bin Abdullah Al Hogail during his recent visit to Beijing, China.

The deal is part of NHC's endeavour to contribute to achieving the objectives of the Housing Program, envisaged in the Kingdom's Vision 2030, through partnerships with leading international companies, attracting international investments in the real estate sector, it added.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 12. Uzbekistans foreign trade turnover volume with Central Asian countries amounted to $1.4 billion from January through March 2024, Trend reports.

The data from Uzbekistans Statistics Agency shows that this figure is 17.6 percent lower year-on-year ($1.7 billion in JanuaryMarch 2023).

In the structure of trade turnover, exports to Central Asian countries reached $528.9 million from January through March 2024, which is 19.5 percent less compared to the same period last year ($657.4 million in JanuaryMarch 2023).

At the same time, imports from Central Asian countries amounted to $954.9 million. This indicator shows a 13.1 percent decrease year-on-year ($1.1 billion in JanuaryMarch 2023).

Uzbekistan traded the most with Kazakhstan among Central Asian countries during this period$937.7 million. Turkmenistan ($235.2 million) ranks second, followed by Kygyzstan ($158.2 million) and Tajikistan ($152.5 million).

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan's trade turnover volume amounted to $15.8 billion from January through March 2024. This is 6.2 percent more year-on-year ($14.8 billion in JanuaryMarch 2023).

The country's exports reached $6.3 billion from January through March 2024, while imports amounted to $9.4 billion.

The largest trade turnover volume was recorded with China ($3 billion) during this period. Russia ranks second with a total trade turnover volume of $2.8 billion, followed by Kazakhstan ($937.7 million).
Wheat futures have rallied over $1 per bushel in the last month, a nearly 20% increase in total contract value.

Depressed prices from December through March left room for a positive bounce should something bullish begin to percolate.

Drought-stricken wheat country in the western plains was a big reason for the rally early on, but there have been rains in some key spots over the last three weeks. The rains were not all encompassing, but enough to put a lid on a rally based on domestic weather, which seemed to be the case.

However, fresh weather news from outside the U.S. rejuvenated the bulls and the July KC wheat futures made new nearby highs on Monday trading to $6.79 per bushel, a price level not seen since early December of last year.

This week it was reported that two of Russia's key grain-growing areas experienced frosts causing severe damage to crops that would reduce this year's harvest.

The Lipetsk and neighboring Voronezh areas are part of Russias fertile Black Earth region producing potatoes, sunflowers, sugar beets, fruit and, of course, wheat.

The Voronezh ministry said the damage stemmed from frosts on the nights of May 3-4 and May 4-5, when the air temperature had fallen to -4.6 degrees Celsius (23.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and the soil temperature to -5 C (23 F).

Several analysts had already reduced their forecasts for the 2024 grain harvest because of dry weather in the south, and the frost impact is still uncertain but will undoubtedly lead to forecasts of further reduced harvest potential.

Wheat is famous for having nine lives and the question traders will be asking themselves over the weekend is: Are we closer to number three or number six?

Have a comment or question? Please reach out to derrick.hermesch@pinionglobal.com or call at 785-338-9605.
Journeyman Distillery plans to soon launch its Sea of Monsters craft brewery at its new American Factory campus in Valparaiso and hired an award-winning brewer to run the operation.

The distillery, which Valpo native Bill Welter and his wife Johanna Welter founded in Three Oaks in Southwest Michigan in 2010, has been adding onto its recently opened $40 million campus in the former Anco windshield wiper factory in Valparaiso, which includes a distillery, tasting room, wedding venues and the Union Hall restaurant. It plans to launch Sea of Monsters craft brewery this summer.

Journeyman Distillery at 258 S Campbell St in Valparaiso hired Greg Winget to craft the debut line of craft beers that will feature "hyper-local ingredients and whiskey inspiration."

Journeyman, which won ASCOTs Whiskey of the Year award-winner in 2022 and 2023, hired Wignet, a former journalist and copywriter who became a craft brewer and has amassed a decade of experience.

He earned a craft brewing certificate from Wake Technical College in North Carolina after getting his start in the business on the beer sales and distribution end. He worked at Big Boss Brewing and Fortnight Brewing Company before becoming brewery director at Wye Hill Brewing.

He crafted more than 100 beers and won many awards, including Gold Medals at the North Carolina Brewers Cup and the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

He will helm Sea of Monsters, which will have a standalone beer bar in the American Factory campus. The brewery's 10-barrel system, which was made in Wisconsin, will be visible at the bar and in the Union Hall Restaurant so guests can watch the beer being brewed.

The brewery's name was inspired by early maritime explorers and mythic creatures from the deep. Its slogan is "Face Your Fears."

Sea of Monsters will make IPAs, stouts, porters and barrel-aged beers that will be steeped in Journeyman's whiskey barrels and use similar mash builds as its whiskies. The new craft brewery also will make its own versions of beer styles from across the globe and resurrect ancient recipes.

Its craft beer will exclusively be served on the premises, at least initially.

For more information, visit www.journeyman.com or find the business on Facebook or Instagram.
The Breakfast Club reaches nearly six million people every month on the radio. Then theres the YouTube channel, the podcast and the clips from interviews on the show that regularly go viral. While the show often hosts rappers and other celebrities on its four-hour chat-fest, it has also become an important stop for politicians who want to reach Charlamagnes largely Black audience. Even if youre not a regular listener, you probably know about some of the more memorable episodes, like when Hillary Clinton went on The Breakfast Club during the 2016 presidential campaign and said she carried hot sauce around in her bag. Or in 2020, when Joe Biden, then a candidate, told Charlamagnes listeners, If you have a problem figuring out whether youre for me or Trump, then you aint Black.

Biden got a fair amount of blowback for that comment, but Charlamagne endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket anyway. Now, four years later, things have changed for the host, and perhaps for some of his listeners. Polling shows declining support for the Democratic Party among Black men. And this time around Charlamagne has said he wont endorse anyone and has been outspoken in his criticism of Biden and the Democrats, leading to questions about where he stands politically and what he wants to do with his significant platform. (Also inspiring those questions: His recent friendly interview with the right-wing personality Candace Owens.)
The video captures a disturbing sequence: A woman can be seen walking along a sidewalk in the Bronx on an early May morning, when a man, his face covered, approaches from behind. He throws a looped belt around the womans neck and yanks her to the ground. She loses consciousness. He drags her in between two parked cars.

Then, police said, he sexually assaulted her.

The scenes captured on the video sowed fear among many residents of the South Bronx. On Saturday, the police said they had arrested a man  Kashaan Parks, 39, also of the Bronx  in connection with the assault.

Mr. Parks faces several charges, including rape, assault, strangulation, sex abuse and harassment. The police said Mr. Parks had been arrested two other times: Once in 2018 for domestic assault, and in 2013 for theft of service in the transit system. It was not immediately clear if there was any connection between Mr. Parks and the woman.

The incident took place around 5 a.m. on May 1 near the intersection of East 152nd Street and Third Avenue. The woman, who was not named, went to Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx after the attack. She did not report the assault to the authorities, Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives for the Police Department, told reporters at a briefing on Friday.
Mayor Eric Adams, who talks often about his faith, acknowledged on Saturday that he had felt some uncertainty  if not anxiety  about meeting Pope Francis.

But at the Vatican, as Mr. Adams stooped before the pope, he felt any disquiet he had wash away. Pope Francis placed his hand on the mayors right arm. Then, the two shook hands.

I think that some people have a level of aura and energy and the ability to just calm people, said Mr. Adams, who is Christian but not Catholic. I think thats what he possessed. In my prayers, I thank God for having the opportunity this morning.

The meeting came on the second day of a three-day trip to Italy for Mr. Adams, who said he is trying to better understand the global conflicts that touch New York. The visit came as the mayor, who is up for re-election next year, faces difficulties in New York City, including lagging poll numbers and a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising.
A version of this article appears in print on, Section A , Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Quote of the Day
At the University of California, Berkeley, hundreds of soon-to-be graduates rose from their seats in protest, chanting and disrupting their commencement. At Virginia Commonwealth University, about 60 graduates in caps and gowns walked out during Gov. Glenn Youngkins speech. At the University of Wisconsin, a handful of graduates stood with their backs to their chancellor as she spoke.

After weeks of tumult on college campuses over pro-Palestinian protests, many administrators prepared themselves for disruptions at graduations on Saturday. And while there were demonstrations  most noisily, perhaps, at U.C. Berkeley  ceremonies at several universities unfolded without major incident. Many students who protested did so silently.

Anticipating possible disruptions, university administrators had increased their security or taken various measures, including dismantling encampments, setting aside free speech zones, canceling student speeches and issuing admission tickets.

Some administrators also tried to reach agreements with encampment organizers. The University of Wisconsin said it had reached a deal with protesters to clear the encampment in return for a meeting to discuss the universitys investments.
After a long and often tense week in his criminal trial in Manhattan, former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday took part in a time-honored ritual enjoyed by countless New Yorkers in need of a break: He went to the shore.

Sandwiched between the boardwalk and the Atlantic Ocean, Mr. Trump stood in front of tens of thousands of people at a rally on the beach in Wildwood, N.J., where he largely repeated the same criticisms of President Biden that have characterized his stump speech in recent months.

Fresh from court, Mr. Trump insisted that his case in Manhattan, on charges that he falsified business records related to a hush-money payment, was a Biden show trial, even though there is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Biden has been involved in the case.

Mr. Trump railed against pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, vowed to crack down on immigration and repeated his false claims that Democrats stole the 2020 election from him.
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.
On the eve of a marquee week of modern and contemporary art auctions that begin Monday night, Guillaume Cerutti, the chief executive of Christies, confirmed that all the companys live auctions would proceed as scheduled, with bidding in person and by phone, despite a hack that has sidelined its official website since last Thursday. The hack is testing the loyalty of its ultrawealthy clients amid its spring auctions, with sales that account for nearly half of Christies annual revenue.

On Sunday evening, in his first public statement since the cyberattack, Cerutti wrote in an email, We are looking forward to welcoming you to our exhibitions and to registering you to participate in these auctions. Neither Cerutti nor a spokeswoman for the auction house responded to questions of how the online portion of the auction would continue.

On Thursday, Christies experienced what it called a technology security issue that took its company website offline, leaving in place an apology and the promise to provide further updates to our clients as appropriate. By Sunday, the site was still down.

It was the second time in less than a year that Christies had suffered a breach. In August, a German cybersecurity company revealed a data breach at the auction house that leaked the locations of artworks held by some of the worlds wealthiest collectors.
Estimates are still soaring past the $20 million mark and canvases still bear the signatures of dependable ringers like Warhol, Basquiat and Picasso. But there is a shadow looming over the spring auction season that begins Monday.

A cyberattack at Christies brought down the companys website on Thursday, and as of Sunday morning, Christies had not yet regained control of it. On Sunday evening, in his first public statement since the cyberattack, Guillaume Cerutti, the chief executive of Christies, confirmed that eight auctions would proceed as scheduled, with bidding in person and by phone (the rare watches sale has been postponed until May 14). A place-holder website was set up allowing access to the digital catalogs, but did not allow online bidding. With the site down and questions still unanswered about the fate of confidential data, analysts are uncertain about the impact on buyers and sellers.

Over the next week, more than 1,700 works of modern and contemporary art are expected to be offered at the three major houses  Sothebys, Christies and Phillips  with an estimate of $1.2 billion to $1.8 billion.
Recent advances in genetic engineering have allowed researchers to tweak the genes of the animal organs to make them more compatible with their recipients.

The pig kidney that was transplanted into Mr. Slayman was engineered by eGenesis, a biotech company based in Cambridge, Mass. Scientists there removed three genes and added seven others to improve compatibility. The company also inactivated retroviruses that pigs carry and could be harmful to humans.

Mr. Slayman was a true pioneer, eGenesis said in a statement on social media on Saturday. His courage has helped to forge a path forward for current and future patients suffering from kidney failure.

Mr. Slayman was discharged from the hospital two weeks after his surgery, with one of the cleanest bills of health Ive had in a long time, he said at the time.

In a statement published by the hospital, Mr. Slaymans family said he was kind, quick-witted and fiercely dedicated to his family, friends and co-workers. They said they had taken great comfort in knowing that his case had inspired so many people.

Millions of people worldwide have come to know Ricks story, they said in the statement. We felt  and still feel  comforted by the optimism he provided patients desperately waiting for a transplant.
Theres nothing normal about making a Mad Max movie, and Anya Taylor-Joy knew that when she signed on to star in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the newest film in George Millers long-running action series.

I wanted to be changed, she said. I wanted to be put in a situation in extremis where I would have no choice but to grow. And I got it.

Trials by fire dont burn much hotter than the conflagration that consumed Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), the most recent film in the franchise, which was one of the most infamously difficult productions in Hollywood history. In the works for nearly two decades, the movie was shut down several times by studio executives, who feared they were producing a big-budget boondoggle. And the constant clashes between Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, two of its stars, in the remote Namibian desert required outside intervention.

Despite all of those headwinds, Fury Road was hailed upon its release as one of the greatest action films ever made; it would go on to win six Oscars and net a spot on many critics best-of-the-decade lists. Its success paved the way for the prequel Furiosa, in theaters May 24, which casts the 28-year-old Taylor-Joy as a younger version of Therons iconic warrior woman.
It didnt take long for Mayor Eric Adams of New York to articulate what he liked about a welcome center for migrants and asylum seekers that he visited on Sunday in Rocca di Papa, a town about 15 miles outside Rome.

In two months theyre going from migrant to participating in society, Mr. Adams said after a 30-minute tour of the center, where migrants from countries including Syria and Sudan are processed, take Italian lessons and receive health care before being sent out for job opportunities.

The mayor, who has called on the federal government to expedite work permits and relocation assistance for migrants, repeated that appeal after visiting the center, which is run by the Red Cross and receives funding from the Italian government. He said he wanted help from the Biden administration to develop something similar in New York, where more than 190,000 migrants have arrived over the last two years.

Mr. Adamss visit came on the last day of a three-day trip to Rome, where he met Pope Francis at the Vatican and spoke at an international conference on peace. The trip was a brief respite from varied troubles at home  protests over the Israel-Hamas war, a federal investigation into his campaigns fund-raising, lagging poll numbers and possible challengers in next years primary  and Mr. Adams said it had inspired him and given him ideas that he would use in New York.
It had been a busy Thursday for Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

He was in Washington presiding over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as it heard testimony about the need for sustained aid to Ukraine, and then preparing to travel to Philadelphia with his wife, Nadine Menendez, to accept an award from an Armenian-American organization.

Back at home, the F.B.I. was watching.

An agent, conducting surveillance near the couples modest, split-level house in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., snapped a photo of a Mercedes-Benz convertible parked out front, a court filing shows. Several weeks later, investigators searching the home would find 13 bars of gold bullion and more than $480,000 in cash, much of it stashed in coat jackets, boots and a safe.

On Monday, almost two years to the day after that agent was watching the senators house, Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, is to go on trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, charged with taking part in an elaborate, yearslong bribery scheme.

It will be his second corruption trial in seven years, but unlike the first, which ended in a hung jury, there is a volatile and surprising new element: charges against Mr. Menendezs wife.
Lee McColgans career in finance was probably doomed as soon as he started visiting historic house museums. The first one he toured was the Fairbanks House, in Dedham, Mass., the oldest surviving timber-frame home in America, built in 1637.

It was 2014, and Mr. McColgan was living in Omaha, where he worked as a sales representative for a large investment company. Despite a rural childhood in Vermont and an interest in visual arts and building, he had spent much of his adulthood working in a cubicle: five years of jacking in at a call center outside Boston, followed by several more as a Midwestern external wholesaler pitching mutual funds to financial advisers.
Minutes after it became clear that Javier Milei had been elected president of South Americas second-largest nation in November, Elon Musk posted on X: Prosperity is ahead for Argentina.

Since then, Mr. Musk has continued to use X, the social network he owns, to boost Mr. Milei. The billionaire has shared videos of the Argentine president attacking social justice with his 182 million followers. One doctored image, which implied that watching a speech by Mr. Milei was better than having sex, is among Mr. Musks most viewed posts ever.

Mr. Musk has helped turn the pugnacious libertarian into one of the new faces of the modern right. But offline, he has used the relationship to press for benefits to his other businesses, the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.

Elon Musk called me, Mr. Milei said in a television interview weeks after taking office. He is extremely interested in the lithium.
Jerry Seinfeld knows his way around handling awkward moments onstage. Even so, the initial reception he faced at Duke Universitys commencement on Sunday reflected a more complicated audience than usual.

As Mr. Seinfeld, who has recently been vocal about his support for Israel, received an honorary degree, dozens of students walked out and chanted, Free, free Palestine, while the comedian looked on and smiled tensely.

Many in the crowd jeered the protesters. Minutes later, as the last of the protesters were filing out, he approached the mic. His first words were: Thank you. Oh my God, what a beautiful day.

In his commencement speech, Mr. Seinfeld was mostly cautious, opting for a tight comedic script interspersed with life advice instead of a full-on response to the protests against his presence.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. A ceasefire will be imposed in the Gaza Strip after Palestine releases hostages held by Hamas, US President Joe Biden said during a speech at a campaign fundraiser in Washington state, Trend reports.

"If Hamas releases the hostages, there will be a ceasefire [in Gaza] tomorrow," he said. Biden said at the very beginning of his speech that he wanted to touch on the situation around Israel.

Later, the US President said that he did not want to continue talking about Israel and moved on to America's internal problems.
At Morehouse College in Atlanta, discontent over the Gaza war has played out relatively quietly, in classrooms and auditoriums rather than on campus lawns.

As President Biden prepares to give graduation remarks this month at Morehouse College in Atlanta, a prestigious historically Black institution, the White House is signaling anxiety about the potential for protests over the war in Gaza.

During a recent visit to Atlanta, Vice President Kamala Harris stopped to ask the Morehouse student government president about the sentiment on campus about the conflict, how students felt about Mr. Bidens visit and what the graduating class would like to hear from him on May 19.

Then, on Friday, the White House dispatched the leader of its public engagement office and one of its most senior Black officials, Stephen K. Benjamin, to the Morehouse campus for meetings to take the temperature of students, faculty members and administrators.

The reasons for concern are clear: Nationwide demonstrations over the war and Mr. Bidens approach to it have inflamed more than 60 colleges and universities, stoked tensions within the Democratic Party and created new headaches for his re-election bid.

Yet Mr. Biden appears to be entering a different type of scene at Morehouse.

While anger over the war remains palpable at Morehouse and other historically Black colleges and universities, these campuses have been largely free of turmoil, and tensions are far less evident: no encampments, few loud protests and little sign of Palestinian flags flying from dorm windows.

The reasons stem from political, cultural and socioeconomic differences with other institutions of higher learning. While H.B.C.U.s host a range of political views, domestic concerns tend to outweigh foreign policy in the minds of most students. Many started lower on the economic ladder and are more intently focused on their education and their job prospects after graduation.

At Morehouse  which has a legacy of civil rights protests and is the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s alma mater  discontent over the Gaza war has played out in classrooms and auditoriums rather than on campus lawns.

This should not be a place that cancels people regardless of if we agree with them, David Thomas, the Morehouse president, said in an interview on Thursday. Of Mr. Bidens visit, he said, Whether people support the decision or not, they are committed to having it happen on our campus in a way that doesnt undermine the integrity or dignity of the school.

Image A mural on the Morehouse campus showing current and past college presidents. Commencement at the school tends to be a solemn affair. Credit... Christian Monterrosa for The New York Times

Some students have held contentious meetings with university leaders and urged them to rescind Mr. Bidens invitation, and a small group of faculty members has vowed not to attend commencement. Some alumni wrote a letter expressing worries that student protesters could be punished, noting Morehouses history of celebrating student activists long after they have graduated.

But the college might appear politically safer for the president to visit than many others. Morehouse is a custom-bound place where undergraduates traditionally do not step on the grass in the heart of campus until they receive their degrees. Alumni view commencement as a distinguished event not only for students but also for scores of family and community members  making it a less likely venue for a major disruption.

Mr. Biden chose to speak at Morehouse after the White House had received invitations from an array of colleges. It will be the third time in four years he has addressed graduates of a historically Black institution; he has also spoken at commencement for one military academy each year.

Among those lobbying Mr. Biden to come to Morehouse was Cedric Richmond, a member of the colleges class of 1995, who ran Mr. Bidens public engagement office and is now a senior adviser at the Democratic National Committee.

Mr. Richmond, who has a nephew at Morehouse, predicted Mr. Biden would speak about the high expectations of the colleges alumni, promote his record of reducing Black unemployment and narrowing the racial wealth gap, and deliver familiar exhortations about perseverance.

Mr. Richmond does not think Mr. Biden will face protests.

The Morehouse College graduation, at least as I remember it, is a very solemn event, he said. You have almost 500 African American males walking across that stage, whose parents and grandparents sacrificed and those students worked their butts off to, one, get into Morehouse, and two, to graduate. Thats a very significant day. And Im just not sure whether students or protesters are going to interfere with that solemn moment.

Vice President Harris, who graduated from Howard University, another historically Black institution, is engaged in her own virtual tour of such colleges. A congratulatory video she recorded will be played for graduates at 44 H.B.C.U.s; she is often introduced as a surprise guest and greeted with cheers.

In Atlanta last month, Ms. Harris asked the Morehouse student government president, Mekhi Perrin, what approach Mr. Biden should take in his address.

I think really she was just trying to gain an idea of what exactly students issues were with his coming, if any at all, Mr. Perrin said. And what would kind of shift that narrative.

Mr. Biden has been trailed by Gaza protesters for months. The last time he spoke at a four-year college campus was in January, when demonstrators interrupted him at least 10 times during a rally at George Mason University in Virginia.

Morehouses traditions are strong. Dr. King said it was a place where he had advanced his understanding of nonviolent protest and moral leadership  which current Morehouse students say they take seriously.

I feel like the protests do need to come out, because if you dont see students advocating for what they believe in, then the change that theyre advocating for will never come about, said Benjamin Bayliss, a Morehouse junior. Looking toward the statue of Dr. King in front of the chapel named for the civil rights leader, he added, You really feel the weight of what King did and the fire of the torch that he lit that we have to carry on.

Image Students at Morehouse, like Benjamin Bayliss, are called men of Morehouse before becoming Morehouse men when they receive their degrees. Credit... Christian Monterrosa for The New York Times

Yet even as some students feel compelled to protest, outside factors can shape their decisions. Roughly 75 percent of students at H.B.C.U.s, including 50 percent of Morehouse students, are eligible for the Pell Grant, a federal aid program for low-income students. More than 80 percent of Morehouse students receive some form of financial aid. In the Class of 2024, nearly a third of graduates will be the first in their family to receive a bachelors degree.

Some students at Black colleges also may decide against protesting because of family pressure, which amplifies the importance of securing their degrees.

Your student body at Columbia is very different than the student body at, say, Dillard, said Walter Kimbrough, who spent a decade as president of Dillard University, a historically Black institution in New Orleans. It doesnt mean that people arent concerned. But they understand that they have some different kinds of stakes.

The stakes are also high for Mr. Biden, whose standing with Black voters has softened ahead of Novembers presidential election. Young people are less enthusiastic about voting at all  partly because of Mr. Bidens handling of the Gaza war, but also because they are unhappy with the choice between him and former President Donald J. Trump.

I think its really just picking the lesser of two evils, said Freddrell Rhea Green II, a Morehouse freshman. Anything better than Donald Trump, a madman, a quote unquote tyrant, is better for me.

Joe Biden is probably a very nice person, said Samuel Livingston, an associate professor of Africana studies at Morehouse. But niceness is not the level of leadership that we need. We need ethical leadership. And continuing to support the aiding, abetting and the stripping of Palestinian land, from Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is not ethical.

Some students, like Auzzy Byrdsell, a senior studying kinesiology and journalism, support their classmates protests but fear a possible response from the police to a crowd of largely Black young men.

Image Auzzy Byrdsell in his office at The Maroon Tiger, Morehouses student-led news organization. Credit... Christian Monterrosa for The New York Times

Do we get tear-gassed? said Mr. Byrdsell, the editor in chief of The Maroon Tiger, the schools student newspaper. Do we get arrested? That would not be the greatest look for a Morehouse College graduation.

Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, a 1991 Morehouse alumnus, said that he hoped Mr. Biden would highlight his record and his agenda  but that there was little the president could say about the Gaza conflict to assuage his critics on campus.

While what he says is important, Mr. Warnock said, trying to put himself in the shoes of student protesters, I think much more important is what he does in the future.

Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Jim Justice, the businessman-turned-politician governor of West Virginia, has been pursued in court for years by banks, governments, business partners and former employees for millions of dollars in unmet obligations.

And for a long time, Mr. Justice and his familys companies have managed to stave off one threat after another with wily legal tactics notably at odds with the aw-shucks persona that has endeared him to so many West Virginians. On Tuesday, he is heavily favored to win the Republican Senate primary and cruise to victory in the general election, especially after the departure of the Democratic incumbent, Joe Manchin III.

But now, as he wraps up his second term as governor and campaigns for a seat in the U.S. Senate, things are looking dicier. Much like Donald J. Trump, with whom he is often compared  with whom he often compares himself  Mr. Justice has faced a barrage of costly judgments and legal setbacks.

And this time, there may be too many, some suspect, for Mr. Justice, 73, and his family to fend them all off.
He is running for the Senate as an immigrant who made good, reaching out to Ohio voters with a stirring, only-in-America bootstraps story: arriving as a child from Colombia, taking a risk on a struggling business, and then turning it into a smashing success and himself into a millionaire 100 times over.

Running under the banner of Donald J. Trumps populist political movement, Bernie Moreno, the Republican challenging Senator Sherrod Brown, humbly calls himself a car guy from Cleveland and recounts the modest circumstances of his childhood, when his immigrant family started over from scratch in the United States.

We came here with absolutely nothing  we came here legally  but we came here, nine of us in a two-bedroom apartment, Mr. Moreno said in 2023, in what became his signature pitch. His father had to leave everything behind, he has said, remembering what he called his familys lower-middle-class status.

But there is much more that Mr. Moreno does not say about his background, his upbringing and his very powerful present-day ties in the country where he was born.
Senator J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican who is a contender to be former President Donald J. Trumps running mate, hedged on Sunday when he was asked whether he would accept the results of the November election.

If we have a free and fair election, I will accept the results, Mr. Vance told CNNs Dana Bash during an appearance on the show State of the Union.

Mr. Vance, 39, whom the Trump campaign has enlisted as a surrogate, signaled that Republicans were preparing for the prospect of election disputes.

We have to be willing, as Democrats did in 2000, as Democrats have done in the past, and certainly as Republicans did in 2020, is if you think they were problems, you have to be willing to pursue those problems and try to prosecute your case, he said.
Russia blazes into Ukraines north

In the past three days, Russian troops have poured across Ukraines northeastern border. They have taken more square miles per day than at almost any other point in the war  save the very beginning  and are moving near Kharkiv.

Russian forces launched a complex offensive on Friday. At least nine villages were seized. Now, some Ukrainian troops are retreating, and some commanders have taken the unusual step of blaming each other.

Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraines top military commander, conceded that the situation had significantly worsened. But he said that Russian attempts to break through Ukrainian defensive lines had been unsuccessful so far.

Thousands fled to Kharkiv, the nearest big city to the villages. About 20 miles from the border, it is safe  for the moment. We could hear machine gun fire coming closer and closer, one recently arrived woman said. The Russians were about to break in.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia replaced his minister of defense on Sunday with an economist, shaking up his national security team for the first time since his invasion of Ukraine and signaling his determination to put Russias war effort on an economically sustainable footing.

Mr. Putin kept the minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, in his inner circle, tapping him to run the countrys security council  a position giving Mr. Shoigu close access to the president but little direct authority. Mr. Shoigu will replace Nikolai P. Patrushev, a former K.G.B. colleague of Mr. Putin, who the Kremlin said would be moved to another position to be announced in the coming days.

Andrei R. Belousov, an economist who had served as first deputy prime minister since 2020 and long been seen as one of Mr. Putins most trusted economic advisers, was nominated to become the new defense chief.

The Kremlin said Russias ballooning defense budget warranted putting an economist in charge, and that Mr. Belousov would help make the Russian military more open to innovation.
Spains governing Socialist party emerged on Sunday as the winner of regional elections in Catalonia that had been widely seen as a litmus test for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs polarizing amnesty measure for separatists.

The Socialists are celebrating what they claim is a momentous victory, though they did not clinch enough seats to govern on their own. They most likely face weeks of bargaining, and possibly a repeat election if no agreement is reached. But for the first time in over a decade, they may be able to form a regional government led by an anti-independence party.

Addressing supporters late Sunday night at Socialist headquarters in Barcelona, the partys Catalan leader, Salvador Illa, declared: For the first time in 45 years, we have won the elections in Catalonia, in terms of both seats and votes. The Catalans have decided to open a new era.

Still, Mr. Illa, who has promised improvements in social services, education and drought management, will need 68 of the Catalan Parliaments 135 seats to form a government. On Sunday, his party got only 42, meaning he will have to seek support from the pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Catalan Republican Left) and the left-wing Comuns.
The 700-foot Liberian-flagged ship slowly sailed out of the Ukrainian port of Odesa, past rows of yellow cranes and into the still waters of the Black Sea. Its hull was almost completely submerged, weighed down with corn bound for Bangladesh. Offshore, more grain-laden freighters had already left the port, passing vessels about to enter.

It was mid-March in Odesa, and what seemed unimaginable just last summer, when a Russian naval blockade paralyzed all commercial activity, was now a reality. The port was back to its usual hustle and bustle, the result of a military campaign that pushed Russian warships out of Ukrainian waters and secured a shipping route to markets abroad.

The operation has been so successful that Ukraines seaborne grain and oilseed exports  an economic lifeline for the war-torn nation  are now approaching prewar levels, according to data shared with The New York Times.
After Hamas attacked Israel in October, igniting the war in Gaza, Israeli leaders described the groups most senior official in the territory, Yahya Sinwar, as a dead man walking. Considering him an architect of the raid, Israel has portrayed Mr. Sinwars assassination as a major goal of its devastating counterattack.

Seven months later, Mr. Sinwars survival is emblematic of the failures of Israels war, which has ravaged much of Gaza but left Hamass top leadership largely intact and failed to free most of the captives taken during the October attack.

Even as Israeli officials seek his killing, they have been forced to negotiate with him, albeit indirectly, to free the remaining hostages. Mr. Sinwar has emerged not only as a strong-willed commander but as a shrewd negotiator who has staved off an Israeli battlefield victory while engaging Israeli envoys at the negotiating table, according to officials from Hamas, Israel and the United States. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence assessments of Mr. Sinwar and diplomatic negotiations.

While the talks are mediated in Egypt and Qatar, it is Mr. Sinwar  believed to be hiding in a tunnel network beneath Gaza  whose consent is required by Hamass negotiators before they agree to any concessions, according to some of those officials.
A MAN who said he didn't know he was disqualified from driving when he was stopped by Garda Fitzpatrick on April 6 this year, appeared at last week's Tullamore District Court.

In his evidence to the court Sergeant Richard Thornton said that the accused, Marius Cornel Micu (32), with an address at Caravan 942, St Brigid's Place, Edenderry, was driving a black BMW Serrano on April 6, 2024 on the Dublin Road, Edenderry.

He was disqualified at the time and was arrested and taken to Tullamore Garda Station. Sergeant Thornton said the defendant had been disqualified for two years on January 19, 2023 for an offence that happened on April 27, 2021.

Solicitor Patrick Martin said Mr Micu didn't turn up in court in 2023 which was when he had received the disqualification and that was why he didn't know about it.

He has been in Ireland for four years and works in a chicken factory earning 400 per week and pays rent of 800 per month. He has one child. Mr Martin added that had Mr Micu turned up in court in 2023 he may not have been disqualified.

Judge Andrews asked Mr Martin if he was asking her to accept that Mr Micu didn't know he had been disqualified.

Mr Martin said the accused hadn't really been driving that much and was relying on a friend who wasn't available on that particular date.

Judge Andrews fined Mr Micu 500 for driving while disqualified and took the other matters into consideration.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. The US administration warns Israel against a full-scale operation in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, Trend reports.

"The US President has made it clear that we will not support a major military operation in Rafah", Blinken said.

He also noted that Israel does not have a credible plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah.
The non-binary Bambie Thug from Ireland once again impressed the audience with their performance of the Eurovision Song Contest track Doomsday Blue in the Eurovision 2024 final - fans have already called this performance one of the best in the history of the contest. The spectacular performance, which is literally an exorcism on stage, was definitely memorable for the audience, but Bambie Thug found a way to surprise people even more and performed a gentle version of their song.

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The track Doomsday Blue (Intimate) was posted on the Eurovision YouTube channel. Bambie Thug also performed this version during The Late Late Show.

If we compare this performance of the song with what the non-binary representative of Ireland demonstrated in the semifinals and the final, the difference is simply dramatic. In Intimate's version, there is not a single hint of the demon, which was equally criticized and praised by the audience, but it also does not leave the listeners indifferent.

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It is worth reminding that Bambie Thug uses the pronouns "they" (they/them), becoming the first non-binary artist to represent Ireland at a song contest. They do not identify themselves as either male or female.

The competition track Doomsday Blue is an ensemble of different genres. Bambie Thug appear on stage in a witch's costume: a dark outfit with a corset and a fluffy skirt.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that among the brightest European contestants of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, there are 8 representatives of the LGBTQ+ community.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Don't fall for fakes!

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A huge, super-fast robot arm that is almost impossible to destroy looks like a menacing prop from a science fiction movie. But it is quite real and is already being used to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence robots.

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The limb is quite heavy - 4.1 kg, and about 50% larger than a human limb, writes Mail Online. Developed by the British company Shadow Robot Company, this three-fingered claw can go from fully open to closed in just 500 milliseconds.

The robot's arm is strong enough to withstand the impact of hammers or pistons. This strength should help the arm survive the rigorous and often destructive process of teaching AI to interact with the world.

The arm was developed over four years in collaboration with Google Deepmind. Shadow Robot Company CEO Rich Walker says the bulky design is a necessary solution.

While robots on factory floors are capable of performing simple routine actions such as moving sheets of metal from one place to another, the real world requires more complex movements.

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To enable robots to perform more complex tasks or act autonomously, they need artificial intelligence to control their motors. But the learning process can be particularly expensive and disruptive for the robots themselves.

"If you've ever watched a child learn, you know that at the beginning of the process, they move randomly before they start to connect their actions to what they see in front of them," says Mr. Walker.

When you put AI under the control of a robot, the process is very similar, with the only difference being that robots lack the resilience of humans. To learn a task as simple as picking up objects, AI needs to make thousands of repetitive attempts through trial and error.

However, the early stages of the learning process are often so unstable that robots often dislodge themselves.

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"What you and I call touching something, people in the robotics community call a collision," Walker explained.

To avoid the robots simply breaking into pieces during training, Shadow Robot Company had to make its arm extremely strong.

The company uses a combination of larger, more resilient parts and motor control to allow the fingers to move in collisions and avoid damage. Each finger is also a modular component, so it can be quickly replaced in case of damage.

However, to be useful in machine learning development, the hand also needs to be sensitive. Under the surface of each finger, there are hundreds of tiny cameras that focus on the inside of the skin.

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When the hand grasps something, the cameras detect how the skin deforms and can determine how hard or soft the object might be.

Mr. Walker says the arm is currently in the production stage, so there is no current confirmed price yet.

"This robot is not going to be cheap, but it's not going to be as expensive as the ones we've made in the past," he said.

Walker explains that the reason is that the arm is designed to be replaceable and easily repairable.

Although the limb was developed for DeepMind, Mr. Walker says it will also be sold to other companies and research institutions.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!

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Sunday is Mothers Day, and all sorts of celebrations are planned to honor moms. Among those getting in on the act are Oregon casinos, many of which are serving up special brunches and other Mothers Day-themed events. Here are some of the options.

Spirit Mountain Casino Event Center: Mothers Day brunch features prime rib, butter-poached lobster tails, ham, salmon, eggs Benedict, and more. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, May 12; adults, $68; ages 2-12, $45; 27100 S.W. Salmon River Hwy., Grand Ronde.

Chinook Winds Casino Resort: Mothers Day-Siletz Bay Buffet includes prime rib, Belgian waffles, chicken Cordon Bleu, shrimp and scallop linguini, ham-cheddar au gratin potatoes, salmon Florentine, roasted pork loin with apples and pears, and more. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, May 12; adults, $40; 1777 N.W. 44th St., Lincoln City.

The Mill Casino: Mothers Day brunch buffet includes prime rib, omelettes, salad bar, chicken saltimbocca, fried shrimp, salmon with white wine beurre blanc, blintz with lemon blueberry sauce, and more. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, May 12; adults, $48; 12 and under, $24; 3 and under, free; 3201 Tremont St., North Bend.

Three Rivers Casino Resort: The Bonfire restaurant at the Florence location features two Mothers Day specials, a smoked salmon tartine appetizer ($15) and cod Vera Cruz entree ($32). 4-9 p.m., Sunday, May 12. The Blue Bills menu features a Malibu Chicken Mothers Day special ($25), 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; 5647 Highway 126, Florence. The Coos Bay location features a Mothers Day brunch with Scotch eggs Benedict, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, May 12; $18; 1297 Ocean Blvd., Coos Bay.

Indian Head Casino: A $500 Mothers Day Slot Tournament features a ladies-only tournament with unlimited buy-ins for $15 each, and the first buy-in for free. 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, May 12; 3236 US-26, Warm Springs.
Tourism is the top industry in the southern Oregon coastal city of Bandon, but a century ago, maritime shipping was king. Bandon was the main port between San Francisco and Portland, and in aid of that enterprise, the Coquille River Lighthouse was erected in 1896 on a rocky edge of what is now Bullards Beach State Park. Until it was decommissioned in 1939, the stations beacon guided thousands of ships safely from the Pacific Ocean to the busy harbor.

On a recent cloudy afternoon, retired teacher and Bandon resident Rick Morris blinked hard while staring at the forlorn, 40-foot-tall octagonal tower, the citys most famous landmark. One of nine surviving, federally funded lighthouses in the state, the Coquille River Light station needs repairs but is not endangered as is the battered, privately owned Terrible Tilly Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, overrun by 2,000-pound Steller sea lions and on Lighthouse Digest Magazines national doomsday list.

Engineers say the Bandon lighthouse is structurally sound, but the roof leaks, causing damage. Due to safety concerns, the lantern tower and its spiral staircase and wrap-round balcony are closed to the public. (Tours of the lower level start May 15.) There have been some fixes like the reconstruction of the brick chimney as well as patching, crack repair and painting of the exterior stucco since Oregon Parks and Recreation leased the facility in 2007 from its owner, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

READ MORE: These Oregon lighthouses are historic places

One year, graffiti was erased from exterior walls. Over time, original features have been taken away. The lighthouse that mariners depended on to navigate a treacherous sand bar no longer has a forewarning foghorn or a brilliant beacon.

The idea of the lighthouse fading away, and of losing this part of Bandons history, worries Morris. The lone lighthouse is all that remains from a complex of buildings that included a light keepers residence.

A charming little lighthouse that has become an orphan, said Morris, pointing to the rusting stair railings, crumbling masonry and other deteriorating, missing or unsafe parts.

Morris, 76, calls the relic the lighthouse no one wanted. I feel very protective of this lighthouse, he said. A lot of people are upset about its conditions. I look at it and say, We can do better than this.

The cost for the engineer-recommended work on the lighthouse was estimated to be $900,000 in a 2021 report. Bullards Beach State Park Ranger Nick Schoeppner thinks present day costs would be closer to $1,575,000.

Schoeppner is hopeful, however, that a thorough rehabilitation that ensures the preservation of character-defining features while allowing new and continued use of the building, can be accomplished. It will just take years.

We were able to keep the updated condition assessment alive during the pandemics reduction in services and the next phase is prepping construction documents, detailing in blueprints the actual work to be performed, he said.

Funds for preparing the construction documents are on a list of projects being considered for the 2025-2027 Oregon State Parks budget. Schoeppner said the Bandon lighthouse is competing for funds with parks facing failing wastewater systems and landslides.

He said minor repairs like rain gutter seams and the handrail to the doorway can be accomplished piecemeal. A thorough restoration, however, will require a lot of coordination and some push for funding, he said.

For now, hed be happy to just get electricity and heat in the lighthouse. With power, the interior temperature could be stabilized against natures humidity and cold, protecting completed projects as well as future improvements. Approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could come after a six- to nine-month review process.

Schoeppner is also having conversations with members of the Coquille Indian Tribe, whose ancestors were part of the wide-ranging, thousands-years-long commerce along the estuary of the Coquille River before the U.S. government forcibly relocated them, along with other coastal Native people, to land that would become the Grand Ronde and Siletz Reservations.

Coquille leaders ceded approximately 700,000 acres of ancestral homelands in exchange for protection and benefits in a treaty that the U.S. Congress never ratified, according to Jim Proehl of the Bandon Historical Society Museum. Bridgett Wheeler, who is the acting CEO of the Coquille Tribe, said many Coquille women remained on their land.

Coquilles tribal historic preservation officer Sara E. Palmer said they have not requested any changes to the lighthouse or the park. We appreciate our ongoing relationship with Oregon State Parks staff and the care they have for this special place, she said.

Coquille River Lighthouse under construction Sept. 6, 1896.Bandon Historical Society Museum

Roger Straus, who first visited Bandon 25 years ago on his honeymoon, is also key to Schoeppners progress. Straus is president of the nonprofit preservation and education organization Coquille River Lighthouse Keepers Foundation. In the past, community and visitors donations to the foundation paid for lighthouse repairs such as installing double-pane windows. The Lighthouse Keepers can also apply for grants as they did to fund a project to seal the lighthouses lower level from rain and wind.

The lighthouse is not going to fall down tomorrow, but it needs a full restoration, Straus said. During his first tour of the lighthouse in the late 1990s, he was able to enter the tower watch room and cross a small rickety walkway. Now, the stairways are pulling out of the stucco wall.

Everyone who is alive here only knows of this land with the lighthouse, Straus said. You can see it from everywhere. Its a symbol of Bandon. Its a logical beacon. People want to see it restored.

Straus and others are waiting for Oregon State Parks to start a restoration project. And Schoeppner is pushing. We all want to see meaningful restoration. he said.

The Coquille River Light station is the youngest lighthouse in the state and a reliable survivor. The once functioning landmark established Bandon as a harbor town and served as a refuge while the community slowly recovered from the 1936 fire that destroyed the harbor and all but 16 of the 500 downtown buildings.

The jetty was hit by two schooners more than a century ago, and coastal storms continue to batter the building. And yet, Schoeppner points out the light from the lens was first illuminated on Feb. 29, 1896. That was Leap Day 128 years ago, Schoeppner said, then added, and if you divide the leap year baby by four, shes only 32.

Learn more

All of the Oregon coasts nine surviving lighthouse stations have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, and with some exceptions, visitors are welcomed. Read more: Oregons nine lighthouses, from north to south.

 Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman
For those heading to the river to escape the heat this weekend, Corbett Fire District Chief Rick Wunsch has this advice to offer: Dip in a toe or wade in if you wish, but hold off on swimming until the water gets warmer.

If you do feel you really need to swim, have a life jacket on and go slowly, Wunsch said of the popular Sandy River, which is around 50 degrees this weekend. It is a shock to your body and certainly very cold.
On Sunday, May 12, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the outskirts of the city of Sumy. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

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This was reported by the Sumy Regional Military Administration. They informed that all the necessary services are working at the place of arrival.

The consequences of the enemy's attack are being clarified.

"Do not ignore the air raid alerts, stay in shelters! Russian terrorists are disregarding international conventions, violating the rules of war, destroying civilian infrastructure and killing civilians. We will not forgive them!" the RMA said.

The air raid in Sumy region was announced at 15:03, the explosion occurred at 15:15, it was heard in different parts of the city, reports Suspilne.

At 15:17, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that a missile was flying through Sumy region.

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As reported by OBOZ.UA, on Saturday, May 11, explosions were also heard in Sumy during the alarm. A woman born in 1987 died as a result of the shelling.

According to the Sumy Regional Military Administration, over the past day, the enemy fired 21 times at the border areas and settlements of the region. A total of 93 explosions were recorded in Sumy region.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!

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Sharon Meieran

Meieran, a physician, represents District 1- West Portland and parts of inner East Portland - on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. Her second term in office ends in January 2025.

During Multnomah Countys official 90-day fentanyl emergency, one might have thought that the full force of our state and local government would finally have been brought to bear on the fentanyl crisis devastating our area. One would be wrong.

Instead, at their recent press conference, the governor, Multnomah County chair and Portlands mayor struggled to spin what they did over the past three months into something resembling success. The main successes seemed to boil down to:

Collaboration among different levels of government;

Creation of a data dashboard;

Expansion of a pilot program;

The temporary clearing of a few blocks of downtown Portland of open drug use; and

A new billboard campaign from Multnomah County.

Given the enormity of the crisis and the fanfare surrounding the emergency declaration, these results are an embarrassment.

Local and state coordination should be a given, not a goal; the pilot program - which paired officers with outreach workers - already existed and wasnt designed to track long-term outcomes; the open-air drug markets merely shifted a few blocks over; and advertising to people that recovery is possible' without providing adequate services is a cruel joke. Our state and local government cant even tell us how much money they spent shifting 70-plus jobs into their fentanyl response.

None of what was accomplished required the declaration of an emergency. But at least, we got a new dashboard for data that we should have been tracking long ago.

Meanwhile, overdose deaths continue to rise. It was bad enough that local government leaders declared a 90-day crisis without having a plan. But then they didnt even use that dedicated time to create one.

Here is a what a real plan would - and could still - look like:

Take the crisis out of the hands of politicians. Gov. Tina Kotek should appoint an addiction task force that includes experts from addiction treatment and recovery, law enforcement, social services and the community. We need a real regional command and control center with a professional director to channel resources and drive action.

Define meaningful deliverables and track real outcomes such as lives saved and people moved from the street into shelter or housing.

Target the impacts of addiction and mental illness on our streets with urgency. Expand dedicated recovery shelter because we do not have time to wait for permanent housing if we want to get people into treatment and save lives.

Organize our approach. Separate the county into five sectors and immediately launch strike teams of outreach workers for each sector to canvas block by block. Finally get serious about creating an accurate by-name list and database of needs for each person identified. Hand out Narcan along with 24-hour emergency contact cards so people know who to call for help.

Create hubs in each sector that include sanitation, laundry and other basic services, guidance, peer support and safe respite. Proactively identify additional resources needed in each sector - detox, treatment, shelter, housing - based on the count that gets done.

Strengthen emergency street response. Give first responders a 24-hour drop-off center so people who use drugs or alcohol can become sober in a monitored setting without endangering their own or the publics safety.

In addition to those aspects, we need the district attorney and attorney general to target the unfettered supply of cheap drugs by relentlessly pursuing dealers and working with federal agencies for upstream interdiction. We need to change our environment and recognize that streets overrun by garbage, graffiti and human waste threaten public health and safety. While the city has started addressing these needs, we should double down.

And we must inject control into chaos. In January, Portland city government will undergo massive upheaval with a transition to a new form of government. The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners will have at least three new members under a chair whose effectiveness Ive challenged numerous times. Coordination and structure are more crucial now than ever before, and the governor is the one who must put in place the mechanism through which we can drive action.

This plan stands in stark contrast to the useless stunt we just witnessed under the guise of a 90-day emergency. We must stop issuing vacuous press releases, holding meetings that lead nowhere, and wasting time and money on one-off programs when we need coordinated action now.

We can make this a city and county that actually reflect the values of the people who live here. Government has the money, the people have the will - all we lack right now is leadership and an actual plan to make it happen.

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The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board sent candidates for the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners a questionnaire asking their stances on several issues facing the county. Below are the responses from District 1 candidates to a question about homelessness. To read the responses from candidates in Districts 2, 3 and 4 go to oregonlive.com/opinion.

-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board

Question: Give your assessment of the job that Multnomah County has done in addressing homelessness. What, if anything, is missing or needs greater attention for the county to more effectively reduce homelessness?

District 1 - West Portland and parts of inner East Portland

Kevin Fitts, executive director of the Mental Health Consumers Association:

Multnomah County has worked hard to address homelessness, but there are areas that require improvement. The county has faced challenges in effectively coordinating and implementing strategies due to tensions between the mayors office and the county chairs office, hindering the Joint Office of Homeless Services ability to operate effectively. Strong county services are essential, but long-term solutions require community-based natural supports facilitated by government partnerships. Also, leadership stability has been missing, with the crucial position of the county Behavioral Health Director being filled by interim appointments for over three years. Additionally, the county has struggled to track and spend funds in a timely manner to address the crisis.

For better results, Multnomah County needs greater focus on:

improving collaboration between the mayors office, the county chairs office, and other relevant agencies;

appointing a permanent county Behavioral Health Director to provide stable leadership ASAP;

prioritizing the development of the Behavioral Health Emergency Crisis Network and a sobering center;

fostering trust, open communication and shared responsibility among elected officials and bureaucrats;

supporting the development of natural relationships and informal support networks beyond county services;

demanding better accountability for taxpayer funds and ensuring proper contracting and stewarding of those funds.

Chris Henry, linehaul driver from 2004-2023:

As a candidate for Multnomah County Commissioner, I am deeply committed to tackling the critical issues impacting our communitys well-being and prosperity.

HUNGER, HOUSING, HOMELESSNESS & MENTAL HEALTH

Affordable housing is not a privilege but a fundamental human right! I pledge to tirelessly advocate for policies ensuring safe and affordable housing for every resident. Addressing homelessness requires multifaceted solutions, including robust support services, affordable housing initiatives, and strategic partnerships with community organizations. Together, we can forge pathways to stability and self-sufficiency.

Meghan Moyer, director of public policy at Disability Rights Oregon:

First, we need to recognize that there arent one-size-fits-all solutions. The easiest to rehouse are folks who have lost their housing for reasons out of their control and just need another location they can afford. We are starting to see progress at addressing the lack of low income and affordable housing.

Next are people with mental health diagnosis, addiction and/or disability. These folks need more support and a very different path to ending their homelessness. We are not doing a good job meeting their needs.

This starts with addiction and mental health treatment, then transitional housing for stabilization. We are woefully short of these facilities. We must recruit, train and retain the professionals needed to start and maintain these systems. What is needed is both up front funding, but more importantly, a provider rate that will pay for needed services and supports. That is where Medicaid comes in and we dont need new funds.

One trip to the state hospital costs nearly $1,800 a day and a civil commitment that lasts 180 days costs $320,000; none of this can be paid for by Medicaid. Preventing one hospitalization or arrest more than pays for these services.

Vadim Mozyrsky, administrative law judge:

First, there is a lack of coordination between local governments. We need to partner with the city on a unified strategy to get people the immediate care they need while we address long-term housing shortages.

Second, the county has focused on unsuccessful strategies rather than working to model the successful approaches of other jurisdictions. For example, Housing Multnomah Now has a budget of $14 million but only managed to house 37 individuals after a year. Numerous cities have had success addressing their homeless crises through programs like Built for Zero. Our neighboring counties have focused on increasing shelter space and have delivered better results through a decrease in unsanctioned camping.

Third, there is a lack of coordination among service providers. Cities like Houston have demonstrated the benefit of governments ensuring that contracted providers are achieving desired results without overlapping of services or siloing of efforts. Managed coordination has resulted in improved outreach, services, and long-term housing outcomes.

Fourth, there is a lack of transparency and accountability. We need to improve evaluation of programs, fund the ones that work, discontinue the ones that dont, and focus resources on successful programs.

Margot Wheeler, project manager for Multnomah County:

Multnomah County has not provided a successful strategy to make a meaningful impact to homelessness in our community. Departments do not communicate and work together which leads to redundancies and inefficiencies. Rent assistance, for example, is provided by the Health Department, the Department of Community Justice, Department of Human Services, and the Joint Office for Homeless Services. There is no comprehensive approach across the County, Metro, and City of Portland. Defensiveness and proclamations are not tangible solutions. Substantial fraud depletes resources and there has not been enough initiative to monitor and reduce fraud.

I plan to address homelessness by improving the contracting management process with service providers and increasing the services provided directly by Multnomah County. I will work together with the State of Oregon, City of Portland, and private organizations like Bybee Lakes Hope Center (Wapato) to maximize joint efforts to reduce homelessness in our community. Prioritizing safety and accessibility is critical for the revitalization of our beautiful county. It is unacceptable to continue facilitating unsanctioned camping and drug use. Allowing individuals to remain on the street when they cannot care for themselves is inhumane. It is the responsibility of local government to address the needs of the community.
The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board sent candidates for the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners a questionnaire asking their stances on several issues facing the county. Below are the responses from District 3 and 4 candidates to a question about homelessness. One candidate for District 4, Timothy O. Youker, did not complete a questionnaire. To read the responses from candidates in Districts 1 and 2, go to oregonlive.com/opinion.

-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board

Question: Give your assessment of the job that Multnomah County has done in addressing homelessness. What, if anything, is missing or needs greater attention for the county to more effectively reduce homelessness?

District 3 - Southeast and East Portland

Julia Brim-Edwards, Multnomah County commissioner for District 2:

The County had been slow to act and pursued ineffective initiatives to address this humanitarian crisis, despite a record number of homeless individuals on our streets. There has been a lack of coordination with the City of Portland, and millions of unspent funds for homeless services.

My first months in office, I effectively pushed the Commission to act on the unspent funds and to invest in new shelter beds and alternative shelter types to transition people from the street and camps to shelter, basic services, safety, and a path to housing. The county for the first time funded the Citys Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites, Bybee Lakes, Day Centers and other shelters.

Much more needs to be done:

Continued partnership with the City and investments in building alternative shelters, transitional housing, and support for sober and recovery housing, along with more supportive services.

An effective data system to replace the current ineffective system, HMIS, so the County can track the effectiveness of services needed and provided.

A County Time, Place and Manner camping restriction ordinance to complement a revised City ordinance

More transparency on how SHS money is spent and ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of current providers and programs.

TJ Noddings, housing navigator

Multnomah county has been failing its houseless population for too long. We dont need more multi-year plans with slow rollouts and abysmally low goals that we still fail to achieve. We need more housing vouchers, more street outreach and more case managers. We have vacancies in our housing stock. And we have funding from the Supportive Housing Services tax (which the current commissioners arent spending).

This is how we actually get people housed. Every day I work with folks that compete for far too few vouchers, many of them going onto waitlists they will never come off of.

Section 8 housing vouchers pay up to ~$1800/month for an individual, including utilities. If we have ~11,000 houseless folks in Multnomah county, it would cost about $238M/year to put them all in already available housing. SHS is bringing in significantly more money than projected every year  $337M in fiscal year 2022, even more projected by the end of this year. Many houseless folks need wraparound services for mental & behavioral health or addiction, and it will take longer to spin up every support we need to perfectly meet everyones need  but we can house them now, and we must.

District 4 - East Multnomah County

Vince Jones-Dixon, Gresham city councilor

Too many people cant afford the cost of housing in the region, and at the same time, Oregon and Multnomah County are at the bottom of the list in the nation for mental health and addiction services.

We suffer from a lack of coordination between the levels of government, lack of care provided to those in need, and ineffective response from the county and the state.

It is unfathomable that after millions spent over more than a decade, we dont even have the basic information we need to succeed, like an accurate count of shelter beds so we can make this information readily available to first responders and service providers across the continuum of care.

We also need more case managers to help folks move through the crises they are currently facing and stay with them until they are stable. Its too easy to fall into homelessness here because we dont have the systems of support to catch them before they fall or help them back up again.

Brian Knotts, IT services provider

I think that the county has done a poor job addressing this, simply by assessing the results. We have to consider what is driving people to live on our streets, and its not solely, or even primarily, the cost of housing. There are many other factors, including drug abuse and addiction, mental health problems, and simply the reputations of Portland and Multnomah County across the country, which attracts people to come here. We have to consider all these factors when we design responses to particular problems associated with homelessness.
All of the Oregon coasts nine surviving, federally funded lighthouse stations have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, and with some exceptions, visitors are welcomed. (Call the State Parks Information Center at 800-551-6949 for information, or visit each lighthouses website for more details.)

Oregons lighthouses are in various degrees of restoration and historical integrity. Most of the states lighthouses were designed and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1870 and 1896, and managed by the former U.S. Lighthouse Board, with the U.S. Coast Guard taking over stewardship duties in 1939, according to Oregon State Parks.

After installing automated beacons in the 1960s, the Coast Guard began transferring its lighthouse holdings to other government agencies, say historians.

Here are Oregons nine lighthouses, from north to south.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, offshore from Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach. Terry Richard/The Oregonian/2007

1881 Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, nicknamed Terrible Tilly, designed to guide ships entering the Columbia River, has endured pummeling storms atop Tillamook Rock a mile offshore in the Pacific Ocean between Seaside and Cannon Beach. The privately owned basalt rock islet cannot be visited, but its visible from Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach. The beacon of the 62-foot-high tower that stands 133 feet above sea level was replaced by a whistle buoy in 1957.

The Cape Meares Lighthouse was built in 1890, and at 38 feet tall it's the shortest publicly accessible lighthouse on the Oregon coast. It's found at the edge of Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1890 Cape Meares Lighthouse, decommissioned in 1963, has the shortest tower  only 38 feet tall  on the Oregon coast. Visitors to the tower can view the original Fresnel lens. For more information, call Cape Lookout State Park at 503-842-3182.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse in fall, at the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1873 Yaquina Head Lighthouse has the tallest tower, at 93 feet, on the Oregon coast. The lighthouse is part of Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Visit recreation.gov/ticket/251944/ticket/227 to book a lighthouse tour.

The exterior of the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, the original light in Newport that was almost immediately replaced by the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was only in service from 1871 to 1874 until it was replaced by the brighter Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Yaquina Bay, an untraditional lighthouse that looks like a two-story building topped with a light, was re-lit and recognized as a privately maintained aid to navigation by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1996. Starting May 1, the lighthouse closed for remodeling and the reopening date is yet to be determined. For more information, call 541-265-4560.

The Heceta Head Lighthouse, seen from a trail climbing to the crest of the headland at Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint on the central Oregon coast.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1894 Heceta Head Lighthouses automated beacon can be seen 21 miles from the 56-foot tower on the west side of 1,000-foot-high Heceta Head. The popular and scenic lighthouse north of Florence is open year-round, weather and staffing dependent. Large groups may schedule a tour in advance by emailing heceta.h.lighthouse@oregon.gov. For more info, call 541-547-3416. The historic assistant light keepers house, built in 1893, is a bed and breakfast inn (866-547-3696, hecetalighthouse.com)

The Umpqua River Lighthouse on the south-central Oregon coast. The lighthouse is only accessible by guided tour, available from Douglas County parks upon request.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1894 Umpqua River Lighthouse on the cliffs overlooking the Oregon Dunes and Winchester Bay replaced a 1857 lighthouse, the first sited on the Oregon coast. The Umpqua lens emits distinctive red-and-white automated flashes. Tours are operated by Umpqua Valley Museums. Visit umpquavalleymuseums.org for more information.

The Cape Arago Lighthouse, seen from Sunset Bay State Park on the southern Oregon coast. Once accessible from the mainland by bridge, the lighthouse is now inaccessible.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1934 Cape Arago Lighthouse, easily the most difficult lighthouse to find on the Oregon coast, is closed to the public, but its light, atop a 44-foot-high tower, is best viewed a quarter-mile south of the Sunset Bay campground entrance.

Coquille River Lighthouse under construction Sept. 6, 1896.Bandon Historical Society Museum

1896 Coquille River Light, on the north jetty of the Coquille River in Bandon, was decommissioned in 1939 following improvements to the river channel and navigation technology. The lighthouse tower is closed due to safety concerns, but starting May 15, the door to the lower level will be open to the public. Call 541-347-2209 for more information.

Read more: Lighthouse no one wanted became Oregon towns most famous landmark. Now, it needs help

The lens inside the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, which was constructed in 1870 and automated in 1980. Cape Blanco State Park features a historic lighthouse, campground and beautiful stretch of coastline at the westernmost point on the Oregon coast.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1870 Cape Blanco Lighthouses conical tower is the oldest standing lighthouse on the Oregon coast. Perched on a majestic setting on a grassy cliff in Cape Blanco State Park, the light station was commissioned to aid shipping generated by gold mining and the lumber industry. Information about tours is available at capeblancoheritagesociety.com or 541-332-6774.

 Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman
If you didnt get out to see the northern lights, or aurora borealis, Friday night over Oregon, you should have another chance.

The geomagnetic storm that produced the northern lights is expected to continue flaring during the night of May 11-12, and maybe for several days longer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Space Weather Prediction Center.

Saturday morning, the National Weather Service said that the sunspot cluster that produced last nights northern lights remains active and produced two more X-class flares in the past 12 hours.

NOAA says that the northern lights could be visible over much of the northern half of the country Saturday night into Sunday morning.
A soon-to-be mother, Brianna Lucca-Cerezo, fell sick just 10 days before her anticipated due date with her first child.

Prompted by a headache and sore throat, she contacted her OBGYN, who suggested she go to the hospital. Contractions had begun earlier in the week, but Brianna was uninformed until her hospital visit.

Pregnant Bride Marries Her Fiance in Hospital

The timing was less than ideal-Brianna and her fiance, Luis, had planned to marry at City Hall on February 17 in a relaxed ceremony with extended family.

Brianna hadn't even ordered her wedding dress, intending to do so through Amazon's same-day delivery service that morning. However, her plans were disturbed when she tested positive for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), resulting in doctors at AdventHealth for Women to choose for labor induction. Brianna remembers feeling panicked, with numerous thoughts racing through her mind.

A nurse, Elvia Birnholz, began questioning Lucca-Cerezo for paperwork, including, "Are you single or married?" Lucca-Cerezo replied, "I was meant to marry tomorrow, but the baby decided otherwise today." Birnholz was taken aback.

"We've seen instances where mothers couldn't attend their baby showers because their water broke unexpectedly, but I've never had someone mention, 'I'm getting married tomorrow,'" she comments. "Since we have a chaplain available, I proposed, 'Maybe they could have their wedding ceremony here.'"

Although Lucca-Cerezo somewhat chuckled at the idea, she had her marriage certificate and both wedding bands in her purse. "We agreed, we're going ahead with this today," she explains.

Read Also : Top 5 Bag Picks Perfect for Young Moms this Mother's Day to Order on Amazon

Hospital Staff Utilized Bedsheet to Fashion Into Wedding Gown

As news of the impending wedding spread, hospital staff sprang into action. One nurse, Gaby Pinzon, arrived carrying a stack of bedsheets.

Lucca-Cerezo remembers, "She introduced herself and inquired, 'Would it be acceptable if I created a wedding dress using these sheets?'" Despite her surprise, she shares, "I felt immensely grateful because I had worried I might end up marrying in a hospital gown."

Showing Pinzon screenshots of the intended wedding dress, a halter-top style with an open back and leg slit, Lucca-Cerezo waited. After thirty minutes, Pinzon had crafted a sheet dress that replicated the gown flawlessly, as noted by Lucca-Cerezo, who remarked, "It matched every detail."

Two doctors rushed to the gift shop downstairs to buy flowers, while another nurse took on the role of wedding DJ. Birnholz informed colleagues that they were welcome to attend the impromptu wedding.

Lucca-Cerezo's immediate family, including her mother, step-father, and siblings, arrived at the hospital, while Luis' family joined via FaceTime from West Virginia.

Nervously, Luis awaited his bride's emergence from the bathroom, adorned in her makeshift wedding gown, to the tune of "Let's Get Married" by Jagged Edge. Following the ceremony, doctors induced labor for Lucca-Cerezo, and 12 hours later, baby Landon was born on February 18.

The couple intends to have a formal wedding in the future, complete with a traditional dress.

Lucca-Cerezo expresses her desire for a beach wedding, stating, "I've always dreamed of getting married on the beach." She adds, "We're inviting all the nurses to join us."
After the collapse of a multi-storey building in Belgorod, Russians immediately blamed the Ukrainian military for the incident. According to the legend of the Russian military leadership and Kremlin propagandists, the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly "launched missile strikes."

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However, CCTV footage shows that the explosion probably occurred inside the house. This was reported on Telegram by Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council.

He pointed out that the video does not show any falling objects, so all the accusations of Russians of shelling by the Defense Forces are not true. Kovalenko also added that the collapse of the house in Belgorod looks like an information provocation by the Russian Federation to inflate the situation to justify further attacks on residential buildings in Ukrainian cities.

At the same time, he does not deny that a domestic explosion could have occurred. But even in this case, the head of the Center is sure that Russian propaganda will describe everything in its own interests as "shelling of a house."

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In addition, an AFU serviceman with the call sign "Balu" noted that an hour after the explosion, Kremlin propaganda could not come up with one version of the collapse of the house in Belgorod. Some propagandists claimed that an ATACMS missile had allegedly hit the house and immediately started talking about "red lines" against the United States.

Other lying Russian media outlets claimed that a French AASM Hammer bomb had allegedly hit the house. And according to the Russian Defense Ministry's legend, Belgorod was hit by a complex strike. The terrorist ministry said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly shelled the city with MLRS, and a fragment of a Tochka-U missile hit the house.

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As a reminder, an explosion occurred in the Russian city of Belgorod around 11:40 a.m. on Sunday, May 12, as a result of which the entrance of a ten-story building collapsed on Shchorsa Street. At that time, the city was on alert allegedly due to a missile threat, and the Russian Defense Ministry announced the operation of air defense and the alleged hit of a Tochka-U missile fragment on a residential building.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, a series of explosions occurred in Belgorod the night before. Several fires broke out in the city, windows in several high-rise buildings were blown out, and parked cars caught fire. Local media reported a "powerful shelling".

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Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
One of the three Colorado teens indicted about deadly circumstances involving a series of rock-throwing circumstances last year has entered a liable plea as part of an arranged agreement, authorities declared on Friday.

Rock-Throwing Incident Led to Death 20-Year-Old Driver

During the night of April 19, 2023, seven vehicles were struck by large rocks typically used in landscaping, leading to wounds to three people and the fatal demise of a 20-year-old driver named Alexa Bartell, prosecutors stated.

Three people, all seniors aged 18 at the time, faced a total of 13 charges, including first-degree murder with a reckless disregard for life, about the events.

One of them, now determined as 19-year-old Zachary Kwak, has now admitted liable to three revised charges tied to the rock-throwing circumstances, as verified by the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney's Office, which is handling the legal proceedings.

Kwak's acknowledgment of guilt includes charges of first- and second-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault. In exchange for his plea, his initial charges were dropped.

The District Attorney's Office stated, "In accepting the plea, Kwak acknowledged that, concerning Bartell's death, he acted knowingly and with extreme indifference to human life, thereby putting lives at grave risk through his actions."

Kwak's legal representatives declined to comment on the plea agreement. As a consequence of his plea and cooperation with authorities, Kwak faces a prison term of 20 to 32 years.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 3, pending the conclusion of legal proceedings involving the other two defendants, Joseph Koenig and Nicholas "Mitch" Karol-Chik.

First-degree murder with reckless disregard carries a mandatory life sentence if convicted. Each of the three accused individuals is undergoing separate trials, with Karol-Chik's trial set to commence on June 7 and Koenig's on July 19.

Both Koenig and Karol-Chik have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Allegedly, Karol-Chik confessed to authorities while in custody that all three individuals participated in throwing rocks at passing cars, expressing excitement when they hit their targets, as per court documents.

Colorado Teens Arrested for Homicide and Assaults on 5 Vehicles

In Kwak's interrogation, he reportedly admitted to taking a photograph of Bartell's vehicle, believing it would serve as a keepsake for Joseph or Mitch, according to court records.

Following Bartell's tragic demise, Kwak allegedly recounted conversations where Koenig and Karol-Chik discussed becoming "blood brothers" and agreed to maintain silence about the incident, according to court documents.

The fatal incident occurred on April 19 when a large landscaping rock thrown by the trio struck and killed Arvada resident Alexa Bartell, who was returning from work.

The trio allegedly returned to the scene later that night to take disturbing pictures of Bartell's damaged vehicle. They were subsequently arrested and faced charges including murder for Bartell's death and other offenses related to attacks on five other vehicles.

Karol-Chik reportedly told police that he and Kwak had been throwing rocks and statues at drivers since February. He also claimed that Kwak threw the rock that struck Bartell's windshield, while Koenig was driving. Kwak, however, maintained that it was Koenig who threw the fatal stone.

Following the incident, Mark Edwin Koenig, Joseph Koenig's father, was arrested for allegedly obstructing police from interviewing his son.
One of the reasons I wrote Walpurgisnacht In The Infirmary was to be honest.

Too much of what is shared on the internet  especially on social media  is carefully curated. We share the things that are going well and skip over the things that arent. While the old saying about not airing dirty laundry in public is still valid, theres a fine line between maintaining your privacy and presenting a false front.

Being honest means making it clear that there are times when life is too big for me. If Im in the infirmary on Walpurgisnacht then some of you are too. We need to be honest with each other  but mainly honest with ourselves  about doing the things we need to do to get better. To get well.

Im not well, but I am better. I want to acknowledge that improvement. And for the sake of honesty, I want to talk about what Im doing now  and what Im not.

If we stop practicing whenever we dont feel like it, well never get anywhere. On the other hand, if we insist on powering through all our injuries, illnesses, and complications of life, well find ourselves crashing hard  and thats not a good thing either.

What can you let go and what must you do no matter what? You must answer these questions for yourself. This is what Im doing.

Maintain your daily office

What is your core spiritual practice? What are the things you do every day, every week, every season, no matter what? Keep doing them.

For me, this is my four daily prayers and my four weekly offerings. Ive been doing my four daily prayers for 13 years. One of my weekly offerings is almost as old  the others are newer. Theyre not practices anymore  theyre part of who and what I am. They keep me connected to my Gods, my ancestors, and the spirits with whom I share this world. They remind me of whats most important.

Now, when Im very sick, do I occasionally sleep through the afternoon prayer and catch it up just before I do the final evening prayer? Yes. Are there days when I simply cannot pour a libation and offer a brief prayer instead? Also yes. Im not perfect, and my Gods dont expect perfection. But I cant not do these things.

The time to build this kind of practice is when youre feeling fine. When you start out all full of enthusiasm and look forward to each repetition. When its inconvenient but you do it anyway, because you said you would. When you really dont feel like it but you know you can, and so you do.

In her excellent book Blackthorns Protection Magic, Amy Blackthorn says that in times of stress, we do not rise to the occasion. Rather, we fall back on our lowest level of training. What is true of self defense (both magical and mundane) is also true of spiritual practice. No matter how tired I am, no matter how sick I am, my daily spiritual practice is a benefit and not a burden, because Ive done it so consistently for so long.

Whatever your core spiritual practices, keep them up even when things are going badly. Especially when things are going badly.

Keep commitments, cancel plans

As I was reminded on Walpurgisnacht, when your capacity is lower your workload has to be lower, or youll break down. Something has to give.

Keep your commitments, but cancel plans when necessary. Whats the difference? A commitment is something that involves someone else, where canceling would cause them significant difficulties.

I committed to lead our Spring Equinox ritual  I did it. I committed to lead the Sunday Service at Denton UU on June 16  Im going to do it (I got the first draft of the sermon done this week, which was very encouraging).

On the other hand, I had a major class I planned to teach earlier this year and I had to cancel it. I had a shorter class planned for this summer. I havent completely canceled it, but its definitely not going to start in June. Maybe later in the summer. Maybe later this year. Maybe not till next year, or beyond. Well see how things go.

As the calendar progresses, Im reviewing plans and if I dont have the bandwidth, Im canceling them.

Unless you have to cancel a commitment

A few years ago I was scheduled to lead a UU Sunday Service. I had everything ready to go, and then on Saturday night I got sick. After the third time throwing up I realized two things: one, I had food poisoning, and two, there was no way I was going to be able to lead the service the next day. I texted our minister and fellow CUUPS leader Cynthia Talbot, explained and apologized, and then went back to bed.

They managed to put a service together on the fly. It wasnt ideal, but it worked  and it worked a lot better than me trying to power through in the aftermath of being violently ill. Sometimes you have to cancel a commitment.

I had to cancel a podcast interview earlier this year because I could not get into the necessary frame of mind to talk for an hour about spiritual matters.

If the Sunday Service Im working on now had been on Walpurgisnacht I would have had to cancel. Thankfully, its not.

Doing what you have to do to keep your commitments is one thing. Trying to do what you cant do at the moment is another thing entirely. If you have to cancel a commitment, then cancel it.

Dont skip the things that feed your soul

I made a commitment to be at Mystic South in July and Im going to keep it. But Mystic South could do just fine without me. Im not sure I could do without Mystic South. Im doing one presentation, and its something Ive done before. Mainly, I like being there, going to presentations and rituals, and having all the conversations you just cant have anywhere else. Mystic South feeds my soul, and I would be doing myself a disservice if I canceled.

I have to be careful here. As came up in the Walpurgisnacht conversation, this work brings meaning and purpose to my life. I would get a lot out of teaching that big course. But I dont have the physical and emotional resources to teach it at the moment, so it has to wait.

Ive had people  who I love and respect  tell me to just drop everything. I hear what theyre saying, but while my capacity isnt what it was five years ago, its not zero either. I can do some things, and I want to make sure I keep doing the things that feed my soul.

Ease back into things at your own pace

One of the best things Ive done over the past few years is to walk more. Its good exercise, and its a good opportunity to think and meditate and write (or at least, to plan out what I want to write). I try to do a short walk two or three times during the week, and then a longer walk on the weekend.

Its been difficult to hit my usual pace this year. And its been impossible to do anything ever since I came back from Europe sick.

This week I started feeling better, and decided it was time to start walking again. I did two miles before work on Friday. I made four miles yesterday. I was as tired after that four miles as I was after six or seven a couple months ago. Im taking today off.

And Im not diving back into my previous schedule. I like to think I could do that, but I know I cant. I have to ease back into things.

I see too many people who cut back for the reasons discussed in this post, get to feeling a little better and try to dive back into the deep end, and then crash again in a week or two. I dont want to do that. I especially dont want to turn plans into commitments and then have to cancel them because I wasnt as well as I thought I was. As I hoped I was. As I knew I wasnt.

I know that some of the issues behind Walpurgisnacht In The Infirmary arent over with. Theyre quiet at the moment, but they can jump back up in my face at any time. Even as I start feeling better, the possibility of a relapse remains.

And so Im going to ease back into my normal activities at a pace Im sure I can sustain.

The journey is long

Or at least, longer than I wish it was. But the process is simple, even if its anything but easy.

Keep doing the things that feed your soul. Keep doing the things that move you in the direction you want to go. Make sure your workload doesnt exceed your capacity, even if you have to drop things youd rather not drop. Give yourself the time you need to get better, and to get well.

Thats what Im doing  what Im trying to do.

Well see how it goes.
Doctor Who has returned not so much with a two-parter as with two standalone episodes released at once. The first of the two episodes is called Space Babies and I suspect that youll find the number of times the Doctor utters that phrase in the episode somewhat tedious. Nevertheless, it is a fun and funny episode with many of the sorts of elements that one would expect from Doctor Who.

Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor is superb, inhabiting the role and bringing an authentic sense of continuity while also bring fresh and new. There was an inkling of this being the case previously, but a holiday special and a brief appearance in the context of regeneration were not enough to really get a sense. If this is a sign of things to come, it is a positive one. Im a bit worried about the silliness of some scripts, but not at all about the casting.

The Doctor speaks surprisingly candidly about who he is and where he comes from, not merely bearing a melancholy burden he hesitates to share as in the past, but openly speaking about his people as victims of a genocide. His planet died but he says that for that very reason and in that very context he is so so glad to be alive.

To The Distant Past (Dinosaurs and a Butterfly)

There is a quick trip back to the age of the dinosaurs, and a comedic treatment of the old time travel paradox about possibly changing history by stepping on a butterfly. The Doctor asks who would ever manage to step on a butterfly, but Ruby does and suddenly takes on a different appearance and character as a result of evolutionary history being rewritten. The Doctor realized he needs to reactivate the TARDIS Butterfly Compensation setting. A reference to Star Trek leads the Doctor to say that he needs to visit there some day. Graphic novels have explored crossovers and so this statement rendered all of that non-canonical!

Talking about the broken chameleon circuit, the Doctor quips that Most of the universe is knackered

To The Distant Future (and the Space Babies)

When the Doctor says that there are no such thing as monsters, just creatures you havent met yet, the episode will test whether that is true. But first we encounter a space station with a parthenogenesis machine. If you dont recognize the term, it comes from the Greek words not only for beginning (you recognized Genesis) but also virgin. It is thus a virginal conception machine. This is but one of several subtle or quick passing references to things that are the purview of religion.

I loved that Rubys reaction to this glimpse of the future was such an enthusiastically positive one: We made it. The human race, we survived. We went to the stars. In an era in which there is a lot of climate-related pessimism, we need this optimism. It is a worldview, in some ways a religious faith, that humanity has a future, and that hope is essential to our survival. (See Octavia Butlers Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents for arguably the best sci-fi exploration of this.)

Returning to the episode, the Doctors comment on his own path is also cool. He notes that he has no job, no bills, but freedom. We then learn that they have happened on a baby farmrun by babies. The reaction of the babies is Mummy and daddy are here! It is hilarious and tragic all at once. Asking whether, by staying babies yet also learning to run the station they have grown up wrong, the Doctor replies comfortingly, Nobody grows up wrong. You are what you are and youre fantastic. The Doctor shares still more about his life as an orphan, a foundling. He says (Im not sure I caught the exact wording here, Theres no one else like me in the universe and thats true of everyone. Thats not a problem, thats a superpower.

(Space) Babies and Technology

We hear the voice of Nan-E who we think is a computer but eventually discover is a human named Jocelyn who stayed behind to keep things running on the space station as best she could. Although we understand that this is more than a full-time job, the fact that the babies have never had a hug indicates that Jocelyn has realized she could not provide all the babies with the kind of motherly attention they would need in person, and so has opted to hide behind the machine persona. As we live in an era of increased virtual interaction and AI, in which churches and educational institutions are wrestling with what can be done remotely and what needs in-person connection with other human beings, this easy-to-miss detail deserves attention.

The scriptwriters then seized an opportunity to address a contemporary issue by having a character explain what led to the situation of space babies being born and growing in space on their own after the adults had been forced to leave the station. It is illegal to switch off the baby-making machine, even though the babies are going to be left uncared for. When Jocelyn says that the world that does such things is a very strange planet Ruby responds by saying it is not that strange.

Enter the Bogeyman

If religious views on conception, abortion, and IVF are in the background in that, there is a brief explicit humorous appearance of religion when Eric goes to confront the bad doggy that they have been fearing and calling the bogeyman. When Jocelyn shouts, For Gods sake Eric, run! a computerized voice responds with, Eric invoking the deity. Increasing acceleration. As a person who teaches and writes about theological matters, I dont want to merely chuckle at the joke. Even non-religious people may utter a phrase like this, and whether religious or not, a prayer in a crisis will not change the way your engine functions. One of the challenges of doing theology in a scientific era is figuring out what if anything religion can and should mean in the context of this greater degree of understanding and control of the natural world.

There is a still more serious element here as well that ought not to be missed. Eric explains that Ruby (who has been assumed by the babies to be mommy) said no such thing as Bogeyman. Ruby realizes that her effort to comfort the child through falsehood has done more harm than good. This in many ways gets at the essence of Doctor Who. As the Christian author G. K. Chesterton famously said, Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. We can substitute the bogeyman and it still works. False reassurances that there are no dangers set people up to experience things that are inevitable and difficult as worldview-breaking, and the way they respond is worse than how those who grew up learning about monsters and heroes do.

Doctor Who has long offered sci-fi fairy tales, and if there is a twist at the end it is that dragons may be people too just as people may be monsters, and so it is always better to reserve judgment as long as possible, and to seek to reconcile and redeem rather than destroy whenever confronting a threat.

(By the way  did anyone else notice that, with the shift to Disney, Doctor Who has also shifted away from the British pronunciation mummy?)

Childlike Faith in a Mad Universe

Eventually we learn that the parthenogenesis machine made the Bogeyman because the educational software on the space station determined that the children need monsters. Since machines are prone to be very literal, it made one. More than that, it literally made a bogeyman out of bogeys (what some might call boogers). The Doctors delight at discovering this is priceless. Isnt the universe mad? This childlike embrace of the new, delighting in how much you lived rather than how many times you almost died, is what makes the Doctor a genuinely positive hero. I think theres a lesson here for those who aspire to the childlike faith of which Jesus taught. Children may be inclined to trust but they are also naturally inquisitive. They always ask why? and delight in the discovery.

On thing that the Doctor realizes in this episode is that this bogeyman is the only one of its kind, just like the Doctor. He thus determines to save it rather than destroy it. It is worth thinking about this line of reasoning in light of what had been said earlier in the episode about the oddity of making it illegal to stop the baby-making machine. I wont veer off into a discussion of the broader topic of when life begins (well before conception), when personhood develops and is present (we never learn whether the bogeyman is a sentient being), and whether an entity created by a malfunctioning computer to scare children has an inherent right to exist. The point is that here too we find that this episode that is pure silliness on the surface has depths worth exploring. The episode is called Space Babies and the Doctor realizes that the so-called bogeyman is one of them.

Wrapping Up

In a last bit of madness, the Doctor moves the station towards a planet that will accept the space babies as refugees by venting accumulated methane from nappies to generate thrust.

At the end of the episode the Doctor gives Ruby a TARDIS key. The relationship has escalated quickly, but in a way that is better than the Doctor whisking people off around time and space without trusting them to be able to get back in the TARDIS in an emergency as was the case on the classic series.

Ill review The Devils Chord in a separate post. For now, judging Space Babies on its own, what did you think?
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.

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Fidelity Bank would like to clarify some aspects of a press release issued by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) on FridayMay 10, 2024, regarding the Krofrom Market Redevelopment Project. Below are the facts:



 In November 2020, KMA transferred an amount of GHS 5 million as advance mobilization into the KMA-Krofrom Market Redevelopment project account held at Fidelity Bank. Readers should kindly take notethat these initial funds were from KMAs own resources.



 In December 2020, at the request of KMA, Fidelity Bank approved a GHS5 million short-term loan facility for the KMA-Krofrom MarketRedevelopment project which was to be disbursed in phases based on the progress of work done.



 In February 2021, Fidelity Bank disbursed GHS 4 million out of the GHS 5million approved short-term facility to KMA. The Assembly (KMA) then utilized the facility of GHS 4 million together with their own funds of GHS 4.6million to support payments to project contractors amounting to GHS8.6 million under the first phase of the project.





 In December 2021, KMA paid off the total outstanding facility of GHS 4 million to Fidelity Bank.



 From the foregoing records of Fidelity Bank Ghana, there is no missing or unaccounted for amount of GHS 3.6 million as indicated in KMAs release. The entire amount of GHS 8.6 million disbursed for Phase 1 of the project comprised GHS 4 million disbursed from Fidelity Banksapproved facility of GHS 5 million and the KMAs own funds of GHS 4.6 million disbursed from their contribution of GHS 5million towards the project.



 Fidelity Bank reiterates that it has consistently maintained open communication channels with KMA regarding the project fund, exchanging letters and emails since April 5, 2023, to address inquiries and concerns. We have provided all necessary information as of September 27, 2023, and remain open to further communication. All correspondence is on record.



We would like to assure KMA and the public that we are fully committed to cooperating with any investigations or inquiries to address this matter comprehensively. Our priority remains upholding the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and integrity in all our dealings.



Fidelity Bank remains steadfast in our commitment to serving the best interests of Ghanaians, our clients and the communities we operate in.





Source: Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The 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.

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Hon. Dr. Clement Apaak, Member of Parliament for Builsa South Constituency and a member of the Public Accounts Committee of Ghanas parliament has provided several trips of gravels at a cost of Ghc11, 200.00 to fill the large potholes on the Fumbisi Senior High School Road and Town Wiesi Road.



These portholes, according to the Deputy Communications officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Builsa South Constituency, was created through the recklessness of governments refusal to pay the contractor, MYTURN LTD to fix the deplorable situation on the Fumbisi Senior High School Road and Town Wiesi Road.



The Builsa South Constituency chairman Mr. Caesar Akinkang together with the Assemblyman for the electoral Area, Mr. Henry Ayeng on Wednesday, joined the youth to fill the dangerous and life-threatening potholes.



Addressing the youth after the activity, Chairman Akinkang thanked the youth for making time to contribute to the development of the area and admonished them to continue to lend their support to the MP anytime there are such communal activities.



Chairman Akinkang reiterated how the MP wished all roads in the Constituency were constructed, adding that the MP himself is frustrated with the manner in which the Akuffo Addo government has failed the people of Builsa South after he had promised them roads in two months during the 2020 campaign season.



Chairman Caesar has, however, assured the electorates of Builsa South that the roads will be constructed should John Mahama win the upcoming December 7 elections.



Akogtu Daniel



Deputy Communication Officer



Builsa South

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.

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The Ghana Police Service has noted with concern isolated incidents of violations of the Law in some Voter Registration Centres in the ongoing Limited Voters Registration exercise.



We condemn the unfortunate incidences experienced in some registration centres including Cape Coast, Central Region, Kukuom, Ahafo Region and Adugyama, Ashanti Region. Police said.



Police have made several arrests as investigations continue.



The Police would like to remind the public that the registration exercise is a civic responsibility that must be attended to civilly



It is in this regard that we want to caution the public to exercise maximum restraint and act in accordance with the laws governing the registration process.



Police will not tolerate any disregard of the law and any persons who engage in such acts shall be dealt with accordingly. Statement from the police reads.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP)  A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to two life terms in the shooting and stabbing deaths of her father and his longtime girlfriend 2 1/2 years ago in New Jersey.

Sherry Lee Heffernan, 57, of Landenberg, Pennsylvania was convicted in March of murder and weapons offenses in the deaths of her father, John Enders, 87, and Francoise Pitoy, 75, Enders longtime live-in girlfriend. Both were shot and stabbed repeatedly in Enders Long Beach Island home in the fall of 2021.

The Asbury Park Press reports that Heffernan stood calmly Friday as an Ocean County judge imposed the pair of consecutive life prison sentences. Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill said the crime was committed with extreme depravity and ordered her to serve 63 years, nine months without possibility of parole for each murder.
Ukrainians can get fake dollars in exchange offices. In particular, in 2023, this currency accounted for 97% of counterfeit banknotes among all foreign currencies. At the same time, the most commonly counterfeited banknotes were large denominations.

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This was reported by the National Bank. Most often, they noted, counterfeiters forged foreign banknotes of two denominations. In particular:

$100 - 92% of the total number of seized counterfeit bills;

50 dollars - 7%.

The number of counterfeit dollars has increased

In total, the regulator admitted, less than 700 counterfeit foreign currency banknotes were found in 2023. This is slightly more than in 2022, when about 600 such bills were found.

However, it is noted that it is impossible to talk about a large-scale threat to the market and the financial system. "The level of counterfeiting of foreign currency banknotes last year was low," the National Bank stated.

Where fraudsters distribute counterfeit dollars

Ukrainians can get counterfeit money, for example, at exchange offices or on the black market, by buying currency by hand. This is how, in particular, fake dollars and euros were distributed by scammers already detained by law enforcement officers who operated in the western regions of the country.

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"They sold counterfeit money in small batches directly to residents of the region. They handed it over to currency exchange offices," the National Police said.

In addition, a scammer from Chernivtsi region handed over counterfeit $2,100 to exchange offices. According to the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BES):

The fraudster received the money from an accomplice;

she acted in the Chernivtsi region.

"The woman received foreign currency from her accomplice. Later, knowing that the money was counterfeit, she handed it over at exchange offices in the Chernivtsi region. In this way, she managed to exchange 2,100 US dollars for hryvnias," the statement said.

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As reported by OBOZ.UA, last year fraudsters also distributed counterfeit hryvnias among Ukrainians. Most often, these were old-style banknotes issued before 2015.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Mrs. Gladys Granderson died March 24 at the grand age of 104. She was born Feb. 10, 1920 in Farmville, Ohio. She was certainly among the longest-living mothers in Pennsylvania.

She was an extraordinary woman who lived through some difficult times. She was a veteran who served in World War II. And at a time when few women were in business, she owned a gift shop in downtown Harrisburg.

Mrs. Granderson volunteered for the Salvation Army in Harrisburg as well as the League of Mercy, visiting elderly people in nursing homes to bring them some comfort and cheer. And she was so dedicated to civil rights, the NAACP saw fit to bestow on her its Golden Heritage Member award.

Mrs. Gladys Granderson discussing the "De-Colonizing Christ" exhibit with Pastor Russell Goodman at St. Stephen's Cathedral on the opening night of the exhibit in 2021.

But anyone who knew Mrs. Granderson would tell you she was most proud of one simple thing: being the mother of Mack Granderson.

After her husband died, she was left to raise her young son alone. And from all reports, she did so ably and without complaint about the injustices of life and death.

The Rev. Mack Granderson would tell you she was the ideal mother  wise, confident, and fiercely independent, right to the end. In fact, until a few weeks before her death, Mrs. Granderson lived alone in her apartment high atop the Presbyterian Apartments on Second Street.

Rev. and Mrs. Mack Granderson at the opening of the "De-Colonizing Christ" exhibit at St. Stephen's Cathedral.

And she loved reading The Patriot-News -- insisting on getting the real paper you could hold in your hands. Digital wasnt her thing.

Mrs. Granderson was still walking down Harrisburgs Second Street, cooking her own meals, and cleaning her own house, at 104 years old.

And it wasnt just her son who sat up a little straighter when Gladys Granderson entered the room. She carried herself with such dignity and grace, it was hard to slouch in her presence. She commanded respect.

These 11 florists can still deliver flowers to your mom by Mother's Day with next-day and same-day option available.Canva for NJ.com

Mrs. Granderson was what you might call an old-school mom. She believed in discipline  especially self-discipline. She believed in frugality  saving for the inevitable rainy day. She refused to eat in restaurants, suspicious of how they prepared the food. And she believed in keeping a spotless house, setting a nice table for dinner, and dressing up for church on Sunday morning. She rarely missed Sunday worship.

At her memorial service at Crossroads Christian Ministries last month, one woman confessed she donned a dress after remembering Mrs. Granderson didnt like women in pants. Mrs. Granderson told her one Sunday that she had never worn pants in her life. And certainly not to church.

This centenarian mother had very high standards for both dress and comportment. And she stuck to them her entire life, ignoring the fleeting fashions and fads as silly and not worth her time.

There arent many mothers like Gladys Granderson with us anymore. She was among the last of a proud, prudent, and noble generation.

As we celebrate Mothers Day, its fitting to pay tribute to the extraordinary mothers and grandmothers like Gladys Granderson who helped to shape us. They may be gone, but their marks on our lives and on our hearts remain.

May we continue to cherish their memories not only on Mothers Day but every day in between.

Quality local journalism has never been more important. You deserve the best. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.

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On Saturday at 5:01 p.m. an updated tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service in effect until 5:15 p.m. for Lawrence County.

"At 5:01 p.m., a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near East Palestine, moving east at 25 mph," according to the weather service. "Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is likely."

Locations impacted by the warning include Big Beaver, New Beaver, Bessemer, Enon Valley and S.n.p.j.

The weather service adds, "Take cover now! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris. Please report severe weather by calling 412-262-1988, posting to the NWS Pittsburgh Facebook page, or using Twitter @NWSPITTSBURGH."

Tornado watch vs. Tornado warning: Know the difference

When it comes to tornadoes, understanding the difference between a Tornado watch and a Tornado warning can be a matter of life and death. Let's break it down:

Tornado watch: Be prepared!

A Tornado watch serves as an early warning that conditions are conducive to tornado formation.

It's your signal to review your emergency plans, ensure your supplies are in order, and identify your safe room.

While it doesn't indicate an imminent tornado, it's a heads-up to be prepared to take swift action if a Tornado warning is issued or if you suspect a tornado is approaching.

Tornado Watches are issued by the Storm Prediction Center and often encompass a broad area, potentially spanning multiple counties or even states.

Tornado warning: Take action!

A Tornado warning signifies that a tornado has been spotted or detected by weather radar.

This is the real deal  there's an immediate threat to life and property.

Your response should be swift: move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building, away from windows.

If you're in a mobile home, a vehicle, or caught outdoors, seek the nearest substantial shelter and shield yourself from flying debris.

Warnings are issued by your local forecast office and pinpoint a much smaller area, typically the size of a city or a small county, where a tornado has been identified, either by radar or by trained spotters and law enforcement.

Knowing the distinction between these two alerts is paramount for staying safe during tornado season. Stay informed, have a plan, and act promptly when danger looms.

Prepare for a tornado

Be weather-ready:

Check the forecast regularly to see if you're at risk for tornadoes. Listen to local news or a NOAA Weather Radio to stay informed about tornado watches and warnings.

Sign up for alerts:

Familiarize yourself with your community's warning systems. Some places have outdoor sirens, while others rely on media and smartphone alerts for severe storm notifications.

Establish a communication plan:

Have a family plan that includes an emergency meeting place and related information. If you live in a mobile home or home without a basement, identify a nearby safe building you can get to quickly, such as a church or family member.

Choose a secure shelter:

Pick a safe room within your home, such as a basement, storm cellar, or an interior room on the lowest floor without windows.

Establish a communication plan:

Conduct a family severe thunderstorm drill regularly so everyone knows what to do if a tornado is approaching. Make sure all members of your family know to go there when tornado warnings are issued. Don't forget pets if time allows.

Prepare your home:

Consider reinforcing your safe room for added protection. You can find plans for fortifying an interior room on the Federal Emergency Management Agency website.

Extend a helping hand:

Encourage your loved ones to prepare for the possibility of tornadoes. Take CPR training so you can help if someone is hurt.

What to do when a tornado strikes

When a tornado strikes, taking swift action is crucial to ensuring your safety and minimizing potential harm. Follow these guidelines from the weather service:

Stay informed:

Stay vigilant and stay informed by tuning in to local news broadcasts or using a NOAA Weather Radio to receive updates on tornado watches and warnings.

At home:

If you are at home and a tornado warning is issued, make your way to the basement, a designated safe room, or an interior space away from windows. Don't forget to ensure the safety of your pets if time allows.

At work or school:

Follow your tornado drill and proceed to your tornado shelter location quickly and calmly. Stay away from windows and do not go to large open rooms such as cafeterias, gymnasiums, or auditoriums.

Outdoors:

If you're outdoors and a tornado is approaching, seek immediate shelter inside a sturdy building. Sheds, storage facilities, mobile homes, and tents are not safe. If there's time, make your way to a secure structure.

In a vehicle:

It is not safe to be in a vehicle during a tornado. The recommended action is to drive to the nearest shelter. If reaching a safe shelter is not possible, either crouch down in your car and cover your head, or leave your vehicle and seek refuge in a low-lying area like a ditch or ravine.

Always keep in mind that taking swift action and following established safety procedures are crucial for your well-being when a tornado threat is imminent.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.
Kenjic Hails "Once in a Lifetime" Achievement After Mediterranean Poker Party High Roller Victory

Maxime Taldir Live Reporter Copy link

One week ago, Jovan Kenjic shined under the spotlights of EPT Monte-Carlo, finishing in fourth place of the 5,300 Main Event for 340,500. After this final table, he flew to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel in Northern Cyprus, hoping for more deepruns. But more than another deeprun, he became the new champion of the $10,400 Mediterranean Poker Party High Roller.

Out of a field of 159 entrants, he bagged a big stack at the end of Day 1 and managed to make his way to the final table on Day 2. And after a "tougher final table than in Monte-Carlo," he lifted the trophy and won $365,000, his new best cash. His last opponent, Aleksandr Kirichenko, goes back home with $250,000 for his second place.

$10,400 Mediterranean Poker Party High Roller

Place Player Country Prize 1 Jovan Kenjic Serbia $365,000 2 Aleksandr Kirichenko Russian Federation $250,000 3 Marcin Dziubdziela Poland $165,000 4 Michel Molenaar Netherlands $122,000 5 Nikita Kalinin Russian Federation $95,000 6 Anvar Muratov Russian Federation $75,000 7 Dmitry Zakharov Russian Federation $58,000 8 Stoyan Madanzhiev Bulgaria $45,000 9 Ehsan Amiri Australia $34,400

Jovan Kenjic

Winner's Reaction

Surrounded by his friends, Jovan Kenjic couldn't stop smiling when he posed for the winners photos. "It feels very good to finally close a tournament like this. To win a live tournament in poker is a once in a lifetime thing," he said a few minutes after he won the tournament.

His once in a lifetime victory almost happened last week in Monte-Carlo when he reached the final table. But the future winner Derk van Luijk was on his way, and Kenjic's tournament came to end in fourth place for 340,500 after a flip with ace-king against jacks.

Here in Cyprus, he managed to bring all the ingredients together to finally take the first place. "Today I won all-ins and in Monte-Carlo I lost, basically that's it" he explained, before going into more details: "I just had better cards. I was good at all-ins, good at bluffing and good at bluff catching. That's what I needed to do to win the tournament."

After he won more than 700,000 in two tournaments, what could Kenjic hope for more in the future? "I hope I'll go to Vegas but I have to fix things before. If not I'll play online and study" he said, before joining his friends to celebrate his victory.

Day 2 Action

33 players out of the 159 entrants came back on Day 2 of the $10,400 MPP High Roller with the $365,000 first-place prize in their minds. However, the first goal of the day was to find a spot in the 23 places in the money. But players like Weiran Pu, Jon Vallinas Santos or Boris Kolev failed to reach these places, as they were quickly eliminated.

After Damir Zhugralin lost a flip to be sent to the rail, 24 players eventually started to the hand for hand play, and especially Ehsan Amiri who doubled up not once but twice on the bubble. At the same time, Aleksandr Zubov folded, hoping for an elimination. But at some point, he was forced to go all-in from the big blind and was eliminated by Timo Kamphues' aces to become the bubble-boy of the tournament.

Once in the money, Andrey Pateychuk (23rd) lost with ace-jack against Aleksandr Kirichenko's ace-king to win the minimum cash-prize of $17,000. He was followed by Radoslav Stoyanov (22nd, $17,000), Roman Gadzhiev (21st, $18,500), Igor Pihela Jr (20th, $18,500), Nikita Kuznetcov (19th, $18,500), Ermanno Di Nicola (18th, $21,500) and David Miscikowski (17th, $21,500) who were all eliminated... in less than 15 minutes!

Left with just a few blinds after Kamphues doubled up against him, Gleb Tremzin was eliminated shortly after the two-table redraw (16th, $21,500). Samuel Ju (15th, $25,000), then Viktor Ustimov (14th, $25,000), and Mehdi Chaoui (13th, $25,000) didn't last much longer in the tournament. All of them had short stacks, which wasn't the case for Anatolii Gusev, who was on his way to win a big pot with queens. However, Michel Molenaar hit a set on the river with nines to send him to the rail.

After a new break, one table became the feature table, and most of the action happened there with the eliminations of Kamphues (11th, $29,000) and Anatoly Nikitin (10th, $29,000), who lost the flip for the final table.

The nine last players sat around the final table after a short dinner break, but it took more than an hour to see the first eliminations. But a single one wasn't enough, so both Stoyan Madanzhiev (8th, $45,000) and Ehsan Amiri (9th Place, $34,400) were eliminated at the same time by Kirichenko's two pair. Shortest stack after the double elimination, Dmitry Zakharov couldn't do much against Molenaar's queens and he finished in seventh place for $58,000. Anvar Muratov (6th, $75,000) was even more unlucky, as he found a set on the turn when Kirichenko hit a straight.

Nikita Kalinin was next to go to the cashier (5th, $95,000), and he was joined by Michel Molenaar (4th, $122,000), who started the day as the chip leader. He let Marcin Dziubdziela, Jovan Kenjic and Aleksandr Kirichenko play for the win, but Dziubdziela (3rd, $165,000) was out of the race after Kenjic called his stack on the flop and hit two pair on the turn.

Kirichenki and Kenjic remained, and they started the last duel with even stacks. But Kenjic quickly too the lead and even had a first opportunity to win the tournament. Kirichenko doubled up, so the cards went on their backs again a few hands later. And this time, Kenjic was able to send Kirichenko to the rail to win the tournament.

This concludes the $10,400 Mediterranean Poker Party High Roller coverage. Stay tuned to PokerNews for more Merit Poker Action, and especially the Mediterranean Poker Party $5,300 Main Event.

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South Korea has announced a package of measures worth more than 10 trillion won ($7 billion) to support the chip industry, aimed at strengthening the position of chipmakers and building the world's largest megacluster. These measures include the creation of financial instruments, lending, and investment support, which demonstrates a strategic approach in the fight for leadership in the semiconductor industry.

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This was stated by South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, Reuters reports. South Korea is actively deploying large-scale measures to support and develop its own chip industry, investing more than 10 trillion won (about $7.30 billion) in investment and research programs.

Minister of Finance Choi Sang-mok emphasized that the government intends to make public all the details of this package of measures aimed at supporting chipmakers and related companies throughout the semiconductor supply chain. Various initiatives may be introduced under this program, including the provision of loans and the creation of new funds financed by both public and private financial institutions.

It is also planned to build a mega-cluster for the production of microchips, which should become the largest in the world, south of the country's capital, Seoul. President Yun Seok-yeol has promised to allocate all possible resources to win the "war" for chips, promising tax incentives for investments.

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As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, South Korea will tighten export controls over Russia and Belarus. We are talking about high-priority technological goods, including chips and those that can potentially be used for military purposes.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
The first flight of the Rungood Poker Series Graton has come to its conclusion. A total of 245 entrants tried to make their mark in this flight, in an attempt to secure a piece of the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. When the dust settled, just 31 made it through to return on Sunday, May 12th.

Leading the way is Justin Chan, who bagged 516,000. The California regular has collected quite a number of cashes over his career, spanning back to 2014 on Hendon Mob. With the chip lead of todays flight, he has secured himself a spot in the top ten coming into Day 2, with the hopes to take down his first RGPS title.

Rank Player Chip Count 1 Justin Chan 519,000 2 Min Jung Han 495,000 3 Srujan Gongala 485,000 4 Sawmen Talukder 417,000 5 Mario Lopez 366,000 6 Columba Duffy 350,000 7 Paul Richardson 304,000 8 Brian Mintz 304,000 9 Reggie Pears 258,000 10 Mitchell Collins 241,000

Min Jung Han ended her day with second in chips with 495,000 after holding just 30,000 with two levels to go. Also finding a bag were Reggie Pears (258,000), Mitchell Collins (247,000), and Forrest Kollar (147,000) who is hunting to remain in the top five for RGPS Player of The Year.

Kollar found a bag in his quest to remain in the top five of the RGPS Player of The Year

Not all could find fortune today. Bob Mather was unable to get anything going after a strong start. He joined the rail with the likes of Papa Karn, Ronny Gil, Taylor Howard, and Rungood Ambassador Ben Ludlow. They will have one final chance to make the money in the final flight, beginning at 5 p.m.

Play ended with 25:13, left on the clock in Level 16 with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante in Day 1a. The players will return at this level unless a subsequent flight ends earlier than this one.

Reporting will now go on a break. Come back in a couple of hours to see coverage continue with our night flight.
Level 15: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 Ante

Poker.ORG's Terrance Reid raised to 16,000 in the cutoff and on the button, Tanner Rose moved all in for 111,000 which saw action fold back around to Reid who called.

Tanner Rose: QQ

Terrance Reid: 1010

The board ran out K8J4J and the queens held up for Rose to double while the RunGood Ambassador was left with just a few chips.

He was eliminated shortly after and will not be able to repeat his third place finish from last year's RGPS Graton Main.
President Joe Biden wished moms a happy Mothers Day, while Trump posted rally pictures and quotes from Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

President Biden posted on X, My mother instilled in us the notion that there wasnt anything we couldnt do. I miss her every day, but especially on Mothers Day. To extraordinary mothers everywhere, I hope your day is filled with love and joy.

Thats nice and very presidential.

Meanwhile, Trump took a break from pictures that deceptively exaggerated his New Jersey rally crowd size to post on Truth Social:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio: I again repeat that Donald Trump is my one and only hero in my lifetime.

Trump has, as of the time of this articles publication, posted nothing about Mothers Day. Women are the majority in the United States, and while not every woman is a mom, every person in the country has a mom.

This is where Trump consistently fails the most basic elements of politics. At every turn, Donald Trump does not show any ability to care about another human being, and that is not a quality that any American should want in a president.

Trump has already shown women what he thinks about them with the Access Hollywood tape, being held liable for rape, and on the policy front, stripping away reproductive freedom from a majority of the population.

A person who cant care about others isnt going to care about you if he returns to the White House.

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If you are in a position to donate purely to help us keep the doors open on PoliticusUSA during what is a critical election year, please do so here.

We have been honored to be able to put your interests first for 14 years as we only answer to our readers and we will not compromise on that fundamental, core PoliticusUSA value.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) lost it and started yelling at Kristen Welker on Meet The Press when she pointed out that Biden is doing the same thing that Ronald Reagan did in limiting weapons transfers.

Transcript via Meet The Press:



KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, historians would say, Why is it okay for Reagan to do it and not President Biden? But let me ask you about 

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Well, whys it okay 

KRISTEN WELKER:

 the big deal 

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

 well, can I say this? Why is it okay for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Why was it okay for us to do that? I thought it was okay. To Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Senator, again, military officials say 

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Whatever you 

KRISTEN WELKER:

 the technology 

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

 have to do 

KRISTEN WELKER:

 has changed. But let me ask you about how all 

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yeah, these 

KRISTEN WELKER:

 of this could impact 

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

 military officials that youre talking about 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you something 

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

 are full of crap.

Video of Graham:

Sen. Lindsey Graham loses his temper on #MTP starts screaming about Hiroshima, and then says, These military officials that youre talking about are full of crap. *This outburst was caused by military officials who said Israel could do more to prevent civilian deaths.* pic.twitter.com/O25WRBahTT  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 12, 2024

Kristen Welker asked a perfectly reasonable question. Why was it fine for Ronald Reagan to limit the types of weapons that will be shipped, but it is horrible when Joe Biden does it?

Sen. Graham didnt want to answer the question, so he blew up.

The decision not provide offensive weapons to Israel is nothing like Hiroshima from a policy perspective. Lindsey Graham knows better, which what makes his hyperbolic comparison so outrageous. The Palestinians are the people who are suffering mass casualties, and the Palestinian people are not in the midst of a war with Israel.

What Lindsey Graham is for Biden to provide offensive weapons to Israel so that Netanyahu can kill more innocent people. Instead of trying to end the bloodshed, Graham wants to increase the killing.

Sen. Graham got outraged because his position didnt match the historical precedent or the facts.
The Hospital Auxiliary of Aiken County recently donated to support scholarships for students enrolled in Aiken Technical Colleges nursing, medical assisting and expanded duty dental assisting programs.

"The Hospital Auxiliary of Aiken County is pleased to continue funding seven nursing, medical assisting and dental assisting scholarships at Aiken Tech this year with a $9,000 donation. Included are funds to help students in those majors meet unexpected financial needs during the school year, said Allen Radcliffe, the auxiliarys scholarship chair. The auxiliary understands the important contributions of Aiken Tech graduates in these fields in helping provide quality healthcare services to residents in the Aiken area.

Over the past 18 years, the Hospital Auxiliary of Aiken County has contributed nearly $100,000 to support Aiken Tech students pursuing nursing and allied health majors.

+10 Aiken Regional Medical Centers honors auxiliary volunteers with luncheon Aiken Regional Medical Centers honored Hospital Auxiliary volunteers with a Volunteer Apprec

The ATC Foundation is grateful for the continued scholarship support for nursing and allied health careers. The Hospital Auxiliarys expansion to also donate funds to support student emergency needs speaks to their commitment to ATC students and health care in Aiken County, said ATC Foundation Director Dr. Beth Sacksteder.

For more information about ways individuals and organizations can support scholarships and other student needs, visit www.atc.edu/foundation/give.
Houndslake Country Club provided the setting for an honor society of local businesses Oct. 11, playing host to Aiken Standard's annual "Aiken's Choice" event and with salutes going out to some events and organizations that have become household names and other that are relatively new kids on Read more'Very honored': Aiken's Choice event salutes businesses, events
Kuwait Oil Company has sealed an agreement with the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy (MEWRE), for the linking of 1GW renewable energy plants to the national electricity grid.

KOC had earlier announced that it will be setting up the renewable energy plants (with a mix of solar and wind energy) to boost the power supply to the company's facilities.

The agreement was inked by Ahmed Jaber Al Eidan, the CEO of Kuwait Oil Company, and Maha Al Asousi, the acting undersecretary of MEWRE, in the presence of senior officials.

The MoU aims to coordinate between the relevant entities and overcome the challenges facing KOC and the MEWRE regarding the implementation of renewable energy projects.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Al Eidan lauded the leadership for its support for the project and pointed out that it was part of the KOC's efforts to develop its operations in line with the vision of New Kuwait 2035.

Al Asousi said the new plants being built by KOC will help contribute to cutting carbon emissions and relieving the load on the national grid.

Under this deal, the duo will form a joint working team tasked with developing concepts and plans to implement the energy transition strategy and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, she added.-TradeArabia News Service
The aggressor country Russia, despite Western economic sanctions, has the ability to modernize its own weapons. This is mainly due to copying samples of Western weapons.

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This opinion was expressed by Mykola Sunhurovskyi, director of military programs at the Razumkov Center and military expert, in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA. "The fact that Russia is able to modernize its weapons, in particular missiles, is a consequence of the fact that this country, despite numerous sanctions, is not completely isolated from the supply of the components it needs," he said.

The expert said that he is skeptical about the Russian military-industrial complex's own developments. "In most cases, they are copied from Western models," he assured.

In this context, Sunhurovskyi recalled a phrase Putin said in 2019, "We'll wait until the Americans spend money on new technologies, and then tsap-tsarap (hinting at stealing)."

"It is on the basis of such stolen technologies that Russian ones are being developed," the expert said.

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He added that due to the enormous amount of destroyed energy infrastructure, Ukraine's domestic defense industry is in a difficult situation as it is critically dependent on electricity. At the same time, the expert is convinced that there are other options for establishing mass production of modern weapons in Ukraine, including at enterprises located abroad.
It all began with a caricature of a pot-bellied man with the words Poddy rules the world graffitied in Houston in the late 1950s.

Poddy creator Gilbert Shelton, then a teenager, would channel his rebel creativity to become a famous underground cartoonist and receive worldwide recognition for his comics, most notably the popular series The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

"The Righteous Gemstones" actor John Goodman gives his voice to the new adaptation of Freak Bros., now streaming on Tubi. He's joined by Woody Harrelson, Pete Davidson, Adam DeVine, Blake Anderson, Tiffany Haddish and Phil LaMarr of "Futurama."

Charleston-based cinematographer Gavin Shelton organized an exhibit entitled Poddy Rules the World to display May 17-19 at Hed Hi Studio downtown to celebrate his uncle Gilbert Sheltons enduring work.

Gilbert created the character named Poddy Passumquoddy, who was stylistically influenced by the New Yorker illustrator Virgil Partch, who was parroting Picasso, Gavin Shelton told The Post and Courier.

Since 2020, Gavin Shelton has been carrying out a research project to gain a greater understanding of his uncles vast body of work and far-reaching influence. This labor of love will find its culmination in the upcoming exhibition.

Attendees can wander through Hed Hi and see art panels of Gilbert Sheltons artistic process, as well as assorted posters, underground newspapers and, of course, copious comics.

I'm trying to connect with people in Charleston who love his stuff and who want to see the source material, Gavin Shelton said.

The Hed Hi exhibit will display art boards of Gilbert Sheltons comics bearing pencil and ink marks, white-out and notes he wrote to himself.

One big win for Gavin Shelton is the inclusion of the 1968 Freak Brothers comic that debuted Gilbert Sheltons well-known phrase, "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."
Whether youre a fan of fiction or the real deal, fall is full of amazing selections. This week, just a few youll love. For more book info, along with upcoming events and all the new fall releases, visit Main Street Reads, Summervilles independent bookstore, your local library or shop sma Read moreSummerville Reads: Fall into fiction with must-read picks for every book lover
The Summerville Orchestras 2024-25 season begins Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4-5, with what is described as a warm, inviting Welcome Back concert featuring Dvoraks Symphony No. 8, Gershwins Overture to Girl Crazy and more. Season tickets are $90 for adults and $6 for students under 18. Individual tickets are $25 for adults and $2 for students. All subscription series concerts are at the Summers Corner Performing Arts Center. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit www.summervilleorchestra.org or call 843-873-5339.
Hazel was born September 20, 1932 in Hatch Bend, Florida, a town that was founded by her grandfather. She was the youngest of six. She grew up on a farm, which had no electricity until she was in grade school. Her chores included plucking chickens and helping her brothers skin squirrels. As  Read moreObituary Hazel Lee Carlton
You know how Charlestonians get when they see snow falling? That was Pickens Rep. Neal Collins the morning Tropical Storm Helene arrived at his Easley home. He stood in his garage and shot video of the rain. I woke up before my 5am alarm with unexpected excitement, he posted on social medi Read moreScoppe: 'We are being manipulated by people who don't have our best interests at heart'
The Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region may be a deliberate deception by the Kremlin. Some experts believe that in this way Russia is encouraging Ukraine to move units from the Donetsk sector to these areas.

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This was reported by Forbes. Probably, in this way, the Kremlin wants to distract the attention of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to focus on its strategic goals in Donbas.

Many experts expected Russian troops to launch a major offensive on May 9. On Thursday morning, Russian troops on BMP and MT-LB armored vehicles crossed the northern border of Ukraine, entering Kharkiv region. Ukrainian drones and artillery quickly destroyed the enemy vehicles.

The units of the 11th and 44th Army Corps of the Russian Federation managed to advance a little and take up positions in the villages of Strilecha, Pylyne, Krasne, Morokhovets and Oliynykove.

"Many people doubted how Russian troops crossed the border so quickly. The answer is simple: the border is a gray zone with no troops or fortifications directly on the border line," the Ukrainian analytical group Frontelligence Insight said.

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It is noted that Ukraine has established defense structures a few kilometers south of the border and has deployed military units and territorial forces next to these structures. This gives them the ability to respond to any enemy actions along the border zone.

Therefore, analysts emphasize that statements about the collapse of the defense are premature and do not reflect the true situation. Unlike large mechanized units, Russian lightly armored small tactical groups located in small villages near the border can move relatively easily into the gray zone and seize control.

While there are some indications that the occupiers intend to strengthen their positions in several small border villages, there is no evidence that they are preparing for a major offensive against Kharkiv.

Finnish analyst Joni Askola suggested that significant progress in this area may not be the enemy's main goal. It could be just a deception aimed at diverting the attention of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from strategic points of control, such as Chasiv Yar and the towns west of Avdiivka. According to the expert, the enemy's tactical maneuver in the Kharkiv sector could lead to "a decrease in the availability of reserves to counter Russia's main offensive in the east."

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"It seems that the Russians are trying to sow panic and uncertainty in society, convincing the population of the threat that is coming from across the border," Frontelligence Insight notes.

As previously reported, Russian troops that launched an offensive in Kharkiv region are now focusing their efforts on trying to quickly isolate the battlefield on the left bank of the Siversky Donets. One of the key goals for the invaders is to capture Vovchansk.

As a reminder, ISW has revealed what Putin is counting on with his offensive in Kharkiv region. Analysts believe that the dictator is assessing the risks, prospects and timing of offensive operations in the north of Kharkiv region, relying on the limited capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He and the Russian military command believe that due to a lack of resources, Ukraine "cannot and will not be able" to liberate the territory seized by Russian troops.

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LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2024 / BlackCardCoin is an emerging platform in crypto spending. In the latest record, the company has announced its new developments aimed at reshaping the landscape of digital finance. With a vision to make cryptocurrency transactions as seamless as traditional banking, BlackCardCoin is launching innovative features and services that empower users worldwide.With the new development, BlackCardCoin introduces the BlackCard, a zero-fee crypto credit card designed to eliminate the barriers associated with traditional crypto spending. With instant activation and unlimited spending capabilities, users can now utilize their digital assets effortlessly, whether shopping online or in-store. This unique card marks a significant step towards bridging the gap between fiat and crypto currencies, offering utmost convenience and flexibility.At BlackCardCoin, security remains a top priority at BlackCardCoin. Leveraging encryption and security measures, BlackCardCoin ensures that every transaction is safeguarded against potential threats. Users can enjoy peace of mind knowing that their personal data and assets are protected at all times, making BlackCardCoin the first choice for secure crypto transactions.Furthermore, BlackCardCoin is not just a card service; it's a growing ecosystem dedicated to maximizing the potential of digital currencies. With the upcoming launch of BlackCardChain, a dedicated blockchain platform, users can expect enhanced security and efficiency in their transactions. Additionally, a cross-chain interoperability framework will connect users with multiple crypto assets, further expanding the possibilities for seamless and interconnected transactions.Moving forward, community engagement is at the heart of everything the team does. By joining the BlackCardCoin community, users become pioneers in a financial evolution, shaping the future of crypto spending. Through active participation and feedback, users play a vital role in driving the continuous evolution of BlackCardCoin's services and features.Consequently, BlackCardCoin prioritizes the standards of security and encryption to safeguard the assets and personal information. With the security protocols, users can rest assured that their transactions are protected against potential threats, allowing them to transact with peace of mind. BlackCardCoin functions as a catalyst for transforming how individuals interact with digital currencies.About the Company - BlackCardCoin:BlackCardCoin is a prominent provider of innovative solutions in crypto spending, offering users a seamless and rewarding experience in managing their digital assets. With a focus on user-centric design and cutting-edge technology, BlackCardCoin is committed to shaping the future of finance through continuous innovation and community engagement.Potential crypto traders can visit the following links for further updates:Website | X | TelegramMedia Details:Company Name: BlackCardCoinWebsite: http://blackcardcoin.com/ Email: info@ blackcardcoin.com Address: 128, City Road, London, ECIV 2NX. UK.SOURCE: BlackCardCoin
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2024 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized law firm, notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Harbor Diversified, Inc. ("Harbor Diversified" or "the Company") (OTC PINK:HRBR) and certain of its officers.Class Definition:This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Harbor Diversified securities between May 10, 2022 and March 29, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: bgandg.com/HRBR Case Details:According to the Complaint, Harbor Diversified describes itself as "a non-operating holding company that is the parent of a consolidated group of subsidiaries, including AWAC Aviation, Inc. (AWAC'), which is the sole member of Air Wisconsin Airlines LLC (Air Wisconsin'), a regional air carrier. Harbor is also the direct parent of three other subsidiaries: (1) Lotus Aviation Leasing, LLC (Lotus'), which leases flight equipment to Air Wisconsin, (2) Air Wisconsin Funding LLC (AWF'), which provides flight equipment financing to Air Wisconsin, and (3) Harbor Therapeutics, Inc. (Therapeutics'), which is a non-operating entity with no material assets." The Complaint alleges that Harbor Diversified made materially false and/or misleading statements because the Company misrepresented and failed to disclose the following adverse facts pertaining to the Company's business, operations, and prospects, which were known to Defendants or recklessly disregarded by them. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:(1) Harbor Diversified's financial statements from May 9, 2022 to the present were misstated due to improper revenue recognition;(2) Harbor Diversified lacked adequate internal controls; and(3) as a result, Harbor Diversified's statements about its business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all times.The truth began to emerge, according to the Complaint, on March 29, 2024, when Harbor Diversified filed with the SEC a current report on Form 8-K in which it announced that certain of its previously-issued financial statements would need to be restated as a result of improper revenue recognition. Further, Harbor Diversified disclosed a material weakness in its internal controls that has the company's management evaluating "appropriate remediation actions." On this news, according to the Complaint, the price of Harbor Diversified stock fell by $0.28 per share, or14.25% , to close at $1.73 on April 1, 2024.Therefore, the Complaint further alleges that as a result of Defendants' wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Harbor Diversified's common shares, investors have suffered significant losses and damages.What's Next?A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm's site: bgandg.com/HRBR or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Client Relations Manager, Nathan Miller, of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 332-239-2660. If you suffered a loss in Harbor Diversified you have until July 8, 2024, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff.There is No Cost to YouWe represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys' fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman:Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide.Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.CONTACT: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLCPeretz Bronstein or Nathan Miller,332-239-2660 | info@ bgandg.com SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz and Grossman, LLC
Movie Title: Water and Garri

Date of Release: 10 May 2024

Director: Meiji Alabi

Cast: Tiwa Savage, Mike Afolarin, Andrew Bunting, and Jemima Osunde

The movie Water & Garri, inspired by Tiwa Savages 2021 EP of the same name, falls short of delivering the sweetness audiences anticipated.

While the EP itself and the subsequent album were a musical masterpiece, the same cannot be said about the movie, as it fails to capture the essence that made it special.

At the core of any successful film lies its story, and unfortunately, this is where Water and Garri falters.

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Despite the promising premise, the movie struggles to translate the EPs brilliance onto the screen. It lacks the narrative depth and emotional resonance needed to captivate viewers truly.

As a result, what could have been a compelling screen experience ultimately feels lacking in substance.

While Tiwas musical prowess is unquestionable, her venture into filmmaking with Water & Garri leaves much to be desired, leaving audiences craving the sweetness promised but never entirely delivered.

Plot

Water & Garri narrates the story of Ashia, a young girl on a path to finding her destiny in life. The movie opens with a scene where a young man is being chased around in the night in a slummy area, and after running in through the nooks and crannies of the streets, he ends up being shot. The narrator, Ashia, tells us not to pity him because he has met his karma for killing her brother.

Ashia had a successful career as a fashion designer in Los Angeles, but she received a sceptical call from her cousin, Stephannie, who broke the news that she lost her brother Niyi.

Three months later, Ashia had to return to the Eastside, where she was raised by her grandmother, Yemi, alongside her brother, Ayomide. Returning to Eastside wasnt easy for Ashia, as almost everything seems to have changed since she departed ten years ago.

Upon returning to Eastside with all her childhood memories: the loss of her grandmother, the childhood of growing up with her brother Mide, and her love journey with Kay as a teenage girl.

She reunites with Kay, her teenage lover, who is now the head of the gang terrorising the entire Eastside. Their love sparkles again, and he shows her the whole city, riding her downtown on his bike.

Unfortunately, their supposed reunion flickers as Kay encounters and challenges a young man whom he perceives to be an opposition or a threat. The night did not end well for the lovebird. But as she grapples with her love affair with Kay, would her return to Eastside make any difference in her life?

Character Analysis

Water & Garri features Tiwa in the lead role as Aisha, a thriving fashion designer, supported by actors such as Mike Afolarin from Far From Home, Andrew Bunting of Dynamite fame, and Jemima Osunde, known for her role in New Money.

Directed by Meji Alabi, the film boasts a soundtrack enriched by the musical talents of Ayra Starr, Black Sherif, Olamide, and Young Jonn.

Tiwas talent is undeniable, and her voice captivates hearts worldwide. However, her foray into acting in Water & Garri left much to be desired. While her inherent charm is evident in music, it didnt quite hit the mark in acting. Despite her lovable charm, her portrayal of Aisha lacked the depth and finesse the character demanded.

On the other hand, Andrew Buntys performance didnt favour the film. He stumbled over his lines and couldnt quite muster the charisma needed for his character, Kay, leaving his acting flat.

Buntys performance felt stagnant, failing to inject the necessary energy and charisma into his role. Consequently, the overall impact of his acting left viewers wanting, unable to engage with the characters journey fully.

Movie Analysis

Tiwa embarked on producing the movie to unveil the inspiration behind her album title, Water & Garri. However, after 80 minutes of vivid visuals, lacklustre storytelling, a predictable soundtrack, and flat acting, I scratched my head, unable to grasp the movies essence.

The very first scene of Kay running from an unseen chaser, but later being shot, had some intrigues that could keep the audience longing for more, but five minutes into the movie or less, the audience loses appetite in the movie because the film lacks the necessary element to keep anyone spell bent.

While Water & Garri may be a generic phrase in Nigeria, the movies concept, theme, and values seem far-fetched.

Although there are no laid down rules to filmmaking, there are sins to filmmaking, and the cardinal sin is for a film to be boring; in this movie, Garri and Water, as generic as it may be, loses its taste.

The movie suffered several unforgivable sins; for instance, there is no connection between the first scene and the last scene, despite both scenes narrating the same thing.

In the first scene, we get the idea that Kay was chased and after so much hide and seek, he was later shot. But in the last scene, he had just ridden down from his bike when he was unprecedentedly shot.

Despite the intentions behind the consistent flashbacks to enhance narrative clarity, they inadvertently disrupted the movies flow, causing a discordance in its sequence. Rather than offering answers, they left viewers with more questions, ultimately muddling the storytelling experience.

The premises for Aishas return to Eastsicentredered around her cousin Stephanies loss of her brother Niyi lacked substantial depth. Additionally, the narrative discrepancy regarding Kays role in Niyis death, coupled with Aishas initial conviction that Kay deserved punishment, only to reveal her ignorance about Kays involvement later, created a sense of confusion.

Furthermore, the rationale behind Kays demise felt disjointed and inconsistent with the plot.

The director can also not be spared for his lack of directorial vision in the movie. Although Mr Alabi, the movie director, has worked more on music video directing, his efforts in Water & Garri could more or less be described as amateur and without needed depth.

However, if one thing truly shines in this film, it would be the cinematography.

The movie, set against the backdrop of Ghanas Cape Coast, was a visual treat. With its cinematic flair, it captured the essence of the location impeccably.

Despite much of the action in the slums, the imagery was vibrant, boasting a rich palette that beautifully showcased the communities portrayed in the movie.

One could aptly interpret the movie Water & Garri in Nigerian colloquial terms as Water don pass Garri, signifying the disappointing outcome when a weak script collides with mediocre acting.

Verdict:

4/10

Water and Garri  Official Trailer | Prime Video Naija (youtube.com)

Water & Garri is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video

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Members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have elected a new set of leaders to pilot the affairs of the association for the next two years.

The association disclosed this in a statement issued on its website on Sunday.

According to the body, the election was conducted at the 2024 Annual Delegates Meeting held in Calabar, Cross River State capital.

New officers

According to the association, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, Bauchi State, Bala Audu, emerged as the president of the association, while the

Founder of the Benjamin Olowojebutu Foundation, Benjamin Olowojebutu, was elected the vice president.

Others who were elected include the Chairman of the Benue State chapter of the association, Usha Anenga, as vice president 2; Ben Egbo as secretary general; Wale Lasisi as the assistant secretary general; Celestine Ugwoke as treasurer; Harrison Omokhua as financial secretary, and Manir Bature as the national publicity secretary.

The delegates drawn from NMA branches in the country elected new officers to lead the NMA for the next two years, the association said.

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The new officers will lead the associations activities from 2024 to 2026, after which another cycle of leadership will emerge. Each leadership cycle of the NMA is expected to last for two years.

In the previous election, Uche Ojinmah, a consultant dermatologist, was elected president of the association along with some other members.

About new president

The new President, who is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, was with the University of Maiduguri and its teaching hospital until his appointment in 2017 as the Provost of the College of Medical Sciences at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. He was later appointed the Vice-Chancellor of The Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, in Bauchi State.

The new president, with a rich profile as an academic and a medical practitioner of longstanding, has trained and mentored many medical professionals in the country and beyond.

What NMA stands for

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) is the professional association for Nigerian doctors and physicians. The body has thousands of members and those in the diaspora.

According to Francis Faduyile, the associations president from 2018  2020, NMAs role is to complement the efforts of the federal government in promoting the advancement of health and allied sciences.

However, he noted that the agency is concerned about the welfare of its members.

And this is what pits us against the government.

READ ALSO: Resident doctors hail Governor Sani over salary payment

Over the years, the government has been known to not stick to agreements made; in fact, they often simply renege on these agreements

The health sector is peculiar in that discussions happen with unions at different times. This means that the governments agreement with Union A might be contradictory to an agreement made with Union D, he said.

NMAs efforts

In many cases, the leadership of the association is quick to lend its voice to issues affecting the health sector or the welfare of the workers.

In 2023, NMA kicked against the five-year compulsory service for medical and dental practitioners proposed by the House of Representatives to control the exodus of health workers.

The president at the time, Mr Ojinma, said the bill was not the solution to the pending crisis in the nations healthcare system. Instead, he asked that the government address the root cause of the exodus by improving the welfare of medical practitioners and the security challenges they grapple with.

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Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu on Saturday placed a N10 million bounty on the killers of two police officers in Enugu State, promising to fish out the culprits.

He said the government would use every resource at its disposal to bring the killers to book.

Mr Mbah announced the reward while briefing journalists after a State Security Council meeting at the Government House, Enugu, which also had in attendance the States Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu.

Others are the State Director, State Security Services, Theresa Egbunu; Garrison Commander, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, Murtala Abu; and the State Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Peter Ogar, among others.

Mr Mbah said available security information pointed toward the men of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), who came in several SUVs, among them a black Lexus SUV.

He, therefore, called on members of the public to be on the lookout for the criminals and the exhibits and report the same to security agencies.

We just rounded off our Security Council meeting where we discussed, among other things, the gruesome killing of our policemen, men of the Enugu State Police Command, by criminals suspected to be members of the ESN.

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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.

We have also placed a bounty of N10 million as a reward to anyone who would have any useful information that will lead to the arrest of these criminals, he said.

The governor enjoined members of the public to come forward or call the police and other security agencies with any useful information that could lead to the arrest of these criminals.

He added that there was no room to accommodate vagabonds and miscreants in the state.

We are going to do everything necessary to ensure that the ultimate sacrifice made by our valiant policemen does not go in vain.

Our condolences go to the bereaved families. I will also ensure that as government, we will provide the necessary support to the bereaved families, he said.

The governor vowed to come after those who murdered the police officers and other security agents with everything it had.

We are going to deploy all the necessary technology and forces within our powers to track, capture and defeat them.

Enugu State and indeed, with the support of the security agencies, we are going to make life uncomfortable for those who do not want to live in a decent society, he said.

(NAN)

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The Rivers State University in Port Harcourt has refuted claims that Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State asked the university authority not to accept a former state commissioner, who is on leave of absence, back to the institution.

Background

Zachaeus Adangor was the commissioner for justice and attorney-general in Rivers State.

Mr Adangor, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was a lecturer at the university before he was appointed commissioner in 2023 in the state.

But the former commissioner resigned from the position in April, hours after he was redeployed to the Ministry of Special Duties.

His resignation followed the political feud between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now the FCT minister.

On Thursday, Mr Adangor, while appearing as a guest on Channels TVs Politics Today, alleged that Mr Fubara directed the management of the university not to accept him back to the institution from his leave of absence.

University speaks

Reacting, the Acting Registrar of the university, I. B. S. Harry, in a statement forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday, explained that the former commissioner applied for a leave of absence to enable him to serve in the Rivers State Executive Council.

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Mrs Harry said, contrary to the claims, the former commissioner had yet to apply to the institution for resumption of duty since his resignation as commissioner.

We wish to state categorically that there has not been any directive by Siminalayi Fubara to the university management not to accept Prof Adangor back to his duties as claimed in the interview, she said.

The registrar asked Nigerians to ignore the claim by the former commissioner.

Political crisis

The feud between Messrs Fubara and Wike has been ongoing since last October after Mr Wike-backed members of the Rivers House of Assembly attempted to remove the governor 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 is loyal to Mr Wike, while the other members are loyal to Governor Fubara.

Mr Amaewhule is the speaker of the Mr Wike-backed faction.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the governors spokesperson, Chukwudi Nelson, in a statement on Wednesday, announced the emergence of Victor Oko-Jumbo as a factional speaker of the Rivers assembly.

Mr Oko-Jumbo, a member representing Bonny State Constituency, is backed by Mr Fubara.

But the Clerk of House, Emeka Amadi, would later disown Mr Oko-Jumbo as speaker, insisting that he and two others, who allegedly participated in his election, were suspended from the assembly in October last year.

In the heat of the crisis in October 2023, President Bola Tinubu brokered a controversial peace deal between Messrs Fubara and Wike.

But the deal appeared to have broken down after Mr Fubara declared the state assembly non-existent, saying he accepted the peace deal to give the lawmakers a floating.

In a fresh twist, a Rivers High Court, Port Harcourt, on Friday, barred Mr Amaewhule and 24 other lawmakers, loyal to Mr Wike, from parading themselves as members of the state assembly.

The suit was instituted by Mr Oko-Jumbo and two others  Goodboy Sokari and Timothy Orubienimigha.

The court adjourned the case till 29 May to hear the motion on notice.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that in another development, Mr Fubara issued an Executive Order, relocating Rivers Assembly to the Government House.

The Executive Order, dated 30 October 2023, surfaced days after the governor declared the assembly non-existent.

It also surfaced hours after Governor Fubaras spokesperson announced the election of Mr Oko-Jumbo as factional speaker of the assembly.

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The police in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, have highlighted some behavioural changes that could indicate if a child has joined or is likely to join a cult group.

They noted that understudying such behaviours is key to understanding and guiding children from either joining or continuing as a cultist.

The police spokesperson in the state, Tochukwu Ikenga, gave the hints in a statement as part of an anti-cult campaign by the police command in the state. He released the statement on Monday.

The anti-cult campaign by the police in Anambra State apparently follows the recent cult-related attacks and killings in Awka, the state capital.

Why the campaign

Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, explained that the police authorities in the state decided to embark on the campaign to help young Nigerians realise their potentials.

It is a known fact that Nigeria is blessed with vibrant, energetic, and enterprising people full of potential.

The potential can only be fully realised in a peaceful, secure environment. The Anambra Police Command shall sustain the fight against crime in the state through the advocacy platform of Police Campaign Against Cultism & Other Vices, he said.

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Behavioural changes to watch out for

The police spokesperson highlighted the following as behavioural changes to watch out for in a child:

Sudden changes in personality. For example, a person known to be an extrovert suddenly becomes introverted or vice-versa.

2. Asking questions or engaging in conversations with people and seeking their validation or justification for gangs or groups.

3. Suddenly being afraid and fascinated with or bearing weapons.

4. Sudden urge to seek justice through self-help and making open or subtle threats about avenging a rift.

ALSO READ: Police arrest four suspects over killing of rival cult member

5. Resort to the use of drugs and alcohol to get intoxicated, pains, and succumbing to peer pressure.

6. Suddenly staying away from home for days and staying late at night.

7. When your child is always on a longer call than necessary and surfing the internet in search of ways to cause pain to other people.

8. When your child becomes so interested in a group of friends especially with particular identification like colour, handshakes and hanging out.

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British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called Russia's breakthrough into the border areas of Kharkiv region "an extremely dangerous moment." He emphasized the importance of partners taking all possible measures to support Ukraine.

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He said this in an interview with Sky News. Cameron also suggested that American assistance could change the situation on the battlefield.

"This only emphasizes that we are talking about Putin's unjustified, illegal invasion of an independent, sovereign country. And now he has invaded it again from the north of Kharkiv. We must do everything we can to help Ukraine," the minister said.

Therefore, the Foreign Secretary emphasized the importance of the UK providing a 3 billion pound aid package for Ukraine per year.

In addition, during the interview, the British politician expressed the opinion that it would have been better if the $61 billion aid package from the United States to Ukraine had come earlier, as "Ukraine was suffering from a land war."

"We all need to do more, this is what the UK is doing, we are leading again. But American money will make a difference, so we must step in and give the Ukrainians the support they need," the British Foreign Secretary said.

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At the same time, Cameron emphasized that the Ukrainian military continues to demonstrate high morale.

"I was there the other day - their morale is still strong, they are still inflicting terrible losses on the Russians. If only the Russians could see how many people they are losing," he added.

As a reminder, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that the West's restraint only encourages the aggressors to escalate further. He called on NATO countries to take a tougher stance and increase defense spending.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported on Cameron's statement that Britain does not mind Ukraine using British weapons to strike at Russia. During his visit to Ukraine, he also promised about $3.74 billion in annual military aid to Kyiv - "as much as it takes."

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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.

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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

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The former Under-Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari, a professor, has called for a reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) including the democratisation of membership of the council.

Mr Gambari, former Chief of Staff to former President Mohammadu Buhari, spoke at the commemorative public lecture organised as part of the activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The event, which was hosted by Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, was organised by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Nigeria, Rwandan High Commission in Nigeria, and the ivory tower.

The former diplomat said the reform was important to curb the use or misuse of veto power accorded the five permanent member countries, and called for the the expansion of its membership in both permanent and non-permanent categories.

Current membership of security council

Five permanent members of the UNSC China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have veto powers over several issues, including all binding UN sanctions, peacekeeping operations, membership admissions, member expulsions, and Secretary-General selection.

Last month, the United States used its veto power to block the admission of Palestine into the UN as a member state, despite a vote of 12 in favour to one against, with two abstentions.

Mr Gambari said the reform was important to reflect todays economic demographic and political realities, adding that Africa needs to be fully represented and taken into consideration.

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Kwibuka 30

Speaking on the remembrance of the Rwandan genocide, Mr Gambari said the tragic event has taught Africans not to rely on the goodwill of the larger international community to police and resolve conflicts on their continent.

He said it was necessary for Africa to develop her own resources and mechanisms to initiate effective and robust engagements to resolve the problems of the continent.

The genocide in Rwanda had the additional and perhaps unintended consequence of reawakening governments in Africa to an appreciation of their own responsibility to protect, regarding civilian populations beyond their territorial borders, he was quoted to hve said in a statement by Oluseyi Soremekun, the National Information Officer, UN Information Centre.

UN Secretary-General, others speak

In his speech, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged everyone to shun hatred and discrimination and stand as one to ensure that the Rwandan event of 1994 is not repeated anywhere else.

On this solemn day of remembrance, lets pledge to stand as one against all forms of hatred and discrimination. Lets ensure that the acts that began on April 7 1994, are never forgotten  and never repeated. Anywhere, he said in a speech read by the UNIC National Information Officer, Oluseyi Soremekun.

We will never forget the victims of this genocide. Nor will we ever forget the bravery and resilience of those who survived, whose courage and willingness to forgive remain a burst of light and hope amidst this dark chapter in human history, he added.

The High Commissioner of the Rwandan High Commission in Nigeria, Christophe Bazivamo, noted that the path to lasting peace requires a constant fight against intolerance, discrimination, ethnic hatred, hate speech, genocide revisionism, and denial in all their forms.

Lets together ensure that the memory of the victims becomes a powerful force for good, inspiring future generations to choose peace over hate, unity over division, and hope over despair, he said.

He charged everyone to work together to build a world where such atrocities never happen again. Let us renew our commitment to the values of tolerance, compassion, human dignity in our transformative journey, continuously building a better future for all, he added.

In his remark, the Vice Chancellor, Covenant University, Abiodun Adebayo, a professor, said UN has always played a pivotal role in maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development, and uphold international law.

Todays reflection is critical because those who do not remember the past or mind history are predestined to repeat history. We remember, therefore, the heinous crime of inhumane treatment meted out not only to the Tutsi but the entire humanity that took place in Rwanda in 1994, he said.

The Chancellor of the university, David Oyedepo, a bishop and founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, charged African leaders to be sensitive to injustice to ensure peace and stability in the region.

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the requirements of a JAMB admission letter, NIN, and BVN are crucial in accessing the students loan in Nigeria. These requirements help to validate the academic status, identity, and financial history of loan applicants, thereby ensuring that funds are disbursed to genuine students who are committed to their education.

In Nigeria, the demand for higher education continues to rise, leading to an increasing need for financial assistance among students. One of the ways students can fund their education is through student loan schemes provided by government and financial institutions.

Having served as a lecturer and student advisor for over a decade, I have encountered numerous instances of ghost students within educational institutions. These individuals, though not spectral beings, are essentially fake students who either gained improper admission, deliberately forged admission letters or students ID cards or were removed from the schools records due to academic deficiencies. Rather than returning home, these ghost students linger on campuses, squandering valuable time.

With the advent of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), fake students pose a significant concern. While I have faith in NELFUNDs ability to address this problem through a diligent verification process, my apprehension lies in the repercussions of this grim reality on the affected students, their families, and society.

Nigerias path to prosperity has been fraught with challenges. Still, President Bola Tinubus Renewed Hope Agenda, especially his initiatives in education and youth development, has reignited my hope for a brighter future. Through the students loan programme, President Tinubu aims to ensure equitable access, completion, and outcomes for all Nigerian students in tertiary institutions. Therefore, allowing ghost students and impostors to infiltrate the loan system undermines the Presidents well-meaning policy.

NELFUND is committed to preventing ghost students from usurping opportunities meant for genuine and eligible applicants. This commitment extends to promoting inclusivity, accountability, transparency, and fairness in the loan disbursement process, regardless of gender, ethnicity, language, or religion.

Under the leadership of Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, NELFUND is committed to preventing ghost students from usurping opportunities meant for genuine and eligible applicants. This commitment extends to promoting inclusivity, accountability, transparency, and fairness in the loan disbursement process, regardless of gender, ethnicity, language, or religion. To ensure transparency and accountability in the disbursement of these loans, specific requirements such as a JAMB admission letter, the National Identification Number (NIN), and Bank Verification Number (BVN) have been put in place by the management.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) admission letter proves a students acceptance into a tertiary institution in Nigeria. Requiring this document for the students loan application helps to verify the legitimacy of the applicants academic status. It ensures that only eligible students who have gained admission into recognised institutions can access funding for their education. This helps to prevent fraud, misrepresentation, and the diversion of funds meant for genuine students.

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The National Identification Number (NIN) is a unique identification number issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). Requiring NIN for the students loan application helps to establish the identity of the applicant and prevents multiple applications or fraudulently obtained loans. It also enables the government and financial institutions to track and monitor loan recipients, thereby ensuring accountability in using borrowed funds. In addition, linking the NIN to the students loan helps to streamline the loan application process and reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks.

The Bank Verification Number (BVN) is a biometric identification system introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to curb fraud in the banking sector. Requiring the BVN for the students loan application helps to link the students stipend disbursements directly to the borrowers bank account, providing a secure and transparent channel for funds disbursement. The BVN verification also helps to confirm the financial history of the loan applicant.

Non-compliance with these requirements not only hinders students access to funding but also undermines the integrity of the student loan scheme. It can lead to the misallocation of resources, delays in loan processing, and the potential misuse of funds by unqualified individuals.

Applicants who fail to provide a JAMB admission letter, NIN, and BVN for their students loan applications may be disqualified from accessing financial assistance for their education. Non-compliance with these requirements not only hinders students access to funding but also undermines the integrity of the student loan scheme. It can lead to the misallocation of resources, delays in loan processing, and the potential misuse of funds by unqualified individuals. Therefore, students need to ensure that they meet all the necessary criteria to qualify for loans and contribute to a transparent and efficient higher education funding system.

To curb fraudulent activities by ghost students, NELFUND has implemented the following measures:

1. Direct payment of tuition loans to institutions, with monthly stipends disbursed directly to the applicants.

2. The requirement for three key officers, the Vice Chancellor/Rector, the Registrar and Bursar, at institutions to confirm studentship before loans are disbursed to these institutions.

3. Utilisation of biometric verification methods, including fingerprint, iris scans, facial recognition, PINs, and mobile devices for authentication.

4. One-time passwords (OTPs) sent via SMS or email.

5. Collaborations with relevant educational bodies and government agencies for seamless communication and data verification.

6. Regular database audits to cross-check applicant information against institutional records.

7. Exclusion of students with criminal convictions from the loan scheme through data sharing with security and academic institutions.

8. Establishment of a rigorous monitoring system, including on-site inspections at educational institutions to confirm the presence of loan beneficiaries.

In conclusion, the requirements of a JAMB admission letter, NIN, and BVN are crucial in accessing the students loan in Nigeria. These requirements help to validate the academic status, identity, and financial history of loan applicants, thereby ensuring that funds are disbursed to genuine students who are committed to their education. Non-compliance with these requirements will result in disqualification from the students loan scheme and prevent students from accessing the financial support they need to pursue their academic aspirations. Therefore, students must adhere to these requirements and contribute to the integrity and sustainability of the students loan system in Nigeria.

Frederick Femi Akinfala is the executive director of Finance and Administration at NELFUND.

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It is obvious that President Tinubu is not medically alright. It will be foolhardy of us as a people to expect a man who, by his own claim, is 72 years old, to have the agility and health of a youth. But Nigerians deserve to know what ails their president. We will pray for him. Like the man next door, he is human, capable of taking ill and dying. It will be inhuman to scoff at his health.

Last week, Nigeria was faced with what Yoruba call egbinrin ote. When afflictions come in multiples, they become a plague. A plague is almost synonymous with the Yorubas egbinrin ote. Literally, egbinrin ote are leaves of conspiracy. When you pluck a single leaf out of the branch of a tree of conspiracy, another leaf sprouts immediately to replace it. In any attempt at striking one down, multiple leaves grow from it.

On Tuesday, the country literally went into a feverish frenzy. Nigerias Central Bank had shot up the whole nations adrenaline by a considerable measure. In a circular, the bank directed all banks to begin the implementation of an amended 2015 Cybersecurity Act, which levies 0.05 per cent on all electronic transactions payable to the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA). The same week, the back-and-forth between the abducted editor of FirstNews, Segun Olatunji and Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to the president, reached its denouement. That same week, tempers boiled at a high Fahrenheit over the detention and release from a police cell after ten days of Nigerian investigative journalist, Daniel Ojukwu. As the week wound to a close, President Bola Tinubu, who we were praying hadnt sunk into the Bermuda Triangle, as his whereabouts were unknown for about seven days, suddenly emerged. No questions were asked; no apology was given. And everybody lived happily thereafter. In the same week, the swollen wound on the leg of Rivers State suddenly burst open. The reeking smell that oozed out of it caused the world to hold a handkerchief to its nose.

Nigeria was that egbinrin ote. Last week, as citizens contended with one bad shoot, another tree node opened, and before we knew it, multiple sprouts of afflictions shot out. As we contended with what was almost becoming a pestilential plague of Nigerian presidents suddenly disappearing from the radar, another plague sprouted. And on, and on. It was almost a plague per day. One after the other, afflictions rose a second, third, fourth and multiple times.

Since President Muhammadu Buhari, the opera of Nigerian presidents suddenly disappearing without trace seemed to have become a staple on the national menu. In March, 2021, Buhari had disappeared from the radar for routine medical checkup. Earlier, in March 2017, the then 74-year-old president suddenly reappeared on the radar, after unceremoniously disappearing for seven weeks. He had jetted to the UK to treat an ailment which, till he left office, remained undisclosed. The rumour that followed this non-disclosure was intriguing. Some cynics wickedly alleged that the character that was flown back to Nigeria after weeks of treatment in a UK hospice was a Buhari doppelganger from Sudan. They maintained that the original had passed on. Buhari too didnt help matters. Anytime his minders failed to put on the latch and he spoke ex-tempore, the president inflicted a public relations migraine on them. He veered off course into irrelevances like a wandering evil spirit.

As a result of his disappearing acts, in an earlier piece I did entitled, The president is a sick man: Buharis secret surgeries inside Oneida yacht (April 4, 2021), I traced the history of presidents who went AWOL, dwelling particularly on Africa. Permit me to reproduce it here. The President Is A Sick Man is the title of a book written by Philadelphia-born award-winning American journalist, Matthew Algeo. It is a chronology of the medical travails of President Grover Cleveland, a lawyer, statesman and one of the most famous public speakers of his time. Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States of America, from 1885 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897. The book chronicles how the health of a president and the health of the nation are inexorably linked.

Cleveland was Americas first and only two non-consecutive-terms president in history. He was also the first democrat to become the American president in 28 years. Famously renowned for always speaking the truth, he was regarded as a very virtuous man, so much that his most memorable quotation, ramped up into a cliche, was tell the truth. America was later to find out that, wrapped up inside that Cleveland shawl of telling the truth was the most untruthful cover-up in American history, far more scandalous than Watergate. What revealed Clevelands real persona was his battle with mouth cancer and an extraordinary, even if political cover-up of this infirmity that lasted almost a century, garnished with a successful attempt to keep it from the American people.

On 5 May, 1893, two weeks shy of his 56th birthday, and the second day of his swearing in for a second term, Cleveland noticed a rough spot on the roof of his mouth which, by the prodding of his wife, Frances, prompted the invitation of the presidents friend, New York surgeon and Cleveland family physician, Dr Joseph Decatur Bryant, to look it up. Bryant diagnosed oral tumour, which was malignant in nature, an ulcerated surface with an oval outline about the size of a quarter of a dollar. He called it a bad looking tenant that should be evicted post-haste.

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Drawing shawls on the health status of African leaders today, while they suddenly disappear to undertake their own surgeries inside Clevelands type of Oneida yacht has a history behind it. It is the mentality of the continuation of the great empires and monarchies of Africa, where kings were perceived to be super-human, infallible, and incapable of falling prey to the afflictions of plebeians and the common people.

President Cleveland was thoroughly afraid. His fear, articulated by Bryant, was that if the cancer had gone into metastasis, the lower part of his left eye socket would be removed during surgery, thus permanently impairing his vision. As such, on 1 July, 1893, Cleveland got lost inside the Oneida, his friend, Commodore Elias Benedicts yacht. For five good days, he was declared missing. William Williams Keen, Americas most famous and celebrated surgeon of the time and a team of other surgeons, performed the surgery to remove the cancerous tumour that had grown dangerously and embarrassingly on the presidents upper jaw and palate. The most shocking aspect of it was that, one very enterprising newspaper reporter, EJ Edwards, later got the information and reported the secret surgery. Clevelands own Bayo Onanugas descended on the journalist with the highest acerbity ever. They even labeled him a disgrace to journalism. It was not until decades later that one of Clevelands surgeons exposed the startling disappearance.

I told this long story so as to bring to the fore the Nigerian and African experience of the Cleveland disease. It is not to focus on the disappearance acts of presidents per se but the stunt of keeping their ailments out of the peoples knowledge. While some may argue that the Cleveland covert surgery legitimises many similar situations in Africa, the fact that this happened in America, in the dark age of the 19th century, delegitimises such argument.

Drawing shawls on the health status of African leaders today, while they suddenly disappear to undertake their own surgeries inside Clevelands type of Oneida yacht has a history behind it. It is the mentality of the continuation of the great empires and monarchies of Africa, where kings were perceived to be super-human, infallible, and incapable of falling prey to the afflictions of plebeians and the common people. African leaders, seeing themselves in same mould of kings and emperors, believe that they must not be heard having failing health, nor should their health statuses be made public. In what other way can it be said to them that, no matter ones status in life, no one is immune to death and health failings? This trend that I call the Kabiyesi mentality, has bred a pandemic of leaders of Africa who, almost like Cleveland, abdicate their thrones covertly to seek remedies abroad, without the knowledge of their people.

In October, 2016, President Peter Mutharika of Malawi also disappeared from the radar. He was 76 years old. Like Tinubu, he had gone to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting mid-September and didnt return home until 16 October. This provoked speculations in Malawi that he had died, with his cagey aides failing to divulge his whereabouts. There were later disclosures through the grapevine that he had vamoosed to some parts of Europe to attend to his health. The same was the story of Gabonese President, Ali Bongo, son of Omar Bongo. At a time in November, 2018, Ali was said to have been seriously ill, with speculations rife that he had died after suffering from a massive stroke. He was just 59 years then. Findings however later revealed that he had not died but was holed up in a Saudi Arabia hospice.

Oil-rich Angolas Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who ruled the country from 1979 to 2017, also eloped to Spain. He had sought medical remedy to an undisclosed ailment in May 2017. It was after about three weeks of his noticeable absence from the public that his foreign minister, after pressure from the opposition, confirmed his unceremonious absence. In the same vein, until his death at age 95, Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe was always dashing in and out of Singaporean hospitals. Benin Republics Patrice Talon was like our own military leader, Ibrahim Babangida, who disclosed to the whole world that he was afflicted by a disease called radiculopathy. After the 59-year old president, who took over from Thomas Yayi-Boni, disappeared from the radar for about three weeks, his minders, on 19 June, 2017, released information that he had undergone two successful surgical operations in Paris. They said doctors had found a lesion in his prostate. This further necessitated another surgery in his digestive system.

As straightforward as President Umaru YarAdua was, his major blight was the non-disclosure of his health status. It is obvious that President Tinubu is not medically alright. It will be foolhardy of us as a people to expect a man who, by his own claim, is 72 years old, to have the agility and health of a youth. But Nigerians deserve to know what ails their president. We will pray for him. Like the man next door, he is human, capable of taking ill and dying. It will be inhuman to scoff at his health.

Apart from Tinubus appearance and disappearing acts, the second egbinrin ote that afflicted Nigeria last week was the CBN levy. Yes, the hues and cries over this levy are petering out, but we need to know what lies in the minds of current Nigerian leaders. Some have labeled the Tinubu administration an Agbalowomeri government. Literally, an Agbalowomeri is one who squeezes the blood of the needy for their own existence. This sobriquet was made famous by JF Odunjos 1958 iconic book, Agbalomeri Baale Jontolo. In it, a wealthy village head named Agbalowomeri greedily forced his subjects to patronise him, in spite of their poverty. He gladly enjoyed the pain the people went through. He met his waterloo thereafter. A clearer insight of the persona of an Agbalowomeri was provided by D. Olu Olagoke in his famous The Incorruptible Judge play. Therein, Ajala, a young job-seeker, is forced to offer bribe for employment as a Clerk in the Government Development Department. The demand of a kola of 5 was made from an indigent Ajala by a top civil servant, Mr Agbalowomeri who, unbeknown to him, was collecting marked money in what was a sting operation by the police. The police then swooped on him.

Those who voted Tinubu in the light of his testimonial of having fought the military for its repression of free speech are getting aghast at his governments sagging human rights records. The examples of FirstNews Olatunji and FIJs Ojukwu cast a dark patch on whatever democratic credentials Tinubu parades. Let us be clear on this: No person in their right senses should encourage yellow journalism where untruth and sensationalism are deified above facts.

Yes, Buhari left a shell, and Tinubu inherited a parlous economy that was heading to kiss the canvass. The fact however remains that this government has been grossly anti-poor people in its policies of close to one year. It seems to take delight in mass pauperisation. But for governments unfeeling desire to inflict pain on the people, the provisions of Section 42(2)(a) of the Cybercrime (Provision, Prevention etc.) (Amended) Act 2024 are unambiguous and clear enough. They are that, business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act and not ordinary Nigerians, are meant to pay the CBN levy.

Now comes the next plague. Those who voted Tinubu in the light of his testimonial of having fought the military for its repression of free speech are getting aghast at his governments sagging human rights records. The examples of FirstNews Olatunji and FIJs Ojukwu cast a dark patch on whatever democratic credentials Tinubu parades. Let us be clear on this: No person in their right senses should encourage yellow journalism where untruth and sensationalism are deified above facts.

Our laws, however, provide for the due process of apportioning legal comeuppances on yellow journalism. They, in the same vein, frown at Sani Abachas Colonel Frank Omenkas methos of antediluvian prosecutorial horror. Omeka thrived in locking victims up in dark cellars and allegedly throwing some inside the lagoon for fish to devour. Olatunjis Gestapo-like arrest and his subjection to inhuman detention, as well as Ojukwus slam into detention without trial for ten days, are crude memories of Abacha. If Gbajabiamila knew the civilised route of seeking retraction and apologies for an offensive story, as he later demanded and got from the publishers of FirstNews, why was that route an anathema to him, ab initio?

The same goes for Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, a former senior special assistant to the president. She could have gone the legal route of suing FIJ and Ojukwu for their investigative story, which alleged that she transferred the sum of N147 million of government funds marked for school construction into a restaurants bank account. Why then get Ojukwu locked up like a common criminal for ten days? The way the Tinubu government is going, it is turning the Cybercrime (Provision, Prevention etc.) (Amended) Act 2024 into another Decree 4. That decree was the militarys weapon of inflicting weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth on the free press. All men and women of goodwill should disclaim this governments furtive opening of the exit door for Abacha to enter the democratic hall in Nigeria.

The last egbinrin ote occurred in the form of a story that also came to a frightening point last week. It is the unending tango between FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara. In an earlier piece I did with the title, As Fubara presses the nuclear button (17 December, 2023), I laid the blame of the protracted crisis squarely where it belonged  Wike and Tinubu. President Tinubu because, in his meeting with the governor and Rivers stakeholders in Aso Rock last December, if he had acted like a statesman and not an APC leader, Rivers will not be the smoking cauldron that it is today. You will recollect what a member of the Rivers Elders Forum and former Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Chief David Briggs, had revealed what actually transpired at the meeting.

On why Tinubu, who knew the grave infraction against the constitution that the 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike had committed by defecting to the APC, Briggs claimed Tinubu said, Im the leader of the APC in Nigeria. And you are telling me when babies are born into my family, I should ask them to go. Tinubu thereafter dictatorially got the parties, including Fubara, to sign a pre-written agreement, apparently under duress. In the words of Briggs, He (Tinubu) emphasised the fact that he is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and anybody who tends to say no to what he is saying, it has consequences. Has Tinubu ever called Wike to his office to tell him the simple truth? I doubt. Who can shine light into the dilating eyes of the lion, the animal which inflicts tribal marks on any animal in the jungle (Ogidan olola iju)? The truth is, Wikes totalitarian approach to power and his violent disposition are the bane of todays politics in Rivers State. The day Wike accepts that no one can hold on to power ad-infinitum is the day the good people of Rivers would be rid of this Wike-inflicted conundrum.

Festus Adedayo is an Ibadan-based journalist.

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Fourteen students of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara in Kogi State, abducted by bandits on Thursday night, have been rescued

Bethrand Onuoha, the commissioner of police in the North-central State, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lokoja.

The CUSTECH students had been abducted by the bandits who invaded the institution while they were reading for their first semester examination slated to commence 13 May .

A combined team of security operatives, including local hunters, who ran after the bandits, successfully rescued 14 of the kidnapped students.

One of the rescued students told us that 24 students were captured.

The security operatives will not relent. We are determined to get the remaining students back alive and unhurt, Onuoha said.

Kingsley Fanwo, the commissioner for information, who also confirmed the rescue, said the 14 students were getting the required attention.

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He expressed joy that the rescue came hours after Gov Usman Ododo visited the institution and assured parents of his readiness to rescue everyone taken.

Our local vigilante men and security agents engaged the kidnappers in a fierce shootout and the kidnappers fled. Some escaped with gun wounds.

They fled and left the kidnapped students who also ran in different directions to avoid being caught up in the fire exchange.

Many of the students kidnapped, and even other people in captivity, have been rescued and taken to medical facilities for proper attention.

Some were rescued in the early hours of today.

The security agents are currently combing the forests to ensure that all the kidnapped students are found and brought home safely.

It is unfortunate, however, that in the sporadic gun battle to rescue the students, a local hunter and a security operative sustained injuries. They are currently receiving medical attention, he said.

The commissioner, however, commended the local hunters and the conventional security agents for their bravery and gallantry.

According to him, the success recorded so far was made possible by the support of Ododo who is bent on securing every Kogi resident.

He urged residents to report anyone with gun wounds to law enforcement agents.

(NAN)

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OSLO, Norway, May 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Photocure ASA (OSE: PHO), the Bladder Cancer Company, announces that its partner Asieris Pharmaceuticals (SSE: 688176) communicated today that the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has accepted its new drug application (NDA) for the regulatory review of Cevira (APL-1702, Hexaminolevulinate Hydrochloride Ointment Photodynamic Therapy System) for potential marketing authorization in China. Cevira (APL-1702) is a photodynamic drug-device combination product in development for the non-surgical treatment of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), licensed to Asieris by Photocure.

"We are pleased that Cevira continues to advance toward market approval in China, as it can serve an important non-invasive option to treat pre-cervical cancer without the complications of surgical intervention," said Dan Schneider," President and CEO of Photocure. "Asieris continues to be a valued partner to Photocure, with solid execution on both programs that it has licensed from us. We look forward to further announcements on the regulatory progress of Cevira as well as Asieris' pending NDA for Hexvix in China."

The Asieris media release states: "APL-1702 is a first-in-class, non-surgical treatment for cervical HSIL with its efficacy proven in an international phase III trial. It heralds a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of precancerous cervical lesions, with the clinical focus moving from excision to long-term disease management. Emphasis lies in optimizing the delicate balance between treatment risks and benefits, striving to minimize or delay invasive procedures while effectively reversing the progression of the disease."

Read Asieris' full media release here: https://asieris.com/asieris-announces-nmpa-acceptance-of-nda-for-apl-1702-a-non-surgical-therapy-for-treating-cervical-hsil/

Note to editors:

All trademarks mentioned in this release are protected by law and are registered trademarks of Photocure ASA.

This press release may contain product details and information which are not valid, or a product is not accessible, in your country. Please be aware that Photocure does not take any responsibility for accessing such information which may not comply with any legal process, regulation, registration or usage in the country of your origin.

About Cevira

Cevira (APL-1702) is a photodynamic drug-device combination product in development. Based on the principles of photodynamic therapy, the Cevira product aims to use a photosensitizer in combination with light activation to produce a therapeutic effect as a non-surgical treatment of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) in patients aged 18 years and above, excluding carcinoma in situ.

Photocure developed Cevira through Phase I and Phase II trials, and the global rights for development and commercialization were out-licensed to Asieris Meditech Co., Ltd in 2019. In November 2020 Asieris initiated the phase III clinical trial for APL-1702 (Cevira) which achieved its primary endpoint in September 2023, Clinical trial number: NCT04484415.

About Photocure ASA

Photocure: The Bladder Cancer Company delivers transformative solutions to improve the lives of bladder cancer patients. Our unique technology, making cancer cells glow bright pink, has led to better health outcomes for patients worldwide. Photocure is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: PHO). For more information, please visit us at www.photocure.com

About Asieris

Asieris Pharmaceuticals(688176.SH), founded in March 2010, is a global biopharma company specializing in discovering, developing and commercializing innovative drugs for the treatment of genitourinary tumors and other related diseases.

CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:

Dan Schneider

President and CEO

Photocure ASA

Email: [email protected]

Erik Dahl

CFO

Photocure ASA

Tel: +4745055000

Email: [email protected]

David Moskowitz

Vice President, Investor Relations

Photocure ASA

Tel: +1 202 280 0888

Email: [email protected]

Media and IR enquiries:

Geir Bjrlo

Corporate Communications (Norway)

Tel: +47 91540000

Email: [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/photocure/r/photocure-partner-asieris-announces-new-drug-application-acceptance-for-regulatory-review-of-cevira-,c3977030

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Now available in select Target retail locations across the country, each toy comes with a QR-code to redeem traits in Pudgy World, a multiplayer digital social experience.

Each toy provides IP royalties to the corresponding Pudgy Penguin NFT holder.

This is Pudgy Penguins second launch in a major U.S. retailer in the first year of the toy line.

MIAMI, May 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pudgy Penguins , the IP and brand development company behind the series of globally recognized characters, today announced that its line of Pudgy Toys and newly licensed Lil Pudgys is now available in the collectibles aisle at Target stores nationwide. This is the second launch of Pudgy Toys in a major U.S. retailer and is yet another milestone that demonstrates the continued success of Pudgy Penguins' uniquely innovative retail strategy. Pudgy Toys turns the digital collectible characters, that are part of an online gaming experience powered by the zkSync blockchain, into a popular line of physical products, seamlessly blending the physical and digital worlds for consumers.

Pudgy Toys are available at Target stores nationwide. The NFT-inspired toy line has sold over 1 millions units, and generated $10 million in sales in its first year.

Pudgy Toys, a line of plushies, figurines, and collectibles inspired by the Pudgy Penguins NFT collection, launched in May 2023 on e-commerce platforms and quickly became a No. 1 seller on Amazon in three separate categories, won Toy Insider's Top Summer Toy of 2023 . In September 2023, Pudgy Toys debuted in 2,000 Walmart locations, and earlier this year announced the expansion of its Walmart relationship with the addition of 1,100 new locations. This exciting new partnership with Target amplifies Pudgy Toys' retail presence and bridges the gap between digital assets and traditional retail, paving the way for an innovative consumer experience.

"We are thrilled to announce the launch of Pudgy Toys in Target stores nationwide, marking another significant stride in our journey to redefine mainstream consumer experiences with Web3 technology. This expansion into Target, a leader in retail innovation, signifies more than just growth; it underscores our drive to widen the Pudgy Penguins community, attracting a diverse new audience to our IP," says Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins. "By integrating our unique digital NFT elements with physical toys, we're not just capturing the hearts of a wider audience; we're also pioneering a new era where blockchain technology meets everyday consumer interaction. This launch with Target represents not just a milestone for Pudgy Penguins but a leap forward for the entire Web3 community, showcasing the endless potential of NFTs in the consumer retail market."

Each toy comes with a QR code that unlocks traits and collectibles inside of the newly updated version of Pudgy World , an online, open-world game that is powered by zkSync , where players can customize penguin characters, complete story-driven quests, and more. The QR code on every toy offers an additional layer of engagement, enhancing the consumer experience and fostering a community around the Pudgy Penguins brand.

Since all of the existing and upcoming Pudgy Toys are connected to existing pieces of IP, the NFT holders will continue to receive royalty payments from Pudgy Penguins' recently launched licensing platform, OverpassIP, where holders can submit their NFTs to be considered for future Pudgy Toy launches and other brand initiatives. OverpassIP is a revolutionary step for not only NFTs but also blockchain technology, by creating a seamless solution to NFT licensing. The OverpassIP technology has simplified the licensing process for Pudgy holders by opting them into automatic royalty tracking, which in turn has created real-world utility and value for said holders.

Target stores will now carry six different Pudgy Toys clip-on plushies, made by PMI Kids' World.

To access the media kit, please click, please click here .

About Pudgy Penguins

Pudgy Penguins is dedicated to making Web3 accessible to everyone by creating innovative products that enable seamless onboarding. Their focus on community empowerment and building brand awareness has made them the leading IP in the Web3 space while also disrupting the traditional IP sphere. They're committed to impacting the everyday consumer and shaping the future of IP, Web3, and beyond. Visit pudgypenguins.com to learn more.

Instagram: @pudgypenguins

Twitter: @pudgypenguins

YouTube: @pudgypenguinsofficial

Pudgy Penguins Media Contact

Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis

[email protected]

MGroup

[email protected]

SOURCE Pudgy Penguins
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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
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu called on the world to continue to help Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. According to him, security in Europe and Asia now depends on the West's position.

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The diplomat also emphasized that Kyiv's firm support is a strengthening of itself in the confrontation with the coalition of authoritarian regimes of Russia and China. The head of Taiwan's diplomatic mission wrote about this in a column in the American magazine Foreign Affairs.

According to him, it is time to abandon the vision of post-Cold War peace, in which the regimes in Moscow and Beijing will become responsible participants in the international order. Joseph Wu argues that a contested peace has now emerged that suffers from authoritarian aggression, the most dangerous example of which is the "boundless partnership" between China and Russia, through which the two countries support each other's repressive expansionist programs.

The Taiwanese foreign minister emphasized that some politicians believe that international support for Ukraine against Russian aggression diverts attention and resources from countering Chinese aggression, which is why democracies like Taiwan have allegedly become more vulnerable.

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However, Joseph Wu reminded that since the second half of 2023, China has been providing military support to Russia, with the exception of lethal weapons, which is a significant shift compared to the initial phase of Russia's war with Ukraine, when Beijing took a somewhat more neutral stance. The diplomat warned that China has now clearly decided that it is very interested not only in supporting Russia, but also in changing the geopolitical landscape in Europe.

"We cannot allow a world order to emerge in this century in which authoritarian regimes can eradicate justice and freedom. In the coming years, the fate of Taiwan, like the fate of Ukraine, will be the most important test that democratic countries of the world must not fail," the Taiwanese Foreign Minister said.

As a reminder, China continues to build up its military and nuclear capabilities on a scale unprecedented since World War II. Analysts are confident that Beijing is committed to its ambitions for Taiwan and is ready to commit military aggression against the island nation in the coming years.

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Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to return Taiwan in his New Year's address. He called "reunification" with the island nation a "historical necessity."

Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Tbilisi, May 12 : Tens of thousands of people protested again in the Georgian capital Tbilisi against a planned law to control foreign influence.

They were expressing their displeasure at the plans of their pro-Moscow government.

In the eyes of the protesters, the law jeopardises their country's European Union prospects.

In addition to Georgian flags, many therefore also waved EU flags once again.

According to media reports, the protests against the controversial "Russian law" initially took place without any major incidents.

Thousands of people wanted to form a vigil in front of the Parliament building until Sunday morning.

The law, which is due to pass its third reading in Parliament early next week despite weeks of massive protests, is called "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" and stipulates that non-governmental organisations that receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad must account for its origin.

Many observers accuse the government of the former Soviet Republic of having modelled the planned law on a Russian "agent" law to hinder the work of critical associations and media.

In Russia, numerous organisations and individuals are branded as "foreign agents," which often causes major problems for those affected. The measure is seen as a means of political repression to silence critics.

In Georgia, there are fears that the new law could pave the way for an authoritarian approach in the country, which has been a candidate for EU accession for several months.

--IANS/DPA

khz
Prayagraj, May 12 : In a major judgment, the Allahabad High Court has held that the registration of a will is not necessary in Uttar Pradesh.

The state government had made registration of wills mandatory from August 23, 2004.

"Wills in Uttar Pradesh are not required to be registered and a will, for its non-registration, will not be void whether before or after the Uttar Pradesh Amendment Act, 2004," the court said.

A division bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar held that Section 169(3) of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act will be void to the extent it provides for the registration of a will.

The High Court made it clear that a will, shall not be considered invalid if it is not registered.

The bench pronounced the verdict while disposing of a "reference" sent to it by the Chief Justice in a petition filed by Pramila Tiwari.

The High Court held that Section 169(3) of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950, in so far as it requires a will to be compulsorily registered, is contrary to the Indian Registration Act, 1908, which makes the registration of a will optional.

Hence, the court held that the amendment of Section 169(3) of the 1950 Act to the extent that it requires a will to be compulsorily registered is void and accordingly, struck down the said part.

In the Shobhnath case, the High Court had said the registration of a will was necessary after the law came into force.

But in the Jahan Singh case, it was said a will becomes effective after death and therefore, it should be registered at the time of presentation.

For clarification on the two contrary views, the Chief Justice had sent the reference to the division bench, which summed up the issue that "whether a will reduced into writing before August 23, 2004, is required to be compulsorily registered in the event the testator dies after the said date".

During the proceedings, the court examined whether the state legislature, without the President's assent, could have made the registration of wills compulsory by incorporating a legal provision to this effect as wills, intestacy and succession under the Constitution are subject matters of the Concurrent List and a central law is already there on the subject of registration of wills under the Registration Act, 1908.
Lucknow, May 12 : A retired clerk from the government's postal department allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a licensed double-barrel gun in a park in the Rajajipuram locality here.

He died on the spot due to excessive bleeding.

The residents informed the police and family members after they heard the gunshot and saw him lying in a pool of blood. The police took possession of the gun and started an investigation.

The man, identified as Lakshmi Narayan Trivedi, 61, had retired from the post of clerk in the Indian postal department six months ago.

His son Shiva said that he had been suffering from depression for the last few months.

"Due to depression, Laxmi Narayan Trivedi had a fight with his wife Rekha and their son Shiva on Friday night. During the fight, Trivedi beat up his wife and son. Angry over this, Rekha went to her parental home in Alambagh in Lucknow and Shiva went to his acquaintance's house in the colony. At night, Trivedi was alone at home and took the licensed double-barrel gun kept in the room, went to the park in front of the house late on Saturday night, and committed suicide by shooting himself in the head," the police said.

He was rushed to Rani Laxmibai government hospital where the doctors pronounced him dead.

ADCP West Zone, Vishwajeet Srivastava said that the police has sent the body for autopsy and started the investigation of the case.
Tel Aviv, May 12 : The chief of the American spy agency, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns has offered intel on Hamas military head Yahya Sinwar in exchange of Israel halting its ground invasion in the Rafah region.

Sinwar, who has been on Israel's hit list ever since the war broke out on October 7 with Hamas, is reportedly hiding in the tunnel network of the terror outfit between Khan Younis and the Rafah region.

The United States has been pushing the Israeli leadership against a full-scale ground invasion in Rafah, given the huge population density in the area with around 1.3 million people including women and children staying there.

William Burns is a highly respected official of the US who has close links with several senior Middle Eastern leaders. Burns, according to sources in the Israeli Prime Ministeras office, has proposed to the Israeli leadership that American intelligence will provide valuable inputs on the movement of Yahya Sinwar who has always been a focus of the Israeli side.

Israel's Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant has publicly stated that they would secure Yahya Sinwar at any cost.

The CIA chief, according to sources, is also in direct talks with Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs, David Barnea and Ronen Bar respectively, regarding this offer.

Burns was involved in the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas during the one-week ceasefire in the last week of November 2023.

It, however, remains to be seen how the Israel war cabinet will respond to this offer as Israel Defense Forces have already commenced the invasion in Rafah.
New Delhi, May 11 : The Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, addressing a conference in New Delhi on "Advance of Criminal Justice System", on April 20, lauded the new Penal Codes enacted by the Parliament in December last year, described the development as a "watershed moment" and expressed satisfaction that India was changing in synchronisation with our times.

He felt that implementation of the new laws would mark a significant overhaul of the criminal justice system to better protect the interests of victims and ensure a more efficient conduct of investigation and prosecution.

He emphasised the urgent need for capacity building in areas of forensic expertise, reorientation of investigating officers and investment in our court system.

It may be mentioned that with the avowed objective of freeing the country of the colonial hangover on the justice system, the Indian Parliament re-designated the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, as Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita Act, Bharatiya Sakshya Act, and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita Act, respectively.

The Chief Justice declared that the enactment of these laws by Parliament "underscored India's evolving dynamics and the pressing need for innovative legal mechanisms to address contemporary challenges".

In bolstering the concept of punishment acting as a deterrent against crime, the new law lays down the death penalty for the rape of a minor and also for "lynching" -- the two black marks of the contemporary crime scenario in India.

The Act replaced the Indian Penal Code of 1860 repealed 22 old sections, added 8 new ones and amended as many as 175 others.

A new Section 69 punishes indulgence in sexual intercourse through deception by way of making promises of marriage while concealing identity.

"Snatching" has been made a distinct offence and a severe penalty was prescribed for disseminating false information through spoken words, signs or electronic means. This latter is also meant to check criminal misuse of social media.

The new code for the first time punishes an act of "terrorism" that was likely to threaten India's unity, integrity, security, sovereignty or economy or spread terror among the people domestically or abroad.

There has been some expression of concern by civil society groups -- particularly those building a narrative of "authoritarianism" against the present government -- that the definition of terror activity was being stretched to punish "anti-regime" criticism.

There is no doubt, however, in the minds of average citizens that in this era of proxy wars, advocacy of violence against a legitimate democratic government deserved to be viewed seriously.

In what can be regarded as a progressive move for dispensing justice, community service has been included as a punishment for first-time offenders committing a petty crime.

Besides, a new definition of "organised crime" has been incorporated in the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita Act to include among other things, kidnapping, human trafficking and cyber crimes carried out to secure material benefit.

The activities of members of an organised crime syndicate are punishable with imprisonment of a minimum of five years -- going up to a life sentence if there was no death -- and, including capital punishment if a death was caused.

The new Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita Act has repealed 9 sections of the old Act, introduced 9 new sections and modified 160 earlier sections. It mandates forensic investigation for crimes punishable with imprisonment of seven years or more. It requires forensic experts to visit the scene of crime, gather clues and document the process.

Electronic mode of giving evidence is permitted at trials, enquiries and proceedings under Section 173 and it is laid down under Section 356 that a judgement can be pronounced in the absence of a proclaimed offender who had avoided the trial.

A great reform is the introduction of the concept of Zero FIR to be registered by a police station on receiving a complaint even if it did not have the jurisdiction, for being forwarded to the right police station. The new Act establishes deadlines for framing of charges and prescribes communicating the progress of the investigation to the victims within 90 days of the complaint.

The Bharatiya Sakshya Act replaced the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 after introducing one new section, removing 5 sections and altering a total of 23 other sections. In a pathbreaking reform, it recognises electronic records as primary evidence under Section 57 and permits electronic presentation of oral evidence enabling remote testimony.

It expands the concept of joint trial under Section 24 of multiple people -- some of whom might have failed to respond to an arrest warrant. An important advance is the direction the Act gives for audio-visual recording of search and seizures to protect civil liberties.

Judicial scrutiny of the same would safeguard the rights of citizens against procedural improprieties committed during search and seizure.

Legal minds particularly of the opposition, have expressed misgivings that many of the new provisions endangered civil liberties and enhanced the power of the police over citizens in certain key areas.

Under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita Act and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act, police officers could compel the accused persons to produce their digital devices for accessing their contents -- the rules about how to handle these devices were still not laid down -- and the concern was that police could look into privileged communications of the accused with their lawyers and their spouses which were otherwise protected.

For offences with a maximum punishment of three to seven years of imprisonment, the police are permitted to conduct a preliminary inquiry within 14 days of the complaint to decide whether an FIR was to be registered -- this seemed to be against the judicial mandate that FIR had to be registered on any complaint alleging a cognisable offence.

It is apprehended that this might allow the police to refuse to register an FIR even on a legitimate complaint.

The provisions made in the new laws can improve the justice system but they could also be put to misuse by the authorities wielding power. Supervision of senior officers should be able to check the latter.

With time under judicial scrutiny, hopefully, the pathway to improvement will be opened up.

The introduction of two new offences in the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita that did not exist in the Indian Penal Code, have invited an acrimonious debate in human rights groups. They relate to a "terrorist act'' and an act "endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India".

It is said that the definition of a "terrorist" act was the same as provided in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which was worded loosely enough to allow police to book political dissidents. It punishes even the "advice" and "incitement" to do something that amounted to a threat to India's unity, integrity, sovereignty, security and economy.

Further, the inclusion of the offence of publishing "false" or "misleading" information jeopardising the sovereignty, unity, integrity and security of India -- it is alleged -- would enable the state to target media outlets and journalists who revealed information inconvenient to the government.

In a nutshell, some of the new laws have been run down by the critics -- mostly the Opposition and civil society groups -- as an instrument in the hands of the regime for suppressing dissent and advancing its political interests.

The people of India are sensitive to issues of governance and human rights but they would appreciate any genuine reform in the maintenance of law and order and dispensation of justice of which police is perhaps the most important systemic component.

Conscientious citizens would appreciate the deterrent law enacted for offences like the rape of a minor and mob lynching that had an unsettling impact on society as a whole.

(The writer is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. Views are personal)
13 missing after tractor trolley falls into river in UP. Image Source: IANS News

Thiruvananthapuram, May 12 : A youth drowned off Puthuvaipu beach in Ernakulam district. Tragedy struck when a group of seven youths took a plunge into the sea on Sunday morning.

The deceased is identified as Abhishek (24) of Kaloor, Kochi. The condition of two others, who were rescued by local people, is critical.

Police said that the group of seven friends reached the beach on Sunday morning and went swimming in the sea. Suddenly a huge wave swept them deep into the sea.

Four of them swam to safety, but Abhsihek and two others were pulled back to the shores by local fishers. However, Abhishek had died.

Further details awaited.
New Delhi, May 12 : Women who enter menopause before the age of 40 are more likely to die young, finds a study.

The study presented at the 26th European Congress of Endocrinology in Sweden, however, showed that the risk can be lowered with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) -- the most common treatment.

While most women experience menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, about 1 per cent experience menopause before the age of 40 years, known as premature menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). It increases the risk of long-term health problems such as heart disease.

The reason behind this remains largely unknown but can be brought on spontaneously or by some medical treatments such as chemotherapy or by surgically removing the ovaries.

The team from the University of Oulu, in Finland, examined 5,817 women who were diagnosed with spontaneous or surgical premature ovarian insufficiency in Finland, between 1988 and 2017, and compared them with 22,859 women without POI.

The results revealed spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency more than twice raised the risk of dying of any cause or heart disease, and more than four times from cancer.

On the other hand, the risk of all-cause and cancer mortality halved in women who used HRT drugs for more than six months. Further, women with early menopause from surgery were not found to have any added mortality risk.

"Our findings suggest specific attention should be paid to the health of women with spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency to decrease excess mortality," said Hilla Haapakoski, a doctoral student at the University of Oulu, in Finland.
New Delhi, May 12 : Indian tech industry leaders have come out in support of Ola Founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, after his tirade against Microsoft-owned LinkedIn for deleting his posts and "bullying Indians" into agreeing with the Big Tech platforms or cancelling them out.

Homegrown IT software company Zoho's CEO Sridhar Vembu agreed with Aggarwal, saying "we in India have to strongly resist this woke imperialism".

"It is best understood as a fanatical religious doctrine that masquerades as a socio-political movement," Vembu posted on X social media platform.

Edtech company Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal earlier posted that this is so "f***** up on LinkedInas part".

An angry Ola CEO on Saturday announced the termination of Microsoft Azure cloud's services and moved the entire workload of his company to his own AI venture called Krutrim.

"We've decided to move our entire workload out of Azure to our own Krutrim cloud within the next week," he said in a blog post.

When reached, LinkedIn or Microsoft did not comment on Aggarwal's blog post.

The tussle began when Ola CEO shared his thoughts on gender pronouns, with a LinkedIn post on "pronoun illness".

The LinkedIn AI chatbot used "they" and "their" to address the founder.

The professional networking platform later deleted Aggarwal's posts "without notifying him", leading to an outburst from the Ola founder.

"Proud of you Bhavish. When CEOs like you show the way, I'm sure many will emulate you. It is one thing to coax people to be inclusive but quite another to use bullying and cancelling techniques to impose a fake inclusiveness with dubious benefit. May Dharma always guide you," Author Sahana Singh posted on X.

Aggarwal has said he will work with the domestic developer community to build a digital public infrastructure (DPI) social media framework and the only 'community guidelines' should be the Indian law.

"Woke" was a word earlier used within Black communities in the US to refer to an "awareness of inequality".

It is now being frequently used in political parlance to describe anything that appears too liberal or progressive.
Dresden, Germany : Well-known Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is to be posthumously awarded the first Dresden International Peace Prize on Sunday.

His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, will receive the award, which is endowed with 10,000 euros ($10,774), at the eastern German city's Schauspielhaus theatre, the organisers said.

Former German President Joachim Gauck is expected to deliver the laudatory speech.

A requiem by Russian composer Sergei Nevsky for Navalny is also expected to be premiered.

The Kremlin critic and prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin died under unexplained circumstances in a Siberian prison camp on February 16.

Since 2010, the Friends of Dresden have awarded the Dresden Prize on the anniversary of the city's destruction in World War II in February to individuals who have made a special contribution to peace and international understanding.

In 2024, a new initiative took over the organisation, together with the previous sponsor, the Klaus Tschira Foundation, based in the south-western city of Heidelberg. The Dresden Prize then became the Dresden Peace Prize.

Past recipients of the Dresden Prize include former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, war photographer James Nachtwey and architect Daniel Libeskind.

--IANS/DPA

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Chennai, May 12 : Tamil Nadu is home to two main varieties of grapes: panneer thiratchai (Muscat Hamburg) and Odaipatti seedless grapes. Grape farmers in the region are dejected as high temperatures in the last few weeks will lead to a huge fall in the yield of grapes.

K. Muniayndi, a farmer in Theni who has cultivated panneer thiratchai on around 10 acres of land, told IANS that due to high temperatures, there would be a drastic fall in the crop's yield.

He said: "Generally, we get 10-12 tonnes of grapes from an acre of the farm, but due to temperatures touching more than 39 degrees Celsius, the yield will be less than three tonnes per acre."

The grape farmer also said that for one acre of grape cultivation, a farmer has to spend around Rs 1.25 lakh, and if the yield falls to three tonnes per acre, then the situation of the farmers would be pathetic.

Panneer Thiratchai Farmers Association leader Karuppanan Raju, while speaking to IANS, said: "Almost 90 per cent of our farmers are cultivating the fruit in the Cumbum area. The heatwaves have destroyed our lives. Around 300 farmers are cultivating on 5,000 acres of land, and we are looking forward to huge losses."

He also said that the yield would be less than 80 per cent of what they usually get, and called upon the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Department to provide compensation for their losses.

The Odaipatti seedless grape farmers have a similar story to narrate. Odaipatti is a region in Theni district which cultivates seedless grapes on around 1,000 acres of land, involving 200 farmers.

Krishnan Thevar, a grape farmer, while speaking to IANS, said: "We are facing a bleak future. We will only get two to three tonnes of grapes from an acre, which is very low. Generally, we harvest around 12 tonnes from an acre of land."

He demanded that the state government fix a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Odaipatti grapes at Rs 50 per kg, just like the state government sanctioned for sugarcane and paddy when there was crop loss.

It is worth noting that the Tamil Nadu government has already proposed a GI tag for Odaipatti seedless grapes, which would help felicitate the export of these grapes. However, presently, the farmers said that they are concerned about how to overcome the huge losses.

K. M. Murugesan, an Odaipatti seedless grape farmer, told IANS that the farmers want the state government's intervention in the matter to provide them with an MSP as they were expecting losses of 80 per cent of the yield in September, when they will harvest the crop.

a"IANS

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sees opportunities in the peace conference on Ukraine scheduled for next month. He noted that the discussions at this forum will be an important step towards resolving global peace issues.

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This was reported by Tagesschau. Scholz expressed hope that Arab countries, India, South Africa, Brazil, and China would also join the summit.

"Even if the main issue of peace is not discussed there yet, but the issues that are also part of it, it would be a big step. It would be possible to build on this," Scholz said during a discussion organized by Redaktionsnetz Deutschland (RND) in Potsdam.

The Peace Summit will take place on June 15-16 in Burgenstock, Switzerland, where Switzerland has invited more than 160 countries and international organizations, but not Russia.

"It is very important for me that the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, India, South Africa, Brazil and, if possible, China are also there," the German Chancellor added.

Earlier it was reported that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew confirmed that he would participate in the Global Peace Summit to be held in Switzerland in June 2024. He confirmed his decision in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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As reported by OBOZ.UA, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Argentine President Javier Milea to take part in the first peace summit in Ukraine. The event will take place in June 2024 in Switzerland.

As a reminder, Zelensky said that Ukraine is intensively preparing for the Peace Summit in Switzerland and is working to ensure that all continents are represented and that every leader can join in restoring the full force and effectiveness of the UN Charter. The more nations of the world join the summit, the sooner peace can be restored to the continent.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Karan V Grover says he has learnt his mother's 'enthusiasm for travel, exploring new places'. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 12 : Actor Karan V Grover has opened up about his plans for Mother's Day, sharing how he has imbibed his mom's enthusiasm for travel and exploring new places.

Karan, who is currently seen in the show 'Dhruv Tara', spoke about how he will be celebrating Mother's Day amid his busy shooting schedule.

The 'Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki' actor told IANS: "Well, I'm shooting, and I'm going to take my mother out for a treat like lunch or dinner, although she would prefer that we all sit at home and enjoy her cooking, which is honestly the best food one can enjoy. So yeah, thatas the plan."

One lesson from his mother that he still follows, Karan shared: "My mother is still a working woman, so from her actions and her approach to work and life, both my brother and I have learned to consistently keep working and maintain a healthy balance between our personal and professional lives."

"Also, we have learnt her enthusiasm for travel and exploring new places from her, and we try to do it as energetically as she does," he added.

In the show 'Dhruv Tara', Karan plays the role of Suryapratap Singh.

It airs on Sony SAB.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday the special leave petition filed by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren challenging the dismissal of his writ petition by the Jharkhand High Court against his arrest in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear the matter on May 13.

It may be recalled that the same Bench ordered Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to be released on interim bail in the excise policy case till June 1.

On Friday, the top court disposed of a separate plea filed by Soren seeking his release in view of the elections. It said that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader's prayer has become infructuous in view of the May 3 order passed by the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his plea against arrest.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Soren's plea seeking interim bail on the ground of delay in delivery of judgment by the Jharkhand High Court despite reserving an order on his petition challenging ED arrest in the last week of February.

After SC issued the notice, the Jharkhand High Court pronounced its decision and dismissed Soren's plea, saying that "there is an abundance of documents that lay a foundation for the arrest and remand of the petitioner to police and judicial custody."

Hemant Soren resigned from the Chief Minister's post on January 31, after the ED informed him that it was arresting him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
New Delhi, May 12 : While parenthood comes as a blessing for many, for more than 20 per cent of mothers, the new chapter of life creates stress, anxiety and postpartum depression, which can turn fatal for both the mother and child, without adequate support, said doctors on Mother's Day on Sunday.

Mother's Day is celebrated every year on the second Sunday of May.

Postpartum depression is common but a treatable medical condition that many women face after childbirth. While the exact cause can be difficult to identify, several factors contribute to these feelings of sadness, anxiety, and tiredness.

These can result from genetics, hormonal changes, sleep deprivation, fatigue, or the pressure of becoming a mother.

The overall pooled estimate of the prevalence of postpartum depression was 22 per cent reporting postpartum depression within two weeks of delivery.

"The journey to parenthood presents couples with a myriad of challenges, often impacting their emotional well-being profoundly. The complexities surrounding late pregnancies, assisted conception methods like IVF, and the burden of preterm deliveries weigh heavily on maternal mental health," Dr Saurabh Mehrotra, Associate Director, Psychiatry, Institute of Neurosciences, Medanta, Gurugram, told IANS.

Studies reveal that maternal mental illness during pregnancy correlates with adverse outcomes for both mother and child, including preterm delivery and poor neurodevelopment.

"At Medanta, we witness approximately 70-80 per cent of mothers having post-partum blues out of which 20 per cent of mothers with postpartum depression grapple with such mental health challenges, emphasising the critical need for comprehensive emotional support and holistic care throughout the perinatal period," Dr Saurabh said.

The symptoms of postpartum depression include insomnia, loss of appetite, intense irritability, and even difficulty bonding with the baby. For mothers facing the postpartum blues, asking for help may be one of the most crucial steps, as it may help them easily bond with the baby, the experts said.

But, "if left untreated, the condition can last several months or longer," Dr Teji Dawane, Senior Consultant, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Motherhood Hospitals, Whitefield, Bengaluru, told IANS.

"One of the first steps in addressing postpartum depression is early detection through screenings during prenatal and postnatal care and giving importance to emotional well-being. It is also encouraged to seek help from professional support services such as counselling and therapy," Dr Teji said.

Sometimes, treatment options also include medication like antidepressants to manage symptoms effectively. It is equally important to create a supportive family environment and develop self-care practices for new parents, the experts noted.
New York, May 12 : The world's first patient with a transplanted pig kidney has died almost two months after the operation.

In March, Massachusetts General Hospital transplanted the genetically-edited pig kidney into Rick Slayman, a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease.

The operation was a milestone in xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs or tissues from one species to another -- as a potential solution to the worldwide organ shortage, the hospital said at the time. Slayman's death was not linked to the transplant, the hospital said on Saturday.

"Our family is deeply saddened about the sudden passing of our beloved Rick but take great comfort knowing he inspired so many," his family said.

Slayman's family paid tribute to the medical team that cared for him.

"Their enormous efforts leading to the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts."

The kidney came from a pig that was genetically edited to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human genes to improve its compatibility with humans. Scientists also inactivated porcine endogenous retroviruses in the pig donor to eliminate any risk of infection in humans.

The hospital said it was "deeply saddened" by Slayman's death.

"We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant," it said.

"Mr Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide, and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation."

--IANS/DPA

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New Delhi, May 12 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, for the first time after his release from Tihar jail, met his party MLAs at his official residence on Sunday and hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that BJP's plan to topple AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab has failed miserably.

"They couldn't topple the Delhi government. They couldn't break our MLAs. They couldn't dent the Punjab government. Their entire plan failed," the Delhi Chief Minister said while addressing the AAP legislators.

"In Tihar Jail, I kept hearing about you all. I used to talk to the staff and security guards inside the jail. They gave me updates on every MLA. I was worried that my absence might disrupt our work but you all have done a great job," said Kejriwal.

He said that Sunita Kejriwal, Delhi ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann used to come to meet him and he used to inquire from them about the various works in Delhi.

"Before my arrest, BJP members used to meet me. They told me that after my arrest, they would break our party, overthrow the government in Delhi, and take AAP MLAs and Bhagwant Mann with them by all means. But it turned out the opposite. After my arrest, our party came together in a much stronger way," he said.

He said that the entire political narrative of the country was against the AAP party but as the party members stood together they could not dent the party.

"The biggest congratulations for this goes to you all. I have also come to know that they tried to contact you and break you in every possible manner. But you all stood firm," the Delhi Chief Minister told MLAs.

He also told his MLAs that he has to go back to jail on June 2 and they all should take care of the party once he is lodged back in jail.

On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was lodged in Tihar jail in the alleged excise scam, was released after 40 days hours after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail till June 1.
Gaza, May 12 : Two doctors were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported on Sunday.

Muhammad Nimr Qazat and his son Youssef, both doctors, were killed by an Israeli warplane raid, and their bodies have been transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Xinhua news agency reported.

The duo, who were from Gaza City, were displaced to Deir al-Balah during this round of conflicts, the report said.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli fighter jets targeted several areas in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least 24 persons.

Seven others were killed after Israeli aircraft targeted dozens of homes in Jabalia, north of the Strip.

At least 31 people were killed and others injured by Israeli bombardment in various areas of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
Kathmandu, May 12 : Veteran Nepali climbing guide Kami Rita Sherpa set a new world record on Sunday by ascending the world's highest Mount Everest (Tibetan name- Mount Qomolangma) for the 29th time.

The 54-year-old Sherpa, who was guiding foreign climbers, reached the 8,848-meter-high peak at 7:25 a.m. local time, said Khim Lal Gautam, field office chief of Nepal's Department of Tourism.

"Kami Rita Sherpa made history on Sunday morning by climbing the peak 29 times," Gautam told Xinhua from the base camp.

Kami first conquered Mount Everest, situated on the border of Nepal and China, in May 1994 and scaled it for the 27th and 28th time within one week in May 2023.

Pasang Dawa Sherpa, another Nepali climbing guide, had achieved the feat for the 27th time.

By Friday, a total of 414 climbers had been permitted to scale Mount Everest from the Nepali side during the spring climbing season, according to the Department of Tourism.

Ukrainian climber Valentyn Sypavin, on Saturday morning, became the first foreign national to scale Mount Everest this spring season from the Nepali side.
Islamabad, May 12 : The much-awaited visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud to Pakistan on May 19 has been postponed, yet again.

Islamabad, May 12 (IANS) The much-awaited visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud to Pakistan on May 19 has been postponed, yet again.

While the Pakistan government, which has been preparing for the high-profile visit for weeks, remains tightlipped on the reasons behind its postponement, sources reveal that MBS is quite unhappy with the current situation in the country.

They revealed that the Saudi Crown Prince remains quite upset with the political developments in Pakistan, particularly with the recent statements made by some leaders which have been seen as an attempt to drag Saudi Arabia in the country's internal matters.

Recently, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat blamed the 'Saudi influence' behind him not being considered for the Chairman's post of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

"Shibli Faraz told Imran Khan in jail that the Saudi Ambassador does not want me to be appointed as the PAC chairman," Marwat said while speaking to the media outside Adyala jail in Rawalpindi, where he was denied a meeting with the former Prime Minister.

Last month, Marwat claimed that Saudi Arabia was a "conduit" for the regime change operation carried out by the United States to oust Imran Khan's government following which PTI removed him from its core and political committee and also issued a show-cause notice on trying to damage relations with Saudi Arabia.

"It is certain that Saudi Arabia is unhappy over the remarks made by Marwat that smack of domestic political point-scoring. Marwat has directly accused Saudi Arabia for meddling in Pakistan politics and the Saudis do not tolerate such behaviour," said senior political analyst Javed Siddique while admitting that the cancellation of MBS' visit to Pakistan is a big "setback" for the country.

On the other hand, government sources maintain that there are some points on the economic front which still need to be cleared between both parties before MBS finalises his Pakistan visit.

They maintained that Saudi investors and businessmen, who recently toured Pakistan, are interested in some projects but the terms of the agreement have not yet been finalised.

After MBS accepted Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif's invitation to visit the country, the government has been working hard to ensure that it is not postponed yet again and eventually leads to more Saudi investment.

While the Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said that the revised schedule of the visit is still being worked out, sources say that MBS could visit Pakistan in the third week of June, shortly after the Hajj and Eid-ul-Azha holidays.
Baramulla: Around seven Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and a dozen were injured after Indian Army retaliated to Pakistan's unprovoked ceasefire violation along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, on Nov 13, 2020. Indian Army destroyed vario. Image Source: IANS News

Islamabad, May 12 : At least seven members of the Pakistani security forces were killed in two separate attacks near the Afghan border, the military said on Sunday.

In the first attack, according to the military, an improvised explosive device targeted a vehicle of a bomb disposal squad in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan province on Saturday. Following the blast, the militants opened fire.

Five members of the security forces were killed and two wounded.

In the second attack, militants stormed a checkpoint in the Mir Ali region and killed two soldiers.

Pakistan has seen an increase in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban since their Afghan counterparts seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

The latest attacks come days after militants exploded a bomb in a girlsa school in North Waziristan, itself a region known as a hotbed of Islamist militant activity.

--IANS/DPA

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Tel Aviv, May 12 : A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip has reportedly hit a residential building in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

Three people were injured in the overnight attack on the city about 10 kilometres north of Gaza, according to Israeli media reports on Sunday.

Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas, which carried out the October 7 terrorist assaults on southern Israeli communities that sparked the devastating war in Gaza, has recently increased its attacks on Israeli towns and villages.

The Israeli Kerem Shalom border crossing was also targeted again on Saturday, according to the Israeli army. Militants fired four missiles at the crossing, which is used to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Out of the four missiles, one was intercepted by Israel's missile defence system, while the others hit uninhabited areas.

Israel is preparing for an increase in attacks on its territory as the military penetrates deeper into the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The offensive into the city has been heavily criticised internationally, including by Israel's allies, but the Israeli leadership sees it as necessary to achieve its war aim of completely eliminating Hamas.

--IANS/DPA

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Kaushambi : , May 12 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that India will take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as it is an integral part of the country.

Addressing a rally in Kaushambi, Shah said, "Should PoK not be taken back? The Congress kept Kashmir like an illegitimate child for years but we abolished Article 370, ended terrorism there and secured our borders. Even a child will happily lay down his life for Kashmir."

Slamming the Congress and SP for vote bank appeasement, Amit Shah said that these parties delayed the Ram temple for 70 years.

"We invited them for the opening of the temple but they did not come because of their vote bank. It was their vote bank that had demolished the Kashi Vishwanath temple and Modi ji rebuilt it," he said.

The Home Minister asked the people that in case the INDIA bloc wins the elections, who would be their Prime Minister.

"Will it be Sharad Pawar, Mamta, Udhav, Stalin or -- don't laugh -- Rahul Baba? If Corona returns, who will save the people? It was Narendra Modi who ensured that 130 crore people were vaccinated. When the vaccination began, Akhilesh Yadav said it is Modi's Vaccine but then quietly went with his wife in the dark of the night to get vaccinated himself," he said.

Amit Shah further said that the land mafia was active in the SP regime but Yogi Adityanath had turned the mafia out of the state.

He further said that the Congress had always insulted Dr B R Ambedkar but PM Modi had decided to revamp all places associated with Ambedkar.
Hyderabad, May 12 : A little over 3.17 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in Telangana as the stage is set for the polling in all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies on May 13.

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the peaceful and smooth conduct of the elections.

Polling will also be held for the by-election of the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency in Hyderabad.

A total of 3,17,17,389 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise across the state. They comprise 1,58,71,493 men, 1,58,43,339 women and 2,557 third gender.

As per the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj, 20,163 voters have availed the facility of home voting. More than 1.88 lakh employees on poll duty have used postal ballot voting.

A total of 35,809 polling stations have been set up across the state.

After collecting the polling material from distribution centres, the staff will reach their respective polling stations by Sunday evening.

A total of 2. 94 lakh personnel including nearly a lakh security personnel will be on poll duty.

As many as 525 candidates are in the fray for all Lok Sabha seats in the state, which is witnessing a three-cornered contest among ruling Congress and opposition BRS and BJP.

Secunderabad constituency has a maximum number of candidates at 45. A total of 44 candidates are in the fray in Medak, followed by 43 in Chevella and 42 each in Peddapalle (SC) and Warangal (SC) constituencies. There are only 12 candidates in the Adilabad (ST) constituency.

Union minister and state BJP President G. Kishan Reddy is seeking re-election from Secunderabad. BJP National General Secretary and sitting MP from Karimnagar, Bandi Sanjay Kumar is contesting again from the same seat. BJP national Vice President D. K. Aruna is in the fray from Mahabubnagar.

AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking re-election for a fifth consecutive term from Hyderabad.

In the 2019 elections, BRS had won nine seats while BJP had bagged four seats. Congress could win three seats while AIMIM had retained the lone seat.

Polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in 106 Assembly segments. The polling hours were earlier fixed at 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Following representations made by the political parties and considering the heat wave conditions, the Election Commission on May 1 announced the decision to extend it by one hour.

However, in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected segments under five Lob Sabha constituencies the polling will conclude at 4 p.m.

Telangana had recorded a turnout of 71.34 per cent during the Assembly elections held in November 2023.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, 73.73 per cent of voters had cast their votes. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the turnout dropped to 62.11 per cent.

As part of the massive security arrangements for the polling, 160 companies of central forces have been deployed.

The CEO said 72,000 personnel from Telangana, 20,000 personnel drawn from the neighbouring states and 4, 000 personnel of other uniformed services will be deployed.

Sharing details of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), he said 1,05,019 Balloting Units (Bus) have been arranged. A total of 44,569 control units (CUs) and 48,134 VVPATs have also been deployed.

Three ECIL engineers have been assigned to each Assembly segment to attend to the complaints of malfunctioning of the EVMs.

Ever since the Model Code of Conduct came into force, authorities have filed 8,600 for its violations.

The enforcement agencies have seized cash and other freebies worth Rs. 320.84 crores

The CEO said 1.96 lakh polling personnel will be on duty across the state. There will be 3,522 sector officers and route officers. The poll panel has also appointed 12,909 micro-observers.

While the total number of polling stations is 35,809, there are 453 auxiliary polling stations.

The three Smallest polling Stations have 10, 12 and 14 voters respectively. Eleven polling stations have less than 25 voters each while 22 polling stations have less than 50 voters each. There are 54 polling stations with less than 100 voters each.

After the campaign came to an end at 6 p.m. on Saturday, the Election Commission banned the transmission of election-related bulk SMSs for 48 hours ending with the closure time of polling.
Gaza/Tel Aviv, May 12 : Israeli troops are engaged in fierce fighting with armed Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

The military wing of the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas cited heavy clashes between its fighters and Israeli forces in the area of Jabalia, some four kilometres north of Gaza City.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the previous evening that warplanes had attacked targets in Jabalia after the civilian population there had been evacuated.

The Times of Israel wrote on Sunday that the army had called for an estimated 1,00,000-1,50.000 Palestinians in the Jabalia area to be evacuated.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has expressed "extreme concern" about evacuation calls for both Jabalia and Rafah in the south.

The clashes have highlighted apparent differences between Israel's political and military leaders over strategy in the Gaza war.

Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi reportedly complained to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the lack of a political strategy for the post-war period meant the army was now fighting in places such as Jabalia, which it had previously taken and withdrawn from.

According to media reports, Israeli soldiers are also still deployed in other locations in the north of the Gaza Strip.

--IANS/DPA

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Kolkata, May 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the "freedom of speech" in West Bengal is at stake under the current Trinamool Congress government.

Kolkata, May 12 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the "freedom of speech" in West Bengal is at stake under the current Trinamool Congress government.

"The opposition voices in West Bengal are being suppressed in West Bengal. The freedom of speech of common people is at stake. In West Bengal, a person is threatened even for sharing a cartoon," the Prime Minister said while addressing a rally at Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency in Hooghly district in support of the party candidate Arup Kanti Digar.

The Prime Minister was referring to the former professor of Jadavpur University, Dr Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was arrested by police in 2011 for sharing a cartoon of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Prime Minister said that Trinamool Congress leaders feel that they enjoy the monopoly on the culture of West Bengal. "But this is the land of Maa Durga and Maa Kali. In Bengal, censorship has been put on people's faith. Taking the name of Lord Ram is a crime here," the Prime Minister said.

He said that it is unfortunate that the condition of women and education are constantly deteriorating in the land of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

"The contribution of personalities like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee is being undermined in West Bengal for appeasement politics and keeping the dedicated minority vote bank happy. The Trinamool Congress leaders are constantly insulting the people coming from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes," the Prime Minister said.

He also said that the Trinamool Congress would not be able to stop the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

This was the third rally addressed by the Prime Minister in the day, the first two being at Barrackpore and Hooghly.

He is scheduled to attend his fourth rally later in the day in Howrah.
UP boy stages his own kidnapping to avoid school. Image Source: IANS News

Lucknow, May 12 : The Uttar Pradesh Police have launched an investigation into a viral video that shows a woman lip-syncing to the song while holding a gun.

The video, which has been shared by Kalyanji Chaudhary, an X user, is of Instagram influencer Simran Yadav from Lucknow.

"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 community's power in the society, but the officials are maintaining silence," Chaudhary wrote in his post.

Chaudhary added to the thread that, "Simran Yadav has no fear of the administration, she has posted the same post again on Instagram."

According to a screenshot shared by Chaudhary, Simran Yadav has over 1.6 million followers on Instagram.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police has instructed the Lucknow Police to investigate the matter.
New Delhi, May 12 : Indian Naval Ships (INS) Delhi and Shakti arrived for port calls at Malaysia's Kota Kinabalu on Sunday, as part of the operational deployment of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet to South China Sea.

The ships will engage with the Royal Malaysian Navy on various professional interactions to include Subject Matter Expert Exchanges (SMEE), cross-ship visits and visits to training bases over the next three days.

The port call is a demonstration of India's warm ties with Malaysia and the growing naval collaboration between the two countries.

The Indian Naval Ships arrived from Singapore where they undertook various bilateral engagements earlier in the week, reaffirming the commitment to enhance maritime security and stability in the region.

The visit provided an opportunity for discussions on enhancing naval cooperation and interoperability between the navies of both India and Singapore.
New Delhi, May 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the campaign trail to West Bengal on Sunday, received a pleasant surprise from the people while addressing a public gathering in Hooghly.

Two individuals brought hand-made portraits of PM Modi's mother Heeraben to celebrate the mother-son bonding, on Mother's Day. They kept flashing the portrait unless they got the attention of the Prime Minister, who urged them to hand it over to him with their name and details so that he could revert to them.

PM Modi acknowledged their endeavour and expressed gratitude for the heart-warming gesture and also added that he was highly moved by their love for him and his mother.

Addressing the gathering, PM Modi said that May 12 is celebrated by the Western world as Mother's Day but for us, every day is a Mother's Day.

"People of this country celebrate their relationship with the mother, all 365 days. From Goddess Durga to Goddess Kali to Bharat Mata, we revere all of them, on all days of the year," PM Modi said, evoking loud applause from the gathering.

While the individuals gifted the portraits to PM Modi, the latter expressed gratitude to them and said he would try to pen a reply to them.

The video of the heart-warming moment is gaining good traction on social media, with many lauding the individuals for making the day 'special' for PM Modi.

A few days ago, a video of the Prime Minister recalling his relationship with his mother went viral, where he said that this was for the first time that he is going to the polls without the blessings of his mother.

"This is for the first time when I will go to file nomination without touching my mother's feet," an emotional Prime Minister said in a TV interview.
Chennai, May 12 : Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) turned 70 on Sunday.

Senior AIADMK leader celebrated his birthday in his hometown Edappadi in Salem district with his friends, family and party workers.

Tamil Nadu BJP state President K. Annamalai extended his wishes to Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS).

Annamalai in a social media post on microblogging site X wrote: "Wishing Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and General Secretary of the AIADMK, a very happy birthday. I pray for Edappadi K. Palaniswami to continue his work for the people with good health and a long life."

Tamil superstar and founder leader of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) Thalapathy Vijay also wished Edappadi K. Palaniswami on his birthday.

"Happy birthday to AIADMK General Secretary and Legislative Assembly Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS)," Vijay wrote on X.

EPS told media persons that there were no special programmes and added that he would spend his 70th birthday along with his party workers in his hometown Edappadi.
Kolkata, May 12 : Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should replace the incumbent West Bengal Governor instead of spreading "falsehood" on the Sandeshkhali issue.

Kolkata, May 12 (IANS) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should replace the incumbent West Bengal Governor instead of spreading "falsehood" on the Sandeshkhali issue.

"The Prime Minister is constantly spreading falsehood over the Sandeshkhali issue. The Prime Minister's representative is in Raj Bhavan, Kolkata. The women are scared to go there. I am facing a constitutional crisis. If necessary, I will have to speak to the Governor on the streets. I cannot enter Raj Bhavan because of some reports regarding the certain actions of the Governor. The Prime Minister should first replace him," the Chief Minister said while addressing an election meeting at Barrackpore Lok Sabha in North 24 Parganas district in support of Trinamool Congress candidate Parth Bhowmik.

Earlier, the Prime Minister addressed an election rally at Barrackpore where he referred to the recent withdrawal of complaints of sexual harassment by a couple of women in Sandeshkhali.

"A new game is on at Sandeshkhali now. The Trinamool 'goons' are threatening the protesting women to withdraw their complaints because the name of the principal accused is Sheikh Shahjahan. Trinamool Congress wants to give him a clean chit. Since the beginning, the ruling party has tried to protect him," the Prime Minister said.

The Chief Minister also claimed the ousting of BJP has already become evident after the first three phases of polls.

"What BJP knows is only to spread falsehood. They are selling the country, religion, caste and even the dignity of women," the Chief Minister said.
Amaravati, May 12 : Over 4.14 crore voters in Andhra Pradesh will decide the political fortunes of 2,841 candidates in polling for simultaneous elections to the state Assembly and Lok Sabha on Monday.

Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party President Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader and actor Pawan Kalyan are among 2,387 candidates in the fray for 175 Assembly seats.

For 25 Lok Sabha, there are a total of 454 contestants and prominent among them are state BJP chief and TDP founder and former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao's daughter D. Purandeswari (Rajahmundry), state Congress President Y.S. Sharmila Reddy (Kadapa), and former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy (BJP, Rajampet).

About 5.26 lakh personnel, including security forces personnel, have been deployed as part of the elaborate arrangements to ensure peaceful and smooth conduct of the polling process.

According to Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena, polling in 169 Assembly segments will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 pm. In the Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) affected segments of Araku, Paderu, and Rampachodavaram, the polling will conclude at 4 p.m. and in three other LWE-affected segments of Palakonda, Kurupam, and Salur, it will conclude at 5 p.m.

All the six segments are in north Andhra, adjoining Odisha.

As per the final electoral roll, the state has 4,14,01,887 voters, with women (2,10,58,615) outnumbering men (2,03,39,851). The remaining 3,421 belong to the third gender. The state has 68,185 service electors.

More than 4.44 lakh employees on poll duty have cast their votes in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls at Voter Facilitation Centres (VFCs) across the state. A total of 4,44,216 postal ballots were polled in 25 Lok Sabha constituencies while 4,44,218 ballots were polled in 175 Assembly segments.

In the 2019 elections, the state had recorded 79.84 per cent polling. Officials expect that this time, it is likely to go up to 83 per cent.

The CEO said 46,389 polling centres have been set up across the state, and 12,438 of them have been declared sensitive. The poll authorities have made arrangements for webcasting of polling processing in 34,651 polling stations.

There will be 100 per cent webcasting in 14 Assembly segments.

A total of 1.6 lakh Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been deployed. The CEO said 3.30 lakh employees will be on polling duty. In addition, 10,000 sector officers, 8,961 micro-observers and 46,165 booth-level officers will be on duty.

As part of the security arrangements, 1.14 lakh police personnel will be on duty. As many as 295 companies of central forces are also deployed.

Among Lok Sabha constituencies, Visakhapatnam has the largest number of candidates, at 33. There are 31 candidates in Nandyal and 30 in Guntur. There are only 12 candidates in the Rajahmundry Lok Sabha constituency.

Among Assembly segments, Tirupati has the maximum number of candidates, at 46, followed by 40 in Mangalagiri. There are only six candidates in Chodavaram.

The state is witnessing a direct fight between the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the NDA, which comprises the TDP, the Jana Sena and the BJP. In 2019, the YSRCP wrested power from the TDP by bagging 151 Assembly seats. The TDP won 23 seats while Jana Sena Party (JSP) secured one. The YSRCP had also won 22 Lok Sabha seats with the TDP bagging the remaining three. The TDP, the JSP and the BJP have joined hands this time to take on the YSRCP.

Under the seat-sharing agreement, the TDP is contesting 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats, and the JSP 21 Assembly segments and two Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP is contesting 10 Assembly and six Lok Sabha seats.

The Congress has fielded candidates in 159 Assembly and 23 Lok Sabha constituencies and left the remaining seats for allies CPI and CPI-M.

Among the prominent candidates, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is seeking re-election from the Pulivendula Assembly seat in his home district of Kadapa while Chandrababu Naidu is fighting for another term from Kuppam in Chittoor district. Pawan Kalyan, who had lost both the seats he contested in 2019, is testing his fortunes this time from Pithapuram in Kakinada district.

Naiduas brother-in-law and popular actor N. Balakrishna is seeking re-election for Assembly from Hindupur. Naiduas son Nara Lokesh is trying his luck in Mangalagiri, where he was defeated in 2019.

Jagan Mohan Reddyas sister and state Congress chief Sharmila Reddy is taking on her cousin and sitting MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy in the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat. The CMas close aide and YSRCP parliamentary party leader V. Vijayasai Reddy is contesting the Nellore Lok Sabha seat.

NRI medical professional Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, who is the richest candidate with family assets of more than Rs 5,705 crore, is contesting from the Guntur Lok Sabha seat on a TDP ticket.
Kolkata, May 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lambasted the Congress, Left and Trinamool Congress for having deteriorated West Bengal's condition by "looting" it for years.

Kolkata, May 12 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lambasted the Congress, Left and Trinamool Congress for having deteriorated West Bengalas condition by "looting" it for years.

The PM accused the opposition parties of plundering the stateas wealth for their own benefit and highlighted the significance of the 2024 elections for Bengal's development.

"If you combine the ancestral politics of Congress and torture of the Left parties, then Trinamool Congress is formed. Howrah was once a thriving industrial belt of West Bengal. First, the Left and then Trinamool drove the industrialists out from here. Everything is under the control of Trinamool Congress-pampered extortionists," said Prime Minister Modi while addressing an election meeting in Howrah Lok Sabha constituency in support of BJP candidate Rathin Chakraborty.

He mentioned that the leaders of Trinamool Congress are engaged in plotting violence and the goons backed by the ruling party are forcefully grabbing land in various parts of the state.

"All this is happening because of the direct encouragement of the state government. The common syndrome of all allies of the opposition INDI Alliance is corruption. Trinamool Congress is a force which pampers corruption openly," the Prime Minister said.

He also accused Trinamool Congress of having a direct involvement in the stateas lottery scam.

"Time has come now for the people of West Bengal to punish the Trinamool Congress. I am sure you will punish them and uproot them totally. Trinamool Congress is still batting in favour of the Sandeshkhali accused and is engaged in a competition of appeasement with the Congress party," stated PM Modi.

The Prime Minister said that he has been able to change the traditional political approach where parties and leaders used to forget the common people after getting elected.

aPreviously the parties and leaders used to forget the common people after getting elected. They even refused to recognise the voters. But, I have been able to change this approach to a great extent," he mentioned.

"Today, the BJP government at the Centre is reaching the doorstep of every citizen of the country. And that is why, crores of people of Bengal are getting free ration so that no poor mother is forced to see her children hungry," added PM Modi.
Chennai, May 12 : The Greater Chennai Police in Tamil Nadu has invoked the Goonda Act against the YouTuber 'Savakku' Shankar, an official said on Sunday.

Chennai Police, in a statement, said that detention orders under the Goonda Act have been served to Shankar who is in judicial custody in the Coimbatore Central Prison.

The detention order was served to him at the Coimbatore Central Prison by the Inspector, Cyber Crime Wing, Central Crime Branch, Chennai.

The Greater Chennai City Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore ordered the detention of 'Savakku'Shankar under the Goondas Act.

"There are seven cases registered against Shankar in the CCB/Cyber Crime PS of the Greater Chennai Police (GCP) out of which three cases are under investigation. Charge sheets have been filed in two cases and two cases are under trial," the police said.

Shankar is a popular YouTuber and whistleblower and has brought out several social issues before the public.

He is under judicial custody in a case related to making improper comments against women police officers during an interview with another YouTuber Felix Gerald.

Both Shankar and Gerald are now in judicial custody.
Seoul, May 12 : North Korea supports a United Nations resolution for Palestine's full membership, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said on Sunday, criticising the United States for vetoing the move.

The remark came after the UN General Assembly urged the security council to give "favourable consideration" to full Palestinian membership on Friday (US time), Yonhap news agency reported.

"The DPRK fully supports it," a spokesperson for the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, noting that the rights of the Palestinians are "mercilessly violated" by the US.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Last month, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have recognised Palestine's full membership, a status that Palestinians had long sought at the UN.

Palestine has been a "nonmember observer state" at the UN since 2012.
Moscow, May 12 : A heavy weapons strike on a residential block in the city of Belgorod in Russia's southern border region has killed one person, media reports and officials said on Sunday.

One woman was killed, and 29 people were injured, according to initial findings by Russian investigators.

Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov blamed the Ukrainian military for the "massive shelling."

Several photos of a building from which an entire section of apartments was blown out by the impact were published on social networks.

There had previously been a missile alert in the region near Ukraine, where Russian forces have been waging a full-scale war since February 2022.

--IANS/DPA

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London, May 12 : Under new proposals tabled by a senior government adviser, a range of organisations, including Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action, could be banned in the UK as "extreme protest groups." London, May 12 (IANS/DPA) Under new proposals tabled by a senior government adviser, a rangeA of organisations, including Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action, could be banned in the UK as "extremeA protest groups."

The approach currently applied to terrorist organisations should be used as a model, according to an adviser on political violence, John Woodcock, also known as Lord Walney, the BBC reported on Sunday, citing extracts from the report.

In recommendations now due to be presented to the Cabinet, Woodcock backs proscribing groups that "routinely use criminal tactics to try to achieve their aims."

"Militant groups like Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil are using criminal tactics to create mayhem and hold the public and workers to ransom without fear of consequence," he said.

"Banning terror groups has made it harder for their activists to plan crimes - that approach should be extended to extreme protest groups too."

If adopted, the measures could restrict a group's ability to fundraise and its right to assembly on British soil.

Climate activists from Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have repeatedly paralysed public life with large protests in which people have glued or chained themselves together.

Just Stop Oil rejected the proposed sanctions, arguing instead that the government were the "dangerous radicals that are endangering all of us" through their climate policies.

According to the BBC, the government is considering the report's recommendations.

A small number of protesters had in recent months displayed "violent and hateful behaviour," the Home Office told the broadcaster.

"Extremism of any kind has no place in our society, and we will not tolerate tactics that set out to intimidate, threaten or cause disruption to the law-abiding majority."

--IANS/DPA

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Mumbai, May 12 : Actor Navneet Malik, who is known for his work in the streaming series 'The Freelancer', recollected his childhood memories with his mom on the occasion of Mother's Day.

The actor shared that his mother raised him in a village. His mother being a simpleton always encouraged him to be a pure soul, and would often take him to the fields during his childhood.

The actor told IANS, "My mother is a housewife and we spent our childhood in the village where we used to play in the fields."

He added, "She used to join her there and always taught us to be honest and pure souls. It's because of her we use our hearts more than brains."

On the work front, Navneet completed shooting for the film 'The Virgin Tree' in which he portrays the younger version of Sanjay Dutt.

The actor expressed that it's an honour for him to step into the shoes of Sanjay after Ranbir Kapoor did so in the 2018 film 'Sanju'.

Navneet's appearance in the film draws inspiration from Sanjay's iconic 'Rocky' look.
Mumbai, May 12 : Sonakshi Sinha and Vijay Varma on Sunday celebrated the first anniversary of the police procedural crime thriller series 'Dahaad', expressing gratitude for the love, appreciation and accolades.

Vijay, who played the lead character of Anand Swarnakar in the show, took to Instagram and dropped a series of photos from the promotions of the show, some behind-the-scenes glimpses, snaps with the makers, and the award that he has won for 'Dahaad'.

He captioned the post as: "One year of #Dahaad So grateful for this show that brought us so much love, appreciation and accolades. We are so proud of this show and it's only apt that we share this first anniversary with you all.. the viewers who made the show what it is. A big Roaaaaarrrrr!"

Sonakshi, who played cop SI Anjali Bhaati in the show, took to Instagram Stories and wrote: "May is a damn good month for me... must say Congrats team Dahaad!!!"

The actress was also referring to her recently released web series 'Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar' by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the caption.

'Dahaad' was created by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar; directed by Reema and Ruchika Oberoi, it also stars Gulshan Devaiah, and Sohum Shah. The show is inspired by Mohan Kumar, a serial killer who preyed on women looking for marriage.

It is streaming on Prime Video.
New Delhi, May 12 : Two hospitals in the national capital -- Burari Government Hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri -- received bomb threats through email on Sunday, an official said, adding the police promptly carried out searches on the premises of both hospitals.

Police personnel along with bomb disposal teams and sniffer dogs rushed to the hospitals.

"An email was received at the Burari government hospital regarding a bomb threat. Nothing suspicious has been found yet," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Manoj Kumar Meena.

"The Fire Department and other relevant departments were also informed about the emails to the hospitals," said another police officer, adding that searches are going on.

The fresh threats have come days after over 100 schools received bomb threats via email in the national capital.
Apoorva says Adishakti workshop has given her deeper understanding of herself as artiste. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, May 12 : Actress Apoorva Arora, who was recently seen in the streaming series 'Family Aaj Kal', returned to Mumbai on Sunday after attending the Adishakti workshop at Auroville.

The actress spoke about her routine at the workshop and said that it has given her a deeper understanding of herself as an artist.

The actress had harboured the desire to participate in the Adishakti workshop. However, her busy schedule and commitment to her work had always hindered her plans. This time, despite her hectic schedule, she managed to squeeze in time for the workshop.

Reflecting on her experience, Apoorva said that it was deeply enriching and transformative, providing her with a new perspective on acting and life.

Talking about her experience, Apoorva told IANS: "I have been wanting to attend the Adishakti workshop for years, but my work commitments never allowed me to do so. This time, I made it a priority, and I'm so glad I did. The workshop has not only enhanced my acting skills but has also provided me with a deeper understanding of myself as an artist. It was truly a life-changing experience."

She also shared her routine which she followed at Auroville and also the tasks that she took up as a part of the learning process.

She said: "We did a lot of different kinds of classes including learning Mizhavu drums from Kerala, underwater breathing exercises, I learnt Kalaripayattu every morning, focused on learning different tools to aid character building."

"We report at 7 in the morning. Classes go on till 9:00 am, sometimes even later. There are short breaks in between but that's mostly spent working and prepping for the next class."

On the work front, Apoorva will be next seen in Rohan Sippy's directorial 'Unreal'.
Chennai, May 12 : Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian has said that the state government would honour 19 nurses for their selfless services.

While speaking to representatives of the Tamil Nadu Government Nurses Association on International Nurses Day on Sunday, the health minister said that the government would honour the 19 nurses in an event after the Model Code of Conduct is lifted.

Ma Subramanian listed out several measures the DMK government had brought for the welfare of nurses. He said that the government under Stalin had given permanent appointments to 1912 contract nurses. The health minister also said that the nurses recruited by the state Medical Recruitment Board on a contract basis were not made permanent for the past several years but the DMK government has made them permanent.

He further said that 2400 village health nurses would be appointed soon. Speaking about the aMakkalai Thedi Maruthuvama (Medical care at doorsteps) scheme, the minister said that the DMK government had appointed 10,969 health volunteers on a temporary basis for the scheme at a contract salary of Rs 5500 per month.

Ma Subramanian also said that the state government was taking care of various demands of the nurses and added that more than 90 per cent of their requests have been fulfilled. He said that 1412 contractual nurses have been appointed since the DMK government assumed office. The health minister added that the salary of the contractual nurses has been hiked from Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000 per month.

The minister said that the transfer counselling of nurses was implemented by the present government and added that 9525 nurses have been transferred through counselling sessions by the Stalin government.
Srinagar: Devotees light earthen lamps during 'Mela Kheer Bhawani' - regarded as the most important festival of Kashmiri Pandits, associated with Hindu Goddess Ragnya Devi in the Central Kashmir district of Ganderbal; at the Kheer Bhawani temple in T. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 12 : As the debate rages on the decline of the Hindu population, the exodus of the minority community from Kashmir is a case for study.

It took only a couple of years for a amotivated ecosystema to reduce a happy contented Kashmiri Pandit community into rootless, shattered refugees. From a number of over seven lakh in 1990, the community has only a few thousand left in the Valley with a majority of them being government employees living in protected areas.

For the present-day generation, it may come as a surprise to know that Kashmir was once a Hindu land. Great emperors like Lalitaditya Muktapida ruled the Valley. Kashmir was also a seat of learning. Sharada Peeth established by Kashmiri Pandits was on par with Nalanda and Takshila. However, the decline started with the advent of Islam in the Valley in the 14th century.

After continued persecution which continued till 1948, the divided Valley was left with about six per cent Kashmiri Pandits.

Over the decades, this percentage gradually decreased. Pandits moved to other parts of India due to discriminatory policies and attitudes of the governments in the state administration and political class which was shielded by Article 370.

Till late 1980s, the population had come down to almost two per cent. In February 1986, organised attacks were carried out against the Kashmiri Pandits in Anantnag district. Many houses were looted and temples burnt.

This was followed by a full-blown terror onslaught the target of which was the Kashmiri Pandit community which everyone perceived to be pro-India.

The minorities were ruthlessly attacked. It was during the tenure of Farooq Abdullah, who became the Chief Minister on November 7, 1986 (till January 18, 1990) that Kashmir witnessed organised attacks on Kashmiri Pandits.

The Home Minister of the country was Mufti Mohd Sayed, a Kashmiri Muslim who was largely suspected by the community to be behind the 1986 Anantnag riots.

Hundreds were killed, many kidnapped, women were abducted and raped. Many were brutally killed and bodies hung from trees and poles.

Mosques were openly used to carry out anti-India and anti-Hindu agendas. Loudspeakers atop mosques would blaze slogans against the Kashmiri Pandits. As targeted violence was unleashed on minorities, there was no one to help them or stand for them. Threats were openly given in local vernacular newspapers; posters were pasted on Hindu homes and hit lists were released.

The Pakistan-backed ecosystem openly gave only three options to the Kashmiri Pandits a" convert, face death or flee. The community chose to flee, leaving movable and immovable properties, temples and shrines, treasured books and archives.

A whole community, which is the original native of the land and has a rich heritage of over 5,000 years, was suddenly uprooted, thrown in the hot plains of the country and forced to live in tattered tents and camps.

In the Valley, there was no remorse, no one came forward to help the beleaguered community. There were no political voices, or human rights organisations in the Valley who could raise the voice for the persecuted Hindus.

Once the Kashmiri Pandits were forced out, the next on the agenda of the ecosystem was to usurp the properties. Hindu houses were looted and many of the stolen goods were put up for sale in markets by looters. Lands were encroached upon and taken over. A majority of the Hindu house owners were forced to sell their houses and lands for peanuts.

Three decades after the mass exodus, there is no case of ethnic cleansing or genocide. What happened to Kashmiri Pandits is termed as mass migration as if the community people willingly left their homes to live in tents in hot humid conditions.

No one stands guilty and none has been sentenced for the crimes perpetrated against the minority Hindus. All those perpetrators who were directly or indirectly involved in killings/kidnappings/rapes and gang-rapes/arson and loot were not outside marauders like in earlier centuries but were locals. In a majority of cases, the attackers were known, either neighbours or colleagues or friends.

While the victims knew who the attackers were, the police, administration and the political class had just shut their eyes to the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. They were probably following the plan to a perfect execution, which was done meticulously.

The ecosystem was so strong and well organised that it challenged the countryas secular ethos and converted the Muslim-majority Kashmir into almost a aHindu-freea place in the 1990s.

The political class that existed in the Valley when the Kashmiri Pandits were being persecuted continues to be there today as well. They remained silent in those times and have till today not sought justice for fellow Kashmiri minorities. There has been no SIT or judicial commission to probe the persecution and the exodus.

The only time the countryas justice system mentioned the tragedy of the community was during the trial of JKLF chief Yasin Malik. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a Delhi court in 2022 during arguments on the sentencing of Yasin Malik in a terror funding case that he was responsible for the Kashmiri Pandits' exodus from the Valley.

On June 11, 1999, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a ruling stated that the violence against the community was genocide-like and stopped short of terming it as genocide.

The Supreme Court too dismissed petitions seeking a probe into the alleged mass murder of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley in 1989-1990. However, a judgment authored by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on the abrogation of Article 370 in 2023 did mention the ordeal of the community and recommended a structural investigation of the events and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to rebuild the social fabric and heal wounds.

Today the same community is struggling to keep alive its culture, language and traditions. The faceless ecosystem that worked to uproot the Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley is today sitting pretty, somewhere unidentified and scouting for new lands.

(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)
Chennai, May 12 : Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) on Sunday asked the state government to revoke the multi-fold increase in stamp duty.

He said that the hike in stamp duty is anti-people and urged the government to immediately revoke the decision.

The senior leader said that through a notification dated May 5, stamp duty for 26 services to register property transactions has been increased between 10 to 33 times.

EPS called upon the state government to resume the old guideline value in stamp duty on directives of the Madras High Court order.

The AIADMK leader said that the present Tamil Nadu government has not implemented the Madras High Court order that had cancelled a decision to revise the guideline.

He said that there has been no interim stay on the Madras High Court order. He charged that the previous AIADMK government led by him had not added to the burden of the people and had managed its funds appropriately and availed loans for capital expenditure.

EPS said that the people of the state have been victimised by the DMK government by adding the burden on the people in terms of tax and other charges.

He also said that there was inaction on the part of the Stalin government creating difficulties for the people.
New Delhi, May 12 : Bolstering defence ties between the two countries, Director General of Defence Intelligence Agency (DG DIA) Lieutenant General D.S. Rana will begin his two-day visit to Tanzania starting Monday.

Lieutenant General Rana's visit to the East African country, seen as one of New Delhi's reliable partners in the region, will be yet another step towards enhancing the security of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of SAGAR a" Safety and Growth for All in the Region.

Last October, after the two countries agreed to a five-year roadmap for defence cooperation in June 2023, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj Pande visited Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Arusha to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation with the larger aim of enhancing security in the IOR.

Besides holding meetings with the country's defence leadership and delivering a keynote address on New Delhi's 'Make in India, Make for the World' capability under the 'Atamnirbhar Bharat' initiative, General Pande also gifted a 'Made in India' Infantry Simulator and bulletproof jackets to Tanzania Peoples' Defence Force (TPDF).

During his two-day visit, Lieutenant General Rana will present the TPDF with more Indian-manufactured bulletproof jackets as a gesture of goodwill towards expanding military cooperation.

He is also scheduled to interact with the senior military leadership of Tanzania, including the Chief of Defence Staff General Jacob John Mkunda and his counterpart, Major General M.N. Mkeremy, Chief of Defence Intelligence and discuss India's security perspective with future leaders of the TPDF during his visit to the Tanzanian National Defence College.

Lt. Gen. Rana will also inaugurate the newly set up Defence Wing at the High Commission of India in Dar Es Salaam. The DG DIA will then inaugurate the library and lay the foundation stone for the gymnasium - being facilitated through the government of India's assistance - at the Command and Staff College in Arusha.

"India shares close, warm and friendly relations with Tanzania, which is bolstered by robust capacity building and avenues for defence cooperation. The visit of the Indian military delegation is expected to further strengthen the elevated strategic partnership with Tanzania," the ministry said in a statement ahead of the visit.
Patna May 12 : After Lalu Prasad Yadav took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his sugar mill promise, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary hit back, saying that the NDA government will reopen 14 sugar mills in Bihar.

"Lalu Prasad Yadav does not know that our government will reopen 14 closed sugar mills in Bihar. It will be a contribution of the Narendra Modi government to the people of the state. The Modi government had approved the making of ethanol. Lalu Prasad Yadav was in jail so he would not remember it," the Deputy Chief Minister said.

He alleged that Lalu Prasad Yadav only cares about his family.

"The family of the daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav fled during Jungle Raj. It is the effect of good governance of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar that the family members of Lalu Prasad Yadav are returning to Bihar," Choudhary claimed.

Earlier, Lalu Prasad Yadav taunted PM Narendra Modi saying that he had promised that he would open a sugar mill and drink tea made of that sugar produced in the mill.

"10 years have gone by, what happened to that promise? He failed to open a small sugar mill in the state as per his promise. He has not been able to fulfil any of his promises," Lalu Prasad Yadav said.
Amethi : , May 12 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that the spirit of Aurangzeb has entered into the Congress.

"The Congress is talking about imposing inheritance tax in its manifesto. This is a kind of Jizya tax," he said while addressing a rally in Amethi.

The chief minister said that Ram and the nation are synonymous with each other and those who are opposing Ram are opposing the nation. He said that only two people are opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one is Pakistan and the other is 'Ramdrohi'.

Yogi Adityanath said that when Amethi took a revolutionary decision in 2019 (To defeat Rahul Gandhi), its thunder was heard not only in Lucknow but till Delhi. If the decision is right then the result is also right. For the first time, the people of Amethi decided to become the charioteers of India's development instead of being followers of any party. At the same time, Smriti Irani also visited Amethi more than the four generations of Congress. As an alert public representative, she kept visiting every village of Amethi every week.

He further said that any party in the country needs 273 seats for the majority, but Congress is not even contesting elections on this number of seats in the entire country.

Attacking Congress, he said that those who love Pakistan can go there. Today, people in Pakistan are dying of hunger, whereas in India, more than that population has been brought above the poverty line during the 10 years of Prime Minister Modi's tenure. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, 80 crore people of the country are getting free ration. The work of providing houses to four crore poor has been done. Why couldn't Congress do this work?

Taking aim at the opposition on the basis of the Congress manifesto, the chief minister said that these people are trying to put a dent in the reservation of SC, ST and OBC.

The Chief Minister said that Congress people want to feed beef to the minorities. Voting for them means being complicit in a sin like cow slaughter. Even if we vote for Congress fraudulently and it gives permission for cow slaughter, we will not be able to wash away this sin.
Amaravati, May 12 : The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered action against the Superintendent of Police Raghuveer Reddy in Andhra Pradesh's Nandyal for failing to implement the election code of conduct.

The poll panel had asked Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police to file charges against the SP.

It also ordered a departmental inquiry against the SP, SDPO Ravindernath Reddy, and CI Raja Reddy.

The police chief has been asked to inform the ECI about the action taken against the three officials.

The poll panel took serious note of Saturdayas incident, where actor Allu Arjun visited Nandyal without obtaining permission from the authorities concerned.

A large number of fans of the actor gathered to see him. The police failed to control the crowd despite Section 144 being in force.

The police on Saturday registered a case against Allu Arjun and Nandyal MLA and YSR Congress candidate Silpa Ravi.

The actor of "Pushpa" fame visited the house of the MLA and his friend to lend support in the elections scheduled on May 13.

After someone complained to the Election Commission, the police swung into action and registered a case under section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code.

Allu Arjun visited the MLAas house to show his support on the last day of the campaigning. On learning about his visit, a large number of his fans gathered outside the MLAas house to see him. The actor appeared on the balcony with the MLA and his family members and waved at the huge crowd gathered outside.

Silpa Ravi, whose real name is Singareddy Ravichandra Kishore Reddy is seeking re-election as the candidate of the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in the May 13 elections.

Allu Arjun, in a social media post, thanked the people of Nandyal for the warm reception. He also thanked Silpa Ravi for the hospitality. "Wishing you the very best in the elections and beyond. You have my unwavering love and support," he posted on X.

--IANS

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New Delhi, May 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election rallies in the last three phases have seen a relentless attack on the Congress as well as the INDIA bloc, however, his Bengal campaign on Sunday was marked by a medley of emotions including excitement, happiness and tears of joy.

New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modias election rallies in the last three phases have seen a relentless attack on the Congress as well as the INDIA bloc, however, his Bengal campaign on Sunday was marked by a medley of emotions including excitement, happiness and tears of joy.

With umpteen smiling faces and people standing out in the crowd with their unique gestures while some getting overwhelmed after meeting the Prime Minister, the three rallies in Bengal clocked a wide spectrum of emotions.

Some party workers were too overwhelmed after meeting PM Modi that they couldnat contain themselves, tears flowing down their cheeks showed their surge of emotions.

The first burst of emotion unravelled at the Hooghly rally, where a heart-warming gesture by two individuals even moved the Prime Minister and filled him with gratitude.

While PM Modi addressed the public gathering, two individuals stood out with the hand-made portraits of his mother Heeraben, in a way conveying their good wishes to the Prime Minister on Motheras Day.

PM Modi asked his security men to collect the portraits and thanked the two for making the moment aspeciala for him.

In another incident, the video of which is viral, some BJP workers got a chance to meet the Prime Minister after he finished his speech.

A couple of women BJP workers greeted PM Modi while he walked out of the stage. They looked visibly elated and joyous over the afirsta meeting with PM, with some even bowing down and touching his feet.

PM Modi, known for leading by example, returns the favour.

These workers, a couple of them teary-eyed, also shouted slogans aHar ghar Modi.a

Later speaking to media persons, they also shared their experience and nervousness about meeting the Prime Minister for the first time.

In the Howrah rally, the emotions breached a new level as a couple of people including women and children were seen trying hard to control their tears.

PM Modi, after spotting them in the crowd, lauded them for their hard work and also urged them to hold back tears. But, they looked inconsolable and tears rolled down their cheeks while the guards collected the paintings and portraits they brought for the Prime Minister.

During election season, excitement and enthusiasm are known to reach another level but such a burst of emotions is rare. People getting driven to tears of joy by the aura and presence of a star campaigner could probably be the first of its kind.
London, May 12 : A range of organisations including Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action could be banned in the UK as "extreme protest groups" under new proposals tabled by a senior government advisor.

The approach currently applied to terrorist organisations should be used as a model, according to advisor on political violence John Woodcock, also known as Lord Walney, the BBC reported on Sunday, citing extracts from the report.

In recommendations now due to be presented to the Cabinet, Woodcock backs proscribing groups that "routinely use criminal tactics to try to achieve their aims."

"Militant groups like Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil are using criminal tactics to create mayhem and hold the public and workers to ransom without fear of consequence," he said.

"Banning terror groups has made it harder for their activists to plan crimes - that approach should be extended to extreme protest groups too."

If adopted, the measures could restrict a group's ability to fundraise and its right to assembly on British soil.

Climate activists from Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have repeatedly paralysed public life with large protests in which people have glued or chained themselves together.

Just Stop Oil rejected the proposed sanctions, arguing instead that the government were the "dangerous radicals that are endangering all of us" through their climate policies.

According to the BBC, the government is considering the report's recommendations.

A small number of protesters had in recent months displayed "violent and hateful behaviour," the Home Office told the broadcaster.

"Extremism of any kind has no place in our society and we will not tolerate tactics that set out to intimidate, threaten or cause disruption to the law-abiding majority."

--IANS/dpa

as/dan
New Delhi, May 12 : At least 21 addresses, including four hospitals in the national capital, received bomb threats through email on Sunday, sources said, adding that searches were underway on the premises of all four medical facilities.

Burari Government Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri, Superspeciality Hospital in Janakpuri, and Hindu Rao Hospital on Sunday afternoon received bomb threat emails.

"I have placed explosives inside the building. They will explode... this isn't a threat, you have a few hours to defuse the bombs or else the blood of innocent people inside the building will be on your hands," read the email whose screenshot was accessed by IANS.

"The group called 'Court' is behind this massacre," the email sent around 3.05 p.m. on Sunday read.

"An email was received at the Burari Government Hospital regarding a bomb threat. Nothing suspicious has been found yet," Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Manoj Kumar Meena said.

Police personnel along with bomb disposal teams and sniffer dogs rushed to the hospitals.

"The Fire Department and other relevant departments were also informed about the emails to the hospitals," said another police officer, adding that searches were underway.

The fresh threats have come days after over 100 schools received bomb threats via email in the national capital.
Los Angeles, May 12 : The 'Thor' actor Chris Hemsworth has honoured the special women in his life on the occasion of Mother's Day.

The actor (40) posted a sweet tribute to both his wife Elsa Pataky and mother Leonie as he marked Mother's Day for the pair on Instagram on Sunday, reports 'People' magazine.

"Happy Mother's Day to my two favourites," Hemsworth wrote in the caption of his post while sharing photos that featured the special moms in his life, reports 'People' magazine.

In the first photo, Pataky (47) pouted at the camera as she appeared with cream on her nose from a mug of hot chocolate she held up to her face.

Hemsworth planted a kiss on his mom's head in the second shot he shared. In the sweet snap, the actor had his arm around Leonie while they posed together for the outdoor photo.

The actor also included a black-and-white photo of himself dressed up as his iconic character Thor alongside Pataky, who appeared as her character Wolf Woman from 'Thor: Love and Thunder' in a similar armoured costume with a long mullet wig and fake fanged teeth, as the pair embraced and held hands.
They represent a mere 1.35% of the planets surface, but some of human civilizations greatest achievements were only made possible by oases. Without them, the first humans who left Africa, the ones who built the Silk Road that connected Europe and Asia in ancient times, would have had a much harder time. These islands of water supported certain historical processes, like the slave trade between sub-Saharan Africa and imperial Rome, the invasions of the West by the Asian East and the expansion of Islam. Now, a group of scientists has created a world map to observe two parallel processes of which, in a near future driven by climate change, only one could remain: while some of these green spaces are expanding due to human intervention, others are shrinking from the deserts advance. In the time, between the two, experts are clear on one thing: the future of the oases is uncertain.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of the National Center for Research in Cairo have created what they believe to be the first world map of oases. Popularized in literature and film, the Western ideal of these topographic formations is composed of palm trees, a pool of water and caravans. The now-vanished Palmyra (the ruins of which were destroyed by Islamic State terrorists) is the prototype of this archetype. The city of date trees was the point of connection between the East and West for millennia and between the Persian and Roman empires for centuries. But the reality of oases is much more complicated.

According to the map, there are oases in 37 countries and the majority of their mass is not in Africa and its two principal deserts, the Sahara and the Namib: 77% of these green refuges are found in Asia. And, though many of them are located on the Arabian peninsula and throughout the near East, the bulk of oases are found so far north that they dont have palm trees, and the deserts that surround them are so cold that, during the winter, temperatures drop to between -4F and -22F. In fact, more than half of these fertile zones are found in central Asia and northeast China. Those within the interior of Australia (with 13.6%) and on portions of the western flank of the two American continents (at 5.02%) follow on the list. African oases only represent 4.21% of their total. These percentages allow us to better define what an oasis is: an area within an arid region, not necessarily hot, surrounded by desert, not necessarily sand, that has a reliable source of water that is not rain and is not always subterranean.

The oasis world map is by no means a static image. Its creators based it on images gathered by the European Space Agency (ESA)s Climate Change Initiative. Supported by these satellites, it has been mapping the Earths surface and its different types of vegetal cover, from frozen moors to the most fertile jungles, for decades. The archive allowed the team to bring the oasis map to life and to see how oases have evolved since 1995. In fact, the movement of these green spaces is the central focus of the new study, which was published in the scientific journal Earths Future.

The satellite images history speaks of two parallel processes. On one hand, the study found that the oases, in general, grew by more than 85,000 square miles between 1995 and 2020. But at the same time, a loss of 51,853 square miles was experienced by other oases during the same period. That added up to a net growth of 33,400 square miles. In total, worldwide, there are 1.2 million square kilometers of oases.

Water is the only limiting factor that determines the existence, development and extinction of the oasis, when theres not enough, the desert takes back the land Dongwei Gui, researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Ecology

The oases are distributed throughout the worlds distinct desert regions, which means that different oases have different situations, Dongwei Gui, researcher at the State Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology at the Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Ecology and co-author of the study, said in an email. While some in China have been able to expand thanks to the human factor (the extraction of subterranean water, for example) others in Egypt have contracted due to a lack of water, he says. In fact, the authors say that practically all expansion has anthropogenic causes, while losses are due to the desertification process that many areas of the planet are experiencing. Water is the only limiting factor that determines the existence, development and extinction of the oasis, when theres not enough, the desert takes back the land that is occupied by the oasis, adds Gui.

Xingiang is a good example. Its the most northeastern Chinese province. With an area three times larger than Spain, nearly the same size as Mexico, it houses some of the planets largest oases, like Turfan, a city with more than 500,000 inhabitants. Since the Chinese government liberated its territories and land use, the region, which is among the poorest in the country, has gone through an agricultural explosion that has turned it into one of the countrys primary sources for vegetables and greens. In a certain sense, its repeating the history of the agricultural land in southeastern Spain. In fact, the intensification of agriculture is the primary cause of oasis expansion. This growth has also been seen in Africa, due to the artificial irrigation of lands that were previously deserts.

At the same time, the oases, integral parts of arid regions, are suffering from the impact of climate change and the desertification that it is causing. The greatest losses have taken place in the green spaces of Africa, but also in many parts of Asia. Researchers estimate that the changes to the oases have directly affected some 34 million people worldwide.

University of Alicante researcher Jaime Martinez Valderrama was recently in Xinjiang, where he collaborated on a project with some of the oasis maps creators. He says that we often think of the oasis in the vein of those located in the Saharan or Arabian deserts, which are sustained by subterranean waters thanks to natural providence or an excavated well. Ninety-nine percent of the worlds fresh water in a liquid state is underground, he says. In fact, the largest aquifers are beneath the sands of the Sahara. Its rainwater that fell 40,000 years ago, he says. Thanks to technology inspired by oil extraction, older traditional wells have been replaced by sophisticated pumping and extraction systems whose use is permitted to fill the demand of North African coastal megacities for grains, fruits and vegetables, but they are compromising the future of the Saharan oases. They are no longer four palm trees, but rather real food production systems that, in these arid zones, which have a lot of sun, good temperatures and now the water they were missing, are now so attractive that they are expanding, says Martinez, who is also a scientist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)s Arid Zone Experimental Station.

The oases of central Asia and northeast China are another matter. They are also maintained by subterranean waters, but their primary source is snow from the mountains, says the Spanish researcher. The regions mountain ranges, with altitudes between 13,100 to 23,000 feet, are flanked by enormous rivers that flow into endorheic basins, meaning that they dont end in the ocean, but rather interior lakes or deserts. These are the waters that are powering growth in China. There, they call it oasification, expansion at the cost of desert land, thanks to the exploitation of water resources.

The oases are expanding, but the water reserves on which they depend are running out Jamie Martinez, researcher at the University of Alicate and the CSICs Arid Zone Experimental Station

The oases are expanding, but the water reserves on which they depend are running out, warns Martinez. Not just from an abuse of resources that exceeds their ability to regenerate, but also, climate change is leading to less snow on the mountains, whose runoff is the source of the entire system, he says. With global warming, its not snowing as much, and snow is melting faster, and that is a big problem. Ultimately, you see that the factors that drive desertification are the same ones behind development. Will this kind of expansion be sustainable in a climate change scenario in which water resources are diminishing? Thats unknown.

His sentiment is repeated by Gui, the Chinese scientist. Without a doubt, climate change will impact the water cycle at the local and global level, bringing enormous uncertainly as to oasis sustainability. The future of oases will depend on the water situation in the context of global change and, even more importantly, on human behavior.

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Los Angeles, May 12 : Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg is celebrating Mother's Day with two "special moms".

Los Angeles, May 12 (IANS) Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg is celebrating Mother's Day with two "special moms".

On Sunday, the actor (52) shared a sweet post that celebrated his wife Rhea Durham (45) and his late mother, Alma Wahlberg, who died in 2021 at age 78.

The actor wrote in his caption alongside the carousel of images, "Happy Mother's Day. Miss you mom. Love you babe @byrheawahlberg," reports 'People' magazine.

The post included photos of Mark with his late mom, his wife and the couple's two sons, Brendan (15) and Michael (18) and daughters Ella (20) and Grace (14).

In the first shot, the family posed together in a photo that appeared to have been taken at Alma's 75th birthday celebrations. A second shot showed them all together, smiling as they sat on a couch.

As per 'People', Mark's final photo showed his wife surrounded by their four children outside as they appeared to be enjoying a day together in the sun.

In April, Durham proudly took to her Instagram to share a photo of her with her husband and their son together on vacation. In the picture, Durham is wearing a floral dress while the boys sport T-shirts and hats. She also has one arm around Wahlberg and the other around Brendan.
Rohtak, May 12 : Two-term MP from Kurukshetra and senior Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Kailasho Saini on Sunday joined Congress here.

After leaving the BJP, she took the membership of the Congress, expressing faith in the leadership of former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Hooda and state Congress President Chaudhary Udaibhan.

Hundreds of BJP workers also joined the Congress along with Kailasho Saini.

Ajit Singh Kadian, a former legislator from Beri, also left the BJP and joined the Congress.

Hooda welcomed them into the party and assured them full respect. Hooda said the entry of another big leader from the backward class into the Congress would strengthen the party.

"This will send a big message to the entire Haryana, including Kurukshetra. The Congress will also benefit from the experience of a senior leader like Ajit Singh Kadian," he said.

Talking to the media, Kailasho Saini said the BJP was moving ahead on the policy of taking away the right of reservation from the Scheduled Castes and the OBC.

"In such a situation, there was no justification for remaining within this party. I decided to leave the party," she added.

She said she would campaign for the INDIA alliance in Kurukshetra and wherever the party has given her the responsibility.
New Delhi, May 12 : Even as the 91 cases of new FLiRT Covid-19 variants, accounting for more than a third of cases in the US, have reportedly been detected in Maharashtra, there is nothing to worry immediately, a top expert said on Sunday.

The new set of variants dubbed FLiRT, majorly includes KP.1.1, and KP.2 strains. These are named based on the technical names for their mutations, one of which includes the letters "F" and "L", and another of which includes the letters "R" and "T".

Genome sequencing of March and April showed that Maharashtra has 91 cases of KP.2 -- Pune (51), Thane (20), Amravati (7) Aurangabad (7), Solapur (2), Ahmednagar (1), Nashik (1), Latur (1), and Sangli (1).

"What we see now, is the result of genome sequencing of the last two months, that is March and April. So, there is no cause of concern immediately as out of the 91 cases, not a single death, hospitalisation, or severe disease has been reported," infectious disease expert Dr Ishwar Gilada, told IANS.

"Even the test positivity rate is around 1 per cent," he added.

Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, Maharashtraas genome sequencing coordinator, said that KP.2 has become the predominant Covid strain in the state.

However, there hasnat been a corresponding increase in hospitalisations or severe cases, The Times of India reported.

FLiRT variants come from the lineage of the highly transmissible and immune system-evading Omicron.

First identified globally in January, KP.2 is a descendant of Omicronas JN.1. According to the data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, KP.2 accounted for about one in four or 25 per cent of new sequenced cases in the country in the last weeks of April.

Similar to previous variants, the symptoms typically include a sore throat, runny nose, congestion, tiredness, fever (with or without chills), headache, muscle pain, and sometimes loss of taste or smell.

"Covid has not gone away, but it is not creating any havoc. It is not creating any hospitalisation or deaths, and it is much milder than the flu. So, it should not be considered a separate disease. It should be considered like the flu and we can call it Covi-flu," said Dr Gilada, Consultant in Infectious Diseases Unison Medicare and Research Centre, Mumbai.

However, he called for proper whole genome sequencing.

"Though the variant will become prominent in numbers, it is not causing a surge in demand for oxygen, beds, ICUs, or ventilators, and there are also no deaths. aSo, I think we should not be worried and concentrate on other emerging health problems," he said.
Amreli, May 12 : A formal complaint has been registered against the Gujarat AAP leader's son in an assault case on Sunday.

Amreli, May 12 (IANS) A formal complaint has been registered against the Gujarat AAP leaderas son in an assault case on Sunday.

As per the complaint, Haresh Sitasiya, the son of AAP leader Kanti Satasiya, has forcibly taken a woman in a car and assaulted her under the threat of a knife in Janjariya village in Bagasara municipality of Gujarat.

Police said that the victim was abducted and then assaulted by the accused.

The police said that they have also recorded threats against the life of the victim, allegedly made by Kanti Satasiya, his two sons, and daughter-in-law.

Kanti Satasiya, an AAP leader and the partyas candidate for the Dhari Bagasara Assembly seat, has previously held positions including the chairmanship of the Bagasara APMC.
Bhubaneswar, May 12 : The Odisha Police have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure smooth, impartial, free, and fair elections in the state, a senior police officer said on Sunday, adding 17,000 police personnel have been deployed for the first phase of polling in the state.

Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1.

The first phase of polling in Odisha will be held on Monday. In this phase, voting will be conducted in four Parliamentary constituencies -- Kalahandi, Nabarangapur, Berhampur, and Koraput -- and 28 Assembly segments in Ganjam, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Koraput districts of the state.

Addressing a press conference here, Director General of Odisha Police (DGP) Arun Kumar Sarangi on Sunday said: "There are 7,298 polling stations located in 6,282 places of the state that will go for polls in the first phase on Monday. As many as 537 polling stations are located in Maoist-affected areas of the state.

"We have deployed a total of 17,000 police personnel of different ranks for the first phase of polling in the state. This apart, 104 companies of paramilitary forces and 66 platoons of Special Armed Police of Odisha Police will be deployed during the first phase of polling in the state," Sarangi added.

As many as 600 mobile patrolling parties, each comprising one officer and two armed police personnel, will operate in the districts going to the polls on Monday.

Each mobile team will be deployed in such a way that it can cover 10 to 12 polling booths within one-hour period and verify the security arrangements.

"The movements of mobile parties will be monitored from the concerned district control rooms through the GPS tracking system," said Sarangi.

He further added that CCTVs have been installed in each of 51 interstate border check posts located in nine police districts where elections are going to be held on Monday.

DGP Sarangi also said that 50 inter-district check posts have been set up by the districts and all the vehicles are being inspected.

The senior police officer also said that as per the instructions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), 210 flying squads have been formed.

"They are taking immediate steps regarding MCC violations and other allegations. As many as 195 static surveillance teams formed as per the ECI guidelines are checking vehicles and individuals," he said.

The DGP further stated that the flying squads and static surveillance teams would also check bogus voters.

The flying squads and static surveillance teams comprise officials of different departments apart from the police personnel.
Jaipur, May 12 : Jaipur International Airport witnessed chaos on Sunday after a bomb threat was received through an email, threatening to blow up the airport.

However, nothing concrete was found after the CISF conducted a thorough search operation at the airport.

The email said, "A bomb has been planted in the building, save the lives of innocent people."

Following the threat alert, security personnel, police, bomb disposal squad and dog squad conducted a thorough search of the airport while the vigilance team tried to reach the person who sent the email.

SHO (Airport) Motilal Sharma told IANS that a threatening mail was received on the official email ID of CISF on Sunday at around 3:15 pm.

"Security agencies were alerted after receiving information about a bomb at the airport. The police along with airport security personnel started the search operation. The bomb disposal squad and dog squad investigated the entire airport complex and its surroundings. Till now no suspicious thing has been found in the airport premises," SHO Sharma said.

He said that the investigation teams are trying to figure out the source from where the mail was sent. "A case has been registered and we are making a thorough probe," he said.

Interestingly, a bomb threat email was sent to 12 airports across the country including Jaipur International Airport.

"Explosive devices have been installed in the buildings of Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jammu, Lucknow, Patna, Agartala, Aurangabad, Bagdhugra, Bhopal and Calicut airports. There will be a blast in a few hours. Do not consider this mail as a threat. Defuse the bomb, otherwise many innocent people will die," read the email.

This is the fifth time in the last six months that Jaipur Airport has received a bomb threat. Talking about these threats, SHO (Airport) Motilal Sharma said that police have arrested a few accused on charges of sending a bomb threat to Jaipur airport.

"An accused was arrested from Andhra Pradesh and another from Bengaluru. However, they weren't the serious offenders. One amongst them was a student in depression while the other said that he learned from YouTube how to create panic. Both are behind bars and further investigations are on," he said.
Le Mans : , May 12 (IANS) In an epic showdown at the Grand Prix de France, Jorge Martin of Prima Pramac Racing stormed to victory, setting a sensational pace throughout the race to emerge winner in a titanic three-way battle here on Sunday.

Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) secured an impressive second after passing Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) on the final lap of the race. Bagnaia could still stand on the podium, crossing the line in third and taking vital points after a disappointing result in the Sprint race.

Leading the way to start a historic French GP was Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), who had a stunning start a" leaving Saturdayas issues behind. Martin tried to attack early on the opening lap, with Bagnaia proving why he is #1. Maverick ViAales made a mistake on the entry to turn three, dropping from third to sixth as Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) charged into fifth.

However, Acostaas race soon came to a disappointing end, losing the front in an attempt to overtake Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) at turn eight. While Di Giannantonio was lucky the same could not be said about Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), who crashed at turn six, one lap later.

It was a two-way battle at the front, with Bagnaia going toe-to-toe with Martin. There was a huge battle forming behind for the final position on the podium, as Di Giannantonio overtook Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) for third place.

Espargaro later went through the escape road after the #41 was overtaken by Ducati Lenovo Teamas Enea Bastianini, with the #23 handed a Long Lap for taking a shortcut.

Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGPa) capitalised on a mistake from ViAales on lap 14, jumping the #93 to fourth to have his go at fighting with the top three riders.

Marquez tried to overtake Di Giannantonio at turn three on lap 17, unable to make it work before making it stick one lap later. Meanwhile, further back it was a disastrous end to Fabio Quartararoas home race, who crashed out of sixth place.

It was a duel at the front between Martin and Bagnaia with Martin stealing the race lead on lap 21, allowing Marc Marquez to catch a" sending the record-breaking crowd to their feet. In the closing stages, Martin made a small mistake and ran wide, allowing Bagnaia to latch onto the rear wheel once again.

It all came down to the final lap, inches between the top three, with Marc Marquez launching an attack to steal second position with half a lap remaining. This allowed Martin to storm to the line, to win an unbelievable French GP by 0.446s.

Marc Marquez was jumping for joy with Bagnaia settling for third position in a race which will go down in the history books.

Behind the podium trio was Bastianini who showed great late race pace to secure fourth, after the aBeasta managed to find a gap in ViAales armour, with the #12 crossing the line to round out the top five.

Di Giannantonio was sixth after also completing a Long Lap, to finish ahead of the second Prima Pramac Racing machine of Franco Morbidelli, who crossed the line in seventh. After starting from the back of the grid, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was eighth after a super ride from the South African.

Espargaro and Gresini Racing MotoGPas Alex Marquez took the final spot inside the top 10. While, further down the order, Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) took a point-scoring finish at his home Grand Prix a" finishing in 12th.
Jammu, May 12 : The Army on Saturday opened fire at a Pakistani drone after it hovered over Indian territory in J&K's Rajouri district, driving it off, officials said.

"Troops opened fire on a suspected Pakistani drone near the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the drone returned to the Pakistan side after briefly hovering over the Indian territory," an official said.

The drone activity and subsequent firing of a few rounds by the army were reported from the Keri sector of Rajouri.

"A thorough search of the area was conducted but nothing suspicious was found on the ground. Anti-national elements are using drones to drop weapons and narcotics. The security forces are fully alert to frustrate their designs," the official said.

Meanwhile, a flying object with blinking lights was also seen hovering briefly in the air near Allahpir area of Poonch district on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. Security forces searched the area but found nothing on the ground.
New Delhi, May 12 : Two men were killed while three others sustained injuries after their car overturned in Delhi's Aman Vihar on Sunday, police said.

The deceased were identified as Sanjay, 23, and Ashutosh, 22, both residents of Kishan Vihar.

Police said that at 12.30 p.m., a police control room (PCR) call regarding a car accident in Sector 22, Rohini was received at Aman Vihar Police Station.

A police team reaching the spot found the accident-struck vehicle and it was learnt that its five occupants had been shifted to the hospital, where two of them were declared dead by doctors and three are under treatment.

"The bodies of the deceased have been preserved at the hospital for post-mortem examination. The other three injured have been identified as Sahil, 20, Rashid,18, and Lokesh Singh, 23, residents of the same locality," a senior police official said.

Initial enquiry revealed that the driver lost control, leading to the vehicle overturning.

"A case has been registered and further probe is on," the official added.
Kyle Chayka, 35, is a journalist for the New Yorker Magazine, where he has a column about technology and culture on the internet. He is concerned about the dissemination of art online and has just published a second book, Filterworld: How Algorithms Have Flattened Culture, which looks at the difficulty of finding new artistic experiences in a data-driven world. His first book was on a similar topic: the decline of the minimalist movement in the age of Instagram.

Question. What is Filterworld?

Answer. It took me a long time to come up with the title for this book. I wanted to describe how we are surrounded by algorithmic recommendations. No single phrase could capture that. We say that were online or attached to our phone, but theres nothing that describes this environment around us all the time. Filterworld came to me to show that were surrounded by algorithms. Everything around us is filtered through digital platforms.

Q. Does it make our life worse?

A. I think so. It makes our lives more boring, less interesting. Algorithmic recommendations always offer things that reinforce our point of view. Were not as surprised. Were not as challenged. The way that weve become habituated to all of these algorithmic feeds and platforms have made us more passive as cultural consumers. We accept whatever comes to us and are less likely to look for something different.

Q. In the book, you say that nothing new is coming out anymore. How do you know?

A. It is hard to point to data, because new things are being made all the time. Theres always a new musician, a new book, or a new influencer account on Instagram. I talked to a lot of people who sensed this ennui or boredom that nothing felt new. Things were novel, newly made, but not innovative. But its hard to prove. Many have complained over the past two millenia that culture is boring and I dont want to fall into that trap, but what has changed is how we consume culture. Ten or 20 years ago, we were not consuming things through data-driven digital platforms. Many human decisions were made to put something on TV, release a record or promote a book. That feeling of boredom comes from how much of culture is now dictated by data in a more explicit and aggressive way.

Q. You quote Martin Scorseses saying that today everything is content. How is content different from art?

A. Content is a very convenient word because were consuming everything through the same channels. It doesnt matter if its a song, an article or a screenshot of a poem, its all traveling through Instagram and TikTok. Whereas art is something that moves us, that challenges our preconceived notions. My background is in art criticism and art history and the definition of art has always been that when someone intends to create art, then that is art. I dont think people creating for digital platforms are trying to create art. The influencer video looking around a Bali villa is not a piece of art because theres no intention to make art. Theres just the intention to make content, to attract engagment and get attention.

Q. Is that why you are worried that every artist has to start as an influencer?

A. In any industry what matters is not what youre making, but how many followers you have. Do you want to do something, do you want to make an album, put out a book? Okay, but who is your audience? Thats pretty bad, it severely limits who enters the cultural industry. It pressures people to build their persona, to act like a celebrity before they are a celebrity, to focus not on the thing itself, not on the music or the art, but on their online persona, like the selfies theyre posting, the clothes theyre wearing.

Q. Years ago control was human, not algorithmic. Was it better?

A. The question of whether it is good or bad is always tough because were living in the reality that were in. Before everything was about human gatekeepers who decided what to promote and they had their own biases and problems. Now, the dominant mode is algorithmic control. You dont have the access problem, anyone can publish something, but you are judged only by your metrics. Whether a person really likes what you do isnt going to make much difference if youre not getting likes and followers. If the algorithm is not noticing you, you are failing in a way. We need a balance.

Kyle Chayka, pictured in New York, on April 26. Corrie Aune

Q. Before, if you came from a rich family it was easier for you to get into an important institution. Thats still the case now, but if you have fewer resources you can try to get in by building a following on TikTok or YouTube.

A. It is the question of access. Now anyone can put out their song or video. It is a way to elevate a lot of voices that wouldnt get noticed before. The internet has been good for many people, including myself, but success on the internet often comes in very set styles. The things that succeed are often more similar to each other than they are different. So you can reach an audience, but youre only going to reach a huge audience if you game the system and adapt to the algorithmic feed. Theres a clash between organic creativity and algorithmic adaptation. I talk to painter friends who need to promote themselves on Instagram to reach curators and gallerists. But to be successful his paintings need to look a certain way, they have to look good, they have to be brightly colored flat images. That distribution puts aesthetic pressures on people.

Q. An advantage of the internet is that it contains everything.

A. And that is really healthy. Its good for us consumers because you can access anything on YouTube, like a weird video from 1978. Its inspiring. But the production of content can become a distraction from the production of art. In a perfect world, you wouldnt have to commercialize yourself to be an artist, you wouldnt have to worry about what you were wearing or where you were going on vacation. It turns everyone into public personas instead of just artists.

Q. Why is collecting important in the digital age?

A. We overestimated how permanent digital content. Whats important about actually collecting things is that you can hold on to them forever. It may not work, maybe the Blu-Ray technology is outdated or you have to buy something vintage to make it work, but at least its still there and its still in the same form. Whereas Spotify is always changing how it presents music. Youre really just renting access to your music. That changes my relationship to the music. When Spotify makes changes it makes you more likely to listen to one thing versus another. Its important to have that collection so you can preserve how you experience it. In the same way that an art museum provides a great experience of a painting, you want to have a great experience of a piece of music thats not constantly trying to get you to listen to something else.

Q. What is algorithmic anxiety?

A. It is an academic term coined by a sociologist who was at Airbnb as a data analyst. She interviewed Airbnb hosts about how they were feeling and found that they were very anxious. They didnt know why their search result was super low or why people werent booking their house. And they resorted to all kinds of funny tricks to try to get the algorithms attention, like changing their calendar dates or reshuffling their photos. They resorted to these superstitious actions because they had no agency, they couldnt control how the algorithm works. Theres no one to complain to, you cant call Airbnb and ask, why is my house not getting rented. He identified that as a form of anxiety, but I think we all have it. Were all like Airbnb hosts. Were all forced to negotiate with an algorithm that we dont understand. So we have algorithmic anxiety about who views our stories on Instagram, what shows Netflix recommends to us.

Q. Filterworld will be translated into 10 languages. It is a success. You are managing algorithmic anxiety well.

A. Its funny. From the earliest stages of my book, I was very conscious that to be successful, I would have to adapt to the algorithm. I would have to design the book to make it work. If I had to guess why it was successful its because we all have these feelings and reactions on the internet. Im not the only one freaking out here.

Q. The book seems pessimistic, but the conclusion is that, as in other times, culture requires effort.

A. Algorithms changed cultural discovery because suddenly everything was personalized for us and we lost the sense of effort. But the effort is what makes the experience meaningful. If a 15-year-old watched 100 Bergman clips on TikTok, that director wouldnt change his life in the same way as if he had to hunt him down, figure out how to access his work, and then work to understand him. The effort of finding that culture, the effort of sitting down and trying to understand it, has unfortunately been lost and if we get that back, we will have a better experience of the culture. Things will have more meaning to us if were not bombarded by a thousand different pieces of music, art and images a day.

Q. Is it bad that we can easily make new cultural discoveries?

A. Yes. Its almost like Tinder. Why settle when theres always 100 other options around the corner? You look at the Netflix homepage and there are two dozen different options that look good and are all in your interests. Its hard to stick with something. You choose to try and see how you feel afterwards. When you have all of those options, youre more likely to skip away at any second.

Q. Are you sure you would trust more in the human gatekeepers of before?

A. You can never trust completely. There is always the sense that something is being withheld or that your attention is being directed. What I want to encourage people to do, or what I hope happens now on the internet, is that we have a wide variety of curators instead of gatekeepers. We have many voices we can pay attention to. And I hope that we can find those individual voices. The first step is to find them, like the DJ you like on TikTok or the writer you like on a newsletter. And step two, which is even more important, is to support them, to do something to make this act of curation sustainable. I think we outsource that curation to algorithms that dont need money. We can choose our own gatekeepers now, we can pick the gatekeeping system that we want, but we just have to be conscious of how it works and how to keep it going.

Q. Is Filterworld ending?

A. When I finished the book I realized that it was about the 2010s, about a period in history that is in decline. The last decade we lived through the popularization of huge digital platforms. Now were realizing that those systems are not good for us, theyre not providing good experiences and theyre exploiting a lot of people. The globalization of platforms is not necessarily a good thing. So I think its ending. User sentiment has changed. Regulation is also changing, like in the EU. I dont think its completely per se, but its deconstructing, coming apart. In 2017 Facebook seemed like the inevitable endpoint of the internet, now we know thats not the case.

Q. And where are we heading?

A. The most interesting stuff happening is in smaller spaces, not on TikTok. Its not about getting millions of views on TikTok or YouTube. Its happening in a closed Discord room or on a niche newsletter. They are specific spaces in which people can be freer to express themselves, try out ideas and be experimental. I havent talked much about the very tense arena of public speech online: you dont want to say the wrong opinion, youre likely to get attacked for almost anything, and that limits how you express yourself. In a smaller space, particularly in a cultural sense, people are freer to experiment and create new things.

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Imphal, May 12 : Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Sunday said that due to illegal migrants from Myanmar, a demographic imbalance is taking place in the state, adding it is a threat to the security of the nation as well as the indigenous people in the state.

The Chief Minister said that the influx of illegal migrants from Myanmar led to the emergence of 996 new villages in the state in the last 18 years.

He said that since 2006, massive deforestation occurred to establish settlements and carry out poppy plantations while these illegal immigrants started encroaching on the resources, job opportunities, land, and rights of the indigenous people.

"I am extremely happy that the National Green Tribunal has recently suo-moto taken up the case of deforestation in the northeastern states and also in Manipur," Singh told the media.

He said that a three-member cabinet sub-committee headed by Tribal Affairs Minister Letpao Haokip had been constituted in February 2023 to detect the illegal migrants from Myanmar and the committee accompanied by officials detected 2,480 immigrants in Tengnoupal, Chandel, Churachandpur and Kamjong districts.

The other two ministers of the cabinet sub-committee were Water Resources Minister Awangbow Newmai and Education and Law Minister Basanta Kumar Singh.

The Chief Minister said that Haokip belongs to the Kuki community, Newmai Naga and Singh Meitei community.

He said that recently, 5,457 more illegal immigrants in Kamjong district were detected and out of 5,457, the biometric data of 5,173 such illegal immigrants have been collected.

So far, 379 migrants gone back to Myanmar voluntarily and 15 have died due to natural causes, the Chief Minister said, adding that as per reports received, the migrants are keen to go back to Myanmar as the cultivation season has started, but they have become hesitant due to bombing by the Myanmar army in the past few days.

He said that the illegal migrants would be deported back to Myanmar by the district administration, as and when the situation improves in Myanmar.

"We have come across certain news articles in the media that an NGO called International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) which has reportedly urged India to halt the deportation of Myanmar refugees. This organisation does not have a clear understanding of the ground reality in Manipur. They must understand that their work goes against the larger interest of the people of the state and nation. This is a matter of national security and justice will prevail," the Chief Minister said.

A total of 7,937 Myanmar nationals fled to Manipur after the military junta seized power in the neighbouring country in 2021.

Since the military took over the administration in Myanmar, around 34,350 people have also taken shelter in the neighbouring state of Mizoram.
Hyderabad, May 12 : With few hours to go for polling, the movement of Andhra Pradesh voters settled in Hyderabad back home to cast ballots continued on Sunday.

Buses and trains were crowded as voters were heading to various towns and villages in Andhra Pradesh to participate in the polling for simultaneous elections to the Assembly and Lok Sabha.

Various bus and railway stations were crowded with passengers, eager to reach their destinations in time. First-time voters were excited to participate in the festival of democracy.

However, the passengers at bus stations complained that buses were not available even after waiting for several hours. Heavy traffic was seen on roads while long queues of vehicles were seen at toll gates as many families were heading to their destinations in their own cars.

Many voters were also travelling to their native places within Telangana to cast their votes in Lok Sabha polls.

Hyderabad-Vijayawada, Hyderabad-Warangal and other roads witnessed heavy traffic.

Long queues of vehicles, heading to Andhra Pradesh as well as Suryapet and Khammam districts in Telangana, were seen at Pantangi toll plaza.

Though Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) were operating additional services to Andhra Pradesh to meet the huge rush of passengers, these were not proving adequate.

TSRTC Managing Director V.C. Sajjanar said 590 special buses were being operated for Andhra Pradesh to meet the increased demand.

The TSRTC authorities also pressed into service 140 additional buses on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada route.

It is also running 1,500 special buses from Hyderabad to the districts in Telangana. The management has instructed the field-level officials to make buses available from time to time depending on the passenger traffic.

On the other hand, techies, other private employees, business persons, and students were all heading to their native places to avail the extended weekend as Monday has been declared a general holiday on account of polling.

Many families were travelling to Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam and other towns in coastal Andhra. A large number of passengers are also heading to Kurnool, Anantapur, Kadapa, Tirupati and other places in Rayalaseema.

The usually busy roads in Hyderabad wore a near-deserted look on Sunday. Such scenes are witnessed only on Sankranti, where lakhs of people travel to their home towns to celebrate the harvest festival.

About 12 lakh voters of Andhra Pradesh origin reside in Hyderabad and a majority of them are likely to cast their votes.

Elections for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and the 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly and the state's 25 Lok Sabha seats are scheduled on Monday.

--IANS

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Imphal, May 12 : Manipur Police on Sunday arrested two persons belonging to radical Meitei outfit 'Arambai Tenggol' for kidnapping and assaulting four police personnel posted at tribal-dominated Kangpokpi Police station, officials said.

Police said that the four policemen were abducted along National Highway-2 at Koirengei in Imphal East district on Saturday night while they were en route from Imphal to Kangpokpi.

A police official in Imphal said that Taibanganba Sanoujam, 25, and Moirangthem Bobo, 40, were arrested on Sunday and search operations are continuing to rescue the abducted policemen and to arrest the other accused involved in the incident.

The kidnapped police personnel were identified as Ram Bahadur Karki, Ramesh Budhathoki, Manoj Khatiwoda, and Md Taj Khan.

The Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), a leading tribal organisation, observed a 24-hour total shutdown in the entire Kangpokpi district on Sunday to express their resentment over the abduction and brutal assault of the four police personnel. The total shutdown continued till midnight Sunday.

CoTU Media Cell Coordinator Ng Lun Kipgen said that police personnel from the Kangpokpi Police were brutally assaulted at Koirengei.

On May 9, Manipur Police with the support of local people, rescued CRPF Assistant Sub-Inspector, Lensat Sitlhou, hours after he was abducted from Imphal West district by armed men. The ASI was also reportedly assaulted by his abductors.
Guwahati, May 12 : Fake currency notes worth around Rs 2 crore have been seized during a raid in Assam's Dhubri district, an official said on Sunday, adding one person was arrested in this connection.

The police said that based on specific input, an operation against the counterfeit notes was carried out on late Saturday night in the Chapar area of Dhubri district.

Sahinur Islam, a resident of Dhirghat in Chapar, was arrested by the police during the operation.

He is suspected of operating a vast network of counterfeit currencies, the police said.

Islam is being questioned by the police to unearth further links in the nexus of counterfeit currency.
Chandigarh, May 12 : An 18-year-old girl from Haryana gave a new lease of life to four critically-ill patients after her tragic death. In a deeply moving generosity, Joginder Pal Singh and Pinky Rani, the parents of the 18-year-old girl, chose to donate their daughter's organs.

The girl was declared brain-dead at Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula, on Saturday. On April 29, she met with an accident.

The donated organs were harvested, and the liver was sent to Max Hospital at Saket in Delhi.

The pancreas and one kidney were sent to PGIMER, Chandigarh, and one kidney was donated to a critical kidney failure patient at Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula, near here.

For timely transportation of organs, green corridors were created on Sunday between Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula, to Max Hospital Saket, Delhi, and PGIMER as well.

Neeraj Goyal, associate director (kidney transplant), Alchemist Hospital, said the significance of organ transplantation in restoring health and vitality to patients. While emphasising the importance of awareness regarding organ donation, Medical Superintendent Paramjit Maan said many precious lives could be saved through transplantation.

Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Randeep Singh Punia commended the family for their noble gesture while emphasising the life-saving importance of organ donation.

With the coordination of Deputy Commissioner of Police Himadri Kaushik and Haryana Police, the organs reached their destinations on time, ensuring that the life-saving transplant surgery could proceed without delay.
New Delhi, May 13 : Several hospitals in Delhi, along with the Indira Gandhi International Airport, received bomb threat emails on Sunday, triggering a panic and sending the security personnel into a tizzy. However, subsequent investigations by Delhi Police revealed the threats to be false alarms.

The fresh incident follows closely on the heels of a similar incident over 10 days ago when over 100 schools across Delhi-NCR received hoax threat emails, prompting widespread police response searches.

On Sunday, bomb threat emails were sent to 21 addresses, prompting the hospitals to notify police, who along with bomb disposal squads conducted extensive searches of all the premises, yet no evidence of any explosives was discovered.

"At around 3.30 p.m. on Sunday, a bomb hoax email was received at GTB Hospital, GTB Enclave. Hospital authorities informed the local police about that email. Immediately, the police swung into action and called the Bomb Disposal Squad at the Hospital and got the checking done at GTB Hospital and Delhi State Cancer Institute (situated within the premises of GTB Hospital). Nothing suspicious was found," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara), Surendra Choudhary.

"I have placed explosives inside the building. They will explode... this isn't a threat, you have a few hours to defuse the bombs or else the blood of innocent people inside the building will be on your hands," read the email whose screenshot was accessed by IANS.

"The group called 'Court' is behind this massacre," the email sent around 3.05 p.m. on Sunday read.

In north Delhi, Burari Hospital also received a similar threat, following which the police, accompanied by bomb disposal squads, conducted thorough searches. However, nothing threatening was uncovered.

"An email was received at the hospital regarding a bomb threat. Police and a bomb disposal team conducted searches at Burari Hospital. Nothing suspicious was found," said DCP (North) M.K. Meena.

"No information regarding the bomb threat email came from Hindu Rao and Aruna Asif Ali hospitals. However, we searched over there too as the email addresses were mentioned in the email. Nothing suspicious was found," added Meena.

A senior Municipal Corporation of Delhi official said that the Additional Medical Superintendent of Hindu Rao Hospital, nodal officer, exigency officer and security in-charge of the hospital took another round of the hospital premises and a few openings were instructed to be closed.

"Directions to increase security checks at night and increased questioning and inspection issued. OT, Emergency, CCU, and Blood Bank are equipped for any adverse event. The hospital is on high alert for QRT activation. Hospital staff have also been asked to be vigilant," said the MCD official.

In Dwarka, the Dabri police station received a call reporting a bomb threat email directed at Dada Dev Hospital.

"Police and hospital staff checked the premises of the hospital. But nothing suspicious was found in the hospital," said DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Singh.

The Security Operations Control Centre at Indira Gandhi International Airport received a threat regarding the presence of an explosive device on the premises. However, upon investigation, nothing was discovered.

"The Security Operations Control Centre at IGI Airport has received a threat email concerning an explosive device within the premises. Enhanced security protocols are now in effect, and safety measures have been intensified. Legal action has been initiated. No suspicious items have been found as of now," said DCP (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani, adding: "Please remain calm and disregard any rumours."
Panaji, May 13 : The Opposition parties in Goa have criticised the Central and the state government after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently said that acceptance of a 'revocation certificate' is 'under consideration' to register an Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card.

The MEA in its April 4 memorandum, had said that it had decided to accept a 'revocation certificate' instead of a 'surrender certificate' as an alternative document.

However, its corrigendum published on April 30 said this is only "under consideration" by the MHA.

Opposition leader Yuri Alemao said: "Once again 'jumlas' of BJP stands exposed with MEA backing out on its earlier memorandum creating confusion over the OCI registration. Giving hardship and mental torture to citizens is in the DNA of BJP."

The INDIA bloc will resolve this issue after coming to power in the coastal state in June, Alemao added.

"It is noticed time and again that BJP always gave step-motherly treatment to seafarers and Goans working abroad. BJP has always insulted and abused our Goans who work abroad to earn their livelihood," he said.

"I demand that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who was prompt to thank the Central government after the memorandum was issued on April 4, 2024, should now make the government's position clear," he added.

Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai said that the BJP has taken a 'U-turn' over the OCI issue after the Lok Sabha election held in the coastal state.

"It's now abundantly clear that the double-engine government had no intention of bringing any relief to the thousands of Goans applying for OCI cards. The MEA's earlier office memorandum which the Chief Minister had called 'great news' has now turned to 'horrible news' with the MEA passing the buck to the Home Ministry," Sardesai added.

Revolutionary Goans Party Chief Manoj Parab said: "Election is over in Goa and BJP's 'U-Turn' politics continues. This time it's an OCI matter. BJP's "anti-Goan" stand once again exposed. Be it Mhadei or OCI, the BJP is only betraying Goa."
Varanasi, May 13 : Varanasi is all decked up to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday when he arrives for a massive roadshow, ahead of his filing nomination papers for a third term from Varanasi.

Prime Minister Modi will hold a roadshow here amid shehnai tunes, the blowing of conch shells, the beating of drums, and the chanting of mantras, lending to the occasion a festive atmosphere in the middle of the Lok Sabha election campaign.

The five-km roadshow will begin from the intersection at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) gate, where the Prime Minister will garland a statue of BHU founder 'Mahamana' Pt Madan Mohan Malviya and conclude at the Gate Number 4 of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham.

The district administration has put in place tight security arrangements.

BJP workers have already started pouring in from neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh to cheer Prime Minister Modi and join in celebrating the occasion.

After the roadshow, the Prime Minister will offer prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

On Tuesday, at 11:40 a.m. Prime Minister Modi will file his nomination papers. Before this, he will visit the Kaal Bhairav temple.
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The final round of the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" language competition for university students in Algeria was held on Thursday at Algiers 2 University.

Nine candidates participated in the finals to showcase their language skills as well as Chinese-related artistic talent.

Themed "One World, One Family," the performances celebrated the rich cultural heritage of China and underscored the strong bilateral relations between China and Algeria.

Boumadjene Khawla Wissem from Algiers 2 University was awarded the first prize in the contest and would represent Algeria to compete in China.

Chinese Ambassador to Algeria Li Jian hailed the "Chinese Bridge" competition as a flagship initiative fostering cultural exchanges between the two nations.

Li said by participating in the competition, more and more young Algerian students could learn about the diverse and enchanting China, significantly enhancing mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Said Rahmani, rector of Algiers 2 University, underscored the deep-rooted friendship and robust relations between Algeria and China across various domains, including economy, trade, and culture.

Rahmani highlighted the enthusiastic interest among Algerian students in learning Chinese and expressed the university's commitment to collaborating closely with Chinese counterparts to promote Chinese and Arabic language education and expand academic exchanges.
Between 1955 and 1975, the Communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong  supported by China and the Soviet Union  fought against the government of South Vietnam, whose primary ally was the United States. The 1975 fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, brought an end to a war that, for scholars of journalism, was the first in which public opinion played an essential role. On the other side of the world, U.S. citizens rose up against their countrys role in the conflict  often portrayed as inevitable amid Cold War posturing  unable to believe everything they read and saw on the news about what was happening there. At the end of the 1970s, as the hippie movement waned, the Vietnam Wars days were numbered. The protests had been a major factor, but not the only one.

The attrition of a war that was, from the beginning, fought with guerrilla tactics, earned the United States a defeat that the country cast as a victory  or at least, so it was seen in the context of U.S. public opinion, which had turned on the conflict as the populaces children senselessly died for a cause that had nothing, many said, to do with them. The number of stories that have been written and filmed about this era is overwhelming. Francis Ford Coppolas heavyweight Apocalypse Now was among the first, debuting just four years after the war ended. The movie brought with it a feeling that the world had given to U.S. fiction, leaving aside its history, a myth to which to return over and over. As in the real world, it played the good guy and the bad guy at the same time. And it did so from a singular point of view.

This explains the importance of the mini-series The Sympathizer (HBO Max), the first small-screen production by Park Chan-wook, the director and screenwriter of Oldboy, a movie that started the global craze for Korean film two decades before Bong Joon-hoos Parasite. Here, for what seems like the first time, the historic story is told from the opposing viewpoint, as in a mirror. And what it shows, for once, is Vietnam. And not life in the rice paddies, that setting that has become so abused by Hollywood, but rather, in the countrys cities. Cities with movie theaters, and premieres in those movie theaters, and bars, and beers that are drunk on their crowded terraces on the very day of the fall of Saigon because everything is, finally, coming to an end. This is to say, it shows a reality that had not previously existed in global fiction. And now, fortunately, it does.

An image from the series The Sympathizer.

Based on the novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen that won a Pulitzer in 2016, the mini-series version of The Sympathizer was co-written by Chan-wook and the Canadian Don McKellar. It follows the steps of an unreliable narrator, a Ripley-esque  if apparently harmless, submissive and charming  Communist undercover agent as he helps his pro-United States general to escape the country. The plot takes place on the day of the fall of Saigon, on an airplane full of family members and acquaintances desperate to leave nearly everyone else behind. Our leading man is communicating with a high-ranking Viet Cong official about the generals every, ridiculous move and, by extension, those of the United States. Along the way, a scenario is established in which the Vietnam War is actually the United States War  as it is known in the Asian country  and in which the world was stopped not by those well-heeled Woodstock attendees, but rather, those who were under attack.

The tone here is one of a slightly macabre black comedy a la Joseph Heller, the author of the classic war tale Catch-22, a monument to the absurdity of war. Lets not forget that Chan-wook was the guy who turned the hammer into an instrument of gore, and who made of the thriller an artistic endeavor with Oldboy. It almost seems as if Catch-22s pilot protagonist Yossarian were dictating the scripts lines to narrator Hoa Xuande, the undercover spy known as The Captain who  and this part is interesting in more than one respect  is telling us the story from a horrible prison cell, in a future in which he has been discovered. This makes the way in which history is constantly rewritten more than evident, the way in which the person who writes it decides what is and isnt important, and in what sense details can sometimes erect smokescreens.

Robert Downey Jr., playing one of his various roles in The Sympathizer.

The series proceeds to a unique depiction of the United States, beginning in the desert, continuing in a motel, and eventually settling into the suburbs, where it is shown over a liquor store counter at the eventual Los Angeles business that the general starts. Its a vision based in a mythologization, a mythologization that doesnt take long to reveal itself as papier-mache, an empty stage, which becomes incisive and fascinating in the hands of Chan-wook. Nonetheless, the directors pulse here is so attenuated, at times unrecognizable, so focused on this portrait, that it gets in its own way. But what is interesting is the dream that inspired the conflict that took place unseen by its dreamers, there in Vietnam. Close up, it does not look the same, of course, not in the slightest.

Stand-outs include a star turn by Sandra Oh  unrecognizable and masterful in her role as a secretary that her boss believes to be Japanese based her appearance, despite the fact that she tells him that shes as Californian as he is. In a wonderful fistful of absurd roles in which he capitalizes on his personas chameleonic aspects, Robert Downey Jr. is always where you least expect him. They catapult the production into the territory of, if not a cult classic  there is something in its machinery that does not allow it to shine, one located in that certain rigidity, born of so many inexistent and necessary pieces, the weight of responsibility  a thoroughly enjoyable tale, especially suited for lovers of spy stories and the absurd.
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Ilia Vitiuk was an affable and charismatic man when he spoke to EL PAIS in Kyiv on February 7. Vitiuk was the head of cybersecurity at the Security Services of Ukraine (SSU). He spoke to this newspaper about Russian cyberattacks during the invasion of his country, a subject he has mastered and was comfortable with. He was less friendly with Yevhen Shulhat, a journalist from the Slidstvo Info media outlet, who on April 4 revealed alleged irregular real estate operations within Vitiuks family. Three days earlier, while Shulhat was investigating the case, he was harassed by two soldiers and an SSU agent: they identified him while he was visiting a shopping mall and urged him to enlist in the army. Through a stores security cameras, Slidstvo Info was able to uncover the identity of the SSU officer who led the operation, a man close to Vitiuk. He was dismissed from his post on May 1 by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Investigative journalism has been a risky profession in Ukraine for decades. The death of the founder of the Pravda newspaper, Gueorgui Gongadze, in 2000 caused a national scandal that put the government of former president Leonid Kuchma on the ropes. Gongadze was investigating government corruption and was killed by four policemen. His newspaper is today a benchmark for the media in Ukraine, and in the supervision of power, and Gongadze is an icon of the efforts of Ukrainian society to democratize the system. The media and non-governmental organizations now warn that impunity has increased during the war against Russia.

The difference is that Ukraine today is more in the international spotlight than ever. Its status as a candidate for accession to the European Union is a leap forward in the fight against corruption and institutional transparency. Its European allies, but above all the United States, are also demanding control measures and monitoring to keep track of where the tens of millions transferred to Kyiv in financial and military aid are going.

A total of 16 human rights organizations published a manifesto on April 12 alerting the government and the judiciary to the increasingly frequent practice of prosecuting activists and journalists for allegedly failing to comply with conscription requirements. The manifesto, which names two activists and four reporters affected by this practice in recent months, states: With this strategy of discrediting activists and investigative journalists, law enforcement violates the presumption of innocence and manipulates the issue of mobilization. These actions are unacceptable and deliberately shift the focus of public attention. The text stresses that these pressures discredit Ukraine internationally and play into the hands of Russian propaganda that spreads the narrative of an authoritarian and undemocratic country.

The Ukrainian branch of the NGO Transparency International, a signatory of the manifesto, issued a statement on January 17 warning that attacks on journalists are becoming systematic. Transparency International Ukraine considers any form of pressure against journalists unacceptable, especially in view of the countrys aspirations to accede to the European Union, it added.

This statement was released in the wake of a case of coercion that has been investigated by the Prosecutors Office and even prompted Zelenskiy himself to intervene. The digital media Bihus, which specializes in investigative reporting on cases of malpractice in power, was spied on for months by the SSU. Videos of the private lives of members of the editorial staff were recorded by its agents and disseminated on social networks.

Not all press reports are harassment like those suffered by Bihus or Slidstvo Info. The Institute for Mass Information (IMI) is an NGO that analyzes journalism in Ukraine and publishes a monthly press freedom barometer. The latest available, from March, counted 16 cases of violation of freedom of expression in Ukraine. Seven of them, the most violent  acts of war and cyberattacks  were committed by the Russian occupying forces; nine were complaints on the Ukrainian side, and four were complaints by several media outlets about the refusal of various government institutions, including parliament, to provide public information.

Two media organizations and two NGOs preferred not to comment for this article. The editor of a media company that has been the victim of political pressure agreed to explain, on condition of anonymity, the basis of these refusals: At this moment, when Ukraine is facing a new major Russian offensive, it is more important and relevant to talk about this and not about other issues.

I would say there is a free press in Ukraine, but there are some restrictions and a lot of self-censorship, Viola von Cramon, MEP and vice-chair of the committee for parliamentary relations with Ukraine, told Interfax on April 27: These journalists think if I publish this, if I write that, it can help Putin to discredit Ukraine. And this certainly does not do journalism any good.

United News

The German Green MEP underlined one of the most controversial aspects of Zelenskiys presidency; the control with which he subjects critical media, especially since the inauguration of United News, a joint information telethon launched at the outset of the war and which all channels must broadcast. There is a tendency in the presidents office not to give voice to the opposition or critics. With the telethon, he has ensured that pluralism in the media sector has virtually disappeared, Von Cramon said.

The U.S. State Department in April published its annual report on the human rights situation in Ukraine. The document cites the telethon as an example of control over information: The government banned, blocked, or sanctioned media outlets and individual journalists deemed a threat to national security or who expressed positions authorities believed undermined the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity. Some speakers who were critical of the government were also blacklisted from government-directed news programming. Investigative journalists critical of the government were sometimes targeted by negative social media campaigns, sometimes via government-friendly channels. Other practices continued to affect media freedom, including self-censorship, the report stated.

Serhiy Leshchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, assured the state-run Ukrinform agency on April 29 that without the telethon there would be media chaos that would make it easier to weaken society internally. The telethon was created to be a source of truthful information, not falsehoods. Leshchenko implicitly threatened the opposition with being investigated by the SSU: Ukrainian politicians who disinform are fully in tune with Russia. This is a question for the intelligence services: why are there Ukrainian politicians who spread this information  are they part of Russian propaganda or are they useful idiots?

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday said that a state Cabinet sub-committee had detected 2,480 illegal immigrants in 2023 but the campaign was cut short after violence broke out on May 3 last year.

IMAGE: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh during an event at the Moirang College, Bishnupur district in Imphal, January 6, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Addressing a press conference Singh said concerned with increasing deforestation and setting up of new villages by illegal immigrants, a Cabinet sub-committee was formed in February 2023 after a cabinet meeting attended by two Kuki ministers Letpao Haokip and Nemcha Kipgen.

Haokip was made the head of the sub-committee to identify illegal immigrants.

"We are not biased against anybody but against the illegal immigrants. It was a decision taken by the state cabinet," Singh said.

"Biometrics were taken in ten villages of Chandel during which 1,165 illegal immigrants were found, 1,147 illegal immigrants were found in 13 villages of Tengnoupal district, 154 illegal immigrants in Churachandpur and rest were found in Kamjong district," Singh said.

These figures are not inclusive of the additional 5,457 illegal immigrants who entered Kamjong district, Singh said, adding biometrics of 5,173 people have been taken while 329 have returned back voluntarily after situation improved in the neighbouring country.

"The detection of illegal immigrants was not limited to one community but was to cover the entire state of Manipur. They were found after visiting villages," Singh said.

"The campaign for identifying illegal immigrants was, however, cut short just after a month it started and had to be stopped after violence broke out on May 3," Singh said.

More than 219 people were killed and thousands displaced from homes after ethnic clashes broke out on May 3 last year, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Meiteis account for about 53 percent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley.

Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute little over 40 percent and reside in the hill districts.
The Andhra Pradesh police booked a case against popular Telugu actor Allu Arjun in Nandyala for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct during the silent period in the run-up to polls, said an official on Sunday.

IMAGE: President Droupadi Murmu presents the Best Actor Award to actor Allu Arjun (right) for the film 'Pushpa: The Rise' during the 69th National Film Awards, in New Delhi, October 17, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Nandyala district superintendent of police K Raghuveera Reddy said Arjun allegedly came in a rally to Nandyala YSRCP assembly constituency candidate S Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy's home on Saturday.

"We have registered a case against Allu Arjun for violating the MCC by going in a rally during the silent period," Raghuveera Reddy told PTI, noting that up to 300 fans came on motorcycles.

The case was registered on Saturday under IPC Section 188, he said.

The Pushpa actor waved to a large crowd from a balcony with the YSRCP candidate and also posted a message on 'X' in his favour.

"Grateful to the people of Nandyal for the warm reception. Thank you, Silpa Ravi Reddy (YSRCP candidate) garu, for the hospitality. Wishing you the very best in the elections and beyond. You have my unwavering love and support," said Arjun in the post on 'X' on Saturday.

Nandyala SP said that the case will be further investigated.

Interestingly, Hyderabad-based Arjun, whose ancestral place is Palakollu town in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district is a close relative of Janasena founder and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.

Janasena, Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the National Democratic Alliance alliance partners, who are taking on YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP in the elections.

The state goes to the polls on May 13.
A fourth Indian national has been arrested by Canadian authorities in connection with the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a week after police arrested three Indians linked with the high-profile case that has severely strained India's relations with Canada.

Amandeep Singh, 22, a resident of Brampton, Surrey, and Abbotsford areas of Canada, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Nijjar, 45, was killed outside Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that Singh was arrested on May 11 for his role in the killing of Nijjar.

He was already in the custody of the Peel Regional Police for unrelated firearms charges, the release said..

"This arrest shows the nature of our ongoing investigation to hold responsible those that played a role in the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar," said Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, the Officer in-charge of IHIT.

"IHIT pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the British Columbia Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder," the police statement said.

Investigators said no further details of the arrest can be released due to ongoing investigations and court processes.

Citing a source familiar with the case, the Global News reported that Singh is believed to be one of the two armed men who opened fire on Nijjar. The shooters were then seen running to a getaway car.

Like his co-accused, Singh arrived in Canada on a temporary visa, but was allegedly involved in violent crime, the source said.

The four hitmen are suspected of links to the Bishnoi gang, it added.

Singh was one of five men charged with firearms and drug offences following a traffic stop in Brampton by the Peel police Specialized Enforcement Bureau on November 3, 2023.

During the arrests, police seized an FN 509 9mm pistol with a 24-round extended magazine, and two extended magazines with 24-round capacities containing 9mm ammunition, police said at the time.

IHIT investigators on May 3 arrested three Indian nationals -- Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and 28-year-old Karanpreet Singh -- for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

All three individuals are Indian nationals living in Edmonton and have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.

India has dismissed Trudeau's charges as "absurd" and "motivated."

Nijjar was a Khalistani separatist and he was wanted in India on various terror charges.

Days after Trudeau's allegations, India asked Ottawa to downsize its diplomatic presence in the country to ensure parity. Subsequently, Canada withdrew 41 diplomats and their family members from India.

India has been asserting that its "core issue" with Canada remained that of the space given to separatists, terrorists and anti-India elements in that country.

Following Trudeau's allegations last year, India temporarily suspended the issuance of visas to Canadian citizens. The visa services were resumed several weeks later.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that by allowing political space to Khalistani separatist elements, the Canadian government is sending a message that its vote bank is "more powerful" than its rule of law.

In an exclusive interview to PTI on Thursday, Jaishankar said India respects and practices freedom of speech, but that does not equate with freedom to threaten foreign diplomats, extend support to separatism or allow political space to elements advocating violence.

He also wondered how people with dubious backgrounds are being allowed to enter and live in Canada, referring to Khalistani supporters among the Sikh migrants from Punjab.

"In any rule-based society, you would imagine that you would check people's background, how they came, what passports they carried etc," he said.

"If you have people whose presence there was itself on very dubious documents, what does it say about you? It actually says that your vote bank actually is more powerful than your rule of law," Jaishankar said.
What should have been a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress in the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency is now a three-corner fight with an alliance of local groups fielding an Independent to challenge the national parties.

IMAGE: A child holds a placard during Sonam Wangchuk's (unseen) hunger strike protest on the 21st day in demand of the statehood for Ladakh, and its inclusion in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, in Leh, March 26, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

The seat, the largest in the country in terms of area (173.266 square kilometers), goes to polls on May 20 -- the first major electoral battle in the region after it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir and granted Union Territory status in 2019.

While the BJP has fielded Tashi Gyalson, chief executive councilor-cum-chairman of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (Leh), from the seat after dropping sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, the Congress has nominated Tsering Namgyal as its candidate.

Springing a surprise, the Kargil Democratic Alliance fielded Haji Haneefa Jan, the Kargil district president of the National Conference, which like the Congress is a constituent of the INDIA bloc.

The Congress has won the seat for the highest number of times -- six -- and had fielded Tsering Namgyal, the leader of opposition in the LAHDC, according to an agreement with the NC, as they were members of the INDIA bloc and the Leh Apex Body.

It was the LAB and the KDA that were spearheading the agitation in support of various demands of the Ladhaki people, including statehood and sixth schedule of the Constitution, for the past four years. But it hit a block in March after the BJP-led Centre did not agree with the demands.

However, now with the KDA fielding Jan, the challenges for the Congress as well as the BJP has increased in this seat that has more than 1.84 lakh voters -- a majority (95,926) in Muslim-dominated Kargil district and 88,877 in Leh district.

The resentment against the BJP over its government at the Centre not fulfilling the demands is palpable and the party, which is eyeing a third consecutive term from Ladakh, has rushed Union Minister Kiren Rijiju to handle the situation.

He arrived in the Union Territory on Saturday.

The agitation had intensified on March 6 with Leh observing a complete shutdown followed by a 66-day hunger strike which was suspended three days ago in view of the Lok Sabha elections. Renowned educationist and social reformer Sonam Wangchuk, who was also part of it, ended his 21-day hunger strike on March 26.

Talking to reporters after arriving here on Saturday, Rijiju said, "...all the big demands of the people can only be fulfilled by the central government. I have come here to convey the message that any pending issue will be resolved by the (Narendra) Modi government alone."

Seeking cooperation and support of the people of Ladakh, Rijiju said it is imperative for the BJP to win the seat because "if we lose the elections, we will be sad after doing so much for the region over the years, including fulfilling the dream of UT status".

He said it is the right of the people to raise their issues and "it is our responsibility to safeguard the future of Ladakh which is a very sensitive and fragile region having distinct culture, traditional practices, customs and language...".

Thupstan Chhewang won the seat for the BJP for the first time in 2014. However, he resigned from the party's basic membership in 2018 and is currently heading the LAB.

The BJP managed to retain the seat in 2019 with Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who was denied the ticket by the party this time and who openly revolted against the decision. However, he joined the campaigning for Gyalson after being persuaded by the BJP leadership.

Trouble for the Congress candidate started when the KDA unanimously decided to field Jan as an Independent and also persuaded two others, who were contesting as Independents, to withdraw their candidature in his support.

The entire NC unit of Kargil resigned from the party on May 6 to revolt against the its leadership for "putting pressure" on them to support INDIA bloc candidate Tsering Namgyal instead of Jan. The NC has won the seat twice in the past, while independents have won it thrice.

After attaining UT status, Ladakh witnessed elections to both Leh and Kargil chapters of the LAHDC in October 2020 and 2023, respectively.

While the BJP retained power in the Leh hill council elections by winning 15 seats -- five short of its 2015 election tally, the Congress increased its tally from six to nine seats while two seats went to Independents.

In the Kargil hill council elections, the NC-Congress combine won 22 seats against two by the BJP and two by Independents. The NC on its own got 12 seats and the Congress 10.

Amid intensified Lok Sabha poll campaigning, which also saw several BJP leaders, including national general secretary Tarun Chugh, reaching out to the voters, Gyalson had said his primary focus will be resumption of dialogue between the Centre and the Ladakh leadership for resolution of "pending issues".

"My primary focus will be resumption of stalled dialogue (between the Ladakh leadership and central government). I don't believe that the dialogue is derailed but because of the Model Code of Conduct, no headway has taken place. Once the new government is in place, I am sure about the resumption of the dialogue," he had said.

Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal said his party has taken a historic decision to include granting sixth schedule to Ladakh in its manifesto.

"We support the four-point demand of the LAB and the KDA and we will forcefully raise the demands within and outside Parliament to fulfill the aspirations of the people," he said.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan on Sunday alleged that companies used electoral bonds to bribe political parties to secure projects worth lakhs of crores of rupees.

IMAGE: Supreme Court senior advocate Prashant Bhushan addresses a press conference regarding 'Electoral Bond Issue' in Kolkata, May 11, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

He said a petition has been filed before the Supreme Court, seeking an independent probe by a special investigation team into the alleged nexus between political parties and companies for corruption through electoral bonds.

"The Rs 16,500 crore electoral bond donations that companies gave to political parties were merely bribes or kickbacks in exchange for which contracts or projects worth lakhs of crores were given to the companies in quid pro quo arrangements," Bhushan alleged in a press conference in Ranchi.

Bhushan and social activist Anjali Bhardwaj were in Ranchi as part of their awareness campaign regarding electoral bonds and bringing transparency in political funding. Bhushan said they have visited 11 states before Jharkhand.

"Of the Rs 16,500 crore electoral bonds, half went to the BJP and the rest to parties like the TMC and the Congress. However, parties that do not rule any state did not get any money," he claimed.

In a landmark judgement, the apex court in February this year struck down the electoral bonds scheme, terming it unconstitutional.

"Several companies that were under the scanner of the ED, CBI and I-T department gave donations to the ruling party and became free from probe. Some pharmaceutical firms that were manufacturing sub-standard and life-threatening drugs as per the drug controller, were allowed in the market as they had issued electoral bonds to the BJP and some other parties ruling different states," he alleged.

Bhushan said they had challenged the electoral bonds on three grounds, that it promotes corruption, encourages bribe and disrupts level playing field.

Bhushan said that NGOs Common Cause and Center for Public Interest Litigation moved a petition in the Supreme Court to uncover the biggest scam and expose the companies that used bonds as bribe to political parties.

While Bhushan had appeared for the petitioners in the electoral bonds case, Bhardwaj is a member of Common Cause.

"If the bonds were used as bribe, the funds should be recovered from the political parties," he said.

He said they want the probe to be conducted by an independent SIT, which should be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court.

"The CBI and Enforcement Directorate should not be included in the SIT," he added.
As the eastern Ladakh military standoff entered its fifth year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India hopes for a resolution of the remaining issues with China and asserted that a return to normal bilateral ties hinges on peace and tranquility at the border.

IMAGE: BJP candidate from Amritsar seat Taranjit Singh Sandhu along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during a roadshow before filing his nomination papers for Lok Sabha polls, in Amritsar, Punjab, May 10, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

In an exclusive interview to PTI, Jaishankar said the remaining issues mainly pertained to "patrolling rights and patrolling abilities".

Specifically asked when a resolution to the dragging row can be expected in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks to Newsweek magazine last month, Jaishankar said that he only provided a "big-picture" viewpoint on the matter.

"We would hope that there is a resolution of the remaining issues out there. These issues mainly pertain to patrolling rights and patrolling abilities there," he said.

"I would not link it to the prime minister's interview per se. I think the prime minister was giving a big-picture viewpoint and his big-picture viewpoint was a very reasonable viewpoint which is -- after all as neighbours, every country wants good relations with its neighbours," he said.

"But today, our relations with China are not normal because the peace and tranquility in the border areas has been disturbed. So he (PM) was expressing the hope that the Chinese side should realise that the present situation is not in its own interest," Jaishankar said.

Modi had said that the border situation needs to be addressed urgently and that stable and peaceful ties between India and China are important for not just the two countries but for the entire region and world.

Jaishankar said diplomacy is a work of patience and India continues to discuss the issues with the Chinese side.

"I would say that we need to resolve those issues if the relationship is to come back to normal," he said during the interview on Thursday.

The Indian and Chinese militaries have been locked in the standoff since May 2020 and a full resolution of the border row has not yet been achieved though the two sides have disengaged from a number of friction points.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the normalisation of overall ties.

Asked why bilateral trade volume with China is going up when New Delhi has been insisting that the ties cannot be normal when the border situation is abnormal, Jaishankar suggested that such a scenario has arisen as adequate attention to the manufacturing sector was not given before 2014.

"I think it is common sense that if there is no peace and tranquility in the border, how can you have a normal relationship," he said.

"After all if somebody is at your front door in an unfriendly manner, you are not going to go out there and act as though everything is normal. That to me is a straightforward proposition," Jaishankar added.

The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

In the diplomatic and military talks with China, the Indian negotiators have been insisting on restoring the status quo ante of April 2020 along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told PTI over a week back that the talks between the two sides are going on well and hoped for a resolution of the lingering row.

Following the Galwan Valley clashes, India has been majorly focusing on boosting its overall military capability along the frontier with China.

The Army has significantly bolstered the deployment of troops and weaponry along the nearly 3,500 km-long LAC, including in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors following the clashes.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a roadshow in Delhi on Sunday said if people choose the Aam Aadmi Party on May 25, he won't have to go back to jail.

IMAGE: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal meets Congress candidate from North East Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar at CM's residence, in New Delhi, May 12, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal held a roadshow in Moti Nagar in support of the party's candidate from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat Somnath Bharti.

He also held a roadshow in Uttam Nagar along with Mann to garner support for the party's West Delhi candidate Mahabal Mishra.

"I have to go back to jail after 20 days. If you choose jhadu (AAP's symbol broom), I won't have to go back to jail," the chief minister said at the roadshow in Moti Nagar.

The AAP national convenor is out on an interim bail till June 1. He has to surrender on June 2.

"They sent me to jail because I worked for you. The BJP does not want that the work of Delhi people is done," he said.

Kejriwal alleged that his insulin injections were stopped for 15 days inside Tihar jail.

"If I went back to jail, the BJP would stop your work, free electricity, degrade schools and shut down hospitals and Mohalla Clinics," he charged.

He also asked people to vote for Bharti and claimed that he would be available for people even at odd hours.

At the roadshow in West Delhi, he said that people are saying that God has brought him out of jail to defeat the BJP.

"There is dictatorship in the country. We have to end this dictatorship," he added.

The polling for all the seven seats in Delhi will take place on May 25.
Ruling out transfer of the probe into sexual abuse charges against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said he reposed faith in the Special Investigation Team of the state police, which is investigating the case.

IMAGE: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during the Basava Jayanti celebrations, in Mysuru, May 9, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Questioning Bharatiya Janata Party's locus standi to make such a demand, he asked the opposition party as to why it doesn't trust the police.

He also hit out at the saffron party for making misleading statements aimed at causing confusion in the minds of the people about SIT, which is conducting a "fair probe".

"We are getting the probe done by our police (SIT), we have belief and faith in our police. They are efficient," Siddaramaiah said in response to a question on BJP demanding a CBI probe.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he pointed out that the BJP had once called CBI "Corruption Bureau of Investigation", and the party never handed over a single case to the central agency while in power, despite Congress' repeated demands.

He further said, "It's not that I don't have faith in CBI, the cases that need be handed over to CBI will be given. When I was the Chief Minister earlier, I had given seven cases to CBI, but there was no conviction even in a single case... that doesn't mean I dont have faith in CBI... SIT is also an investigating agency like CBI, we will get the probe done by our police."

The 33-year-old Janata Dal-Secular Prajwal Revanna, who is grandson of JD-S patriarch and former PM HD Deve Gowda, is facing charges of sexually abusing women. The scandal has raised a political storm with the ruling Congress and BJP-JD(S) engaged in a slugfest.

While the Congress government has formed a SIT to probe the cases, the BJP and JD-S -- NDA partners -- have demanded that it be handed over to the CBI, and action against those behind the circulation of explicit videos.

Responding to allegations that BJP leader Devaraje Gowda was arrested to save ruling Congress and its leaders, who are allegedly behind circulation of explicit videos, the CM said the BJP's job is to make false allegations.

"He (Devaraje Gowda) has been arrested following allegations of sexual abuse against woman, a complaint was filed on April 1. We are not interfering in the investigation of the police (SIT). Police have been given full freedom, it is their duty to investigate and get the guilty punished.

To a query on Union Minister Pralhad Joshi's alleged statement accusing Congress government of "witch hunt" against BJP workers in connection with the case, Siddaramaiah said, Pralhad Joshi is a central Minister and he should speak responsibly.

"....BJP leaders are experts in lying, they only make false allegations," he said, adding that SIT is conducting a fair probe, to mislead and cause confusion in the minds of the people, intentionally such statements are being made.
Why go back to the Moon? The question was posed more than half a century ago and is once again being asked as the Americans and the Chinese prepare to return to the Earths only natural satellite. The two superpowers are doing it this time with the intention of staying for longer periods than the brief visits made by astronauts in the 1960s and 1970s, and the geopolitical interest in this race is indisputable.

But there are other reasons too. There is, of course, the yearning, implicit in human nature, to push the limits of human potential. When asked why he planned to conquer Everest, climber George Mallory famously replied, Because its there. Perhaps this could also explain the first Apollo flights, but today that sense of adventure has been overshadowed by more prosaic motivations.

That the Moon is an excellent scientific laboratory may be one aspect driving the new explorers. There are still many questions to be answered about the Moons origin, its evolution and the evolution of the solar systems first epochs. The absence of atmosphere and magnetic field provides very special conditions for astronomical observations on its surface. And the hidden face would be a perfect place to install radio telescopes, safe from electromagnetic disturbances generated on Earth. Though, of course, simple scientific curiosity may not justify the enormous cost of the undertaking.

Thats where commercial interest comes in. Is there anything of value on the Moon that makes it commercially interesting? One obvious answer is water. Of course, on most of the Moon the existence of water, whether solid or liquid, is impossible: in a vacuum and in the heat of the day, any slab of ice would sublimate, and the gases would escape into space.

Ice in the dark craters

But in the polar regions the situation is different. Unlike the Earth, the Moons orbit and axis are very slightly inclined with respect to the ecliptic. There are almost no seasons there. At the poles, the suns rays are always angled at a sharp tangent and fail to reach the bottom of some of its deepest craters. Submerged in eternal darkness, temperatures are never more than -150C, allowing for the indefinite preservation of ice.

Several experiments have confirmed the existence of water ice, with some satellites detecting it by analyzing neutrons originating from cosmic ray bombardment, a symptom that points to the presence of a significant amount of hydrogen that would indicate the existence of water  not necessarily as water, but also as constituents of hydrated minerals. Others have employed the bistatic radar technique, which sends a radio signal to bounce off the bottom of these craters to then be picked up by large tracking antennas on Earth. Any distortion in the waves would be more typical of icy surfaces than of rocky terrain.

It is estimated that in the southern region of the Moon, there are about 10,000 square kilometers of permanent shadow zones. In these areas, the ice does not come in large sheets, but is instead mixed with the regolith in a kind of icy mud, meaning that from each cubic meter of terrain all that could be extracted in the best-case scenario would be the equivalent to a can of soda.

If lunar water is ever obtained, it will not be for human consumption or even sent to Earth. Purified, it would still most likely have an unpleasant taste, and we already have plenty of water on our planet. Its real use will be as a raw material to be broken down into oxygen and hydrogen  one of the most powerful combinations used to fuel rocket engines. This is exactly what Blue Origins future lunar landing spacecraft will consume, while SpaceXs more conservative project will burn methane and oxygen.

The production of lunar water in industrial quantities will require large-scale facilities, difficult to imagine today when the mere construction of a modest permanent base on the Moon poses so many problems. But if someday the Moon becomes a kind of space gas station, those dark craters may be the most valuable terrain in our solar system.

Helium-3: the fuel of the future

But the Moon also has another element with enormous economic potential, Helium-3. This stable isotope is driven by the solar wind. On Earth, the magnetic field and the atmosphere act as a shield, but the Moon does not have such protection and, over the course of millions of years, Helium-3 has been bombarding the Moon in large quantities to become embedded in the lunar surface. At least in theory, the entire Moon is a deposit.

How much Helium-3 does the Moon conceal? Some estimates suggest between one and three million tons, almost all of it accumulated in the outer layers of the regolith, so its extraction would be relatively easy.

On Earth, trace amounts of Helium-3 remain trapped in layers of deep soil, occasionally escaping in emissions from certain gas fields. Most of it is produced artificially in nuclear reactors, by irradiating lithium or as a result of the decay of tritium, an element used in thermonuclear bombs. But the progressive dismantling of these arsenals has reduced its availability.

Helium-3 has been described as the fuel of the future in fusion power plants. Its reaction with deuterium releases enormous amounts of energy, giving off harmless Helium-4 atoms without the emission of dangerous radiation, making its capture and retention the holy grail of clean energy.

A scarce element

Currently, Helium-3 is only available in very small quantities, barely enough for some experiments. This, of course, makes it costly at more than $30,000 per gram. World consumption, conditioned by limited supply, is just over half a kilogram per year. It is used to build equipment for the nuclear industry, especially neutron detectors. It is also used to produce very low temperatures, of the order of a few tenths of a degree above absolute zero (-273.15C), a must in quantum instrumentation. And it is increasingly used in biomedical imaging applications such as magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray spectroscopy equipment.

Analysts estimate that there is a potential demand for Helium-3 worth about $400 million, indicating a clear upward tick. Helium-3 may be scarce on our planet, but there are easily exploitable deposits on the Moon since it is absorbed in the upper layers of the regolith. What might have seemed like science fiction 10 years ago is now a viable commercial proposition.

Several companies are now seriously considering trying to harvest Helium-3 from the lunar surface. The Seattle company Interlune has already raised venture capital of more than $13 million. Among its founders is 88-year-old astronaut Harrison Schmitt, the only geologist to have set foot on the Moon, giving him first-hand knowledge of the subject.

Interlune managers believe that Helium-3 is the only lunar product whose price justifies its extraction and transport to Earth. Consequently, they are designing an automatic robot to send to the Moon in 2025 as a prototype. In essence, it is a small excavator with an oven to heat the rock samples up to 600 degrees  enough, they hope, to cause the release of the occluded gas, which will be collected in small vials.

Powered by photoelectric cells, the robot will operate over a period of a couple of years during the two weeks of the lunar day while hibernating during the lunar night. The technique, which is, of course, an industrial secret, is only intended to obtain small samples. If successful, commercial exploitation will require larger vehicles, carried by SpaceXs Starship freighters.

In any case, sending the gas vials to Earth will require return capsules with little cargo capacity, perhaps limited to a few kilos  enough to cover costs and leave a handsome profit. These do not, however, yet exist.

But say all conditions are satisfied, where will the digging start? According to Schmitt, the entire Moon offers possibilities, although some regions are more attractive than others. His study of lunar samples and data collected by orbiting satellites has helped him select the most promising regions identified with an X, as on a treasure map, though, of course, the map itself is another of the new space miners jealously guarded secrets.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioning why his government did not take any action if, as per his allegation, industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani were sending black money to the opposition party.

IMAGE: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge addresses a public meeting for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election in Samastipur on May 12, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Addressing back-to-back election rallies in Bihar's Samastipur and Muzaffarpur, Kharge asserted that Modi could become the prime minister of India only because Congress fought for its Independence.

"PM Modi says we are silent on Ambani and Adani, we are not... I am asking why his government did not take any action if, according to his allegation, we received black money from these industrialists? Is it because they themselves received black money?" Kharge asked.

"Finally, the PM has admitted that these two businessmen have black money... Then why did you not take action against them? Where was the black money coming from? You should answer," he said.

Modi on Wednesday, for the first time during the Lok Sabha elections, accused the Congress of having a "deal" with "Ambani and Adani", and asked if the party had received "tempo loads of black money" from the two industrialists.

Kharge said that the PM calls himself "chowkidar" of the country, "so why did not the chowkidar stop these tempos?"

Alleging that the BJP would end democracy if it was not voted out, Kharge said it was because of this democracy that a tea-seller's son could become the prime minister of India and he, the son of a labourer, could become the president of the opposition Congress.

He alleged that the BJP was spreading communal hatred to divert the attention of the people from issues that mattered.

"Neither the PM nor other BJP leaders will talk about issues such as growing unemployment or price rise. They are spreading communal hatred. The forces that are attacking the Constitution and spreading the politics of hate, must be defeated. They are dividing this country on lines of religion and castes," he alleged.

Recalling the contributions made by the Congress for India, he said former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives for the country and the people got the right to vote due to the struggles of icons such as Mahatma Gandhi and Rajendra Prasad.

Kharge alleged the PM was lying that the Congress would impose an inheritance tax if it is voted to power.

"They are lying to the people and attempting to mislead and scare them. After three phases, it appears that the elections are not going as per their expectations. They are raking up irrelevant issues," he said.

He claimed the INDIA bloc performed well in all three phases and will continue to do so.

"We will comfortably form the government at the Centre," he claimed.

Kharge said the PM does not talk about the promises made by the BJP over the years. "What happened to two crore jobs every year? What happened to the bullet train? What about the smart cities? He will not talk about these things. He knows only one thing, to abuse Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and me."

He claimed that the PM mentions Congress and the Gandhi family more than he takes the name of Lord Ram each day.

"If Modi becomes PM again, he along with RSS will change the Constitution and remove reservations for OBC, SCs and STs," Kharge alleged.

He also alleged that the Modi government neglected the underprivileged sections.

"The Congress, if voted to power, would conduct a caste census so that these sections get their due," he said.

While Samastipur will go to the polls on May 13, voting will take place in Muzaffarpur on May 20.

The Congress has fielded Ajay Nishad in Muzaffarpur, while state minister and JD-U leader Maheshwar Hazari's son Sunny Hazari is the party's nominee in the Samastipur seat.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging a Delhi high court order upholding the summons issued to him in a criminal defamation case for retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in May 2018.

IMAGE: Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal greets the party workers and supporters at a party event after being released from Tihar Jail, at the party headquarters, in New Delhi, May 11, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

On March 11, the top court asked Kejriwal whether he wanted to give an apology to the complainant in the matter.

Kejriwal on February 26 told the apex court that he made a mistake by retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Rathee related to the Bharatiya Janata Party's IT cell.

The counsel appearing for complainant Vikas Sankrityayan has told the top court that Kejriwal may issue an apology on social media platforms like microblogging platform 'X' or Instagram.

On February 26, the apex court, without issuing notice on Kejriwal's plea challenging the high court order, had asked the complainant whether he wanted to close the matter in view of the petitioner accepting it was a mistake.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, had said, "I can say this much that I made a mistake by retweeting."

The top court had asked the trial court not to take up the defamation case involving Kejriwal till further orders.

In its February 5 verdict, the high court said that reposting alleged libellous content would attract the defamation law.

It said a sense of responsibility has to be attached while retweeting content about which one does not have knowledge and added that retweeting defamatory content must invite penal, civil as well as tort action if the person retweeting it does not attach a disclaimer.

The high court, while refusing to quash the trial court's 2019 order summoning Kejriwal, had said when a public figure tweets a defamatory post, the ramifications extend far beyond a mere whisper in someone's ears.

It had said if the act of retweeting or reposting is allowed to be misused as it is still considered to be a vacant grey area of law, it will encourage people with ill intentions to misuse it and conveniently take a plea that they had merely retweeted a content.

The chief minister had said in the high court that the trial court failed to appreciate that his tweet was not intended or likely to harm the complainant.

Sankrityayan claimed the YouTube video titled 'BJP IT Cell Part II' was circulated by Rathee, who lives in Germany, "wherein a number of false and defamatory allegations were made".
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.
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Thousands of Armenians rallied in Yerevan on May 12 in the latest in a string of anti-government demonstrations. The protests' leader, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over a land deal that cedes some Armenian-held territory to Azerbaijan.
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 -- As Georgian protesters  who numbered in the tens of thousands on May 11  prepared for another mass rally in central Tbilisi, government officials vowed to arrest demonstrators who attempt to block the parliament building ahead of discussions on the controversial "foreign agent" bill that has been condemned by the United States, the EU, and others.

Opposition leaders have called on protesters to gather late on May 12 and spend the night on the streets ahead of parliaments planned third reading and likely passage of what critics call the the Russian law  similar to legislation used by the Kremlin to silence media and civil society groups in that country.

The bill is scheduled to be heard by committee in parliament on May 13, with a full vote  and likely passage  expected on May 14.

In a press briefing on May 12, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze claimed that ruling Georgian Dream lawmakers are certain to adopt the bill and that it will "reflect the will of Georgian society."

He warned protesters that "violence will not remain unpunished," while urging police to "show maximum patience and in responding to violence and insults, to act with a high standard.

Meanwhile, in a separate briefing on May 12, President Salome Zurabishvili, who has broken with the government and come out in support of peaceful protests, strongly criticized the government and Georgian Dream leaders for not taking into account the views of thousands of citizens on the streets.

"It's very funny when politicians pretend to be able to count with high IQs and they can't count how many people there were, she said, adding that the government has lost the confidence of the people."

In front of an estimated 50,000 demonstrators assembled in central Tbilisi on May 11, poet Rati Amaghlobeli, one of the protest organizers, called on Georgians to come to the streets again on May 12.

The aim is to show the world that Georgians strongly oppose the bill, which has raised concerns about its potential effect on media and civil society as well as the country's European ambitions.

"We've got to have this country united tomorrow. We need to be that and so much more tomorrow. Let the world see!" Amaghlobeli said.

Protesters were encouraged to gather around the parliament starting at 10 p.m. and stay overnight so their presence could be felt as parliament convenes early on May 13 for discussions on the bill. Organizers urged them to bring sleeping bags, tents, and board games and said that a stage will be set up for music and songs.

Under the terms of the proposed legislation, media outlets, NGOs, and other nonprofits would be required to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if more than 20 percent of their funding comes from abroad.

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, and EU officials have said the bill could be a significant setback to Tbilisi's membership bid.

Demonstrators on May 11 chanted "Yes Europe!" and "No to the Russian law" as they assembled in different areas of the capital before making their way to Europe Square, in the heart of Tbilisi's historic district.

Previous rallies have been met with a violent response by security forces, including the use of tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators, as well as arrests. Roving bands of thugs have targeted demonstrators. Protesters and journalists have also shown injuries consistent with the use of rubber bullets, despite officials' denials.

Reports of actions by security forces during the May 11 demonstrations were unclear, and there was no immediate confirmation of arrests.

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.

The United States has been one of the biggest backers of Georgia's efforts to join the European Union and other Western institutions and one of the biggest critics of the draft legislation.

U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan lauded the protesters on May 11.

"The Georgian people are making their views known," Sullivan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Undeterred by intimidation tactics, tens of thousands of peaceful protestors turned out in rainy Tbilisi today to demand Georgian Dream withdraw the legislation."

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.

The announcement came after 29 members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued an open letter to Kobakhidze expressing "grave concern" and "strongly" urging his government to withdraw the bill.

The U.S. lawmakers said in a May 10 letter that it was a "harmful bill" that would "undermine the will of the Georgian people who seek a future in the West."

The lawmakers said "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" with Georgia.

Also on May 10, 18 media and rights organizations, including the International Press Institute, said the proposed legislation "provides the authorities with a powerful tool to discredit, pressure, and eventually silence independent voices, thereby threatening press freedom and freedom of expression."

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 bill's backers appear to control sufficient votes for passage and possibly to override a veto that has been promised by President Salome Zurabishvili.

An earlier version of the bill was introduced by Georgian Dream allies last year but withdrawn amid public outcry.
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.
ALMATY -- Earlier this year, Sitora Bozorova, a 24-year-old woman, was sentenced to five years in prison over social media posts that called for the "dynasty" of President Shavkat Mirziyoev to "burn."

Bozorova, who was also accused of making a highly unflattering remark about Mirziyoev's daughter and top aide Saida Mirziyoeva, is now among a growing number of citizens who are being jailed for insulting the head of state -- a crime introduced into the legal code in 2021.



Since becoming president in 2016, Mirziyoev has positioned himself as a champion of freer speech, a shift away from the heavy authoritarianism of his predecessor, Islam Karimov, and one that was greeted enthusiastically at home and abroad. That now looks like a bygone era, and the protections afforded to Mirziyoev are only helping to widen and deepen the crackdown.



Straight To Jail



The legal tweak -- Article 158, Part 3 -- is part of a growing arsenal available to the Uzbek authorities, who are eager to stifle the kind of everyday dissent that became more common after the tentative opening up.



It is a legal weapon very much in vogue.

Citing data from the Supreme Court, UzNews, a privately owned media outlet, reported this month that at least 10 people have been sentenced to jail over insults to the president in the last 12 months.



The cases detailed by the news agency covered citizens between 25 and 60 years old, who received sentences ranging from correctional labor to the maximum sentence for the crime -- five years -- and even beyond in instances where defendants were being sentenced for other crimes as well.



Overwhelmingly, the basis for the convictions were posts or online comments, with none of the offenders scattered across different regions of Uzbekistan enjoying large online followings.



This type of targeting is now par for the course, said Nadezhda Ataeva, chairwoman of the Paris-based Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA), which is set to soon publish a report on the state of freedom of speech in Uzbekistan in cooperation with the Brussels-based International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR).



Ataeva told RFE/RL that Uzbekistans law books now contain around 30 articles in some way or another connected to speech. In the vast majority of jailings under Article 158, Part 3, the citizens being incarcerated have no prior convictions, she said.



In many other countries, when it comes to offenses relating to speech, the first response from law enforcement is a caution," Ataeva said. "In Uzbekistan, there is no warning, just a prison sentence straight away.



And, so far, pleas for leniency have fallen on deaf ears.



I cant imagine that my daughter would insult the president, Bozorovas mother, Saodat Kurbanova, told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, before launching an impassioned appeal to the president.

President, please, my daughter has to get married," she said. "I dont want her to spend her life in prison like some hooligan. She had so many hopes and dreams. I ask you to take account of my appeals and assist us so that my daughter is vindicated and so that she might return home to us.

The youngest citizen known to have been jailed for presidential insults was a 19-year-old from Samarkand, who was sentenced to 2 1/2 years imprisonment in October 2023.



A copy of a court judgment seen by RFE/RLs Uzbek Service states that Dilshod Iskandarov left a comment cursing current and future generations of Mirziyoevs under a video about the presidents family on Instagram.



Iskandarov, who was in Russia at the time, deleted the comment on the advice of his friends and repented in court, but his plea of immaturity did not spare him prison time.



Stalled Progress



In 2019, some three years after the death of longtime Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, the Paris-based press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) changed its description of Uzbekistan's press freedom environment from "very serious" to merely "difficult."



For the first time, in RSF's annual World Press Freedom Index, Uzbekistan was no longer one of those brick red countries like China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia highlighted for being the planets top-level offenders of the free press.



Instead, it was part of the peachy-colored band that included Colombia, Morocco, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan's Central Asian neighbor Kazakhstan.



Five years on from that achievement, Uzbekistan is back in the brick red again, placing 148th out of 180 countries, 11 places below last year's ranking.



There is a great pressure on websites and bloggers. Materials are regularly deleted. Censorship, self-censorship. Colleagues are either leaving journalism or thinking about leaving, journalist Shukhrat Latipov wrote on his Telegram channel in response to Uzbekistans plunge in the index, which RSF releases annually on May 3, World Press Freedom Day.



The recent cases of people receiving jail time for insulting the president appear to mark an intensification of the more general crackdown that began toward the end of Mirziyoev's first term in office and appeared to target the new generation of citizen journalists who have emerged in recent years.



One of the first Uzbeks to wind up behind bars in this respect was Otabek Sattoriy, a video blogger from the southern city of Termez, who relentlessly criticized local officials for corruption and mismanagement.

Far from insulting Mirziyoev, he cited the president as an inspiration. Earlier in his reign, the Uzbek president called on bloggers to expose shortcomings among officials, while promising that he stands behind journalists.



But Sattoriy was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in May 2021 on charges of extortion and slander, gaining early release from jail in February of this year. Although free from jail, Sattoriy must pay 20 percent of any wages that he earns to the state for the remainder of his sentence.



Since Sattoriys sentencing, extortion has become a common crime for bloggers to be convicted of in Uzbekistan.



In an interview with RFE/RL last year, Umida Niyazova, director of the Berlin-based Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, suggested that this was part of a deliberate tactic to make cases against bloggers look like disputes between private citizens.



"Secondly, practice shows that extortion charges are easy to fabricate. It is not necessary to present material evidence. It is enough for someone to write a statement to police that some blogger extorted money," Niyazova said at the time.



Another charge levied against bloggers is threatening public security and the constitutional order -- a vague charge beloved by prosecutors and courts during the Karimov era as well.



Fozilxoja Orifxojaev, a blogger sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison on those charges at the beginning of 2022, was released from prison in December of last year after having his sentence commuted to a parole-like punishment.



But heading in the other direction that same month was Olimjon Khaidarov, a popular blogger from the Ferghana Valley city of Qoqand, who was handed eight years in jail for extortion and defamation.



These heavy sentences are having their desired effect: muffling critical voices.



Like their colleagues in Uzbekistan's print and broadcast media, bloggers are either toning down or giving up, often with explicit encouragement from the authorities.



Last year, RSF raised the alarm after pressure from the authorities meant that six Telegram channels in a single region of southern Uzbekistan were shut down, depriving tens of thousands of readers of news.



At the same time, pro-government bloggers are expanding their hold over the information space, building up massive followings with what rights activist Ataeva describes as portrayals of a glamorous lifestyle.



This all means that Mirziyoevs regime is losing a valuable feedback mechanism, Ataeva argued.



Uzbekistan is once again becoming like an aquarium where the water is turning foul, but citizens arent allowed to say anything. They are just fish that have to shut up and swim, Ataeva said.
A rainstorm of historic proportions caused unprecedented flooding in Dubai on April 16. Among the thousands of people from all over the world trying to land in the desert city was Eugene Kaspersky, the founder and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, a cybersecurity firm. The 58-year-olds flight from Moscow wasnt without incident: There was turbulence the entire time and I had to land in Abu Dhabi. After waiting on the plane for a couple of hours, he was able to leave the airport and find a car to take him to Dubai.

The Russian cybersecurity expert compares the storms in Dubai with the challenges his company is facing in the United States. In recent years, his firm has come under scrutiny due to allegations about its relationship with the Russian government. In fact, the U.S. vetoed the use of Kasperskys software by government agencies in 2017, for fear of Russian espionage. Now, the Biden administration is preparing to go further, by issuing an order that would prevent American companies and citizens from using his software. According to CNN, this is due to national security concerns.

There are things in the world that we cannot change, Kaspersky shrugs, when asked by EL PAIS about the American governments accusations. We need to adapt to the new reality, like with thunderstorms. [Thats why] we keep working. Next, the expert boasts that his company has technologies that recognize malware (malicious software) better than others: we do it in real-time and we send what we capture on the internet to the rest of the community. Companies like McAfee and Broadcom also exchange information. Its a kind of network of cooperation. According to this expert, failure to collaborate could reduce the quality of protection and expose users to greater risks.

The U.S. isnt the only country that views Kaspersky with suspicion. In 2022  just two months after Russia invaded Ukraine  Germanys Federal Office for Information Security urged companies and users to avoid using the companys programs due to a considerable risk of a successful cyberattack. The CEO of Kaspersky Lab defended himself, affirming that these claims are mere speculations that arent supported by any tangible evidence.

When asked about his position regarding the war in Ukraine and his relationship with the Russian government, the expert insists that his firm is an independent cybersecurity company.

Were a very transparent company. [Some people] fear that well do something wrong. We explain to them that this is impossible, because we cannot just become invisible. Many people would [witness this behavior] and wouldnt remain silent, he claims, in an interview conducted at Kaspersky Cyber Immunity, a conference that was organized in Dubai between April 17 and 19. EL PAIS was invited by the cybersecurity company.

Eugene Kaspersky poses with his cell phone, which, according to him, isnt very smart. I.R.

In March 2022, Kaspersky stated that war isnt good for anyone. Since sanctions were imposed on Russia by the West, his company has been especially affected in the United States. Right now, they dont want us. Business has fallen by around 50%, he laments. However, he highlights that in some countries  such as Spain  the allegations levied against his company havent negatively affected him. Kaspersky Lab products are still included in the Spanish ICT Security Products Catalog  which offers services to various government agencies  and used by the National Cryptologic Center (CCN), within the National Intelligence Center.

According to Kaspersky, when the war in Ukraine began, cybercriminal activities and politically-motivated attacks proliferated. It doesnt just happen with wars: [it can happen] with any major event, such as an earthquake or a tsunami, the expert notes. He says that he is 100% sure that there will be cyberattacks related to the Olympic Games, pointing out that cybercriminals use the flaws of these big events for [the purposes of] social engineering and to make more attempts at hacking.

In a war, everyone is vulnerable to cyberattacks: Individuals, companies, soldiers After the invasion of Ukraine, some companies that were active in Russia saw a 1,000% increase in attacks. We were observing what was happening on the Russian side and there were massive attacks against various companies and public services. Many [of these attacks were attempting] to steal and publish sensitive data. Others were against the financial sector and infrastructure, Kaspersky recalls.

AI in the wrong hands

A long time ago, Kaspersky asked himself a question: why do malware and hackers exist? Hes now clear about the answer: Because the architecture of the operating systems is vulnerable. He explains that the main ideas [behind] modern operating systems were [conceived] in the 1960s and 1970s. Around that time, those who mainly used computer systems were scientists and military personnel. Cybernetics wasnt for the general public; it was for a gentlemens club who knew each other, so there was no room for criminals.

But the situation has changed. At his firm, the employees detect more than 400,000 new cases of malware every day. Its impossible to do this manually, Kaspersky points out. For this reason, they use a machine learning system. The good news is that we use artificial intelligence to detect malware. The bad news is that criminals also use it for their own purposes. For him, the danger of artificial intelligence is precisely that it falls into the wrong hands.

Although automated systems are used, the criminal business based on malware involves hundreds of thousands of people. The expert acknowledges that if they said there were 100,000 people involved in developing malicious code, I wouldnt be surprised. The typical profile of someone who engages in cyberattacks is a software engineer between the ages of 20 and 30. Although the majority [of hackers] are young, there are people between 14 and 60-years-old, Kaspersky clarifies.

Typically, behind all these attacks, there are complex organizations that operate as a company. Kaspersky says that they have specialized departments in each stage of the process, from engineering the attack to negotiating the ransom. In many cases, these people dont know each other. They only know each other by nicknames [theyre in contact with each other], but theyve never met in person.

Some cybercriminal groups specialize in specific types of attacks and focus on particular regions. If were talking about ransomware, most of [the actors] are Russian-speaking. If we talk about [those who run] botnets and backdoors, most of them are Chinese-speaking. And, if we talk about financial fraud, the majority [of perpetrators] are Spanish and Portuguese speaking, he details.

He says that theres a reason why Chinese hackers dont make as much ransomware, a type of malware that locks a victims data or device and threatens to keep it locked unless money is paid: Ransomware often asks for cryptocurrency, and cryptocurrencies are banned in China. So, Chinese cybercriminals cannot monetize them.

A cell phone without applications

To face the threats of the cyber world, Kaspersky has a unique cell phone in the works  his own company is developing it for him. Its still a prototype. Its not very smart, because the camera doesnt work yet, Kaspersky admits. He previously had an old Nokia. Beyond Telegram, the mobile device hardly has any applications. But Kaspersky doesnt care. I dont have time to use it anyways, he shrugs.

When he wants to use social media, or upload content to his travel blog, he uses a computer that he always carries with him. But how does he take photos if his cellphone camera doesnt work? The answer is inside his backpack. He unzips it and proudly pulls out a large camera. Im not a professional but some of my photos are pretty good, he smiles.

To protect himself in his daily life, Kaspersky avoids publishing personal information on social media. Additionally, he only gives out his phone number to people he knows well and who respect his time zone. I dont want to receive calls at five in the morning, he grumbles.

For him, the main mistake that users make is that they trust anyone on the internet. The expert warns that criminals  especially in Latin America  are using deepfakes to deceive people with fake voices and images. To avoid being a victim of any attack or fraud, he recommends utilizing updated security products on devices. He also highlights something even more important: Dont trust anyone online. Especially now, when were in the era of deepfakes.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military has been criticized at home for a perceived lack of progress and heavy losses during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, announced that he was replacing longtime ally Sergei Shoigu as defense minister.

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 Kremlin said that Shoigu, 66, would be replaced by former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, 65, a politician who specializes in economic matters.

Shoigu, who has been defense minister since 2012 and has been leading Russia's military through its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022, has been named to head Russia's Security Council, which advises the president on national security matters.

The Kremlin said that as part of Shoigu's Security Council duties, the former defense chief will advise on matters involving military-industrial issues.

He will replace Nikolai Patrushev as head of the Security Council. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Patrushev's next position will be announced in the coming days.

Russias upper house of parliament, the Federation Council -- which also announced the changes -- said Putin has proposed reappointing Sergei Lavrov as Russias foreign minister.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said Russia's next defense chief will be another Putin "puppet."

"Sergei Shoigu has overseen over 355,000 casualties amongst his own soldiers & mass civilian suffering with an illegal campaign in Ukraine," he wrote on X.

"Russia needs a Defense Minister who would undo that disastrous legacy & end the invasion - but all theyll get is another of Putins puppets."

Russia analyst and economics professor at the University of Chicago Konstantin Sonin said on X that the changes illustrated the Kremlins thinking: "Things are not going according to Putin's plan, but he will endlessly rotate the same small group of loyalists."

"Putin has always feared to bring new people to the positions of authority -- even in the best of times, they must have been nobodies with no own perspectives. Toward the end of his rule, even more so," Sonin added.

Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based foreign policy analyst, wrote that "Shoigu's replacement with a (relatively experienced and apparently competent) economist pretty clearly signals Putin believes victory in Ukraine will come via outproducing (and outlasting) Ukraine and her Western allies.

"He's preparing for many more years of war."

Rob Lee, a senior fellow at Foreign Policy Research Institute, said he did not see the move as necessarily a demotion for Shoigu, pointing out that hes been handed additional powers in his new job.

This doesn't appear to be designed as a demotion for Shoigu, who not only received an important position as secretary of the Security Council but also will retain oversight of domestic and foreign defense issues, taking that from the new minister of defense, he wrote.

The actions must be approved by the Federation Council, but both houses of Russias parliaments are considered rubber-stamp bodies for Putins wishes.The council said that senators will hold consultations on the candidates proposed by the president at meetings of the committees on May 13 and at a meeting of the Federation Council on May 14.

The moves come after the Russian government officially resigned following Putins inauguration on May 7 for the fifth time in a ceremony to kick off a new six-year term that was boycotted by most Western countries over his war in Ukraine and an election victory they rejected as being orchestrated to provide him a landslide result.

Russian lawmakers on May 10 approved Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister on May 10, hours after Putin nominated him for reappointment.

Shoigu's future as defense minister had been closely watched over the past year following the struggles of the military in Ukraine and other issues.

Although not directly implicated, Shoigu's Defense Ministry came under scrutiny after it was reported that Russian law enforcement officials had detained Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov on suspicion of taking a bribe.

The next day, the Basmanny district court in Moscow sent him to pretrial detention until June 23 after charging him with receiving a bribe on an especially large scale.

Shoigu is considered close to Putin, with whom he has taken hunting trips in the past. He is one of the founders of the United Russia party, which was the main pro-Putin force in parliament in the first two terms of his presidency.

Peskov said the Kremlin wanted to appoint an economic expert to head the Defense Ministry in the face of rising costs related to Russian security measures.

This demands special attention, he told reporters. "The Defense Ministry should absolutely be open to innovation, to the introduction of all advanced ideas.

"At this stage, the president has decided that a civilian should run the defense ministry, he added.

Anatoly Serdyukov, who preceded Shoigu as defense minister from 2007-12, also had a background in economics and had served as head of the Federal Tax Service from 2004-07.

With reporting by the Financial Times and Reuters
Kyiv on May 12 said all areas of the Kharkiv region's border area are under Russian assault after Ukraine's top military commander said decisive battles were being fought there, while the Kremlin assailed what it called a Ukrainian attack on an apartment building in the Russian city of Belgorod.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram that Russian forces continue to fire on the civilian population.

As of today, the number of mass artillery and air strikes have increased. Vovchansk, Lyptsi, and all the points of the northern border are under enemy fire almost around the clock, he said, adding that the situation is difficult.

Vovchansk, a border town with a prewar population of about 17,500, has become the focal point of Russias latest offensive as the Kremlins forces attempt to take settlements just east of Kharkiv -- Ukraines second-largest city with some 1.4 million people.

Ukraine's top military commander has said that his forces have prevented Russian troops from breaking through defenses, as large-scale evacuations of civilians continue in the country's northeast.

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.

"Units of the defense forces are fighting fierce defensive battles," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy wrote on Telegram on May 12. "The attempts of the Russian invaders to break through our defenses have been stopped."

However, Syrskiy echoed warnings from Kyiv about the dire situation Ukraine faces, with Russia boosting offensive efforts in the northeastern Kharkiv region and the eastern Donetsk region.

Syrskiy said that Russia was attacking the front at several points with the aim of advancing deep into Ukrainian territory.

"The situation is difficult, but the defense forces of Ukraine are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions, inflict damage on the enemy," Syrskiy said.

On May 12, Synehubov said more than 4,000 people had been evacuated from areas where "there is a threat to the lives and health of civilians" after fighting intensified in the territory bordering Russia.

Russia launched a fresh assault on the region on May 10 and the following day claimed it had captured five villages. On May 12, Russian forces claimed they had taken four more villages.

Ukraine has said it is battling for control in the affected areas and appears to have struck back with strikes in Russia itself.

Russian officials said multiple people were killed and 20 injured on May 12 when fragments of a downed Tochka-U TRC missile fired by Ukraine hit an apartment block in Belgorod, a Russian regional capital near the border with the Kharkiv region.

Varying death tolls have been given in the incident, ranging from at least two to seven people.

"The city of Belgorod and the Belgorod region were subjected to massive shelling by the armed forces of Ukraine," said Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, who added that more people could be buried in the rubble of the apartment building.

On his Telegram page, Gladkov posted what he said were video and images of the collapsed apartment building.

Russias TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman quoted Dmitry Peskov as saying President Vladimir Putin had been briefed about the "barbaric" attack on the apartment block.

While Moscow itself denies targeting civilians, Russian air strikes have frequently hit hospitals, schools, and residential areas with devastating effect, with thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Kyiv has not commented on the incident in Belgorod, which has often has been the target of Ukrainian drone and missile attacks.

Battlefield claims on either side cannot immediately be verified.

During his nightly video address on May 11, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy raised alarms about frontline conditions in the war against Russia, highlighting the fighting in the Kharkiv region while also saying the situation in the eastern Donetsk region was "especially tense."

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.

Russia has also expanded its use of advanced rockets and missiles in addition to barrages from unmanned attack drones, and recently has targeted power infrastructure far from the front lines.

With reporting by Reuters
KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2024 - 19:59 | All, Japan

Unable to face going back to their jobs after the Golden Week holidays that ended in early May, an increasing number of Japanese workers are turning to private services to resign on their behalf, including a rise among graduates who started in April.

The services, which have grown in popularity in recent years, enable workers to quickly leave companies without doing so in-person for reasons that can include harassment or an adverse working environment.

Albatross Co., a Tokyo-based firm launched in 2022, said its resignation service Momuri, which can translate to "already too much," has seen a steady stream of users coming forward with stories of mistreatment.

While it typically handles about 200 people a month, Albatross says numbers rocketed to 1,400 customers in April. It has already heard from more than 500 people so far in May.

Among the reasons given for wanting to quit is that their immediate superiors are unpleasant, or that they were hired as permanent staff but actually employed as contract workers upon starting the job.

People in their 20s and 30s account for 60 percent of Momuri users, with a marked number of them new graduates who only began their jobs in April, the company said.

One graduate told Albatross their new employer had "made it seem at the hiring meeting like it was a company with a glamorous corporate culture, but in reality, the boss ran it like a dictatorship and employees were verbally abused." More quit after the person came forward, the firm said.

Cases can be managed via the Line free-messaging app, with resignations sometimes processed within the same day.

"If someone is suffering mentally and physically in a tough environment, then it's better they quickly turn the page. We want to support people to do that," said Shinji Tanimoto, head of Albatross.

The sector has seen growth in recent years, with more than 100 companies appearing to offer the services. Asking prices vary from the 20,000 to 50,000 yen ($130-$320) range.

The situation is likely to have been given a push by shortages of available workers amid a declining population, which have made it a seller's market for labor in Japan. Mismatches in values between younger workers and companies with old-fashioned cultures are also said to have contributed to the trend.

But despite their convenience, proxy resignation services are limited in handling legal matters unless the individual dealing with the case is a qualified lawyer.

Muneyuki Kakuchiyama, a lawyer at Tokyo-based ITJ Law Office offering proxy resignation services, said the company is approached by people who have not been paid or who had their resignation refused when going through other firms.

"For issues that have the potential to develop into legal problems, we urge people to speak with a lawyer," he said.

Related coverage:

Teleworking in Japan shrinks after COVID, hybrid working on rise

Tokyo police to set up 24-hour lost and found lockers
A student bursary programme operated by Athlone & Castlerea Credit Union aims to alleviate some of the financial burden of education for students.

Details of the 2024 bursary programme were announced last week. The bursary, totalling 1,500, will assist the recipients in pursuing their academic goals.

The recipient of the student bursary will be the Athlone or Castlerea secondary school student who achieves the highest points in their Leaving Certificate exams and plans to attend the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Athlone Campus, in 2024 to study under the Faculty of Business & Hospitality.

"We understand the challenges that students face when it comes to financing their education," said Marise OToole, Deputy CEO of Athlone & Castlerea Credit Union. "Our student bursary is designed to provide tangible support to deserving individuals, enabling them to focus on their studies without the added stress of financial worries."

"We believe in investing in the future of our community, and supporting education is a vital part of that commitment," Ms OToole added. "By offering this bursary, we hope to empower students to reach their full potential and contribute positively to society."

Dr Michael Tobin, Acting Dean of Faculty of Business and Hospitality at TUS Athlone, warmly welcomed the launch of the 2024 bursary. "As a faculty, we are committed to shaping tomorrow's business leaders. Thanks to the generous support of Athlone & Castlerea Credit Union, one of our incoming students will receive invaluable assistance through the student bursary programme, which encourages and rewards academic excellence. Together, we will inspire future leaders to thrive and make impactful contributions to both the business world and society at large.

Applications for the bursary are now open, and interested candidates are encouraged to apply by July 1st.

For more information on eligibility criteria and application process visit www.accu.ie or drop into any of our offices in Irishtown, Monksland (Athlone) or Castlerea.
Brady Insurance, with its head office in Carrick-on-Shannon, has achieved Business All-Star Accreditation from the All-Ireland Business Foundation (AIBF).

The AIBF is an autonomous national accreditation body tasked with enterprise development and the promotion of Best-in-Class Irish businesses.

Brady Insurance was established in 1959 by Joe and Kathleen Brady in a small office in Elphin. Over the following 65 years the business has expanded to become one of Irelands leading insurance firms. The journey of growth included becoming LLoyd's coverholders in 2012 and the opening of a Dublin office in 2015, as the company expanded its services to a national audience.

Announcing the news of Brady Insurances achievement, deputy chairperson of AIBFs Adjudication Board, Kieran Ring, said: I am delighted to recognise Brady Insurance's exceptional performance during its audit for Business All-Star Accreditation. By achieving this accreditation Brady Insurance has secured its place in the esteemed AIBF Register Of Irish Business Excellence. Congratulations on this well-deserved achievement.

Reacting to the news of her companys achievement, Managing Director Jane Brady said: We are deeply honoured and grateful to receive the Business All-Star Accreditation from the All-Ireland Business Foundation. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and hard work of every member of the Brady Insurance team. Since our humble beginnings in 1959, we have remained committed to providing exceptional service to our clients, and this accolade validates our efforts. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the All-Ireland Business Foundation for acknowledging our journey of growth and our unwavering commitment to trust, performance, and customer-centricity.

Managing Director of the All-Ireland Business Foundation Kapil Khanna said: "We evaluate a companys background, trustworthiness and performance, and we speak to customers, employees and vendors. We also anonymously approach the company as a customer and report back on the experience. The business goes through at least two interviews and is scored on every part of the process against set metrics.
Two County Roscommon students have been awarded an All-Ireland Scholarship, which will cover the full duration of their undergraduate studies.

Josh Oyiki and Leo OConnell from Athlone Community College, were honoured at the All Ireland Scholarships Awards Ceremony in University Concert Hall, University of Limerick.

In attendance at the ceremony was scholarship sponsor JP McManus, guest of Honour and CEO of Northwell Health, Michael J. Dowling, Minister for Further and Higher Education Niall Collins T.D. and Director of Skills, Strategy & Policy, Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland, Graeme Wilkinson as well as the family, friends and school representatives of the scholarship recipients.

Commenting at the awards ceremony, scholarship sponsor JP McManus said: I am delighted to be here today to celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of these 125 students. To date, 1,799 students have received an All Ireland Scholarship and 1,348 of those students have since graduated from university. Today is a very special occasion for the students, their families and principals. They should all be very proud of themselves, and we are looking forward to seeing what they do in years to come.

Sponsor JP McManus and Niall Collins, Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science presenting an All-Ireland Scholarship Award to Josh Oyiki, Athlone Community College.

The All Ireland Scholarships were established in 2008 by JP McManus and this year marks their 16th anniversary. The third level educational scholarship is awarded to 125 of the highest  achieving students per year, with a minimum of two students from each of the 32 counties. The recipients must meet a further set of criteria, including attending a non-fee-paying school and be in receipt of a third level education maintenance grant from Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) or be in receipt of an Education Maintenance Allowance in Northern Ireland. The scholarship offers full academic financial support for the duration of the students' third level studies.
James Cox

For those who missed out last night, the Northern Lights will be visible across Ireland again this evening.

The celestial light show was visible across the country after the most powerful solar storm in more than two decades.

Cathal Nolan, from Ireland's Weather Channel, said the best chance to see the Aurora Borealis is in the early evening.

Mr Nolan told Newstalk: "We're likely to see those clear skies continuing into tonight, so that's not going to be an issue.

"It's just a question of whether the geomagnetic storms responsible for last night's Aurora Borealis, whether that continues on into tonight."

Our climate station in Durrow, Co. Laois was treated to quite the light show last night  

Thanks @LaoisWeather !#aurora #NorthernLights



Weather reports from that station and many more available on https://t.co/Ne5eeFoKYH https://t.co/Dkyjy5yiTO  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) May 11, 2024

He added: "Early indications suggest there is a possibility it will continue on into tonight. Whether it reaches the same levels, the same magnitude, that occurred last night, it just remains to be seen. At the moment it will probably be strongest in the early part of the night."

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 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.
Kia India has reported a sales decline of 14% YoY and 7% MoM  Total domestic sales were near 20k mark

Kia India emerged as the 5th best-selling automaker in April 2024 after Maruti, Hyundai, Tata and Mahindra. Sales however fell both on a YoY and MoM basis with each of its models showing YoY de-growth while the Carens and EV6 saw significant growth on a MoM basis.

Kia YoY Sales Breakup  April 2024

Currently commanding a 5.9% market share, the company reported total sales at 19,968 units last month, a 14% YoY decline over 23,216 units sold in April 2023. MoM sales fell by 7% as compared to 21,400 units sold in March 2024.

Kia sales were topped by Sonet with 7,901 units sold last month, a 19% YoY decline over 9,744 units sold in April 2023. Kia Sonet faces a new competitor in its sub 4 meter SUV segment with the new Mahindra XUV3XO being launched while it is also a formidable rival to the Tata Nexon, Maruti Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger.

It was the Kia Seltos that followed with 6,734 unit sales last month, a 7% YoY decline over 7,213 units sold in April 2023. Seltos rivals the likes of Creta, Grand Vitara, Kushaq, Taigun, etc.

Sales of Kia Carens fell by 13% YoY to 5,328 units in April 2024 from 6,107 units sold in the same month last year. It was the EV6 that experienced the highest YoY decline in sales by as much as 97% to just 5 units last month from 152 units sold in April 2023.

Kia MoM Sales Breakup  April 2024 Vs March 2024

Kia India performance was more positive on a MoM basis and despite a 7% decline from 21,400 units sold in March 2024, saw two of its models show off increased sales. Sonet sales dipped 10% from 8,750 units sold in March 2024 while Seltos sales were down by 15% over 7,912 units sold in the previous month.

Kia Carens has seen a more affirmative effect on buyers in the country as sales improved 12% from 4,737 units sold in March 2024 to 5,328 units in the past month. There was an impressive 400% MoM growth in sales of the Kia EV6 from just 1 unit sold in March 2024 to 5 units in April 2024.

Upcoming Launch Plans

The company has plans to launch a new small SUV in petrol as well as EV guise. Kia has registered two new names  Clavis and Syros. These could be the name of this upcoming Kia SUV  one for its petrol version and the other for its EV version. There is also talk of the new gen Kia Carnival being launched in India sometime later this year.
KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2024 - 11:18 | All, Japan

Tokyo police will introduce 24-hour lost and found lockers this summer to make it easier for owners to claim their missing belongings and reduce the workload of its personnel handling the retrieval of items.

The move comes after the police recorded 4,087,000 cases of lost property last year, as foot traffic in the capital returned to pre-pandemic levels following the downgrading of COVID-19 to the same category as seasonal influenza.

Around 900,000 unclaimed items are typically housed at the Metropolitan Police Department's Lost and Found Center in the city's Bunkyo Ward, featuring shelves lined with objects like suitcases, crutches and even a naginata -- a spear-like traditional Japanese blade.

Items found on trains and at train stations are packed in color-coded bags depending on the rail company.

The basement is already crammed with nearly 30,000 umbrellas as of April, ahead of Japan's rainy season. According to center director Harumi Shoji, unclaimed umbrellas can number as high as 70,000 during a typical rainy season.

Most of the umbrellas are of a commonly available plastic variety, with only about 1 percent of them being reclaimed by their owners.

The police department handled a record 4,152,000 cases of lost property in 2019. Although they fell to around 2.8 million between 2020 and 2021 following the outbreak of the pandemic, cases rebounded to reach their third-highest figure ever last year.

The most commonly lost property in recent years includes identification documents such as driver's licenses, as well as items like IC chip-equipped train passes.

Electronic products are notably on the rise, with items such as wireless earphones, portable mini-fans and heated tobacco devices making their way to the center.

Lost property is usually kept at police stations for a certain period before being sent to the Lost and Found Center. However, items can only be retrieved on weekdays, which can be inconvenient for people working regular office hours. Lines are sometimes seen forming outside the facility.

The lockers will be installed outside the center entrance, making it accessible even when reception is closed at night and on non-business days.

Owners can reserve a locker online and access them with a QR code to reclaim their items.

The police department will consider introducing lockers at police stations depending on the results of the trial at the center.

With lost property reports available to be filed online since 2022, Shoji said that she hopes people would feel free to take advantage of the system and make reports "on their own time, without having to go to a police station or police box."
Reporting from East County  College Preparatory Middle School, a high-performing La Mesa-based charter school, is asking the state Board of Education to sponsor it for the next five years.

The school, which makes its home in the basement of the La Mesa Church of Christ on Jackson Drive, has been under the auspices of the Mountain Empire Union School District since its beginnings in 2010.

But that contract ends this year and the charter school needs to find another educational body willing to take on the responsibility of ensuring it meets academic, operational and financial standards.

College Prep, which serves about 250 students in grades 5-8, has been trying for years to find local backing. It twice has been rejected by the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, which in turn has unsuccessfully sued College Prep, alleging it misrepresented its enrollment growth and financing for a new campus.

Last October, the San Diego County School Board turned down College Preps appeal to authorize the schools charter. And in February, Californias Advisory Commission on Charter Schools voted 4-3 to recommend the state school board authorize College Prep, but came up one vote shy of the five needed to make an official recommendation.

But College Preps days of being dismissed could be over soon.

Officials from the middle school are heading to Sacramento next week to ask the state school board to be its authorizing body for the next five years.

California Department of Education staff last week recommended the California Board of Education oversee the charter from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2023.

A public hearing on the matter will be held March 15 in Sacramento.

Mountain Empire is ending its contract with the La Mesa/Spring Valley school to take on a second College Prep campus that will be located in Campo. Mountain Empire can only sponsor one of the charters entities. Meanwhile, College Prep is looking to move its La Mesa campus into bigger digs in Spring Valley.

College Prep co-founders Christina Callaway and Mitchell Miller say they have been looking to connect with the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District for several years, only to have their petition denied by the school board and its superintendent, Brian Marshall.

Callaway and Mitchell say they believe Marshall and his board are unhappy the school has plans to expand to a larger site that could accommodate up to 500 students, possibly taking away more students from its population.

Marshall says the charter schools leaders have repeatedly turned down opportunities to meet with him to discuss his concerns. Those include questions about College Preps use of money to build its new school, unrealistic enrollment growth, curriculum issues and discrepancies he has seen in the schools demographic profile.

Marshall will be attending the state boards hearing in Sacramento to oppose College Preps plans.

Marshall spoke out against College Prep in October at the hearing the school had with the San Diego County Board of Education and at the state advisory commission meeting.

He has been vocal about the districts misgivings about the school for several years. Litigation in court with College Prep has cost the La Mesa-Spring Valley district more than $250,000.

College Prep has been making plans since 2013 to move to Spring Valley. The public school started with 87 students but now has 240, with more than 130 on a waiting list to get in.

Students are largely from La Mesa and Spring Valley but also come from El Cajon, San Diego and outlying county areas. Its students are among the highest performers from all schools in San Diego County, according to API and other statewide testing measures.

If it gets board approval on March 15, Miller says the plan is to start building a school on land at 10269 Madrid Way in Spring Valley.

College Prep would be the 31st school under state board of education authority.

Miller said construction will take about nine months and the hope is that the school will open in January 2019 or shortly thereafter. The school would stay housed in La Mesa until the Spring Valley campus is ready. The school is expecting to hold an enrollment random lottery later this month.

We (would be) honored to have the opportunity to serve the families in La Mesa/Spring Valley as a state charter school, Callaway said. We are excited at the prospect of being able to continue to serve the community that we have been working in for eight years, and to be able to grow in order to serve even more students.

College Prep attorney John Lemmo said he believes the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District is troubled about the millions of dollars it could conceivably be deprived of.

Lemmo estimates that if College Prep grows at the rate it is expecting, La Mesa-Spring Valley could lose more than 100 additional students, and would stand to lose about $4 million per year in state Average Daily Attendance monies.

Charter schools are publicly funded, with most of their revenue coming from state ADA funds  $7,000 annually per student at College Prep, depending on grade level.

Marshall insists that his issue is not about losing students or revenue. He said the district  with its 21 schools, about 12,000 students, nearly 2,100 employees and a budget of more than $125 million  is growing.

Mitchell and Callaway both say it is frustrating for them that parents of College Prep students are anxious about next year and where their kids are going to attend school.

We know that weve been doing all the right things and operating correctly, Callaway said. Its heartbreaking and terrible to potentially be facing closure. Were a public school that offers a choice and educational choice is so important. Its so sad that theres been nothing but big-time opposition at every turn.

karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com
Carlsbad  Anyone walking past the music room Wednesday afternoon at Las Villas de Carlsbad may have heard a French opera aria or perhaps a few notes from the Dance Macabre. But what they were more likely to pick up was the sound of laughter.

Every week year-round, dozens of devoted students turn up at the Carlsbad assisted living center for David Lewis music appreciation class. For 23 years, the 66-year-old Vista resident has been teaching the class there and at two other Carlsbad retirement homes, through MiraCosta Colleges Learning is for Everyone (LIFE) program for older adults.

The longtime choir director and organist talks about symphonic structure, instrumentation, musical epochs and composition. But his mostly retired students say that while they like learning about composers like Felix Mendelssohn, they most enjoy coming because the class is fun.

David is so enthusiastic. He has such a great sense of humor and he can explain the music in such an interesting way, said Lee Reich, a Carlsbad resident who has been attending for seven years.

Oceanside resident Marika Coler is a 10-year veteran of Lewis class and said she looks forward to signing up again in the spring. When I leave the class Im so much more uplifted. Hes got such great knowledge and a wonderful way of putting that knowledge over in a light, entertaining way.

Lewis said teaching students to love and understand classical music is his lifes passion, but for many years it was an unfulfilled dream. After he earned a degree in choral conducting at San Diego State University and was preparing for a teaching career in his 20s, Lewis had what he calls a terrible epiphany when he started working with teenage students.

I realized I couldnt stand high school kids, he said, with a laugh. Id been like an only child growing up and could only relate to adults. So I thought to myself what am I doing?

Abandoning teaching, he did graduate work with British choral director David Willcocks, spent nine years as the stage manager for organist Virgil Fox, founded the San Luis Rey Chorale 38 years ago and later became director of music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Escondido. In 1992, a friend recommended him for MiraCostas LIFE program and it proved to be the perfect match.

I discovered it was wonderful to teach older adults, he said of his now more than 100 students. They want to be there. Theyre making friendships. Theyre fun. They go to concerts. Once I fell into that, I realized its what I wanted to do all along.

Wednesdays class, the final meeting for the fall semester, was dedicated to the works of French composer Camille Saint-Saens. Before getting to the music, Lewis had to pass out the wonderfully mediocre results for last weeks quiz.

Tests are required under state education codes, but clearly these students dont take their scores too seriously. Lewis read out some of his favorite wrong answers to rounds of laughter. Q: What is a cantata? A: A certain move a horse makes. Another students response?: Im 97 years old, what do you expect from me?

While classical music may seem antiquated to high schoolers, its still part of the living memory of older students, including one last year who turned 103. One student boasted of going to school with composer Leonard Bernstein. Another heard Sergei Rachmaninoff perform in Chicago when he was 13. One man met Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti in a bar in Havana, and another attended a party in Montreal with Francis Poulenc.

I love hearing their stories of musical experiences past, he said. Those fabulous connections really bring the music to life.

After discussing the quiz, Lewis launched into the story of Saint-Saens, an 18th-century Romantic-era composer who was perhaps the greatest musical prodigy in history, even more than Mozart. But he failed to live up to his early potential and died a bitter man at 86.

Longtime student Phyllis Ziring said its precisely stories like this about the lives of composers that make Lewis class both fascinating and lively. Two-year student Dave Wolf of Encinitas describes Lewis humor and energy as infectious.

Classical music wasnt high on my list before I came, but I know now Ill be coming here for a very long time, Wolf said.

Midway through the two-hour class, Lewis played the meltingly beautiful aria Mon cur souvre a ta voix (my heart opens to your voice) from Saint-Saens opera Samson and Delilah. As the music played, he kept his eyes closed, tapped his fingers on his knee and then wiped away a tear. Lewis says hes a dyed-in-the-wool Romantic music lover, so he admits getting rather dramatic about some of these melodies.

Lewis was born and raised in Minneapolis, where his father sang in an Episcopal church choir. In 1961, the family moved to California and settled into a Vista home that Lewis still shares with his partner of 28 years.

He was 11 when he joined the childrens choir at Vistas All Saints Episcopal Church and he said that almost from that first day in choir he knew he wanted a life in music.

His parents didnt own a radio, even in their car, so Lewis got his musical education from the records his grandparents and parents played on an old wind-up Victrola. Their collection included Rachmaninoffs piano concertos (one of Lewis personal favorites), George Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue and folk songs by Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac. Today he still owns the old Victrola, as well as a CD collection that now numbers in excess of 1,000 discs.

Over the years, hes discovered that his students arent huge fans of choir, opera or modern music. His goal is to help them expand their appreciation to these lesser-known composers, like recent subject, Soviet modernist Dmitri Shostakovich.

I tell everyone you dont have to like this but we can learn to listen in new ways, he said. No matter what it is youre listening to, you can find things of interest, like a wonderful orchestration or beautiful voices.

Oceanside resident David Barker said he only listened to country-Western music before he started attending Lewis classes 13 years ago: He completely turned me around. Now I only listen to operas. This class is the highlight of my week.

The next semester begins on Jan. 24 and includes afternoon classes on Tuesday afternoons at Carlsbad By the Sea retirement home, Wednesday classes at Las Villas de Carlsbad and Thursday classes at Sunrise Senior Living in La Costa. Lewis also teaches classes at five other retirement centers around North County on his own. To request a paper catalog from Miracosta, which will be mailed free to your home, call (760) 795-6615 or email pio@miracosta.edu.

Lewis longest-attending student is Leslie Mitte, a close friend who has been coming for all 23 years. Because so many students like Mitte turn out year after year, Lewis said hes had to get creative with his lessons to keep them fresh.

For the past year, he has taught by spending a month on each composer. The year before that, he taught music geographically, going from country to country to highlight its composers. Three years ago, he went through musical terminology alphabetically, from A to Z.

He said hes always looking for new ways to teach, and new recordings to fill in the gaps in his collection. But one thing hes not looking for is retirement.

I would love to do this the rest of my life, he said. Its been my passion since I was a teenager and who wants to quit doing a job that you love? Its something I can sit there and listen to and have all this wonderful social interaction. Its like having a music party every week.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2024 - 16:51 | All, World, Japan, G7

An atomic bomb survivor who met world leaders at Hiroshima's peace museum during the Group of Seven summit last year has been awarded an honorary doctorate by an American university.

Keiko Ogura, 86, received the honor at a graduation ceremony held by the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, on Saturday. The university hailed her continued efforts to share her experiences in surviving the atomic bombing of her home city during World War II.

"I felt the importance of the honor and intend to continue telling my story," Ogura said of her feelings on receiving the honorary humanities doctorate from the school. She is one of the few atomic bomb survivors fluent in English and has engaged in anti-nuclear activism for over 40 years.

She has previously engaged in activities with the university, including being invited in 2022 to tell her story to students and others at the institution.

In May 2023, Ogura spoke on the sidelines of the summit with G7 world leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum dedicated to the memory of the bombing victims. She has said she urged the G7 leaders to realize a world without nuclear weapons while survivors are still alive.

Ogura was 8 when the atomic bomb was dropped by the U.S. military on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. At the time, she was in a location near her home about 2.4 kilometers from the blast.

Her husband, Kaoru Ogura, served as the director of the peace museum. After his sudden death in 1979, she committed herself to passing on her experience of the bombing in English and went on to establish the group Hiroshima Interpreters for Peace.

Ogura has told her story to people in over 50 countries and regions, according to the University of Idaho.

Related coverage:

Nagasaki survivor urges nuke weapons abolition at U.N. treaty confab

Nuke ban treaty confab warns of "existential threat to humanity"

U.S. records confirm 12 U.S. soldiers died from Hiroshima A-bomb
KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2024 - 14:51 | All, World, Japan

Auroras have been observed across the world, including parts of Japan, after a series of solar flares erupted from the sun, while sightings may continue over the coming days.

Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology said that since Wednesday there have been at least seven eruptions on the sun's surface, which likely triggered a geomagnetic storm. The government agency cautioned that global positioning and communications systems could be disrupted.

The northern lights are believed to have been spotted in Hokkaido and Ishikawa Prefecture, northern and central Japan, on Saturday night. They were barely visible to the naked eye but were caught on camera.

In the United States, auroras appeared in Florida, Maine and Michigan states, and may also be seen soon in California, according to CNN.

A curtain of colored light was also seen in Britain on Friday, and further sightings could occur over the next few days, the BBC reported. People in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia also saw the light show, according to China Central Television.

Hokkaido, northern Japan

Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan

Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan
A nurse cares for a newborn at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Dingxi People's Hospital in northwest China's Gansu Province, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Wang Kexian/Xinhua)

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. 
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- This summer, guests of Ocean Casino Resort can be flying in style from Manhattan to Atlantic City with helicopter rides, according to Roi-NJ.com.

The resort announced its partnership with BLADE, a global air mobility platform, which will offer nonstop travel from New York City straight to the resorts rooftop helipad, according to the report.

Bill Callahan, the general manager for Ocean Casino Resort, noted the partnership with BLADE looks to welcome more guests this way.

Our customers have enjoyed privately chartered trips since we built our helipad last year, however adding a scheduled best-in-class travel experience provides yet another fantastic amenity to our award-winning beachfront resort, said Callahan.

Starting May 25, guests can book seats on the six-passenger helicopter, with additional flights scheduled every Saturday in July and August. Labor Day weekend will be the final weekend for the helicopter, the report states.

Guests can board the helicopter from BLADE Lounge West terminal on West 30th Street in Manhattan, and take the 40-minute trip to Ocean Casino Resort.

Chief marketing officer of BLADE, Roisin Branch, noted the increase of requests from Manhattan to Atlantic City.

This is a natural extension for BLADE to compliment its Hamptons and airport routes. We have seen a meaningful increase in charter requests from Manhattan to Atlantic City recently and we are excited to make the flights more accessible to a broader audience over the summer.

Those who use the passenger helicopter will be treated to a unique and personalized arrival, the report states.

In addition, every guest who books a flight will receive an exclusive Moet & Chandon champagne tumbler.

Those interested, can book flights and packages through BLADEs website.
NEW YORK  Rudy Giuliani was suspended Friday from WABC Radio and his daily show canceled over what the station called his repeated violation of a ban on discussing discredited 2020 election claims. Giuliani said the stations ban is overly broad and a clear violation of free speech.

Giuliani issued a statement saying he had heard of WABC Radio owner John Catsimatidis decision through a leak to The New York Times. Catsimatidis confirmed his decision in a text message to The Associated Press.

Giuliani left me no option, Catsimatidis told the Times, saying that the former New York City mayor had been warned twice not to discuss fallacies of the November 2020 election.

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 Republican businessman, who has fundraised for Donald Trump, told the newspaper.

As Trumps personal attorney, Giuliani was a key figure in the former presidents attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and remain in office.

Giuliani disputed that he had been informed ahead of time of the ban.

John is now telling reporters that I was informed ahead of time of these restrictions, which is demonstrably untrue, Giuliani said in a statement. Later Friday, in a video stream on social media, Giuliani noted that he has talked repeatedly, for years, on his show about claims the election was stolen, maybe even on every program, or every other program.

If there was such a policy, Id be crazy to keep doing it, Giuliani said. You think Im a fool?

A letter obtained by the AP from Catsimatidis to Giuliani and dated Thursday said Giuliani was prohibited from engaging in discussions relating to the 2020 elections.

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 these allegations, the letter said.

Ted Goodman, Giulianis spokesperson and adviser, said Giuliani had not known of the directive before Thursday.

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, Giuliani said in his statement.

Late last month, Giuliani was one of 18 people indicted by an Arizona grand jury for their roles in an attempt over overturn Trumps loss in 2020. At the time, his spokesperson Goodman lambasted what he called the continued weaponization of our justice system.

Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in December, shortly following a jurys verdict requiring him to pay $148 million to two former Georgia election workers for spreading lies about their role in the 2020 election. Despite the verdict, Giuliani continued to repeat his stolen election claims, insisting he did nothing wrong and suggesting hed keep pressing his claims even if it meant losing all his money or being jailed.

The bankruptcy prompted a diverse coalition of creditors to come forward, including a supermarket employee who was thrown in jail for patting him on the back, two elections technology companies that he spread conspiracies about, a woman who says he coerced her into sex, several of his former attorneys, the IRS and Hunter Biden, who says Giuliani illegally shared his personal data.

In early April, a New York bankruptcy judge allowed Giuliani to remain in his Florida condo, declining to rule on a motion from creditors that would have forced him to sell the Palm Beach estate. But the judge hinted at more draconian measures if the former mayor did not comply with information requests about his spending habits. The next hearing in the case was scheduled for Tuesday.
Hi Neighbor,

I lost two friends last week.

A cousin, Don Gundacker, died at 87. And Monsignor Tom Bergin died. He was 88.

Its disheartening to admit I knew Monsignor Bergin better than I knew my cousin. No doubt because I interacted with the monsignor a lot through my job  and I dont spend enough time interacting with my extended family.

Memories of Don will forever center around his bigger-than-life personality, generous spirit and incredible love of his children and grandchildren. That much I know.

And I do hold one very fond, personal memory of Don. It always makes me smile.

My cousin loved to fish. It was his birthday celebration thrown by his wife, Peggy, in the Staaten many years ago when my wife and I gave Don a gift certificate for a day fishing on a charter boat out of Great Kills.

Years later, I was with Don at another family celebration. With that unique Don Gundacker smile, he took out his wallet and held up a tattered piece of paper.

It was the charter boat gift certificate.

What happened  you never used it? I asked him, incredulous he would pass up a day on the water.

I went to the dock, looking for the boat, Don told me.

It sunk.

I was so dismayed, we had to get Don another gift. This time a certificate for dinner in Da Noi, a restaurant just a few doors away from his Fort Wadsworth home.

A week later, a fire shuttered Da Noi. For almost a year.

Although the restaurant did reopen, it would not surprise me if Don did not still have that certificate in his wallet  tattered, of course.

Memories of Monsignor Bergin begin back in the 90s when my sons were students at Monsignor Farrell and he was principal. Later, there were lunches at Basilos in South Beach with the monsignor and a few of his Farrell men, like DA Mike McMahon and attorney John OLeary.

And, of course, there were the Sunday Masses he offered at St. Anns in Dongan Hills.

I loved his homilies  although you often needed a road map to follow them. He was all over the place more often than not.

But my most vivid memory has less to do with the monsignor than it has to do with a luncheon he helped coordinate with Cardinal John OConnor, then New Yorks archbishop. Monsignor Bergin was just leaving Farrell when the cardinal appointed him vicar of education for all Archdiocesan schools.

The Advance Editorial Board was invited to the cardinals First Avenue residence for lunch. The fare was simple  tuna sandwiches, water and soft drinks.

The cardinal, always charming, was also brilliant. Why I decided to challenge the popes spokesperson in the United States on an article of Catholic faith still baffles me decades later.

The Catholic Church teaches that artificial birth control is a sin. Some say mortal, which is bad if youre a Catholic.

Yet the church is OK with natural birth control, which they call the Rhythm Method. Basically, a woman tracks her cycle to predict when she is most likely to conceive.

And then stays away from hubby on those days.

I told the cardinal I thought the church was being disingenuous. I learned in just about every Catholic theology course I took at LaSalle in Philadelphia that sin is based on intent.

As one LaSallian Christian brother put it, If I walk down the street intending to rob a bank, but when I get to the bank I see a dozen police officers cashing their checks because its payday, I keep walking, Ive still committed a sin.

Because my intent was to rob the bank.

Pretty simple, thought I then  and still do.

Cardinal OConnor spun me in circles. To this day, I cannot recall exactly how he explained  defended  the church position, except to say that artificial means made it easier for husbands to stray via extramarital affairs, and encourage men to see physical relations with women simply as enjoyment and not for the procreation of the human race.

Frankly, I think he was on to something with the procreation angle. Its always been my guess that Catholic Church elders banned the artificial means to keep those little baby Catholics coming to procreate the Catholic Church.

Go ahead, call me cynical.

Anyway, it was a fun exchange. On the way out the door, the cardinal put his arm around my shoulder and whispered, Thank you for the questions. We need to do it again.

We never did.

The year after he departed as principal, Monsignor Bergin returned to Farrell as a graduation speaker. The Oakwood high school is located at 2900 Amboy Road. Monsignor Bergin enjoyed telling the grads that when he sat at his new desk in the Manhattan Archdiocese office, he noted his telephone extension was 2900.

It was a sign, he said. His heart was always in Staten Island.

Brian

Oh by the way: So Columbia University canceled its main graduation ceremony. What a shame. A shame for the students who looked forward for the past four years to walk across a stage, celebrating their degrees, and especially a shame for the parents and grandparents who wanted to see their child experience probably the biggest accomplishment of their lives. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian protesters are demanding Jewish organizations like Hillel be disbanded at some colleges. I thought charges that anti-semitism is rampant in America were overblown. I was wrong.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The nearly 700,000 small businesses that call New York home are getting some extra love from the state.

In honor of National Small Business Month, Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced new programs to support the states small businesses, including a $6 million Innovation Matching Grants Program which will provide application support and technical assistance for entrepreneurs applying for federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grant programs.

Small businesses are part of the core of New York States communities, Hochul said. Through signature economic development programs, we are making sure small businesses in every corner of the state can compete, grow and thrive. We are building a modern 21st century economy and it could not be done without New Yorks small business community, which is the backbone of our economy.

The new program, administered by Empire State Development, will provide grants of up to $200,000 to local small business, with applications and guidelines now available online.

To support the nearly 100,000 businesses insured by the New York State Insurance Fund, the state has created a Small Business Support Team to assist new businesses with things like preparing audits, obtaining certificates of insurance, keeping accurate business records, managing claims and obtaining safety services.

New York State Insurance Fund policyholders will also have a new equal monthly billing option which will eliminate large deposits and allow businesses to spread their payments over the course of 12 months.

Were excited to celebrate National Small Business Month with programs and services that help drive growth and innovation for small businesses looking to thrive in New York. Under Governor Hochuls leadership we are continuing to make New York State the most small-business-friendly state in the nation, said Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight.

In addition to the new programs, Hochul announced that the state has reached its goal of shortening response times for Minority and Women-Owned Business Certifications to less than 90 days.

Under the Hochul administration, the state has provided more than $1 billion in support small businesses, including business recovery funding and seed funding during the coronavirus pandemic.

Small businesses not only drive our local economies but they are the heartbeats of our communities, offering unique services and providing vital employment opportunities. At the DOL, were committed to supporting these essential pillars of economic strength. From offering customized solutions that meet diverse business needs to facilitating access to funding and technical assistance, we empower small businesses to thrive and expand their potential, said New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon.
In theory, Bonza tried to deliver what all Australians crave. Cheap connectivity and choice so readily enjoyed by the bulk of the world in countries far smaller than ours. But there are reasons transport  by car, air, bus or train  tends to be more expensive in this country than its global peers. The countrys higher labour, fuel and maintenance costs mean the budget airline model is by far the most maligned, with Jetstar the only low-cost carrier that has been able to go the distance, thanks to the backing of its margin-fat parent airline Qantas, which controls 60 per cent of the market. A flying start When Tim Jordan started pitching his idea for a no-frills airline to service regional leisure travellers with an average ticket price of $100 in 2017, the Bonza founder and chief executive originally wanted to fly 72-seat, twin-engine turboprop planes twice a week and get about $50 in revenue per passenger. No local investors were interested. Miami-based private equity firm 777 Partners agreed to fund Bonza three years later after benefiting from its stake in a similar Canadian airline, Flair, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and secured long leases for six Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft. Everythings Bonza: The budget airlines first flight.

The Max-8 can sit up to 210 people, depending on the configuration, and is generally used for services between major domestic destinations such as the Golden Triangle of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in the case of Virgin Australia, or short-haul international routes. The aircraft type is in hot demand worldwide as Boeings order timeframes continue to blow out due to issues with its Max-9 and 10 models, and other manufacturing delays due to COVID-19. On the surface, it seemed Bonza was beating expectations despite cutting a number of routes. Many had anticipated it would fold within six months given its minuscule margins could not possibly keep up with the inflated cost of fuel that dominated much of last year. Despite, at times, patchy reliability, routes such as the Sunshine Coast to Newcastle were regularly packed full of eager tourists ready to boost local tourism revenue. Beginning of the end But below the jocular press releases and grateful regional communities were signs the airline was beginning to come unstuck. Jordan initially said Bonza would need at least 10 aircraft to break even, but battled fleet issues from the beginning as 777 Partners redirected one of its Max-8s to Flair soon after launching.

Happier times: Bonza chief Tim Jordan. It also ran into trouble at the end of last year after attempting to borrow a second aircraft from Flair. A lack of regulatory approval forced the plane to then sit idle at Sunshine Coast Airport for months, disrupting the travel plans of thousands. In April, Bonza stopped paying its aircraft leases. Two weeks later, it all came crashing down. Jordan said Bonza and 777 Partners were blindsided when it was forced to ground the airline following AIP Capitals attempt to seize its fleet. But there were signs of trouble months earlier. Behind the scenes

Disclosures to the corporate regulator from Hall Chadwick reveal the administrator held meetings with 777 Partners former head of airline partnerships Manish Raniga, who sought advice on the state of Bonza at least nine times between November 2023 and April. The Australian Financial Review obtained an email sent in March that revealed 777 Partners, its financier A-Cap and Bonza chief financial officer Lidia Valenzuela knew there was a plan emerging to shut down Bonzas operations. Well need to revisit in one week to keep them calm, but this should help. We are moving full speed ahead to get the planes out of there ASAP and wind this up, the email detailing Bonzas debts from AIPs Jared Ailstock to AIP executives Kenneth King and Carson McGuffin on March 22 reads. This email was then forwarded by 777 Partnerss Kevin Burgos to Valenzuela in an attempt to reassure her the aircraft leases had been paid on March 27. Instead, it sent the carriers executives into turmoil.
We all knew that the cat would soon be out of the bag on the next chapter in the career of former Victorian premier Dan Andrews. After all, the bloke couldnt spend the rest of his life playing golf, partying with rich lister Lindsay Fox and triggering media personality Steve Price.

So today we can reveal that Andrews has teamed up with WA mining billionaire Andrew Twiggy Forrest and his iron-ore giant Fortescue to help make Twiggys dream  of selling 100 million tonnes of green iron to China  come true.

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Its not clear exactly how this thing came to pass, but sources close to the action tell us that Andrews, who is taking on the Fortescue work through his consultancy Forty Eight and Partners, gave a presentation at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan Province in March.

Forrest, a major sponsor of the event, was also present and the two men appear to have clicked.
China launched the first direct passenger air route to Mexico on Saturday.





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Dark Matter 

Apple TV+

Joel Edgertons defining quality as an actor is his watchfulness. His characters are attuned to the world around them, and even at his most stoic or menacing you can feel the men he plays sifting through their reactions. Its artistry on the level of emotional sinew, and it shines through to outstanding effect in this deft science-fiction series. The Australian actors role  or more accurately, roles  in Dark Matter feels custom-made for him. The result is engrossing, then exciting, then nightmarish.

Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly in Dark Matter. Credit: Sandy Morris/AppleTV+

Edgerton plays Jason Dessen, an introverted Chicago physics professor who lives with his gallerist wife, Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), and teenage son, Charlie (Oakes Fegley). Im doing this for us, promises Jasons doppelganger, who suddenly kidnaps him and places him in the parallel world Jason2 is from. There Jason finds that hes considered a brilliant scientist, but single because he chose his work over Daniela. Jason2 covets his family, and Jason doesnt know how to get back to them.

In superhero movies, multiverse plots robbed the story of stakes that mattered, but in this brain-bending expansion of Sliding Doors the danger never dissipates. In adapting his 2016 novel, writer Blake Crouch captures intimate details. At first, its procedural: Jason2 is an imposter in his own home, while nobody will believe Jason. Steadily, however, the deeper ramifications emerge. Jason goes on the run with Jason2s abandoned girlfriend, Amanda (Alica Braga), while Daniela starts to suspect something is not right with her husband.
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FoodMasterChef Recap A piping hot portion of salmonella sends another MasterChef contestant packing Its masks on for the blind cube taste test, followed by an elimination that pushes things to the pink chicken brink. Ben Pobjie May 12, 2024 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

This recap appears in the MasterChef 2024 recap collection. See all stories .

With Lourdess nifty way with a barbecue having rendered her immune to elimination, she gets to stand above and gloat at the peons below, fighting desperately to keep the flickering foodie flame alive. The black-aproned amateurs enter the kitchen to find an array of one-inch cubes, such as you might see in a dystopian sci-fi film depicting a world in which the digestive process has been rendered much more efficient. There are 100 cubes, and the cooks must taste them blindfolded, which is sort of dystopian in itself. The first six to incorrectly identify a cube will go into the second-round elimination cook. Its the old cube taste test. Network Ten The tension is high as blindfolds are applied, final words are drafted, amateurs are asked whether theyd like a cigarette etc. Lily begins by correctly identifying a cube of banana. Sumeet follows by saying potato when its actually pumpkin and honestly thats a bit embarrassing, right? A string of amateurs easily guess their cubes, until Stephen steps up and says potato when its actually beetroot. How easily these people forget the first rule of MasterChef: never say potato. The challenge has now lasted more than three days, and the amateurs have still had nothing but cubes to eat.

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The next failure is Mimi, who guesses flour when the answer is oat, which seems a bit unfair. I mean, oat? Seriously? OAT? Supposed to be MasterChef, not MasterHorse. We come back to the beginning and things start to get harder. Alex doesnt know what grain shes chewing on. She thinks for several hours about it. Finally, after a series of threats, she agrees to say something. She says rice. Shes right. Well never get that time back. The great wheel of cubes turns on, until Juan says grapefruit when he shouldve said lemon, oh my god can you imagine? Straight away, American Josh joins him when he misidentifies tasty cheese as

parmesan  bit harsh, as he did at least guess that it was cheese. Cubes of food. Network Ten The cubes get harder  I mean, more difficult  and the skills on display are impressive. David identifies tuna sashimi by listening to it. The challenge has now lasted more than three days, and the amateurs have still had nothing but cubes to eat. Finally, everyones pain is ended when Lily bites eggplant and says cucumber and becomes the sixth entrant to elimination. And so, with everyone physically and emotionally drained, the elimination cook begins. All six begin on an equal footing, even though four of them are there for failing a difficult challenge while Sumeet and Stephen are there for uncontrollably blurting out potato all over the place.

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The elimination cook requires the failures to make a dish using only the ingredients that were featured in the taste test  although they dont have to cook them in cube form. The amateurs begin to despair at being forced to cook with only 100 ingredients to choose from.



Juan has decided to try to enjoy himself, which is always a mistake. He retains a cheerful countenance even when people on the balcony begin shouting puns on his name  if I were him Id have killed over these by now. Sumeet reveals that she loves the colour of a beetroot pumpkin soup, which is good because the taste is god-awful. Meanwhile, American Josh angrily cuts a lobster in half, abandoning his culinary dreams in favour of the emotional release of animal cruelty. Whats so funny?, thinks Andy. Network Ten Elsewhere, Stephen is preparing Stevos take on ravioli, the surprise twist being that uses beetroot instead of pasta in order to maximise its disgustingness. He explains his plan to Poh and Andy, who seek counselling for the trauma this causes. Get a back-up plan, Andy advises Stephen, who enrols in an accounting course at TAFE just in case. As the cooks sweat, Jean-Christophe and Sofia feed each other cubes and guess what they are. Sofia puckishly grabs a crayfish and puts it in Jean-Christophes hands, which in some cultures means they are now married. Mimi is putting pork belly in porridge, proving that sanity has officially abandoned the MasterChef kitchen. I love your attitude, says Poh, which isnt what she said when she heard about Stevos ravioli. Is beetroot ravioli inherently more inadvisable than pork porridge? Both of them sound like nauseating euphemisms, so it feels like favouritism.

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Meanwhile, Lily has no idea whether her chicken is cooked or not, but at least if she doesnt make a good dish she will kill someone with it. Andy tells her she needs to kick it up a notch. She puts cream cheese in her mushroom sauce. It ruins the sauce. Andy chuckles darkly, his sinister plan coming to fruition. He gets to work on Phase Two, visiting Stephen to further undermine his confidence. With time always up, Sumeet has an idea, terrifyingly enough. She decides to paint her plate, as if she doesnt have enough to do. But paint was not one of the cubes in the taste test, so she has to paint it with soup. In other words, she puts food on a plate. Amazing creativity. Meanwhile, Lily claims her mushroom sauce is delicious, and her chicken is 74, which seems a bit old, but you work with what youve got. Tasting time arrives. The judges gird their loins. Stephens face is grim as he realises what hes done and is crushed by guilt. Mimi serves first. Her pork porridge is good despite the obvious. Its like a hug, says Andy, who grew up with some extremely moist, meaty hugs. Lily serves her chicken Maryland, which may not be cooked properly. Its right on the border, says Andy, which makes it chicken Delaware, a much less satisfying dish. The chicken is undercooked and the leek is raw, which means big trouble for Lily: if only shed called it chicken tartare shed have got away with it.

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Sumeet serves beetroot and pumpkin soup with butter-fried prawns and the judges like it for reasons unknown. American Josh serves prawn and lobster bisque. As a nasty surprise, he has a leek in his soup, but the judges overlook this faux pas and award him top marks. Juan slings his asado Argentino, which is meat and potatoes in strange and exciting shapes. Poh reveals his secret past as a pop star. I cannot wait to google you, says Sofia: another euphemism. Anyway, the food is not very good. I wish there was coriander, says Andy, the first person in history to ever say this sentence. Stephen serves his beetroot ravioli, which looks dreadful but in a twist that would be surprising if it didnt happen every single episode, is wonderful. It is the second dish in this elimination that will now be used in the propaganda campaign to convince the public that beetroot is edible.

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Its bye bye Lily. Network Ten There is no surprise in the final judging, as Lily is deemed to have erred in plating up a piping hot portion of salmonella, and thus must go home. Sometimes playing it safe is playing with fire, says Sofia, though ironically, if Lily had played with fire her chicken mightve been cooked. Im not sad, sobs Lily miserably, and then goes home to ponder the ineffable connection between heat and nutrition. Tune in Wednesday night, when someone will probably make something out of beetroot again. Catch up on Ben Pobjies previousMasterChefrecaps here. Collection MasterChef 2024: The Ben Pobjie episode recaps
Big business is moving to head off any law changes that override existing deals for tolls on Sydneys motorways, arguing it will knock large investors trust in the NSW government and risk undermining future infrastructure projects.

A review led by former competition watchdog chairman Allan Fels has urged the government to pass legislation to create network-wide tolls to replace a patchwork of charges for motorways set under individual contracts with Transurban and other investors over decades.

The nations peak business group has told Fels that it is deeply concerned about the proposal to use legislation to override existing toll road agreements.

Eleven of Sydneys 13 toll roads are controlled by Transurban. Credit: Anna Kucera

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said companies had entered into contracts with government in good faith and changing legislation to now override them unilaterally presents a tangible case of sovereign risk.
I am so shocked. I want to vomit. I cannot believe we were this stupid, read the message to Jon Waldron on December 17, 2014.

Seven days later, on Christmas Eve, 2014, Waldron and the manager who sent that message were dismissed from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia after internal investigators discovered mystery payments into Waldrons CBA account.

Former Commowealth Bank manager Jon Waldron was found guilty of taking bribes from a US-based technology company. Credit: Cole Bennetts

The New Zealand-born Waldron, former general manager of IT infrastructure engineering at the bank, was found guilty last week by a NSW District Court judge of taking bribes, or seven counts of corruptly receiving money as a reward for facilitating business opportunities with the bank.

He was also found guilty of three counts of aiding and abetting a co-accused to receive bribes.
In November 2022, three months after the video was first broadcast, Shanks house was firebombed. An Alameddine foot soldier has since been charged over the arson attack.

Jordan Shanks, who publishes FriendlyJordies, addresses media about the fire at his Bondi home. Credit: OnScene Bondi, Sally Rawsthorne

Over a week in January, the ABC reporter repeatedly told Langker that hed been communicating with very serious gang figures who were threatening that something bad is going to happen if a FriendlyJordies video, which featured associates of the notorious Alameddine crime family, wasnt deleted from YouTube, Langker told police.

I am scared because I am being threatened. These people have serious reputations and I know they have the capacity to carry out these threats, Langker said in his police statement.

On January 19, Langker made a statement to the NSW Polices Organised Crime Squad, expressing fears for his and Shanks safety after a series of calls and texts from the Four Corners reporter.

These people kill people, Mahmood Fazal, 33, a former outlaw bikie gang member turned Four Corners reporter, is alleged to have told Kristo Langker, a producer and researcher who works with popular YouTube figure Jordan Shanks, known online as FriendlyJordies.

An award-winning ABC reporter passed on menacing messages from an organised crime gang to journalists, one of whom became so fearful he reported the matter to police.

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Following his departure from the Mongols in 2016, Fazal has parlayed his unique experiences into a successful media career.

Fazal, who has described one of his former roles as being an underworld postman, is no stranger to violence and crime, having previously been the sergeant-at-arms of outlaw bikie gang the Mongols, which has been designated an organised crime group by the Australian Federal Police due to its history of murder, money laundering, extortion and ongoing involvement in the drug trade.

Fazal claimed he was only acting as a messenger because he too was being threatened. Ive received direct face-to-face threats from very scary people, Fazal is alleged to have told Langker.

What the crime gang was demanding, Langker told police, was the removal of the video.

In his police statement, Langker said the ABC reporter revealed hed been summoned to a meeting in January with his underworld contacts. I had a guy who just got out of prison for attempted murder, basically tell me what I need to do, Fazal allegedly told Langker.

Apart from 20 tit-for-tat murders, the Alameddine and rival Hamzy (also known as Hamze) clans have engaged in kidnapping, arson and torture as they battle for control of Sydneys lucrative drug trade.

Ive been around the biggest gangsters in Australia, Huncho said in Fazals story.

The article was written by Fazal about his rapper friend, Huncho, whose real name is Ali Younes.

In his police statement, Langker explained that the Alameddine crews alleged displeasure about the FriendlyJordies video was because it featured photos of themselves taken for an August 2021 Rolling Stone article titled Australias Most Dangerous Rapper.

One of the relationships Fazal forged was with rapper Ay Huncho, 27, a member of the Alameddine crime family.

Reporting on a cocaine cartel for Four Corners last year , Fazal explained on camera that underworld figures would normally never speak to the media but before I was a journalist I was involved in the criminal world  it allows me to forge relationships with people who are also involved in that world.

In September 2022, Four Corners ran The Postcode Wars , a program featuring teenagers in rival street gangs who were being groomed as footsoldiers for organised crime.

Regarded by police as the second-in-command of the Alameddine crime clan, Zakaria is currently facing charges of conspiracy to murder a member of the Hamze clan, supply of a prohibited drug and directing a crime group. Last week, Zakaria was charged with two additional murders.

Until his recent extradition from Turkey, Zakaria was on the nations most wanted list.

Fazal also wrote that joining Huncho in the cold crosswinds of a thug life, was the rappers best friend Masood Zakaria, a member of Australias most violent street gang, Brothers 4 Life.

Ay Huncho, also known as Ali Younes, from the Four Corners episode The Postcode Wars.

Talal, jailed for supplying the revolver used to kill NSW police accountant Curtis Cheng, was recently described as NSWs most powerful prisoner. Older brother Rafat, understood to be in Lebanon, is alleged to be the clans kingpin.

Make it very clear that the Alameddine organised crime network does not exist. Its a police-made thing, instructed the handler.

Having secured the interview, Fazal watched as Tobin interviewed the rapper. Its understood that Huncho was not happy with Tobins decision to include footage of a senior member of the Alameddine crime family, who was directing the rappers answers off-camera.

But Huncho was not pleased with the final story, which featured a tense interview between the rapper and reporter Grace Tobin. The ABC flipped the script on me hard and made him look bad, Huncho complained on social media.

Mahmood Fazal (left) alongside a man whose identity the ABC blurred. Law enforcement sources identified the man as Mohammed Salim Noorzai. They are watching as Grace Tobin (seated) interviews Ay Huncho.

Fazal explained that Huncho didnt trust the mainstream media because of the way his family, the Alameddines, had been represented in the news.

On camera, Fazal said a lot of his rapport with the rapper was due to Fazals own background. I was mixed in with the streets when I was young.

Fazal had facilitated the participation of his friend Huncho in the story.

Yep, Huncho replied, before turning back to the camera. Theres no criminal network. Thats something that the police and the media have made up. Theres no such thing.

But in his Rolling Stone article, Fazal wrote: This year, the rapper has made headlines as a member of Sydneys most notorious crime family; the Alameddines.

Asked by Fazal how his family had ascended the ranks of the underworld, Huncho replied: Ill say it with my whole chest, its because weve never let any outsiders in and weve stuck to a mad code of loyalty.

The identity of Hunchos handler on Four Corners was not revealed, but law enforcement sources claim it was Mohammed Salim Noorzai, 29, who survived an assassination attempt outside a Prospect gym in November 2021.

Because of the escalating violence between the Alameddine and Hamzy networks, in December 2020 the commissioner of police took court action to ban Noorzai, Huncho, Zakaria and others from having any contact with Hunchos cousin, alleged kingpin Rafat Alameddine.

Noorzai, Zakaria and Huncho all featured in the photo shoot for Fazals Rolling Stone story. The same photos were used in the FriendlyJordies video.

When Fazals feature on the rapper came out in 2021, Fazal posted a reel on Instagram showing his friend Huncho waving Fazals cover story in front of an armed police officer from the Raptor Squad, which targets organised crime, particularly among outlaw motorcycle gangs.

my bro @ayhuncho making sure my @rollingstone feature is read by those that need to read it. #raptorsquad #nswpolice, posted Fazal, accompanied by a rolling-on- the- floor laughing emoji.

In March, Huncho was arrested by the Raptor Squad. He is facing serious kidnap charges, which can attract a 25-year jail term.

Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor said of Hunchos recent arrest: That person has always been very closely aligned with individuals that we have been investigating in the Alameddine syndicate for time immemorial.

Langker purchased the Rolling Stone photos from a freelance photographer for use in the FriendlyJordies video, Coronation, which was broadcast in August 2022. Three months later, Shanks Bondi house was firebombed.

Fire investigators at the scene of the fire at Jordan Shanks-Markovinas home in Bondi in 2022. Credit: Steven Siewert

An Alameddine associate was arrested at the end of last year, but Langker told police that the threats over the video only increased after the arrest.

Jordan has already been firebombed, what more could it take to take the video down, Fazal is alleged to have told Langker, 24, the writer and producer of the video, in a phone call on January 11.

In a heated eight-minute call on January 17, Langker told Fazal: Youre a Four Corners journalist. Youve got to decide what you are. Youre not one of them.

From biker gangs to prison

Fazal has been open about his controversial past as a high-ranking member of the Mongols.

I naturally acclimatised to the violence and honoured the criminal code, where your word is everything, Fazal told The Walkley Magazine in 2018 of his time in the outlaw gang.

Fazal reassessed gang life after several friends were murdered because of what he described as the brutal treachery of gang politics.

I buried my best friend. He was shot in the face, he told the Australian True Crime podcast in June 2019. The string of violent killings, and the fact he had more friends in prison than on the outside, led Fazal to step away from the life of a gangster, he told the podcast.

These days my skin is inked with the names of murdered friends, a portrait of Gaddafi, dates of imprisonment, and a 1%er diamond, Fazal wrote in Vice magazine in 2017.

A photo from Mahmood Fazals Instagram feed.

The one percenter is a reference to 99 per cent of motorcyclists being law-abiding citizens, implying that one percenters operate outside the law. Fazal wrote that his tattoos form a visual portrait of ideas and events that transfigured me.

In winning the 2020 Walkley Award for Media Diversity for his podcast, No Gangsters In Paradise, Fazal talked of his journey from biker gangs to prison to now having a mission to amplify the voices of those marginalised by society.

Tapping into his underworld contacts, in May 2023, Fazal fronted a Four Corners investigation into an Australian cocaine cartel. In August, he was given a permanent position as an investigative reporter on the ABCs flagship current affairs program. Fazal recently delved into the highly secretive, illicit world of the methamphetamine trade.

Its not worth it

Late in the afternoon of January 11, Langker, accompanied by his lawyer Mark Davis, also a former journalist, met Fazal at Bambini Trust, a coffee shop outside Davis law firm in Elizabeth Street, in Sydneys CBD. Fazal again agitated for the removal of the video because of the danger it posed to all of them, including himself.

Langker and Davis wanted to go to the authorities. Mahmood didnt want to involve the police, said Langker in his police statement.

On January 16, Fazal texted Langker, saying that refusing to take the video down after the firebombing wasnt some kind of weird battle. Shanks already has lost, texted Fazal, and these people tried to kill him and now theyre threatening others, its not worth it.

Langker replied in a text, Mahmood this is sounding increasingly sinister. Im starting to take your messages as threats and Im considering going to the police. Three days later, Langker did so.

Speaking to the police has long been an anathema to the former gang member. We dont talk to police, thats part of the code, Fazal told the podcast The Felon Show in 2021.

In response to questions from the Herald, NSW Police said that the investigation into the threats reported by Langker has stalled due to the reluctance of Fazal to provide a statement. As such this impacted any further investigative avenues, said the police in a written response.

Neither the ABC nor Fazal would say it was in his capacity as an ABC reporter that led him to attend meetings and take calls with associates of the Alameddine crime family in January or whether he notified his bosses or the police that serious threats were being made against journalists from other organisations as well as against himself.

NSW Police said neither Fazal nor the ABC had reported any threats. The police added that they are satisfied that currently there is no risk to Fazal's safety.

In response to detailed questions, an ABC spokesperson said, Mahmood Fazal does extremely challenging, impactful and important public interest journalism for the ABC and the ABC stands by his reporting. For obvious reasons, the ABC wont comment on security threats to our employees, measures we take for their safety or any dealings we may have with police.

Fazal declined to answer specific questions. Instead, he demanded his lengthy statement, in which he denied any unlawful conduct and complained of ethnic stereotyping, be published in full or not at all.

The connections you seek to draw between myself and events are serious and which I find profoundly offensive, Fazal said. I am troubled that you appear to have relied on the ethnic background of the people to whom you refer in order to imply unlawful conduct on my part. This very much appears to be a case of attempting to stereotype me.

If you are in possession of any credible information that suggests I have engaged in any unlawful conduct (which I have not), I suggest you provide that information to the police so they can deal with it properly rather than publishing untested allegations in the paper.

With Fazal declining to assist police over the FriendlyJordies threats, the investigation went nowhere and, on February 1, Shanks took down the YouTube video.

You win. Were taking down the video, said Shanks without naming any person or group in his statement. Congratulations. You run this city.

He also said that it was now a year after his house was firebombed, yet these figures are once again venting, threatening dire consequences if the video isnt taken down.

Shanks said he couldnt live with the prospect of the death of innocent people hanging over his conscience.

The YouTuber also had a subtle dig at Fazal: The real shame in all of this, of course, is that it would have made a great story for self-proclaimed home of investigative journalism Four Corners, that touts that it exists to serve the public interest.

The FriendlyJordies video Coronation related to former NSW deputy premier John Barilaros post-politics job as executive director of Sydney property development company Coronation. Barilaro has featured extensively in Shanks videos.

The former NSW Nationals leader successfully sued Google, which owns YouTube, over two videos Shanks published in 2020 wrongly accusing Barilaro of corruption. In October 2021, Shanks settled with Barilaro, paying $100,000 in costs.

Andy Nahas, 35, is Coronations builder and former company secretary. Coronation, which is run by Nahas older brother Joe, is a major property player with over $5.3 billion in mixed-use projects in the pipeline.

Unwelcome headaches

Photographs of Andy Nahas on a night out with Huncho and his Alameddine associates, which featured in Fazals Rolling Stone story, caused headaches for the builder.

Far left is Stephen Bou-Abbse, second left is Joseph Vokai. Rapper Ay Huncho (real name Ali Younes) is fifth from left, holding a bag. The tall man in the white T-shirt behind him is Masood Zakaria. Immediately to the right of Ay Huncho is John Ray Bayssari, who has his arm around Andy Nahas. Credit: Rolling Stone

In December 2021, Rolling Stone received a demand from Andy Nahas lawyers requesting that the image of Nahas be removed as a matter of urgency as the inclusion of the photograph suggested Nahas was associated with criminal activity.

In one of the photos, standing next to Huncho and with his arm around Andy Nahas, is John Ray Bayssari.

Last week arrest warrants were issued for Bayssari, 33, and Rafat Alameddine, 30, over one of the worst organised crime assassinations weve seen in Australia, according to Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald. He said the pair, who are overseas, are alleged to have been behind the callous murders of father and son, Toufik and Salim Hamze.

Rapper Ay Huncho, real name Ali Younes (left), with Andy Nahas. Credit: Rolling Stone

On Wednesday, police also charged Zakaria with the same murders, which occurred in Guildford in 2021.

The magazine complied, but the photos were tabled in NSW Parliament less than a fortnight after they were published in August 2022 by the Herald and appeared in the Coronation video.

That photograph that Ive provided to you comes from a story that appeared in Rolling Stone magazine about a rapper, Mr Younes [Huncho]. It shows Mr Andy Nahas, who was the secretary of Coronation Property, with a number of other people, said Labors Adam Searle on August 31, 2022.

The photo was shown to NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb and her deputy Dave Hudson, who were appearing at a budget estimates hearing. Hudson quipped that many in the photo were known to him due to their alignment with the Alameddine family.

Asked if he was concerned about any connection between Coronation and these people? Hudson replied, I am concerned about any people or any organisation that that particular group is associated with.

Searle also noted that Barilaro had lobbied planning officials on Andy Nahas behalf during his brief employment with Coronation.

The Herald is not suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of Barilaro or Andy or Joe Nahas.

Joe Nahas has previously told the Herald: I doubt any Lebanese person in Merrylands doesnt know, or know of, at least one Alameddine. Living in close proximity, of course we have had social interaction with members of the Alameddine family. Nevertheless, we do not have any association with them.

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The draft law will be put to federal parliament this week and will allow Education Minister Jason Clare to set the overseas student intake for every university, an extraordinary power that ends decades of uncapped growth. Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil will join Clare at a meeting on Monday morning with the Council for International Education, along with Skills Minister Brendan OConnor and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Education Minister Jason Clare. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Council convenor Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, said the federal intervention carried a major risk of policy overreach. Every week were seeing a new policy announcement in this beleaguered $48 billion industry, he said on Sunday.

Loading The sector is crying out for greater transparency and certainty to stop the global messaging that Australia does not want international students. Inside the government, however, there are strong concerns that universities have enjoyed surging revenue from overseas students without any responsibility for the broader impact on migration and population. The government believes the changes will make sure the system serves the national interest rather than being driven by the financial interest of the universities. The total overseas student population in Australia was 634,000 in September 2019. That slumped to 318,000 in the depths of the pandemic two years later, government figures show, but it has rebounded strongly, and it has also fuelled community concerns about housing shortages and urban congestion.

The total stock grew from 583,000 in March last year to 671,000 in March this year, a growth rate of 15 per cent. Some in the government believe the growth should be reduced to 5 per cent per year, subject to consultation with the university chiefs and others across the sector. Slower growth in the total student population allows the government to reduce annual migration because the rate of the inflow, rather than the total stock, is crucial to net overseas migration. University chiefs have pushed back at the Labor agenda by pointing to National Australia Bank estimates that spending by international students made up 0.8 percentage points of the 1.5 per cent increase in gross domestic product last year. Our member universities either provide or facilitate access to accommodation that caters for over 83,000 students and we have a substantial forward plan of additional supply across the next decade, said Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson.

The framework consultation process will be extremely important as we seek to get the right balance of outcomes for the nation and our international students. Loading The government released a draft framework on Saturday to start consultations with the sector, after announcing the plan at 9am that morning. Universities Australia chief Luke Sheehy emphasised the need for input into the final plan, saying the sector looked forward to working with the government to co-design the policy settings. The draft framework says: The overwhelming majority of onshore international students study in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (approximately 70 per cent of 2023 enrolments). There is work to be done to alleviate current pressures on accommodation, transport and other infrastructure.

It also says enrolments did not reflect Australian skill shortages because 35 per cent of international students were in business studies and management and only 8.7 per cent were in health and education. More can be done to encourage study in areas of persistent and critical skills shortage such as in teaching and nursing, it says. The student cap is central to the broader migration agenda after the government claimed early success in cutting offshore student visa grants to 14,000 in April, in line with the rate before the pandemic and sharply down from 22,000 in the same month last year. The budget will forecast a cut to net overseas migration from 528,000 last year to 395,000 this year and 260,000 next year, in an ambitious plan to halve the intake. The goal beyond those years is to return the intake to around 235,000 each year, in line with the trend before the pandemic.
The issues range from employers failing to provide safe jobs for women experiencing difficult pregnancies, a lack of breastfeeding facilities at workplaces, women returning from leave to find their role has been made redundant, to being treated differently and overlooked for promotions.

Concerningly, agencies which monitor the incidence of pregnancy discrimination have found not only that it is still occurring but that its incidence appears to be increasing.

This is despite broad protections at both federal and state levels which have been in existence for decades. The Sex Discrimination Act, for example, was established in 1984, while The Fair Work Act was legislated in 2009.

It beggars belief that in 2024 women are still experiencing discrimination in the workplace in relation to pregnancy, breastfeeding or parental leave.

A study conducted by employment rights legal centre JobWatch reveals how widespread the problem remains. Some 50 per cent of respondents experienced dismissal or the threat of dismissal or redundancy following the announcement of pregnancy, while 45 per cent of respondents said they experienced detrimental changes to their terms and conditions.

In some cases, as we report today, employers directly told their 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 before making them redundant  while hiring their maternity cover into a permanent role.

These are the types of employer behaviours you would associate with a bygone era where the numbers of women in the workforce were so few and the institutional sexism in workplaces was so great that the idea that women could work as effectively during and after pregnancy as they did before was so mystifying it could not be countenanced.

There is inarguably no place for these types of antiquated reactions to pregnancy and parental leave, given more than 50 per cent of Australian workers have children and in Sydney, there is a particularly high percentage of dual-earner parent couples. In short, working families are the norm, not an anomaly.

Aside from the fundamental point that any kind of discrimination is inappropriate, there is a genuine economic imperative to ensure the participation of working parents is not compromised. A federal government womens economic equality taskforce last year found barriers to women fully participating in the workforce are costing the Australian economy $128 billion.
Once, when the couple and the womans other children were in the car, Matt punched through a window. I broke the window, and there were two cuts to her face from the glass, says Matt. His former partner was extremely distressed and bleeding as a result. In jail, everyone just blames everyone else. Youve got to own up to your own things, he says. Now, Matt, 35, works night shifts as a team leader at a manufacturing company to enable him to be there before and after his daughter is at school. Im less angry because I did work on a lot of things ... Youve got to actually want that. Matt, a former user of violence, turned his life around through working with a mens service Now, life is great, he says. Im living with my daughter and Im speaking to my ex-partner, and my daughter goes there every second weekend. It has fixed a lot of things in my life, and it has brought back my family  who disowned me when I was using [substances]. Im less angry because I did work on a lot of things  not just breeze through [mens behaviour change programs] for the certificate. Youve got to actually want that.

Matts situation has been verified by Meli  the organisation whose not-for-profit services supported him  in Geelong. Loading Meli has partnered with long-time family-violence response agency McAuley Community Services for Women to design a program they believe could get more men to the level of change Matt showed a judge he had achieved, and keep more women and children safe in their own homes, rather than to risk homelessness. Under the proposed Safe at Home program, a mens worker would counsel the person using violence during a cooling-off period spent in a motel. Risk assessment and safety planning would be done for the woman and children and, these permitting, the woman would remain in the home with help from a worker. Support of both would be co-ordinated. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows that in 2021, more than 32,000 women and almost 12,000 children who fled family violence and entered crisis shelters were then faced with insecure housing. McAuley wants to try to reduce the flow of families into that scenario.

Jocelyn Bignold, McAuleys long-time chief executive, says perpetrators are not all the same. To keep families out of housing insecurity, she says it is worth better supporting suitable men with accommodation and psychological help as a form of early intervention. We need to support perpetrators, not just lock them up and throw away the key; to ask, What will it take for you to stop using violence? Bignold says. What were doing is almost forcing women into homelessness now. We need to support perpetrators, not just lock them up and throw away the key; to ask, What will it take for you to stop using violence? Jocelyn Bignold, chief executive, McAuley Community Services for Women Yes, we need generational change [in attitudes to women] but currently weve got primary prevention, and response, and not enough early intervention capacity ... we need to look at what works, for whom, and under what circumstances. Under the proposed Safe at Home program, men such as Matt would be offered earlier support to help understand the gravity and potential ways out of their use of violence.

The program was developed with Meli, in consultation both with victim-survivors and men who have used violence. Victoria Police, which was also consulted, would hold the perpetrator to account if hes choosing not to be personally responsible. Loading The program pilot requires $2 million annually for three years, and Victorian philanthropists are considering supporting it. McAuley has also asked the state government to contribute. Victorias Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, Vicki Ward, said she was interested in reading an evaluation of the McAuley proposal by Australias National Research Organisation for Womens Safety. The evaluation is due in July. Ward said the government had funded two other trial programs, offering men who have used family violence counselling and accommodation therapeutic interventions to understand their behaviour and [strive to] be better.

One of the challenges, particularly working with male behaviour, is to try to get a research understanding of what success looks like, and start to focus on those programs we know work, she said. Ward said the government would have more to say soon on funding for womens safety. Family violence researcher Professor Cathy Humphreys, of the University of Melbourne, says while the proposal is not suitable for every woman experiencing violence, it could provide an important alternative for some women and help some men reform their behaviour. Humphreys is researching how to keep women safe in the home, and says womens safety is not necessarily ensured without support for the men. What this project is finding is if the person using violence has to leave the home, then providing them with some support and options means they are not coming back to harass as much, she says.
Stephen boasts extensive connections at that level and enjoys an outstanding reputation. He has adeptly navigated the political landscape, and with his background, he is poised to excel. In August 2023, Rue said he was still energised in his role at NBN Co, arguably one of the public sectors most demanding  and highly remunerated  jobs. Rue was Australias best-paid public servant, earning a salary of more than $3 million, some five times more than Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Optus does not publish its salary data, but it is assumed that Rues pay packet will take a significant haircut when he joins Optus. Telecommunications analysts estimate the CEO role pays about $2 million in addition to any performance bonuses. As an immigrant to Australia over 30 years ago, its been a real privilege to work for an organisation thats providing so much benefit to Australia, the Irish-born Rue said last August. I started here in 2014, and I was very much part of the team that built out a plan for how were going to build a network by 2020. Theres a lot more to be done. It remains an exciting job, and its a privileged job. Theres almost no better time to be in this industry, and I often say to our people that the best years are ahead of us, and I still think thats the case for NBN.

So what changed? A routine software upgrade gone wrong on November 8 roiled not only Optus but the entire telecommunications sector, and it is still doing so six months later. The resulting 13-hour outage, which crippled hospitals, banks, EFTPOS payment systems and calls to emergency services, trashed Optus reputation and cost the jobs of then-CEO Bayer Rosmarin, head of networks Lambo Kanagaratnam and others. Optus also paid a $1.5 million fine after Australias media watchdog said the telco had committed a large-scale public safety breach. Former Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin being grilled in the Senate in November 2023. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen In Rue, a former News Corp executive, Optus has landed a steady hand. That represents somewhat the antithesis of former boss Bayer Rosmarin, who was quick to get flustered and lash out if she thought she wasnt being treated fairly. In Rue, Optus has also landed someone unafraid to slash jobs or embark on a restructure.

Under his leadership, NBN has cut 500 positions on average each year since 2020. At his core, hes a numbers man, a bean counter, said a rival telco executive who was not authorised to speak publicly. Hes a realist when it comes to the financial side of the business, so if Optus was to go through a restructure, hed be a good, pragmatic person to lead that. If tough decisions need to be made, hell make them. Those tough decisions may be necessary if parent company Singtel forges ahead with plans to sell Optus. Singtel has said it would explore all options to maximise shareholder value for Optus, amid discussions with Canadian private equity giant Brookfield to offload a 20 per cent stake in the business. Those talks are believed to be on hold.

Optus declined to comment. Telecommunications expert Paul Budde. Credit: Singtel bought Optus in 2001, whose current valuation is estimated to sit between $16 billion and $18 billion. Optus is certainly not the golden child if you look at its earnings performance compared with other Singtel business units, the unnamed rival telco executive said. Analyst Paul Budde agreed, saying Rues appointment could facilitate Singtels desire to sell Optus by priming the company for a sale.

A prevalent issue facing all telcos is the decline in their share prices as the market increasingly perceives them as utilities rather than tech companies, he said. Stephens experience in running the NBN as a utility positions him well to bring his expertise to Optus. Rues experience with sport  he has chaired the Melbourne Storm rugby league team, helping to resurrect the club  will also bode well for Optus aspiration to be a serious player in the bruising and lucrative world of sporting rights. For Rue, the Optus gig in some sense represents his first true crack at a CEO job in which he was the first choice. Loading Rue was second choice to lead NBN Co, after senior government ministers blocked the appointment of J.B. Rousselot, who was the boards preferred candidate.

Rousselot co-owned a 1923-built boat with Malcolm Turnbull and was close friends with the former prime minister, leading to perceptions of jobs for mates and effectively ending Rousselots chances for the role. Rousselot now leads New Zealand telco Chorus. And what next for Gladys Berejiklian? The former NSW premier was widely tipped to be an internal frontrunner for Optus CEO, alongside its managing director of customer solutions, Matt Williams. Berejiklian didnt put her hand up for the role, according to sources inside Optus, and was not a part of the CEO selection process. She may never have stood a chance, having been found corrupt by the NSW ICAC last year, a ruling that is still under appeal.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is a top Optus executive. Credit: Oscar Colman Those inside Optus insist it is business as usual for now for Berejiklian, and that she will continue in her role under the new leadership. The rival telco executive, however, suggested Berejiklian had failed to impress while leading Optus enterprise division, even when putting aside the corruption findings against her. In two years they havent done anything, the unnamed executive said of Optus enterprise arm. They havent gained market share. Its clearly not working. When you think about what a rock-star hire she was, they changed the corporate structure around her to put her into that job, but she has not done a vast amount. And then, if you look at the ICAC stuff, Stephen Rue would have a low level of patience for that sort of thing. He likes quiet achievers and good steady hands.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has removed Sergei Shoigu from his longtime position as defence minister and replaced him with a civilian. He did, however, appoint Shoigu to lead the countrys Security and Defence Council, a consultative body that advises the president, in a major shake-up of the Kremlins security team, the Kremlin said.

Putin nominated former vice prime minister Andrei Belousov, an economist who previously served as economic development minister, to replace Shoigu, according to a statement posted by the Federation Council, Russias upper house of parliament, on its official Telegram channel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and then Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attend a meeting with the top military brass in Moscow, Russia. Credit: AP

The choice signalled Putins desire for a defence chief who would assert tight control over giant increases in military spending to finance Russias brutal war against Ukraine, and to curb endemic corruption in the agency, which had appeared to hobble Russian forces early in the invasion when new conscripts often seemed ill-equipped.

The appointment, announced on the Sunday of a four-day holiday weekend in Russia, was carefully calibrated in tone to not suggest seismic changes amid the protracted war in Ukraine or to signal the reassignment of Shoigu as a demotion.
People view an exhibition of Hainan provincial intangible cultural heritage in Valletta, Malta, May 10, 2024.(Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)

The first stop of the European tour exhibition of Hainan provincial intangible cultural heritage kicked off at the China Cultural Center in Malta on Friday evening.



Running until May 17, the exhibition features a variety of artifacts and photographs representing cultural heritage from south China's Hainan Province, including Li brocade, Miao embroidery and Qiong opera.

For example, the Li brocade, the earliest textile technique created by the Li ethnic minority on Hainan Island, boasts a history of around 3,000 years. The Li brocade tradition, which encompasses spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embroidery, was included in the World Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.

Yuan Yuan, director of the China Cultural Center in Malta, said the exhibition would enrich the interaction of civilizations and cultural exchanges between China and Malta.

Cultural exchange activities allow the friendship between the peoples of Malta and China to overcome the obstacles of geographical distance, and promote the steady progress of bilateral relations, said Mary Ann Cauchi, director for Funding and Strategy at the Arts Council Malta.

The exhibition aims to promote the unique charm of Hainan's excellent traditional culture and showcase Hainan's open and inclusive cultural atmosphere, said Liu Cheng, deputy director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Publications and Sports.

Martin Azzopardi, founder of "China Corner" of St. Margaret College Secondary School in Cospicua, Malta, said he was fascinated by the exhibition. Although he has been to China several times, he had known little about Hainan before, he told Xinhua.

The first stop of the exhibition was jointly hosted by the China Cultural Center in Malta and the Hainan Provincial Department of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Publications and Sports.

The exhibition will also be held in Berlin, Germany, and Sofia, Bulgaria.
NAIROBI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) in Africa (Kenya) 2024 ended Saturday in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, with participants renewing a call for increased Sino-Africa business relationship.

Pius Rotich, the general manager of Investment Promotion and Business Development at the Kenya Investment Authority, said that the expo provided a platform for Chinese enterprises to establish connections with their counterparts from across Africa.

"We hope that the links created in the expo will boost trade between China and Africa," Rotich said.

The three-day event which attracted a high-level delegation from central China's Hunan Province was hosted by the secretariat of the Organizing Committee of China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) as well as Kenya's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry.

Gao Wei, the managing director of Afripeak Expo Kenya who was among the organizers of the exhibition, said that the expo generated a lot of interest among Africa's business community who were keen on forging ties with Chinese enterprises.

During the expo, at least ten trade agreements were signed between African and Chinese enterprises including those involving Tanzania Sunflower Oil Processing Plant Project, Yongzhou Inland Port Group-Djibouti Overseas Public Warehouse Construction project as well as a cooperation project on trade in Kenya's dried fish.

The expo featured seminars, networking and matchmaking and an exhibition of more than 100 enterprises in the area of machinery equipment, food and agriproducts, electromechanical and information products, biomedicine as well as logistics. 
Rafah: Israel has ordered new evacuations in Gazas southern city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to leave as it prepared to expand its military operation deeper into what is considered Gazas last refuge, in defiance of growing pressure from close ally the United States and others.

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.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah. Credit: AP

Hamas released a video overnight saying that 51-year-old British man Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage from the southern Israeli community of Kibbutz Nirim, died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike 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.
But the courtroom has already heard, from old friends and former employees, about the way Trumps tendencies informed the culture of his company, the Trump Organisation, where he first honed his management style. Like a family business Hope Hicks, a former spokesperson for Trump, described it in her testimony as a very big and successful company. But she noted that it was really run like a small family business. Everybody that works there, she said, in some sense reports to Mr Trump. Tarasoffs former manager, Jeffrey McConney, told a story that may have pleased prosecutors. He said that early in his career at the Trump Organisation, he had walked into the boss office and Trump  in the midst of a phone conversation  had told him: Youre fired.

Once off the phone, McConney said, Trump had taken it back. But he had warned his new employee to watch the accounts closely, noting that the cash balances went down last week. He said, Now focus on my bills, McConney recalled. It was a teaching moment. Just because somebody is asking for money, negotiate with them, talk to them. Dont just hand the money over mindlessly. McConneys testimony was corroborated by an unusual witness: a past version of Trump himself. Sally Franklin, a top editor for Penguin Random House, was called to the witness stand to read aloud passages from two of Trumps books in which he described himself as a fastidious custodian monitoring the minutiae of his business.

I always sign my cheques, so I know where my moneys going, he wrote in one of the excerpts read aloud in court. In another, Trump boasted of cashing a cheque for 50, sent by Spy magazine as a prank. (The magazine sent Trump minuscule cheques in decreasing amounts, the lowest being 13; none was for 50.) They may call that cheap; I call it watching the bottom line, he wrote in the book. Every dollar counts in business, and for that matter, every dime. Penny pinching? You bet. Im all for it. Prosecutors hope that it will be hard to imagine that author parting with $US420,000 without good reason. All the small things In interviews, former aides said that while Trumps focus did not apply to everything, he was attuned to any element of his business or persona that the public might see, from visuals to advertising copy to press statements.

Jack ODonnell, a former Trump casino executive, recalled Trump, late one night, admonishing a maintenance worker who was polishing the marble floors at one of the casinos  Trump told the worker he was using the wrong chemical. Alan Marcus, a former consultant for the Trump Organisation, described Trump providing feedback on the language of a television commercial opposing a tunnel project by a casino rival in Atlantic City, and on taking the spots down when they became controversial. Barbara Res, a former top Trump Organisation executive who oversaw some of Trumps most prominent construction projects, including Trump Tower, said that the boss didnt have any real knowledge of high-rise construction before that project. But she said that when it came to specific superficial details, he often sought to impose his will. That included insisting, despite building code requirements, that he didnt want buttons in Braille in his elevators. He said, We wont have handicapped people living in Trump Tower, so we dont need that, she recalled. The architect working on the project overruled him. Trump himself described this tendency in another book excerpt read in court, writing: When you are working with a decorator, make sure you ask to see all of the invoices. Decorators are by nature honest people, but you should be double-checking regardless. Res described a culture where Trumps desires were so well known that people would often do things to please him without him saying a word, paraphrasing a version of what Cohen has said.

Loading We knew Trump so well, he didnt have to say anything, we knew what he wanted, Res said. I never did anything illegal and I stopped him from demolishing a building without a permit. But others did. There have also been indications during the trial of Trumps tendency to insert himself  to micromanage  when the stakes are high. Hicks told a story that hinted at her former boss interest in the co-ordination of hush-money payments, even if he did not deign to involve himself directly. At that time, Trump, famously, did not text. But Hicks did. On the stand, she described a text message that she had sent to Cohen on November 5, 2016, days before the presidential election. Something had prompted her to ask Cohen for Peckers phone number  despite already having contact information for the publisher. I have it, she told Cohen apologetically. But Mr Trump thinks its the wrong number.
PHILIPSBURG: ---During the recently held Rotary District 7020 Conference, the Rotary Clubs of St. Maarten and Anguilla received various prestigious awards. These clubs are all under the jurisdiction of Assistant Governor (AG) Elisia Lake. The "Create Hope 2024 PETS Assembly and Conference," marked as the 50th district conference, was held in Grand Cayman from April 28th to May 4th, 2024.

Rotary District 7020s Governor for the Rotary year 2023-2024, David Kirkaldy, presented the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise, under the leadership of President Valda Hazel, and the Rotary Club of St. Maarten Sunset, under the leadership of President Kimberley Duzong, with the Diamond Award. The Rotary Club of Sint Maarten-Mid Isle, under the leadership of President Claricia Yvette Hart, received the Ruby Award. Under President Jacquie Ruan, the Rotary Club of Anguilla received the Saphire Award, and the Rotary Club of Sint Maarten, under President Jeffrey Sochrin, received the Gold Award. Also in attendance were club leaders of the Rotary Club of Saint-Martin Nord and the Rotary Club of Saint-Barthelemy. The Rotary Clubs received these awards for their commitment and inspiring service to their communities locally, regionally, and internationally.

Witnessing the various clubs receiving their awards is a testament to the hard work, determination, and impact they continue to make in the lives of so many people in their respective communities. I am extremely proud of all members of the seven clubs for their tireless efforts in the planning and execution of projects and events and I look forward to another successful year ahead. Continue creating hope in the world as we transition into displaying the magic of Rotary and display our love for Rotary,  Assistant Governor Elisia Lake added.

The district conference provides opportunities for networking, inspirational addresses, and discussions of Rotary-related matters. It gives Rotarians and clubs a vision of Rotary beyond the club level and provides a memorable fellowship experience. The conferences are also where the Presidents-Elect and Secretary-Elects prepare to lead their prospective clubs in the following year.
PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- In a meeting held on Friday, May 10, 2024, the Department of Personnel Affairs & Organization (P&O) outlined a series of reform measures aimed at enhancing public service management under the project titled, It is all about the people to the Council of Ministers (CoM).

The initiatives are designed to improve functionality and efficiency within government and fall under the B-measures.

Key aspects of the reforms include the digitalization of the personnel information system to enhance the human resources function, improving the management and accessibility of employee data.

Additionally, the establishment of a Mobility and Career Center will support career development and facilitate employee mobility across different government sectors.

Further measures will concentrate on strengthening the capacity of government employees through advanced training programs supported by the establishment of a dedicated Government Training Center.

Organizational strengthening will also be addressed by revising the function book to ensure roles within the organization are clearly defined and aligned with strategic goals. Moreover, an Employee Engagement Council (EEC) will be established and efforts to reinforce shared values will be intensified.

Eleven priority projects have already been identified for implementation via the Secretaries General platform, with a completion target set for the end of 2025. Progress will be reviewed and reported on a quarterly basis.

Recognizing the potential for lengthy processes in reform implementation, the Prime Minister, Dr. Luc Mercelina, has directed the Department of Personnel Affairs & Organization to prioritize and address at least one challenge every six weeks to ensure swift and effective implementation.

Regular meetings with CoM will be scheduled from mid-June onwards. This is to monitor progress and discuss the implementation of short-term solutions, while longer term initiatives continue to advance.

One of the initial agenda items will focus on the role of P&O, specifically whether it should operate in a centralized or decentralized manner.

As part of the R.I.S.E. (Relationship Building, Insight, Skills, and Empowerment) Onboarding Program, a similar presentation of the project, Its all about the people will also be scheduled for the cabinet staff. The presentation of Friday, May 10, 2024, was attended by the Secretaries General from the different ministries and the Chiefs of Staff from the ministers cabinet.
PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- On Friday morning, May 10, 2024, the Council of Ministers (CoM) met with the newly proposed Employee Engagement Council (EEC), composed of 17 members from various departments and executing bodies within the government.

This initiative follows an independent employee satisfaction survey and recent exit interviews. The EEC analyzed the survey results, highlighting concerns over primary labor conditions, and formulated 21 recommendations aimed at four specific target groups: colleagues, middle management, secretary generals, and political leaders, along with six general recommendations.

Key priorities identified include enhancing open communication, implementing the full human resource cycle throughout the government, and increasing transparency through the publication of annual plans and quarterly progress reports, which are supported by monthly updates from middle management. The recommendations also emphasize policy-based budgets and promoting career development opportunities.

The intention is to establish the EEC as a permanent and independent council via a ministerial decree and repeat the employee satisfaction survey in 2026.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Luc Mercelina, affirmed the governments commitment to ensuring that civil servants are not only held accountable but also enhanced support for them. He proposed small, tangible improvements, such as better upkeep of the Government Administration Buildings exterior.

Further, the Prime Minister advocated for the inclusion of public school representation within the EEC to ensure a comprehensive approach to employee engagement across all sectors.

Another proposal was to extend the mental health support services provided by the Company Counselor in the Department of Personnel & Organization of the Ministry of General Affairs to the police force.

CoM has agreed to meet regularly, once every two months, to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the recommendations. The next meeting is scheduled for July 12, and the focus will be on developing methods to recognize and reward staff contributions and conducting a baseline measurement (nulmeting) of current government vacancies.

The meeting is an integral part of the R.I.S.E. (Leadership Excellence through Relationship Building, Insight, Skills, and Empowerment) Onboarding Program, which aims to deliver insights into CoM and strengthen relationships within and beyond government.
AI film festival gives glimpse of cinema's future



New York, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2024



With fantastical characters including mud people and giant grandmothers, an AI film festival is giving a glimpse of the storytelling made possible by the novel technology.

Nearly 3,000 short films were submitted to the festival organized by Runway AI, one of the leading start-ups in the field of AI-powered video generation.

The 10 films selected put the filmmakers' vivid imaginations on display, with their stories set in aesthetically stunning universes.

"There is a perception of ... AI- driven filmmaking and creation as having a very specific style," Runway co-founder and chief technology officer Anastasis Germanidis told AFP.

But each of the selected films "feels very different from the other one," he said Thursday at the festival's awards ceremony.

Movie making and animation having grown by leaps and bounds in the past 50 years, past feature films like "Inception," "The Matrix" and "Loving Vincent" come to mind when watching the AI shorts.

But the latest technology allows films to be made on a fraction of a typical movie budget, and by anyone with access to a computer and the software.

With just a prompt, Runway can transform a series of still images into a short video, or turn a photo into a painting.

In February, generative AI leader OpenAI launched its video creation software, dubbed Sora, while Google and Meta are developing their own versions, called Lumiere and Emu, respectively.



- Not yet perfect -



For his short that won an Honoree prize at the festival, Leo Cannone generated hundreds of images using the AI application Midjourney, then animated them with Runway, making countless edits along the way.

Current AI technology is still underdeveloped in some areas, particularly in providing multiple camera angles and creating flawless human-like speaking characters.

"I couldn't really have (human) characters or dialogue, so that set the aesthetic of the film," the French director said of his short, about what happens to grandmothers after they die. (Spoiler: they become giants.)

With the AI-generated visuals "there were still a lot of defects in each scene, so I had to retouch a lot. It doesn't come out of the software ready to use."

Runway co-founder Alejandro Matamala conceded the technology wasn't yet perfected.

"If you want a photorealistic character that is human... we are not as advanced to do that. But we are saying, there are more different types of ways to tell stories."



- A sea change -



Runway is currently developing something it calls "General World Models," an AI system that can simulate a real world environment by anticipating how future events unfold in a dynamic setting.

The three Runway co-founders do not come from computer engineering backgrounds, rather, they studied art-related fields at New York University.

The trio are focused on creating a "common language" for programming and creativity, citing Apple and Pixar as examples.

"For some of the emerging filmmakers like me, it represents a real opportunity to turn the typical model of the Hollywood industry," said Carlo De Togni, who also won an award at the festival.

"Artists could bring to life some new stories without having the money," he said, pointing out that some generative AI platforms offered subscriptions for only $30 or $50 a month.

In the future, "independent production will be probably more closer to some Hollywood productions and maybe they could really face (off with) each other," the Italian director said.

The prospect of such a sea change in filmmaking is so troubling to Hollywood that actors and screenwriters staged a monthslong strike last summer, demanding protection against generative AI, among other things.

For De Togni, the technology will eventually become commonplace, and what will be more important are "your ideas, your thoughts," in using the tools to bring a vision to life.

AI filmmaking already cuts out work currently done by various professionals, putting industry jobs at risk.

But Runway co-founder and CEO Cristobal Valenzuela said automation "really happens all the time, but the jobs themselves are going to change."

"That's the role of technology -- to allow us to change."

tu/juj/acb/sn

GOOGLE

Meta
by Xinhua writer Zhou Qianxian

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese market remains a sweet spot to foreign businesses despite a challenging global environment and lackluster economic recovery worldwide, as the latest financial reports of many world-renowned brands have revealed.

Global catering firms are under spotlight as they have earned big on a booming Chinese service market.

Take Yum China, the operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in the country for example. Its total sales grew 6 percent year over year excluding foreign currency translation in the first quarter (Q1) of its 2024 fiscal year.

The company opened 378 net new stores in the quarter, a record for the first quarter, its earnings report showed.

Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China, commented that "We achieved solid sales growth in the first quarter with total revenues hitting an all-time high, and looking toward the future, we are absolutely confident in seizing China's vast opportunities."

Also flourishing in the Chinese market are retail giants. By the end of last year, Sam's Club had 47 stores in 25 Chinese cities, and it vowed to open six to seven stores each year in China.

At the beginning of this year, U.S. retail giant Costco Wholesale opened a new store in the city of Shenzhen, and announced it will open a membership store in Nanjing this year and venture into the gas station business there.

Many multinationals are gravitating to China's super-sized market as local consumers have shown increasingly diverse demand, and new growth drivers keep arising.

Brooks Running, a renowned running shoe brand, for instance, targets China as its new growth arena because of the Chinese consumers' growing passion for outdoor activities and sports.

With most of its revenue currently generated from the U.S., Brooks is gearing up to open its inaugural store in Shanghai this fall, marking the beginning of what it calls a long-term commitment to the Chinese market.

For auto-making heavyweights, China, despite being the world's largest auto exporter, remains a significant source of demand. According to Volkswagen's Q1 financial report, it delivered 7.7 percent more vehicles to customers in China than in the preceding year.

The BMW Group in late April announced an additional investment of 20 billion yuan (about 2.82 billion U.S. dollars) in its production base in Shenyang, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

"The planned investment underlines not only our confidence in China's long-term economic prospects, but also in the innovation capabilities of our Chinese partners," said Oliver Zipse, chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.

Global performance coatings giant PPG Industries said in its Q1 earnings report that it achieved year-over-year adjusted growth for the fifth consecutive quarter despite continued challenges in the macro environment worldwide.

"The company benefited from well-established businesses in Mexico and China, and looking ahead, while global industrial production remains at low absolute levels, we believe that demand in China for our products will deliver solid organic growth," said its earnings report.

China has managed to keep foreign investment relatively stable. The number of newly established foreign-invested firms in China hit 12,000 in Q1, up 20.7 percent year on year.

The growth in the number of newly established foreign firms acted as a leading indicator to support for future capital inflow, said Ji Xiaofeng, an official in charge of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration of the Ministry of Commerce.

With the continuous advancement of China's new quality productive forces and a series of policies to stabilize the economy, expand opening-up and attract foreign investment, the development conditions and environment for foreign companies in China will surely improve, Ji added.

In terms of the structure of foreign direct investment (FDI), the country's high-tech manufacturing sector attracted 12.5 percent of the FDI inflow in the first quarter, up 2.2 percentage points compared to that in the same period last year.

In this year's government work report, China has vowed to intensify efforts to attract foreign investment, including further shortening the negative list for foreign investment, abolishing all market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing, and reducing market access restrictions in services sectors, such as telecommunications and healthcare.

The country will expand the Catalog of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment, strengthen services for foreign investors and make China a favored destination for foreign investment. It will also make it easier for foreign nationals to work, study, and travel in China and optimize payment services for them.

In a recent development of China's opening-up efforts, the country's 10 government departments jointly released a document introducing new measures to encourage overseas institutions to invest in China's domestic sci-tech enterprises.

In March, China for the first time rolled out a negative list for cross-border trade in services at the national level to boost opening up. The national-level list consists of 71 items.

According to a recent survey of over 600 foreign-funded companies done by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, more than 70 percent of the companies surveyed were optimistic about the development prospects of the Chinese market over the next five years, an increase of 3.8 percentage points compared with the previous quarter. 
Jordan launches multinational 'Eager Lion' war games



Amman, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2024



The Jordanian military announced Sunday the launch of the "Eager Lion" military exercise, with ground, naval and air forces from 33 countries represented including the United States, France and Britain.

The drills, set to end on May 23, include anti-terrorism and air defence training, army spokesman Colonel Mustafa al-Hiyari told a news conference.

He said that "Eager Lion" is intended to help fight "terrorist organisations", and respond to "the proliferation of drones, and biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction" as well as major disasters.

Forces from "10 Arab and 22 foreign countries in addition to Jordan" are taking part, Hiyari said, aiming "to confront the emerging and cross-border threats of this era".

The exercise, "the largest" since the first "Eager Lion" edition in 2011 according to Hiyari, comes at a time of soaring regional tensions as the Israel-Hamas war rages in the Gaza Strip.

But the spokesman said that "these drills have nothing to do with regional developments".

He did not specify the number of troops participating.

Some of the countries participating include Poland, Norway, Romania, Japan and Australia alongside several Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Morocco and Lebanon.

The previous "Eager Lion" exercise in September 2022 included some 2,200 Jordanian soldiers, 1,700 from the United States and a total of 400 more from 27 other countries.

Jordan in 1994 signed a peace treaty with neighbouring Israel, and is a key regional ally for Washington, which has forces in the Middle East as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
Putin removes defence minister Shoigu



Moscow, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2024



Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday moved to replace defence minister Sergei Shoigu in a major shake-up to Russia's military leadership more than two years into its Ukraine offensive.

Putin proposed economist Andrey Belousov as Shoigu's replacement, according to a list of the ministerial nominations published by the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament.

Putin simultaneously published decrees naming Shoigu as the new secretary of the Security Council, replacing long-standing Putin ally Nikolai Patrushev.

"Shoigu will continue to work in this sector (defence), which he knows well," state media quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

"He knows it very well from the inside, together with his colleagues and partners at his previous place of work," he added.

Putin is constitutionally required to name a new set of government ministers -- or reappoint existing ones -- following his victory in a March election devoid of opposition.

Lawmakers in Russia's rubber-stamp parliament need to approve the president's nominations, which they are set to do on Tuesday.

The major reshuffle comes with Russian forces advancing on the battlefield for the first time in months.

Shoigu was appointed Russian defence minister in 2012.

Despite a string of military setbacks for Russia -- including the failure to capture the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and retreats from the northeastern Kharkiv and southern Kherson regions -- Putin had stood by Shoigu until now.

That included when Wagner paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a bloody insurrection last year calling for Shoigu's removal.

Belousov, Shoigu's nominated replacement, has no military background. He has been one of Putin's most influential economic advisors over the last decade.
JERUSALEM, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Israel ordered new evacuations on Saturday in Gaza's southern city of Rafah as it prepared to escalate its military operation, a day after the United Nations (UN) passed a resolution endorsing the Palestinian request for full UN membership.

LOOMING CRISIS

More than 1 million displaced Palestinians are seeking refuge in Rafah, where a severe humanitarian crisis looms large due to shortages of essential supplies such as water, food and medical care. Now, the city is on the brink of a new impending crisis.

"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 statement.

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 Hamas fighters, said Adraee.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that to continue its precise operations in specific areas of eastern Rafah, it has urged the population from additional areas in eastern Rafah to temporarily evacuate to the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.

The UN has warned that a Rafah invasion would further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and lead to a rise in civilian casualties.

Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Rafah, said the World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday.

"We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding," he was quoted as saying.

Israel's latest move has caused discontent in the West. U.S. President Joe Biden has said the United States won't supply Israel with weapons if it launches Rafah offensive.

His administration said on Friday that there was substantial evidence suggesting that Israel had violated international laws protecting civilians.

European Council President Charles Michel also urged Israel not to carry out a military operation in Rafah. "Evacuation orders for civilians trapped in Rafah to unsafe zones are unacceptable," Michel wrote on X on Saturday.

HISTORIC RESOLUTION

The UN General Assembly on Friday adopted a historic resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member.

It showcased increasing support for the Palestinians, with numerous countries expressing outrage over the rising death toll in Gaza and concerns about a potential major Israeli offensive in Rafah.

The resolution was adopted with 143 votes in favor and nine against, including the United States and Israel, while 25 countries abstained. It "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."

"The overwhelming vote in favor of the resolution clearly indicates the compass of global will and the direction of international public opinion," Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit was cited as saying in a statement released by the Cairo-based, pan-Arab organization.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the "historic resolution" recognized the rights of Palestinian people who have suffered for more than seven decades of foreign occupation.

Also on Friday, South Africa submitted another urgent request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), urging the court to persuade Israel to take steps to prevent genocide of the Palestinians, including a demand that Israel withdraw from Rafah immediately.

Israel has called on the ICJ to reject the urgent request. "The repeated requests for provisional measures made by South Africa, which are based on false claims and deliberate omissions of fact in order to assist Hamas, are yet another attempt to cynically exploit the ICJ in The Hague," Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, wrote on X. 
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BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A dance drama "Journey to the West," jointly produced by Chinese and French artists, has recently started its tour in the two countries.

Directed and choreographed by Chinese dancer Wang Yabin, with music composed by French composer Laurent Petitgirard, the drama depicts the memories of the Monkey King about the search for the sacred scriptures, during which he overcomes various challenges and finally achieves harmony between the internal and external worlds.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. 
Miracle Bird has been selected in the fourth cohort of the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP), a scholarship launched from a $40 million donation. The program is named in honor of legendary civil rights attorney, Supreme Court Justice and LDF founder Thurgood Marshall, and iconic civil rights litigator Constance Baker Motley.

MMSP is creating the next generation of civil rights lawyers in the South, who are trained to provide legal advocacy.

Bird, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, says she plans to build a future where discriminatory actions that keep Black Americans out of positions, roles, and institutions that they deserve to be in are no more.
Tony Messenger Metro columnist Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

ST. LOUIS  When the Federal Trade Commission decided in April to finalize a rule that would ban nearly all noncompete clauses in the workplace, nobody cheered louder than Jeff Lohse.

The rule, scheduled to take effect in August, would free millions of American workers from contracts that stop them from switching jobs in their fields of expertise. But as important as it is to the cause of worker freedom, it is too late to help Lohse.

A couple of months before the FTC issued the new rule, Lohse lost his legal dispute with a former employer. The dispute started during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lohse worked as a sales manager for Logic Systems Sound and Lighting, a company that did audio and visual work for concerts and other big events. The event business dried up during the pandemic.

After Lohse went on unemployment for a couple of weeks, a competing company, Klance Unlimited, offered him a job. Lohse took it. At the time, he didnt know he had a noncompete clause. That changed three days into his new job, when Logic Systems informed Klance that Lohse couldnt work for them.

Lohse quit and found a new job, but then his former employer tried to enforce the noncompete again. Lohse sued to try to get a judge to declare the contract invalid.

It didnt work.

Earlier this year, Lohse lost his legal battle and had to pay damages of $2,371 to his former employer. Thats not the part that really hurt, though. Its that the noncompete contract required him to also pay the attorney fees of his former employer. That bill, according to court records, was more than $40,000.

I first wrote about Lohses situation early last year, after President Joe Biden praised the FTC for starting the rule-making process. He suggested that by hurting workers freedom to switch jobs, noncompete clauses are bad for the economy.

For decades, Ive fought for the notion that if your employer wants to keep you, they need to make it worth your while with good pay and benefits, Biden said in a tweet after the FTC announced its proposed rule. Todays FTC announcement to limit non-compete agreements is a huge win for workers.

What happened to Lohse happened to millions of Americans during the pandemic. Their companies shut down. They couldnt work. But those who were under the control of a noncompete contract had a much harder time getting back to work.

I was just trying to get by, to make a living, Lohse says.

The new rule is great for everybody else, he says. I hope nobody else has to go through what I went through these past three years.

Thats still an open question.

The day after the FTC approved the new rule in a 3-2 vote, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups filed a lawsuit seeking to stop it. Like so many other things in this country, the rule is caught up in politics. It was approved by three Democrats and opposed by two Republicans. The Chamber of Commerce filed its lawsuit in Texas, where it will likely end up before a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump. It will take a while for the courts to wade through the legal issues, so dont go tossing your noncompete into the trash just yet.

Lohse hopes the rule eventually becomes the law of the land. The way he sees things, there are hardly any secrets anymore, with nearly everything available on the internet. Workers ought to have the freedom to move to the jobs of their choice, without a former employer making it harder to earn a living.

Lohse is back at Klance, spending much of his time working on staging at university graduation ceremonies. The noncompete from his former employer has expired. Hes glad to be working again and free from the shackles of a corporate document that tells him how he can make a living.

Lohse has his freedom. The verdict for 30 million other American workers awaits.
Cultural differences, stereotyping, unconscious bias, struggles with identity crisis, the myth of the model minority, and the perpetual foreigner syndrome are challenges facing Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

When We the People is bandied about  a phrase meant to represent all Americans regardless of the differences among us  too often it is drowned out by taunts of Go back where you came from, or the more subtle, But where are you really from?

America this month celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. Its ironic that this comes amid a continuing backlash against the concept of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our nation.

May commemorates the first known Japanese immigrant to the U.S. on May 7, 1843. In addition, the first transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, by over 12,000 Chinese laborers. Their reward? The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the only major U.S. law to ban immigration for a specific nationality.

In echoes of that sentiment today, some elected officials openly push racial segregation, race- and religious-based nationalism, race-based immigration barriers, and a rollback of womens reproductive and LGBTQ rights.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are organizational frameworks which seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination on the basis of identity or disability.

Yet that hasnt stopped officials like Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft from tweeting last year that a job posting for a diversity, inclusion and belonging leader within the Missouri Department of Natural Resources was an example of left-wing indoctrination in the workplace and the wrong use of taxpayer dollars.

Politicians criticism of DEI has an impact. The University of Missouri announced last year that its four campuses are eliminating DEI statements in their job posts. The Francis Howell School Board recently attempted to eliminate elective courses in Black history and in Black literature from the districts curriculum, before public outcry and national publicity forced it to backtrack.

Some lawmakers and school boards want to bar public schools from teaching divisive concepts like the alignment of slavery and racism. Ashcroft and this ilk consider it divisive to even mention such truths. They argue that DEI is toxic and has no place in our workforce and schools.

Contrast that with the words of Danielle Tormala, superintendent of Wentzville Schools. The terms diversity, equity and inclusion cannot be dirty words in this district, she said last year, during controversy over alleged bullying of Black students in the district. Tormala later resigned after what her allies say was relentless hounding by right-wing activists.

DEI is mistakenly identified as discrimination against white people. Never mind that DEI isnt only about race; it also helps women, the LGBTQ or those with disabilities.

I believe DEI connects people, forming a bridge between what communities need and what opportunities and resources we can access. Its on this bridge where concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion serve as our guides, helping to ensure fairness in how we get to our destination.

But attacks against that bridge are escalating. And its taking us, unfortunately, back to a time that failed to acknowledge the inequities that persist today based on discriminatory practices.

When people fear, they will listen to any bit of evidence that supports their feelings of discomfort. In an election cycle, fear-mongering caters to a growing narrative: White Americans are losing control.

That makes people uncomfortable  especially those who benefit from the status quo and want to keep concentrating power and wealth amongst a few. This intentional manipulation resonates with those who feel like the world is changing and something is being taken away from them.

Thats why it is important this month to recognize the contributions and influence of AANHPI Americans to the history, culture and achievements of the United States. They now total 23.8 million people, or 7.4% of the nations overall population. They are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States. The U.S. AANHPI population is projected to reach 48 million by 2060.

This month calls on us to uplift underrepresented AANHPI ethnic groups. Watch films, read stories and support organizations like OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Very Asian Foundation, St. Louis Chinese American Collecting Initiative, and St. Louis Pan Asian Collective.

Learn the diverse histories and experiences of Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, South Asians, Southeast Asians, East Asians and Central Asians. Our celebrations for AANHPI Heritage Month should be about promoting unity, understanding and appreciation among all communities.

With empathy, respect, and a willingness to understand, none of us needs to be intimidated by diversity. None of us needs to be frightened by the humanity that is inclusion. Not one of us needs to be disconnected from the promise of equity, a promise of systems that deliver benefits for us all to thrive.
Even as Missouri continues to underfund basic public services like education, health care and infrastructure, one state official has decided the taxpayers should pay to defend the grotesque defamation of a private citizen.

Yes, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is at it again.

This time, Bailey is using state resources to provide the legal defense of three right-wing state senators being sued for tweet-slandering a bystander to the February mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration, falsely alleging he was the shooter.

How bad is this latest self-serving stunt from Missouris worst major public officeholder? Bad enough that even Gov. Mike Parson, a fellow Republican who appointed Bailey as attorney general last year, isnt having it.

Were just not going to attack citizens  just because we think we have the power to do such, Parson declared Thursday.

Hes apparently not too familiar with the right wing of his own state party  or with the shameless demagogue he appointed as the states lawyer.

In the chaotic aftermath of the shooting that broke out during the Feb. 14 Kansas City event, killing one and injuring more than 20, Denton Loudermill, a Kansas man who had nothing to do with it, was briefly detained by police.

Someone snapped a picture of him handcuffed. It popped up on social media with a reckless allegation that he was the shooter  and was an illegal immigrant to boot.

So, naturally, three Missouri statesmen re-posted that defamation without anything resembling confirmation.

In since-deleted posts, Missouri state Sens. Rick Brattin, Denny Hoskins and Nick Schroer played some hedging little word games that didnt excuse in the least the fact that they were sharing slander. IF THIS IS ACCURATE, wrote Hoskins, before using the false accusation to slam the Biden administrations immigration policies.

Any decent public official  indeed, any decent human being  would rush to apologize after learning they had helped spread false allegations that had led to death threats against a private citizen. But these particular officials werent done demonstrating their abject lack of decency. Brattin, when asked at a news conference whether he would apologize to Loudermill, said, Theres nothing that I even see even worth that.

All three senators are members of the Senates so-called Freedom Caucus, a small klatch of hard-right political performance artists who have spent months holding up legislative business in their efforts to pass extremist laws. Though Missouri is nowhere near a national border, racially tinged rants about immigration are a key part of their arsenal.

As it is for Bailey. As we have deeply catalogued in our on-going Bailey Tally, there is no other top official in Missouri who has so blatantly politicized his office in his zeal to woo the GOP base in the August primaries, where he faces opposition to his bid to win a full term.

Baileys initial filing defending the three senators argues they are protected by absolute legislative immunity  a popular construct on the hard right just now that should sound familiar to anyone following former President Donald Trumps legal troubles.

Bailey made sure to specify that its not just the senators titles that give them the right to randomly slander a private citizen, but the fact that they did it in service to the culture-war obsession with immigration.

State legislators, he wrote, should not be inhibited by judicial interference or distorted by the fear of personal liability when they publicly speak on issues of national importance.

Or, more accurately, political importance.

Its notable that even Parson, not generally known for standing up to the rabid right of his party, was apparently appalled at this latest Bailey stunt.

This gentleman did nothing wrong whatsoever other than he went to a parade, and he drank beer and he was Hispanic, said Parson. In fact, Loudermill is Black, but in the social media photos could appear to look Hispanic.

The tinge of racism is the least surprising element of Baileys involvement. His previous abuse of the legal system has included siding against prosecutors to defend a white cop convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of a Black man, and threatening the Hazelwood School District with the baseless, vile allegation that its diversity policies somehow contributed to the severe beating of a white student by a Black student.

While its true that the attorney generals duties include representing state officials in court, he has wide discretion as to what merits such defense.

Heres an interesting thought exercise: Try  just try  to imagine Bailey marshalling the power of his office to defend a trio of hard-left legislators accused of, say, slandering an anti-abortion activist.

Its not imaginable because, as always, Bailey decides whether and how to do his job based entirely upon ideology, partisanship and self-serving politics.

Politicians have to be responsible and have to be held to a higher standard when you start attacking citizens in our state, said Parson.

Hes right. Which is why removing this singularly toxic attorney general from office should be the single most important priority of any voter  of any party  who cares about public service.
SHANGHAI, May 12 (Xinhua) -- International academic publisher Springer Nature has recently signed a letter of intent for cooperation with Fudan University in Shanghai, aiming to establish a long-term cooperation mechanism and strengthen cooperation in multiple fields.

Marc Spenle, chief operating officer of Springer Nature Group, said the partnership represents another milestone in Springer Nature's increased effort to facilitate China's international research collaboration.

Springer Nature will provide more high-quality services in support of Fudan University's pursuit of research excellence and expects to see in-depth and extensive cooperation between the two parties in different fields, he said.

The cooperation covers fields including research capacity building, the growth of early-career scientists, and the study of international scientific research trends.

"Shanghai is not just a commercial hub, it is a hub for innovation," he said. Springer Nature opened an office in Shanghai some 12 years ago before its expansion into other Chinese cities.

On Tuesday, Springer Nature also signed a letter of intent for cooperation with the Zhejiang Association for Science and Technology and Wenzhou City, in support of the World Young Scientists Summit hosted by Wenzhou to enable early career scientists from China and the rest of the world to collaborate and thrive together.

China has made immense progress in innovation and contributed excellent scientific findings, said Spenle. In the Global Innovation Hubs Index, China had three cities or regions ranked among the global top 10. 
U.S. Army Corporal John A. Spruell, 19, of Cortez, Colo., was killed during the Korean War. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency last week announced that the remains of two soldiers, a pilot and two sailors from World War II, and a soldier from the Korean War have been identified.

 U.S. Army Cpl. John A. Spruell, 19, of Cortez, Colo., killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Aug. 11, 2023.

 U.S. Army 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind, 28, of Pittsburgh, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 8, 2024.

 U.S. Army Pfc. Lemuel Dent Jr., missing in action during World War II, was accounted for Feb. 2, 2024.

 U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Allan W. Knepper, 27, of Nez Perce County, Idaho, killed during World War II, was accounted for Aug. 10, 2023.

 Navy Coxswain Harley E. Alexander, killed during World War II, was accounted for on March 22, 2024.

 Navy Fireman 1st Class Everett C. Titterington, 21, who died on the USS Oklahoma during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, was identified on March 23, 2021.

As of May 2023, more than 80,000 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts. Out of the total, approximately 75% of the losses are located in the Indo-Pacific region, and over 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea (such as ship losses and known aircraft water losses).

Spruell

In December 1950, Spruell was a member of Battery B, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He went missing in action after combat in the vicinity of Hagaru-ri, South Korea, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. At the time the circumstances for his loss were not immediately recorded, and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war. The Army issued a finding of Missing in Action on Dec. 6, 1950.

In 1954, the opposing nations reached an agreement to exchange war dead (Operation GLORY). One set of remains, designated X-15754 OP GLORY, was recovered near the Chosin Reservoir in the vicinity of where the 57th Field Artillery Battalion was fighting. A tentative association was made between X-15754 and Spruell, but definitive proof could not be found, and X-15754 was determined to be unidentifiable. The remains were sent to Hawaii and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

On March 8, 2021, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-15754 as part of Phase Three of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Spruells remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Spruells name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Spruell will be buried in Cortez on a date to be determined.

Baskind

In June 1944, Baskind was assigned to Company C, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, as a platoon commander of four M-10 tank destroyers.

According to historical war records, Baskind and another soldier from his company were scouting ahead of their tank destroyers when enemy forces descended upon them in an ambush. The other soldier, heavily wounded, escaped the firefight and made his way back to the main U.S. force, believing Baskind was killed in the attack. Several attempts were made to retrieve Baskinds body from the ambush point, but they could not locate his remains.

U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant Nathan B. Baskind, 28, of Pittsburgh was killed during World War II. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

Investigators for the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) discovered a death and burial report for Baskind among the foreign records filed on May 29, 1945, in Meiningen, Germany. The record revealed Baskind was captured and died at a hospital for German air force personnel near Cherbourg on June 23, 1944. German forces buried him in the military cemetery in the city. In early 1948, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent the U.S. Army one of Baskinds identification tags.

While disinterring a mass grave of what were believed to be 24 Germans buried in the Cherbourg cemetery in November 1957, a team from the German War Grave Commission (the Volksbund) discovered one of Baskinds identification tags and remnants of an American-type shirt with a first lieutenant rank and tank destroyer insignia. The remains in the mass grave were commingled, and the German team was unable to separate them into individual sets. The German investigators placed the remains in seven burial pouches and reinterred them in the Marigny German War Cemetery, 40 miles south of Cherbourg.

In 2023, the Volksbund and other interested private research organizations exhumed the commingled remains for analysis. By February 2024, these researchers contacted DPAA to inform the agency that Baskinds remains had been analyzed by a private U.S. laboratory and sought DPAAs concurrence. To verify the remains, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System reviewed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis previously performed.

Baskinds name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Dent

In February 1945, Dent was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division in the European Theater. Dent was killed Feb. 8 near the Cinquale Canal, north of Viareggio, Italy. Dent was on board a tank that was crossing the canal, when it was struck by enemy mortar, machine gun, and artillery fire. His body was not recovered, and Germany never reported him a prisoner of war.

Knepper

In summer 1943, Knepper was a pilot with the 49th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group in the North African and Mediterranean Theater. On July 10, Knepper departed El Bathan Airfield, Tunisia, in his P-38 Lightning as one of many fighter waves assigned to attack enemy forces near Caltagirone, Italy, and neutralize Axis air powers.

U.S. air forces were dispatched every 30 minutes throughout the day. Kneppers squadron encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire, and another pilot witnessed Kneppers aircraft veer suddenly skyward before rolling halfway over and plummeting to the ground.

There was no witness of any deployed parachute following the crash, and it was believed he was still in the plane when it crashed. Kneppers remains were not recovered, and he was subsequently declared missing in action.

Alexander

On June 8, 1944, Alexander was assigned to the destroyer USS Glennon. The ship struck a mine off the coast of Quinneville, France, and 16 sailors went overboard. Ultimately, the majority of the crew had abandoned the vessel, but a few remained on board for salvage operations, including Alexander.

On June 10, the Glennon was struck by multiple artillery barrages from German forces on shore, and the ship sank late in the evening. Following the attack, 38 sailors had been wounded, and 25 were missing, including Alexander. Other than the rescued sailors thrown overboard from the initial mine strike, there is not report of any recovery of other missing sailors. The remains of Alexander were not accounted for and he was deemed non-recoverable on May 4, 1949.

Titterington

Titterington was assigned to the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked the U.S. fleet. The ship quickly capsized after being hit by several torpedoes. He will be buried Sept. 5 in Bloomington, Calif. Read more about him here.
TACOMA, Wash. (Tribune News Service)  A U.S. Army Ranger formerly stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for beating a security guard to death in downtown Tacoma after he went out drinking with other Rangers.

Spc. Patrick Philip Byrne pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder in the July 18, 2021, death of 41-year-old Denise Smith. The woman had worked just five shifts at the 12-story Frank Russel Building, 909 A St., before Byrne attacked her.

Surveillance video showed the soldier assault Smith for 8 to 10 minutes, according to court records, dragging her by the hair and repeatedly punching her before using the guards keys to stab her in the face, apparently attempting to gouge her eyes out, records state. He then flipped Smith onto her stomach and choked her until she went limp, then continued to choke her for another minute or two.

After the attack, Byrne tried to smash a window in a conference room and threw around furniture in the lobby. He then exited, and according to charging documents fell or jumped from a ledge 14-feet above street level. He eventually was brought to a hospital, where he told detectives he had no memory of what happened.

Six of Smiths relatives spoke during the hearing, and more sat in the courtroom gallery with a sign that included a photo of the woman in her security officer uniform. Smiths sister, Tina Renee Mack, wore all green. She said it was her sisters favorite color, and she wanted Byrne to think of Smiths name whenever he saw it.

I just wanted Patrick to know that he destroyed our lives, and abruptly took a life and made it very hard to continue on with life, Mack said.

Smith grew up in Seattle, where she graduated from Rainier Beach High School in 1998, but her family hails from Indiana. Her eldest brother, Dennis Mack, told the court he was brought up in the Midwest, and he protects his sisters. He also believes in an eye for an eye, and he said if this happened where he came from, it would be him sitting in court.

Im trying not to be on Court TV, choking his eyeballs out his head. But thats what I want to do, Dennis Mack said. Im never going to forgive him for what he did.

Byrne said in court Friday he still cannot remember any details from that night.

His attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, David Katayama, wrote in court filings that before the murder, Byrne became involved in a physical altercation at The Office Bar & Grill where he was punched in the head and knocked to the concrete. Minutes after gaining consciousness, Byrne was forcibly trying to enter the building where Smith was working.

Before handing down the sentence, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stanley Rumbaugh said there was legitimacy to the defense attorneys statements, which led him to believe Byrne had some element of loss of capacity when he committed the crime.

But Rumbaugh also said he believed that Byrne needed to understand that getting intoxicated to the point of becoming belligerent and uncontrollable in a public place is a choice. The judge said the defendant also knew he had prior head injuries from his time in the military and from car wrecks, but he chose to exacerbate those problems by drinking alcohol in excess.

Its interesting to hear you talk about the future and your future plans because Denise Smith has no future, Rumbaugh said. She was brutally murdered in an act that is as callous and as cruel as this court has ever had the misfortune of dealing with. It, its really just unspeakably cruel.

A brain scan showed Byrne had a brain bleed in the area of the organ that controls morality and judgment, according to Katayama, and he wrote in court filings that two doctors who reviewed Byrnes medical records independently concluded that the brain injury was caused by a blow to the head such as the one described by witnesses to the bar fight.

The punishment Rumbaugh imposed was in line with a recommended sentence agreed on by prosecutors and the defense, the low end of the standard sentencing range for defendants prosecuted in similar cases, which is 20 to 26 years in prison. Byrne had no prior criminal convictions.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Howe wrote in court filings that had the case gone to trial, a jury would conclude based on surveillance video that Byrne caused Smiths death, but there was a real issue of fact in regard to his mental state. And the fact that a motive is not well understood is a factor that could make a unanimous decision difficult for a jury.

Hes pleading a murder-one, so it was my belief that when someone, whatever their motivation is, comes forward, pleads to basically the top half, which is where I think wed end up after trial, that Im going to agree to a low-end recommendation, Howe said in court.

Byrne wrote in court filings that he was accepting a plea agreement to not cause more pain to his family and the family of the victim.

The defendant remained on active duty Thursday pending the completion of his civilian criminal trial, a spokesperson for his unit, the 75th Ranger Regiment, told The News Tribune. But the Army has started the administrative separation process, and it was expected to be completed soon.

Byrne was raised in New York and North Carolina in an Irish Catholic family, and he joined the military at age 23 following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, according to the defenses sentencing memorandum. He has a history of serious head injuries, including two auto accidents he survived as a young man, as well as injuries in the military. He reportedly suffered a blast concussion and a major fall after his parachute failed to deploy in an airplane jump.

Prior to Smiths murder, Byrne had recently returned to JBLM after a two-month deployment to Afghanistan.

When it was his time to address the court, Byrne said he could never describe how truly sorry he was, and he prayed that Smiths family would accept his deepest apology. Speaking through tears, he said this never would have happened if not for the head injury he sustained from being assaulted.

I wish I had never gone to that bar, that I had never gone out at all that night, Byrne said. I wish I had never ever even been out here, then none of this would have happened. And Denise Smith, a great and wonderful woman, to be sure, she would still be alive and part of the world for much much longer.

Outside the courtroom, Tina Mack told The News Tribune that it was hard to say if Byrne had received a fair sentence. A life is gone, she said, and he still has one. But at the same time, she said, justice has been served. Mack said the mans apology seemed genuine.

I feel he is sorry for what hes done. Im a forgiving person. Its going to take a while, but my heart does go out to him. It does. I dont think hes a bad person, I just think it was a bad situation.

(c)2024 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

Visit at www.TheNewsTribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Jonathan McMahon (27) of Greenwood Walk, Blunden Drive, Dublin 13, was arrested by appointment

Over 460,000 was defrauded from the Trinity College hardship fund in a sophisticated scheme which involved over 200 separate transactions, a court has heard.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told that a garda investigation is continuing into the scheme, which resulted in around 461,275 being defrauded from the fund.

7,100 of this was transferred in four separate transactions between October 2020 and February 2021 into Jonathan McMahon's AIB and Revolut accounts. He entered a guilty plea to possession of the proceeds of crime.

An investigating garda told the court that there is no suggestion that McMahon personally applied to the hardship fund and that he has no connection to the college.

McMahon (27) of Greenwood Walk, Blunden Drive, Dublin 13, was arrested by appointment. When interviewed, he accepted that they were his accounts. He agreed that the money was not his, but he said that he had spent it.

The court heard gardai didn't believe his explanation.

The investigating garda said the money transferred to McMahon's Revolut account was quickly moved to a third party's account, while the money transferred to his AIB account was withdrawn, and gardai believe it was handed over to others.

The court heard that gardai put to McMahon that he was reckless and that he didn't seem to have made any money from the scheme when he was interviewed.

McMahon has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since this offence occurred. The investigating garda said it is unclear if McMahon acted as a money mule, adding there is no evidence that he was under duress.

The defence counsel said her client had a chaotic upbringing but a long work history. He is currently undertaking an apprenticeship and has brought 1,500 to court as compensation.

McMahon has started a new job and is willing to pay further compensation. The court was handed a letter from a former employer and an educational report from his time at secondary school.

Jonathan McMahon

McMahon has a mild intellectual disability and is easily led by others, defence counsel said. She added that her client was drinking heavily at the time of the offence and was involved with a negative peer group.

A letter of apology was also handed to the court. Counsel asked the court to consider leaving her client without a conviction and giving him the benefit of the Probation Act.

Judge Pauline Codd refused the defence's application, saying it would be inappropriate to impose the Probation Act, noting the number of transactions and that the offences occurred over a four-month period.

She said McMahon had allowed his account to be used in a sophisticated scheme in which money was transferred to a large number of people.

She noted there is an air of mystery about where the money transferred to McMahon went and described him as a small cog in the overall scheme of deception and fraud.

Judge Codd imposed a one-year prison sentence, which she suspended in full on strict conditions. She said there was significant mitigation in this case, including McMahon's guilty plea and expressions of remorse.

She directed him to hand over the sum of 1,500 and to pay an additional 2,000 as compensation to the hardship fund within the next 12 months.
CAIRO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit welcomed on Saturday the resolution recently adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member.

"The overwhelming vote in favor of the resolution clearly indicates the compass of global will and the direction of international public opinion," Aboul-Gheit was cited as saying in a statement released by the Cairo-based, pan-Arab organization.

On Friday, the UNGA overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring Palestine's eligibility for a full UN membership.

Adopted with 143 votes in favor, nine against, including the United States and Israel, and 25 abstentions, the resolution states that "the State of Palestine... should therefore be admitted to membership" and "recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably."

The AL chief said that the move "reflects the reality of Palestine's eligibility to obtain an independent state, and it also sends the right message to the Palestinians at a time when they are exposed to a full-fledged tragedy," referring to the ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Aboul-Gheit stressed that "countries convinced of the two-state solution must accelerate steps to transform this vision into reality," adding that "the recognition of the Palestinian state and its full membership in the UN represent important steps on this path."

He underlined the importance of continuing diplomatic pressures on the countries providing "political cover for Israel" within the UN.

The recent resolution came after the United States vetoed last month a bid at the Security Council to grant the Palestinian state a full UN membership. 
Gavin Ryan (34) of Mount Suir Apartments, Gracedieu, Waterford, was convicted of shooting Clifford Power twice in the chest

Lawyers for a gunman who was jailed for 11.5 years for shooting another man in the chest have appealed his conviction, arguing that a garda who entered his residence without a warrant breached his constitutional rights.

In July 2021 at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court, Gavin Ryan (34) of Mount Suir Apartments, Gracedieu, Waterford, was convicted of shooting Clifford Power twice in the chest at Gracedieu in December 2019, leaving him with "life-threatening injuries". Mr Power underwent life-saving surgery for his wounds.

Ryan had pleaded not guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, assault causing serious harm, possession of ammunition and possession of amphetamines with intent of sale or supply on December 23, 2019.

However, a jury found him guilty on all four counts and on November 25, 2021, Judge Eugene OKelly sentenced Ryan to 13.5 years in prison with the final two years suspended.

At the Court of Appeal, Colman FitzGerald SC, for Ryan, submitted that a garda who entered Ryans residence before any search warrant had been granted breached the appellants constitutional rights.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Garda TJ Coughlan, among other gardai, carried out door-to-door inquiries at the apartment block where the shooter was thought to have fled.

The trial heard that Ryan had been captured on CCTV at the shop buying a drink and yoghurt which were later discovered at his address.

The trial heard that Gda Coughlan attended 15-20 addresses at the apartment block and that when he reached Ryan's home the door was open. He identified himself as a Garda before he entered the premises, where he saw an ammunition box and drug paraphernalia.

Gda Coughlan told colleagues of what he had seen, which was relayed to a sergeant who then applied for a search warrant of the apartment.

The trial heard that gardai were able to trace Ryans movements after the shooting, from Waterford, to Carrick-on-Suir and then onto Dublin, where he was arrested on December 24 at an Ibis hotel. The firearm was never recovered.

The search of the apartment carried out under warrant revealed a bullet in a bedside locker which matched the spent cartridges from the scene, multiple documents in the name of Gavin Ryan, together with photos of the appellant and amphetamines valued at 1,680.

Counsel for Ryan submitted that the trial judge erred in ruling admissible evidence which was the result of an entry and search of the appellants home conducted without a warrant in breach of his constitutional rights.

It was further submitted on behalf of the appellant that the items found during the course of the search under the District Court warrant were procured on foot of information that was unconstitutionally obtained.

Alice Fawsitt SC, for the State, submitted that gardai were making door-to-door inquiries in the hours after the shooting.

The shooter, who had run back into the apartment complex with a firearm, had not been located, nor had the firearm. Gardai found the apartment open and did not know who resided there or what had occurred in the time after the shooter returned into the apartment block.

Gardai made the minimum requirements necessary to establish there was no immediate risk or issue with any person potentially therein being injured, submitted counsel.

The actions of the relevant gardai were entirely appropriate, lawful and proportionate to the very unusual situation that presented. In the circumstances, there was no breach of the appellants constitutional rights as alleged, or at all, submitted Ms Fawsitt.

Here, there is clear evidence that the material that gave rise to the suspicion leading to the search warrant was obtained unconstitutionally, said Mr FitzGerald.

Mr FitzGerald said there was no basis that Gda Coughlan could have realistically have bona fide believed the life and limbs of anybody were at risk, as there was nobody in the flat.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the court would reserve its judgement in the case.
CAB has claimed Mr Zeman was known to have ties to organised crime and had convictions in Sweden for drug-dealing

A Swedish man alleged to have links to organised crime has failed in his bid to stop the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) from transferring more than 600,000 to the State.

The bureau seized the money more than a decade ago, claiming it was the proceeds of a credit card scam dating back to 2002.

However, Harry Zeman, a director of the Swedish company allegedly behind the scam, Routeback Media, took a legal challenge to prevent the funds being transferred to the State.

The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal in a judgment delivered on Friday, ending one of CABs longest-running and most-litigated cases.

CAB has claimed Mr Zeman was known to have ties to organised crime and had convictions in Sweden for drug-dealing.

He had denied links to organised crime and claimed the funds were the proceeds of legitimate business.

A large number of transactions were rejected by banks

The disputed funds date back to 2002, when Mr Zemans company, Routeback Media, launched an internet sales business selling email accounts worldwide for $9.95 (9.22).

The credit card transactions were processed by an Irish company, EuroConex. The company quickly became suspicious. It had expected to process 1,000 credit card transactions a year but was hit with 80,000 in a matter of days.

A large number of transactions were rejected by banks for reasons such as the card was stolen, the account number was invalid or it had insufficient funds.

Three American banks told EuroConex that the transactions for the Routeback merchant number were all fraudulent.

EuroConex terminated its contract with Routeback and reported the company to Swedish police and later to gardai and the Revenue Commissioners.

The proceeds of Routebacks 2002 email account sale  $657,710  were seized by CAB as the proceeds of crime following a High Court case in 2011.

When CAB applied to transfer the money to the State in 2018, Mr Zeman and Routeback again objected, with Mr Zeman ultimately taking a case to the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal delivered a judgment on Friday

In earlier legal hearings relating to the case, CAB claimed Mr Zemans brother was found to have been in possession of electronic equipment used to create fraudulent credit card numbers and that he had fled Sweden after this discovery.

CAB produced a statement from a Swedish police officer who said Routeback had been investigated in Sweden in 2001 for similar suspect credit card transactions.

The Swedish officer concluded that the primary person behind Routeback at the time was Kristian Zeman, a brother of Harry Zeman.

Harry Zeman said his drug convictions related to his personal drug use

Investigations by Swiss police found that Kristian Zeman had 100,000 in a Swiss bank account and that when Kristian Zeman was informed that the Swiss authorities had been investigating him, he fled to Australia.

Harry Zeman denied links to organised crime and said his drug convictions related to his personal drug use. While his brother did go to Australia, he was not fleeing and went there to attend university.

He said his brother has had full- time employment in the courts of Sweden and has served as a law clerk and a judge in the administrative court of appeal in Stockholm and the administrative court of Uppsala, exhibiting documents as proof, according to the judgment.

In the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Donald Binchy dismissed the various legal arguments put forward by Mr Zeman and awarded costs against him.
Lodger was harassed after seeing phone balanced on laundry in her bathroom

THIS is the first picture to be published of pervert taxi driver Le Wang who secretly recorded a female student tenant as she showered and then used the footage to harass her.

Sleazy driver Wang  who motors around the city in a 171-registered silver Ford Tourneo  now faces the loss of his taxi licence after he was convicted of harassment.

The 42-year-old, who is due to be sentenced on Thursday, was remanded in custody last week to give him the opportunity to think about what he did.

I want him to look about him and think about what he did in the meantime, said Judge Martin Nolan, noting that Wang had videoed the woman twice in the shower and was attempting to do it a third time when the victim noticed the phone.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Wang, of Balally Drive, Dundrum, Dublin, secretly filmed his lodger while she was showering and then harassed her for months.

He pleaded guilty to harassing a foreign student over three months between December 2022 and March 2023.

Le Wangs Ford Tourneo taxi

Wang had hidden the phone in a laundry basket balanced on clothes at the foot of the bathtub, the court heard.

Judge Nolan said when confronted, Wang implied threats to disclose the videos and harassed the young woman for three months, which had been very distressing for her.

The court heard that the woman had arrived in Ireland from China in 2021 to study and was offered a room to rent in Wangs house.

Garda Paul Kane told Jane Murphy BL, prosecuting, that the woman paid 950 for her first months rent in December 2022.

She told gardai that when she moved in, Wang started to text her every day, asking her things like what she was up to and whether she would like to go to a bar.

He also asked her to let him know when she wanted to have a shower, the court heard.

On December 20, 2022, the woman was in the bathroom getting ready to have a shower when she noticed the accuseds mobile phone balancing on clothes in the laundry basket.

She immediately brought it to the attention of Wangs wife, who said her husband must have put it there by accident and gave it back to him.

Wang overheard the conversation and heard the student crying, the court heard.

That evening, he sent her a series of text messages to the effect that she had to move out the next day.

The messages also contained the following threats: If you make a big deal out of what happened tonight and ruin my family, I have a way of ruining your reputation. You better pretend nothing happened tonight.

The student moved out that evening. Wangs wife later rang the injured party and told her she had looked through her husbands phone and found many videos of her on it.

In the months that followed, Wang tried to contact the student through several social media apps, including WhatsApp and WeChat, a messaging app used by the Chinese community.

The woman always tried to block his contact, and after 18 incidents of attempted conversations, the harassment ended on March 11, 2023.

Wang was asking the woman to come back to the house, asking where she was and saying he wanted to apologise to her.

Gardai seized his phone and found two videos of the woman naked in the shower, taken on December 5 and 10, 2022.

Garda Kane said the videos had been deleted and then restored, and photos had been screenshot from them and shared to Wangs own WeChat app.

Wang has no previous convictions.

A victim impact statement was handed to the judge but was not read aloud.

Garda Kane agreed with Marc Murphy BL, defending that there was no suggestion that the images or videos had been shared with anyone else.

The court heard that Wang cooperated fully with gardai and seemed to suggest to them that his behaviour had been an extraordinary misjudgement or a moment of madness.

Many moments of madness, interjected Judge Nolan.

Wang came to Ireland about 20 years ago from China and has always worked, the court heard. He is currently self-employed as a taxi driver.

The court heard that a psychological report placed Wang at a low risk of recidivism.
Over 700 people flock to watch strip show which caused Devenish controversy, while a group of local ministers condemn the performance

(left to right) Big Ben of the UK Pleasure Boys, Frostbit Boy Ruairi McSorley and Big Nate and Dom O'Nate from the dance troupe

Niall Carson, Lewis Latimer, Laura Sullivan and Natalie Ryans waiting to go into the show

There was a picket by around two dozen members of Moneyslane Free Presbyterian Church at The Bannville Hotel in Banbridge

More than 700 people defied a picket by around two dozen members of Moneyslane Free Presbyterian Church at The Bannville Hotel in Banbridge for the return of the Magic Mike-style dance troupe.

The controversy surrounding the erotic dance group after viral videos of their performance at the Devenish in west Belfast in February didnt seemed to deter people from all over Northern Ireland coming to see the strip show.

Many of those who turned up on Saturday night said they only became aware of the Pleasure Boys because of the viral videos from The Devenish which showed a number of women mimicking sexual acts with the nude erotic dancers on stage.

Police and council officials launched separate investigations. The PSNI later closed their case but a Belfast City Council inquiry is ongoing.

Lewis Latimer (36) from Ballyclare, was one of the first on the scene at The Bannville before doors officially opened.

He said: Ive been to Thailand, these shows are like nothing compared to everything over there, so calm down everyone!

His friend, Niall Carson (34) even has a favourite Pleasure Boy - Jay - and he joked that hes hoping to find Mr Right now that the performers are back in town.

Either that or Im hoping theyll pick me from the crowd and ask me to join the group, he said.

I think people overreacted [to The Devenish show]. Id say all their shows are like that, but over here its so backwards and its only because those videos got out.

Tonight could be the same [as The Devenish] but people wont know because theres no recording allowed.

I don't think its a big deal.

Niall Carson, Lewis Latimer, Laura Sullivan and Natalie Ryans waiting to go into the show

When asked if they would feel embarrassed to be photographed or filmed at the show, Lewis stated: No way - my grannys not alive anymore, so I dont care who knows Im here!

Natalie Ryans (24) said she had been to Magic Mike shows in England before so wanted to check out the Pleasure Boys performance.

"I want to see what all the attention on this was about. It will be a different type of night out.

Big Nate, one of the Pleasure Boys involved in the controversy the last time they were in Northern Ireland with their XXL tour, said that he had a really good experience the last time, barring everything that was said about it.

He added: Overall, it was a positive experience, hence the reason we came back.

I hope everyone enjoys it, and that the roof lifts and theres a scream and a half.

Big Nate also noted that the clips of their Belfast appearance - which have been viewed and shared online hundreds of thousands of times - have changed many of the Pleasure Boys lives completely.

(left to right) Big Ben of the UK Pleasure Boys, Frostbit Boy Ruairi McSorley and Big Nate and Dom O'Nate from the dance troupe

From the second we got off the plane in Northern Ireland here - before we even got on the plane, in Newcastle Airport - people noticed us and then knew that we were coming here, and were taking pictures, he revealed.

Its literally like being a celebrity. Its been the maddest 24 hours, and Im not used to it. Im a normal guy who works Monday to Friday otherwise, so for people to come up to us and all know who we are, its just crazy.

They have even grabbed the attention of Ruairi McSorley - better known as Frostbit Boy - who has launched his own podcast, with three of the Pleasure Boys becoming his first guests.

Ruairi himself found fame thanks to a viral video of him as a schoolboy on UTV news in 2015 during a cold snap when he said you wouldnt be long gettin frostbit.

However, not everyone was pleased with the strippers Co Down comeback.

The Moneyslane Free Presbyterian Church protest came after a group of local Free Presbyterian ministers deemed Saturday nights performance a filthy display of perversion.

In an open letter to The Bannville, Rev. Daniel Henderson, Rev. Gregory McCammon, Rev. David Smith and Rev. John Gray said they felt it was necessary to expose such wickedness and challenge those who would publicise it.

The conduct of such entertainers is sinful in the sight of Almighty God and whatever the prevailing opinion may be to the attendees of these iniquitous and immoral performances, there is ultimately only one opinion that matters - and that is the opinion of Almighty God whom we must all stand before and give account, it read.

Saturday nights show involved extra security personnel, no video recordings of any kind, and the dancers had agreed not to go fully nude.

Managing director of The Pleasure Boys, John Woodward, said that while the show is still a full monty act in the rest of the UK, due to legal barriers in Northern Ireland, they have had to respect local regulations.

But, we do get right down and close to the knuckle, John added.

The Pleasure Boys will also be back again in Co Tyrone next month, with the Silverbirch Hotel in Omagh advertising a show for June 22.
The former Love Island star, who is based in London, made her way back to Ireland and spent some quality time with her niece.

Maura Higgins had a flying visit home over the weekend to celebrate her nieces first Holy Communion.

The former Love Island star, who is based in London, made her way back to Ireland and spent some quality time with her niece.

She shared some sweet photos from the big day on Instagram, posing with Isabella outside the church and looking glam as ever in a 525 cream boucle dress from Self Portrait.

Maura paired the dress with a pair of brown sling back court heels and a matching quilted bag, while her hair was styled in a messy bun for the occasion.

In one picture, the Longford lady sat beside her niece and beamed, which she captioned: Shes growing up way too quick.

She also enjoyed a family meal after the mass, showing off her dinner plate packed with a delicious carvery.

Guests were also treated to an extravagant cake decorated with pink and white flowers as well as Isabellas name in gold lettering, sitting above a metallic cross.

Sharing a black and white photo of herself and Isabella in their communion attire, Maura wrote: Best friends for life, adding a white heart emoji.

Her pal and fellow Love Islander Molly-Mae Hague commented: Beautiful angels.

Other followers were pleased by the sweet family day out and flooded the comments section with delighted messages.

One person said: So wholesome, such wonderful memories for you and your family.

Another wrote: What a beautiful little girl. Beautiful picture.

And someone else added: Love this! So much happiness!

It comes after Maura reportedly split from Hollywood stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton earlier this year.

Fans began to speculate that there had been a rift between the two back in March after the pair unfollowed each other on social media.

Photos first emerged of the attractive pair last May, and they were later spotted kissing while sunbathing on a beach in Ibiza together.

Its reported that while the couple enjoyed their time together, Maura realised that there was no future for the pair.

The couple seemed to be going from strength to strength and while they were coy about publicly discussing their relationship, they did share moments online and enjoyed several luxury holidays together.

In December, Maura appeared on the Late Late Show where she told Patrick Kielty that she was loved up.

'"I am no more single. Very happy relationship, she said as the audience cheered.

She then revealed her boyfriend was sitting in the studio audience to support her, saying: He is. He's there somewhere.

Patrick then teased: He's a good looking devil, I'm not going to lie and Maura responded Oh he is.

Bobby is a successful stuntman, performing in several movies and regularly playing Chris Hemsworth's stunt double for a decade.
The Dubliner shared the happy news in an Instagram post, revealing Jamie popped the question last Friday at Poolbeg Lighthouse.

The Dubliner shared the happy news in an Instagram post, revealing Jamie popped the question while on an early morning walk last Friday at Poolbeg Lighthouse.

Clontarf native Holly wrote: 10/05/24. Our most special sunrise stroll. Heres to forever, alongside a photo of Jamie down on one knee by the seafront proposing to her with the couples rescue dog Max in the middle of the action.

Further pictures showed the couple beaming with joy as they hugged in front of the lighthouse with Max cuddled between them.

Model Pamela Uba, podcaster Jenny Claffey and stylist Clementine MacNeice were among those who showered the couple with congratulations.

Former Miss Ireland Holly confirmed her relationship with Cork native Jamie two years ago after meeting online and getting together during lockdown.

She said that shes very happy with him but teased at the time that she wouldnt be giving anything away about him".

Despite everything going on I think in this day and age we are really lucky with dating apps and technology that we can actually meet new people and connect without ever leaving our house, so that's really positive, she told sundayworld.com.

"When it comes to dating, even if you have been single for years, I think it's really important to stay positive."
Its the twist in the tale  a feel-good one.

Because, all along, Western Bay Museum volunteer Pauline McCowan knew the family of the mysterious Jessie in the World War II battlefront diary she had been transcribing.

But she just didnt know it at the time.

I was overjoyed  its incredible, isnt it?

As outlined in The Weekend Suns recent articles, Pauline had spent months laboriously transcribing the 1940 red, leather-bound war diary which had been bequeathed to the museum. December 16 1940  Blowing a hell of a dust stormgave troops a lesson on the Vickers gun

The diary recorded the thoughts, feelings and moments in the life of Lieutenant Russell Freeland Walford of Katikati, killed December 1943 during the Italian campaign.

But Paulines labours cut deep.

It was a beautiful job, but I would have to stop and take deep breaths.

"It reminded me so much of my father.

When Russell Walford came home briefly in 1941 to teach troops to drive tanks, something he specialised in, Paulines dads medical unit moved into Orsogna on the Gustav line, the main German defensive line, exactly where Russell had been.

Dad came home, Russell didnt.

It was all a bit close to the bonebut good stuff.

All the time Pauline wondered about Jessie who featured frequently in the soldiers diary entries.

October 23, 1940  Went for swim, wrote air mail to Jessie.

That was the 27th time in 10 months the soldier had written to Jessie.

But no one knew who Jessie was.

Jessie was just a Christian name.

Jessies daughter

That was until The Sun got drawn into Paulines red diary story and found Jessies daughter Deborah, or Debbie, living in Auckland.

Through the diary Pauline had developed a very close connection to the memory of the dead soldier Russell Freeland Walford.

And now weve been able to connect her with Jessies daughter.

They had a long telephone chat.

A wonderful moment, says Pauline.

It is incredible.

Now Deborah wants to read Russells diary  a year in the life of a man her mother loved and then lost. The museum volunteer will make it happen.

The other wow aspect of this story is that all those months Pauline was pondering about the mysterious Jessie, she already knew of Deborah  but there was no reason to connect her with Jessie.

She knew Deborah but she didnt know she was Jessies daughter.

Deborah and I were teachers at the same school in Auckland.

And years later a soldiers musings in a little red war diary would reconnect them in a special way.

A challenge

Then a challenge to Katikati College head students Leilani Rooks and Hamish Tanner.

Id like to think that sometime in the future, perhaps when youre doing your OE, you will visit Russells grave and put a poppy on his headstone.

The Sun had earlier introduced the pair to the fallen Katikati war heros story in its Anzac Day coverage.

School trip, lets do it! says Leilani.

One day Leilani, sometime.

They were also both surprised and delighted to learn Jessies back story.

I thought she might have been a partner, a girlfriend, clearly someone he missed.

"But I wasnt expecting an engagement, says Leilani.

She thinks Russell and Jessies love story is the stuff of books and movies.

Hes fighting for his country but hes got a girlfriend back home he wants to marry.

But it wouldnt happen.

Jessie lost one love to war but would be blessed with another.

She would marry returned soldier and Prisoner of War John Gardner, settle in Auckland and have five children, including Deborah.

Russell Walfords diary and service medals are now in the safe keeping of the Western Bay Museum in Katikati.
A new documentary fronted by Ria Hall is highlighting the disparities that mama Maori face as they enter what should be the most amazing time of their lives.

Ria - Ngai te Rangi, Ngati Ranginui, Te Whanau-a-Apanui - joined Mapuna to speak about the documentary, whether she will perform at Te Matatini next year and her recent mayoral announcement in Tauranga.

"While it's dark there's lots of hope in there as well," she says of the 15-minute documentary 'It takes a kainga'."

The rates of suicide among Maori mums were unacceptable and horrific, says Ria.

The documentary was about firstly illuminating those statistics and secondly trying to create support systems, she says.

"It's really about highlighting the realities that not all mama have good support, and the disconnections from whenua, from place, from whanau, marae, hapu, iwi, from localities, maunga, awa, has really continued to have a profound impact on our mama and their abilities to be themselves."

Reclamation of traditional Maori birthing practices and normalising tikanga around birth and babies were some of the things that mama could begin to put into practice, she says.

Ria says the documentary puts the spotlight on the issue of well-being for mama Maori and encourages them to start having conversations among themselves.

"[The documentary] encourages society and perhaps the powers that be to start thinking about other ways that we might be able to mitigate these statistics and it encourages us to look at our own support systems."

Ria says in her experience as a mum with three young children her first port of call was to reach out to a counsellor for support.

She says even if mama had just one person to support them that was a win in her book, because there were so many situations where mama felt isolated and unsupported.

"Speaking for myself I know it's a difficult thing, we live in a modern time, lots of disconnect. We don't necessarily have access to our own whenua, our own papakainga, our own landmarks and I understand that but it's the attempt and the intention which is a great starting point for our whanau, for our mama."
Nurses are finishing their shifts distraught and upset because of understaffing in Te Whatu Ora hospitals, a union delegate says.

It comes as new data shows one in four Te Whatu Ora hospital shifts, on average, were understaffed last year.

Te Whatu Ora says it is extremely conscious of the impact of shortages and has made significant headway in addressing it, including recruitment, training and increasing pay.

Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation gathered outside Tauranga Hospital on Thursday, as rallies took place in 22 locations across the country ahead of the Budget being announced on May 30.

NZNO delegate and Tauranga Hospital nurse Lucy Waller says nurses are running short-staffed all the time and the impact is soul-destroying.

You have your patients that really need you and you cant be there for them, which makes it really difficult to do your job ...

It leaves you feeling burnt out  you leave your shifts distraught and upset.

A nurse for 20 years, Kucy says she wants legally enforceable nurse-to-patient ratios.

She knows many nurses who have gone to Australia to work because of better ratios.

They feel supported, they know that theyre going to be able to provide for their patients ... and they know that its strictly adhered to because, when its not, theres penalties.

The burnout is real

Shannyn Bristowe, an NZNO delegate and third-year student nurse at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, says members are rallying for ratio justice.

The burnout is real ... we do not have enough nurses ... to provide good care for our patients, says Shannyn, who does nursing placements at Whakatane Hospital.

Shannyn Bristowe, an NZNO delegate and third-year student nurse, speaking at a rally outside Tauranga Hospital. Photo / Alex Cairns.

We also need to ensure that were creating a culturally appropriate nurse-to-patient ratio because we do really need to focus on building up our Maori nursing workforce.

There are disparities in the health of Maori and Pasifika whanau because of the lack thereof.

The Government must prioritise investing in both the present and future workforce.

Data reveals alarming nursing crisis

An NZNO media release says it received information under the Official Information Act revealing the alarming nurse staffing crisis in public hospitals.

The average of one in four shifts being understaffed last year equated to 158,966 shifts below target.

Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley recorded the highest number of understaffed shifts with 22,163.

Bay of Plenty recorded 5393 understaffed shifts last year and Lakes recorded 2951.

Nurse Amber Benson attending the rally outside Tauranga Hospital. Photo / Alex Cairns.

NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter says shifts below target indicate a heightened level of risk for patient safety, patient outcomes and nursing workforce safety.

Patient mortality increases with exposure to increased numbers of shifts below target, he says.

We simply cannot afford any further service or funding cuts.

NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says nurse-to-patient ratios had been implemented in Australia, California, British Columbia, Ireland and Wales with exceptional results for nurses, patients and health budgets.

Te Whatu Ora: We understand the risks very well

Christine Lowry, Health NZ Te Whatu Oras acting national director for hospital and specialist services, acknowledges nurse staffing has been challenging.

The OIA figures reflect a wider issue of health workforce shortages in New Zealand and internationally, which Health NZ has made significant headway in addressing.

As of July 2023, it was estimated New Zealand was short about 4800 nurses.

We are extremely conscious of the impact of these shortages, on patients, nurses themselves and the wider health system. We understand the risks very well.

The number of nurses employed by Health NZ rose in 2023 by almost 2500 compared with December 2022, she says.

As at December 2023, the vacancy rate for nurses was down to 6 per cent. There were about 28,200 nursing full-time equivalents across Health NZ, about 38 per cent of its total workforce.

Between August 2022 and March 2024, it supported 3200 internationally qualified nurses to complete a competence assessment programme.

To qualify, nurses were required to have a confirmed offer of employment in a direct patient-facing role, such as in hospitals, aged care facilities, GP practices or with mental health and addictions services.

Changes to health immigration settings have made a huge difference in making New Zealand attractive to overseas-trained nurses.

While this has helped to close many generalist nursing vacancies, Health NZ continued to recruit overseas for specialist nurses.

Christine says it's equally focused on increasing the domestic workforce.

There are 7400 degree-level nursing students training at any given time, alongside a smaller cohort of enrolled nursing students.

Bachelor of Nursing clinical placements have grown by 80 in 2024, she says.

Te Whatu Ora is also focused on ensuring enrolled nurses were supported and was working with Te Pukenga and the Nursing Council to develop a national, full-time work, part-time study option.

Nursing pay rises by up to 60 per cent since 2017

Since 2017, the starting salary for a graduate nurse has risen from about $49,500 to $75,500  a 53.2 per cent increase, says Christine.

The top step for a registered nurse had risen from $66,750 to $106,739  a 60 per cent increase.

The top step for a senior nurse had risen from $115,000 to $162,800  a 41.6 per cent increase.

This did not include the $25,000 lump sum for pay equity paid in two tranches in 2023.

Waitangi Nathan (health care assistant), Molly Happi, Sydney Wharewera-Rua (4 months old) and Stacey Wharewera (third-year student nurse and NZNO delegate) at the rally outside Tauranga Hospital. Photo / Alex Cairns.

Christine says Health NZ focused on upskilling nurses, for example through the Nurse Practitioner Training Programme, which this year had its highest intake of 121 participants.

The latest data from the Nursing Council shows there are 77,634 nurses with current annual practising certificates, up from 68,277 two years ago.

However, the demand for nurses is not static, it continues to grow due to a growing and ageing population. So we will remain focused on this area.

-Bay of Plenty Times.
A heavy rain watch is in place for the Bay of Plenty.

The MetService is forecasting heavy rain to move onto the region on Wednesday.

"A low pressure system in the Tasman Sea is expected to move eastwards across New Zealand during Wednesday, bringing rain to much of the country," says the latest update from the weather organisation.

"The heaviest rain is expected over the Tasman District and eastern Bay of Plenty, where Heavy Rain Watches are now in force.

"People are advised to keep up to date with the latest forecasts, in case these are upgraded or further areas are added."

While today and tomorrow are expected to be mostly fine, the MetService says there is a chance for a shower or two before the heaviest rain moves in on Wednesday.

Image: MetService.



Heavy Rain Watch

Area: The eastern ranges of Bay of Plenty

Valid: 15 hours from 9:00am Wed 15 May to 12:00am Thu 16 May

Forecast: A period of heavy rain, and amounts may approach warning criteria.



Area: Tasman about and west of Motueka

Valid: 13 hours from 4:00am Wed 15 May to 5:00pm Wed 15 May

Forecast: A period of heavy rain, and amounts may approach warning criteria.




OTTAWA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Canadian police have arrested a fourth Indian national related to last year's murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, local media reported Saturday.

Amandeep Singh, who had already been in custody in Ontario for unrelated firearms charges, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Canada's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced Saturday afternoon, CTV News reported.

The 22-year-old joined three other Indian nationals in their twenties, namely Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh, who are facing the same charges in connection to Nijjar's killing, said the report.

On June 18, 2023, Nijjar was assassinated outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, Canada's British Columbia. Since then, the Sikh community in Canada has been exerting pressure on the Canadian government for a probe.

Last September, as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an explosive statement in the House of Commons that his government was pursuing "credible allegations" from Canadian intelligence against New Delhi for playing a role in the assassination of Nijjar, the relationship between the two countries hit a new low.

India has denied the allegations. Canada and India then engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

Nijjar had been a prominent advocate of the Khalistan movement, which seeks to establish a separate homeland for the Sikh community in India's northwestern Punjab region.

Canada is home to about 770,000 Sikhs, the highest population outside India's Punjab region, and the Indian government has for decades expressed its displeasure with some community members' outspoken support for Khalistan. 
Cristina Vallejo Malaga Sunday, 12 May 2024, 07:23 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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Malaga gained exactly 3,226 more residents in the first quarter of 2024, making a total of 1,774,447 inhabitants in the province. This is the fifth largest increase in the country, behind Madrid (30,724 residents), Barcelona (18,387), Valencia (10,541) and Alicante (5,884). Still, relatively speaking, as a percentage of the population Malaga is a little further behind the other provinces in the ranking of resident gains. To be precise, those 3,226 residents added to Malaga's population between 1 January and 1 April equates to a rise of 0.18%, well behind the percentage increases in Madrid, Castellon and Valencia, where the increase is equivalent to 0.4%. These are figures from the latest Continuous Population Statistics (CPS) collated from the Continuous Household Survey and published last Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

In Spain as a whole, the number of residents has risen by 82,346, which represents an increase of 0.17%, to 48.692 million people. Therefore, Malaga's population continues to grow slightly more than the Spanish average. However, something unprecedented has happened in the province during this period. For the first time since quarterly records began, going back to 2021, there has been a reduction in the number of residents in the province who were also born in Spain. Specifically, on 1 April 2024 there were 223 fewer Spaniards living in the province than on 1 January, to a total of 1,361,799 people. Before 2021 the INE published half-yearly data, and in no six-month period had there been a fall in the number of Spanish-born residents in the province either.

3,449 new residents born in other countries are the ones sustaining Malaga's demographic growth, because the population of Spanish origin fell by 223 in the first quarter

This means that the growth in the number of residents in Malaga in the last quarter rests exclusively on people born outside Spain. Their numbers have risen by 3,449, reaching a total of 412,648 foreign residents.

This phenomenon is country-wide: in this first quarter Spain has lost 37,303 citizens born in Spain, compared with the gain of nearly 120,000 foreign residents.

23.25% of residents were born outside Spain

As of 1 April this year, 23.25% of residents in Malaga were born abroad, compared to 18.31% in Spain (almost nine million people). This makes Malaga the ninth province in mainland Spain - and the tenth if we include Melilla as Spanish-held territory - with the highest proportion of residents born outside Spain. Alicante and the Balearic Islands are at the top of this list with foreign residents making up over 27% of their populations. In Andalucia, Almeria is ahead of Malaga at 24.5%.

In absolute numbers, Malaga, with just over 412,000 residents, is the province with the fifth highest number of foreign residents. However, in terms of total number of residents, it is in sixth place, behind Madrid - with almost 1.7 million - Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Seville.

But in the last quarter there have been Spanish provinces that have lost residents. That list is headed up by Zaragoza, which has seen its number of residents fall by 2,761 people, followed by Cordoba, which has dropped by 2,264. This latter province is not the only one in Andalucia to have lost population: Jaen has seen its number of residents fall by 643 and Seville by 422.

14,500 more residents in the last 12 months

So, Malaga has gained residents in the first quarter of this year thanks to the addition of residents born in other countries, as the number of those born in Spain has fallen. This begs the question as to whether this balances out better when we look at the last twelve months. Well, the increase in the number of residents in the last year has been 0.82%, i.e. just over 14,500 residents, making Malaga the seventh province with the highest number of residents, after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, the Balearic Islands and Murcia. In this case, both people born in Spain and foreigners made a positive contribution: the former grew by almost 1,500, while the latter increased by just over 13,000.

Looking at the whole country, the resident population of Spain has increased by nearly half a million people in the last twelve months, i.e. by almost 1%. In this case the growth occurred despite what happened to those born in Spain, which fell by nearly 70,000 people to 39.77 million, compared with an increase of almost 530,000 more foreign-born residents.

3,711 residents less counted in Cordoba, the province that has suffered the greatest demographic loss in the last twelve months.

In the last year, Cordoba and Jaen have topped the Spanish league table in terms of loss of residents: the former has lost 3,711 residents and the latter has lost just over 1,500 between 1 April 2023 and the same date this year. Leon, Caceres, Zamora, Badajoz and Salamanca are also experiencing decreases in population.
Nuria Triguero Malaga Sunday, 12 May 2024, 07:04 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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The Malaga-based company Freepik has closed its biggest acquisition to date by buying up Magnific, a startup led by two people from Murcia that in just five months has managed to leave the world open-mouthed with the magic it is capable of doing with images. Even Elon Musk joined the viral enthusiasm generated by this tool based on generative artificial intelligence, and today it already has 725,000 registered users "with zero investment", according to its founders.

Magnific was launched in November 2023 by Javi Lopez and Emilio Nicolas, two entrepreneurs from Murcia who set out to use the knowledge they had accumulated in generative AI to create a startup with zero team, zero investment and relying on AI to develop the code. User growth has been meteoric: in the first 24 hours 60,000 people signed up to the waiting-list and in five months they have exceeded 700,000 users, "many of them paying users", say the founders (they do not give exact figures). Javi Lopez himself highlighted this this week on the social network X, comparing it with the lengthier time it took some tech giants to reach their first million users: Netflix three and a half years, Airbnb two and a half years, Twitter two years and Facebook ten months.

It looks like magic, but it's AI

Magnific has pioneered a new collection of tools that they have defined as 'reimagined upscaling'. This is a tool that increases the dimensions of an image while significantly improving its quality and resolution. It also allows users to control any changes and add new details. In addition, low-resolution images can be enhanced and used for all kinds of creative projects: billboard design, video games, photo editing or animation film production, among others.

Zoom Javi Lopez and Emilio Nicolas flanking Joaquin Cuenca, CEO of Freepik, in a picture taken after signing the acquisition deal. SUR

The tool significantly streamlines user workflow with images that can be enhanced quickly. The real-time enhancement feature offered by the tool is much faster than its competitors: it used to take days to achieve the same result with Adobe Photoshop and now it's completed in just a matter of seconds. "In addition, with the new Style Transfer feature, users can transform the image at will and control the amount of style and structural integrity they bring to the new version of the image," Freepik explained in a statement.

The match with Freepik is obvious: the Malaga-based company has positioned itself as a world leader in the development of creative tools as well as the distribution of graphic and audiovisual content and generative AI tools. In turn, Magnific is "the best AI tool on the market to optimise, resize and transform images", according to Freepik, which describes this deal as its "largest strategic purchase" (costs are not disclosed). They had previously acquired EyeEm from Germany in 2023, Videvo from the UK, Original Mockups from Colombia and Iconfinder from Denmark in 2022.

To put things in perspective, to really understand what 725k registered users in 5m means look at this chart. Somehow, just two guys from the little city of Murcia, Spain, have made a historic mark among the big players! 



And all without spending a dime on advertising! pic.twitter.com/LcQFs3l7UR  Javi Lopez  (@javilopen) May 7, 2024

As a result of this acquisition Freepik will enrich its offering of AI-based tools with Magnific's cutting-edge technology. The company founders will continue to "develop and test new and innovative AI ideas" and Magnific will continue to operate as an independent company and subsidiary of Freepik. In addition, both co-founders will work alongside Omar Pera, VP of Freepik Labs (Freepik's AI and innovation team), to develop cutting-edge solutions for Freepik users.

The second time was the charm

Thanks to Magnific's success, the company has been highly coveted and has received multiple approaches. In fact, it received its first proposal from Freepik on launch day, but the offer was turned down. But in the end, the Malaga-based company has won the day thanks to the chemistry between each company's founders, it turns out they were previously acquainted. "A few weeks ago, someone asked if we would consider an acquisition approach. I said, 'Yes, but only with someone who shares our values and will help us achieve something big faster. That's the key,'" explains Javi Lopez.

Joaquin Cuenca Abela, CEO and co-founder of Freepik, comments: "I have long been a fan of Javi and Emilio, their AI expertise and the community they have built. In fact, Javi has been part of Freepik's AI partner programme for quite some time, as well as being a friend of mine, and has shared his own impressions of our AI tools during their beta phase. Magnific will complement our AI toolset. Also, having Javi and Emilio's experience and vision on our team will make Freepik even more important when it comes to artificial intelligence, and that's critical to Freepik's future and our global expansion."

Javi Lopez, co-founder of Magnific, adds: "When you find another company like Freepik with which you share both values and mission, sharing resources to achieve great goals was obviously the next step to take. Magnific and Freepik share a clear vision: we want to help everyone express the power of their ideas. Now we will work together to shape that reality."

Zoom

Emilio Nicolas, for his part, states: "From day one, we have had conversations with Joaquin and we have shared both our point of view and our aspirations for the future. It is as if we were on the same wavelength, especially because we are from the Vega del Segura area. For us, Joaquin is a pioneer and what he has built in Freepik together with his team is incredible. So, little by little, we saw the potential of this merger between our projects. There is nothing more exciting than joining forces to shape the future of this industry. Together, we are set to surf the waves of generative AI, but this time on an even firmer board - Freepik + Magnific!"

Carlos Marin, Freepik's CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) who led the deal, says: "At Freepik, improving the user experience remains our top priority. Our latest acquisition, Magnific, not only complements, but also enriches our existing set of AI-enabled tools. We are delighted to move forward and bring such a talented team on board. This marks another significant milestone in Freepik's continued growth and our commitment to an AI-driven future."

Omar Pera, VP of Freepik Labs, has the final say: "Freepik is a technology company with a strong focus on artificial intelligence, enabling the generation of more than one million AI images per day. With Magnific's technology, which is a benchmark among design professionals, Freepik will be able to stay at the forefront of generative AI and innovate faster, while maintaining its high standards."
Syracuse, N.Y.  Syracuse University awarded 6,607 degrees to students at its commencement Sunday morning in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Thousands gathered at the commencement ceremony at 9:30 a.m. to celebrate the students academic successes. Across its 13 schools and colleges, 6,607 degrees were given. There were 3,500 undergraduate degrees, 2,700 masters degrees and 174 doctoral degrees.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Upstate New York might have another opportunity to view the northern lights Sunday night, and this time it looks like there will be fewer clouds to block the view than there were Friday.

The ongoing geomagnetic storm has a chance to become more intense once again later today, said the National Weather Service office in Binghamton. Aurora views may be possible at lower latitudes and become widespread again overnight.

A high pressure system is likely to move in today and push clouds away, giving much of Upstate a better shot at seeing the lights, also known as aurora borealis.

The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years hit Earth on Friday, spilling the northern lights as far south as Tennessee. From Buffalo to the Adirondacks and Albany to the Hudson Valley, shutterbugs were out in droves, traveling to picturesque spots or capturing the phenomena right in their backyards.

In other areas, especially Central New York, stubborn clouds blocked the view. Just like the solar eclipse last month.

The Space Weather Prediction Center says theres a strong chance that several emissions of energized particles from the sun, known as coronal mass ejections, will reach Earths atmosphere tonight. Those particles strike the atmosphere at speeds up to 45 million mph, and the Earths magnetic field directs the particles toward the poles, according to space.com

The dramatic process transforms into a cinematic atmospheric phenomenon that dazzles and fascinates scientists and skywatchers alike, space.com said.

To see the lights, look toward the northern horizon between sunset and sunrise. The hours from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. are best, NOAA says. Your odds increase the father north and the farther from city lights you get.
This photo taken on April 14, 2024 shows Rosa lucidissima at the Foding Mountain nature reserve in Shiqian County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. Chinese researchers have discovered Rosa lucidissima, a critically endangered species of Rosa chinensis, commonly known as China rose, in southwest China's Guizhou Province.(Photo by Wu Xu/Xinhua)

GUIYANG, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have discovered Rosa lucidissima, a critically endangered species of Rosa chinensis, commonly known as China rose, in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

A joint expedition team from the Foding Mountain nature reserve administration and the College of Forestry of Guizhou University first discovered the species at a national-level reserve in Shiqian County.

"In a field survey in April, we located four plants of Rosa lucidissima at about 700 meters above sea level. The roses swirled up the trees, with eye-catching red flowers hanging from the branches," said Wu Xu, a team member from the College of Forestry of Guizhou University.

As an endemic Chinese species, Rosa lucidissima is sporadically distributed in southern and central China and its wild population is extremely rare. It is on China's red list of biodiversity as a critically endangered species.

Botanists believe that the national second-class protected wild plant species is the primitive form of China rose. Further study on it would offer an insight into the origin and evolution of the rose plants, which could provide an important reference for rose genetics breeding and ecological protection. 

This photo taken on April 14, 2024 shows Rosa lucidissima at the Foding Mountain nature reserve in Shiqian County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. Chinese researchers have discovered Rosa lucidissima, a critically endangered species of Rosa chinensis, commonly known as China rose, in southwest China's Guizhou Province.(Photo by Wu Xu/Xinhua)

This photo taken on April 14, 2024 shows Rosa lucidissima at the Foding Mountain nature reserve in Shiqian County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. Chinese researchers have discovered Rosa lucidissima, a critically endangered species of Rosa chinensis, commonly known as China rose, in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

(Photo by Wu Xu/Xinhua)

This photo taken on April 14, 2024 shows Rosa lucidissima at the Foding Mountain nature reserve in Shiqian County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. Chinese researchers have discovered Rosa lucidissima, a critically endangered species of Rosa chinensis, commonly known as China rose, in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

(Photo by Wu Xu/Xinhua)
SnS_12 Distinguished - BHPian



Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,330 Thanked: 9,480 Times

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Re: My Barn Finds: Yamaha RD 125 & RD 200 Quote: Burjis Zaveri Originally Posted by Since the thread seems to have gone dormant, attaching a post that would be relevant here.



I happened to have been going through older Bombay VCCCI rally images and spotted a Yamaha RD 125. Attaching the same here.



Quote: thebikemaster Originally Posted by Wish there was a barn like this for me also to jump in and go through this fantastic time period.

I can clearly understand how painful it is to see some bikes degrade like this in abandoned stage. Clearly requires the courage to take them and blow life back into it.

I have gone this similar path in restoring my 83 Yezdi and 89 Rx100 and my beloved RD350.

Restoring is a never-ending process I feel, the itch to make it perfect step by step will be there throughout our ownership period.



Loved reading through the thread and those old memory photos from the mobile phone cameras.



The thread has been dormant as the 200 was not being used as the 2T oil leak from the manifold made its appearance again and then one thing led to another and I just parked it away. Last month i had to get paperwork sorted where the RX and RD were due for renewal and the 848 had to be transferred to my name. So, once the paper work was completed I decided to get the RD 200 and my friends RD 350 (this one has been lying unused for over 8 years) sent in a tow truck to my friends place to get them running again.



Both the bikes were loaded on the towing truck this Monday and for the RD 350 I had kept my fingers crossed hoping that the engine at least wont need any major work and a basic service should get it running. On the 200 the oil leak source had to be identified and also the front suspension tubes had to be replaced along with the front brake master cylinder and both the tyres, which are over 15 years old now and were never changed because of the limited riding.



Some pictures



Like all my big bikes the RD 350 was parked under two covers to protect it from the elements.







Cats in the building had turned it into a resting place for pigeons they feasted on







There she is covered in the infamous Mumbai dust even though I used to occasionally clean it.











The RD 200 looked much cleaner in comparison as its down time was much less.







Both tyres on both bikes had gone flat. Filled it up to make moving them around much easier.







Most of the metal parts have multiple rust spots considering its been over 10 years when the bike was worked upon and the paint work would have been done around 15+ years ago







Two set of keys with a different key for the tank lock







The LC style exhausts which my friend had crafted along with a local metal worker in Ahmedabad back in his college days.







Both bikes are set to go now. Building folks had an interesting view out of their windows on a Monday morning. Even the building watchman was like Sir, where are your bikes going







Rust off to get the fuel cap opened







Had a full tank of cheap fuel (filled it when a litre costed around 50) all evaporated. The 200 on the other hand still had fuel though considering its age can be best used for cleaning.







Just needed basic maintenance and it now starts on the first kick. Mechanically it works like a charm. Mr RX is giving it company as had taken to get the rear shock absorbers changed along with the old Michelin Pilot Sport tyres.







The RD 200 post a wash looks just like new.







The problem seems to be in the left manifold which has developed a leak. Hopefully changing it should fix it.







The tank which has a few battle scares from over the years still looks good with that paint job from Mkraft.







My RX is the only bike which has no dedicated thread on Team BHP and being my first bike gets its thread space mostly here. The old shocks are off.











Old and new shock. The new red one is from the Karizma ZMR and works like a charm. Going for a longer ride with a pillion tomorrow and will see how its performs then.







Posing next to the RD with its new shocks and now awaiting the tyre change







New rubber Michelin Pot Street for the front































The final look and the bike is now sorted for another decade. Fun Fact it is now 25 years younger this year and will complete 20 years with me on 14-11-24.



Now, waiting for the RD 200 and RD 350 to join it and its other garage mates.



Thats a nice looking 125. Sadly bikes that arrive in such shows dont see too much of running time on the streets.Thank you Sir. These RDs came in my life at a time when I was not financially in the pink of health but still did my best that was possible at the time and eventually as things improved the bikes got a better second shot at life.The thread has been dormant as the 200 was not being used as the 2T oil leak from the manifold made its appearance again and then one thing led to another and I just parked it away. Last month i had to get paperwork sorted where the RX and RD were due for renewal and the 848 had to be transferred to my name. So, once the paper work was completed I decided to get the RD 200 and my friends RD 350 (this one has been lying unused for over 8 years) sent in a tow truck to my friends place to get them running again.Both the bikes were loaded on the towing truck this Monday and for the RD 350 I had kept my fingers crossed hoping that the engine at least wont need any major work and a basic service should get it running. On the 200 the oil leak source had to be identified and also the front suspension tubes had to be replaced along with the front brake master cylinder and both the tyres, which are over 15 years old now and were never changed because of the limited riding.Some picturesLike all my big bikes the RD 350 was parked under two covers to protect it from the elements.Cats in the building had turned it into a resting place for pigeons they feasted onThere she is covered in the infamous Mumbai dust even though I used to occasionally clean it.The RD 200 looked much cleaner in comparison as its down time was much less.Both tyres on both bikes had gone flat. Filled it up to make moving them around much easier.Most of the metal parts have multiple rust spots considering its been over 10 years when the bike was worked upon and the paint work would have been done around 15+ years agoTwo set of keys with a different key for the tank lockThe LC style exhausts which my friend had crafted along with a local metal worker in Ahmedabad back in his college days.Both bikes are set to go now. Building folks had an interesting view out of their windows on a Monday morning. Even the building watchman was like Sir, where are your bikes goingRust off to get the fuel cap openedHad a full tank of cheap fuel (filled it when a litre costed around 50) all evaporated. The 200 on the other hand still had fuel though considering its age can be best used for cleaning.Just needed basic maintenance and it now starts on the first kick. Mechanically it works like a charm. Mr RX is giving it company as had taken to get the rear shock absorbers changed along with the old Michelin Pilot Sport tyres.The RD 200 post a wash looks just like new.The problem seems to be in the left manifold which has developed a leak. Hopefully changing it should fix it.The tank which has a few battle scares from over the years still looks good with that paint job from Mkraft.My RX is the only bike which has no dedicated thread on Team BHP and being my first bike gets its thread space mostly here. The old shocks are off.Old and new shock. The new red one is from the Karizma ZMR and works like a charm. Going for a longer ride with a pillion tomorrow and will see how its performs then.Posing next to the RD with its new shocks and now awaiting the tyre changeNew rubber Michelin Pot Street for the frontThe final look and the bike is now sorted for another decade. Fun Fact it is now 25 years younger this year and will complete 20 years with me on 14-11-24.Now, waiting for the RD 200 and RD 350 to join it and its other garage mates.
BudgetFailure BHPian

Join Date: May 2022 Location: Bangalore Posts: 99 Thanked: 248 Times

re: Mini Quadrilateral in Karnataka on 4 wheels Day 1 - Bangalore to Gokarna: Tale of Missed Turns

We left our home at 5:30 AM thinking that it was election day (not my voting day), we might end up getting stopped at multiple places and wanted to avoid any kind of blockages due to election. Well, we managed to exit the city in no time though there was decent amount of vehicles on the road, which i wasn't expecting given election day.



From my last Goa trip in April 2023, I recall the roads around Tumkuru were in pretty bad shape, which wasn't the case anymore. I was able to cross Sira by 7:30 AM and made the first break at A2B. Had a quick breakfast and left for the remainder of the journey following GMaps. This was the first time when I had not really pre-planned the routes and was going to rely on Google Maps completely. (Not doing it again)



Around Chitradurga, we were greeted with the wind farms, and decided to take a quick detour to a nearby village with an expectation to get a really close view of the Wind Mills and possibly look at birds in the nearby Gonur Lake. We got a good enough closeup of the Wind Mills, but couldn't reach the lake as the roads that were being shown on GMaps vs the real roads were not drivable and finally ditched the place to get back on track.



We had decided to take the Sirsi route as my spouse found that a lot of fellow TBHPians had mentioned Sirsi route apart from the Hubbali-Ankola route, and GMaps was showing the same. Post crossing Devanagere, we were supposed to take a left turn to reach Gokarna via Sirsi, and almost all the navigation guidance that GMaps gave me were missed as the exits didn't seem at the right places and the ones that were, were only suitable for a bike. We finally decided to just take the Hubbali-Ankola highway. On the way, GMaps suggested that we can take an early exit from the NH and still go via Ankola saving around 30 mins, we took it, and ended up on ~10km bad patch via multiple villages, but joined the undivided NH 52 soon. It was in decent shape. On this patch we found a small piece of side road going up to boundary of a nearby lake, we took it, and to our disappointment were greeted with people taking bath right there. It was funny though, took a few pics and got back on the road.



Starting here, the route became scenic with greenery all around, less traffic and curvy ghat roads. I loved each and every bit of this part of the road and would suggest if you want to enjoy the drive, take this route. (Is Sirsi equally good?)



To reach Gokarna, you don't really need to go to Ankola, but take a left turn which takes you adjacent to the Gangavali river all the way till you join the NH 66. GMaps was showing this turn but i ended up missing it because we were busy talking.



Once you reach Gokarna, make sure you take the left turn before the main market in case you are living on the Kudle/Om Beach side, the Market/Temple road has no road for car that goes to Kudle beach and Google Maps would not help much post this point. As usual, I missed the turn and decided to take the Market road, being over smart! I had to come all the way back to the place where GMaps originally told me to take a left turn for Om Beach road. Finally at 2 PM we made to our destination, Zostel.



We had lunch at the Mantra Cafe in Zostel. It was decent with a good view of the Gokarna Beach. In the evening went for a short walk towards the sunset view point, which was really mesmerizing, the weather had become pleasant and the sunset looked just amazing. Interestingly, we met Pratheek Kundre (Assistant Editor @ BikeWale) during the short walk to the view point and got to hear a lot of stories and interesting conversations from the biking world. He was touring on his Himalayan 450 and also informed me about the upcoming NS400 release.



On our way back, we had tasty Kombucha(Pomegranate one is a must try) in Halfway Home and dinner at Zostel. Mantra Cafe is worth having food just once, nothing special about it, and there are options nearby which one should visit.



Overall efficiency on this route was 20+kmpl based on tank to tank method. One of the highest till date, also the relaxed driving contributed to this significantly, still I am impressed!



Route:





TL;DR

Left at 5:30 and reached Gokarna at 2PM. Route taken was Bangalore-Hubballi-Ankola-Gokarna, with a few missed turns. Avoid going into city if your destination is towards Kudle Beach.

Zostel has eateries and view points nearby, do visit, especially the Sunset point after Hill Top View and definitely have Kambucha at Halfway Home.



Uptil this segment the fuel efficiency returned was 15+ kmpl, still decent enough.



Day 2 - Gokarna: Trek with a view, Beach with a breeze

Started our day early at 5:30 AM for the Beach Trek with the group. Zostel folks had organized autos for transport and took us to the Belekan Beach where the trek started. We were given some quick instructions and off we started to see the wonderful beaches at 6 am. First beach was the Paradise beach 1 km away that took us close to 20 mins to reach. On our way we saw a group of langoors and were greeted with bird chirping all throughout. After spending some time at Paradise beach, we started towards the Half Moon Beach.

The next 1 km was a bit tricky with many steep ups and downs, but nice views all across. By the time we reached Half Moon beach, it was close to 7:30 AM and one of the shacks had already opened for breakfast. We spent around 30 minutes at this pristine beach and had a big omelette from the nearby shack ( one can wait for breakfast till the om beach as it was a basic omlette)

Next stop was Om Beach, that took us close to 40 minutes to reach. On the way, we went to a view point, which shows why it is called "Om" beach, the shape was evident and also there is another view point from where one can see dolphins (however, we were not lucky). Overall the trek is medium difficulty if you are a beginner, and do not forget to carry ample amount of water, the whole trek is dehydrating with almost nothing to eat/drink on the way until Om Beach (morning time mostly things are closed). Also, do not go in slippers or sandals, wear good shoes.



We took a quick rest at Om Beach because of the merciless weather and the dehydration it caused. Decided to have a second breakfast at Namaste Cafe, I had heard good things about it. It turned out to be just OK taste wise. Took auto back to Zostel. Spouse took rest, and I arranged a scooter.



By now we had decided to try out the Chez Christophe @ Gokarna Beach, we left under the burning sun to go this place to try out the French cuisine, and we were glad we went there. The vibe there was completely different, relaxing, laid back, soft music, beach, breeze and of-course tasty food. Spent good 2 hours relaxing, couldn't sit at the beach though because of the heat.

Later in the evening decided to visit Kudle Beach for sunset and bathe in the ocean. On the way back, visited Halfway Home for another round of Kombucha and a garlic bread, and I returned happy! Later in the night decided for Chez Christophe again (Wife's Birthday dinner), walked under the moon there and enjoyed the cool breeze. Ended the day with a nice lasagna and Chocolate Moose.



TL;DR

Went for the 4 beach 5km long trek in the morning, visited Belekan, Paradise, Half Moon and Om Beach on foot. Had food at a local shack at Half Moon Beach, Namaste Cafe, Halfway Home, Chez Christophe. Relaxed at Kudle and Gokarna beach. Mode of transport changed from car to Auto/Scooter for today.



Routes:



Trek



Overall Gokarna places





Day 3 - Gokarna to Udupi: Scenic Route begins!

Started our day with returning the scooter and taking a 15 minutes walk to Pai Hotel located in the Main Temple street. Had heard that it offers really great food, specially the Banana Buns, oh I was amazed. Such soft Idlis with good chutney and banana buns were simply too good. The right amount of sweetness. Ended up getting them packed for the journey ahead. I would say must visit this place.



We checked out of the Zostel and took a quick stop at the Shiva Cave, a small cave with a hole and light coming through making it very beautiful, wanted to explore more but the heat takes a toll in a cave. We decided to skip Jog Falls given the dry weather and instead chose to take the route via Murudeshwara to reach Udupi. The roads around Kumta were disappointing due to multiple towns and traffic. Dhareshwar onwards roads became better and slightly scenic. We were able to cruise @80kmph.

My excitement died as soon as I reached Murudeshwara Temple road - traffic, dust and overcrowded temple and scorching heat greeted us. I paid the parking fee, parked the car, took a few shots and left the place as I found out that the temple was constructed recently (~20 years ago) and the architecture doesn't hold any historical significance, only the place does. This set us back by ~30 minutes.



Once back on the highway, the road became more scenic with a view to the hills, which changed into an amazing ocean view as we neared Marvanthe. Took a good 30 minutes stop at Marvanthe beach. The place has completely transformed from what it was around 8 years back when I did my bike trip to the western coast. Even under the scorching sun, walking at the beach gave a sense of cool and calmness. A must have break!



Hit the road back after enjoying the beach, and decided to take a lunch break near the last toll from Udupi. South India Thali never disappoints and we were glad that we took a lunch break as we got stuck into a 30 mins jam near Udupi due to ongoing construction. Our destination was an AirBnB on the Bengre Beach road (not exactly Udupi/Malpe but very near). The road has River on one side and ocean on the other, it can not get any better than this. After a quick refresh at the stay, we decided to check out the Bengre beach, amazing view! Came back to the BnB and decided to take an evening Coffee break at the place looking at the setting sun. The place had a huge garden which opened towards the beach directly. It can not get more private than this. Photos would do justice, words can't!



We ended the day with dinner @ Nemo's, a property owned by Paradise Isle Beach Resort, which used to be the only place on Malpe beach. The food at this place was quite good and live music added to the charm. I found the beach has become quite commercialized now, but still clean enough.



TL;DR

Had Breakfast at Pai Hotel, known for its local cuisine and Banana Buns. Visited Shiva Cave on our way and left for Udupi via Mudeshwar, but skipped the temple due to heat and extreme rush. Took a quick stop at Marvanthe Beach, a must do activity even in the heat. Encountered jam due to construction while entering Malpe/Udupi. Visited Bengre Beach. Had food at Nemo's @ Malpe Beach.







While leaving A2B



Wind Mills on the way



Near the lake I mis-found



Myntra/Zostel Cafe



Zostel Cottage



View from Myntra Cafe







Gokarna Beach from Zostel at dawn



On the way to paradise beach





Paradise Beach



Somewhere on the way to Om Beach



Om Beach from the view point



Kudle Beach



Kambucha @ Halfway Home



Gokarna Beach



Chez Christophe at Gokarna Beach







Verna with Kudle Beach in the background



Verna @ Marvanthe Beach



Stay in Udupi We left our home at 5:30 AM thinking that it was election day (not my voting day), we might end up getting stopped at multiple places and wanted to avoid any kind of blockages due to election. Well, we managed to exit the city in no time though there was decent amount of vehicles on the road, which i wasn't expecting given election day.From my last Goa trip in April 2023, I recall the roads around Tumkuru were in pretty bad shape, which wasn't the case anymore. I was able to cross Sira by 7:30 AM and made the first break at A2B. Had a quick breakfast and left for the remainder of the journey following GMaps. This was the first time when I had not really pre-planned the routes and was going to rely on Google Maps completely. (Not doing it again)Around Chitradurga, we were greeted with the wind farms, and decided to take a quick detour to a nearby village with an expectation to get a really close view of the Wind Mills and possibly look at birds in the nearby Gonur Lake. We got a good enough closeup of the Wind Mills, but couldn't reach the lake as the roads that were being shown on GMaps vs the real roads were not drivable and finally ditched the place to get back on track.We had decided to take the Sirsi route as my spouse found that a lot of fellow TBHPians had mentioned Sirsi route apart from the Hubbali-Ankola route, and GMaps was showing the same. Post crossing Devanagere, we were supposed to take a left turn to reach Gokarna via Sirsi, and almost all the navigation guidance that GMaps gave me were missed as the exits didn't seem at the right places and the ones that were, were only suitable for a bike. We finally decided to just take the Hubbali-Ankola highway. On the way, GMaps suggested that we can take an early exit from the NH and still go via Ankola saving around 30 mins, we took it, and ended up on ~10km bad patch via multiple villages, but joined the undivided NH 52 soon. It was in decent shape. On this patch we found a small piece of side road going up to boundary of a nearby lake, we took it, and to our disappointment were greeted with people taking bath right there. It was funny though, took a few pics and got back on the road.Starting here, the route became scenic with greenery all around, less traffic and curvy ghat roads. I loved each and every bit of this part of the road and would suggest if you want to enjoy the drive, take this route. (Is Sirsi equally good?)To reach Gokarna, you don't really need to go to Ankola, but take a left turn which takes you adjacent to the Gangavali river all the way till you join the NH 66. GMaps was showing this turn but i ended up missing it because we were busy talking.Once you reach Gokarna, make sure you take the left turn before the main market in case you are living on the Kudle/Om Beach side, the Market/Temple road has no road for car that goes to Kudle beach and Google Maps would not help much post this point. As usual, I missed the turn and decided to take the Market road, being over smart! I had to come all the way back to the place where GMaps originally told me to take a left turn for Om Beach road. Finally at 2 PM we made to our destination, Zostel.We had lunch at the Mantra Cafe in Zostel. It was decent with a good view of the Gokarna Beach. In the evening went for a short walk towards the sunset view point, which was really mesmerizing, the weather had become pleasant and the sunset looked just amazing. Interestingly, we met Pratheek Kundre (Assistant Editor @ BikeWale) during the short walk to the view point and got to hear a lot of stories and interesting conversations from the biking world. He was touring on his Himalayan 450 and also informed me about the upcoming NS400 release.On our way back, we had tasty Kombucha(Pomegranate one is a must try) in Halfway Home and dinner at Zostel. Mantra Cafe is worth having food just once, nothing special about it, and there are options nearby which one should visit.Overall efficiency on this route was 20+kmpl based on tank to tank method. One of the highest till date, also the relaxed driving contributed to this significantly, still I am impressed!Route:TL;DRLeft at 5:30 and reached Gokarna at 2PM. Route taken was Bangalore-Hubballi-Ankola-Gokarna, with a few missed turns. Avoid going into city if your destination is towards Kudle Beach.Zostel has eateries and view points nearby, do visit, especially the Sunset point after Hill Top View and definitely have Kambucha at Halfway Home.Uptil this segment the fuel efficiency returned was 15+ kmpl, still decent enough.Started our day early at 5:30 AM for the Beach Trek with the group. Zostel folks had organized autos for transport and took us to the Belekan Beach where the trek started. We were given some quick instructions and off we started to see the wonderful beaches at 6 am. First beach was the Paradise beach 1 km away that took us close to 20 mins to reach. On our way we saw a group of langoors and were greeted with bird chirping all throughout. After spending some time at Paradise beach, we started towards the Half Moon Beach.The next 1 km was a bit tricky with many steep ups and downs, but nice views all across. By the time we reached Half Moon beach, it was close to 7:30 AM and one of the shacks had already opened for breakfast. We spent around 30 minutes at this pristine beach and had a big omelette from the nearby shack ( one can wait for breakfast till the om beach as it was a basic omlette)Next stop was Om Beach, that took us close to 40 minutes to reach. On the way, we went to a view point, which shows why it is called "Om" beach, the shape was evident and also there is another view point from where one can see dolphins (however, we were not lucky). Overall the trek is medium difficulty if you are a beginner, and do not forget to carry ample amount of water, the whole trek is dehydrating with almost nothing to eat/drink on the way until Om Beach (morning time mostly things are closed). Also, do not go in slippers or sandals, wear good shoes.We took a quick rest at Om Beach because of the merciless weather and the dehydration it caused. Decided to have a second breakfast at Namaste Cafe, I had heard good things about it. It turned out to be just OK taste wise. Took auto back to Zostel. Spouse took rest, and I arranged a scooter.By now we had decided to try out the Chez Christophe @ Gokarna Beach, we left under the burning sun to go this place to try out the French cuisine, and we were glad we went there. The vibe there was completely different, relaxing, laid back, soft music, beach, breeze and of-course tasty food. Spent good 2 hours relaxing, couldn't sit at the beach though because of the heat.Later in the evening decided to visit Kudle Beach for sunset and bathe in the ocean. On the way back, visited Halfway Home for another round of Kombucha and a garlic bread, and I returned happy! Later in the night decided for Chez Christophe again (Wife's Birthday dinner), walked under the moon there and enjoyed the cool breeze. Ended the day with a nice lasagna and Chocolate Moose.TL;DRWent for the 4 beach 5km long trek in the morning, visited Belekan, Paradise, Half Moon and Om Beach on foot. Had food at a local shack at Half Moon Beach, Namaste Cafe, Halfway Home, Chez Christophe. Relaxed at Kudle and Gokarna beach. Mode of transport changed from car to Auto/Scooter for today.Routes:TrekOverall Gokarna placesStarted our day with returning the scooter and taking a 15 minutes walk to Pai Hotel located in the Main Temple street. Had heard that it offers really great food, specially the Banana Buns, oh I was amazed. Such soft Idlis with good chutney and banana buns were simply too good. The right amount of sweetness. Ended up getting them packed for the journey ahead. I would say must visit this place.We checked out of the Zostel and took a quick stop at the Shiva Cave, a small cave with a hole and light coming through making it very beautiful, wanted to explore more but the heat takes a toll in a cave. We decided to skip Jog Falls given the dry weather and instead chose to take the route via Murudeshwara to reach Udupi. The roads around Kumta were disappointing due to multiple towns and traffic. Dhareshwar onwards roads became better and slightly scenic. We were able to cruise @80kmph.My excitement died as soon as I reached Murudeshwara Temple road - traffic, dust and overcrowded temple and scorching heat greeted us. I paid the parking fee, parked the car, took a few shots and left the place as I found out that the temple was constructed recently (~20 years ago) and the architecture doesn't hold any historical significance, only the place does. This set us back by ~30 minutes.Once back on the highway, the road became more scenic with a view to the hills, which changed into an amazing ocean view as we neared Marvanthe. Took a good 30 minutes stop at Marvanthe beach. The place has completely transformed from what it was around 8 years back when I did my bike trip to the western coast. Even under the scorching sun, walking at the beach gave a sense of cool and calmness. A must have break!Hit the road back after enjoying the beach, and decided to take a lunch break near the last toll from Udupi. South India Thali never disappoints and we were glad that we took a lunch break as we got stuck into a 30 mins jam near Udupi due to ongoing construction. Our destination was an AirBnB on the Bengre Beach road (not exactly Udupi/Malpe but very near). The road has River on one side and ocean on the other, it can not get any better than this. After a quick refresh at the stay, we decided to check out the Bengre beach, amazing view! Came back to the BnB and decided to take an evening Coffee break at the place looking at the setting sun. The place had a huge garden which opened towards the beach directly. It can not get more private than this. Photos would do justice, words can't!We ended the day with dinner @ Nemo's, a property owned by Paradise Isle Beach Resort, which used to be the only place on Malpe beach. The food at this place was quite good and live music added to the charm. I found the beach has become quite commercialized now, but still clean enough.TL;DRHad Breakfast at Pai Hotel, known for its local cuisine and Banana Buns. Visited Shiva Cave on our way and left for Udupi via Mudeshwar, but skipped the temple due to heat and extreme rush. Took a quick stop at Marvanthe Beach, a must do activity even in the heat. Encountered jam due to construction while entering Malpe/Udupi. Visited Bengre Beach. Had food at Nemo's @ Malpe Beach.While leaving A2BWind Mills on the wayNear the lake I mis-foundMyntra/Zostel CafeZostel CottageView from Myntra CafeGokarna Beach from Zostel at dawnOn the way to paradise beachParadise BeachSomewhere on the way to Om BeachOm Beach from the view pointKudle BeachKambucha @ Halfway HomeGokarna BeachChez Christophe at Gokarna BeachVerna with Kudle Beach in the backgroundVerna @ Marvanthe BeachStay in Udupi Last edited by BudgetFailure : 5th May 2024 at 11:24 .
The big picture: The Biden Administration is determined to safeguard the US' budding clean energy market, particularly its electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, who may struggle to compete with more competitively priced products from overseas. China currently leads the US in research on numerous emerging technologies, notably electric batteries, where there's a significant risk of Chinese dominance. However, this objective clashes with another key goal of the administration  reducing emissions.

The Biden Administration is poised to announce an increase in tariffs on clean-energy goods from China, encompassing electric vehicles, batteries, and solar cells. According to sources familiar with the matter, the tariff on Chinese EV imports will rise from 25 percent to 100 percent, while an additional 2.5 percent duty will be imposed on all automobiles imported into the US.

Sources suggest that the administration will make the announcement on Tuesday, although officials have cautioned that the timing could change.

The move comes as China appears to be gearing up to saturate the US market with exports of clean-energy goods, as its domestic demand cannot absorb the surplus from its factories. US officials are keen to shield the fledgling clean-energy market, particularly domestic EV manufacturers, who struggle to compete with China's more affordable vehicles.

A report by an independent think tank last year found that China outpaced the US in research on 37 out of 44 emerging technologies, including electric batteries, posing a high risk of monopolization in these areas.

In the broader context, this increase in tariffs reflects growing US apprehension regarding China's trade policies.

Last month, President Biden proposed raising tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. Additionally, the United States Trade Representative recently initiated an investigation into unfair practices within the Chinese shipbuilding industry, prompted by a petition from the United Steelworkers union. In February, Biden ordered an investigation into whether Chinese connected vehicles pose a national security risk.

The exact impact of these new tariffs on the US EV market remains uncertain. Chinese EV manufacturers have largely diverted their attention away from the US market due to existing tariff policies, instead focusing on emerging clean-car markets in countries such as Brazil, Israel, and Thailand. Notably, best-selling EVs in these nations are manufactured by BYD Co., the Chinese EV and plug-in hybrid maker.

To circumvent tariffs, China's solar companies predominantly export to the US via third countries. However, this trade strategy is increasingly under scrutiny by US firms. Solar manufacturers are urging the US government to impose duties on $12.5 billion worth of imported equipment from Southeast Asia.

Ironically, limiting the import of affordable EVs from China could impede another key goal of the Biden Administration: reducing carbon emissions.
XI'AN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- An inspection team under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, inspected administrative adjudication and procuratorial work in northwest China's Shaanxi Province from Wednesday to Saturday.

Spearheaded by Xiao Jie, vice chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee, the inspection team held seminars to hear briefings and suggestions from relevant sides and conducted on-site inspections in local municipalities.

During the inspection, Xiao urged further efforts to safeguard people's lawful rights and interests, advance law-based government administration and promote the substantial resolution of administrative disputes. 
OpenAI is set to unveil a multimodal AI model that can communicate with users and recognize objects, per reports. Anonymous sources said this reveal might happen on Monday.

The new model can analyze pictures and audio faster and more accurately than current transcription and text-to-speech technologies, according to a report from The Verge. It is anticipated to improve customer service by helping operators understand caller tone and sarcasm. According to the model, it may also help pupils with algebra and translation signs.

Although said to exceed the GPT-4 Turbo in some question-answering tasks, sources warn that the model is not error-proof.

Based on developer Ananay Arora's findings, OpenAI may be adding ChatGPT functionality for phone conversations. This theory is supported by evidence of real-time audio and video server provisioning.

OpenAI seems to be working on having phone calls inside of chatGPT. This is probably going to be a small part of the event announced on Monday.

(1/n) pic.twitter.com/KT8Hb54DwA  Ananay (@ananayarora) May 11, 2024

Amid these speculations, tech fans anticipate the upcoming OpenAI announcement to be live-streamed on Monday at 10 a.m. PT or 1 p.m. ET.

Sam Altman Addresses OpenAI Search Engine Rumors

In a separate development, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, denied speculations of a search engine launch before Google I/O. Altman disputes recent allegations that OpenAI will release a search product before Google's big event.

Altman said an OpenAI statement on Monday morning does not involve GPT-5 or any search engine. He hinted at something unexpected and extraordinary. OpenAI has only mentioned ChatGPT and GPT-4 improvements.

According to reports, OpenAI is looking for Google employees to form a specialized team to accelerate product development. Bloomberg has reported OpenAI's search product development, but a debut date is unknown.

OpenAI Considers to Allow AI Generated Porn?

Adding to these speculations, the ChatGPT maker is reportedly considering letting users create pornography and other not safe-for-work (NSFW) content.

OpenAI considers allowing developers and users to generate age-appropriate explicit material in a Wednesday document explaining its AI development protocols.

Joanne Jang, who drafted the letter, said the tech company will debate sexual language and naked photos on its platforms. However, she stressed that deepfakes would remain prohibited. She emphasized user control, legal and ethical compliance, and open discourse, as well as understanding pornography's subjectivity.

While prohibiting deepfakes with adult content, OpenAI is studying how its technology may help produce responsible adult content, including erotica, graphic violence, foul language, and explicit material.

An OpenAI clarified on Thursday that the artificial intelligence tech firm has no plans to create AI-generated pornography. The representative reiterated OpenAI's ban on deepfakes. The statement also stressed, "thoughtfully navigating discussions surrounding sexuality within appropriate contexts for various age groups."

Recent months have seen criticism about AI-generated pornography, notably deepfake. AI-generated sexual photos quickly spread on social media in January, affecting Taylor Swift. Moreover, deepfake porn also impacted teenage students of Beverly Hills High School in California and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Related Article : Google Cloud Partners with CrowdStrike to Transform AI-Native
The first recipient of a genetically engineered pig kidney transplant, died nearly two months later, as disclosed by his family and Massachusetts General Hospital on Saturday.

The healthcare facility performed the breakthrough transplant on 62-year-old Richard Slayman in March. Surgeons expected the pig kidney to last two years.

The hospital's transplant team mourned Slayman's death. Doctors stated that his death had nothing to do with the pig kidney transplant, according to ABC News.

During his transplant, the hospital said Slayman, from Weymouth, suffers from Type 2 hypertension and diabetes for years that impacted his kidney. A kidney donation from a deceased donor at Massachusetts General Hospital in December 2018 ended years of dialysis.

However, problems five years later caused his transplanted kidney to fail. In May 2023, Slayman commenced dialysis, affecting his quality of life, the hospital said.

First Pig Kidney Transplant Recipient Honored

Massachusetts General Hospital thanked Slayman for his dedication to xenotransplantation, calling him a symbol of hope for transplant patients worldwide. Slayman's family also thanked his medical team for the extra time they spent with him after the xenotransplant.

Slayman's family said the success of the pig kidney transplant procedure gave hundreds of transplant patients hope and will continue to inspire them, per Fox News.

According to The Washington Post, following his xenotransplantation, the patient was thrilled to leave the hospital in April and spend more time with his family, since he did not need to undergo dialysis.

Man who received first pig kidney transplant dies https://t.co/tPOpzxUyxI  BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 12, 2024

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Xenotransplantation procedure treats humans using animal cells, tissues, or organs. Recent advances, such as pig organ alterations to make them more human-compatible, may help overcome immunological rejection.

Despite medical advances, over 100,000 kidney patients are on the national waiting list for organ transplants, and hundreds die each year.

In 2022, a recipient of a pig heart transplant died two months after undergoing the groundbreaking procedure, per a report from TechTimes. David Bennet Sr., 57, was the first US patient to have a pig-to-human heart transplant. Researchers praised the technique and noted its potential lessons for future uses.

Pig Liver Transplant Recipient in China

In March, a Chinese patient received the first gene-edited pig liver transplant. Although the transplant was complicated, the patient showed no organ rejection, making the operation a success.

Chinese researchers performed the first gene-edited pig liver transplant on a person. China's Air Force Medical University used a genetically engineered pig liver to eradicate organ rejection genes.

The liver transplant procedure was conducted on a brain-dead patient, who indicated without rejection 96 hours after surgery.

The success of Xenotransplantation procedures indicated that organ transplantation technology is improving as scientists find ways to innovate to save more lives in the future from serious diseases. However, the deaths of some organ recipients cast doubt over its safety.
IntelBroker, a nefarious hacker, broke into the Europol Platform for Experts (EPE) website.

Hacker claims to have access to data from six agencies associated with EPE, including For Official Use Only (FOUO) documents.

EPE is a platform for law enforcement agencies dedicated to discussing and curbing cybersecurity threats, and breaking into it sends the wrong message.

Europols Compromised Data Details

The attacker published a lengthy post on the Breach Forum and the Europols SIRIUS agencys image.

The post begins with a welcome message, Hello BreachForums Community,

Today, I am selling the entire data breach belonging to Europol. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Then, the attacker describes the time of the attacks, May 2024, and the stolen data details, including Alliance Employees, FOUO source code, PDFs, recon documents and guidelines.

Heres the list of agencies mentioned in the post:

CCSE (Joint Center for European Security)

Cryptocurrencies  EC3

Space  EC3

Europol Expert Platform

Law Enforcement Form

SIRIUS

IntelBroker demands payment in Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency and asks interested buyers to message him on the forums for a point of contact.

The attacker clarified that he would sell the data to reputed members only.

Europol Confirms The Breach

Bleeping Computer contacted Europol to inquire about the incident. Europol is aware of the incident and is assessing the situation. Initial actions have already been taken. The incident concerns a Europol Platform for Expert (EPE) closed user group, Europol replied.

If you try to visit the Europol Platform for Experts website, an THE APPLICATION IS CURRENTLY UNDER MAINTENANCE banner greets you.

It doesnt clarify the reason behind this downtime and only assures that the portal will return soon.

The website wasnt up while writing this post, meaning Europol is still investigating the extent of the data breach.

The agency said, no operational information is processed on this EPE application. No core systems of Europol are affected, and therefore, no operational data from Europol has been compromised.

However, this statement starkly contrasts IntelBrokers post, which even released a small sample of 9,128 records supposedly belonging to the EC3 SPACE database.

Europol hasnt issued a public statement about the breach yet.

Once it does that, it will clarify whats compromised and how the agency intends to stop and penalize the attacker.
Ugandan nurse Stella Apio administers moxibustion, another form of acupuncture therapy, to a patient at the China-Uganda Friendship Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Nicholas Kajoba/Xinhua)

KAMPALA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- In the China-Uganda Friendship Hospital in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, 40-year-old Naome Kayongo joins the queue, a familiar ritual in her journey toward healing. She is among a growing number of patients seeking acupuncture, a traditional Chinese therapy, hoping to restore movement to her paralyzed right hand.

Each needle inserted into Kayongo's body symbolizes a glimmer of hope.

In the East African country, the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture is gaining popularity. As senior Chinese acupuncturist Wei Wei carefully places the needles, Ugandan nurse Stella Apio observes intently, learning from the specialist.

Wei is part of a Chinese medical team on a year-long mission at the China-Uganda Friendship Hospital. Guided by Wei, Apio administers moxibustion, another form of acupuncture therapy, to Kayongo. While in China, acupuncture is typically performed by doctors, but Apio is eager to become certified in Traditional Chinese Medicine therapies.

Since 1983, China has sent medical specialists, including acupuncturists, to Uganda as part of efforts to enhance healthcare in the country. This collaboration extends both ways, with many Ugandan healthcare professionals also traveling to China for training and exchanges.

Last year, Apio was among the medical personnel selected by the Ugandan government for a three-week training program in Beijing. In a recent interview with Xinhua, she shared her experience of being placed at a hospital in the Chinese capital where acupuncture was a primary therapy. This exposure has fueled her optimism that with time, she will master the intricate skills of acupuncture.

"The acupuncture treatment rooms in China are spacious and equipped with machines, unlike here. We have received some machines from China, and we are using them," Apio said.

With 24 years of medical practice, Wei said it takes lengthy training to master acupuncture. She highlighted its effectiveness for both young and elderly patients suffering from various ailments such as stroke and back pain.

On average, the clinic attends to about 15 patients per day over the two days it operates each week, according to Apio. Patients typically receive two sessions per day, tailored to the severity of their condition.

"We sometimes get overwhelmed because of the high number of patients, considering we are only open two days a week," she added.

Kayongo is among the patients grateful for the availability of acupuncture at the hospital. Since a motorcycle accident left her right hand paralyzed last October, she has been undergoing acupuncture sessions.

"I have tried several treatments, but it is with acupuncture that I am finally noticing a difference," she said. Expressing her gratitude for the Chinese administration of this therapy, Kayongo has recommended the treatment to many of her friends.

According to the hospital administration, acupuncture, along with other forms of alternative or traditional medicine, is gaining prominence alongside Western medicine in Uganda, offering complementary treatment options. 

A patient receives acupuncture treatment at the China-Uganda Friendship Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Nicholas Kajoba/Xinhua)
Rescue operations continue in flooded southern Brazil despite new rain



Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2024



Rain continued to soak waterlogged southern Brazil on Saturday, bringing fresh misery to victims of flooding that has killed 136 people so far.

"Many people see the rain and are traumatized. We've seen how scared people are," said Enio Posti, a firefighter in Porto Alegre, capital of stricken Rio Grande do Sul state.

Heavy rains last week caused rivers in the agricultural state to overflow, leaving 806 injured and 125 missing in addition to those killed, the civil defense agency said.

Of the more than two million people affected by the flooding, more than 537,000 have been forced from their homes with 81,000 in shelters.

More than 92,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by the floods, according to the National Confederation of Municipalities.

United Nations experts and the Brazilian government blame climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon for the inundation.

New downpours were expected to be heaviest between Sunday and Monday, and state authorities were warning of the risk of further rising waters and landslides.

"We are still experiencing an emergency situation," Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said in a video on Instagram.

Residents were told to stay away from flooded areas, with dangers including electrocution by downed power lines.

"I was soaked. They helped me and gave me clothes," 36-year-old Everton Machado told AFP after being rescued by boat while searching for his parents.



- Aid distribution -



In the flooded streets of the Sao Joao neighborhood, volunteers and firefighters worked in heavy rain, bringing supplies to residents on jet skis and inflatable boats.

Volunteers were taking pets to shelters, with veterinarians treating those with medical needs.

Military and other security forces were also part of relief efforts. Almost two tons of food and supplies have been distributed by the federal government, in what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called "the largest movement of donations ever recorded in the history" of Brazil.

The federal government this week promised some $10 billion for reconstruction in Rio Grande do Sul, which is experiencing its worst ever climate disaster.

Water levels in the state's Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, home to 1.4 million people, reached historic levels this week.

On Saturday afternoon, they dropped to 4.57 meters, the lowest level since May 3.

Despite the new rain, residents of Porto Alegre were trying to regain some normalcy, with some shops and restaurants opening.

But with water supplies still disrupted, tanker trucks delivering clean water were a common sight all over town.

Elsewhere, vacuum trucks were pumping muddy floodwater from the streets and buildings.

In recent months, Brazil has been hit by historic floods, record-breaking forest fires, unprecedented heat waves and drought.
At least 34 killed in Indonesia floods, 16 missing



Tanah Datar, Indonesia, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2024



At least 34 people were killed and 16 more were missing in western Indonesia after flash floods and cold lava flow from one of the archipelago's most active volcanos damaged homes, roads and mosques, officials said Sunday.

Hours of heavy rain caused flooding in Agam and Tanah Datar districts in West Sumatra province on Saturday evening, threatening thousands of people after the downpours swept ash and large rocks down Mount Marapi.

"I heard the thunder and the sound similar to boiling water. It was the sound of big rocks falling," housewife Rina Devina told AFP, adding that three of her neighbours were killed.

"It was pitch black, so I used my cellphone as a flashlight. The road was muddy, so I chanted 'God, have mercy!' over and over again," she said of her evacuation to a local official's office.

West Sumatra disaster agency said 16 people died in Agam district and 18 in Tanah Datar, with 18 people injured overall.

"We are also still searching for 16 other people," agency spokesman Ilham Wahab told AFP.

He said the search effort involved local rescuers, police, soldiers and volunteers.

Abdul Malik, head of the search and rescue agency in provincial capital Pandang, told reporters three more people had died but they were yet to be confirmed by other authorities.

The flash floods and cold lava flow hit the two districts at around 10:30 pm (1530 GMT) on Saturday, according to the Basarnas search and rescue agency.

Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano's slopes by rain.

Abdul Muhari, spokesman for the national disaster mitigation agency, or BNPB, said in a statement that 84 homes, 16 bridges and two mosques were damaged in Tanah Datar, as were 20 hectares (49.4 acres) of rice fields.

About 370,000 people live in the district, where several mosques and a public pool were also damaged, with large rocks and logs scattered on the ground, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

In Lembah Anai, a popular tourist spot with a waterfall in Tanah Datar, a road connecting the cities of Padang and Bukittinggi was severely damaged and access for cars was cut off.

Aerial images seen by AFP of the district showed roads covered by mud, with roofs and a mosque's minarets jutting out of the sea of brown mud.



- Trucks swept away -



Ilham said Sunday that authorities were still receiving reports of missing people from relatives.

He said he could not give a figure for the number of people evacuated from the area because the search and rescue effort was still focused on the victims and the missing.

Two trucks had been swept away by the flooding and strong currents in a nearby river in Tanah Datar, the journalist said.

In Agam, which has a population of more than 500,000 people, dozens of homes and public facilities were damaged, the district's disaster agency chief Budi Perwira Negara told reporters.

He said 90 people had been evacuated to a school being used as a shelter.

Nine bodies, including those of a three-year-old and an eight-year-old, were identified on Sunday, Malik said in an earlier statement.

Authorities sent a team of rescuers and rubber boats to look for the missing victims and to transport people to shelters.

The local government set up evacuation centres and emergency posts in several areas of Agam and Tanah Datar.

Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season.

At least 26 people were found dead in March after landslides and floods hit West Sumatra.

In 2022, about 24,000 people were evacuated and two children were killed in floods on Sumatra island, with environmental campaigners blaming deforestation caused by logging for worsening the disaster.

Trees act as natural defences against floods, slowing the rate at which water runs down hills and into rivers.

Marapi is the most active volcano on the archipelago's Sumatra island.

It erupted in December and spewed an ash tower about 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) into the sky, taller than the volcano itself.

At least 24 climbers, most of them university students, died in the eruption.
Staff members label durians to be exported to China at a durian processing plant in Dak Lak province, Vietnam, Sept. 15, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's fruit imports from five countries along the Mekong River amounted to $10.68 billion in 2023, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the country's total.

The figure was released on Friday by Guo Libin, Party chief of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, at the Lancang-Mekong Fruit Industry Development Workshop held in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou.

According to the workshop, durians, mangoes, bananas, longans, mangosteens, coconuts and other fruits from Mekong River countries and other Southeast Asian countries are popular among Chinese consumers. Similarly, Chinese dates, persimmons, pears, pomegranates and cantaloupes have entered the Southeast Asian market, renowned for their excellent quality, competitive prices and delicious taste.

After the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, economic and trade cooperation between China and the Mekong River countries has continued to deepen, and the trade in agricultural products, including fruits and vegetables, has been growing continuously, according to Guo.

"Thanks to the China-Laos Railway, fruits from the Mekong River countries can enter China more quickly, providing a broader space for agricultural cooperation," Guo said.

Six countries -- China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam -- jointly established the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation framework. These countries share the same river, called the Lancang River in China and the Mekong River when it flows through the other five countries before emptying into the sea.
Artists stage a performance at the booth of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of northeast China's Jilin Province during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

People watch the medical robots on display at the booth of Suzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

Visitors watch the model of a cruise ship at the booth of Shanghai during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

People visit the exhibition area of clean energy and green transportation at the booth of east China's Jiangsu Province during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

People visit the booth of Shanghai during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

A dancer performs at the booth of Ordos of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

An exhibitor talks about the making technique of porcelain at the booth of Jingdezhen City of east China's Jiangxi Province during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

People watch tangerines on display at the booth of Meizhou City of southwest China's Sichuan Province during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

People visit the exhibition area of clean energy at the booth of Zhongshan City of south China's Guangdong Province during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

People watch a UAV model at the booth of Shanghai during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

People visit the booth of Beijing during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 12, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

Kunqu opera performers stage a play at the booth of Suzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province during a China brands exposition as part of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 11, 2024. 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. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)
VILNIUS, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The presidential election and citizenship referendum kicked off in Lithuania Sunday to decide who the next president will be and whether Lithuanians should be allowed to hold dual citizenships.

Eight presidential candidates are vying for the post, with incumbent President Gitanas Nauseda holding a firm lead in polls, followed by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and a lawyer, Ignas Vegele.

Polling stations are open from 7 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) to 8 p.m. (1700 GMT). A total of 1895 polling stations opened across the country. Eligible voters can cast ballots at any of the stations, no matter where their place of residence is.

To win the presidency, a candidate must get at least 50 percent of the vote. If no one clears the hurdle, a runoff between two leading candidates will be held in two weeks, on May 26.

At the same time, citizens are voting in a referendum on amending the constitution to allow dual citizenship. They will be asked whether to agree to change Article 12 that provides Lithuanian citizens cannot hold a foreign citizenship.

For the referendum to be valid, at least 50 percent of voters must vote. However, the hurdle for adopting the proposed amendment to the constitution is a high one: at least 50 percent of all eligible voters -- not just those who vote -- must say "yes."

According to the Central Electoral Commission of Lithuania, 2,385,234 people are on the voter list. Around 400,000 live abroad and can vote by mail or in person at Lithuania's diplomatic representations. 
Mothers Day is fashionably late for Alex Schuman, the son of Australian design legend Carla Zampatti.

Tonight the Carla Zampatti brand returns to Australian Fashion Week, three years after the designers death, on a runway bearing her name. There will be a presentation for industry professionals and sold-out show for the public on the opening night of the countrys premier fashion event.

Model Valerija Erolhina, Carla Zampatti CEO Alex Schuman and model Shai Giladi at the Carla Zampatti head office in Sydney. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

This is incredibly important, says Schuman, the chief executive of Carla Zampatti. Mums last show was on the main runway in 2019. That runway, which was renamed The Carla Zampatti runway in 2021, has been beckoning us, but we wanted to be ready to make our mark.

With creative director Karlie Ungar having spent two and a half years immersing herself in Zampattis diverse archives, spanning embellished animal print capes and a ballgown for Queen Mary of Denmark, the time was deemed right to return to the forefront of the Australian fashion scene.
When Kristen Lizzio started teaching at Sydney Grammar, she was surprised to find a total absence of screens and digital devices in the classrooms.

Before Grammar, I was at a school where every student used a laptop, so coming here was quite different, says Lizzio, now in her 10th year teaching at the selective private school.

All note-taking and annotations are handwritten. It does make classroom management easier because I can see everything students are doing at a glance as I walk around the room.

Year 9 and 10 Sydney Grammar students in a Latin class. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

As school classrooms have become increasingly crowded with technology, the elite boys school, which consistently ranks among the top 10 in the HSC, has continued to resist the practice of students using digital devices to take notes in lessons or complete homework online.
Some of Australias biggest beef buyers are failing to adequately address deforestation in their supply chains, according to Greenpeace.

The conservation group has produced a report card that examines 10 of Australias top retailers and beef processors and how they stack up in becoming deforestation-free by 2025.

A drone photo of land-clearing at Mount Garnet released by Greenpeace. They say they will be naming the company that owns the property. Credit: Greenpeace

All 10 companies scrutinised by Greenpeace failed the scorecard, with fast food outlet Hungry Jacks and supermarket giant Coles among the worst performers.

McDonalds also failed the test but said it was committed to eliminating deforestation by 2030.

This commitment applies to all commodities and every region we source from, including regions across Australia, a spokesperson said.

Food manufacturer ComGroup scored the lowest on the report card, while Woolworths, ALDI and IGA also failed the Greenpeace test.

No company scored above 50 per cent and some scored nothing, Greenpeaces Gemma Plesman said. None of the companies we scored have a plan to implement a deforestation-free commitment.

Coles, which operates more than 800 supermarkets across Australia and accounts for about 16 per cent of domestic beef sales, was the poorest performer of the grocery chains.

But the company said the result did not reflect the importance it places on deforestation.

We have a number of programs in place across a variety of Own Brand supply chains, which help to mitigate deforestation, a spokesperson said.

Woolworths, which accounts for 7 per cent of Australian beef, says its not aware of any deforestation claims made by the conservation group about beef producers it works with.

We are committed to sourcing beef sustainably in partnership with our farmers and suppliers, a spokesperson said.

Hungry Jacks, which operates more than 440 restaurants Australia-wide and claims to sell 125 million beef patties a year, did not respond to a request for comment.

In Queensland, which is widely regarded as having the best data available, the government found 350,000 hectares of woody vegetation was cleared in 2020-21.

Almost 90 per cent of that was attributed to cattle and sheep graziers.

Greenpeace also released new pictures of land clearing at a cattle property at Mount Garnet in Queensland.

The pictures were taken in 2023 with a drone, but the group will name the property as it says the issue is about corporate responsibility and deforestation in the supply chain.

We know in the last five years that we have data for, over 660,000 hectares of mapped koala habitat was bulldozed just for beef production, Plesman said.

The three remaining companies named in the report were JBS, Tyson and Teys.

Each firm has been contacted for comment.
Its not even winter yet, but Melbourne woman Noula Giuliano has already had four asthma attacks this year caused by smoke from wood heaters or backyard fire pits.

One of them almost killed her.

Noula Giuliano is urging Victorians to think of people like her before investing in a wood fire or fire pit. Credit: Chris Hopkins

In April, Giuliano, 35, was packing to leave her mothers home in the citys outer west when she breathed in a small amount of smoke that had drifted over from a neighbours house.

As she drove home with her two boys  aged three and seven  sleeping in the back, she felt the smoke sticking in her lungs, choking her from the inside. Eventually, she was forced to pull over on the freeway and call triple zero.
Entering Waynes World: Wayne and Simon 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 SIMON: Initially I wasnt drawn to Wayne. It was his wife I was attracted to. Still am. WAYNE: Theres the headline for your article. His best friend is attracted to his wife. SIMON: In the mid-1980s I opened a cafe called Teds on the corner of Lake and Aberdeen Streets that became the home for the advertising industry, which in those days was centred around Northbridge. Creative types like Wayne would have all their meetings there and interview models, which was another attraction for opening the cafe. WAYNE: After a while Simon stopped looking at my girlfriend (now my wife) long enough for us to strike up a friendship. We hit it off right away. We had the same sense of humour. He even had a funny menu that still makes me smile. Even when nobody is laughing at my jokes, which is a lot of the time, I know Simon is laughing. SIMON: Im not laughing about the 30 bucks you still owe me. WAYNE: If Seinfeld hadnt existed it wouldnt have mattered. Wayne and I have the same relationship as Jerry and Larry David. Once the jokes start rolling they dont stop. We just bounce back and forth. We just keep going because we have so much material.

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SIMON: We didnt start hanging out together until much later even though we live around the corner from each other. I was having a garage sale and I put up all these stupid flyers around Cottesloe, like The Kardashians Garage Sale and The Donald Trump Garage. Wayne came and we couldnt get rid of him. He stayed all day. WAYNE: It was like we were back in Teds in the 1980s. We just picked up where we left off. SIMON: It was instantaneous. I thought, This is my mate. WAYNE: If there is a genuine connection you hardly ever have to see somebody and there will be that bond. Its the same with me and Simon. The spark was lit decades ago, so when we met at Simons garage sale all those years later the friendship burned brightly again. SIMON: We started walking together in the mornings. We both have dogs and it allowed Wayne to indulge his passion  his mania would be a more accurate description  for collecting things, like this item he picked up on the way here [the plastic palm tree in the picture]. WAYNE: I cant throw anything away. I come from a working-class background. I come from Hammy Hill. I love finding stuff. I should have been an explorer. SIMON: Wayne sucks you into his insane world. Hell invite you around for a beer. When you arrive you discover that you have to help him paint a fence before you get the beer.

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WAYNE: It is very much our own world. Its like we are in a bubble. When we go out with our wives we dont have mature, interesting conversations. They spend their time rolling their eyes. They will disappear to the sidelines and talk about something smart and well be talking about how in Gilligans Island the Professor solved all the problems and the millionaire saved none. SIMON: Our relationship has a lot to do with acceptance. Wayne is totally unreliable; he will most likely let you down. But when you catch up with him it is totally worthwhile. Its frustrating in some ways, highly gratifying in others. Our friendship is the insane/sane zone. WAYNE: The other day my wife asked me if I texted Simon about his diverticulitis. I said, Are you crazy? Im not going to waste Simons diverticulitis on a text or email. Im not going to have that juicy discussion face-to-face. The material is just too good. SIMON: My life is full, rich, interesting and perfectly fine. But it is better when Waynes in it. WAYNE: There is no neediness in this relationship. We are whole people without it. We dont demand or need anything of each other. All I know is that my life is much more fun and interesting when Simon is around. Karen and Robin at the Zephyr Cafe in East Fremantle. Credit: Mark Naglazas We had so much freedom: Karen and Robin forged a friendship out of doors

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KAREN: Robin and I have been friends for 50 years. Since we were ten. ROBIN: Thats giving away our age! KAREN: We both grew up in Attadale, which had a lot of natural bush in those days. We spent all our time at the bottom of Burke Drive riding our bikes and tadpoling and building cubbies and having bush picnics. ROBIN: We also spent a lot of time together in Yunderup where both our families had beach houses. Ours was in North Yunderup and Karens was in South Yunderup. KAREN: It was fabulous. We used to swim across the river to get to each others place. And you had the cafe on your side, Robin. I remember putting the money in our mouths to swim across to get an ice cream. ROBIN: We had so much freedom compared to kids today. We would go up and down the Murray River in dinghies all the way up to Pinjarra and to Ravenswood. You probably need a skippers licence for that now. KAREN: And we used to do it in our bikinis!

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ROBIN: I went on to do teaching and Karen went on to dental therapy. Then we both married and had families. So we drifted apart and didnt start seeing each other until about three years ago. KAREN: Even though decades had passed and we both had separate and very different lives we just both dropped back into our friendship, as if we were still kids playing down on the river. Robin has an authenticity that I value. She is a very genuine person. There are no airs and graces. No pretence. And theres no competition. ROBIN: I was only saying this to my daughter this morning  the people you stay friends with when you are young you stay friends with forever. No matter how much water has gone under the bridge, when I see her its as if there has never been a break. KAREN: Reconnecting with Robin has been very important for me. In those young years when you are being a mother you put your children and your husband first and you lose yourself. Now that the kids are older you have time to reconnect with your previous life and rediscover yourself. ROBIN: The friends you make when youre raising kids tend to be other parents. Theyre not who you choose. Now I am choosing to spend time with people who I have a deeper connection with, like Karen. KAREN: Robin has an authenticity that I value. She is a very genuine person. There are no airs and graces. No pretence. And theres no competition. You dont have to dress up to impress, or beat her. Its just a great friendship.

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Each week, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to find out three things people love the most about our coastal capital. Today we have Crown Perth chief executive David Tsai.

Ive lived in eight cities across the United States including Miami, Northern California and Las Vegas, and Perth has the best and most consistent sunshine and clear blue skies of anywhere Ive been. Ive always associated sunshine with happiness, and even dreamed of owning a convertible when I was a teenager for that reason. But everywhere Ive lived has always been either too hot or too cold for oneuntil now. Perth is the perfect place to bask in the sun year-round and now makes driving fun!

David and Katy Tsai with their babies Xander and Chloe. Oh, and Baci the dog, of course!

I cant live anywhere without great food and Im always thinking about or planning my next meal. The quality of the food available in Perth is some of the best in the world. There are so many great cultural influences on the dining scene here, and what especially stands out is the variety of Asian food, especially in Northbridge and Vic Park. Some of my favorite picks are Jom Kopitiam for Malaysian, Bunn Mee for Vietnamese banh mi, Qins Lanzhou Noodle for soup noodles, and Shanghai Street for Chinese dumplings. One of my favorite foods is spicy Asian hot pots too, and there are so many great spots like Zhangliang Spicy Hot Pot and Davids Master Pot to indulge almost every weekend.

My wife Katy and I moved to Perth at the end of 2022, knowing like so many others that its a great place to raise a family. And were blessed to now have five-month old Aussie-born twins. We love the family-friendly, laid-back atmosphere of the city  youll always see folks eating outdoors, out with their kids, hanging out in one of the many parks throughout the city. We didnt know anyone when we arrived, and its been great to see how friendly and welcoming people in Perth genuinely are. And thats what I love most about Perth  the people here and sense of community. Life is short, and living in Perth is about enjoying life.
A bloc of influential construction unions has joined more than 30 Labor branches in contesting the governments redevelopment plans for Melbournes public housing towers, setting the stage for a challenging state Labor conference this weekend.

Senior Labor insiders anticipate that housing, the war in Gaza and concerns about state budget cuts are among the issues likely to spark the most debate at the conference on Saturday and Sunday, when about 600 party delegates converge on Moonee Valley Racecourse.

The housing tower at 120 Racecourse Road, Flemington is one of the first three set to be demolished and rebuilt. Credit: Chris Hopkins

Labor for Housing, a pressure group within the party, has been gathering support  including from the unions and party branches  for a motion that includes seeking 8000 additional public housing dwellings by 2028. It will also demand an increase of up to 50 per cent in the number of public homes built in the first two stages of the 30-year plan to rebuild Melbournes 44 towers across the state.

The motion  which has been discussed with Premier Jacinta Allans private office  also seeks a government guarantee that no public land will be sold to private interests as part of the governments plan.
Forget flashy perks and free gym memberships: Gen Z workers want cold, hard cash and are chasing higher salaries when deciding who to work for, according to a survey of more than 3000 young professionals.

The 2024 Hatch Hotlist, released on Monday, reveals the shift among Gen Z, who comprise about 27 per cent of the workforce and are set to become the dominant labour force generation by 2031.

More than 75 per cent of Gen Z workers want to spend two or three days in the office as part of a hybrid-work policy. Credit: istock

Gen Z  defined as those people born between 1997 and 2012  are increasingly less attracted by perks and gimmicky thrills, instead aspiring to fair compensation and financial stability due to the ongoing cost-of-living pressures.

They are also keen on returning to the office, with more than 75 per cent of Gen Z workers wanting to spend two or three days in the office as part of a hybrid-work policy.
Students learn lacquer art at a vocational education center in Chengkou County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, May 9, 2024.

Fascinated by lacquer art, French artist Vincent Cazeneuve came to China 15 years ago with the aim of finding the suitable species of lacquer tree to make lacquer artworks. He had visited many places in China, and finally settled down in Chengkou County of Chongqing where the species of high yield and superior quality of lacquer trees grow.

In recent years, Chengkou County has promoted the traditional art, attracting more and more people like Vincent to do lacquer art research and creation here. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

Students learn lacquer art at a vocational education center in Chengkou County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, May 9, 2024.

Fascinated by lacquer art, French artist Vincent Cazeneuve came to China 15 years ago with the aim of finding the suitable species of lacquer tree to make lacquer artworks. He had visited many places in China, and finally settled down in Chengkou County of Chongqing where the species of high yield and superior quality of lacquer trees grow.

In recent years, Chengkou County has promoted the traditional art, attracting more and more people like Vincent to do lacquer art research and creation here. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

French artist Vincent Cazeneuve teaches students lacquer art at a vocational education center in Chengkou County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, May 9, 2024.

Fascinated by lacquer art, French artist Vincent Cazeneuve came to China 15 years ago with the aim of finding the suitable species of lacquer tree to make lacquer artworks. He had visited many places in China, and finally settled down in Chengkou County of Chongqing where the species of high yield and superior quality of lacquer trees grow.

In recent years, Chengkou County has promoted the traditional art, attracting more and more people like Vincent to do lacquer art research and creation here. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

French artist Vincent Cazeneuve teaches students lacquer art at a vocational education center in Chengkou County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, May 10, 2024.

Fascinated by lacquer art, French artist Vincent Cazeneuve came to China 15 years ago with the aim of finding the suitable species of lacquer tree to make lacquer artworks. He had visited many places in China, and finally settled down in Chengkou County of Chongqing where the species of high yield and superior quality of lacquer trees grow.

In recent years, Chengkou County has promoted the traditional art, attracting more and more people like Vincent to do lacquer art research and creation here. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)
Abuja, Nigeria: Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, says its been humbling to find out through a genealogy test that she is partly Nigerian as she met with women in the West African nation.

On her second day in Nigeria, where she is visiting for the first time with Prince Harry to also promote mental health for wounded soldiers and young girls, Meghan acknowledged Nigeria as my country. She added: Its been eye-opening to be able to know more about my heritage.

Meghan received a Nigerian fabric as a gift alongside Harry at an Invictus Games event. Credit: Getty

Never in a million years would I understand it as much as I do now. And what has been echoed so much in the past day is, Oh, we are not so surprised when we found out you are Nigerian, she said at the event on women in leadership co-hosted by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian economist and head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

It is a compliment to you because what they define as a Nigerian woman is brave, resilient, courageous, beautiful, Meghan told the audience.
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 frontrunner 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. Security men accompany candidate Willy Ochoa as he gives a tour in the municipality of Las Rosas, Mexico. Credit: Victoria Razo/Washington Post 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.

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, travelling from town to town, being part of the sweating, cheering crowds. Senatorial candidate Willy Ochoa walks with other PRI candidates before beginning his rally in San Juan Chamula, Mexico. Credit: Victoria Razo/Washington Post 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 seven-year-old.

Only 30 more days till you come back, said the nine-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. Ochoa has been a state lawmaker, a federal congressman and a top PRI official. 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 realised 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 about 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. About 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 metres ahead.

Theyre sending messages. An armed man guards the restaurant where candidate Willy Ochoa eats. Credit: Victoria Razo/Washington Post 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 US-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, fuelling 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. Loading 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.

Many residents are too frightened to even talk about the rising criminality. A schoolteacher who organised 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. 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 organiser turning down a request to provide chairs. He could have earned a few pesos, he said, but it could complicate my life. PRI candidates look at rally attendees in San Juan Chamula, Mexico. Credit: Victoria Razo/Washington Post Ochoa strode into the hall to the booming carnival-like music typical of Mexican campaigns. Taking the mic, he denounced the plague of extortion, killings and highway robberies. This, my friends, isnt living, he said.

Loading 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.
Durham: Dozens of students walked out of Duke Universitys commencement ceremony on Sunday as some chanted free Palestine to protest its guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who has supported Israel throughout the war in Gaza.

Figures in robes and caps, some waving Palestinian flags, were seen filing out of crowds of graduates assembled on the grass in the North Carolina universitys football stadium in the video posted on X, verified by Reuters.

The video also showed several attendees leaving the viewing stands, including a person wearing a keffiyeh, an emblem of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Others shouted Jerry! Jerry! as the actor received an honorary degree, and Seinfeld delivered his speech without major interruptions.
A group of clever Kiwi teens deserve excellence (IMO) for outsmarting the government's new phone ban in schools by grabbing themselves some old tech.

The year 12 Auckland students might have just brought a new wave of BYOD (bring your own device) with their walkie-talkies.

The unnamed 16-year-old behind the sneaky hack told The Herald: "If the phone ban wasn't in place then we wouldn't have had to do this."

He hopes the walkie-talkies catch on, because who doesn't love to chat to their mates at any point in the day?? It sure beats being left on read and waiting for a reply on FB messenger, right?

The anonymous student said: "I think the cellphone ban has some merits, however, it also has disadvantages that I hope the introduction of walkie-talkies will fix."

"It allows us to communicate without using our phones, but because the walkie-talkies are designed purely for communication they can't be used as a distraction for games or the internet, a problem that the phone ban seems to have been introduced to solve," he added.

Because the new ban ONLY restricts cellphone usage, their walkie-talkies haven't caused too much of a stir from teachers.

In fact, The President of the Secondary Principals' Association, Vaughan Couillault, was surprisingly impressed by the "innovation".

While other students are trying to get away with using a 'burner phone' others have adopted the old-school approach of bringing an iPod and speakers to listen to music - or as we like to call it, growing up in the early 2000s.

And while social media is banned on the schools' networks, some students are resorting to emailing their mates at lunch.

According to Grant Pollard, the acting leader of the Ministry of Education's Operations and Integration Group Te Pae Aronui says: "Most schools have existing BYOD policies around the appropriate use of laptops and tablets."

"Schools can make decisions about the management of other devices like walkie-talkies in consultation with their community," he said.

**crrsh** It looks like walkie-talkies can stay for now **over**!
CAPE TOWN, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in the building collapse in South Africa has risen to 16, with 36 construction workers still trapped under the rubble, authorities said on Sunday.

The multi-story building under construction collapsed Monday afternoon in the coastal city of George, located about 400 kilometers east of Cape Town in the Western Cape province. The reasons for the collapse are still under investigation.

As rescue and recovery efforts continued into the sixth day at the site, 45 of the 81 individuals present during the incident have been retrieved, said the municipal government of George in its latest update on Sunday morning.

According to the update, 16 of the 45 recovered workers have been declared deceased, while 36 are still unaccounted for.

This followed the miraculous rescue of Gabriel Guambe, a survivor who was trapped under the rubble for nearly five days, said the George municipality in a statement issued on Saturday evening.

The 32-year-old is "recovering well in the hospital, having remarkably sustained only minor injuries," according to the statement.

"He is doing extremely well, especially considering he went 118 hours without food or water," it said. "He recently had his first meal in the hospital and is in good spirits."

In a video shared with the statement by the municipality, Guambe expressed his gratitude to all the rescue personnel for their relentless efforts.

Rescue teams onsite were encouraged to continue their dedication and hard work during the challenging task of searching for those still unaccounted for, the George municipality added in the statement. 
Ghat Mandani predicts Heavy rainfall Good crops Strong nation





Our Correspondent

Harassed by recent unseasonal rains, farmers will now have something to cheer about. For, the age-old practice of Ghat Mandani has showered good news upon them. The process of Ghat Mandani which started on Friday on the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya in Bhendwal village of Buldhana district, saw culmination on Saturday morning as the Ghat was opened and predictions were made. According to the predictions, the farmers will have good crops although heavy rains may inflict damages. Due to ongoing elections, no predictions on the political state of affairs in the country were disclosed but they did mention that the countrys security will remain robust and there will be no external threat. The country will continue taking strong strides towards progress. Ghat Mandani has been an uninterrupted tradition (except during COVID-19 period) of 370 years enjoying huge faith of the people who wait for its predictions. Not just farmers but even common people and politicians seek to gain insight into the future through these predictions.

As is the practise, the descendants of Chandrabhan Maharaj - Punjaji Maharaj and Sarangdhan Maharaj - on the day of Akshay Tritya, dig a hole in farm in village Bhandwal on the banks of Purna river in Jalgaon Jamod taluka of Buldhana district. A pot consisting 18 types of grains like wheat, jowar, tur, urid, moong, gram, barley, seseme, rice, etc is placed in the hole. A water-filled pot in kept upon a lump of earth. Betal nut, puri, papad, Sandoli-Kurdai are kept near the pot. No one stays at the place in the night. People again gather on the following daybreak to see the changes and make predictions accordingly. Viewing these changes, predictions are made on crops, rains, countrys economic development, security and political happenings. On Saturday, at 6 am, Punjaji Maharaj and Sarangdhar Maharaj inspected the Ghat and made predictions for the year ahead.
3 dead, 23 hurt in storm-related incidents in Delhi





NEW DELHI,

THREE people, including a 19-year-old woman, were killed and 23 injured in storm-related incidents in Delhi, as strong winds uprooted trees and electricity poles and led to portions of walls collapsing across the national capital.

Power supply was also disrupted in many areas as a dust storm swept the national capital late on Friday. In Shaheen Bagh, 19-year-old Shireen Ahmed was critically injured when a portion of a wall of an adjacent building collapsed on her. She was taken to a hospital where doctors declared her dead, a police officer said. A case under sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the owner of the top floor of the adjacent building in this connection, the officer said.

In west Delhis Vikaspuri, a man on a two-wheeler died after a tree branch fell on him near the Janakpuri flyover. The police said the branch was removed with the help of cranes and the victim, Jaiprakash, was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital where he was declared dead. A car was also damaged in the incident but its occupants were unhurt, an officer said. In the third incident, a 46-year-old labourer was trapped under a tree that fell on him near IB Block at KN Katju Marg around 11 pm. Hariom was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. The police said a car was also damaged but its occupants were safe. Officials said they received 152 calls, including 130 made to the Delhi Fire Services, regarding trees, electricity poles and hoardings being uprooted. They said 55 calls were received about the collapse of portions of buildings and structures. Additionally, 202 calls were received regarding power disruptions during the storms, they added. Nine flights were diverted late on Friday due to the bad weather, an official said.
KANDHAMAL,

PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi launched an attack on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar over his Pakistan has an atom bomb remark and accused the party of finding ways of scaring the people, adding that yeh mare pade log, desh ke mann ko bhi maar rahe hain (These dead people are also trying to kill the soul of the country). In an April 15 interview with Chill Pill Aiyar, Aiyar said that Pakistan is a respected nation that also possesses an atom bomb so India must enter into a dialogue with them. Addressing a public meeting in Odishas Kandhamal, PM Modi took a jibe at Pakistans economy and said that while the country had atom bombs, it was looking for someone to sell them but was unable to do so due to its poor quality.

Time and again, Congress tries 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 them and they are looking for a buyer to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy them as people know about the quality, the Prime Minister Modi said. He also took a jab at Pakistans economy, saying while the country had atom bombs, it was looking for someone to sell them but was unable to do so due to their poor quality. He further asserted that the people of Jammu and Kashmir faced terrorism for 60 years because of Congress. Due to this attitude of Congress, the people of Jammu and Kashmir faced terrorism for 60 years and the nation witnessed several terror attacks. Nation will never forget that they used to have meetings with terrorist organisations. They didnt dare to initiate an investigation against them after the 26/11 attack because they did not have the guts to take action against the terrorists involved in the attack.

The people of the I.N.D.I. alliance used to think that their vote bank would get affected, he said. Congress wont win even 50 LS seats, will not get Opposition party status after polls: PM: 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 Odishas asmita (pride) is in danger and the BJP will protect it, while asserting that a double engine Government of the BJP 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.
Dispute over weddingattire leads to rapeFIR by woman;High Court intervenes





Staff Reporter

What began as a disagreement over wedding attire spiraled into a legal confrontation resulting into registraton of an First Information Report (FIR) with the charges of rape and dowry demand. The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court meticulously examined the criminal application and ordered quashing of the charge-sheet arising from the FIR. The dispute centers around the applicant, Shubham, and non-applicant woman, whose relationship soured over disagreements regarding wedding arrangements which ultimately led to their marriage plans cancelled. The woman lodged a report on April 21, 2023, which led to the registration of a crime at Dhantoli Police Station. Employeed in the HR Department of a Pune-based company, she is currently working from home. Shubham became her Facebook friend in November 2021. They were also close relatives, so their friendship evolved into a love affair. The woman resides in Nagpur and works from home, while Shubham resides in Chandrapur and works as a clerk in the Tahsil office in Rajura, District Chandrapur. The allegations state that when Shubham came to Nagpur to meet her in January 2022, he established a physical relationship with her under the pretext of marriage. Thereafter, he continued the sexual relations with her. Both of them informed their family members about their love relationship, and their families accepted it. Later, they got engaged on November 5, 2022, and the marriage was fixed for May 11, 2023. They celebrated the engagement by exchanging clothes, and started gearing up for the marriage ceremony.
DOUBLE REBUFF





THE letter of the Election Commission (EC) to Congress President Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge damning his letter to different leaders of Opposition camp about low voter turn-out under the guise of seeking their views, exposes the attempts to somehow bring to fore the issue which the Opposition loves to call a failed democracy. The EC has taken a strong exception to Mr. Kharges implication that the (so-called) delay in releasing the voter turn-out data by the poll body was an attempt to doctor the final outcome of the elections. The EC has described Mr. Kharges letter as an attempt to spread confusion, misdirection and impediment to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections and heap on the society a biased narrative. If on one hand the Opposition is trying to malign Indias democratic credentials, United States Ambassador to India Mr. Eric Garcetti has dismissed once again in just a few weeks the allegations of a failed democracy. Indians are better than the Americans in many ways, he is reported to have said at an event organised by the prestigious American think-tank Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Garcetti had stressed this point a few weeks ago and had praised Indias successful democratic experiment and experience.

Of course, this double rebuff -- by the Election Commission as well as by the US Ambassador -- to the Opposition is not going to alter its stance in its electoral contest at hand. It is absolutely unlikely that the Congress party which Mr. Kharge heads or other parties in the Opposition grouping would ever want to mend their ways upon the reprimand from the Election Commission. For, having realised that they have been left with no philosophical position to take against the Narendra Modi Government, the Opposition parties have decided to create issues -- howsoever false -- about Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modis democratic credentials. Out of that strategy has also stemmed the narrative that the Prime Minister proposes to alter the Constitution if he returns to power with 400-plus seats in his kitty. The obvious attempt of the Opposition was to seize the initiative by forcing the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on backfoot. Though the NDA did not get pushed to backfoot, it had to engage much of its energy in knocking out the Opposition allegations, all right.

This success did give the Opposition some energy to keep harping on its biased and often false narrative. No matter that, it is common knowledge that the Opposition has actually not gained anything concrete out of this attempt to slap on the country a wrong narrative that actually makes no head-or-tail. Much to the contrary, the Opposition lost a lot of its ground due to this biased narrative that did not conform to truth and went tangential to the overall national perception on most issues. The rebuff by the EC and the US Ambassador is good enough an indication that the Opposition continues to lose much of its ground due to its wrong stance on issues of critical national and international importance. Despite the fact that its leaders know that they are pursuing a wrong path, the Opposition does not seem to mend its ways. This leads us to an obvious inference -- that the Opposition is trying to carry forward an agenda whose goal travels much beyond the realm and outcome of the current Lok Sabha elections.
ISLAMABAD,

THE UN food agency says more than 300 Afghans have died in flash floods that also destroyed more than 1,000 houses in the northern province of Baghlan. The World Food Agency said on Saturday it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit Afghanistan over the last few weeks following unusually heavy rainfall. The floods hit mostly the northern region of the country. The province of Baghlan bore the brunt of the deluges Friday with officials preliminary reporting at least 50 people dead and properties destroyed in multiple districts. In neighbouring Takhar province, State-owned media outlets reported the floods killing at least 20 people.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban Government posted on social media platform X on Saturday, saying that hundreds ... Have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries.

Mujahid underscored 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 also said the Government had ordered all available resources mobilised to rescue people, transport the injured and recover the bodies of the deceased. The Taliban Defence Ministry said in a statement Saturday that the countrys air force has already begun evacuating people in Baghlan and has so far rescued a large number of people stuck in flooded and transported a hundred injured people to military hospitals in the region. Officials previously said that in April, before Fridays floods, at least 70 people died from heavy rains and flash flooding in the country.
Gaza: Bidens Biggest Challenge





By Girish Linganna

THE US President, Joe Biden, is facing political challenges as he attempts to navigate the demands of both the Israel lobby and its critics. This has led to perceptions of his weakness and ineffectiveness. With the election just six months away, Biden is struggling with a significant foreign policy issue. On Monday (6th of May), White House spokesman John Kirby expressed concerns about operations in Rafah that could potentially endanger over a million innocent people. Kirby also highlighted Bidens belief that the hostage deal offered the best solution to prevent such risks while ensuring the release of the hostages. Several days have passed, and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are still conducting an operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, with no visible progress towards reaching a resolution. According to analyst Hasan Unal, this incident reflects the complex relationship between the White House and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Unal argues that President Joe Biden faces the difficult task of trying to satisfy both pro-Palestine factions within his party and the Right-wing leadership in Israel. To delve into the strategic and humanitarian consequences of these recent developments, Professor Hasan Unal, an expert in political science and international relations at Bashkent University, participated in a discussion on Sputniks Fault Lines programme on Wednesday (8th May) as reported by Sputnik a Russian Media House.

Recent reports indicated that the Palestinian group had accepted a proposal facilitated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar. Unal suggests that Hamas not accepting the deal would have provided justification for Israel, particularly the Netanyahu Government, to carry out a military operation in Rafah. However, as Hamas accepted the proposal, it has put Israel in a challenging position. Unal sees this as a tactical victory for Hamas. Unal clarified that despite Hamas tactical victory, it does not necessarily mean that Israel will be deterred. He emphasised that the United States holds significant leverage over Israel, possibly more than any other country in the world. While the Israeli lobby carries substantial influence in the United States, it is important to note that the United States itself wields significant power and influence over Israel. He highlighted historical instances where US exerted pressure on Israel. For example, he mentioned the Suez Crisis of 1956, during which the US, along with the Soviet Union and international authorities, called on Israel to halt its occupation of Egyptian territory in the Sinai Desert. Additionally, Unal cited the USs role in pushing for a compromise during the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978 and former President Ronald Reagans directive for Israel to cease its bombing of Beirut in 1982. These incidents demonstrate the United States past efforts to rein in Israeli actions through diplomatic means. In 1991, US Secretary of State James Baker achieved a delay in granting loan guarantees to Israel.

This delay was contingent upon Israel agreeing to halt temporarily its construction of settlements or colonies in Gaza and the West Bank, which were deemed illegal. However, both Baker and former President George H W Bush encountered strong opposition from organisations like AIPAC and other pro-Israel interests due to this decision. AIPAC stands for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It is a prominent lobbying group in the United States that advocates for strong US-Israel relations and supports Israels policies and interests. According to host or the programme moderator, Jamarl Thomas, Bidens attempts to appease Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have seemingly yielded little favor for him. The US President finds himself in a challenging position. Thomas pointed out that while distressing images of babies hanging out of buildings during the attack were circulating, President Biden delivered a speech that Thomas found deeply problematic. He criticised Biden for invoking the Holocaust in his speech, implying that referencing historical events from many years ago does not justify or excuse the ongoing genocide and tragic situations, such as babies hanging out of buildings, that were unfolding at the same time. Thomas argues that President Biden is in a difficult position, trying to please both sides but ending up losing support from both. Israel and the Israel lobby view any pressure Biden puts on them as a rejection of their interests, while some members of his own party criticise him for being too aligned with Israel.

Unal further commented on the role of multipolarity in the conflict, highlighting that other global powers are now significantly involved in the situation, which is unprecedented. He specifically noted Chinas increased interest in the Middle East, particularly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian issue, which was not as prominent in the past. Beijing recently facilitated a meeting between officials from Hamas and Fatah with the aim of fostering reconciliation between the two major Palestinian groups. Similarly, Moscow hosted a similar summit in February, emphasising the importance of resolving the longstanding Palestine-Israel conflict and garnering support from Arab nations. Fatah is a political party and a major Palestinian nationalist movement. It was founded in 1959 and is considered one of the key factions within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Fatah is led by the Palestinian President, currently Mahmoud Abbas. During a period in April when Israel and Iran engaged in reciprocal attacks, it was reported that the United States urged China to leverage its influence in order to dissuade Tehran from retaliating following an attack on its consulate in Damascus. Analysts pointed out that this incident highlights the increasing influence of Moscow and Beijing, while the leader of US faces challenges in projecting global power effectively. (IPA)
Nadda, Shah, Rajnath assert PM Modi will keep leading Govt





NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD,

SENIOR BJP leaders, including Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, asserted on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will complete his full term if elected to power, refuting the Aam Aadmi Partys claim that Modi wants Shah to succeed him after turning 75 next year. Addressing AAP workers and supporters a day after his release on interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that Modi wants to pass on the baton to Shah as the BJP follows the practice of retiring its leaders after they are 75 years of age. Hitting back, BJP President J P Nadda said the Opposition alliance has no policy and programme to counter Modi. Rattled after sensing defeat, Kejriwal and other opposition leaders are now solely devoted to misleading the country and are talking about an irrelevant issue of Modis age, he said. There is no such provision regarding age in the BJPs constitution, he asserted. Replying to a query, Shah also told reporters in Hyderabad that there was no such age bar mentioned in the BJPs constitution, asserting that there was no confusion in the BJP over the matter. Singh said the kind of loose statements Kejriwal made following his release from jail made it clear that the ruling alliance under Modi is headed to a splendid victory. In their despair over their defeat, the Opposition alliance has lost its mind, he said, asserting that while Modi symbolises credibility in politics, Kejriwal stands for the crisis of credibility in politics.

The I.N.D.I. Alliance which is unable to decide on its leadership is speculating unsuccessfully about our leadership... Modi is in the BJPs heart. I.N.D.I. Alliance leaders do not have even an ounce of the acceptability and credibility that Modi has among people, he said. He said, I want to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company and the whole I.N.D.I. Alliance that they need not be happy once Modi turns 75. Modi will complete his term. And he will continue to lead the country. There is no confusion in the BJP on the issue. They (Opposition) want to create this confusion. In a post on X, Defence Minister Singh echoed Shahs stand. He said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is contesting the elections under Modis leadership and that he will become the Prime Minister for a third term and complete his tenure. There is no confusion over it in the BJP, NDA or among people, he said. The country is assured that Modi will further strengthen the resolve to build a developed India and take the country to new heights after becoming Prime Minister for a third term, the former BJP President said. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said Kejriwals succession claim was an acknowledgement on his part that Modi is set to retain power for a third term. Kejriwal had earlier claimed that Modi was asking for votes for Shah.

These people ask the I.N.D.I.A. bloc about their (PM) face. I ask 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. He (Modi) will retire next year. He is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime Minister. Will Shah fulfill Modijis guarantee? the CM, out on bail in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam, said. Since Modi led the BJP to power in 2014, a number of party leaders were eased out of electoral politics and Government positions on the grounds of their advanced age. Party leaders had suggested that the leadership wanted veterans to opt out after crossing 75 years of age so that a new crop of leaders could emerge. However, it was never an absolute practice and was not followed in many cases. B S Yediyurappa took over as Karnataka Chief Minister at 76 years in 2019. With Modi being the partys mascot and most popular leader by far, he is expected to lead the party in the foreseeable future. Kejriwals comments about the so-called succession plan in the BJP are being seen by the ruling party as an attempt by the Delhi Chief Minister to create some flutter and inject a new dimension in the battle of narratives between the two battling sides in the poll season.
Naxalites posed as villagers to mislead police





BIJAPUR,

SOME Naxalites changed into civilian clothes to pose as villagers and mislead the police after the first exchange of fire with the security personnel during Fridays encounter in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, an official said. According to the police, 12 Naxalites were gunned down by security personnel in a 12-hour operation in the forest near Pidia village under the Gangloor police station limits on Friday. Their bodies were brought to Bijapur district headquarters on Saturday morning. The identity of the deceased has been ascertained. They were carrying a cumulative reward of Rs 31 lakh on their heads, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said. Budhu Oyam and Kallu Punem, both members of military company no. 2, were carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh each on their head, while Gangaloor area committee member of Maoists Lakhe Kunjam and member of military platoon no. 12 Bhima Karam were carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh each on their heads, he said. The other deceased, militia platoon commander Sannu Lakom and vice head of Janata Sarkar (peoples government) Avlam, were carrying a bounty of Rs 2 lakh each, the SP said, adding that six others were lower-run members of the outlawed outfit. Woman killed after stepping on IED planted Naxals in Chhattisgarh: A 25-YEAR-OLD woman was killed after an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Naxalites went off in Chhattisgarhs Bijapur district on Saturday, the police said. Shanti Punem was collecting tendu leaves near Mallur village within the limits of the Gangaloor police station when she died in the blast, a police official said.

Engrossed in her work, Punem stepped on the pressure IED, triggering the explosion, the official said. The scene of the blast is about 20 km from Pidia village, where 12 Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter with security personnel on Friday. After being alerted about the incident, a police team was sent to the spot, he said. Naxalites often plant IEDs along roads, dirt tracks and in forests to target security personnel during patrolling in the interior pockets of the Bastar region comprising seven districts, including Bijapur, the official said. Many civilians have fallen prey to such explosives laid by ultras in the past in Bastar, he said. In Bijapur, a man was killed after a pressure IED planted by Naxals went off in the Gangaloor area on April 20, while a worker engaged in road construction lost his life in a similar blast in the Mirtur area of the same district on April 12. Some Maoists also tried to surround the security forces by laying ambushes at three places, but the attempts were foiled. A peculiar thing we noticed for the first time during this operation was that after the first exchange of fire, some Naxalites changed into civil clothes and mixed with villagers to mislead the police, he said.

Hence, the police have taken several people into custody from the area, and their identities are being ascertained, the official said. The operation was launched based on the inputs about the presence of special zonal committee members Chaitu, Lengu and Papa Rao, commander of PLGA company no. 2 of Maoists Vella and Gagaloor area committee secretary Dinesh Modiyam and 100-150 cadres, in the forest, he 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. Yadav said the encounter broke out at 6 am on Friday, and the face-off took place about nine to 10 times at regular intervals till 6 pm. Apart from the bodies, a cache of arms, ammunition and explosives were recovered from the encounter site, he said. Three Naxalites who sustained injuries in the gunfight were also apprehended from the spot.

A civilian was also injured in the crossfire, the SP said. The injured were administered preliminary treatment and admitted to the district hospital, and their condition was stated to be out of danger, he said. Several Maoists were either injured or killed during the operation, but their colleagues managed to drag them into the forest, the official said. Security personnel have also busted a transit camp set up by Maoists in Pidia forest, he said. Two security personnel sustained minor injuries in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by Maoists during the operation, the police had earlier said. 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, according to police. On April 16, 29 Naxalites were killed by security forces in Kanker district, while 10 Naxalites, including three women, were gunned down in a forest along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts on April 30.
NEW DELHI,

A CRIMSON glow lit up the dark sky in parts of Ladakh in a rare stable auroral red arc event at the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in the high Himalayas due to the strong solar magnetic storms launched towards Earth. The solar storms or coronal mass ejections are from the AR13664 region of the sun that has produced several high energy solar flares, some of which are travelling towards Earth at a speed of 800 km/s, scientists at the Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences in India (CESSI), Kolkata, said. Spectacular auroras or northern lights lit up the skies in the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere as skywatchers from Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark and Poland shared pictures and short videos of the dancing lights on social media. In Ladakh, astronomers at the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve saw a red glow on the northwest horizon in the sky from about 1 am on Saturday that continued till early dawn. We were fortunate to witness Aurora activities on our all-sky camera during regular telescope observations, Stanzin Norla, an engineer at the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, told PTI. He said a faint red glow was visible to the naked eye along the horizon and the event was captured in much detail by a DSLR camera installed at the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve.

It streaked through the sky from about 1 am till 3:30 am, Stanzin said, adding that the skies turned red along the horizon and to a pinkish hue later. Dorje Angchuk, an engineer at the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, described the event as a stable auroral red arc, which was a rare occurrence over the skies at Ladakh. Auroras seen near the north or south poles are dynamic events. They keep changing. But the one witnessed at Ladakh was more stable. It is called the stable auroral red arc. The steady glow remained in the sky for a couple of hours, Angchuk said. Such events are rare at Hanle because it is located far south, Dibyendu Nandi, Head, CESSI at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, told PTI. He said the chances of such events being witnessed at places such as Hanle become higher during intense disturbances triggered by solar storms.

These auroral red arcs are likely caused by heating of the atmosphere by electric currents that are circulating between Earth and outer space, Nandi said. These ring currents get enhanced during geomagnetic disturbances induced by solar storms and thus the likelihood of observing the red auroral arcs is higher at times when we are in the midst of a severe geomagnetic storm, he said. The CESSI said the sun produced strong solar flares beginning Wednesday, resulting in five outbursts of plasma capable of disrupting satellites in orbit and power grids here on Earth. We are witnessing severe Space Weather at levels we have not seen in the last two decades. It might get worse as more solar storms are expected to impact Earth or maybe just more spectacular auroras for all, Nandi said. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is calling this an unusual event, pointing out that the flares seem to be associated with a sunspot thats 16 times the diameter of Earth. An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003 took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.
Contestants and jury members of the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" language competition for college students in Turkiye pose for a group photo in Istanbul, Turkiye, May 11, 2024. The final round of the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" language competition for college students in Turkiye took place Saturday in Istanbul, the country's largest city. The competition was held at Okan University with the participation of 17 contestants from seven universities across Turkiye. The contestants showcased their language skills and Chinese-related artistic talent through performances like singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments. (Photo by Safar Rajabov/Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The final round of the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" language competition for college students in Turkiye took place Saturday in Istanbul, the country's largest city.

The competition was held at Okan University with the participation of 17 contestants from seven universities across Turkiye.

The contestants showcased their language skills and Chinese-related artistic talent through performances like singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments.

Deniz Gumuslu, a student of Okan University's Chinese Translation and Interpreting preparatory class, was awarded the first prize and would represent Turkiye to compete in China.

"My curiosity about China was sparked after I registered in my class, which further fueled my interest in China," Gumuslu told Xinhua after the competition, expressing his dream of pursuing education in China in the future.

In her opening speech, Guliz Mugan, president of Okan University, emphasized that, in the Chinese courses, Turkish students acquire the language and evolve into "cultural ambassadors."

"The objective of Chinese proficiency competitions is to promote Chinese culture and language proficiency while enhancing global awareness and understanding of China," Mugan said.

Wei Xiaodong, consul general of China in Istanbul, highlighted in his speech the growing interest among Turks in learning Chinese.

He expressed hope that more Turkish youths would visit China and have more exchanges with Chinese youths, jointly promoting friendship, cultural exchanges, and mutual learning between the two countries. 

A contestant performs during the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" language competition for college students in Turkiye held in Istanbul, Turkiye, May 11, 2024. The final round of the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" language competition for college students in Turkiye took place Saturday in Istanbul, the country's largest city. (Photo by Safar Rajabov/Xinhua)
BAGHDAD, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces have dismantled two international rings engaged in human and drug trafficking and arrested 40 foreigners across the country, Iraqi media reported on Saturday.

The Iraqi National Intelligence Service, in collaboration with the Interior Ministry, arrested 40 foreigners suspected of being involved in crimes of kidnapping, extortion, forgery, as well as human and drug trafficking, according to a statement from the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

Security forces arrested the suspects in Baghdad and several other Iraqi provinces based on intelligence reports, the statement read, without specifying the nationalities of the detainees and the exact locations of their operations, aside from mentioning Baghdad.

The statement noted that the majority of the victims targeted by these two rings were foreigners residing in Iraq. 
This photo taken on May 12, 2024 shows the Cambodia-China Friendship Multipurpose Building in Tanorn village, Bati district of Takeo province, Cambodia. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)

BATI, Cambodia, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Once a poor, isolated and quiet village in Cambodia's remote area, Tanorn village has now become a modern one with well-established basic physical infrastructure under a China-aided poverty alleviation project.

Located in Takeo province's Bati district, about 60 km south of capital Phnom Penh, the Tanorn village has a total area of 72 hectares and is currently home to 132 households with more than 600 people.

The tiny village has experienced enormous changes since January 2021 when the Cambodia-China Friendship Village for Poverty Alleviation Project was launched here.

The project has been carried out by the Cambodian Civil Society Alliance Forum (CSAF), with funds from the China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD).

The CSAF's Chairman Kemreat Viseth said the project is a pilot one that shows the generous hearts of Chinese people in helping alleviate poverty in Cambodia's rural areas.

"The contributions from the government and people of China to Cambodia's development and poverty alleviation are tremendous," he told Xinhua after the inauguration ceremony of the Cambodia-China Friendship Multipurpose Building in the village on Sunday.

"This project has contributed to improving the villagers' livelihoods significantly," he said.

Viseth said under the project, concrete roads, clean water system, solar power, drainage system for flood prevention, and essential public facilities have been developed.

"Overall, this project has been fully supported by local residents because it has greatly changed an infrastructure landscape in the village, and people feel very convenient to travel in and out of the village," he said.

Tanorn village chief Pang Samedy said the village had previously no paved roads, sufficient clean water, electricity and school, but now it has all of them.

"So, this project has greatly benefited local residents," he told Xinhua.

"I would like to thank the people and government of China for helping develop Tanorn village, and the villagers are currently reaping the benefit of this developmental assistance," Samedy said.

Por Sokhim, a 49-year-old villager, said the project has transformed the poor village into a modern one with proper basic physical infrastructure such as roads, clean water, and solar power, among others.

"The project has brought a lot of changes to my village. Now, we have concrete roads, canals, and solar power that beautifully lights up the village at night," she said.

Sokhim said currently she is running a grocery store as her husband owns a motorcycle repair shop at their home along a nice concrete road in the village.

"All villagers and I have benefited a lot from this project," she said.

Khlok Chamroeun, another 61-year-old villager, said before the launch of the project, the villagers' living conditions were rather difficult because there were no roads, irrigation system and electricity.

"But now, this China-aided poverty alleviation project has remarkably changed our village's landscape, developing roads, clean water system, solar power, canals and a multipurpose building," he said. "Our current living conditions have improved, as we all have lived decently."

Chamroeun added the villagers are very pleased that China has helped develop Tanorn village as a model for poverty alleviation in the Southeast Asian country. 
A villager makes grass brooms at a workshop in Hmawbi Township of Yangon Region, Myanmar, May 11, 2024. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)

YANGON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- U Tin Oo, owner of the Win Ngwe Toe grass broom business in Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon, vows to sustain his business of making traditional brooms, which he thinks is a big contributor to the local economy.

"Despite challenges such as rising raw material prices, transportation costs and labor shortages in the Myanmar broom industry, I'm determined to sustain our business for as long as I live, not solely for profit but to ensure its survival and positive impact on the local economy," he told Xinhua on Saturday.

"Our primary aim is not just financial gain but to provide job opportunities and generate income for the local community," he noted.

"Despite having markets in India, Malaysia, and South Korea, business expansion is hindered by limited capital and a shortage of labor," he said.

Htoo Aung Kyaw, 42, a worker employed by the Win Ngwe Toe grass broom business, said: "I've been here since I was over 20 years old, relying on this job to earn my livelihood and support my family."

Ko Maung Lwin, a supervisor at the business, said: "I've been here for over a decade. This job is my livelihood, supporting my family of three."

U Tin Oo, a resident in Kyauk Taung Su Village of Yangon, has been running the broom-making business since 1991.

"In our village, every household can make brooms. Our profits only cover basic needs like food now, so we can't expect the same profit as before."

More than 60,000 broomsticks are exported each month and more than 2,000 broomsticks produced each day, he said, speaking of the production for his business.

Owner of the Kyaw grass broom business, Myo Win, said, "I believe Myanmar's traditional broom will endure despite competition from plastic alternatives because it's an essential household item."

"Unlike plastic brooms, ours can effectively sweep away sand, maintaining its value and importance," he added, explaining on the market demand for traditional brooms.

"Our main export markets are India and Malaysia. Last year, we exported over 60,000 broomsticks, but this year, because we don't have enough workers and materials cost more, we could only manage over 30,000," he said.

"Although facing lower profits due to challenges with raw materials and transportation costs, we're committed to continuing this business, having run it for over 20 years," he added. 

A villager makes grass brooms at a workshop in Hmawbi Township of Yangon Region, Myanmar, May 11, 2024. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)
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State chief minister Mamata Banerjee, campaigning at Sahaganj in Saptagram under Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency, lashed out at the Narendra Modiled BJP government for its deliberate non-cooperative attitude towards the development and welfare of the people of Bengal. In every sector, the central governments noncooperative attitude is posing a great obstacle to the progress and development of Bengal. The people have the right to participate in the central governments beneficiary schemes and projects, since in addition to the central government funding, the state government share of funding plays a major role in the implementation of these schemes.

But after the pandemic the central government share of fund have been completely stopped in the MGNREGA rural jobs scheme, Awas Yojana, distribution of free ration and many more, Miss Banerjee said. The BJP is playing dirty politics with the lives and livelihood of the people of Bengal. However the state government has come forward with its limited capacity of funds to keep the central government schemes running in the state. Modi ji has lost the right to claim the schemes as central government schemes since the entire funding is now maintained by the state government, Miss Banerjee said.

Lamenting the plight of the jobless workers and their families of the Dunlop and Jessop factories, Miss Banerjee said: I approached the central government for a clearance certificate for the acquisition of the closed Dunlop and Jessop factories so that the state can revive the closed factories to save the families of the jobless workers but till today no positive step has been taken by the BJP government in this regard If the state government is granted the permission to acquire the Dunlop and Jessop factories it will not take a single day to bring both the closed factories on track. Miss Banerjee said. The BJP government has no right to deprive the constitutional rights of common people, Miss Banerjee said, alleging that it is deliberately depriving the people of West Bengal in every manner.

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The people of Bengal will throw out the BJP from Bengal for ever. The voting trends so far indicate that the BJP is heading towards a historic defeat, Miss Banerjee said. In an oblique reference to the sexual harassment controversy surrounding state Governor CV Ananda Bose, Miss Banerjee said that she would never go inside Raj Bhavan even if she was invited. I will not go inside Raj Bhavan even if I am invited. I would be better to meet on the streets. Whatever I heard about you it will be a sin to sit beside you, the Chief Minister said, without directly referring to Mr Bose.
MOSCOW, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday approved the structure of Russia's new government, which will consist of one first deputy prime minister and nine deputy prime ministers.

According to the new decree "On the Structure of Federal Executive Bodies" which Putin signed, the new government will see a shift in the distribution of responsibilities among the deputies, one of whom will act as the Russian Federation and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District.

There is also a deputy prime minister who will assume the role of Chief of Staff of the Government Executive Office.

The reappointed Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is required to submit his deputy candidates for consideration to the State Duma or lower house of parliament.

He must also propose candidates for federal ministers, excluding the heads of security agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose nominations will be presented by the president for consultation with senators of the Russian Federation.

The Russian government resigned in accordance with the law after the inauguration of the president on May 7. Nevertheless, its members will continue to perform their duties until the formation of a new government. 
Joydeb Khan, an alleged coal mafia, against whom there have been several cases, raked up a fresh controversy after receiving Union home minister Amit Shah at Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal, yesterday.

His picture, receiving the Union home minister, went viral today and created a huge stir in the political circles in the state.

This is the second time that Joydeb Khan has been part of the controversy after he personally met union coal minister Pralhad Joshi at a five star hotel during his stay at Durgapur in November 2022.

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During his road show in Raniganj in favour of BJP candidate Surendrajit Singh Ahluwalia yesterday evening, Amit Shah has alleged that TMC is linked with the coal mafia.

The FIR in the illegal coal mining case in December 2020 in Bengal a few months before the Assembly polls had rocked the state at that time. The CBI, I-T and ED jointly investigated the illegal coal mining cases in the ECL leasehold area.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said that Joydeb Khan is a BJP member and never was a coal mafia, ever since joining the BJP in 2019 he has been framed in false cases. Instead Joydeb Khan has bagged tenders of railway siding, in which 400 people will get jobs, he added.

Around 16 people went to greet Amit Shah at the airport and the list was prepared by district president of BJP Bappa Chatterjee.

Narendra Nath Chakraborty, Pandaveswar MLA and district president of TMC in West Burdwan said that it seems that the coal mafia are very close to the ruling BJP ministers thats why a notorious person is seen with them.

It is the BJP which encourages the illegal coal mining in Raniganj coalfield area. Our chief minister Mamata Banerjee has taken a strong stance against the coal mafia after she came in to power in 2011 and has arrested a number of coal mafia, he added.
The central investigative agency, ED (Enforcement Directorate) wants to know the number of active ration cards in the state.

Additionally, they are seeking information on the total number of ration cards before 2019 and the current count. They also inquired about the number of ration cards invalidated during the digitization process. Furthermore, theyre investigating if benefits are being passed on to the card holders even after their demise or if illegal ration withdrawals are being made. They also want to ascertain if there has been any irregularity in ration distribution through deceased ration cards. Additionally, theyre interested in knowing the number of active ration cards to gauge the actual demand for ration in the state. However, theyre currently awaiting responses from the state food department.

According to ED sources, through these questions they want to determine whether there has been any malpractice in ration distribution through ration cards. During the investigation of ration malpractices, ED investigators found instances where rice or flour was not provided as per entitlements. Moreover, there have been instances of clandestine ration transfers from suppliers to dealers. Ration has been sold to dealers at a 10 per cent discount per transaction. Therefore, ED seeks to ascertain if excess ration withdrawals have also occurred through bogus ration cards. The ED is already investigating allegations of corruption in the distribution of ration in the state.

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The former food minister, Jyotipriyo Mallick has already been arrested in connection with the case, along with several close associates, including prominent businessman Bakibur Rahman. However, the investigation is still on. According to sources, the ED needs answers to several questions related to ration card issues in the state for their investigation.
The Trinamul Congress held a press conference today highlighting how the BJP, which talks of taking action against criminals, instead harbours them. They also said that the women of Sandeshkhali are now finding courage to come out with their allegations against the BJP.

Senior leader and minister Shashi Panja said, We knew criminals go to jail but here, criminals go to BJPs washing machine. We are surprised at the way BJP misguided the President, Droupadi Murmu. The BJP team went and lied to the President. Every day, women are showing courage and coming forward to take back their false allegations that they were made to sign under coercion. We expected the Union home minister to reprimand the state BJP leadership and question them on what they did in Sandeshkhali. He didnt even apologise to the people.

She added, Sandeshkhali women are still awaiting justice. They lost their respect and dignity. Their dignity was given a price. Now, the women are saying that they want to go to the President of India. We are thinking of asking the chairperson Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek if we can approach the President of India to tell her the truth. She needs to be informed about the falsehood spread by BJP on Sandeshkhali.

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TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said Amit Shah spoke on Sandeshkhali yesterday but when journalists asked her about the viral videos, he didnt comment. Gangadhar Kayal has demanded a CBI probe but on the day the videos came to light, he accepted on record that the voice shown belongs to him, the room shown is his and the video was shot in his room but it is a conspiracy because the video was shot without taking his permission. Kayals wife in another media network accepted that the video was shot in their room. Today, why are you asking for a CBI probe? It is because the CBI defends criminals.

Mr Chakraborty added that Bengals mothers will teach them a lesson and Trinamul Congress will get a lead of 50,000 from Sandeshkhali and win from Basirhat by a margin of 2-2.5 lakh votes.

On arms being seized in Jeliakhali today, the TMC leader said, They will try to divert the narrative. That robot should be sent into action again. The robot should be sent to Raj Bhavan. The woman is crying for justice. Raj Bhavan had to release the CCTV footage to the police.
Being perhaps the first Lok Sabha election after three decades without a poll boycott call from Pakistan backed terrorists and separatists, all eyes are set on the voter turnout on Monday when polling for the sensitive Srinagar parliamentary constituency will be held.

Of the three Lok Sabha constituencies in the Kashmir valley, Srinagar is the first to go to polls during the fourth phase of the election.

Like other parliamentary constituencies in the valley, Srinagar recorded low voting percentage in the past few elections due to terror threats against participating in the electoral process. However, this time the scenario seems a bit changed as enthusiasm is being witnessed in the downtown Srinagar where not a single vote was cast in 70 booths in the last parliamentary election in 2019 when the total voter turnout in the constituency was 14.43 per cent and that too under a heavy deployment of paramilitary forces.

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The byelection for the Srinagar constituency in 2017 recorded a dismal 7.12 per cent voting. The polling percentage in 2004 was 18.57 per cent that gradually improved to 25.55 per cent in 2009 and 25.86 per cent in 2014.

The Election Commission is taking several steps to motivate voters to come out in large numbers to exercise their right to franchise.

Leadership of the regional parties, particularly the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have during their election campaign also asked the people to come out to vote and send a message to Delhi against abrogation of Article 370. This is the first major election after abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and splitting the state into two union territories.

The key contest is between Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi of NC and the youth leader of PDP Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra in Srinagar that has been represented by three generations of the Abdullah family.

Aga Ruhullah is a well known Shia cleric and is a former MLA of Budgam and also a cabinet minister. He is grandson of Aga Syed Mustafa, who was a respected Shia leader. Dr Farooq Abdullah, NC chief who presently represents the constituency, has put in his strength to campaign for Ruhullah.

On the other hand, Parra has made efforts to connect with the youth in the constituency. He was arrested by NIA on 25 November 2020 on the charges of terror links. He was re-arrested by J&K Police after he received bail from the special NIA court. He won the district development council election in 2020 from Pulwama while being in jail. He was later released on bail by the High Court. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also campaigned for Parra.

The recent delimitation of constituencies saw the assembly segments in the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat getting increased to 18 from the earlier 15.

It is worth mentioning that the Srinagar constituency has remained a stronghold of the Abdullah family since 1967 when it was formed. Begum Akbar Jehan, mother of Farooq Abdullah represented the constituency in 1977. Thereafter, Farooq Abdullah himself and later his son Omar Abdullah won several elections from Srinagar. It was in 2014 that the seat went to PDP, but was won back by Farooq Abdullah in the 2017 by-polls. Again in 2019, Farooq Abdullah got 57.14 per cent votes against 2.48 per cent by the BJP candidate Khalid Jehangir.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday targeted the Gandhi family during an election meeting in the partys stronghold here.

Shah began by questioning why the Gandhi family had visited Rae Bareli after remaining absent for five years and sought answers from them.

He asserted that only the BJP could bring development to Rae Bareli. The money from Sonia Gandhis development fund is spent on the partys vote bank, accusing the Gandhi family of utilising the MP fund in Rae Bareli solely on minorities.

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He also questioned Rahul Gandhis decision to abandon the Amethi seat to contest from Rae Bareli.

Addressing a gathering in support of BJP candidate and UP minister Dinesh Pratap Singh in the Congress stronghold, Shah sought answers from the Gandhi family, especially Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He questioned their absence during various tragic incidents, such as the boiler explosion in NTPC which claimed many lives, the Bachhrawan train accident in which 50 people died, and the drowning of five girls. There was no trace of the family even during the Corona epidemic, he added.

Cornering the Congress on the issue of reservation, the Union Home Minister said that as long as there is even a single BJP MP in Parliament, the reservation for Dalits and backward classes will not end.

He said that the Congress always tells lies. He raised the issue of Section 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and said that the Congress feels that its removal was wrong. You all tell me whether the removal of Article 370 was wrong, he asked the people.

Congress leaders, whether Mani Shankar Aiyar or other leaders are praising Pakistan and saying that talks should be held with Pakistan. How can one talk to someone who kills our soldiers? Not only this, these leaders say that Pakistan says that Rahul Gandhi should become the Prime Minister of the country, he alleged.

Amit Shah asserted that during the Samajwadi Partys tenure in the state, there was rampant goondaraj. Today, the mafia raj has completely ended.

The atmosphere at the packed GIC ground was charged with enthusiasm when Shah attacked the Gandhi family.

BJP Sadar MLA Aditi Singh, who was conspicuously absent during the nomination of BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, and former MLA from Sareni assembly constituency Dhirendra Bahadur Singh were present at the venue of the meeting. Aditi Singh was annoyed with Dinesh Pratap Singh and had even expressed it through social media.

SP MLA Manoj Pandey was not present in this rally. Pandey had switched over to the BJP recently during the Rajya Sabha polls and was a contender for the ticket ticket from Rae Bareli.

After addressing the public meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Manoj Pandeys residence near Gora Bazar. The Home Minister met with Manoj Pandey and his family for about half an hour. It is said that the Home Minister also had his lunch with the SP MLA from the Unchahar Assembly constituency.

Polling in the Rae Bareli seat will be held in the fifth phase on May 20.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, Union Minister General V K Singh (Retd) and BJP national secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa flagged off a bike rally here on Sunday in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The bike rally, which set off from the state BJP office, reached the national headquarters via Connaught Place. Hundreds of youths from the Sikh community participated in the rally with the slogan #SikhWithModi.

The bike rally, organised by the Sikh community, was led by Sirsa. This comes nearly two weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi which will be held on May 25.

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Addressing the bike rally, Sachdeva said the significant number of people from the Sikh community participating in the rally is evidence that this time, the people of Delhi want to see Narendra Modi as prime minister for a third time, and therefore, the BJP is going to win all seven seats of Delhi and get full majority once again.

He said if any government has empowered Sikh youth with opportunities, it is only the Modi Government.
State Public Works Minister and Congress candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency Vikramaditya Singh called the upcoming Lok Sabha elections crucial as Congress is fighting a big battle to save the democracy and constitution of the country.

Addressing a public gathering during his campaigning in Rampur, he assured that if he becomes Member of Parliament (MP), his priority would be to open a medical college in Rampur and would leave no stone unturned in making Mandi an ideal constituency.

Apprising the voters about his contribution in the development of the area, he said more than Rs 70 crore was spent on the construction and maintenance of roads in this area in the last one year.

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Son of former six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, Vikramaditya said he always rose above party politics and worked vigorously in the development works of the state and in the construction and improvement of roads and buildings related to his department.

My aim in politics is only to serve the public and I will never step back from this, he asserted.

Singh, on Sunday, covered various areas of the Rampur assembly constituency including Badhal, Juri, Talara, Kotla, Dwarch, Bonda, Gharat, Rawani, Mazgaon, Shahdhar, Dehu, Kharai, Manguni, Chhwara, Mashnu, Daran, Talal, Cheeks, Majhali, Kuhal, Patna, Devathi and his public relations campaign in Chakli, Som, KM, Kareri, Barkai, Taklech, Khanotu, Rajpura and Nogli.

Singh, the scion of the erstwhile Rampur Bushahr said this area was close to his heart, being his hometown, his family has received huge public support in the past from the area and he hopes that it will continue in future as well.

Whatever lead he gets from Rampur assembly constituency will be important and decisive in his victory, said Singh.
Four hospitals in Delhi  Burari Government Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri, Superspeciality Hospital in Janakpuri, and Hindu Rao Hospital  received bomb threat emails on Sunday afternoon, sources said.

Sources told a news agency, At least 21 addresses, including four hospitals in the national capital, received bomb threats through email on Sunday.

Searches were underway on the premises of all four medical facilities, they said.

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An email was received at the Burari Government Hospital regarding a bomb threat. Nothing suspicious has been found yet, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Manoj Kumar Meena said.

Police personnel, along with bomb disposal teams and sniffer dogs, rushed to the hospitals.

The Fire Department and other relevant departments were also informed about the emails to the hospitals, said another police officer, adding that searches were underway.

Bomb threat email received at Burari Government Hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri, search operation underway, Delhi Fire Service said.

The fresh threats have come days after bomb threats were received by over 100 schools in the national capital through via email.
A day ahead of polling for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, the National Conference (NC), PDP, Apni Party, and Peoples Conference (PC) accused the police of having unleashed an atmosphere of fear by detaining their party activists and expressed fear of rigging the elections.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and NC candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi have written letters to the Election Commission seeking its intervention for maintaining integrity and impartiality of the democratic process. Ruhullah also named some of the NC activists detained by the police.

The Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari and the Peoples Conference of former separatist Sajad Lone have been labelled as B-teams of BJP by the NC and PDP. Both parties. Both parties have also voiced concerns regarding the detention of their members.

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Mehbooba wrote to the ECI that the situation has escalated to a point where the security establishment is instilling a climate of fear in areas slated for election on May 13. This appears to be a direct result of public threats made by the Apni Party which has openly called for the arrest of PDP supporters.

It is distressing to witness history repeating itself, reminiscent of the 1987 rigged elections that caused immense suffering and political disillusionment in the region. The blatant efforts to marginalise the PDP, which represents the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, only serve to deepen wounds and erode trust in democratic institutions, she wrote.

The PDP candidate for Srinagar, Waheed Para, tagging the Election Commission, the PMO and the Home Minister, alleged on X: A senior police officer was directing officials to minimise voter turnout by detaining and harassing our workers.

Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari expressed serious concerns over the arrest spree of party workers and agents ahead of polling and termed it a blatant attempt to manipulate elections.

He appealed to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene in the matter and pave the way for free and fair elections so that democracy flourishes in the region.

Speaking to media persons in Srinagar, Bukhari accused the NC and PDP of being hand in glove with the administration to harass workers and polling agents of rival political parties. He said the NC and PDP have deep connections in the administration who on the behest of influential officials are curtailing the level playing field to other parties.

PC leader Sajad Lone, who is contesting the election in Baramulla, endorsed Bukhari and said party workers are being picked up on flimsy grounds.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of J&K said: On social media, there have been some grievances of alleged intimidation of political workers of certain parties and the use of Section 144 Order.

The Election Commission of India has taken cognisance of the matter. The CEO has talked personally to political leaders. He has clarified that as per rules, orders under Section 144 have been issued in all districts, for the last 48 hours (silence period of campaigning) and accordingly these orders were issued in Udhampur and Jammu Parliamentary Constituency and are now issued for all districts of the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency, including Pulwama, he added.
All preparations are complete for a grand road show of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kashi on May 13 and filing of his nomination on May 14.

According to an estimate by party resources, PM Modi will stay in his parliamentary constituency for about 22 hours.

He will undertake a 5 km road show on Monday evening in his parliamentary constituency. He will file his nomination on May 14 after taking the blessings of Kotwal Kalbhairav of Kashi. On this day, there is a coincidence of Bhaum Pushya Nakshatra along with Abhijeet Muhurta, Anand Yoga, Sarvarthasiddhi Yoga.

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Pandit Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid, who gave the auspicious time for the consecration and foundation stone laying of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, has described the auspicious time of May 14 as the best.

According to Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid, Pushya Nakshatra will start from 01:43 am on May 13, and will continue till 3:10 pm on May 14. After this Ashlesha Nakshatra will start. According to the horoscope of Prime Minister Modi, both the constellations are favourable for him.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday inaugurated the media centre at Hotel de Paris in Cantt area. He garlanded the portraits of Deendayal Upadhyay and Pandit Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Here, he met mediapersons and asked about their well being. All the press conferences related to the Lok Sabha elections of the Prime Minister will be held in this office from now on. Organization meetings and workers conferences will be held in the Central Election Office built in Tulsi Udyan located in Mahmoorganj.

Home Minister Shah is in Kashi to take stock of the preparations for PM Modis road show. On Saturday evening, Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with the party workers chalked out a strategy to make Prime Minister Modis road show and nomination historic.

Before the meeting, they attended the Maa Ganga Aarti being held in Dashashwamedh ghat. After Aarti, the two leaders also watched the drone show based on Vikas Yatra of Kashi organised at the ghat.
KIEV, May 12 (Xinhua) -- More than 4,000 people have been evacuated in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region since Russia launched the latest round of missile attacks on Friday, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said Sunday.

Among them, 2,097 people from the Kharkiv district, 1,377 from the Chuguev district, 29 from the Bogoduhiv district, and 570 others have been evacuated, Synegubov wrote on social media Telegram.

The Ukrainian authorities have provided temporary accommodation, as well as humanitarian, medical, psychological and legal assistance to the evacuees, the governor said.

In the past 24 hours, Russia struck 27 settlements in the Kharkiv region with artillery and mortars, killing three people, while the Ukrainian military repelled 31 attacks, he said.

On Friday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said battles were underway in the Kharkiv region after Russia launched a fresh offensive. 
Pro-Khalistan slogans were found scribbled on the pillars of two Delhi metro stations  Karol Bagh and Jhandewalan  in the national capital on Sunday.

The Delhi Police has launched a probe after filing an FIR in the matter. CCTV footage of the two metro stations has been obtained from the Delhi Metro authorities.

The slogans were suspected to be written by supporters of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a banned Sikh separatist group based in the United States.

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A security guard at a building close to the Karol Bagh Metro station said he noticed the writing in black paint on the pillars of the metro station when he came for duty on Sunday morning. I came to duty at 8 am and saw something was written in black colour on the pillars of the metro station. A huge crowd had gathered there and was reading the slogans, Bajrangi, the security guard, told a news agency.

These slogans may have been written at night when no one was there at that time and no one saw who wrote these slogans, he added.

In a similar incident in January this year, the Delhi Police apprehended a man for his alleged involvement in making pro-Khalistani graffiti on walls in Delhis Tilak Nagar area.

In August last year, Delhi Police Special Cell detained two persons from Punjab in connection with pro-Khalistan graffiti and slogans painted at more than five metro stations in Delhi.

Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalises and punishes making statements, speeches, or acts that have the effect of disturbing public tranquility or law and order by promoting enmity or creating fear or alarm between classes of people on the basis of differences in religion, caste, language, or place of birth.

Section 505 of the IPC, on the other hand, criminalizes making statements, reports, or rumours that encourage members of the armed forces or a police officer to refuse to perform their duty, encourage a person to commit offences against the state or disturb public tranquility, and incite persons to disturb public tranquility.
Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader KS Hariharan has courted controversy after making a derogatory statement against CPI-M leader and LDF Vatakara Lok Sabha candidate KK Shailaja while commenting on the alleged morphed video of the LDF Vadakara candidate.

Refuting allegations that the UDF had spread the alleged morphed porn video of KK Shailaja, also called Shailaja teacher, Hariharan at a United Democratic Front (UDF) function in Vatakara on Saturday asked Who will make porn videos of the teacher?.

Will someone make a porn video of the teacher? It would be understandable if it was Manju Warriers porn video, said Hariharan while addressing an event inaugurated by opposition leader VD Satheesan in Vatakara on Saturday.

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By his blatant sexist remarks, the leader of the RMP, which is a constituent in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the state, has not only insulted one woman but two  Shailaja teacher and actor Manju Warrier.

After the incident sparked much outrage and criticism, Hariharan later issued an apology through his Facebook account. It was pointed out to me by friends and journalists that I made an inappropriate comment in a speech in Vadakara today. I sincerely apologise for making the inappropriate statement.

Vadakara MLA and RMP leader KK Rama publicly rejected Hariharans anti-women remarks. Rama told the media that Hariharans remarks were inappropriate.

Such remarks or a single word against women should not come from anyone. It is something we are constantly discussing about. But we still see many people continue to make such remarks. These kinds of remarks are very painful in a progressive society, said Rama.

Opposition leader VD Satheesan had said that the UDF does not accept KS Hariharans controversial statement. The misogynist remarks should not come from anyone. Political leaders should always set an example for others while speaking in public, he said.

You can express political disagreement with women, but cannot abuse them personally, said Shafi Parambil MLA, the UDF candidate in Vatakara.

Meanwhile, the DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI-M, approached the state police chief seeking to register a case against Hariharan for his misogynist remarks.

During the Lok Sabha poll campaign in April, Shailaja teacher alleged that the Congress was resorting to personal attacks against her and spreading misinformation online. She also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India against Vadakara Congress candidate Shafi Parambil. She alleged that her morphed pictures were posted on an Instagram page titled Ente Vadkara KL18, which contains posts supporting Congress.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has warned the mafia and said that after June 4, the state government will give a fixed cut-off date to declare UP a mafia-free state.

He said the properties acquired by all mafia leaders will be confiscated and allotted to the poor, orphans, women protection homes and institutions for the disabled.

The CM made this big announcement during an interview on a private TV channel on Sunday.

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In this interview, CM Adityanath also talked openly about the action taken against mafia and opposition leaders.

He said that hospitals and schools will be built on the illegal lands of the mafia. In the first phase, the mafia will be targeted and in the second phase, properties of their operatives will also be confiscated. Our action plan is also ready for this, he has said.

The Chief Minister also answered the question related to senior Samajwadi Party leader and former minister Azam Khan. On the allegations of running bulldozers on Azam Khans properties, the CM said As you do, so shall you reap, whether it is Azam Khan or any mafia leader. They hindered the development of the state. Therefore action was taken against such people.

In response to a question, Adityanath said that whoever triggers riots in the state, will be punished. Those who are involved in riots in UP will have to pay damages for seven generations. Today, the sisters and daughters of the state are safe, he said. In response to another question, he said that now a criminal is forced to beg for his life with a placard around his neck. We have provided a fear-free environment in the state.

When some Islamic fundamentalists spoke about Ghazwa-e-Hind, the CM said, Ghazwa-e-Hind is not going to happen until doomsday. India will remain India. On the call of Congress leader Salman Khurshids niece for vote jihad, Yogi Adityanath said that if you do jihad for votes, you will not get heaven.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept aside caste and religion and gave the benefits of social welfare schemes to everyone. Those who are trying to polarise our society, can never be well-wishers of Muslims. They will always want Muslims to wear lungi and run, he said.

Chief Minister Adityanath took a dig at the Congress and Rahul Gandhi and said that after June 4, there will be no one to question them. They will sing Chal Ur ja re panchi , yeh desh hua begana (a Hindi film song which says fly away bird, this country has become a stranger).

He said Rahul Gandhi can take it from me in writing that his alliance will lose all the seats in UP. Gandhis old record has been that whenever he faces any crisis, he leaves the country and goes to the place where he knows best. This time the same thing will happen after June 4.

The CM said that Congress has only two MLAs in the 403-seat UP Assembly. Next time, they will lose these two seats also, he said, adding If Rahul Gandhi was so confident of winning 80 seats in UP then why did he go to Wayanad and contest the elections. Now when he decided to contest here, he left Amethi and contested the election from Rae Bareli.
Assembly election outcomes often serve as harbingers for shifts in national political landscapes. The Congress partys resounding victory in Telanganas 2023 state elections stands as a testament to this, sparking debates on whether it can replicate this success in the Lok Sabha elections. However, the extrapolation of state victories to national gains is fraught with complexities, given the multifaceted nature of voter behaviour and regional political dynamics. The stunning defeat of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana was not merely a political upset.

It was a narrative of burgeoning anti-incumbency and the effective mobilisation by Congress of local discontent. Riding high on promises and spirited campaigns, Congress managed to breach a stronghold, creating a sense of political vulnerability around BRS, further exacerbated by the arrest of a key party leader and defections that followed. This scenario, at first glance, provides Congress a potent springboard to launch a robust campaign for the states 17 Lok Sabha seats. However, to equate state election victories with a national trend would be an oversimplification. National elections in India pivot significantly on issues that transcend local grievances ~ issues like national security, economic policies, and the charisma of national leaders. In this context, the Modi-led BJP remains a formidable force, with its narrative tightly woven around nationalistic fervour and developmental agendas. The partys adeptness at leveraging the Modi factor could offset Congresss statelevel gains, particularly in a state like Telangana, where regional loyalties and national interests intersect uniquely.

Moreover, the potential bipolar contest structure could reshape traditional voting blocs. The vulnerability of BRS does not automatically translate into gains for Congress. Rather, it opens a battleground for both Congress and the BJP. If BRSs traditional vote banks, particularly among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Muslims, find the Congresss state-level performance and promises appealing, they might shift their allegiance. Conversely, a weakened BRS could see its residual vote share swinging to the BJP, especially if the national narrative sways voter perception. It is also crucial to consider the local versus national leadership perception. While Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has emerged as a significant state figure, his appeal compared to national figures like the Prime Minister will be under scrutiny.

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The Congresss success will depend heavily on its ability to juxtapose its regional leaderships achievements against the national leadership of the BJP. With polling in all 17 Telangana Lok Sabha constituencies due on May 13 in the fourth phase of the general election, the Congress faces both a significant opportunity and a formidable challenge. Its ability to maintain the momentum from the state elections and effectively project its regional achievements onto the national canvas will be key. Conversely, any failure to address broader national issues or to counter the BJPs narrative effectively could limit its ability to convert its statelevel victory into a broader electoral success.
For quite some time, poverty in developing nations was measured in terms of the proportion of people who couldnt spend even one dollar in a day. The value of one US$ in India in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) was Rs. 22.88 in 2022-23. A basket of goods that a person in the US bought with one dollar that year could be purchased in India with Rs. 22.88. Results of the survey on household consumption expenditure, recently released by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) revealed that the bottom 5 per cent of the population (ranked by monthly per capita expenditure) in rural India spends Rs. 1,373/- a month. Thus, consumption of the bottom 5 per cent of the population was around $2 per day in 2022-23, in terms of the value of the goods and services in the domestic Indian market.

The percentage of population below poverty line (BPL) was 21.92 per cent in 2012. The result of the recent survey must be satisfying to the policy makers in the government. The results of a similar study in 2017-18 which was included in the draft report of the 75th round of household consumption expenditure, was not accepted by the government and the findings were never released allegedly because of adverse findings. The NSSO report further indicated that Indias growth story is inclusive as the gap between consumption in rural areas and urban areas have narrowed down over the last two decades.

Average per capita monthly expenditure in rural areas is Rs. 3,773 and 46 per cent of that is spent on food items. Monthly per capita consumption expenditure in urban areas is Rs. 6,459 and 39 per cent of that is spent on food. Consumption in the urban areas is thus 71.2 per cent higher as compared to the rural areas. The gap was 90.8 per cent in 2004-05 and 83.9 per cent 2011-12. The Survey also reveals that the rural rich (top 5 per cent) of the rural population in terms of monthly consumption expenditure) consume 7.65 times of the rural poor (bottom 5 per cent) whereas the urban rich consume 10.14 times of the urban poor. These figures may not be very palatable to policy makers, though there are some silver linings in the composition of expenditure of the poor. The component of expenditure on cereals reduced from 22 per cent in 1999-2000 to 10.7 per cent in 2011-12 and to less than 5 per cent in 2022-23.

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A reduced proportion of expenditure on cereals indicates that the poor today is better placed to spend on items other than the basic meals. Proportionate expenditure on conveyance (4.20 to 7.55 per cent) and durable goods (4.85 to 6.89 per cent) increased well as compared to 2011-12. By and large the survey results on monthly consumption expenditure contradict the narrative that Indias growth in recent decades was not inclusive. According to a recent Discussion Paper released by NITI Ayog, multidimensional poverty in India declined from 29.17 per cent in 2013- 14 to 11.28 per cent in 2022-23. Multidimensional poverty is a relatively new concept which according to the Ayog is more comprehensive in assessing ones deprivation. The welfare of a household depends not only on its own spendings but also on state expenditures on peoples wellbeing viz. free education and health, shelter and sanitation, nutritional support to children and pregnant women etc.

Though in terms of specific numbers the estimate of poverty as assessed from the NSSO survey and one assessed by NITI Ayog differ, that is understandable because the two studies are based on two different premises: whereas NSSO aims to capture household expenditure, multidimensional poverty attempts to estimate the degree of deprivation. However, both studies converge to a point that abject poverty has reduced substantially in the last two decades. What policy of the government might have contributed most to reducing poverty? The decade of the 2010s will be remembered in the Indian economy for the big push in various welfare schemes directly aimed at the vulnerable sections of society. Such a push was initially engineered by various State governments and was subsequently adopted by the Central government. Welfare grants, pensions, and subsidies to vulnerable sections of the society played a catalytic role in raising the consumption expenditure of the poor and in reducing the gap between rural and urban India.

The economists and Human Development Reports of UNDP as early as in 1990s emphasized that developing countries should go for direct transfer of benefits in the accounts of the targeted beneficiaries, instead of providing subsidies which are often indirect and infringe logical functioning of the market forces. However, the direct transfer of benefits could not be implemented on a large scale in India as the poor hardly had bank or post office accounts and the institutions did not have the digital infrastructure to transfer money seamlessly from the nodal agency to the beneficiary accounts. There was a paradigm shift in the development of the IT network of financial institutions in the first decade of this millennium. Subsequently, the drive to bring all eligible citizens under the formal banking network facilitated seamless transfer of money from the nodal agencies to the Aadhaar-seeded accounts of the targeted beneficiaries and that was catalytic in reducing abject poverty in the country in the last ten years.

However, the latest results of the NSSO survey also revealed certain disturbing trends. Whereas in rural Kerala, the average per capita monthly consumption is Rs. 5,924, that in Chhattisgarh (Rs.2,466) is less than 42 per cent of that. The difference of per capita consumption in urban areas is 54 per cent amongst the top (Delhi) and bottom (Chhattisgarh) states. The extent of regional imbalances is so alarming that perhaps the policy makers need to define the norm of poverty separately for each state and need to have state-specific policy prescriptions in future.

(The writer, a former civil servant, is now an independent commentator on socioeconomic issues and public policies.)
As Andhra Pradesh gears up to vote in the fourth phase of the general election for the simultaneous state assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the collective frustration of its educated youth echoes across the land. Amid the fervour of political rallies and campaign promises, a sobering reality emerges ~ the unmet promise of employment opportunities. Over the past decade, successive governments have pledged to catalyse job creation, yet the landscape remains bleak for many aspiring graduates and professionals. The disillusionment among students and professionals underscores a systemic failure to translate rhetoric into tangible opportunities within the state.

Central to this issue is the absence of a robust strategy to attract investment and foster economic growth. While the ruling YSRCP touts initiatives like the YSR Pension Kanuka scheme and the recruitment of village and ward volunteers, these measures fall short of addressing the core issue of sustainable employment. Similarly, the TDPs slogans on job creation resonate with the electorate yet fail to acknowledge past shortcomings in delivering on similar promises. The youth of Andhra Pradesh are not swayed by political theatrics. Their demands are simple ~ access to quality jobs that reflect their qualifications and aspirations. The prevalence of educated youth seeking opportunities outside the state, in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, underscores a critical brain drain that undermines Andhra Pradeshs long-term growth prospects. On polling day, it is imperative for voters to scrutinise the efficacy of proposed employment policies. Mere assurances of competitive exams and skill development initiatives ring hollow without concrete action plans and accountability mechanisms.

The electorate must demand transparency and coherence in job creation strategies, holding candidates and parties to their commitments. Moreover, the narrative must extend beyond partisan bickering to encompass a holistic dialogue on economic revitalisation. Collaborative efforts between government, industry stakeholders, and educational institutions are paramount to fostering an ecosystem conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship. By leveraging Andhra Pradeshs inherent strengths in sectors like technology and agriculture, policymakers can unlock untapped potential and generate sustainable employment avenues. The elections serve as a pivotal juncture for Andhra Pradesh to chart a new course towards inclusive growth and prosperity. It is incumbent upon elected representatives to prioritise the interests of the youth and enact policies that catalyse economic transformation.

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Failure to do so risks perpetuating a cycle of disillusionment and stagnation, further eroding trust in the democratic process. Amid the cacophony of electoral rhetoric, let us not forget the human faces behind the statistics ~ the dreams deferred, the aspirations unfulfilled. Their voices must resonate in the corridors of power, driving meaningful change beyond the ballot box. Andhra Pradesh must emerge as a beacon of opportunity and empowerment. The time for action is now.
This may well be an Indian summer at the Cannes Film Festival, set to roll from 14 May. There are two movies from India, one dealing with an Indian story. Payal Kapadias All We Imagine As Light will be vying for the top Palme dOr. Incredible as it may sound, the biggest film producer in the worldwith about 3000 titles every yearhas not been able to clinch this prestigious slot since 1994, when Shaji N. Karuns Swaham competed for the festivals top honour.

(Eleven years before that, in 1983, Mrinal Sens Bengali-language Kharij was part of the Cannes Competition and clinched the Jury Prize.)

Kapadia is not new to the Festival on the French Riviera, once seductively described as the playground for the rich and the famous. In 2021, her A Night of Not Knowing Nothing won the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary Playing in the Directors Fortnight, an important Cannes sidebar. About campus trouble, the plot unfolds through letters written by a student to her lover. Earlier in 2017, Kapadias Afternoon Clouds was part of the Cinefondation section, which also takes place during the festival along with the sidebars, Critics Week, and Directors Fortnight.

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Thirty-eight-year-old Kapadia will be aiming for the coveted Palme dOr along with some of the most celebrated names in world cinema: Francis Ford Coppola (Megalopolis), Sean Baker (Anora), Yorgos Lanthimos (Kinds of Kindness), David Cronenberg (The Shrouds), Andrea Arnold (Bird), Paul Schrader (Oh Canada), Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez), and Paulo Sorrentino (Parthenope), to mention a few.

An Indo-French production, All We Imagine As Light, talks about Prabha, a nurse, who receives an unexpected gift from her long-estranged husband that makes her uneasy. In the meantime, her younger friend and roommate, Anu, is desperately trying to find a quiet spot to be with her love, Prabha. Eventually, the two women take a road trip to a beach town, where they find space for their dreams and desires to flow.

British-Indian moviemaker Sandhya Suris debut feature, Santosh, has been picked for Un Certain Regard, which is the most important segment after Competition. The film is said to be a character-driven neo-noir set on the plains of northern India, with a cast led by Shahana Goswami.

Konstantin Bojanovs romantic drama, The Shameless, will also play in the Un Certain Regard section. It has an Indian and a Nepali ensemble. The movie follows Rani, an Indian sex worker, on a pilgrimage to a remote temple, where she confronts her past, including a love affair with Renuka, now imprisoned for murder in Bengaluru. The cast features Omara, Anasuya Sengupta, and Mita VashishtIndian actresses known for their work in indie cinema.

In the 77 years that Cannes has been showcasing cinema from around the globe, only a handful of Indian movies have been able to get into competition. Chetan Anands Neecha Nagar (1946), V Shantarams Amar Bhoopali (1952), Raj Kapoors Awaara (1953), Satyajit Rays Parash Pathar (1958), MS Sathyus Garm Hava (1974), and Mrinal Sens Kharij (1983) are the titles that have not been eroded by time.

Neecha Nagar is the only title from India to have clinched the Palme dOr.

The reasons for this poor Indian representation at Cannes are not far to seek. It could be that we do not make cinema that caters to an international audience. Or, it just could be that for a Western mind, Indian cinema is too confusing. Or, it can also be that selectors who are supposed to promote and push films from our country have little understanding of what Cannes is looking for. Once, it seemed like a joke that Devdas from Bollywood was picked as part of the official selections. Later, the Cannes chief, Thierry Fremaux, did tell mealthough not in so many wordsthat Devdas was a mistake.

Also a matter of concern, Indian jurors at Cannes have been few and far between. In fact, between 1982, when respected auteur Mrinal Sen became the first Indian to serve on the main competition jury, and 2022, when actress Deepika Padukone was picked for this slot, there have been a mere handful: director Mira Nair (1990), novelist Arundhati Roy (2000), actors Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan (2003), Nandita Das (2005), Sharmila Tagore (2009), moviemaker Shekhar Kapur (2010), and actor Vidya Balan (2013).

Sadly, giants of cinema like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli, and Ritwik Ghatak were never invited to be on the jury. What is even more shocking is that Satyajit Ray, who was an icon of India, was ignored by the festival.

Why were these great auteurs never invited? It could be that Cannes is no longer a cerebral festival as it once was, especially during Sens days. Today, there is far more glamour there than what we would like to imagine: Padukone is one example of this, and Balan to an extent. Cannes has gravitated towards this glamour goal, hugely promoted by big business. A cursory glance at the Cannes jury over the years, and we cannot miss the fact that members have all been global achievers who have come with a fair degree of glamour.

This year, for the 77th edition of the festival, there are international celebrities who will serve on the jury: Greta Gerwig (of Barbie fame, who will chair the jury), moviemakers Nadine Labaki, Juan Antonio Bayona, Pierfrancesco Favino, Ebru Ceylan, and Kore-eda Hirokazu. They are undoubtedly exceptional filmmakers, but they also come with an aura of allure.

All said and done, Cannes is liberally swathed in glamour. But, yes, the 12-day festival, which runs from 14 to 25 May, also offers memorable works that are hard to ignore or forget.

The writer is a senior film critic, and has covered Cannes Film Festival for over three decades
In Kolkatas bustling Maidan area, amid urban life and green spaces, horses face a silent struggle. These majestic creatures, integral to the citys charm, endure neglect and mistreatment amidst traffic and urban buzz. Near Victoria Memorial and Maidan, theyve served as recreational rides but now show signs of neglectundernourished, overworked, and exhausted.

Their plight reflects broader challenges in urban animal welfare, often overlooked amidst city activities. Addressing their well-being requires awareness, stricter regulations, and compassionate action. Preserving these equine companions isnt just about their individual suffering but also about upholding our responsibility towards all living beings sharing Kolkatas vibrant landscape.

The absence of appropriate care and management is one of the main problems causing their predicament. Horses need specialised meals, routine veterinary care, and enough restnone of which are regularly available in their current surroundings. Even when they are plainly sick, injured, lame, or malnourished, labouring horses must draw huge carriages loaded with people. In addition to being forced to pull carts all day in the heat and other harsh weather conditions and having no choice but to stand in their own waste and inhale exhaust fumes, the horses employed for these tourist tours are frequently lashed and abused. They go for extended periods of time without eating or drinking, which causes physical tiredness and other major health issues.

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Numerous horses suffer from serious injuries, such as fractures and lameness, which are probably the result of being hit by automobiles and other vehicles. Some horses are totally abandoned after they are deemed unfit for service, but the majority are left to fend for themselves on the Maidan (Brigade Parade Ground). Famished, they frequently stray into the road to get food and end up getting struck by a car. Many of them die slowly and painfully in the end without receiving any veterinary care.

These horses had blood tests done; 100 per cent of them had red blood cell counts that were below normal, and 80 per cent had haemoglobin levels that were below normal. Severe anaemia and hunger are indicated by both of these criteria.

Moreover, the urban landscape poses additional challenges. Heavy traffic, noise pollution, and exposure to exhaust fumes take a toll on their health, leading to respiratory problems and overall stress. The absence of designated spaces for their accommodation and exercise further exacerbates their condition, leaving them confined to cramped areas with limited mobility.

Malnourished horses with depressed immunity who are tethered in an unhygienic environment can contract infectious and deadly diseases, such as glanders, which can cause death in humans.

Local activists and animal welfare groups are urging immediate action to improve living conditions for horses. They call for stricter regulations, including health screenings, shelter, clean water, and food. Raising public awareness about responsible interaction is crucial for empathy and respect. The issue highlights broader urban animal welfare challenges. Cities need thoughtful policies for human-animal coexistence. Authorities must collaborate with welfare groups, enforce regulations, and consider rest areas and rehab for horses. Collective responsibility and compassion can create a better future for horses in Kolkata and beyond.

The writer is an environment enthusiast and an animal welfare activist, and is the Founder of Kaloms Ideas Welfare Foundation. She is also a chartered accountant.
The Akshaya Tritiya festival in north India is celebrated with great joy and is considered highly auspicious for weddings as it is believed to bring wealth, prosperity, and good luck to the newlyweds. However, contrary to the belief, purpose, and spirit of the festival, Akshaya Tritiya also witnesses the solemnisation of child marriages every year, which significantly poses a threat to the well-being of young children.

In this regard, the Rajasthan High Court, in response to the PIL filed by the Just Rights for Children Alliance, has directed the state government to take the responsibility to ensure that no child marriages take place in the state. Citing the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules 1996, the Honble High Court has established the accountability of the village heads and panchayats to restrict child marriages and to take immediate action for the rights of children. The court, as part of its interim measure, also directed the state to call for the report with regard to the investigation done to prevent child marriages that have taken place in the state and to ensure that no child marriages take place within the state. The strict stance of the Rajasthan High Court sends a strong message to the entire nation against the illegal practice of child marriages.

It is crucial for other states, like West Bengal, which reports a high number of child marriage cases every year, to also take firm measures to address this issue and protect the rights of children. The collaboration between the child protection stakeholders and the state government is essential in enforcing laws and nurturing a society where the rights of children are respected and given utmost importance. It is extremely essential for the state government to strengthen enforcement of existing laws, increase awareness campaigns, and provide support services for at-risk populations to effectively prevent child marriages. The accountability of religious leaders should also be drawn while addressing their crucial role in ending child marriage, and their platform should be utilised to promote awareness about the negative consequences of child marriages and encourage families and communities to work towards protecting the rights of children.

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While the West Bengal government has very importantly launched several schemes like Kanyashree, Shikshashree, etc. to ensure access to education for every girl child, a collaborative effort involving community and religious leaders, NGOs, and government agencies is crucial in addressing the root causes of child marriage and protecting the rights of children in West Bengal.

The writer is a social activist who has been at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking and has led NGOs that have helped rescue hundreds of victims across India.
The stage is set for another round of electoral battle between the BJP-led NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc in the fourth phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections on Monday.

The voting, in 1.92 lakh polling stations of 96 parliamentary constituencies (PCs) spread across 10 states and union territories (UTs), will commence at 7 am and conclude at 6 pm.

The polling will be manned by over 19 lakh polling officials amid tight security to avert any untoward incident.

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Of the 96 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the fourth phase, 25 are from Andhra Pradesh, 17 from Telangana, 13 from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Maharashtra, eight each from Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, five from Bihar, four each from Jharkhand and Odisha and one from Jammu and Kashmir.

More than 17.70 crore voters will decide the fates of 1,717 candidates who are in the fray. The average number of candidates in a parliamentary seat is 18.

Prominent contenders among the candidates from the BJP are Union ministers, Girijaj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), G Kishan Reddy (Secunderabad, Telangana), and Madhavi Latha (Hyderabad, Telangana), while from Congress is Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Baharampur, West Bengal) and partys Andhra Pradesh chief YS Sharmila (Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh).

Other key candidates are Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj), AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra (Krishnanagar, West Bengal).

Elections will also take place for all 175 seats of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and 28 seats of the Odisha Legislative Assembly simultaneously in the fourth phase on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said, As per IMD forecast there is no significant concern regarding hot weather conditions for the polling in the fourth phase. The weather forecast indicates that the PCs going for polls are likely to experience normal to below normal temperatures and there will be no heat wave-like condition in these areas on the polling day.

However, arrangements have been made at all polling stations meticulously for the convenience of voters, it said.

The ECI added that minimum facilities like water, shed, toilets, ramps, volunteers, wheelchairs, and electricity are in place to ensure that every voter, including the elderly and persons with disabilities, can cast his/her vote with ease.

The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases between 19th April and 1st June. The first phase of polling was held on 19th April, the second phase on 26th April, and the third phase on 7th May. The first phase recorded 66.14 per cent voter turnout, the second 66.71 per cent, and the third phase 65.68 per cent.

The results of the Lok Sabha elections will be declared on 4th June.
This photo taken with a mobile phone on May 11, 2024 shows the northern lights near Nanshan scenic spot in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's National Center for Space Weather issued a red alert on Saturday morning after detecting a strong geomagnetic storm that is expected to continue throughout the weekend, which will impact communications and navigation in most areas of the country.

The geomagnetic storm, which began at 11:00 p.m. Beijing Time on Friday, reached its peak with a Kp index of 9, the strongest level, the center said, noting that the storm process was expected to continue in the next 24 hours.

The center warned that the ionosphere in most areas of China will be disturbed by the geomagnetic storm, affecting short-wave communication and navigation, and the increased upper atmosphere density will cause orbital decay for low-orbit satellites.

According to space weather experts, a geomagnetic storm is a phenomenon where the Earth's magnetic field is violently disturbed by high-speed coronal ejection material carrying the sun's magnetic field. The storms can disrupt satellite signals and ground communications, impacting deep space exploration, but generally do not affect human health.

When geomagnetic storms occur, they usually bring with them the phenomenon of auroras. High-energy particles descend from space and collide with the atmosphere, lighting up the sky in different colors.

Due to the current geomagnetic storm, stunning auroras were observed on Friday night and Saturday morning across much of the northern half of China, including Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. Aurora enthusiasts in these regions captured the enchanting dance of light and shadow from the universe with their cameras.

Xiu Lipeng, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and an expert in popularizing the science of astronomy, explained that the occurrence of auroras is closely linked to solar activity. The higher the intensity of solar activity, the greater the likelihood of witnessing these marvelous natural phenomena.

The current solar cycle is likely to peak between 2024 and 2025. During this period, solar activity will be very frequent and intense, and the probability of auroral eruptions will be much higher than in normal years, which means that people in northern regions will have more opportunities to see beautiful auroras, Xiu told Xinhua.
Good Hope Leather Products, a Zimbabwean company known for its exotic animal skin products, is looking to venture into China, one of the world's largest consumer markets.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
The 4th Joint Committee meeting for the review of AITIGA (ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement) was held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, the Commerce & Industry Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

A total of 8 Sub-Committees have been constituted for dealing with different policy areas of the Agreement in the review and out of these, 5 Sub-Committees have started their discussions.

All the 5 Sub-Committee reported the outcomes of their discussions to the 4th AITIGA Joint Committee. Four of these Sub-Committees dealing with National Treatment and Market Access, Rules of Origin, Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures and Legal and Institutional Issues also met physically in Putrajaya, Malaysia alongside the 4th AITIGA Joint Committee.

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The Sub-Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary had met earlier on May 3, 2024.

The Joint Committee provided necessary guidance to the Sub-Committees.

Notably, the discussions for review of AITIGA, to make it more trade-facilitative and beneficial for businesses across the region, started in May 2023.

The Joint Committee undertaking the review work has met four times so far. The Joint Committee finalised its Terms of Reference and the Negotiating Structure for the review negotiations in its first two meetings and initiated the negotiations for review of AITIGA from its third meeting held from 18-19 February 2024 in New Delhi.

The meeting was co-chaired by Rajesh Agrawal, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, India and Mastura Ahmad Mustafa, Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry, Malaysia.

The delegates from India and all 10 ASEAN countries participated in the discussions. ASEAN is one of the major trade partners of India with a share of 11 per cent in Indias global trade.

The bilateral trade stood at USD 122.67 Bn during 2023-24. The upgradation of AITIGA will further boost bilateral trade.

Both sides would next meet for the 5th Joint Committee meeting from 29-31 July 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Chandni Chowk, Delhis charming hub of wholesale markets and street food delight, is among the national capitals seven Parliamentary constituencies going to polls on May 25.

The seat going to polls in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections, has been a BJP backyard for the past two terms, largely due to its concentration of traders and businessmen.

The united opposition under the INDIA bloc umbrella is fielding former Indian National Congress (INC) parliamentarian, Jai Prakash Agarwal to take on BJPs Praveen Khandelwal, the founder of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a popular trader body.

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There are 25 candidates contesting from the seat across political parties including four independent contenders in the fray.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has so far remained away from any faction, has also fielded Abul Kalam Azad as its candidate from the seat. Nomination of another 13 candidates was rejected while one withdrew before polls.

Both Agarwal and Khandelwal have declared that they have no pending criminal cases in their respective affidavits to the Election Commission of India.

Area wise, Chandni Chowk is the smallest parliamentary constituency in Delhi, despite having densely populated areas of Old Delhi in the heart of the city. It encompasses the very popular Chandni Chowk market and several other areas such as Daryaganj, Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, among others, dating back to the ancient times of the walled city of Shahjahanabad.

The constituency still houses narrow lanes, famous attractions for tourists, hosting ancient architecture, and vibrant street life filled with the gastronomic extravaganza. Voters here showcase cultural diversity, belonging to varying backgrounds.

There are 10 assembly segments falling within the constituency including Adarsh Nagar, Shalimar Bagh, Shakur Basti, Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town, and Sadar Bazar.

Veteran Delhi BJP leader and former union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has been the Member of Parliament (MP) from Chandni Chowk since 2014. He announced his retirement from active politics after not getting a ticket in these elections.

Congress is contesting this seat under an agreement with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. The grand old party is fielding its veteran JP Agarwal who has represented this seat in the past. He had lost out to Vardhan with a considerable margin in 2019.

Despite the commanding win of Vardhan, all assembly constituencies that fall under the Chandni Chowk LS seat were secured by the Aam Aadmi Party in 2020.

Water logging, contaminated supplies, and lack of ample parking spaces are concerns flagged by voters in Old Delhi. Air pollution during winters is being highlighted as a major inconvenience to residents of these congested localities. Residents are also aggrieved because of traffic congestion, encroachments and illegal constructions in the constituency.
The Canadian Police has arrested a fourth suspect over his alleged involvement in the killing of the designated terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Canada-based CBC News reported.

Nijjar was killed outside the Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.

The accused has been identified as Amandeep Singh (22).

According to Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) in British Columbia, Singh was already in the custody of Peel Regional Police in Ontario for unrelated firearms charges.

IHIT pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the BC Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, the police statement said.

The police said that Singh is an national, splitting his time in Canada in Brampton, Ontario; Surrey, British Columbia, and Abbotsford, British Columbia, as reported by CBC News.

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Investigators havent given any further details of the arrest, citing ongoing investigations and court processes.

This comes days after the Canadian police arrested three Indian nationals  Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh  in Edmonton. The trio was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the homicide.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by Indias National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed as he came out of a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year. The attack was described as highly coordinated and involved six men and two vehicles.

Notably, the Canadian police has not given any evidence of any link to India, as was being speculated in Canadian media.

Nijjars killing triggered diplomatic tensions between Canada and India after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indias hand in the killing  a claim New Delhi has rejected, calling it absurd and motivated.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of External Affairs reiterated that Canada has not provided any specific evidence or relevant information in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing case and that no formal communication has been provided to India over the arrests of three Indians allegedly involved in the matter.

No specific or relevant evidence or information has been given to us in this matter. Canada has informed us about the arrest. But we have not got any formal communication MEA Spokesperson said on three Indians arrested in Canada in Nijjar killing.

On being asked if India has given consular access to the three Indians arrested in Nijjar Killing case, the MEA said that they have not received any request from the Canadian side for the same as the accused have not asked for the consular access yet.
The chief of the American spy agency, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns has offered intel on Hamas military head Yahya Sinwar in exchange of Israel halting its ground invasion in the Rafah region.

Sinwar, who has been on Israels hit list ever since the war broke out on October 7 with Hamas, is reportedly hiding in the tunnel network of the terror outfit between Khan Younis and the Rafah region.

The United States has been pushing the Israeli leadership against a full-scale ground invasion in Rafah, given the huge population density in the area with around 1.3 million people including women and children staying there.

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William Burns is a highly respected official of the US who has close links with several senior Middle Eastern leaders. Burns, according to sources in the Israeli Prime Ministers office, has proposed to the Israeli leadership that American intelligence will provide valuable inputs on the movement of Yahya Sinwar who has always been a focus of the Israeli side.

Israels Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant has publicly stated that they would secure Yahya Sinwar at any cost.

The CIA chief, according to sources, is also in direct talks with Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs, David Barnea and Ronen Bar respectively, regarding this offer.

Burns was involved in the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas during the one-week ceasefire in the last week of November 2023.

It, however, remains to be seen how the Israel war cabinet will respond to this offer as Israel Defense Forces have already commenced the invasion in Rafah.
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 as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

It added that Pakistan stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan during this difficult time.

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A case was lodged against Telugu actor Allu Arjun on Saturday for allegedly violating Model Code of Conduct.



Arjun and YSRCP MLA S. Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy have been accused of allowing a massive public gathering at the legislator's residence in Nandyala without seeking prior permission from the returning officer.

The case was registered by Deputy Tehsildar P. Ramachandra Rao who is overseeing the elections in Nandyala constituency.

I never thought Allu Arjun has this kind of Craze in Telugu States 



Pure Mass vibes for #AlluArjunAtNandyal pic.twitter.com/k9oCbvBV7I    (@AadiSudeepian) May 11, 2024

The incident happened on Saturday when a huge crowd gathered at the MLA's home despite Section 144 being imposed in the district, thereby violating the election code. Section 144 is imposed 48 hours before elections begins as Andhra Pradesh is gearing up for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls on Monday.

Viral videos showed hundreds of fans and supporters of the actor outside the MLA's house as Arjun greeted and waved at them from the balcony.
Days after over around 200 schools in Delhi-NCR received bomb threats, at least eight hospitals and the Indira Gandhi International airport in the national capital, too, received similar threats via email on Sunday evening.

The bomb threats were reported from IGI Airport Terminal-3, Burari Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Dabri's Dada Dev Hospital and Aruna Asaf Ali Government Hospital in Civil Lines.

#WATCH | Delhi: Bomb threat email received at Burari Government Hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri, search operation underway: Delhi Fire Service



An email was received at Burari Hospital regarding a bomb threat. Local police and Bomb Disposal Teams (BDT) are at pic.twitter.com/aaPJDZwU6u  ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2024

Police have launched a search operation, but nothing suspicious has been recovered so far from any of the locations.

The bomb threats were first reported from Burari Government Hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri. Soon after other hospitals, too, claimed to have received similar e-mails.

In a statement, an official at the Burari Hospital said, "At around 3 pm, we received an email regarding a bomb in the hospital. After this, all the safety measures had been thoroughly checked and everything was stable. This was the first time we received such an email."

Deputy Commission of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani said the IGI airport authorities received the threat email at 6 pm.

"The Security Operations Control Centre at IGI Airport has received a threat email concerning an explosive device within the premises. Enhanced security protocols are now in effect, and safety measures have been intensified. Legal action has been initiated. No suspicious items have been found as of now," he said.

On May 1, around 200 schools in Delhi received bomb threats via email, which the Union Home Ministry later confirmed to be a hoax.

"Delhi Police has conducted thorough check of all such schools as per protocol. Nothing objectionable has been found. It appears that these calls seem to be hoax. We request the public not to panic and maintain peace," it had said.

The Chacha Nehru Hospital in Delhi's Shahdara had also received a bomb threat via email on the same day.
Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will hold elections for their Legislative Assemblies along with the Lok Sabha polls on Monday in phase four of the elections. While voting will be held in all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, as many as 28 legislative assembly seats of Odisha are also going to polls in this phase.

Andhra Pradesh witnesses a three-pronged fight involving the ruling YSRC, Congress-led INDIA bloc and the NDA, comprising the BJP, Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP). Prominent names in the fray for the Assembly include YSRCP president Jagan Mohan Reddy, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam) and Janasena chief and actor Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram), among others.

The YSRCP is contesting in all 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha segments 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 in 21 Assembly seats.

The YSR Congress hopes to retain power riding on the welfare measures it implemented over the last five years. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the YSRCP had won 22 seats while TDP was reduced to just 3.

Jagan asserted that he is no Abhimanyu to succumb to the alleged political conspiracies plotted by the opposition parties, likening himself to 'Arjun' who is accompanied by Lord Krishna-like people to emerge triumphant. The NDA hopes to highlight the "failures" of the state government and has given multiple guarantees, including jobs if voted to power.

For the smooth conduct of the polls, the Election Commission has deployed 1.06 lakh security personnel, who included 3,500 Karnataka police, 4,500 Tamil Nadu police, 1,614 ex-servicemen and 246 retired police personnel, among others.

Odisha

Voting will be held in the 28 assembly segments coming under the jurisdiction of Berhampur, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJD, Congress and the BJP are contesting in all the constituencies, while nominees of some small and regional parties along with independent candidates are in the fray.

State ministers Jagannath Saraka, Rajendra Dholkia, Odisha Congress chief Sarat Patnaik, and Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das are in the fray in assembly polls. Congress MLAs Taraprasad Bahinipati and Adhiraj Panigrahi, former chief secretary Bijay Patnaik, ex-minister DS Mishra, former leader of opposition Pradipta Naik, former MLA Ramesh Chandra Chayupattnaik are trying their luck in the assembly elections.

This election witnessed a massive campaign in Odisha with Prime Minister Narendra Modi targetting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, despite both parties enjoying warm relations over the last many years.

The four Lok Sabha seats are spread over six Maoist-affected police districts - Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Kalahandi - and three other police districts of Ganjam, Berhampur and Gajapati, Odisha DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi said.

Arrangements for webcasting have been made in 60 per cent of the 7,303 polling stations. Over 1,264 polling stations, including all booths in Maoist-affected areas, have been identified as critical ones, the CEO said.

(With PTI inputs)
This photo taken on May 9, 2024 shows the rehearsal of a light projection show for the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery in London, Britain. The London-based National Gallery of the United Kingdom (UK) kicked off a series of events to commemorate its 200th anniversary on Friday. (Xinhua/Zheng Bofei)

LONDON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The London-based National Gallery of the United Kingdom (UK) kicked off a series of events to commemorate its 200th anniversary on Friday.

The commemorative activities will be held throughout a full year, from this May to May 2025, including an Art Road Trip across the country, a dedicated exhibition featuring 200 representative paintings, and online events and exhibitions.

According to the official website of the National Gallery, the Art Road Trip will take the gallery's traveling art studio program to 18 places across the UK, cooperating with local arts organizations to create community-led arts projects.

Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, said he looks forward to sharing the National Gallery with more and more people through the bicentenary program.

The gallery received over three million visitors in 2023, a 14-percent increase compared to 2022. Its online exhibitions, lectures, and courses were viewed over 60 million times in the same year.

Established in 1824, the UK National Gallery is a world-renowned art museum with a rich collection. It boasts over 2,300 artworks dated from the 13th to the 19th century. 

This photo taken on May 9, 2024 shows the rehearsal of a light projection show for the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery in London, Britain. The London-based National Gallery of the United Kingdom (UK) kicked off a series of events to commemorate its 200th anniversary on Friday. (Xinhua/Zheng Bofei)
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of going back to his original agenda of spewing venom against Muslims and creating suspicion about the community.

In an interview to the Hindustan Times, Owaisi said Modi has forgotten Indias key achievements like G20 and Chandrayaan and started spreading lies about the Muslim community.

He has forgotten G20, Chandrayaan, 5 trillion economy, permanent Security Council seat, Vishwaguru, Viskit Bharat  all have gone to the dustbin. They have come back to the agenda that they started, which they will continue into the future, he told the newspaper.

The AIMIM chief, however, exuded confidence that India will get a Muslim prime minister and it would be a woman wearing a hijab.

Inshallah, it will be in the form of a woman wearing a hijab and heading this great nation. The time will come. Maybe I will not be alive to see that day, but it will happen inshallah, he said.

On Sunday, addressing an election rally in Khilwat, Owaisi urged AIMIM supporters in various constituencies where the party is not contesting to vote for the Congress candidates to defeat the BJP.

Owaisi is seeking re-election from Hyderabad for a fifth consecutive term. It was the lone seat the AIMIM had won in 2019 elections in which the BRS bagged nine seats, BJP four and Congress three.
Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to chair his first meeting with Delhi AAP MLAs on Sunday since being granted interim bail on Friday.

The meeting, which is scheduled to be held at the Delhi chief minister's official Civil Lines residence at 11 am, is expected to discuss the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi. This will be followed by a press meet at the AAP headquarters at 1 pm. In the evening, Kejriwal will hold two road shows, one in Moti Nagar at 4 pm and another in Uttam Nagar at 6 pm.

Taking to X, Kejriwal posted on Sunday morning, "See you today-

11 am - MLA meeting

1 pm - Press conference at party office

4 pm - Road Show - New Delhi Lok Sabha - Moti Nagar

6 pm - Road Show - West Delhi Lok Sabha - Uttam Nagar

All of you have to come."

This comes a day after Kejriwal offered prayers at the Hanuam Temple at Connaught Place, followed by a roadshow in New Delhi. He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Kejriwal also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking whether he will retire at 75. He referred to BJP veterans L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi being forced to retire after they turned 75.

Kejriwal also expressed confidence that the INDIA bloc will form government on June 4. The Delhi CM has to surrender and return to prison on June 2 as the Supreme Court had granted him interim bail till June 1.
A passenger aboard a Dubai-Mangaluru Air India Express flight was arrested over unruly behaviour after he allegedly misbehaved with the cabin crew mid-air.

The arrested passenger was identified as Muhammad B.C., a resident of Kerala's Kannur district.

The incident pertaining to the case happened on May 8 after Muhammad continuously pressed the service button and told the cabin crew that he wanted to deboard the flight.

He even went on to take a life jacket and told the crew that he wanted to use it, allegedly threatening to jump into the sea from the plane mid-flight.

When the flight, IX814 landed in Mangaluru, he was detained by the airport security and later arrested by Bajpe police after a formal complaint was lodged, according to Air India Express security coordinator Siddatha Das. A case has been registered in the incident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday slammed the "vote bank" politics of the Trinamool Congress and alleged that the party's goons are threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali, where allegations of sexual abuse against TMC leaders have surfaced, to protect the culprits.



While addressing an election rally in Hooghly PM Modi alleged that under the TMC rule, Hindus have turned into second-class citizens in the state and asserted that as long as Modi is there, no one can repeal the CAA law.

Here are ten things Prime Minister said in West Bengal on Sunday while addressing an election rally:

1. Hindus have become second-class citizens in Bengal under TMC; The TMC has surrendered before vote bank politics in Bengal, where you cannot take the name of Shri Ram and neither can celebrate Ram Navami.

2. As long as Modi is there, no one can take away reservations for SC or ST; as long as Modi is there, no reservation will be allowed on basis of religion

3. Based on performance in three phases of polls, I can say with certainty that NDA will cross 400 seats.

4. Nobody can overturn Supreme Court verdict on Ram Mandir, stop CAA implementation.

5. TMC's recruitment mafia has destroyed future of the youths of Bengal.

6. Modi will not let the corrupt leaders sit peacefully. They will be reprimanded! No corrupt leader will be spared. The money that TMC extorted from you will be lawfully given back to you.

7. TMC goons threatening women protestors of Sandeshkhali; all of us have seen what the TMC has done with the sisters and mothers of Sandeshkhali. The TMC goons are now threatening the women in Sandeshkhali as the name of the main culprit is Shajahan Sheikh. TMC is doing everything to protect the culprits of Sandeshkhali, he said.

8. West Bengal news: TMC goons are threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali, PM Modi saidWe will get bigger success in this Lok Sabha polls than in 2019 in West Bengal.

9. There was a time when many scientific discoveries were taking place in Bengal, today under the rule of TMC, the home industry of making bombs is running in many places. There was a time when Bengal used to revolt against the infiltrators, but today the infiltrators are flourishing here under the protection of TMC.

10. Who are the heir of PM Modi? It's you, the countryman, you are my family. I have nothing except you people in this world. Just like a guardian of the family who wants to leave something for the children, I also want to give a 'Viksit Bharat' in the hands of children of this family. On the other side, TMC and other parties are looting the people of the country and building bungalows and mansions for their heirs.
Dinesh Pratap Singh, the BJP candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat is facing off his own party besides Rahul Gandhi, it seems.



First off was Aditi Singh, the partys only MLA from the district who in a cryptic post on X (formerly Twitter) wrote that there would be no compromise with principles. The post was accompanied by a photo of her with her father, Akhilesh Pratap.

Singh, who was formerly with the Congress, has not stepped out to campaign for the candidate even once.

If there were any doubts about what and to whom Singhs post was directed at, the BJP candidates son Piyush Pratap Singh wrote in another social media post, "(You will get) respect if you try to work hard. You will be successful too."

Home Minister Amit Shah will be in the constituency soon to address a rally. Shah has been saying elsewhere that Rahul Gandhi will lose Rae Bareli by a huge margin. However, it seems the various components of the BJP will make it difficult for him to lose.

Ajay Agrawal, who was the partys candidate in the 2014 election, vented his disappointment on social media. He wrote that despite the fact that he was present in the constituency. and had been so throughout the campaign, he had not been invited to Shahs rally. He chalked this up to the candidates pride.

Agrawal was angling for a ticket for himself despite the fact that he had polled much lower than Dinesh Pratap Singh who stood against Sonia Gandhi in 2019. His own party cadre dismiss him as a lightweight. But if his supporters are miffed, it will impact the BJP support base, just as in the case with Aditi Singh.

All of these factors are likely to contribute to making Rahul Gandhis path in this election much easier.
Nilesh Kumbhani, the suspended Congress leader whose nomination rejection resulted in BJP winning the Surat Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat unopposed, has reappeared and opened up after a void of 20 days. He launched a scathing attack against certain self-proclaimed leaders of the Congress and accused the party of betraying him first. So were his actions a tit-for-tat? There was no clear answer from the leader, who reportedly beat around the bush.



Surat Lok Sabha polls 2024: The story so far

For the unversed, Nilesh Kumbhani's nomination was rejected citing discrepancies. His three proposers had submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on them were not theirs. The nomination of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated, pushing Gujarat's principal opposition party out of the poll fray in the city.

READ HERE | Lok Sabha election: BJP gets its first MP from Surat, wins poll unopposed

Soon, all other candidates expect that of the BJP withdrew their nominations -- handing the saffron party's Mukesh Dalal a walkthrough on April 22. Due to a pre-poll alliance with Congress, the AAP had not fielded its candidate from Surat.

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".

Return after going incommunicado

Kumbhani on Saturday, attacked the Congress for "betraying" him many years ago. The former corporator also claimed that the Congress leadership had a problem with him joining forces with Surat's AAP members for campaigning, despite the alliance. Here are the salient parts of Nilesh Kumbhani's media interaction after he resurfaced on Saturday.

Congress betrayed me first: "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 the Kamrej Assembly seat in Surat was cancelled at the last moment. It was the Congress which made the first mistake, not me," Kumbhani was quoted as telling reporters by news agency PTI.

Attacks "five self-proclaimed leaders": "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.

Union with AAP wasn't appreciated: "Though AAP and Congress are part of INDIA alliance, these leaders raised objections when I used to campaign with AAP leaders here," he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Reaffirms allegiance to senior leader: Nilesh Kumbhani reportedly said he decided to remain silent all these days due to his respect for state Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil and the party's Rajkot Lok Sabha candidate Paresh Dhanani.

An act of revenge? Kumbhani refused to give a direct reply to this response. Instead, he repeated the story of being denied a party ticket in the 2017 Assembly polls at the last minute.
Pooh-poohing Prime Minister Narendra Modis repeated thrust that the first BJP government of Odisha will take oath on June 10, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said forget about June 10th next, BJP wont be able to win Odishas peoples heart even within next 10 years. The state is heading to the first phase of its simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections on May 13.

The somewhat reticent and quiet Biju Janata Dal supremo perhaps had to react during hot election climate after PM Modis repeated tirade against BJD and more so direct attack on him on Saturday during election campaign in the state's western districts. Modi had remarked that despite long tenure, Patnaik cannot name all the districts of state without seeing a paper.

In response to the Modi, Patnaik, in a video message, said, What I have remembered or not is known to people of Odisha for the last 24 years. But Honble Prime Minister! How much you have remembered Odisha? Even after Odia became a classical language, you have forgotten it. You have forgotten about Odishi music. I have proposed twice to give classical status to Odishi, but you have rejected it both the times.

Speaking about Modi referring to Odia people's contributions, Patnaik asked if no one from the state seemed suitable to get Bharat Ratna. While distributing Bharat Ratna, you forgot Odishas great son Biju Patnaik, said the CM, referring to his late father. Since the death of Biju Patnaik, there has been continuous demand in the state to confer the country's highest civilian award to the late leader.

Continuing the attack on the PM, Patnaik said, You had promised to double MSP for farmers but forgot the same. You should have built the coastal highway, remembering the people of the state. But you forgot that. Coal is Odishas resource. You are taking it. You have forgotten to increase its royalty during the last 10 years.

Patnaik said Modi should not just remember Odisha during the elections. Have you kept your promises made during 2014 and 2019 elections? asked the CM, adding that people of Odisha will remember Modi's unfulfilled promises to control of price rise, jobs to two crore youth, reduction of LPG, petrol and diesel price, giving mobile connections, waiver of GST etc.

Referring to Lord Jagannath, the BJD supremo said, With Mahaprabhus blessings and love of people of Odisha, BJD will form government for the sixth time.

The CM's remarks came after V.K. Pandian, an IAS offier-turned-BJD leader, on Saturday slammed the criticism of Prime Minister in BJD election meetings in Sundergarh district. He said BJP had come to power at the Centre by giving false promises in 2014 and 2019. BJP had promised to reduce LPG, petrol and diesel prices. Instead price rise is going on along with more talks by BJP.

He said senior BJP leaders are coming to Odisha to campaign against CM Patnaik but the 4.5 crore people of Odisha are his strength. So no one is believing the tourists visiting Odisha. Pandian said on June 9, Patnaik will take oath as chief minister again between 11.30 and 1 pm and in the evening BJDs election manifesto will be approved in the meeting of the council of ministers. From July, people wont have to pay electricity bill in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a roadshow in Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency on Monday ahead of filing his nomination papers on May 14. Modi will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

"Varanasi is ready to welcome PM Narendra Modi tomorrow. The voters of Varanasi are ready to cast their vote and make PM Modi win the elections, Union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey told news agency ANI. He expressed confidence that the prime minister will the seat for another term.

Pandey is BJPs candidate from neighbouring Chandauli seat.

Dharmendra Singh, media head of Uttar Pradesh BJP, said party supporters in huge numbers are expected to join the prime ministers roadshow on Monday.

"It is highly expected that supporters and prominent leaders of the NDA alliance will come to support PM Modi. 5-10 lakh supporters are expected to join PM Modi's roadshow in Kashi," he said.

Voting in Varanasi will be held on June 1 in the seventh phase. Modi won the seat twice in 2014 and 2019 and is eyeing a third term. The Congress has fielded state party chief Ajay Rai in Varanasi and it would be the third time Rai is facing Modi in Lok Sabha elections.
Home Minister Amit Shah has reiterated India's claim over Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), stating "no power of the world can take it from us." Shah's statement, made during an election rally in Raebareli's Pratapgarh, comes as PoK witnesses unrest following violent clashes between security forces and protesters.

Hitting out at Congress leader Mani Shankar Iyer for his comments on the need to "respect Pakistan" for it may consider using an atom bomb against India, Shah said: "Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and INDIA bloc leader Farooq Abdullah are asking to respect Pakistan as it has an atom bomb. Why should we respect Pakistan? Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says don't demand PoK. Rahul Baba, if you are scared of atom bombs, then remain scared. We are not scared. PoJK is a part of India, and we will take it back."

Shah also raked up the Kashmir issue while taking a jab at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. "Kharge says that the people of UP and Rajasthan dont have anything to do with Kashmir. The Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP were taking care of Article 370 in Kashmir like its illegitimate child. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended Article 370. He ended terrorism in Kashmir and made it an integral part of India. These two 'Shehzade' Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi promise to reintroduce Article 370 if they are elected. Do you think that Article 370 should be reintroduced?" the Home Minister said during the rally.

'Sonia spent 70% of fund on minorities'

Urging people to vote for BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, Shah said Sonia Gandhi has spent more than 70 per cent of the MP funds on minorities. "The 'shahzada' (prince) has come here to seek votes. You have been voting for many years. Have you received anything from the MP fund? If you have not received it, then where did it go? It went to their vote bank. Sonia Gandhi has spent more than 70 per cent of the MP funds on minorities," Shah claimed.

"Many people here told me that this is a family seat... It is true. The people of Raebareli have made the Gandhi and Nehru families win for years. But after getting elected from here, how many times did Sonia Ji and her family come to Raebareli? Okay, Sonia ji's health is not good, but has Rahul baba or sister Priyanka come?"
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held four consecutive rallies in West Bengal on Sunday. He started the day in Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency to campaign for BJP candidate Arjun Singh.

Modis second rally was in support of Locket Chatterjee in Hooghly and the third in support of Arup Kanti Digar at Arambagh. He held the last public meeting of the day in support of BJP candidate Rathin Chakraborty in Howrah Lok Sabha constituency.

In all four rallies, the excitement among the crowd to see the prime minister was palpable. BJP workers and supporters, who had gathered in large numbers in the meetings, were confident about sweeping the ongoing Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.

Modi attacked the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over a host of issues including alleged corruption, appeasement politics, Sandeshkhali issue, polarisation, and infiltration.

About Sandeshkhali, the prime minister said, Trinamool has started a new game with Sandeshkhali. Bombs and guns are being recovered from Sheikh Shahjahans house. Trinamool wants to save Shahjahan for vote bank. The whole country saw what happened in Sandeshkhali. Trinamool is intimidating the women of Sandeshkhali now.

The accused in Sandeshkhali case was first saved by Trinamools police. The name of the oppressor is Sheikh Shahjahan and thats why they are trying to save him. Trinamool is trying to give him a clean chit, Modi was seen saying in Barrackpore.

The prime minister, however, didnt say anything about the recent videos that have surfaced debunking the issue of sexual exploitation of women in Sandeshkhali.

Modi claimed that only the BJP can develop India. He talked about world-class infrastructure built by the Centre in Bengal, pointing out the recently-inaugurated underwater metro connecting Howrah and Kolkata.

Earlier, a railway budget of Rs 4,000 crore was allocated for West Bengal. Our government has allocated Rs 14,000 crore. We are making Shalimar and Santragachi stations world class, he said in Howrah.

In Hooghly, the prime minister was seen getting emotional while receiving two pictures by two youths. In both the pictures, Modi was seen with his mother Heeraben who passed away in 2022.

People in western countries celebrate this day as Mother's Day. But in India, we worship our mothers everyday. We worship Maa Durga, Maa Kali and Bharat Mata 365 days a year, he said.

The prime minister also attacked the Congress and the INDIA bloc, saying they would take away reservations from SC, ST and OBC communities and give them completely to Muslims. He also attacked the Congresss plan to do a wealth survey.

The Shahzada of the Congress wants to check the property of everyone in the country. He wants to check all your property and land and then wants to distribute it among those who does vote jihad for INDI alliance. He wants to take away your property. They [the opposition] want to bring inheritance tax. Congress also wants to give reservations of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes to Muslims, the prime minister said.
Balazs Andras Orban, political director of Hungary's prime minister, has an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Photo by Mate Lefler/Xinhua)

by Xinhua writers Yin Xiaosheng, Chen Hao

BUDAPEST, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Hungary sees China's emergence as an economic powerhouse as an opportunity, not a threat, Balazs Andras Orban, political director of Hungary's prime minister, has said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Budapest was a pivotal moment in bilateral relations, Orban told Xinhua in a recent interview, adding this visit marked a new peak in bilateral relations and was regarded as "crown jewelry."

As the first European country to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, Hungary has forged a deep and fruitful partnership with China in investment, trade, green development and technological innovation.

"We need practical and pragmatic collaborations," Orban said. "The Belt and Road Initiative is a perfect example of how to do so because it's not just in theory, it's in practice."

Highlighting the Budapest-Belgrade railway as a flagship project of the Belt and Road cooperation between China and Hungary, Orban said the railway, with state-of-the-art technologies, serves as "a perfect example of meeting the needs of the Hungarian people."

Noting the trend towards electric vehicles and the new energy industry, as well as China's world-leading technology in these fields, Orban expressed his expectation for further collaboration in the production and research of promising new technologies, which has the potential to provide a significant boost to the economy.

"This is a win-win situation and it's really a new phase of China-Hungary relationship building. We are very grateful that we have these good companies in Hungary," Orban said.

However, Orban cautioned that there is a growing trend of decoupling from some Western countries, noting that such actions are not in line with the interests of the Hungarian people.

"Instead of decoupling or de-risking, we believe connectivity is the strategy which is working," said Orban. "We need to be able to bring the Eurasian continent together and understand that the world shares a common future." Enditem

(Li Ruojia contributed to the story.)
A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tip-off resulted in Kansas Police picking up a 21-year-old restaurant employee who reportedly committed wicked acts to contaminate food served to his customers. According to media reports, police confirmed that the accused used to urinate in pickles, rub his genitals on salmon and put lettuce inside his pants, among other sickening acts before serving them to customers. Other videos reportedly showed him pressing food items against his buttocks and spitting on it.



The accused was identified as Kansas-native Jace Christian Hanson, who worked at a famous steakhouse named Hereford House. Hanson worked at the Leawood-based establishment for about a month before being arrested by the cops, reports said. A steakhouse is an eatery that specializes in steaks and chops.

Jace Christian Hanson was busted after he posted some of his heinous acts online, which was noticed by the FBI wing monitoring intentional food contamination at eateries, the New York Post said in a report. Once the identity of the accused was confirmed the central agency tipped off the local police.

The police said that Jace Christian Hanson confessed to having committed the wicked acts. He said the ideas were received from people he met on dating apps and fetish sites. He committed certain acts based on "special requests" made by such people, NYPost quoted the police as saying. Grindr, Sniffys and Scruff were among the sites mentioned by the accused who said further communication with them happened via SnapChat.

After the FBI agents identified the profile used by Hanson to upload his acts on thisvid.com, they reached out to a phone number they believed belonged to him. The signal was tracked to the Hereford House parking lot, where they found a vehicle registered in his name.

The cops reportedly got in touch with the restaurants owner and the head chef, who recognized their employee from one of the thumbnail photographs. Hanson's shift was going on when the team reached Leawood and he was wearing the shoes that were seen in at least three of the sadistic videos posted from the profile. When interrogated, the man admitted to having committed such foul acts at least 20 times.

Hanson was arrested and booked on felony charges of criminal threat, which can carry a prison sentence up to 13 months and a fine of up to $100,000, the news report added.
As Israel's ground assault escalates in Rafah, those wounded are facing challenges in accessing medical care. However, the UAE field hospital--the only hospital on the ground-- had remained operational amid the worsening Israeli assault on Rafah.

The hospital set up as part of the UAE's Gallant Knight 3 humanitarian operation is situated in the centre of Rafah city. The 150-bed hospital started functioning in December last year.

According to Sultan Al Kaabi, the director of the hospital, despite the continued Israeli shellings in Rafah, the hospital is determined to deliver services.

"The UAE field hospital continues to receive injured people and provide treatment to patients despite the current situation in Rafah city," Al Kaabi told The National.

Meanwhile, the doctors in Gaza warned the authorities that Israel's blocking of fuel, food and aid from entering the enclave will impact hundreds of lives.

Recently, a statement by the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in the north of the Strip, said that they will soon be out of service if fuel is not supplied.

Ahead of the intensifying ground offensive, Israel had ordered the evacuation of Rafah city including the hospitals. "Currently, there is no other place for patients and injured individuals except this hospital," said Rafah's Kuwaiti hospital director Dr Sohaib Al Hams told The National.

According to the UNRWA, around 3,00,00 people have fled Rafah since the ground assault. Most are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Mawasi, a crowded tent camp on the coast where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.

Rafah is home to over 1.3 million Palestinians.

Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. Rafah, which borders Egypt remains the main entry point for aid to Gaza. However, Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the delivery of aid through the crossing due to the escalation in the war.

US President Joe Biden had said that his country won't provide weapons to Israel for striking Rafah. The US said that there was reasonable evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians. While Israel has rejected those allegations and said that they are trying to avoid harming civilians.
Amid the raging war with Hamas, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued yet another warning to Israel. Iran hinted at a change in its nuclear doctrine if Israel continues to threaten its existence in the ongoing turmoil in West Asia.

Kamal Kharrazi, the adviser, said that Iran will have no choice but to alter the military doctrine if Israel threatens its existence.

"We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb, but should Iran's existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine," Kharrazi said.

Since the Gaza war, tensions between Israel and Iran escalated. It further intensified after Iran's embassy in Syria was attacked in April. At least 11 people were killed in the attack, including two generals of Irans Revolutionary Guards.

"Recently, the military officials also announced that if Israel wants to attack nuclear facilities, it is possible and imaginable to revise Iran's nuclear doctrine and policies and divert from the previous declaration considerations, said Kharrazi.

Iran claims that it has the capability of making a nuclear bomb. In the 2000s, Khamenei banned the development of nuclear weapons.

"In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime, our deterrence will change," said Kharrazi.

However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s efforts to engage in talks with Iran did not yield positive results of late. The head of the IAEA, Rafel Grossi alleged Iran's lack of cooperation.

"The present state is completely unsatisfactory for me. We are almost at an impasse and this needs to be changed," Grossi said, as quoted by news agency AFP.
The Canadian investigators probing the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar has arrested another Indian national, taking the total number of arrests in the case to four.



The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team from British Columbia identified the suspect as 22-year-old Amandeep Singh. He was already arrested by Ontario police in connection with an unrelated firearms charge.

We pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the BC Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, stated the police.

This arrest shows the nature of on our ongoing investigations to hold responsible those who played a role in the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, they added.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had earlier arrested Karanpreet Singh, 28, Karan Brar, 22, and Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and charged them with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Police alleged that the Edmonton-based Indian nationals are members of an alleged hit squad tasked by New Delhi, claiming they had entered Canada on student visas but may have been working at the direction of Indian intelligence when they shot Nijjar.

According to Canadian police sources, the members of the hit squad allegedly played different roles as shooters, drivers and spotters on the day Nijjar was killed at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs said Canada has not shared any specific or relevant evidence or information with India on the alleged involvement of the Indian nationals in the killing.
Russian forces have reportedly made significant gains in the Kharkiv region near the northeast border with Russia, taking nine villages over the weekend via a surprise cross-border offensive. The offensive began on Friday with Kremlin's men hitting towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire.

A statement by Russias Ministry of Defense said a new military grouping called Sever (North) had "liberated" several villages, forcing out Ukrainian units. Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city and one of the first Ukrainian cities to go under Russian control in 2022. However, the Kremlin's forces were driven back to the border soon.

Ukraines army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Sunday that defensive operations were ongoing while terming the situation in Kharkiv Oblast "significantly worse".

"The enemy is conducting their actions on two fronts... they are trying to widen the front," military spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said on Ukrainian television on Sunday. He added that the Russians were eyeing the towns of Vovchansk and Lyptsi.

In Vovchansk, Russia seemed to be using heavy aerial attacks along with droves of infantry assaults. Russian forces were reportedly in the outskirts of the town and approaching from three directions in Vovchansk. Kremlin has been firing around 50 to 60 shells every hour into the town besides raining glide bombs.

However, there are reports that the Russian army has captured around 100km (62 miles) of Ukrainian territory. Some Ukrainian troops also reported a lack of a "first line of defence" in the area, helping Russians to "just walk in".

That said, it is unclear as to why Russia decided to approach towards Kharkiv. There are speculations that Russia could be trying to create a buffer zone to reduce Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory. President Vladimir Putin had also publicly stated his goal to create a buffer zone inside Kharkiv region to protect Russian territory from Ukrainian artillery strikes.

This could also be Russia's attempt to further stretch Ukraine's fatigued troops, which battles lack of ammunition and men. By exploiting ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line, Russia hopes todeploying more units to penetrate additional border areas.

Meanwhile, thousands have been evacuated as teams worked non-stop throughout the day to take residents, most of whom were elderly, out of harm's way. Anna Ivanova, a Kharkiv resident, described the situation as scary. "Of course it is scary, we keep on monitoring the situation, following the news but we remain home and are not planning to go anywhere. All depends on what happens," she told Reuters.

Another Kharkiv resident, Olena Pidhirna, said: "Despite all those attacks, air raid alarms, we live normal lives, everyone keeps going out, playing, going to school, enjoying themselves, working. Life goes on, as normal."
After a long week in court, Donald Trump is heading to the Jersey Shore. And he's being greeted by thousands of his friends.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, drew what his team called a mega crowd of tens of thousands 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.

Lisa Fagan, spokesperson for the city of Wildwood, told The Associated Press that she estimated the crowd represented 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.

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. There is a real possibility that Trump could be a convicted felon by Election Day.

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 O'Neill, a 62-year-old nurse from Philadelphia.

They have to cheat and smear him and humiliate him in that courtroom every single day, O'Neill said. This country is going to go insane if they steal the election again.

Trump's 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.

And while Trump will almost certainly seize on his legal woes Saturday, a judge's gag order and the threat of jail will 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 doesn't comply.

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.

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, opened his weekend with a series of fundraising events on the West Coast.

He avoided Trump's legal challenges as he has done consistently while addressing donors in Seattle. Instead, the Democratic president focused on Trump's 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.

Saturday's visit to the New Jersey Shore resort wasn't Trump's 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 president's 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 Jersey's 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.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been banned from entering 20 per cent of the state. Noem had recently been in the news for admitting to killing her pet dog and a family goat.

The ban came after Noem suggested that tribal chiefs benefited from narcotics traffickers. Several protests were raised against the statements forcing many Native American tribes to deny her access to their lands.

While speaking at a forum in March, she sparked a controversy by saying, "We've got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there, and that's why they attack me every day."

The Yankton Sioux Tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, the Cheyenne River, Standing Rock Sioux, and the Oglala, Rosebud tribes have imposed a ban on the Governor. Only three other tribes in the state are yet to announce any ban on her. Only three other tribes in the state are yet to announce any ban on her.

Tribals leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty.



We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden Administration is failing to do their https://t.co/QrR1LpxxdX  Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) May 9, 2024

Addressing the discussion on social media, Noem attacked the Biden administration for failing to do its job.

"Tribal leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty...We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden Administration is failing to do its job," she wrote on X.

Tensions between South Dakota and its Native American tribes have been tense for a long time. She was temporarily suspended from the Oglala Sioux reservation in 2019 for battling with tribe authorities.

Noem had encouraged tribal chiefs to remove the cartels from their lands and said "The cartels instigate drug addiction, murder, rape, human trafficking, and so much more in tribal communities across the nation, including in South Dakota."

I will work with you to sign Law Enforcement Agreements to immediately assist you, respect your sovereignty, and uphold tribal law, she added.

The Governor stated that she has always helped the South Dakota tribe whenever they required her assistance.

I will continue to speak the truth, call out corruption wherever I see it, and fight to protect the lives of Native Americans in our state  because thats what they deserve," she said, as per a release issued by her office.
Injured pride can be a major motivating factor and there is a lot riding on it in Maharashtra. The aggressive BJP had outwitted master strategist Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, inheritor of Balasaheb Thackerays Maratha legacy, by supporting the spilt in their parties. For both leaders, the Lok Sabha battle is also a personal one to stay relevant.

For the BJP, it is crucial to stave off their challenge, not just for ensuring a good tally in Parliament, but also to prove that the party is successful at forging new alliances even at the cost of its own dedicated cadre. The sobriquet, washing machine, was cemented in Maharashtra when the BJP welcomed leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress whom it had attacked vehemently in the past.

The disquiet on the western front could spell trouble for both alliances. In 2019, the west, comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, gave 69 of its 78 seats to the BJP. In Maharashtra, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena won 41 of 48 seatsthe BJP got 23 and the Sena, 18. In Gujarat, the BJP won all 26 seats.

We are on course to repeat our 2019 performance, said the BJPs national spokesperson Tuhin Sinha. The situation in Maharashtra is quite clear. There are three people on one sideSharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi, who subverted the mandate of 2019. People have seen their malgovernance as all projects came to a standstill because of Uddhavs inaccessibility and the extortion raj run with their support.

The BJPs alliance with the Eknath Shinde faction of the Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP faces a major push back from the coalition of the Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and Uddhavs Sena. If the NDA drops below its 2019 tally, it would energise its opponents and make its western front shaky. The INDIA bloc and its regional satraps need a good show in the south, west and east of the country to compensate for their apparent lack of strength in the north.

The intensely watched contest in Maharashtra is in its western part, which used to be Sharad Pawars stronghold. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is fighting to take control of the region that he had looked after for his uncle. Sharad Pawars daughter Supriya Sule, who was vocal against the Narendra Modi government in Parliament, is being challenged by her sister-in-law and Ajits wife, Sunetra, in their pocket borough, Baramati.

Maharashtra results will likely redraw battle grounds and challenge the hold of the satraps over their fiefdoms. If Sule loses in Baramati, it would further diminish Sharad Pawars standing. But if his faction manages to put up a good show, it would mean that the sympathy factor has worked and that could play a cementing role for the INDIA bloc in Maharashtra. It could prove crucial in the assembly elections due later this year.

Similarly, a good show by Uddhav would mean that his core voters has chosen him over his ideological cousins. But if his faction is not able to convert the sympathy factor into votes of his Maratha supporters, it would mean that the BJP would be the sole claimant to the hindutva sentiment.

The BJP said there would not be any sympathy for Uddhav as he deserted his core vote bank for minority appeasement. They called us gau mutra party. The sympathy will be with Devendra Fadnavis who sacrificed the post of chief minister to ensure development, said Sinha.

Modi, meanwhile, is not leaving anything to chance. Compared with 2019, he has held more campaign events in Maharashtra to counter the sympathy factor and caste polarisation caused by the Maratha reservation agitation.

In neighbouring Gujarat, the battle is personal for Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Their home state gave them 100 per cent seats in the last two elections, clocking over 60 per cent vote share. The BJP has maintained its winning streak in the state for close to three decades. Its core base is enthused by the prospect of making Modi prime minister for the third time. The Gujarati pride that Modi alludes to has helped the party tide over challenges from certain caste leaders. In fact, leaders like Alpesh Thakor and Hardik Patel have joined the BJP, ditching the Congress.

The BJPs campaign suffered a setback after Union Minister Parshottam Rupala made some remarks about Kshatriyas at an election rally, which were deemed offensive by the influential Rajput community. Although the Rajputs wanted Rupala to be dropped from the list of candidates, the BJP did not relent as it apparently looked at the consolidation of Patel voters whose numbers are even bigger and are crucial to the partys victory.

The BJP has been in power for more than 27 years and we have delivered. There is extra enthusiasm among voters this time as they want to make Narendra Modi prime minister for the third time, said BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas. He said the BJP was surprised that the Congress gave some seats to the Aam Aadmi Party. The Congress has lost the will to fight. The leaders are leaving and the workers are not excited.

The total decimation of the opposition in Gujarat even after Modi moved to Delhi means that parties like the Congress and the AAP will have to work harder. But the Congress, which put up a good show during the 2017 assembly polls, failed to consolidate its position, resulting in the BJP winning a historic mandate five years later.

Ties between Maharashtra and Gujarat extend beyond historical, cultural and business relations. It will be further strengthened as Indias first-ever bullet train links the two states in 2026. Modi would like to inaugurate the project as prime minister and would prefer to see BJP governments in both states while doing so.
Interview/ Supriya Sule, MP

The outcome of Supriya Sules electoral battle in Baramati against cousin Ajit Pawars wife, Sunetra, will most likely decide which way her political career moves. In an exclusive interview, she talks about her biggest strengths in the battle and how there is a sentiment against the BJP all over the country. Excerpts:

The BJP believes in scaring people. They believe in fear. We are freedom. Our forefathers had given up their lives for freedom.

Q/ How do you see the contest with Sunetra Pawar?

A/ For me it is not a fight with Sunetra Pawar. My fight is with the BJP.

Q/ How confident are you about victory?

A/ Lets wait for the outcome. I am here to serve the people. I dont believe in ruling. Power is a tool to serve the people. This is not entitlement, this is service to the nation.

Q/ Has the MVA got its seat sharing issues sorted out?

A/ All issues have been sorted out. The MVA will do well and we will see it on the day of results. I dont have a number in mind, but we will do well. Surveys are saying so, people are saying so. The state and the country are going through an extraordinarily challenging time. Unemployment is at its peak. Price rise is a big issue. You are seeing where the economy is going. IITs had a 100 per cent placement record. But now 35 per cent from IITs do not have jobs. If IIT graduates dont get jobs, who is going to get jobs in this country? It is alarming.

And, the big plank with which they came against us, corruption, what happened to that? There are so many. From Kashmir to Kanniyakumari, the story is the same.

Q/ Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi is not part of the MVA. It damaged you badly in the last election?

A/ Times have changed. You cant compare. Every election is different. Look at the change. Look at the situation. Everything keeps changing dramatically.

Q/ In your constituency, VBA is supporting you. Had this happened across Maharashtra, the result would have been different.

A/ We tried out best [to bring the VBA into the MVA alliance]. But some differences could not be solved.

Q/ It appears that all the office bearers of the NCP have moved to the Ajit Pawar camp.

A/ Ultimately it is the people who vote. And you are probably only talking about pockets. I have travelled my entire constituency. I have full faith in my voters. My biggest strength is my parliamentary performance. Secondly, my contacts with the people at the village level. Thirdly, the development. And, I dont have a single corruption charge against me. These are my four biggest strengths.

Q/ Sharad Pawar said the situation is not very encouraging for the BJP.

A/ Isnt it obvious? Look at the price rise. Corruption was their biggest plank against us. Look where they stand today. And unemployment. There is a huge economic backlash, which is an undercurrent. Im surprised youre not even aware of it. Electoral bonds is something that I had predicted in my Parliament speeches. Water price rise, onions... I have spoken about all these issues. There is not an issue that is alarming in this country today, which I have not predicted or warned the administration about.

Also, we dont believe in scaring people. We dont believe in fear. We believe in the Constitution. The BJP believes in scaring people. They believe in fear. We are freedom. Our forefathers had given up their lives for freedom.

Q/ Do you think the arrests of Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren are pointing towards the fact that democracy is a danger in this country?

A/ Of course, it is. It is evident. Look at Anil Deshmukh, Sanjay Raut, Nawab Malik, and then Arvind Kejriwal. It is obvious and it is very sad because this is not the India I grew up in. Today people are scared to talk on the phone. People are scared to talk against the government. It is a hostile environment.

Q/ Will the MVA win more seats that BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra?

A/ I cant give a number right now, but we will certainly win.
The U.S. is expected to announce a new $400 million package of military aid for Ukraine on Friday, U.S. officials said, as Kyiv struggles to hold off advances by Russian troops in the northeast Kharkiv region.

This is the third tranche of aid for Ukraine since Congress passed supplemental funding in late April after months of gridlock. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned Thursday that his country was facing a really difficult situation in the east, but said a new supply of U.S. weapons was coming and we will be able to stop them.

According to officials, the package includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and rockets for them, as well as artillery, air defense and anti-tank munitions, armored vehicles and other weapons and equipment. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not yet been announced. It will be provided through presidential drawdown authority, which pulls systems and munitions from existing U.S. stockpiles so they can be sent quickly to the war front.

Almost immediately after President Joe Biden signed the $95 billion foreign aid package, the Pentagon announced it was sending $1 billion in weapons through that drawdown authority,. And just days later the Biden administration announced a $6 billion package funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for longer-term contracts with the defense industry and means that the weapons could take many months or years to arrive.

Russia has sought to exploit Ukraines shortages of ammunition and manpower as the flow of Western supplies since the outbreak of the war petered out while Congress struggled to pass the bill. Moscow has assembled large troop concentrations in the east as well as in the north and has been gaining an edge on the battlefield, Zelenskyy said.

Officials did not say if the latest package includes more of the long-range ballistic missiles  known as the Army Tactical Missile System  that Ukraine has repeatedly requested. The U.S. secretly sent a number of the missiles to Ukraine for the first time this spring and the White House has said it would send more. In one case, Ukraine used them to bomb a Russian military airfield in Crimea.

The new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance  up to 300 kilometers (190 miles)  than it had with the mid-range version of the weapon that it received from the U.S. in October.

(AP)
WELLINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Skywatchers across New Zealand were treated to a celestial spectacle as the Aurora Australis, also known as the southern lights, graced the night sky on Saturday.

From North Island to South Island, clear skies have provided optimal viewing conditions as the colourful display captivated curious onlookers across the country.

The Aurora Australis occurs when charged particles from the solar wind interact with Earth's magnetosphere, creating vibrant displays in the upper atmosphere. Although New Zealand is not typically far south enough to witness these lights, Saturday night's rare geomagnetic storm combined with clear skies provided a unique opportunity for New Zealanders to experience this cosmic phenomenon.

New Zealand national weather authority MetService meteorologist Clare O'Connor told local media that the event was an uncommon sight for New Zealanders.

The geomagnetic storm affecting Earth as a result of solar activity has been upgraded from G4 (Severe Geomagnetic Storm) to a G5 (Extreme Geomagnetic Storm) event.

Transpower, New Zealand's national grid operator, confirmed that it had temporarily switched off some North Island power assets during the geomagnetic storm, and disconnected some in the South Island earlier, as a precautionary measure to protect critical infrastructure from potential disruptions caused by the intense solar activity.

University of Otago physics professor Craig Rodger told the public that the rare geomagnetic storm was exciting rather than scary.

Despite reaching G5, the top scale for geomagnetic storms, Rodger said it has only just passed that threshold. It was the largest such storm in more than a decade in New Zealand, but not as big as those in 2003 or 2001, Rodger said, adding that in 2001, a transformer in Dunedin on South Island was knocked out. 
A federal appeals court panel on Friday upheld the criminal conviction of Donald Trumps longtime ally Steve Bannon for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Bannons challenges to his contempt of Congress conviction. Bannon had been sentenced to four months in prison, but the judge overseeing the case had allowed him to stay free pending appeal.

Bannons attorneys didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment. His lawyers could ask the full D.C. appeals court to hear the matter.

The congressional committee sought Bannons testimony over his involvement in Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Bannon had initially argued that his testimony was protected by Trumps claim of executive privilege. But the House panel and the Justice Department contend such a claim is dubious because Trump had fired Bannon from the White House in 2017 and Bannon was thus a private citizen when he was consulting with the then-president in the run-up to the riot .

A second Trump aide, trade advisor Peter Navarro, was also convicted of contempt of Congress and reported to prison in March to serve his four-month sentence.

(AP)
U.S. health and agriculture officials pledged new spending and other efforts Friday to help track and contain an outbreak of bird flu in the nations 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 they include 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 U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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 CDC.

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 business, researchers have said. Also, farm workers, including many migrant workers, have been reluctant to be tested for fear of missing work or because they didnt want to be tracked by the government.

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 30 people have been tested, with negative results, and another 220 are being monitored, according to the CDC.

As of Friday, 42 herds in nine states have confirmed infections in dairy cows. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that the outbreak has not spread more widely.

Its still in the same nine states and thats the most positive thing about where we are, he told reporters.

Remnants of the virus have been found in samples of grocery store dairy products, but tests by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed that pasteurization, or heat-treating, killed the virus. 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.

(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.

(AP)
Former President Donald Trumps youngest son, Barron Trump, wont be serving as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention after all, his mothers office said Friday.

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, Melania Trumps office said.

Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power had said Wednesday that the 18-year-old high school senior would serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the GOP is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate for the November general election.

Power did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

In an interview earlier Friday on Kayal and Company on Philadelphias Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Donald Trump was asked about Barron joining the Florida delegation. Hes really been a great student. And he does like politics, Trump said. Its sort of funny. Hell tell me sometimes, Dad, this is what you have to do.

Barron Trump has been largely kept out of the public eye, but he turned 18 on March and is graduating from high school next week. The judge overseeing Donald Trumps hush money trial in New York said there would be no court on May 17 so that Trump could attend his sons graduation.

Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Trumps youngest daughter, Tiffany, are part of the Florida delegation to the convention taking place in Milwaukee from July 15 to July 18.

(AP)
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Donald Trump ally, announced on social media Friday that he had been FIRED from his WABC radio show. Giuliani claimed he was terminated for refusing to stop discussing the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

In a statement on X, Giuliani wrote, I was just FIRED by John Catsimatidis and @77WABCradio because I refused to stop talking about the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. The New York Times reported that WABC suspended Giuliani and canceled his daily talk show for violating company policy by discussing discredited claims about the 2020 presidential election on air.

Giuliani had been railing against the suspension of his law license for pushing the false claim that the election was stolen from Trump, despite a complete lack of evidence. On Thursdays show, he was cut off mid-sentence by employees in the control room.

WABC owner John Catsimatidis, a billionaire Republican businessman, confirmed the suspension, stating, 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.

Giuliani claimed he was unaware of any policy prohibiting discussion of the 2020 election, stating, I talked about the 2020 elections from the day I realized they were fixed until now, and I have talked about it on that station I would say 1,000 times They now tell me there was a policy that I wasnt allowed to talk about the 2020 elections. I never heard about the policy until yesterday.

The loss of the radio show could prove financially troublesome for Giuliani, who is facing legal and financial woes, including criminal charges in two states and a $148 million defamation lawsuit from two Georgia election workers. The suspension also denies him one of his last mainstream public platforms.

Giuliani went on a wild rant Friday night after his radio show was canceled, unleashing a series of tirades against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Over several hours, Giuliani hurled insults and threats at the Bidens, blaming them for his firing and claiming they were trying to silence him.

In a moment that quickly went viral, Giuliani was seen waving his arms wildly, seemingly acting out fearfulness of newspapers and reporters covering the story of Hunter Bidens laptop. I mean, you were, Giuliani said, gesturing with flailing arms. And, and The Wall Street Journal, he continued, wrapping his arms across his head as if in terror of the story.

Giuliani also made ominous threats against the Bidens, claiming they didnt realize who was really doing the  who can really inflict atomic destruction to them? He claimed that his discovery of people in Ukraine was the turning point, saying They were going along just fine until Giuliani found the people in Ukraine.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
By Rabbi Meir Goldberg, Director of Meor JX campus network  an Olami affiliate

As the semester winds down and students finish up finals, we complete what has been the most tumultuous year on campus, in the twenty years that I have been a Rabbi at Rutgers. Never in the last twenty years have college campuses taken such a central role in the national news cycle, nor in the collective consciousness of Jews nationwide. Never before have I gotten so much communication, asking me how the students are, how we relate to the University administrations on which we work and expressing such genuine concern for our students. I would like to broadly answer some questions that we are often asked and give an overview of the state of Jewish life from the perspective of our JX campus programs that we run at Meor Rutgers JX, Meor Columbia/NYC campuses, Meor Princeton, Olami Northwestern and Olami Hofstra.

Are Jewish Students in Danger? At Columbia there has been intense harassment and intimidation. It is unclear if it will stop there. At the other campuses we are at, Jewish students arent in physical danger on campus. In some cases, students have been doxxed by Palestinian activists. Others have been randomly harassed, yelled at, etc. But to my knowledge, on our campuses, no physical threats appear imminent. As someone who has been visibly Jewish their entire life, walking around on campus even with the threat of verbal harassment never scared me too much, since it is something that I, my friends and children have grown up with. I have had pennies thrown at me, been cursed out by passing cars, harassed on subways, etc. My children have experienced the same on the streets of NJ. But for many of our students who are generally secular and arent visibly Jewish, this harassment is something that they have never had to deal with before and it has shaken them up very much. Many of our students have parents who experienced anti semitism in the former Soviet Union and were sure that America was different. And while that was true for a while, sadly this is no longer the case.

Do the Encampments pose a danger to Jewish students? Generally not. The encampment at Columbia was well documented. I and other students and alumni visited the Rutgers encampment. While there were around 100 or so students (and many of them outside agitators who were too old to be students), not much seemed to be going on. There were well armed police there and for the most part it resembled an old April tradition of Rutgers students camping out at Vorhees Mall, tent city. Sadly, there were the anti Israel signs and slogans prominent, but Jews could walk by. Once they started to disturb finals, the University asked them to leave.

Has this driven students away from or toward Jewish life? It depends. For students with some prior Jewish or Israel consciousness, the events since Oct 7 have caused a great increase in Jewish pride, Israel activity and a general thirst to want to know more about Judaism, Israel and our roots. While post covid saw a 20% increase in Jewish learning and activity for Olami worldwide (the 300+ Olami worldwide branches saw an increase of 10,000 students in 2022 for a total of 60,000 students, up from 50,000 the year before), Oct 7 has brought us students that we never knew existed, including many Israelis who were previously hesitant to study Torah or attend a Shabbaton. Some students who previously had a circle of non Jewish friends, suddenly found themselves ostracized from those communities, since they were now viewed as allies of white/Jewish colonizers supporting genocide. Finding our open and warm campus community of like minded young Jews has been a lifeline of social and spiritual oxygen for them.

On the other hand, it is highly likely that students with little previous Jewish identity have been driven further underground, fearful to identify with an ancestry and religion of which they have little knowledge or understanding. Many woke students have, sadly, identified with those who hate us. Our Meor and Olami staff have little connection with such students, since they would usually not want to attend our programs in the first place.

Have University administrations been sympathetic or helpful to Jewish students? It depends on which University. Its important for us to be realistic about the nature of the 21st century American University and what the cultural and social zeitgeist is. Universities today are bastions of leftist and woke ideology. So even if a University President understands that Israel is not at fault and that Jewish students shouldnt be treated any worse than students of other minorities, they have to deal with their peers who may not share such sentiments. They are walking a tightrope and one false step might send the anti Israel mob after them. While this doesnt excuse much of the unequal treatment that Jewish students receive, it gives us a peek into the world of higher education and why they may act the way they do.

It is also important to know that some professors are openly anti Israel or sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. This creates unfair pressure and some intimidation to Jewish students.

At Rutgers, we met regularly with University administration. While they were open to hearing our concerns, we were disappointed that they would not increase security at our events, always balanced a statement against anti semitism with obligatory mention of Islamophobia and always prevented the students from counter demonstrating directly in front of Students for Justice in Palestine, who seemed to be demonstrating against Israel every week. We were also disappointed in their allowance of the encampment and the alleged capitulation to the pro Palestinian demands, though in a later statement, President Holloway of Rutgers seemed to walk back many of the Rutgers pledges to the protestors. Maybe it is the Yeshiva education that I was raised with, but I am not so surprised at how we are treated, because this is always how Jews have been treated in golus (diaspora).

What has been the students response to all of this? This has been the silver lining in all of this. For those who have doubted the pride, passion and Jewish vitality of our younger generation, I am happy to report that you have been proven wrong. Post Oct 7 Jewish campus life has been a whirlwind of rallies, mitzvah campaigns (our whatsapp tefillin chats, where students post selfies putting on tefillin, are going strong), weekly Jewish learning matching local community members and our students , Shabbatons, Meor trips to Israel, Poland etc. We have had so much support from the Jewish community, including Rutgers campus concerts by Shlomo Reich, Yaakov Schweckey and Thank You Hashem. Our Pesach sedarim were full. Rabbi Zach Horwitz of Meor Columbia squashed as many students into his Manhattan apartment as he could fit for the Seder, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of Columbia students had gone home and were learning virtually.

Israel based learning programs (with hasbarah and insights into both modern Israel and Torah related to Israel) have taken off at Rutgers, Columbia, Hofstra, Northwestern and more. Students have been energized by all of this and are proudly Jewish, enthusiastically supporting Israel and are engaged with the Jewish community. Olami has provided our campuses with tremendous Israel resources as well.

How do we move forward? We have the greatest opportunity in 50 years to reach out to those Jews who are less affiliated and we dare not let this slip away. Jews with little previous connection are asking more questions than ever before. They are looking for community, Shabbos, answers to tough questions and want to know why those they formerly considered friends and allies have now abandoned them. If we dont fill that void with reaching out and inviting them into our homes and communities for Shabbos meals, chavrusah learning or social connections, we will have to give an accounting to Hashem as to how we could have let our brethren down. Yes, the anti semitism can be frightening at times, no, we dont know how young non Jews will view us in the coming years. There are no easy answers. But what we need to do is to spread the fundamentals of Shabbos, Torah and Ahavas Yisroel (love of our fellow Jew) to all of our brothers and sisters. Now is our moment! This is our time!

Rabbi Meir Goldberg
Anti-Israel wackjob and yet prominent conservative commentator Candace Owens has sparked outrage by suggesting on social media that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Owens made the claim in response to a post by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who suggested that AIPAC should be required to register with the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Massie wrote, Foreign interest lobbying group AIPAC is running $300,000 of ads as part of a pressure campaign to influence my votes in Congress. Should AIPAC register w/FARA?

Owens responded, Yes but Im pretty sure they murdered JFK for trying to get this done.

She then quote-tweeted Massies poll, demanding that he be protected at all costs.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
The Biden administration, in its latest desperate attempt to stop Israel from obliterating Hamas, is offering Israel valuable assistance, including sensitive intelligence information if it halts its plan to launch a full-scale military operation in Rafah, The Washington Post reported on Shabbos.

The intelligence information would help Israel pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the terror groups terror tunnels.

If the report is true, it raises disturbing questions about why the US, Israels supposed ally, hasnt shared the information with Israel until now, especially considering the fact that US citizens are being held hostage in Gaza.

The Biden administration, with its obsessive focus on providing humanitarian aid to innocent Gaza civilians, is also offering assistance in providing thousands of shelters so Israel can build tent cities for civilians evacuated from Rafah.

Meanwhile, Egypt, in a protest against Israels operation near its border, is refusing to cooperate with Israel to facilitate aid into Gaza from the Rafah Crossing and aid shipments have come to a standstill.

Dont hold your breath waiting for condemnations of Egypt from the Biden administration or the international press.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
Egypt on Friday announced it will support South Africas lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Meanwhile, Egypt, in a protest against Israels operation near its border, is refusing to cooperate with Israel to facilitate aid into Gaza from the Rafah Crossing and aid shipments have come to a standstill. It previously bolstered security at its border to ensure that not even one Gazan refugee would enter Egypt.

In February, Egypt sent a message to Israel that if even one Palestinian refugee crosses over  the peace agreement will be nullified.

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.

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 terrorists 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 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.

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.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem & AP)
Contrary to Israeli claims, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is not hiding in Rafah, according to two officials familiar with the matter who spoke to Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made targeting Hamas leadership a top priority, with Sinwar and his deputy, Mohammed Deif, remaining elusive despite repeated claims of being close to capture. Recent intelligence suggests Sinwar may be in underground tunnels in the Khan Younis area, five miles north of Rafah.

The IDF has had success killing senior commanders, including Marwan Issa, but Sinwars whereabouts remain uncertain. Israel aims to destroy Hamas, with eliminating Sinwar a key element.

IDF ground forces began operating in Rafah last Monday, targeting the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt. The security cabinet approved a measured expansion of the operation, aimed at remaining within Washingtons acceptable scope. US President Joe Biden warned of withholding offensive weapons if Israel proceeds with a major ground offensive in Rafah, where over one million Palestinians are sheltering.

Netanyahu has pledged a major offensive, arguing its essential for defeating Hamas, which has four active battalions in the city. However, many Hamas fighters have reportedly fled northward as Israeli threats intensified. While 18 of Hamas 24 battalions have been dismantled, fighters have regrouped and returned to previously cleared areas.

The IDF faces challenges in Gaza City, with security officials warning of an ongoing cat-and-mouse game with Hamas until a viable alternative to Hamas rule is established. Netanyahu has rejected the idea of Palestinian Authority involvement, and his far-right allies push for permanent occupation and settlement re-establishment.

Without a diplomatic strategy, IDF achievements have been short-lived, an Israeli official said.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
This photo taken on Sept. 9, 2023 shows the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

The Chinese management contractors of the Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti on Friday after six years of successful operation.

ADDIS ABABA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese management contractors of the Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti on Friday after six years of successful operation.

This momentous occasion was marked by a celebration at the Lebu Railway Station on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Senior Ethiopian and Djiboutian government officials, along with the Chinese diplomatic community in Ethiopia and the management contractor of the 752-km electrified transnational railway, gathered for the "Turnkey Ceremony."

A local train driver receivs a notebook from his Chinese predecessor at the Adama station in Adama City, Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

Ethiopian Minister of Transport and Logistics Alemu Sime said on the occasion that since its start of operations in January 2018, the railway has served as 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 that 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.

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)

Abdi Zenebe, the chief executive officer of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Share Company (EDR), highlighted the railway as a key component of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), serving as a mutually beneficial cooperation platform that advances socioeconomic development across the two connected countries.

"Six years ago, we embarked on a journey to 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 EDR's commitment to enhancing its capacity building program to emerge as a center of excellence, nurturing talent, enhancing skills, and empowering its workforce.

Passengers buy tickets at the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

Minister of Infrastructure and Equipment of Djibouti Hassan Houmed, on his part, commended the railway's role in reducing transport time and cost, as well as its contribution to employment creation.

He highlighted the railway's fast and streamlined transport system, which has enabled Djibouti to decongest its port infrastructure, promote passenger comfort and safety, and play a commendable role in 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 also operated over 7,700 freight trains, with a cargo volume of 9.5 million tonnes in the same period.

A train attendant checks passengers' tickets in the cabin in Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

The electrified railway has significantly reduced transportation time for freight goods between Ethiopia and Djibouti from more than three days to less than 20 hours, while also cutting costs by at least one-third.

Simultaneously, the railway has generated numerous local employment opportunities and has fully localized its workforce, with more than 3,000 local staff employed.

"The Chinese team is dedicated to promoting capacity building. A total of 2,840 individuals have been trained and certified, leading to the localization of all railway professions in the fields of operation, maintenance, and safety management," said Guo Chongfeng, chief executive of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ethiopian branch, which constructed and maintained the railway in partnership with another company, China Railway Engineering Corporation.

This aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 11, 2023 shows the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

Guo said that the management contractor, with a focus on the railway's future development, has organized leadership training for about 200 middle and senior management personnel. Additionally, they have trained about 100 local managers in China.

Ethiopia, a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa, accesses international maritime trade through ports in neighboring countries. The Ethiopia-Djibouti trade corridor serves as the primary gateway for Ethiopia, with approximately 90 percent of its imports and exports passing through it. 
As a token of our deep appreciation towards our Yad LAchim supporters, we have arranged for a free special tefillah in Kerestir, Hungary  this Sunday, the day of tefillah for the Yahrtzeit of the tzaddik,

Reb Shayale of Kerestir ztl,

to daven for all our supporters.

Submit your names (for free) by CLICKING HERE , visit www.YadLAchim.org or calling 1-718-690-2944

(phone lines open 24 hours a day)

A kvittel will be placed for you at the kever  for free  thousands of people have seen yeshuos!

TEFILLOS CAN BE FOR HEALTH, SHIDDUCHIM, PARNASSAH, CHILDREN & ALL PERSONAL REQUESTS

Thank you once again for your past and future kindness in helping us rescue trapped Jewish women and children.

 Submit Names Now  CLICK HERE

You can also try our informative (and fun) trivia about Reb Shayale

 CLICK HERE TO TRY THE TRIVIA

VIDEO: Time-Lapse Drawing Story of R Shayale of Kerestir ztl  WATCH HERE (Want this drawing? See below)

Watch the whole story

Submit your names (no minimum donation required) for the tefillah at the resting place of Reb Shayale of Kerestir ztl in Kerestir, Hungary on the day of tefillah for his Yahrtzeit

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT NAMES or visit www.YadLAchim.org or call us at 1-718-690-2944 Messengers of Yad LAchim will be in Kerestir to daven and place a kvittel for all names submitted.



Reb Shayale ztl was well known for his deep level of caring for every Yid and thousands would seek his counsel and blessing in his lifetime. There are many, many stories of people who were helped in their time of need through Tefillah at his resting place; we hope you will be among them. Names can be submitted for free, always. If you wish, you can take this opportunity to help women & children who need rescuing (especially during these turbulent times) by helping Yad LAchim in their work of Pidyon Shvuyim  thank you.

TEFILLOS CAN BE FOR HEALTH, SHIDDUCHIM, PARNASSAH, CHILDREN & ALL PERSONAL REQUESTS

Submit Names Now

If you know someone who can benefit from this free tefillah, please CLICK HERE to share it with them via WhatsApp (try it, its easy)

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The American market for pharma and health products is expansive, the mark-ups generous and any multi-national which sought to ignore it might as well give up the ghost.

Yet the United States also exposes corporations to regulatory and litigation banana skins.

GSK's shares suffer from the overhang of Zantac, the stomach medicine, which has been claimed  despite solid scientific evidence to the contrary  to have caused cancer.

An even bigger share price overhang faces Britain's Reckitt Benckiser. For many years Reckitt defied gravity. It demonstrated an ability to turn underperforming hygiene and consumer health assets, such as Cillit Bang and Nurofen, into super brands. However, when it moved into baby formula, with a 13billion takeover of Mead Johnson five years ago, it entered trickier territory.

Baby formula, while providing nutrition, has long been regarded as controversial and a poor substitute for mother's milk and divides opinion.

Tricky territory: Baby formula, while providing nutrition, has long been regarded as controversial and a poor substitute for mother's milk and divides opinion

It is often the only food source available to premature babies in prenatal care units before mothers are able to produce their own milk. Plaintiffs are claiming Mead Johnson (and Abbott's baby formula) is responsible for causing the death of prenatal babies. The litigation brought by well-funded specialists was given fuel by an Illinois jury. Earlier this year it ordered Reckitt's Mead Johnson offshoot to pay $60m to the mother of a premature baby who died of an intestinal disease after being fed the Enfamil formula.

The case has become a serious problem for Reckitt chief executive Kris Licht. At a time when FTSE100 shares have been advancing Reckitt's stock has declined by 30 per cent over the last year.

Broker Barclays estimates that the cost of dealing with the litigation being brought against Mead Johnson  still structured as a separate entity  could be anything between 500m and 2billion. Suffice it to say US class action suits are a notorious lottery and the outcome unpredictable.

Reckitt should have little to worry about. In most intensive care neo-natal units medical experts have no choice but to administer formula to supplement or replace mother or donor milk.

GSK's battle over Zantac tells us it doesn't really matter about the underlying truth. In jury cases, even if the evidence is piecemeal, the panel is always going to be more sympathetic to the plaintiff than big corporations. The emotional pull of the death of a baby will be hard to overcome. It may not help that Reckitt has form of being careless, notably over deaths in South Korea caused by a totally unrelated malfunctioning humidifier disinfectant.

Reckitt's managerial problem is how best to deal with it and restore investor confidence. One mooted solution is to hive off Mead Johnson into a separate entity.

A proposal put forward by analysts at Barclays would call for Reckitt to spin off a majority stake in Mead Johnson and re-list it in the US. The numbers suggest that such a move, with Mead Johnson taking on a share of the debt, could resolve the legal overhang. The formula company generates sufficient cash flows and profits to meet potential liabilities.

There are lessons to be learned from Reckitt's downfall. Transforming mergers rarely deliver the growth and dividends that the protagonists promise. A more politically aware Reckitt board should have recognised that involvement in baby formula would be fraught and carry enormous litigation risks. The price is now being paid.
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.
KHOST, Afghanistan, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Personnel of counter-terrorism have discovered a variety of arms and a quantity of ammunition during a series of operations in east Afghanistan's Khost province within the last two months, local official reported on Sunday.

The confiscated armaments and ammunition included 14 Kalashnikovs, five pistols, a PK machine gun, 14 mines, seven grenades, thousands of bullets and rocket launchers, Mawlawi Mohammad Rasool Watanmal, provincial director of counter-terrorism, told Xinhua.

Twenty-two people were arrested in connection with the incidents and their dossiers were taken to concerned departments for investigation and possible legal process, Watanmal said.

Since assuming power in August 2021 in the wake of the withdrawal of the U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, the Afghan caretaker government has rounded up thousands of weaponry across the country and warned of stern action if anyone carries or smuggles arms. 
DHAKA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Expatriate Bangladeshis sent home a total of 810 million U.S. dollars in remittances in the first 10 days of May, according to Bangladesh Bank sources.

The remittance inflow has increased in the first 10 days of the current month compared to the corresponding duration of the last four months, with 731 million dollars, 679 million dollars, 718 million dollars, and 763 million dollars during the first 10 days of April, March, February, and January, respectively, leading English newspaper the Financial Express reported.

Bangladesh had received 2.04 billion dollars in remittances in April, 1.99 billion dollars in March, 2.16 billion dollars in February, and 2.10 billion dollars in January this year. 
Context . . .

Today where there three separate spates of local gunfire with two instances turning deadly.

Ahead of the weekend local newsies were touting progress against local violence with a homicide reduction of nearly 25% but that early in the year hope is CLEARLY fading fast.

And so . . .



We offer a glimpse at more reporting on today's shooting, ALLEGED local misdeeds, allegations and the best efforts at community outreach.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Man critically injured in Saturday afternoon shooting in Kansas City A man was critically wounded in a shooting on Saturday afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri, police said. The shooting unfolded near Linwood Boulevard and Park Avenue just after 5 p.m.

KCPD searching for suspect in deadly apartment shooting Kansas City Police Department report shooting killed one person at apartment on 29th Street and Prospect Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri

KCPD reports shooting homicide near 12th and Benton A man was shot and killed early Saturday morning in what detectives are investigating as a homicide.

Man who confessed to murder at Kansas hospital also opened fire in the emergency room Man, who fired a round into ceiling of emergency room before confessing to murder, first appeared in court Friday.

Platte County jail faces overcrowding crisis; officials seek taxpayer support for expansion For the past years, Platte County has been grappling with an urgent issue: overcrowding at its county jail.

Delivery Truck Stolen at Local Furniture Warehouse Nonprofit If anyone knows anything, please contact the tips hotline at 816.474.TIPS (8477) or text TIPS452 or CRIMES (274637).

KCPD Holds 2024 Memorial Service Chief Stacey Graves led the ceremony which included an honor guard, a 21-gun salute, the KCPD Color Guard, bagpipers, and a helicopter flyover. There were 120 flags on display at the ceremony representing each one of these officers. For 120 hours preceding the service, dispatchers read one officer's name per hour over the police radio system.

Developing . . .
The push for federal money is a driving force in local politics.

However . . .

KANSAS CITY CONFRONTS FIERCE COMPETITION FOR CASH FROM OTHER CITIES WITH MORE IMPRESSIVE ECO-PROJECTS!!!

Toy trains are now out of favor and a recent report already provides a twinge of disappointment.



Here are the basics . . .



"In Kansas City, the federal sustainability funds could help boost composting efforts, add bike trails, plant more trees, expand electric vehicle charging, and tackle energy efficiency projects.



"Kansas City is dreaming big with visions of massive federal support for making the city greener than its been since wagon trains rumbled through these parts.



"Last month, area governments submitted a request for nearly $200 million in sustainability funds with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).



"Officials said they knew the effort would be epic in scale. The application included everything from bike trails to Civil War era settlements, subsidized e-bike sales, massive tree plantings and solar panels atop inner-city libraries.



"Now, after grant requests from across America have landed at the EPA, it turns out the competition for the funds will be stiff."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
KHARTOUM, May 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 27 civilians were killed and about 130 injured following the renewal of conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur State, a United Nations (UN) agency said on Sunday.

"Unconfirmed reports indicate that at least 27 people have been killed, including women and children, while about 130 people have been injured," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report.

"El Fasher South Hospital, which has a 100-bed capacity, has surpassed its maximum capacity," the report added.

An estimated 850 people (170 families) were displaced to various locations across El Fasher locality due to the clashes, OCHA said, citing a report by the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix.

For weeks, the RSF has been mobilizing thousands of fighters on the outskirts of El Fasher in preparation for an attack, while the SAF and allied Darfuri armed groups strengthened their military presence at the entrances to El Fasher and around most of the city's neighborhoods.

Last week, the UN warned that some 800,000 people in El Fasher were in "extreme and immediate danger" as worsening violence advances and threatens to "unleash bloody intercommunal strife" throughout Darfur.

Since the conflict between the SAF and the RSF broke out on April 15, 2023, 15,550 fatalities have been recorded, while the number of people displaced has reached 8.7 million, according to recent estimates by the OCHA. 
Estonia, in coordination with Denmark, has delivered two patrol boats to Ukraine to secure vital sea lines in the Black Sea.

The Estonian Defense Ministry announced this on the social media platform X, Ukrinform reports.

"Estonia has delivered two patrol boats to Ukraine in coordination with ally Denmark," the ministry said.

Read also: Estonian foreign minister calls on partners to help Ukraine protect skies

It added that such aid helps Ukraine secure vital sea lines and defend its waters from Russian aggression.

Photo: Estonian Defense Ministry
Latvia and Ukraine vowed an increase in the manufacture of drones, while Latvia is also set to provide Ukraine with a 250MW generator to the embattled nation as part of non-military support.

This was announced by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Latvia, Dmytro Kuleba and Baiba Braze, who spoke at a joint briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The generator will be donated by the Latvenergo operator to contribute to covering the needs of the Ukrainian energy system, Braze told journalists.

She added that she met with the staff of a Ukrainian thermal power plant to learn first-hand about their critical needs amid ongoing Russian attacks targeting energy generation facilities across the country.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, for his part, said he had discussed with his Latvian counterpart strategic issues and problems that need to be addressed immediately.

"We appreciate Latvias decision to join the initiative put forward by the Czech Republic on the purchase of artillery rounds, we talked about the production of shells. I certainly thank Latvia for leading the drone coalition. Currently, joint work is underway to increase their output. We need more drones. Ukrainian and Latvian companies can really do a lot," Kuleba noted.

The ministers also discussed Ukraine's integration into the European Union and NATO.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the newly appointed head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Baiba Braze, arrived in Kyiv on Friday, April 26.
VILNIUS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Incumbent President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte are poised to advance to the second round of the presidential race in Lithuania, according to preliminary results.

Nauseda and Simonyte, each falling short of the 50 percent threshold needed to secure the presidency in Sunday's first round, have both declared their advancement to the runoff.

The runoff is set to be held in two weeks, on May 26.

Lithuanians also voted on Sunday in a referendum on amending the constitution to allow dual citizenship. 
GAZA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes bombed several areas in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, while fierce clashes erupted between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israeli forces carrying out fresh operations in those areas.

Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that Israel carried out heavy air and artillery strikes on residential buildings and agricultural lands in Jabalia refugee camp, its nearby Jabalia city, the Beit Lahia city, and some neighborhoods in Gaza City.

Gaza Civil Defense Spokesman Mahmoud Basel said in a statement that Israeli forces have intensified strikes on those residential homes where civilians remained inside.

He said casualties were reported from Jabalia and nearby areas targeted by the Israeli strikes but "it is difficult for our teams to reach them due to the intensity of gunfire."

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and military vehicles went deeper from the eastern outskirts to advance a new assault on northern Gaza, according to unnamed Palestinian sources.

The advancement came after fierce clashes since last night between members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and Israeli forces in the area.

Since Sunday morning, the Israeli strikes have prompted a large number of Palestinian families to flee westward, carrying belongings on foot or cramped in vehicles.

"The bombing is everywhere," said Hajja Zuhriya Salman, who clenched a bag and several plastic bags in the streets. Escaping from their home in a hurry, her grandchildren walked barefoot.

"We are escaping from death to death, and there is no safe place in Gaza," she lamented.

"It is the third time for me to leave home since the beginning of the war, and we hope to end the war as soon as possible, which has been, in more than 200 days, a nightmare for us."

On Saturday, the Israeli army called on all residents and displaced persons in Jabalia and the surrounding areas to immediately head to shelters west of Gaza City, warning them against a nighttime operation targeting Hamas elements in the area.

The Israeli army started the operation in Jabalia based on intelligence information regarding Hamas's attempts to reassemble its infrastructure and activists in the area.

It said in a statement on Saturday that before the entry of its forces, fighter jets belonging to the Israeli Air Force and additional aircraft targeted about 30 "terrorist" targets in the area and killed many Hamas "terrorists."

In a separate statement on Sunday, the army said it continued operations in the Zaitoun area in northern Gaza, and during the past day, a number of "terrorists" were killed in close combat and aerial raids while their weapons and infrastructure were dismantled.

The Al-Qassam Brigades said Sunday that its elements "target the invading enemy forces east of Jabalia camp in northern Gaza with mortar shells."

It said in another statement that its fighters succeeded in shooting down an anti-tank missile through a drone at a Merkava tank east of the camp, while two other tanks were targeted with "Al-Yassin 105" shells.

The Israeli military said Saturday that its operations were continuing in specific areas in eastern Rafah and on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, having dismantled a number of tunnel openings and rocket launchers.

It also identified and eliminated 10 armed Hamas members leaving an infrastructure.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage. 
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2024) Allama Iqbal Open University Semester Spring 2024 admissions (phase 2) to be closed in two days.

According to the AIOU, the students can take admission in Associate Degree (BA/BCom), BBA, BS (ODL) programs, teachers training programs (1.5, 2.5 and 4 Years B.Ed.), postgraduate diploma programs, and certificate courses till May 15.

Admission forms and prospectuses for these programs are available on the university website.

Vice Chancellor, AIOU, Prof. Dr. Nasir Mahmood, hopes that those who want to pursue their education will avail the opportunity to register themselves by the given deadline.

The students can either visit the nearest regional office or call the university's helpline 051-111 112 468 for any information.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2024) International Nurses Day was observed worldwide on Sunday (Today) to acknowledge their invaluable contribution to health care and health security.

This global celebration occurs annually on May 12, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.

This year's theme, "Our Nurses, Our Future: the economic power of care," underscores the significant contributions of nurses.

According to the World Health Organization and the International Council of Nurses, this year's focus aims to reshape perceptions of nursing for the substantial economic and societal benefits.

International Nurses Day serves as a poignant reminder of the vital role nurses play as the backbone of the healthcare system.

With their unwavering dedication, nurses provide round-the-clock care, administer medication, and advocate for patients' well-being.

Beyond their essential duties, nurses also serve as educators, empowering patients to understand their conditions and treatment options.

They facilitate communication and coordination among patients and other healthcare professionals.

Despite their vital role, nurses often face challenges such as heavy workloads and understaffing, leading to burnout and increased stress levels.

Moreover, they bear the emotional burden of witnessing patient suffering and providing end-of-life care.

International Nurses Day provides an opportunity to express gratitude to nurses for their tireless commitment and unwavering compassion.
London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2024) Britain's foreign minister David Cameron on Sunday said Israel should not carry out an offensive in the Gazan city of Rafah without a "clear plan" to protect people.

"For there to be a major offensive in Rafah, there would have to be an absolutely clear plan about how you save lives, how you move people out the way, how you make sure they're fed, you make sure that they have medicine and shelter and everything," he told Sky news television.

"We have seen no such plan ... so we don't support an offensive in that way," he added.

Israel launched more strikes on Hamas in Gaza on Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah.

It said 300,000 people had fled the city in the Palestinian territory since the army urged people to leave.

Israeli troops defied widespread international opposition this week to enter eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing and suspending traffic through another.

Cameron said Israel needed to "do better" on allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"I've said many times that I'm not content with the action Israel has taken over humanitarian aid," he said, adding there are "some signs" of improvement, "but not fast enough".
Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2024) The Cannes Film Festival starts Tuesday with an action-packed script including the comeback of Hollywood icons, fears of a strike, a Donald Trump biopic and the shadow of MeToo accusations.

The return of "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola with his decades-in-the-making epic "Megalopolis" is the most anticipated of this year's entries for the top prize Palme d'Or.

It is one of 22 films competing for the affections of a jury led by "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig, which will announce its verdict on May 25.

Those walking the red carpet include actors Richard Gere, Demi Moore and Kevin Costner, all present in new films. Three-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep and "Star Wars" creator George Lucas will also receive honorary awards.

And the latest from George Miller's "Mad Max" universe, "Furiosa", starring Anya Taylor-Joy, will also get its world premiere on Wednesday.

But there are darker plotlines at the 77th edition of the festival.

France's film industry is in the midst of a belated MeToo reckoning, with a string of accusations against its biggest star, Gerard Depardieu, and rumours in the run-up to Cannes of more accusations to come against high-profile figures.

Actor Judith Godreche, who has accused two directors of assaulting her when she was a teenager, is presenting a short film, "Moi Aussi" (Me Too) aimed at encouraging more women to come forward.

Meanwhile, one of the directors in competition, Iran's award-winning Mohammad Rasoulof, has just been jailed in his home country on security charges days before he was due to present "The Seed of the Sacred Fig".

And a group of festival employees have called for a strike over pay and conditions that could cause disruption at the event.
Geneva, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2024) A full-scale Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah "cannot take place", the UN human rights chief insisted Sunday, saying it could not be reconciled with international law.

All eyes have been on Rafah in recent weeks, where the population had swelled to around 1.5 million after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled fighting in other areas of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military on Saturday expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah and said 300,000 Palestinians had left the area.

"The latest evacuation orders affect close to a million people in Rafah. So where should they go now? There is no safe place in Gaza!" Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement.

"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."

Volker said he was deeply distressed by fast-deteriorating conditions in Gaza, saying the latest evacuation orders had triggered "massive displacement of an already profoundly traumatised population".

He said the towns supposed to receive those displaced from Rafah had already been "reduced to rubble".

Turk also voiced concern at reports of indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza.

He said a full scale offensive on Rafah "cannot take place" and called on all states with influence to do everything in their power to prevent it.

He also called on Israel and Palestinian armed groups to agree a ceasefire, and for all hostages to be released immediately.
(@FahadShabbir)

Porto Alegre, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2024) River levels were rising again Sunday as strong rains lashed waterlogged southern Brazil, where flooding has killed more than 140 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Residents of the state of Rio Grande do Sul were bracing for fresh misery from the new rains, after two weeks of downpours saw rivers burst their banks, swallowing up towns and parts of the regional capital.

More than two million people have been affected by the deluge which experts link to climate change exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

The levels of "practically all the major rivers in the state are tending to rise," state authorities said Sunday.

The new threat comes as rescue operations are still underway, with some 130 people missing, while more than 538,000 were forced to leave their homes.

The probability of further flooding is "very high" in most regions of the state, according to the National Center for Monitoring and Warning for Natural Disasters (Cemaden).

The Guaiba, an estuary bordering state capital Porto Alegre, had on Saturday reached its lowest level since May 3.

However, fresh rains have once again swollen the body of water, and levels are expected to again rise above five meters.

Its banks overflow at three meters.

The Guaiba had reached historic levels of 5.3 meters on May 5 and 6.

-'Worsening situation' -

Other already overflowing rivers in the region also saw water levels continue to rise.

The flooding of the Taquari River has notably put the small town of Mucum on alert, where more than 40 people were killed by a devastating cyclone last September.

The town of Pelotas, south of Porto Alegre, "is facing a worsening situation" which "increases the probability of flooding", warned its mayor Paula Mascarenhas on Instagram, calling for the evacuation of at-risk areas.

Parts of Porto Alegre, which is home to 1.4 million people, also remain underwater.

According to the National Institute of Meteorology, "heavy rain" will continue in the coming hours, with more than 100 mm per day in some areas.

In the northeast of the state, there is a "high risk of major flooding and river overflows, as well as significant landslides".

In a video published on X for Mother's Day, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his "solidarity" with those affected, more than 80,000 of whom are currently housed in shelters.

"You are not alone," he said.

The Federal government this week promised some $10 billion for reconstruction in Rio Grande do Sul.
Tbilisi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2024) Tens of thousands of Georgians descended onto Tbilisi's Europe Square Saturday in the latest mass protest against a "foreign influence" bill likened to repressive Russian legislation that has sparked outrage.

The Caucasus country has been gripped by protests since early April, when in a shock move billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's ruling Georgian Dream party brought the bill back a year after dropping it.

If passed, the bill would require NGOs receiving at least 20 percent of foreign funding -- encompassing virtually all groups in the sector -- to register as acting under "foreign influence".

The bill, which would also affect independent media, mirrors legislation used by the Kremlin to silence dissent and has been dubbed the "Russian law" in Georgia, which observers say has seen democratic backsliding in recent years.

Georgian Dream has defended the bill, saying it will increase transparency over NGOs' foreign funding. It says it aims to sign the measure into law by mid-May.

Protesters say the bill is proof the ruling party is steering Georgia away from the national goal of joining the European Union and is being used to consolidate power.

"We realise what this law will do to our country... We will not have freedom of speech," said 21-year-old student Anri Papidze, who came to the protest.

He said he would do "everything" for the protests to be successful and for Georgia to join the EU.

Under the pouring rain, many chanted "No to Russian law!" and held Georgian, EU and Ukrainian flags.

The protests have been led by the youngest generations and are heavy in anti-Kremlin slogans, with young Georgians worried authorities are bringing the ex-Soviet country back under Russia's orbit.

"We are protecting our European future and our freedom," said 39-year-old Mariam Meunargia.

"But we see that our government is taking us in the Russian direction."

- Civil society 'wiped out' -

Saturday's rally came after days of what activists called an intimidation campaign.

Ivanishvili has declared NGOs the enemy from within, accusing them of working on behalf of a foreign state and plotting a revolution.

Ahead of the protest, several leading activists and NGO figures reported their homes and offices were covered in posters that read "foreign agent" on them.

On Europe Square, crowds chanted in support of those who were targeted.

The stand-off over the bill has created one of the tensest political moments in the tiny country -- ruled by Georgian Dream since 2012 -- in years.

Many protesters also believed that authorities want to rush the bill to prepare the ground for an autumn election.

Georgian Dream has also shown no sign of backing down, saying the protests are led by a manipulated youth.

"Georgian people are not stupid," 26-year-old protester and civic activist Ana Tavadze said.

"We've seen what this caused in Russia: it wiped out the entire civil society."

The "foreign agent" label -- which has Stalin-era connotations -- has been used in Russia against Kremlin critics.

Tavadze said Georgian youth were inspired by "inter-generational strengths" carried through the small nation's history.

- 'Play my part' -

Walking through the mostly young crowd, 83-year-old Tabukashvili Guliko carried a small EU and Georgian flag with her 88-year-old husband.

"I want to play my part," the white-haired woman, wearing a grey scarf, said.

Guliko, which means "heart" in Georgian, said she did not come to previous rallies because she was recovering from heart surgery.

She said she "only had some days left" and dreamed of seeing Georgia in the EU.

The European Union, the United States and the United Nations have spoken out against the legislation, with the UN human rights chief Volker Turk also voicing concern about police violence against protesters.

Saturday's protest was peaceful, with rock music blasting out from a stage, and a choir singing the EU's Ode to Joy in a traditional Georgian style.

On April 30, Georgian police violently broke up a demonstration.
You are here: China

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.
KHARTOUM, May 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 13 civilians were killed in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a village in Gezira State in central Sudan, a resistance committee announced on Saturday.

"The RSF attacked Al-Hurqa village, east of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State, killing 13 citizens," the committee in Wad Madani said in a statement on its Facebook page.

According to the statement, a number of citizens were injured in the attack and were transferred to the hospital.

The RSF has not yet commented on the allegation.

The RSF took control of Gezira State in December 2023 after the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) withdrew from Wad Madani.

Since the conflict between the SAF and the RSF broke out on April 15, 2023, 15,550 fatalities have been recorded, while the number of people displaced has reached 8.7 million, according to the latest situation report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 
When Luana Salva got her first formal job after years of prostitution, she was ecstatic.

A quota law in Argentina that promoted the inclusion of transgender people in the work force  unprecedented in Latin America expect in neighboring Uruguay  pulled her from the capital's street corners into the Foreign Ministry last year.

Yet just months after Salva got her first paycheck, right-wing President Javier Milei entered office and began slashing public spending as part of his state overhaul to solve Argentina's worst economic crisis in two decades. Abruptly fired in a wave of government layoffs, Salva said her world began to unravel.

"The only option we have left is prostitution ... and I don't see myself standing on a corner, getting cold, enduring violence," Salva, 43, said. "This government is unaware of all that has been built to make us feel included."

Salva's sudden reversal of fortunes reflects the political whiplash being felt across Argentina. Past left-leaning presidents who enacted some of the most socially liberal policies on the continent have given way to a self-proclaimed " anarcho-capitalist " whose fiery appraisals of social justice and efforts to dismantle diversity and equity programs have made him into a global far-right icon.

"The only thing this radical feminist agenda has achieved is greater state intervention to hinder economic process," Milei said in a speech met with enthusiastic applause at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year.

Few in Argentina are more enraged by Milei's anti-woke agenda than LGBTQ+ activists, who worry his government is rolling back their hard-won gains. Since drawing attention as a brash TV personality, Milei has lambasted feminist and human rights movements as a "cult of a gender ideology."

"Unfortunately, we are going backward," said Alba Rueda, a trans woman activist and diversity adviser in the former center-left government of President Alberto Fernandez, who made Argentina the first country in the region to allow nonbinary people to make "X" the gender on their national identity documents.

"What we have achieved is being discredited," Rueda said.

After taking office in December, Milei wasted no time jumping into Argentina's culture wars. He shut down the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, banned the government's use of gender-inclusive language and closed the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism.

In an announcement timed for International Women's Day on March 8, Milei renamed the Women's Hall in the presidential palace to Hall of Heroes. To the delight of his conservative fans  and the outrage of tens of thousands of women's rights protesters outside his residence  he had portraits of historical female leaders in the room taken down and replaced with those featuring Argentina's founding fathers and soldiers.

Milei has also scrapped a decree calling for gender equality in companies and civil society groups and ended gender-focused training programs. He has repeatedly railed against abortion  or, as he calls it, "murder aggravated by the familial bond." A lawmaker from his party has presented Congress with legislation demanding the repeal of Argentina's breakthrough legalization of abortion in 2020.

It's a far cry from the past years when Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage and a few years later recognized choosing one's own gender identity as a human right. In 2021, the Fernandez administration passed its employment quota law, requiring the state to reserve 1% of all jobs for transgender, transexual or nonbinary people who would otherwise struggle to find formal work.

Before Milei became president, efforts to fulfill the quota were just gaining traction, with 955 transgender people on the public payroll  far below the 5,551 positions allocated to them in compliance with the law. The fate of the legislation is now unclear.

"The quota does not make much sense," presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said. "Each position will be occupied by the best, most capable person, be it a man, a woman, a transvestite or anything else."

Some 105 transgender people have lost their civil service jobs in the last three months, according to the union representing state workers.

It's a small drop in the ocean of 15,000 state workers who have been fired as Milei races against the odds to push the state budget into surplus by the year's end.

But transgender people who benefited from the law insist each layoff has a ripple effect on Argentina's gender and sexual minorities who remain vulnerable to hate crimes and face widespread discrimination in the labor market. In 2016, 70% of trans women reported making a living from sex work. In 2022, after the law was passed, that figure fell to 56%, according to a study released last year by Buenos Aires government officials.

"The quota, for me, meant the possibility of changing my life," Salva said.

Milei's libertarian administration says the layoffs are part of its austerity program and not targeted at LGBTQ+ people. Milei has also Argentina's currency, slashed subsidies, eliminated price controls and closed other government ministries unrelated to gender and sexual identity.

But those in the LGBTQ+ community insist the president's populist shock doctrine disproportionately affects them. In his much-memed Davos speech, Milei slammed "women's ministries and international (feminist) organizations" for employing "bureaucrats who do not contribute anything to society."

"There is a focus here," said Clarisa Gambera, a gender specialist at one of Argentina's main labor unions. "Many of these people worked in gender offices of public departments that were dismantled."

LGBTQ+ activists have fought back the way the government's many other political opponents have  on the streets.

"We obtained our rights thanks to many warriors who gave up their lives for this cause," Ariel Heredia, a recently fired state worker who identifies as nonbinary, said at a recent protest in Buenos Aires. After being laid off, Heredia, 36, lost health insurance he needed to access anti-HIV medication.

In his hunt for find work, Heredia says he may need to dress as a cisgender man, hiding an identity he struggled for years to accept.

"It's a contradiction for me," Heredia said. "But I have to adapt."
Dozens of Uyghurs who fled China a decade ago and have been indefinitely detained in Thailand are getting conflicting explanations from the U.N. refugee agency and Thai authorities on why their cases are still in limbo.

"If we speak out about our condition or our situation here, it will attract media attention, the world will know, Thai authorities will find out. Then our situation here will worsen, and we might lose all communication with the outside world, said one detainee in a rare interview with VOA.

That's why we refrain from speaking out for the time being," added the man, asking to be identified only as Ahmad.

Ahmad said Uyghur detainees do not have phones to communicate with the outside world but said they sometimes can borrow a phone from a new detainee. Thats how Ahmad and others were able to communicate with VOA.

Rights organizations accuse Beijing of repressive policies that amount to human rights violations and even genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, which China has repeatedly denied.

Ahmad said Uyghurs who escaped China in 2014 with the help of traffickers crossed into Thailand and were arrested by Thai authorities for illegally crossing the border. They have been held in immigration detention since then.

We fled repression in China, Ahmad said. He added that he and other Uyghurs in Thai detention feel they have been "abandoned" by the world over the past decade.

Over the years, there have been several news reports on the plight of the Uyghurs in Thai detention, but so far, their situation has stayed the same.

"The world has heard our appeals, but the rules of the United Nations and other [international] organizations have not yet worked in our favor," he said.

UNHCR vs. Thai authorities

Earlier this month, an investigation by The New Humanitarian news agency obtained documents that showed the Thai government in 2020 petitioned the U.N. refugee agency, or UNHCR, to play a more active role in resolving the Uyghurs indefinite detention, and that agency staff advised against doing this.

UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch stated that due to confidentiality constraints and a desire not to undermine efforts to resolve this sensitive matter, the UNHCR cannot publicly elaborate on its approach to addressing the situation.

Despite requests, however, at no stage have we been permitted to access the group or engage with them for the purpose of facilitating solutions. We are engaged in close discussions with the Thai authorities, Baloch told VOA in an email. UNHCR has and continues to proactively raise this issue with the Thai authorities.

Thailand has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not have laws that give refugees legal status, but according to the UNHCR, Thailand hosts 82,400 refugees from Myanmar in temporary shelters.

Life in detention

A rights activist familiar with the situation in Bangkok, who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals from Thai authorities, said 43 Uyghurs are being detained at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok. Additionally, five Uyghurs who attempted to escape immigration detention and were later arrested are imprisoned in Thailand.

"At least five to six people live in a room measuring four meters wide and eight meters long," the activist said. "There are around 25 rooms on each floor of the five-story detention building, with one toilet and shower in each room," and the detainees sleep on the floor.

The activist said when the Uyghurs first crossed the border into Thailand 10 years ago, there were more than 350 of them.

"Initially, with humanitarian assistance from Turkey, over 170 women and children were taken to Turkey and settled in the city of Kayseri in 2015," the activist told VOA. "Subsequently, Thai authorities handed 109 mostly male Uyghur refugees to China weeks later," leaving more than 50 Uyghurs still awaiting their fate in Thai detention.

"After Thai authorities deported 109 Uyghurs to China, Uyghurs in Turkey protested and stormed the Thai consulate in Istanbul, which made Thai authorities very uncomfortable with the Uyghur issue," he said. Since then, Thailand has been reluctant to deal with the rest of the Uyghur refugees.

At the time of publication, Thai officials had not responded to numerous requests for comment from VOA.

Last year, Human Rights Watch reported that two Uyghur refugees in their 40s died while in Thai immigration detention and called on Thailand to "end the indefinite detention of Uyghur asylum seekers from China.

According to a February letter to Thai authorities from a group of United Nations special rapporteurs, the deaths of two Uyghur refugees last year brought the total number of Uyghur deaths in Thai immigration detention centers to five, including two minors.

We would like to bring to the attention of your Excellencys Government information we have received concerning the detention conditions of 43 Uyghur migrant individuals that may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture, the letter said.
California could soon deploy generative artificial intelligence tools to help reduce traffic jams, make roads safer and provide tax guidance, among other things, under new agreements announced Thursday as part of Governor Gavin Newsom's efforts to harness the power of new technologies for public services.

The state is partnering with five companies to create generative AI tools using technologies developed by tech giants such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google- and Amazon-backed Anthropic that would ultimately help the state provide better services to the public, administration officials said.

"It is a very good sign that a lot of these companies are putting their focus on using GenAI for governmental service delivery," said Amy Tong, secretary of government operations for California.

The companies will start a six-month internal trial in which state workers test and evaluate the tools. The companies will be paid $1 for their proposals. The state, which faces a significant budget deficit, can then reassess whether any tools could be fully implemented under new contracts. All the tools are considered low risk, meaning they don't interact with confidential data or personal information, an administration spokesperson said.

Newsom, a Democrat, touts California as a global hub for AI technology, noting 35 of the world's top 50 AI companies are located in the state. He signed an executive order last year requiring the state to start exploring responsible ways to incorporate generative AI by this summer, with a goal of positioning California as an AI leader.

In January, the state started asking technology companies to come up with generative AI tools for public services. Last month, California was one of the first states to roll out guidelines on when and how state agencies could buy such tools.

Generative AI, a branch of AI that can create new content such as text, audio and photos, has significant potential to help government agencies become more efficient, but there's also an urgent need for safeguards to limit risks, state officials and experts said. In New York City, an AI-powered chatbot created by the city to help small businesses was found to dole out false guidance and advise companies to violate the law. The rapidly growing technology has also raised concerns about job losses, misinformation, privacy and automation bias.

While state governments are struggling to regulate AI in the private sector, many are exploring how public agencies can leverage the powerful technology for public good. California's approach, which also requires companies to disclose what large language models they use to develop AI tools, is meant to build public trust, officials said.

The state's testing of the tools and collecting of feedback from state workers are some of the best practices to limit potential risks, said Meredith Lee, chief technical adviser for the University of California-Berkeley's College of Computing, Data Science and Society. The challenge is determining how to assure continued testing and learning about the tools' potential risks after deployment.

"This is not something where you just work on testing for some small amount of time and that's it," Lee said. "Putting in the structures for people to be able to revisit and better understand the deployments further down the line is really crucial."

The California Department of Transportation is looking for tools that would analyze traffic data and come up with solutions to reduce highway traffic and make roads safer. The state's Department of Tax and Fee Administration, which administers more than 40 programs, wants an AI tool to help its call center cut wait times and call length. The state is also seeking technologies to provide non-English speakers information about health and social services benefits in their languages and to streamline the inspection process for health care facilities.

The tools are to be designed to assist state workers, not replace them, said Nick Maduros, director of the Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

Call center workers there took more than 660,000 calls last year. The state envisions the AI technology listening along to those calls and pulling up specific tax code information associated with the problems callers describe. Workers could decide whether to use the information.

Currently, call center workers have to simultaneously listen to the call and manually look up the code, Maduros said.

"If it turns out it doesn't serve the public better, then we're out $1," Maduros said. "And I think that's a pretty good deal for the citizens of California."

Tong wouldn't say when a successfully vetted tool would be deployed, but added that the state was moving as fast as it can.

"The whole essence of using GenAI is it doesn't take years," Tong said. "GenAI doesn't wait for you."
A fourth person has been arrested and charged with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, Canadian police said on Saturday, in a case that strained diplomatic relations with India.

Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta and said they were investigating whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced Saturday that Amandeep Singh, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar's killing.

Singh, an Indian national who resided in Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, was already in custody for unrelated firearms charges out of Peel, Ontario, IHIT said.

Nijjar, 45, was shot to death in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited what he said was evidence of potential Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India. The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labeled Nijjar a terrorist.
The first living patient to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the procedure, the US hospital that carried it out said.



"Mass General is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr. Rick Slayman. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant," the Boston hospital said in a statement issued late Saturday.



In a world first, surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital in March successfully transplanted the genetically edited pig kidney into Slayman, who was 62 years old at the time and suffering from end-stage kidney disease.



"Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation," the hospital statement said.



Organ shortages are a chronic problem around the world and Mass General said in March that there were more than 1,400 patients on its waiting list for a kidney transplant.



The pig kidney used for the transplant was provided by a Massachusetts biotech company called eGenesis and had been modified to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human genes, according to the hospital.



Slayman, who suffered from Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, had received a transplanted human kidney in 2018, but it began to fail five years later.



When the hospital announced the successful transplant in March, Slayman said he had agreed to the procedure "not only as a way to help (him), but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive."



In a statement posted on Mass General's website, his family said while they were "deeply saddened about the sudden passing of our beloved Rick" they took "great comfort knowing he inspired so many."



The family said they were "comforted by the optimism he provided patients desperately waiting for a transplant".



More than 89,000 patients were on the national kidney waiting list as of March this year, according to a US health department website.



On average, 17 people die each day while waiting for an organ transplant.



Slayman's family also thanked the doctors "who truly did everything they could to help give Rick a second chance. Their enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts."



"After his transplant, Rick said that one of the reasons he underwent this procedure was to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive," the family added.



"His legacy will be one that inspires patients, researchers, and health care professionals."



The transplantation of organs from one species to another is a growing field known as xenotransplantation.



About a month after Slayman's procedure, surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York carried out a similar transplant on Lisa Pisano, who had suffered heart failure and end-stage kidney disease.



Pig kidneys had been transplanted previously into brain-dead patients, but Slayman was the first living person to receive one.



Genetically modified pig hearts were transplanted in 2023 into two patients at the University of Maryland, but both lived less than two months.



Mass General said Slayman's transplant had been carried out under a policy known as "compassionate use" that allows patients with "serious or life-threatening conditions" to access experimental therapies not yet approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Heavy rains and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano's slopes on Indonesia's Sumatra island triggered flash floods that killed at least 37 people and more than a dozen others were missing, officials said Sunday.

Monsoon rains and a major mudslide from a cold lava flow on Mount Marapi caused a river to breach its banks and tear through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight on Saturday. The floods swept away people and submerged more than 100 houses and buildings, National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.

Cold lava, also known as lahar, is a mixture of volcanic material and pebbles that flow down a volcano's slopes in the rain.

By Sunday afternoon, rescuers had pulled out 19 bodies in the worst-hit village of Canduang in Agam district and recovered nine other bodies in the neighboring district of Tanah Datar, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

The agency said that eight bodies were pulled from mud during deadly flash floods that also hit Padang Pariaman, and one body was found in the city of Padang Panjang. It said rescuers are searching for 18 people who are reportedly missing.

Flash floods on Saturday night also caused main roads around the Anai Valley Waterfall area in Tanah Datar district to be blocked by mud, cutting off access to other cities, Padang Panjang Police Chief Kartyana Putra said Sunday.

Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed roads that were transformed into murky brown rivers.

The disaster came just two months after heavy rains triggered flash floods and a landslide in West Sumatra's Pesisir Selatan and Padang Pariaman districts, killing at least 21 people and leaving five others missing.

The 2,885-meter Mount Marapi erupted late last year killing 23 climbers who were caught by a surprise weekend eruption. The volcano has stayed at the third highest of four alert levels since 2011, indicating above-normal volcanic activity under which climbers and villagers must stay more than 3 kilometers from the peak, according to Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.

Marapi is known for sudden eruptions that are difficult to predict because the source is shallow and near the peak, and its eruptions aren't caused by a deep movement of magma, which sets off tremors that register on seismic monitors.

Marapi has been active since an eruption in January 2023 that caused no casualties. It is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The country is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
Voters in Indian Kashmir are going to the polls from May 13 through May 25 to select their representatives in the Indian parliament. Local media reports claim that more than 1.7 million voters will determine the outcome for 24 candidates competing for the Srinagar constituency.

This is part of Indias ongoing general elections, which began in late April and run through June. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term.

The vote comes nearly five years after the Modi government stripped Muslim majority Kashmir of its semiautonomous status. Kashmir's loss of its special status in August 2019 led to the division of the region into two federal territories  Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Both areas are ruled by the central government and have no legislatures of their own.

Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is not contesting the elections in Indian Kashmir. News reports say the move signals ongoing discontent over the 2019 move and there is speculation BJP candidates would have lost.

Residents say the Indian general elections are important for the people of Kashmir. They maintain that the Modi government has robbed the region of rights that were guaranteed to them under the Indian constitution.

Whats left for us locals? Our land is given to non-locals, jobs are taken by them too, our electricity is sent to other Indian states and everywhere you look, high-ranking officials are not from Jammu and Kashmir, Fayaz Ahmad Malik, a resident, told VOA during a rally at Fateh Kadal, an area in Indian Kashmirs capital.

I have not voted in my life ever before but today I feel it is necessary because we are suffering. Modi and his party want to destroy us, but we have to stop him, he said.

Modi visited Indian Kashmir in March for the first time since the region lost its special status. Amid tight security, he told a crowd that had packed the Bakshi Stadium in the region's capital, Srinagar, that Kashmir has seen significant changes and prospered since his government acted in 2019.

Muzamil Maqbool, a political analyst and host of the podcast show Plain Talk, told VOA that the Kashmir valley is expected to see record-breaking voter turnout. He said the situation on the ground has changed since 2019.

The government of India always wanted to increase the voting percentage here because for years and decades Kashmir has witnessed a massive boycott, Maqbool said. The government of India, political institutions and others always wanted Kashmiris to vote irrespective of which candidate will be chosen and the government of India has highly succeeded in that, he added.

Maqbool believes people want to cast their vote and support their candidates openly. He added that young people, first time voters especially from central Kashmir, south and north Kashmir, are very eager to show the power of voting in democracy.

Gul Mohammad Khan, a resident of Srinagar, said that he expects a strong candidate who would dare to challenge Modi and other Hindu leaders openly.

In the past no Kashmiri politician supporting India has shown such courage. They instead have aligned themselves with New Delhis interests, Khan said. I hope for a leader who can make Indian leaders dance to his tune, he said.

Professor Noor Baba, another political analyst, told VOA that competition in Kashmir will be primarily between two regional political parties; the National Conference, or NC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, or the PDP.

Modi's ruling party, Baba said, chose not to contest voting in Kashmir despite significant investment it made in reshaping politics in the area. Indias main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, or INC, is supporting the NC.

In Srinagar, the NC candidate has the support of his voters while the PDP candidate has also gained sympathy as he has been a victim of post-2019 politics, Baba said.

Nasir Aslam Wani, the National Conference provincial president, and Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, National Conferences candidate for Srinagar, were contacted for comments but their phones were switched off.

NC has an advantage due to its longer historical presence and stronger social base.

There is a perception that PDP played a role in the political rehabilitation of the BJP in the politics of the erstwhile state by forming a government with it as its alliance partner. It played a key role in facilitating BJPs reshaping politics in Kashmir, Baba added.

Just before the ruling BJP revoked Kashmirs special status in 2019, the party withdrew its support from the PDP, ending their alliance. The PDP is now a bitter rival to Modis party.

The 2024 elections in Kashmir are different from previous ones. Expectations are high, especially among the youth, who seek candidates to truly represent them in the Indian parliament, said Tariq Ahmad Bhat, a senior youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, to VOA.

Previously the public viewed elections negatively, believing that voting would not make any difference. Today I can see the change. People have realized that undeserving candidates cannot be governed anymore, Bhat added.

Jammu and Kashmir has been a disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan since the countries gained independence from British rule in 1947. Two wars have been fought between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Both nations govern the territory under its control.

Wasim Nabi contributed to this report.
Israeli forces advanced deeper on Gazas southern city of Rafah on Sunday even as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel has not given the United States a credible plan to protect the more than one million Palestinian civilians sheltering there or a plan for what happens when the seven-month war eventually ends.

About 300,000 of the 1.3 million Palestinians who fled to southern Gaza months ago on orders from the Israeli military to escape the attacks on Hamas militants in northern Gaza have now been ordered to move again, this time to the northwest of Rafah, to a territory along Gazas Mediterranean Sea coastline.

But Blinken told NBCs Meet the Press show on Sunday there is no specific Israeli plan to protect the Palestinians or provide sufficient humanitarian aid for them.

There's something else that's important, Blinken said. We also haven't seen a plan for what happens the day after this war in Gaza ends. Because right now, the trajectory that Israel is on is even if it goes in and takes heavy action in Rafah, there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left.

The top U.S. diplomat said, We've seen in areas that Israel has cleared in the north, even in Khan Younis, Hamas coming back.

So, the trajectory right now is that [Israel] going into Rafah, even to deal with these remaining [four] battalions, especially in the absence of a plan for civilians, risks doing terrible harm to civilians and not solving the problem, a problem that both of us want to solve, which is making sure Hamas cannot again, govern Gaza, Blinken said.

The U.S., Israels chief arms supplier, has repeatedly warned Israel against a full-scale ground offensive into Rafah but the Israel Defense Forces have continued an aerial bombardment and more limited ground assaults.

U.S. President Joe Biden has paused shipment of 3,500 227-kilogram and 907-kilogram bombs to Israel for fear they could be used in an attack on Rafah.

In addition, Biden said last week that he would halt sending some offensive weapons to Israel if it launches a full-scale Rafah offensive.

Israeli talks with Hamas for a cease-fire and the release of 100 or so hostages Hamas is still holding have stalled, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said his country will not end the war until it roots out the remaining Hamas militants in Rafah.

Blinken warned of the ongoing chaos.

Israel is on the trajectory potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or if it leaves a vacuum filled by chaos filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas, he said. We've been talking to them about a much better way of getting an enduring result, enduring security, both in Gaza itself and much more broadly in the region.

Blinken said, The quickest way for this to end is for Hamas to give up the hostages. We will get a cease-fire that we can build on and build to something more lasting and more durable. The different teams continue to talk.

It would also be the best way to make sure that we can really surge humanitarian assistance and better protect civilians in Gaza, he said. Hamas purports to be interested in that. Its actions certainly demonstrate the opposite.

On Sunday, the U.S. political divide over American policies related to Gaza was readily apparent.

Progressive independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who aligns with Democratic opposition to Israels conduct of the war, told NBC that Israel should "not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid. Israel has ... gone to war against the entire Palestinian people, and the results have been absolutely catastrophic."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham compared the Israel-Hamas war to World War II, telling NBC, Why did we drop two ... nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? To end a war we couldnt afford to lose. ... That was the right decision. ... Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state.

On the battlefield, aside from attacks on Rafah, Israel bombarded the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza. The region has suffered widespread devastation and been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. United Nations officials say there is a "full-blown famine" there.

Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have battled militants for more than a week.

The war was triggered by the shock October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages. Israels subsequent counter-offensive in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, including civilians and combatants.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press.
Armed rebels Sunday attacked a Chinese-run gold mining town and killed at least four people in Central African Republic, authorities said.

Maxime Balalu, a local government spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the Coalition of Patriots for Change, an alliance of rebel groups aligned with former President Francois Bozize, had carried out the attack in Gaga, a village roughly 125 miles (200 kilometers) from the capital, Bangui.

He said the death toll might rise and included several individuals who worked at the nearby mine. Several others were injured in the attack, Balalu said.

Central African Republic has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced President Francois Bozize from office. Mostly Christian militias fought back.

A 2019 peace deal only lessened the fighting, and six of the 14 armed groups that signed later left the agreement. The Coalition of Patriots for Change was founded in 2020 in the aftermath of the agreement.

The country remains one of the poorest in the world despite its vast mineral wealth of gold and diamonds among others. Rebel groups have operated with impunity across the embattled country over the past decade, thwarting mining exploration by foreign companies.

Many of those now operating in the country are Chinese-run and have faced security challenges. Last year, nine Chinese nationals were killed at another gold mine in Central African Republic during an attack that the government blamed on the same rebel alliance. In 2020, two Chinese nationals died when residents led an uprising against a Chinese-operated mine in Sosso Nakombo.
The Russian army is attacking Ukrainian positions in the Donetsk region, near Chasiv Yar. British intelligence says Russia is sustaining heavy losses and according to the Ukrainian military has mobilized 20,000 soldiers around the small town just west of Bakhmut. In recent months, Russia has claimed limited gains along the 1,200-kilometer front line in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyys administration has asked its Western partners for ammunition, long-range weapons and air defense capabilities.

Ani Chkhikvadze of VOA's Georgian Service spoke to H.R. McMaster, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and national security adviser in the Trump administration, about the war and what Washington can do to help Ukraine.

It's past time to provide Ukraine what they need, he said. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: When we talk about war in Ukraine, does the United States right now have a strategy of what the outcome should look like?

H.R. McMaster, Hoover Institution senior fellow: I think the outcome is clear, and it is clear because the Ukrainians defined it themselves. They want a free, sovereign, independent, secure country. That's what we ought to be supporting. That includes winning back the territory that they've lost, and I think we have not been as clear maybe in Washington and other capitals. We say [we will support Ukraine] as long as it takes. But I think we should define what it is. It is, again, a free, independent, secure Ukraine.

VOA: Some critics say that Ukraine is not getting enough arms to make a difference on the battlefield. Does the White House have an idea of what the outcome should look like?

McMaster: I wish that the White House and the president would be clearer about the objective. That would make clearer the amount of assistance, the kinds of weapons and munitions and the scale needed. I think there should be two fundamental military objectives. The first would be to stop the onslaught against the Ukrainian people and against their infrastructure. And the second would be to regain the territory that's been lost, certainly at least since the massive reinvasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Once you clarify those objectives, then, you know, you need tiered and layered air defense, or you need long-range precision strike capabilities, because you have to shoot down the arrows, but you also have to kill the archers who are firing these missiles and so forth.

Then you need a range of military capabilities and logistics capabilities to sustain an offensive. Ukraine is struggling to rebuild their manpower, their womanpower, for their armed services. What we should be doing is providing as much material support as we can and stop, kind of, the "We don't know if we want to provide tanks or jet aircraft or long-range systems." It's past time to provide Ukraine what they need to accomplish those two military objectives.

VOA: As a general and a [military] historian, how does the battlefield look to you right now?

McMaster: It looks like it's a very tough situation for Ukraine right now. Russia has been able to replace the manpower they've lost, even though the numbers of casualties that they've suffered are staggering: 100,000-plus casualties. Russia, though, doesn't care about the casualties that they're taking. Apparently, they're taking about 30,000 casualties a month, a thousand casualties a day, for these gains that they're making around Chasiv Yar, for example, which is a pretty strategic, important place because of the routes it opens for more offensive operations, and because of some of the manufacturing capabilities that are around that city. Ukraine is doing their best to defend that area, and they're inflicting massive costs on Russia. One of the things that I think we have to consider is that every army has a breaking point. Russia might be reaching that breaking point.

World War I is kind of instructive in this case. That war was relatively static, and it was terrible in terms of the casualties. There had not been any major gains. And then, in 1917, the French decided to mount the major offensive called the Nivelle offensive. ... They took staggering losses, and the French army mutinied. What happened after that was, the Germans conducted an offensive. It seemed like it was going to work, but they couldnt sustain it. Then America entered the war, and the war ended as a war of maneuver.

Not that America is going to enter this [Ukraine] war. But wars don't remain static. There are always changes. Oftentimes those changes are due to physical strength and losses, but also because of morale or psychological effects of a battle.

VOA: You served in the Trump administration [as national security adviser]. What would foreign policy look like under President Trump?

McMaster: It's hard to say. I think that President Trump would be pragmatic about the challenges we're facing. I hope he would get good advice from those around him in an administration. It's also important to note, you know, that we're not a monarchy in the United States. You have separation of powers, and if President Trump had a desire to do something that the vast majority of members of Congress thought was unwise, even though the president has a lot of latitude in foreign policy, he's going to need Congress to go along with him for other elements of his agenda. I think it's important that we recognize that once the president is elected, that president is still held to account by the American people and by their representatives in Congress. We should wait to see what happens.
ADDIS ABABA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway has transported 680,000 passengers and 9.5 million tons of cargo with an average annual transportation revenue increase of 39 percent over the past six years, official data showed.

The railway's Chinese management consortium on Friday disclosed that the 752-km Ethiopia-Djibouti railway has seen the operation of 2,500 passenger trains with a passenger volume of 680,000 since it started commercial operations in January 2018.

Data from the railway's management team also show that the railway has operated 7,700 freight trains with cargo volume of 9.5 million tons, and a commercial transport revenue totaling 11.3 billion Ethiopian birr (about 197 million U.S. dollars) has been generated during the same period.

Since 2018, the railway has continued to develop the freight market and enrich its service scope, providing high-quality services such as cold-chain transportation, commuter trains for villagers, and special trains for automobile transportation, among others.

The railway also brings development opportunities along the corridor, connecting sea ports in the Red Sea nation of Djibouti to dry ports and industrial parks in land-locked Ethiopia.

On Friday, the Chinese management consortium of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway officially transferred the management responsibility of Africa's first electrified cross-border railway to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. 
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been accused of amplifying divisive rhetoric during the countrys election campaign by calling Muslim votes Vote Jihad to encourage Hindus to vote for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which is seeking a historic third term.

Modi told a BJP rally last Tuesday in the central Madhya Pradesh province that voters would have to carefully choose between "Vote Jihad" and "Ram Rajya." The term, meaning "Rams Governance," refers to an ideal society characterized by equality, prosperity and justice. In recent years, some have come to believe this ideal can only be achieved through the rise of the BJP.

"At this important turning point in history you have to decide whether you will allow Vote Jihad to continue or, vote in support of building a Ram Rajya, Modi told the rally.

"Terrorists in Pakistan have launched jihad against India. And here, the Congress party has announced a Vote Jihad against the BJP, and is asking its followers of a particular religion [Muslims] to unitedly vote against Modi."

The Indian National Congress party is the main opposition party.

Delhi University professor of Hindi, Apoorvanand, who goes by one name, told VOA on Friday that, sensing a lack of enthusiasm among Hindu voters, Modi and other BJP leaders are "desperate to energize them by feeding them the tried and tested anti-Muslim rhetoric."

"The BJP has turned this election into a war between Hindus and Muslims," he said.

"His party is portraying it as the final opportunity for the Hindus to 'save' themselves from Muslims, by electing their ultimate savior to power  Modi."

As India holds phased six-week-long elections continuing until June 1, Modi and some BJP leaders have been accused of delivering "hate speeches" during the campaign.

Wealth to infiltrators

Modi told a rally in the northwestern state of Rajasthan during the third week of April that if the Indian National Congress party came to power, it would distribute peoples wealth "among those who are infiltrators and have more children," remarks widely believed to refer to Muslims.

Opposition parties and civil rights groups criticized Modi for the comments.

Amnesty India said that in his remarks Modi "demonizes" Indias Muslims and puts them at increased risk of human rights violations.

However, Modi did not stop targeting the opposition and Muslims. In the last week of April, in the western state of Gujarat, he said at another rally that the opposition Congress was helping Muslims in a plot to take over India.

"The opposition is asking Muslims to launch vote jihad. In the past, we heard about 'love jihad' and 'land jihad.' Be careful about this new jihad. You all know what jihads mean and against whom they are waged," Modi said.

Then came his remarks Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh, and two days later, Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah told a rally in the southern state of Telangana that a vote for Congress equaled a "vote for jihad."

"The 2024 general election is Narendra Modi versus [Congress leader] Rahul Gandhi, and this is a contest between [a] vote for development and [a] 'vote for jihad,'" Shah said.

Modis latest Vote Jihad remark came after Maria Alam, a leader of the opposition Samajwadi Party, last month urged a Muslim gathering in Uttar Pradesh to go for "jihad of votes," to oust BJP from power.

Alam told VOA that she had used the words "jihad of votes" but meant it in a different sense than Modi is implying.

"In Arabic, jihad means to struggle or exert strength and effort to accomplish a task. Using the words vote jihad in my speech, I urged people to strive together to accomplish the victory of secular forces," Alam said in Urdu.

"I was utterly shocked to find how the media and the ruling party leaders distorted the meaning of my words," she said.

In the last week of April, citizens and rights activists urged the Election Commission of India to act against the hate speech of Modi and other BJP leaders.

On Friday, the Congress party-led opposition wrote to the commission that it was allowing Modi to continue "unchecked and brazen" violations by not acting against him for his hate speech.

This was a "complete abdication" of the commission's duty, and the violations are being committed "with impunity and utter disregard, the letter said.

BJP leaders divided

Modi has not reacted to accusations he is using hate speech on the campaign trail.

BJP party leaders are divided on this issue.

Two days after Modi said in Rajasthan that Congress would take peoples wealth and distribute it among "infiltrators and those who have more children," his party spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, defended his remarks and said the prime minister had "called a spade a spade."

"Mr. Modis remarks have resonated with people," Bhatia said.

Some other BJP leaders seem to disagree with the anti-Muslim speeches of Modi and others.

New Delhi-based senior BJP leader Alok Vatsa told VOA that Modis speech, among others, has dropped to the "lowest level possible."

"The prime ministers speeches, especially those targeting the Muslim community, are completely unwarranted," Vatsa told VOA.

"Even those who have supported him blindly over the years, do not approve of his latest communal outbursts. In their eyes, it is unbecoming of someone of a prime ministers stature," he told VOA.

Anti-Muslim comments not unprecedented

Muslim leaders say Modis anti-Muslim comments are not unprecedented, as he has been long known for his "intense hatred" for Muslims.

Zafarul-Islam Khan, former chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, told VOA that after the 2002 Gujarat Riots, Modi refused to help displaced Muslims and dubbed their camps "children-producing factories."

"Under his watch, Gujarat witnessed mass marginalization, ghettoization and pauperization of Muslims.

"It was hoped that after becoming prime minister in 2014, Mr. Modi would behave like a statesman, but he and his ministers never let go any opportunity to vilify, harm and marginalize Muslims, to this day," he said.

Aakar Patel, chairman of the board of Amnesty International in India, said Modis anti-Muslim speeches are unbecoming of a prime minister.

"Mr. Modi is persistent with his hate speech which is likely to extend and intensify the systematic and systemic discrimination suffered by Indian Muslims," Patel told VOA.

Reacting to Modis reference to Muslim votes as "Vote Jihad," Somdeep Sen, a professor of international development studies at Roskilde University in Denmark, told VOA that this is "a usual narrative trope" employed widely by Hindu nationalists.

"Islamophobia is at the very core of the Hindutva political project [aimed at making India a Hindu state] wherein the terrorism discourse is frequently weaponized to delegitimize critics and opposition parties. So, it makes sense that the political leader of this project  namely, Narendra Modi  has chosen to brandish this discourse in his political speeches during the election campaign," Sen said.

"At the polls, this divisive strategy could help tip the scales in favor of BJP in the Hindu majority nation," he said.
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, Nairobi.

The floods and mudslides swept away people and inundated homes, killing at least 267 people and affecting 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 to June.

The hardest hit are people living close to rivers, including the Mathare River running through Nairobi.

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 (98 feet) of riverbanks. Officials say that 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 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 son, 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, which 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." Her neighbors stopped her Wednesday and calmed her by giving her a local moonshine called Changaa, which is popular in rural and low-income areas of the capital.

Makinda makes $2 a day washing other people's clothes and says she can barely afford one proper meal a day for her children let alone pay hospital bills. And now she must 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 with the $6,000 in losses from her property that was looted. She also wondered why the building was demolished despite it not being within 30 meters of the riverbank.

The government has defended itself against opposition accusations it was ill-prepared for the impact of the floods despite early warnings.

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 and 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.
About 50,000 opponents of a "foreign agents" bill marched peacefully in heavy rain through the Georgian capital on Saturday.

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.

Earlier, the United States said the country had to choose between the "Kremlin-style" law and the people's 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 people's 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 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 center, 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 starting 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 have traditionally been in favor of the country joining the EU and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

"Georgian Dream's 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," he wrote.
A powerful solar storm put on a skyward light show across the globe overnight but has caused what appeared to be 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.

Agency predicts flares will continue

NOAA predicted that strong flares would 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.

In the United States, 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.

"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.

Storm could affect satellites

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.

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 said.

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.
With the United States recently deciding to pause some military aid shipments to Israel, the war in Gaza has now become part of heated rhetoric on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. Donald Trump has joined other Republicans in criticizing his political rival, President Joe Biden, for Bidens stance on the matter. Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the story.
Tunisian authorities on Sunday ordered the arrest of two journalists over critical comments, a lawyer told AFP, a day after security forces stormed the bar association and took political commentator Sonia Dahmani into custody.

Dahmani, also a lawyer, was arrested late Saturday after criticizing the state of Tunisia on television, her attorney Dalila Msaddek said in a post on Facebook.



Msaddek said there was a "police attack against the bar association headquarters" in Tunis, with "lawyers assaulted and the abduction of colleague Sonia Dahmani to an unknown location."



It came on the same evening that TV and radio presenter Borhen Bssais and political commentator Mourad Zeghidi were arrested for critical comments, lawyer Ghazi Mrabet told AFP.



Mrabet said that the judiciary on Sunday placed the pair under a "48-hour detention warrant and [they] will have to appear before an examining magistrate."



According to Mrabet, Zeghidi was being pursued "for a social media post in which he supported an arrested journalist," referring to Mohamed Boughalleb, who was sentenced to six months in prison for defamation of a public official, as well as for "statements made during television shows since February."



Zeghidi is a commentator on Tunisian television and works with Bssais, who hosts programs on private radio and TV channels.



The exact motivation for Bssais's arrest remains unclear, but according to Mrabet, he was detained under Decree 54 which punishes the production and dissemination of "false news."



The law, signed by President Kais Saied in September 2022, has been criticized by journalists and opposition figures who say it has been used to stifle dissent.



Since the decree came into force, more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures have been prosecuted under it, according to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.



Dahmani was also arrested under Article 54, Tunisian media reported, saying she was detained while seeking safety at the bar association.



The event was being filmed live by news channel France 24, which said it was forced to stop broadcasting by masked police officers.



The channel denounced the police officers in a statement, saying they had "torn the camera from its tripod" and briefly detained their cameraman.



It condemned what it said was a "brutal intervention by security forces that prevented journalists from practicing their profession as they were covering a lawyers' protest for justice and in support of freedom of expression."



The bar association condemned what it described as an "invasion of its headquarters and blatant aggression" in front of the press, demanding the immediate release of Dahmani and announcing a regional strike starting Monday.



'Extraordinary country?'



Msaddek said Dahmani was summoned to court on Friday to explain her remarks but refused to appear. A court then issued a warrant ordering law enforcement to bring Dahmani before the investigating judge.



Islam Hamza, another lawyer in Dahmani's defense team, confirmed to AFP that she had been arrested.



Dahmani told journalists before her arrest that she refused to appear "without knowing the reasons for this summons."



During a show on the Carthage Plus TV channel on Tuesday, she responded to another pundit's claim that migrants from sub-Saharan African countries were seeking to settle in Tunisia.



"What extraordinary country are we talking about?" she asked sarcastically, triggering angry reactions from some Tunisian social media users.



The North African country is a key departure point for thousands of migrants who risk perilous Mediterranean Sea crossings each year hoping for a better life in Europe.



But the situation of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia has worsened, particularly after a speech by Saied last year in which he painted "hordes of illegal migrants" as a demographic threat.



Decree 54 mandates up to five years in prison for the use of communications networks to "produce, spread [or] disseminate ... false news" or to "slander others, tarnish their reputation, financially or morally harm them."
More than 4,000 people have fled from areas around Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region since Friday, when Russia launched a surprise counteroffensive, the local governor said Sunday.

"In total, 4,073 people have been evacuated," Oleg Syniehubov wrote on his social media channels.

Syniehubov said a 63-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Glyboke and a 38-year-old man was wounded in Vovchansk, a border town with some 3,000 residents before Russias Friday attack.

Using artillery and mortar fire, Russian forces have been pounding towns and villages in the area.

At least one Ukrainian unit has withdrawn from the Kharkiv region as Russian forces take over areas in the so-called contested gray zones" along the Russian border.

By Sunday afternoon, the town of Vovchansk, a town about 73 kilometers from Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, was the epicenter of ferocious battles in the area.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Russian forces were on the outskirts of the town and approaching from three directions. Infantry fighting is already taking place, he said. A Russian tank was spotted along a major road leading to the town, Tymoshko said, demonstrating Moscow's confidence in deploying heavy weaponry.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday battles are raging across parts of the border in the Kharkiv region, where thousands were displaced after a Russian offensive.

"Defensive battles and fierce fighting continue on a large part of our borderline," Zelenskyy said, adding, "...the idea behind the attacks in the Kharkiv region is to stretch our forces and undermine the moral and motivational basis of the Ukrainians' ability to defend themselves."

The Russian defense ministry said Saturday its troops captured five villages across the border from Russia's Belgorod region.

The ministry said Moscow's forces had captured the villages of Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna and Strilecha in the Kharkiv region. Kyiv has contested that claim, but the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ukraine, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, acknowledged Sunday that the situation is difficult in the area.

The defense forces of Ukraine are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions, (and) inflict damage on the enemy," Syrskyi wrote on the Telegram app.

Military spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said on Ukrainian television Sunday that Russian forces are trying to widen the front, aiming at the towns of Vovchansk and Lyptsi.

Lyptsi is about 19 kilometers from the outskirts of the city of Kharkiv.

In 2022, Russian forces reached the city's suburbs before being driven back to the border.

Voloshyn urged residents to keep calm, saying that Russia was waging a propaganda campaign aiming to create panic alongside its military assault.

"The population should remain calm... the defense forces are holding (the lines); the situation is under control," the spokesperson said.

More than two years after its invasion, Russia has gained the advantage on the battlefield, opening a new front as Ukraine faces shortages of personnel, 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.

The United States 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 Kharkiv, White House national security council spokesperson John 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 and more.

The package by the Presidential Drawdown Authority allows the U.S. president to transfer munitions and services from the Pentagons U.S. stockpile without the U.S. administration needing to receive congressional approval.

This is the third tranche of emergency military aid for Ukraine since Congress passed a $95 billion aid bill, with $60.8 billion of that amount going to Ukraine.

Russia's Belgorod struck

On the other side of the border, in Russias Belgorod region, a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile struck a "residential district" in the city.

Nine people were killed when the apartment building collapsed, according to local officials.

"In total, five bodies have been taken out of the rubble," Russia's emergency situations ministry said on social media Sunday.

Emergency services were quoted by the TASS news agency as saying that 20 people were also injured.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the attack "barbaric, the TASS news agency reported.

Kyiv made no comment. Its forces have intensified attacks recently on Belgorod in its effort to free all its territory from Russian control.

In response to Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in March that Moscow could try to establish a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory.

Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
The Biden administration is nearing a decision point on whether go ahead with a bilateral arms and security agreement with Saudi Arabia or hold off in hopes of eventually pairing it with a long-sought trilateral deal to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations.

For now, administration officials say nothing can go forward until all the parts of the puzzle are in place, but with the Israel-Hamas war standing in the way of a normalization agreement, some analysts are arguing for an early bilateral deal that would help check Chinese influence in the region.

The terms of the U.S.-Saudi agreement have not been made public, but Reuters quoted foreign diplomats in the Gulf and sources in Washington earlier this month saying it calls for formal U.S. guarantees to defend the kingdom as well as Saudi access to more advanced U.S. weaponry. Other reports say it may include support for the kingdoms nuclear energy program.

The kingdom, in return, would halt Chinese arms purchases and restrict Beijings investment in the country, Reuters said.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed at a May 3 briefing that the two countries are very close to reaching an agreement on the bilateral pieces of the deal. There are a few details that we have to continue to work through, but we think we can reach agreement on those details in very short order.

But, he acknowledged, there is still more work to be done on a separate piece of that, which is the proposal for a pathway to a Palestinian state.  Saudi Arabia has made very clear that as part of any normalization deal with Israel, they have two requirements: one, calm in Gaza, and two, a path to an independent Palestinian state.

Pressed on whether the Biden administration was considering moving ahead with the U.S.-Saudi agreement separately, Miller said that had not been discussed. We have been very clear, Saudi Arabia has been very clear that this is a package deal that would include a bilateral component and also include a path to two states.

In a May 8 column for Foreign Affairs magazine, however, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations argued that a trilateral deal is not in Americas interests because it would make U.S.-Saudi relations dependent on future ties between Tel Aviv and Riyadh.

If a U.S. commitment to Saudi Arabia is contingent on Saudi normalization with Israel, it is likely that the quality of those ties  i.e., Israeli-Saudi relations  will impose themselves on the bilateral relationship between Washington and Riyadh, in both obvious and not so obvious ways, wrote Steven A. Cook, the councils senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies.

If the Biden administration wants a defense pact with Saudi Arabia, lets have one. There should be a good enough case, and the president is a skilled enough politician to persuade the skeptics, he concluded.

Joshua Landis, head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, expressed a similar view in an interview with VOA, highlighting several advantages to a more limited agreement.

For the U.S., it limits China's investment in Saudi Arabia and ensures that the U.S. maintains its dominant security relationship, he said. For Saudi Arabia, it provides access to more advanced U.S. weaponry in exchange for halting Chinese arms purchases and restricting Beijing's investment in the country.

But Anna Jacobs, a senior gulf analyst at the International Crisis Group based in Doha, Qatar, told VOA that a bilateral deal, while appealing to Saudi Arabia, would likely be a non-starter for the Biden administration, which has long sought the breakthrough in Israel-Palestinian relations that would come with a normalization deal.

It makes complete sense for Riyadh to try and secure a bilateral deal with the U.S. while leaving out the Israel component. Normalization with Israel is extremely unpopular in Saudi Arabia and across the region, making it a major political risk for Riyadh, especially as the Gaza war rages on," she told VOA.

"This plan B option would significantly lower the risks for Saudi Arabia and would give them everything they want from the U.S. without having to give much in return. But this plan B option wouldnt work for the U.S. and isnt likely to go anywhere," she added.

Nancy Okail, president and CEO of the Washington-based Center for International Policy, argued against the U.S.-Saudi agreement with or without the broader Saudi-Israel component.

She told VOA that the defense deal primarily serves the interests of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been lauded for modernization efforts but has also faced criticism for numerous human rights violations, maintaining oppressive governance, and suppressing dissent, exemplified by the killing of [Washington Post columnist] Jamal Khashoggi.

She said agreements like the one being negotiated operate under the flawed notion that increased arms lead to greater security, yet history shows that such influxes have instead fueled conflicts and triggered an arms race.
Two Air Force fighter jets recently squared off in a dogfight in California. One was flown by a pilot. The other wasnt.

That second jet was piloted by artificial intelligence, with the Air Forces highest-ranking civilian riding along in the front seat. It was the ultimate display of how far the Air Force has come in developing a technology with its roots in the 1950s. But its only a hint of the technology yet to come.

The United States is competing to stay ahead of China on AI and its use in weapon systems. The focus on AI has generated public concern that future wars will be fought by machines that select and strike targets without direct human intervention. Officials say this will never happen, at least not on the U.S. side. But there are questions about what a potential adversary would allow, and the military sees no alternative but to get U.S. capabilities fielded fast.

Whether you want to call it a race or not, it certainly is, said Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both of us have recognized that this will be a very critical element of the future battlefield. Chinas working on it as hard as we are.

A look at the history of military development of AI, what technologies are on the horizon and how they will be kept under control:

From machine learning to autonomy

AI's military roots are a hybrid of machine learning and autonomy. Machine learning occurs when a computer analyzes data and rule sets to reach conclusions. Autonomy occurs when those conclusions are applied to act without further human input.

This took an early form in the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the Navy's Aegis missile defense system. Aegis was trained through a series of human-programmed if/then rule sets to be able to detect and intercept incoming missiles autonomously, and more rapidly than a human could. But the Aegis system was not designed to learn from its decisions and its reactions were limited to the rule set it had.

If a system uses if/then it is probably not machine learning, which is a field of AI that involves creating systems that learn from data, said Air Force Lt. Col. Christopher Berardi, who is assigned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to assist with the Air Force's AI development.

AI took a major step forward in 2012 when the combination of big data and advanced computing power enabled computers to begin analyzing the information and writing the rule sets themselves. It is what AI experts have called AI's big bang.

The new data created by a computer writing the rules is artificial intelligence. Systems can be programmed to act autonomously from the conclusions reached from machine-written rules, which is a form of AI-enabled autonomy.

Testing an AI alternative to GPS navigation

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall got a taste of that advanced warfighting this month when he flew on Vista, the first F-16 fighter jet to be controlled by AI, in a dogfighting exercise over California's Edwards Air Force Base.

While that jet is the most visible sign of the AI work underway, there are hundreds of ongoing AI projects across the Pentagon.

At MIT, service members worked to clear thousands of hours of recorded pilot conversations to create a data set from the flood of messages exchanged between crews and air operations centers during flights, so the AI could learn the difference between critical messages like a runway being closed and mundane cockpit chatter. The goal was to have the AI learn which messages are critical to elevate to ensure controllers see them faster.

In another significant project, the military is working on an AI alternative to GPS satellite-dependent navigation.

In a future war high-value GPS satellites would likely be hit or interfered with. The loss of GPS could blind U.S. communication, navigation and banking systems and make the U.S. military's fleet of aircraft and warships less able to coordinate a response.

So last year the Air Force flew an AI program  loaded onto a laptop that was strapped to the floor of a C-17 military cargo plane  to work on an alternative solution using the Earths magnetic fields.

It has been known that aircraft could navigate by following the Earth's magnetic fields, but so far that hasn't been practical because each aircraft generates so much of its own electromagnetic noise that there has been no good way to filter for just the Earth's emissions.

Magnetometers are very sensitive, said Col. Garry Floyd, director for the Department of Air Force-MIT Artificial Intelligence Accelerator program. If you turn on the strobe lights on a C-17 we would see it.

The AI learned through the flights and reams of data which signals to ignore and which to follow and the results were very, very impressive, Floyd said. We're talking tactical airdrop quality.

We think we may have added an arrow to the quiver in the things we can do, should we end up operating in a GPS-denied environment. Which we will, Floyd said.

The AI so far has been tested only on the C-17. Other aircraft will also be tested, and if it works it could give the military another way to operate if GPS goes down.

Safety rails and pilot speak



Vista, the AI-controlled F-16, has considerable safety rails as the Air Force trains it. There are mechanical limits that keep the still-learning AI from executing maneuvers that would put the plane in danger. There is a safety pilot, too, who can take over control from the AI with the push of a button.

The algorithm cannot learn during a flight, so each time up it has only the data and rule sets it has created from previous flights. When a new flight is over, the algorithm is transferred back onto a simulator where it is fed new data gathered in-flight to learn from, create new rule sets and improve its performance.

But the AI is learning fast. Because of the supercomputing speed AI uses to analyze data, and then flying those new rule sets in the simulator, its pace in finding the most efficient way to fly and maneuver has already led it to beat some human pilots in dogfighting exercises.

But safety is still a critical concern, and officials said the most important way to take safety into account is to control what data is reinserted into the simulator for the AI to learn from.
The Vatican crossed a key milestone Thursday in the runup to its 2025 Jubilee with the promulgation of the official decree establishing the Holy Year. It's a once-every-quarter-century event that is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome and has already brought months of headaches to Romans.

Pope Francis presided over a ceremony in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica for the reading of the papal bull, or official edict, that laid out his vision for a year of hope: He asked for gestures of solidarity for the poor, prisoners, migrants and Mother Nature.

"Hope is needed by God's creation, gravely damaged and disfigured by human selfishness," Francis said in a vigil service afterward. "Hope is needed by those peoples and nations who look to the future with anxiety and fear."

The pomp-filled event, attended by cardinals, bishops and ordinary faithful, kicked off the final seven-month dash of preparations and public works projects to be completed by December 24, when Francis opens the basilica's Holy Door and formally inaugurates the Jubilee.

In a novelty, Francis announced in the papal bull that he would also open a Holy Door in a prison "as a sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence."

For the Vatican, the Holy Year is a centuries-old tradition of the faithful making pilgrimages to Rome to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, and receiving indulgences for the forgiveness of their sins in the process. For the city of Rome, it's a chance to take advantage of some 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in public funds to carry out long-delayed projects to lift the city out of years of decay and neglect.

"In a beautiful city, you live better," said the Vatican's Jubilee point-person, Archbishop Renato Fisichella, who himself is not indifferent to the added bonus of Jubilee funding. "Rome will become an even more beautiful city, because it will be ever more at the service of its people, pilgrims and tourists who will come."

Pope Boniface VIII declared the first Holy Year in 1300, and now they are held every 25 years. While Francis called an interim one devoted to mercy in 2015, the 2025 edition is the first big one since St. John Paul II's 2000 Jubilee, when he ushered the Catholic Church into the third millennium.

As occurred in the runup to 2000, pre-Jubilee public works projects have overwhelmed Rome, with flood-lit construction sites operating around the clock, entire swaths of central boulevards rerouted and traffic snarling the city's already clogged streets.

The Tiber riverfront for much of the city center is now off limits as work crews create new parks. Piazzas are being repaved, bike paths charted and 5G cells built. The aim is to bring the Eternal City up to par with other European capitals and take advantage of the 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in special Jubilee funding and some 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) more in other public and post-pandemic EU funds that are available.

"It's really putting our patience to the test," said Tiziana Cafini, who operates a tobacco shop near the Pantheon and says she has taken to walking to work rather than riding a bus into the city center because it gets stuck in traffic. "And it's not just in the center. There are an infinite number of construction sites all around Rome."

Though she knows the discomfort will be worth it in the end, the end is still pretty far off. In addition to the Jubilee construction, there's a longer-term, separate project to extend Rome's Metro C subway line into Rome's historic center which has encountered years of delays thanks to archaeological excavations of ancient Roman ruins that must be completed first.

For the next four years at least, central Piazza Venezia and its Imperial Forum-flanked boulevard to the Colosseum are scheduled to be congested and blighted by giant, 14-meter-high green silos that are needed for the subway drilling operation.

"We're upset, but we're Romans, we'll make do," Cafini said.

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said recently he was satisfied with the pace of the Jubilee works so far, noting that they got off to a months-delayed start due to the 2022 collapse of Premier Mario Dragi's government.

But Gualtieri promised they would be completed on time. And in a nod to Romans and tourists who have suffered from the traffic chaos and acute shortage of taxis already, he promised that an extra 1,000 taxi licenses had been approved and would be in use by December.

Yet as of late last month, only two of the 231 city projects had been completed; 57 were under way and another 44 were expected to be started by the end of May, Gualtieri told reporters. Another 18 are up for bids, seven have been assigned, 90 are planned. Thirteen have been canceled.

"We have recovered a lot from the initial delay," Gualtieri told the foreign press association, adding that he expected the "essential" projects to be completed on time. Other projects were always planned to take longer than the Jubilee but were lumped into the overall project to take advantage of the accelerated timeframe.

The most significant project, and one that has caused the greatest traffic disruption to date, is a new Vatican-area piazza and pedestrian zone connecting Castel St. Angelo with the Via della Conciliazione boulevard that leads to St. Peter's Square.

Previously, a major thoroughfare divided the two landmarks, causing an unsightly and pedestrian-unfriendly barrier.

The new works call for a tunnel to divert the oncoming traffic underneath the new pedestrian piazza. But that project required re-routing and replacing a huge underground sewage system first, which has only recently been completed. Now crews are working through the night to try to complete the tunnel in time.
VIENTIANE, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Zhao Shitong, assistant minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, led a CPC delegation on a visit to Laos from May 9 to 12, at the invitation of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP).

During the visit, Zhao met with Bounthong Chitmany, a politburo member of the LPRP Central Committee, a permanent member of the Secretariat of the LPRP Central Committee, and vice president of Laos.

The Chinese delegation held talks with Khamphanh Pheuyavong, a member of the Secretariat of the LPRP Central Committee and head of the Propaganda and Training Board of the LPRP Central Committee.

The delegation also met with Thongsavanh Phomvihane, head of the LPRP Central Committee's Commission for External Relations and held talks with heads of the Lao party and government departments.

During the visit, the two sides exchanged views on China-Laos relations and issues of common concern.

Both sides agreed to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, deepen exchanges and cooperation between the two parties, and work together to build a high-standard, high-quality, and high-level China-Laos community with a shared future. 
On May 9, Moscows Red Square hosted the 79th Anniversary Parade of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 against Nazi Germany. More than 9,000 soldiers took part, with 75 weapon systems, including nuclear missiles on mobile launch pads. The political-media mainstream has portrayed the Parade as a threatening show of force against Europe and the entire West, erasing its historical significance and everything that led to the current war in Europe.

Above all, we must remember history. The Soviet Union was attacked and invaded in 1941 by Nazi Germany with 201 divisions, comprising 5.5 million soldiers equivalent to 75% of all German troops, 3,500 tanks and 5,000 aircraft, plus 37 divisions from satellite countries (including Italy).

The USSR had asked the Allies - Great Britain and the United States - to open a second front in Europe, but the latter had delayed it, wanting to unload Nazi power onto the USSR in order to weaken it and thus have a dominant position at the end of the war. The second front opened with the Anglo-American invasion of Normandy in 1944, when the Red Army and Soviet partisans had defeated German troops, striking the decisive blow against Nazi Germany. The price paid by the Soviet Union was very high: around 27 million dead, more than half of them civilians, corresponding to 15% of the population (compared with 0.3% of the USA in the whole of the Second World War); around 5 million deported to Germany; more than 1,700 cities and large towns inhabited, 70,000 villages devastated; 30,000 factories destroyed.

In the current war in Europe, Russia faces not only Kievs forces, trained and commanded by a politico-military group with a clear Nazi imprint, but also US-led Nato, which is using these forces and equipping them with weapons capable of striking Russia. This is demonstrated most directly by the Moscow exhibition of weapons supplied to Kiev by the USA, Great Britain, Germany and other Nato member states. As Ukrainian forces are suffering heavy defeats, the Atlantic Alliance is sending military forces to Ukraine in its service and, at the same time, ramping up the nuclear component of its military exercises in Europe. In response, Russia organizes tactical nuclear weapons exercises and warns that it will take into account the potential deployment of US nuclear weapons in Poland in its military planning. The European scenario is linked to that of the Middle East, about which this program provides important information, hidden by the mainstream.
More than 600,000 people are released from U.S. prisons every year, vowing never to go back. Many do. One man is trying to change that.
James Cox

An Irish mother whose children were abducted by their father in Egypt two years ago has received a court date in Cairo in her ongoing bid to bring them home.

Mandy Kelly from Dundalk in Co Louth was on holiday in Egypt two years ago when her husband Ramy Gamal Maamoun Mohamed locked her in an apartment and took the children away in a car.

Three-year-old Kareem and his five-year-old brother Zayn Mohammed were both born in Ireland and have had no contact with their mother since June 2022, three months after they were kidnapped.

Ms Kelly has now received a court date in Egypt for September. She pointed to the slow judicial process in the country, adding that she was called to a hearing on April 10th but only received notice on April 8th.

Ms Kelly told BreakingNews.ie that her ex-husband has made a "cash ransom" demand for her two young sons.

She also expressed frustration about her dealings with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Mandy Kelly with her three-year-old son Kareem.

"They are trying to downplay the whole thing like it's just a divorce and my children aren't stranded in a foreign country with a cash ransom.

"There has been a catalogue of failures in this. I have been incredibly disappointed with the DFA, they are still refusing to cancel the passports for my two sons regardless of the fact there is a domestic and international arrest warrant for my ex-partner. Even though he cannot travel anywhere in Europe, he can still go anywhere in the Middle East with my children, so this is something that I am incredibly concerned about.

"I brought this to the attention of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee when I met her on April 11th. I know that Minister Micheal Martin does have the power to cancel my children's passports. I know that, and it's something I will be raising with the Children's Ombudsman.

"To date there has been nothing put up on the Interpol missing children's page for my children, so even if they went anywhere in the Middle East, Australia, there are no mechanisms in place to show that my children are unlawfully retained by their parent in another country.

"The authorities know that there is a cash ransom involved in the case. My ex admitted his cash demands in writing to the Irish courts. He had even gone to the bother of getting the document notarised in Egypt."

Ms Kelly said she has received notification that Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin raised the case with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in November.

However, she said she is "incredibly disappointed with the time lapsed".

Ms Kelly said she received an email from the Egyptian ministry of justice last week, in which a judge signed off on an offer of a Zoom call with her two children.

Mandy Kelly leaving the Department of Justice , Dublin after meeting with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

She said this would only upset the boys.

"Two kids who I haven't spoken to in two years. It shows how biased their legal system is. If I agree to the Zoom call, I'm giving my ex authority to make decisions for my children.

"Any fool would know that a Zoom call for a three-year-old and five-year-old child, it would not only be upsetting, it would be incredibly detrimental to their mental health.

"As I told Minister Martin, the Egyptian authorities are not going to act in the best interests of my children."

Along with the international arrest warrant issued for her ex-husband, Ms Kelly has secured an order from the High Court for the "immediate return" of her children.

"Even the judge knew that the best interests of my children would be served in Ireland," she added.

Ms Kelly said she was unhappy with a DFA suggestion that she travel to Egypt to visit her children, pointing out that she feels unsafe in the country after the incident in which Mr Mohamed locked her in an apartment and kidnapped her two sons.

Ms Kelly's case is complicated by the fact Egypt is not a signatory of the Hague Convention on child abductions, and she feels this shows "a bilateral agreement on child custody is needed".

Her case has been discussed in the Seanad, the Dail and brought to Oireachtas committees.

Ms Kelly pointed to other cases where the Irish Government have intervened, such as that of Ibrahim Halawa who was arrested in Egypt in 2013 and eventually released in 2017.

More recently she referenced the case of Yasser Eljuboori who was being held in jail in Iraq before having all charges dropped and returned to his family last month.

Ms Kelly recently met with Dr Umar al-Qadri, chief imam of the Islamic Centre of Ireland, who is running in the upcoming European elections.

She said Dr al-Qadri has followed her case all the way through, and been a great help.

Ms Kelly again expressed her frustration at the slow pace of the Egyptian and Irish authorities.

"Six months after this, the Egyptian ambassador and Simon Coveney [then minister for foreign affairs] sat and talked about the repatriation of an Egyptian mummy that was in University College Cork, and there was the utmost cooperation and an international agreement drawn up on the return of Egyptian artefacts.

"Are children less important than artefacts?"

Ms Kelly's case has been discussed in the Seanad, the Dail and brought to Oireachtas committees. Photo: Collins

Living every parent's worst nightmare, Ms Kelly said her life has been hell for the past two years.

"I've been working on this continuously, I don't even have a life. I can't even explain it sometimes, it's waking up every morning to a nightmare.

"My two children are two and a half years without their mother. My son should be going into first class, I'm sure he's never done a day of school in Egypt. My other son should be starting his second year in play school. I'm going through my third year of not having my children for the start of school in September. It's absolutely horrific."

After she travels to Cairo in September, Ms Kelly insists she will not return to Ireland without her children.

"My children are hostages. My ex-partner allowing me a Zoom call highlights that. That's what people holding hostages do, not parents.

"I won't be leaving Cairo until my boys are with me. I've let the Irish and Egyptian authorities know that my children will be leaving Cairo with me."

In response to a request for comment on Ms Kelly's case, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement to BreakingNews.ie: "The Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of the case and has provided extensive consular assistance and continues to. As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the detail of individual cases."
A collection of toys has been donated to Waterford Treasures, some dating back over 100 years.

Mayor of Waterford, Councillor Joe Conway, accepted the important collection of toys into Waterford Treasures, from Sandra Thompson who has, over the years, contributed greatly to Waterfords heritage and history.

The collection was previously displayed in the home of Ms Thompsons grandparents, Lady and Sir Edward Pearson, nephew of Viscount Lord Cowdray.

Dolls, a 1910 teddy bear, board games, local Quaker family toys, faithful reproductions of the traditional horse-drawn caravan, another wagon/caravan, a 1940s toy theatre and butchers shop - made by Ms Thompsons parents, a Peter Rabbit tea set, and books are just some of the items included in the toy collection.

Ms Thompson also gifted important documents to Waterford City & County Council Archives.

Commenting at the presentation, Ms Thompson expressed delight to be handing over the care of her collection to Waterford Treasures especially if it will encourage others to do the same.

We are extremely grateful to Sandra for such a generous gift, wonderfully cared for over the years," said Rosemary Ryan, Acting Curator Manager with Waterford Treasures.

"With the dolls, theres one little character more fascinating than the next; we will display them as soon as possible  museums are all about the future, she added. The historical figures highlight a significant importance of the familys crafting skills and creativity as 16 of them were meticulously and expertly handmade by the Lacy sisters, Ms Thompsons grand-aunts, between 1936 and 1942.

The 20th century dolls include: a Pedigree doll, from 1945, in the original box with costumes and their patterns; a 1950s Cindy doll, a 1960s Action Man and the famous Irish-made Crolly doll.

Thirty countries are represented by dolls in traditional dress, including an Irish Colleen in red and green, a Berber couple, a tiny wooden Zulu doll and some very important Japanese dolls.

More information about the museum can be found at www.waterfordtreasures.com.
Walton Institute at South East Technological University (SETU), was delighted to host the inaugural SETU Extended Reality (XR) Industry Showcase recently at ArcLabs Research and Innovation Centre in Carriganore, Waterford.

Industry representatives from across the South East attended the event which offered a unique opportunity to explore the future of technology and its potential for business with SETUs XR experts.

This cutting-edge interactive event showcased the limitless possibilities of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) in a merging of real and virtual worlds.

Researchers and innovators from SETU, Walton Institute, Design+, engCORE, AMASE, IMI4, SABRE, SeerLab and compuCORE, were on hand throughout the morning providing live hands-on, technical demonstrations including: immersive tourism experiences; VR and forest bathing; gamification and MR; virtual digital twins and more.

Workshops also provided an understanding of the practical applications of XR across a variety of industries.

Commenting on the initiative, Head of the Mobile Ecosystem and Pervasive Sensing Division at Walton Institute, Dr Frances Cleary said: Extended Reality is driving technological innovations that are empowering industries to revolutionise the way they visualize, design, and interact with environments for improved productivity and innovation.

This showcase brought businesses in the South East together with a selection of SETUs XR specialists to see just how this technology can be utilised and the substantial benefits it can bring, she said.

As part of the event, attendees were provided with a special tour of Walton Institutes MR and Digital Photogrammetry Labs. Funded by the Enterprise Ireland Capital Call, the lab features state-of-the-art Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology. The Digital Photogrammetry Unit consists of a Botscan NEO 3D, a 3D scanner, for high volume full body scans, and a Teslasuit, which is a full body haptic feedback and motion-capture tracking VR suit.

The ICS Technology Gateway team at Walton Institute were also available to discuss funding opportunities for businesses interested in investigating this technology further.

We have an extensive and unique range of state of the art XR equipment here in Walton Institute, with new Holographic technology arriving later this year, said Liam Fitzgerald, ICS Technology Gateway Manager.

The ICS Technology Gateway can help businesses, large and small, to access funding through support agencies like Enterprise Ireland, IDA and others, allowing you to explore what advantages XR technologies could bring to your business, he added.

That funding can typically range from 5,000 to 200,000 depending on the company profile.

According to industry sources, the global XR market was valued at $131.54 billion in 2023.

It's projected be worth $183.96 billion in 2024, and is expected to grow to $1,706.96 billion, by 2032.
Earlier this year, Waterford was invited to join the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities, an international network of cities that promote lifelong learning across their communities.

Last week, Mayor of Waterford, Cllr Joe Conway welcomed Raul Valdes-Cotera, Chief Programme Coordinator at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in Hamburg, Germany and Coordinator of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities to City Hall, where they discussed partnership and collaboration between agencies.

Mr. Valdes-Cotera said: We are delighted that Waterford is joining a network of 356 cities across 79 countries.

Our ambition is to lessen the inequities within disadvantaged areas and marginalised communities through creating lifelong learning opportunities for all. We are looking forward to working with all the stakeholders to cultivate and grow lifelong learning in the region.

Following the reception in City Hall, Mr Valdes-Cotera met with members of the Waterford Chamber of Commerce Skillnet team

That was followed by a visit to WCQ Place, Waterfords newest Community and Cultural Hub, at Barker Place on OConnell Street in the city.

The visit concluded with a tour of SETU Department of Architecture at the Granary building.
MOSCOW, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A refinery got on fire in southwestern Russia following a Ukrainian drone crash on it in the early hours on Sunday, said local authorities.

The blaze at the Volgograd Oil Refinery was extinguished with no casualties after the Russian air defense repelled the drone attack, said Andrey Bocharov, governor of the Volgograd Region, on social media Telegram. 
Martin Forristal was honoured with a Mayoral Reception last week by Metropolitan Mayor Jody Power, for his work in promoting and preserving Irish music and culture in Waterford, and for his contribution to the Craobh Chathair Phort Lairge CCE.

The branch was formed in the early 1960s by a small group of Irish music enthusiasts in Waterford. In 1985, Martin joined the branch and played a key role in its subsequent development. He has been Chairperson since the late 1990s.

He additionally set up the Waterford Set Dancing Club in 1987 and the Waterford Ceili Band in 1988.

Commenting on his recent recognition, a spokesperson from Waterford City CCE said: Waterford City CCE are immensely proud of our chairperson Martin Forristal, who has to date given 40 years of service."

Mayor, Councillor Jody Power, paid tribute to the outstanding contribution that Martin has made to Irish traditional music, song and dance throughout Waterford. Martin, in his speech, paid tribute to the founder members of the branch. He acknowledged all those who helped with the running of the branch and mentioned the students, teachers and families over the years.
Big corporates trying to find other occupants to sublet their unwanted offices are struggling to compete with landlords who are offering big incentives in rent deals.

Tech giants like Atlassian, Salesforce, Meta and X were once seen as the saviour of landlords because of their large-scale leases. They are now wary of taking up new space, accounting for just 16.5 per cent of sublet space.

A render of the 40-level Atlassian tower near Central Station in Sydney. Credit:

These groups are also cutting back on subleasing unwanted offices which has eased the pressure on the office markets underbelly. In Sydney, Atlassian and Dexus are still pushing ahead with the tower in Sydneys $2 billion central tech hub.

Sublet space is considered a key indicator of the health of commercial office property as it measures the unwanted or excess floors in city towers.
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.
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.
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.
jetcityimage / iStock.com

This May, its easy to stock up on your favorite foods and save money while shopping at Costco. Name brands like Kraft, Nestle, Reds and more all have bulk foods on sale in-store and online to meet the mealtime and snacking needs of everyone in your household.

Learn More: 6 Expensive Costco Items That Are Definitely Worth the Cost

Find Out: 4 Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money

Remember: sales are only valid from May 15 through June 9. Read on to find out which 10 Costco grocery deals you cant afford to pass up.

Costco

Reds Eggwich Turkey Sausage

In-store Costco members receive $4.30 off their purchase of Reds eggwich in turkey sausage flavor.

Power up your breakfast with extra protein! Each package of keto-friendly eggwich sandwiches includes eight breakfast sandwiches made with cage-free egg patties, a turkey sausage patty and topped with a slice of American cheese.

Discover More: 5 Reasons You Should Always Buy Electronics at Costco

Try This: 5 Unusual Ways To Make Extra Money (That Actually Work)

Costco

Nature Valley Protein Bars, Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate

Swap out a sugary snack for Nature Valley protein bars to fuel your afternoon lulls. Costco members shopping online receive $5 off a 30-count box of peanut butter dark chocolate protein bars.

Currently, these protein bars are priced at $18.99 online at Costco.com. When we do the math, Costco members pay 47 cents per protein bar.

Explore More: The Single Best Thing To Buy at Aldi in May 2024

Costco

Kraft Singles American Cheese Slices

Households that cook up tons of grilled cheese or love to add American cheese to sandwiches will want to stock up on Kraft singles American cheese slices which will be $4 off at Costco starting May 15.

This in-store deal is valid on the four-pound Kraft singles boxes which include 96 slices of cheese total.

Costco

Cheez-It Crackers

School is still in session for a little while longer which means school lunches and snacks need to be packed for the kiddos.

Shoppers wont want to pass up Costcos $3 discount on Cheez-It crackers. Every box includes two, 24-ounce bags of baked cheddar crackers: plenty to share with kids and adults alike.

Costco

WildRoots Coastal Berry Trail Mix

Kick your snacking game up a notch with WildRoots coastal berry trail mix. Beginning May 15, this trail mix will be $3.20 off for Costco online shoppers.

Every bag of trail mix is loaded with almonds, cashews, cranberries, yogurt chips and blueberries. Add to your favorite yogurt or enjoy on your own for a satisfying snack.

Story continues

Learn More: 6 Best Items To Buy at Trader Joes in May 2024

Costco

Chosen Foods Avocado Oil Spray

Did you know you can use avocado oil spray to cook in an air fryer and to dress salads and greens? (Admittedly, we did do a little digging on the Chosen Foods website to learn more!)

Originally priced online at $21.99, Chosen Foods avocado oil spray will be $4.20 off for Costco.com shoppers starting May 15. Each set includes two sprays which comes out to paying about $8.90 per spray bottle.

Costco

Nongshim Udon Noodle Soup Bowl

Whether you need an easy lunch or a no-fuss dinner, stock up on Nongshim udon noodle soup bowls while theyre on sale at Costco. Originally priced online at $22.99, members receive $5.70 off their purchase.

Each package includes six bowls of pre-cooked noodles. When we apply the sale price, the amount Costco members pay is just $2.88 per bowl.

Costco

La Boulangere Pains au Chocolat Croissants

Costco shoppers wont be able to resist adding La Boulangere pains au chocolat croissants to their cart when they spot them in-store.

Every bag includes 16 individually wrapped croissants in a Brioche-style puff pastry made with eggs and chocolate. Pack as an on-the-go snack or save for a chic dessert to accompany a delicious dinner.

Trending Now: The Single Best Thing To Buy at Sams Club in May 2024

Costco

Nestle Drumstick Ice Cream Sundae Cones Variety Pack

Summer is just around the corner which means its time to stock the freezer with Nestle drumstick ice cream cones.

In-store Costco shoppers will receive $3 off their purchase of the Nestle drumstick variety pack. Every box includes 16 drumsticks and features three flavors: vanilla, vanilla fudge and vanilla caramel.

Costco

Spindrift Sparkling Water Variety Pack

Deal: $5 off

Stock up on Spindrift sparkling water before wrapping up your shopping trip.

These 30-pack cases will be $5 off for in-store Costco shoppers starting May 15. Inside youll find three different flavors including lemon, lime and grapefruit to enjoy as a refreshing drink on its own or mix with other drink ingredients to make festive summer cocktails.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Best Costco Deals on Groceries in May
The Green Party has launched its Mayo campaign for the local and European elections.

At the Westport event, Senator Pauline OReilly, the Green Partys MEP candidate for the Midland-North West Constituency, was joined by the partys two candidates for the local election, Peter Nolan, who will run in the Westport Electoral Area, and Micheal OConnell, who will run in Belmullet. Peter is an organic farmer between Louisburgh and Westport. Micheal was raised on a small farm in Erris. He was a managing director of an Insurance company in Dublin, before returning to Belmullet, where he owned and managed The Boxty Factory in the town.

Speaking to the Western People, Micheal and Peter rejected the assertion that their party is out of touch with rural Ireland. I think thats a perception thats put out there," said Micheal. The Green Party doesnt have to stop anyone cutting turf because the next generation wont cut turf. They are not interested, he added.

Micheal said there are three new bus services into Belmullet that werent there before the Greens got into Government. Any leader of any party that comes down to Belmullet they dont realise what life is like. If you live in Blacksod, you are not going to cycle to Belmullet for a pint of milk or a packet of cigarettes. There has to be a different solution for people in Erris. Other party leaders who came down to Erris had no concept of what its like to live in Erris.

Micheal said he was prompted to run for election because he wants his grandchildren to grow up in a world thats liveable.

One of the hottest topics on Peters doorstep is the contentious Belclare to Murrisk Greenway. Where its at now its being turned into a land grab compulsory purchase subject, said Peter. Personally, the preferred route through Murrisk, I dont sees any sense in disturbing the nature thats there when there is established infrastructure around for cycles, he commented.
In this article, we will look at the 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to the 5 Countries Hosting the Most Foreign Students in the World.

The US and International Education

The United States of America is one of the leading destinations for internationally mobile students pursuing higher education. According to the Power of International Education 2023 report, the number of internationally mobile students will grow from around 6 million in 2023 to over 10 million by 2030. Moreover, the United States, which is one of the top countries hosting the most foreign students in the world, will be the desired destination for approximately one-fifth of the internationally mobile students. The increase in internationally mobile students looking for higher education in Western countries is driven by the shortage of higher education capacity in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. According to data by UNESCO, there were approximately 6,387,488 international mobile students in 2021, and around 1,175,516 students belonged to the Central and Southeastern Asian countries.

The increase in foreign students going or aspiring to go to the US has made education the 5th largest export industry for the country. Moreover, approximately over 368,000 jobs in the US are associated with advising and ensuring the smooth stay of international students in the country.

The United States: One of the Top Host Countries for International Students

According to an Open Doors report on the International Education Exchange, the United States has been witnessing rapid growth in international student inflows since the 1950s, with the number of international students growing from only 144,708 students in 1970/71 to 1,057,188 students in 2022/23.

The colleges and universities in the United States have the capacity and desire to host a growing number of international students. As per the Fall 2023 Snapshot on International Students survey conducted by the Power of International Education that surveyed more than 630 US higher education institutes, 92% of the institutions mentioned the desire to increase their international student enrolments. Moreover, 85% of these institutions indicated that they plan to keep their financial efforts to enroll international students the same as in previous years or increase them in the future. One of the factors driving the enthusiasm of US institutes to host more international students is the 10% drop in domestic enrolments since 2010. Moreover, as the US birth rates continue to decrease, projections expect a 15% decline in college enrolments from domestic students. Therefore, higher education institutes in the country are focusing on increasing their international enrolments to keep their pipelines steady.

If you want to read more about the best countries to study as an international student, you can look at 15 Best Countries To Study Abroad For International Students and the 15 Cheapest Universities with Low Tuition Fees for International Students in Europe.

Leading Education Companies in the United States

Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) and Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) are two of the leading companies providing education technology services in the United States. If you want to read more about education related companies you can read 11 Best Education Stocks To Buy In 2024.

Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) is a leading education technology company that provides third-party curriculums, software, and education technology facilities internationally and in the US. The technology solutions provided by Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) help institutions attract students to enroll and get educated with modern technology-based learning. On May 1, Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) announced a partnership between one of its companies MedCerts, and Mott Community College (MCC) Workforce and Economic Development Division. MedCerts is a national online training program to strengthen the workforce through e-learning solutions. The collaboration with MCC is aimed to enhance Allied Health education. Under this collaboration, MCC will collaborate with MedCert's short-term online content and programs to provide opportunities for students interested in pursuing a career in healthcare roles.

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) is another leading provider of education technologies in the United States. The company engages in the provision of Ed-Tech services including internal administration systems, learning management systems, infrastructure, and other related academic technology services. On May 7, Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) announced earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2024. The company reported earnings per share of $2.35 and beat EPS expectations by $0.13. The revenue of the company for the quarter grew 9.82% year over year and amounted to $274.68 million, ahead of market consensus by $2.28 million. Here are some comments from the Q1 2024 earnings call of Grand Canyon Education, Inc.s (NASDAQ:LOPE):

The 80 hybrid locations we are building are for students entering programs for some of the content can be learned online, while a significant part must be learned in a brick-and-mortar laboratory setting. Currently, it is health care programs, specifically nursing that are offered in those settings, but eventually, we will add additional programs that fit the hybrid methodology. Our total investment in these settings will exceed $240 million and allow us to teach approximately 50,000 students. The fourth platform is for students who want access to the rapidly expanding trade professions. These are shorter programs in a physical brick-and-mortar setting that combine real-world work experience with classroom learning. These students after gaining employment can finish their bachelors degree online.

Now that we have discussed how the US is one of the leading hosts for international students, let's look at the 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world.

15 Countries Hosting the Most Foreign Students in the World

Billion Photos/Shutterstock.com

Our Methodology

To compile our list of 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world we relied on UNESCO data on the number and rates of internationally mobile students (inbound and outbound) and the number of students and enrolment/attendance rate by level of education. From these two datasets, we used the 2021 data from the Inbound Mobility Ratio and Enrolment in tertiary education, all programs, both sexes indicators.

The inbound mobility ratio is defined by UNESCO as the number of students from abroad studying in a given country, expressed as a percentage of total tertiary enrolment in that country.

We calculated the number of international students studying in a country by first converting the percentage from the inbound mobility ratio to decimal and then multiplying it with the total enrollment in tertiary education of that country. Once we had the list of countries hosting the most foreign students in the world, we ranked them in ascending order of the number of international students that were enrolled in each country in 2021. Moreover, we have also mentioned some of the top universities in each country as per the QS World University Ranking 2024.

15 Countries Hosting the Most Foreign Students in the World

15. Austria

Number of International Students (2021): 82,083

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 18.72%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 438,383

Austria ranks 15th on our list of countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. It is a landlocked European country. Austria had an inbound mobility ratio of 18.72% in 2021. The University of Vienna and the Technische Universitat Wien are two of the top universities in Austria ranking in the top 200 of the QS World University ranking. Moreover, both universities have over 85% international student ratio.

14. Malaysia

Number of International Students (2021): 92,519

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 8.07%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 1,147,071

Malaysia is a Southeast Asian country that ranks 14th on our list of 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. The country had an inbound mobility ratio of 8.07% in 2021 and hosted approximately 92,519 international students in 2021. The Universiti Malaya (UM) and the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are two of the top universities in Malaysia ranking in the top 100 of the QS World University ranking. If you want to explore more about Asian universities you can look at the 20 Best Universities in Asia for International Students.

13. Argentina

Number of International Students (2021): 117,794

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 3.16%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 3,731,692

Argentina is a South American country that ranks 13th on our list of 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. Argentina had approximately 117,794 international students in 2021. Moreover, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) is one the best universities in Argentina and ranks in the top 100 universities in the QS World University ranking.

12. South Korea

Number of International Students (2021): 118,528

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 4.08%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 2,908,321

South Korea ranks as the 12th country hosting the most foreign students in the world. In 2021 there were approximately 2,908,321 students enrolled in tertiary education, out of which 118,528 were international students. Four South Korean universities rank in the top 100 of the QS World University ranking including the Seoul National University and the KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology.

11. Netherlands

Number of International Students (2021): 135,535

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 13.72%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 987,564

The Netherlands is a Northwestern European country that ranks 11th on our list of 15 best countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. The country had an inbound mobility ratio of 13.72% in 2021 and hosted approximately 135,535 international students during the same year.

10. Japan

Number of International Students (2021): 216,241

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 5.57%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 3,879,086

Japan makes it to the top 10 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. It is an island country in East Asia. The country is known for attracting international students due to its advanced higher education. The country hosted 216,241 international students in 2021 and had an inbound mobility ratio of 5.57%.

9. China

Number of International Students (2021): 221,654

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 0.41%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 53,823,026

China ranks 9th on our list of 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. It had an inbound mobility ratio of 0.41% and hosted approximately 221,654 international students in 2021. Peking University and Zhejiang University are two of the top universities ranking in the top 50 of the QS World University ranking along with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Fudan University.

8. Turkiye

Number of International Students (2021): 224,048

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 2.71%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 8,280,595

Turkiye ranks 8th on our list of 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. The country had an inbound mobility ratio of 2.71% and hosted a total of 224,048 international students in 2021.

7. France

Number of International Students (2021): 252,856

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 9.00%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 2,809,289

France is a Western European country that ranks 7th country hosting the most foreign students in the world. It had an inbound mobility ratio of 9% in 2021. Moreover, the Universite PSL and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris are two of the best universities in France that rank among the top 50 universities according to the QS World University Ranking.

6. Canada

Number of International Students (2021): 312,630

Inbound Mobility Ratio (2021): 17.37%

Total Enrolment in Tertiary Education (2021): 1,799,640

Canada, a North American country, is one of the most sought-after study destinations for international students. The country ranks 6th on our list of 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. Canada had an inbound mobility ratio of 17.37% and hosted approximately 312,630 international students in 2021. Some of the best universities ranking in the top 50% as per the QS World University Ranking include the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the University of British Columbia.

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In this article, we will look at the 15 easiest degrees that pay well. We have also talked about the latest statistics related to college degree holders in the US. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, head straight to the 5 Easiest Degrees That Pay Well.

In 2022, the Lumina Foundation released a report in which it highlighted that the percentage of working-age adults in the United States holding college degrees or similar postsecondary credentials had risen to 54.3%. This was a major increase from 2009 to 2021, where the percentage of adults aged 25 to 64 with college degrees, certificates, or industry-recognized certifications increased by over 16 percentage points. This increase also represents the highest attainment rate recorded since tracking began in 2008.

However, despite these promising developments, major disparities do persist across racial and ethnic lines. While attainment levels have risen across all demographics, major gaps remain as Black, Hispanic, Latinx and Native American adults still lag behind the national average of 46.5%.

Moreover, in 2021, nearly 38% of Americans aged 25 and older possessed a bachelor's degree, with an additional 10.5% holding an associate degree. Over the past decade, this percentage has increased by 7.5 points. Interestingly, women now surpass men in college graduation rates, as 39% of women aged 25 and older have attained at least a bachelor's degree compared to 37% of men in the same age group. This trend is more pronounced among younger adults, with 46% of women aged 25 to 34 holding bachelor's degrees compared to 36% of men.

Racial and ethnic disparities do persist in college completion rates. In 2021, 61% of Asian Americans aged 25 and older held a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 42% of White adults, 28% of Black adults, and 21% of Hispanic adults. However, the share of bachelor's degree holders has increased across all racial and ethnic groups since 2010.

While college graduates generally enjoy higher earnings and lower unemployment rates, recent graduates are more likely to be underemployed, with 41% of those aged 22 to 27 working in jobs that typically do not require a college degree. To read more about unemployment, see the European Countries with the Highest Unemployment Rates.

Now that we have established that college graduates have higher salaries in general, lets look at some of the easiest careers that pay the most. While there are no easy majors that pay 6 figures, there are high-paying low-stress jobs without a degree like air traffic controller which only require an associate degree. In the US, younger individuals also pursue short degrees that pay well like webdesigning. To read more about such careers, see the Easiest Jobs That Pay $100K.

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Before getting into our list of easiest degrees that pay well, lets look at some of the multinationals that have been actively contributing to students and graduates around the world for a brighter future.

Since its inception, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been committed to supporting education especially with its advocacy for tax-deductible technology donations to schools and its donation of thousands of Apple II computers through programs like Kids Can't Wait. Today, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) continues this legacy by offering educational discounts on a range of products like MacBooks, iPads, and more, with discounts typically around 10% off retail prices. This discount extends to teachers and students in K-12 and higher education institutions, as well as homeschool teachers and parents purchasing on behalf of students. These discounts make Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)s technology more accessible to educational institutions and individuals.

Furthermore, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) provides a wealth of resources through its Apple Education Community, which is a free online platform designed to support teachers in utilizing Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) products effectively for their teaching practices. The Community includes forums for educators to connect, share experiences, and seek advice, as well as a Learning Center offering tutorials and lesson ideas in multiple languages.

On the other hand, in response to a nationwide shortage of truck drivers, Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) has initiated a program to offer its employees the opportunity to become commercial truck drivers. With an enticing starting salary of up to $110,000 for first-year drivers and a 12-week training program, the retail giant aimed to fill the gap within its workforce of 1.6 million employees. The program's success was proved as the first batch of graduates observed substantial increases in their income.

Moreover, Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) also committed itself to diversity and inclusion by including women as a significant portion of the program's participants. With women comprising 8.1% of the trucking industry's professional drivers, Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT)s initiative contributed to breaking gender barriers in a historically male-dominated field.

15 Easiest Degrees That Pay Well

A modern student in a classroom with a laptop, symbolizing the modern education environment.

Our Methodology

To list the easiest degrees that pay well, we identified degrees with two main characteristics that are often associated with easy degrees. Firstly, we looked for degrees with limited math or science requirements as they are perceived to be easier for students who largely struggle in the areas. Secondly, we looked for degrees that had low coursework complexity which usually are programs that rely heavily on memorization rather than critical analysis or problem-solving. We used Reddit as our primary source to gauge the opinions of Americans regarding these two factors related to college degrees and hence, identified 25 such degrees.

Of those 25, the 15 with the highest average salaries of graduates in the respective fields were eventually selected and have been presented in ascending order of average salaries below. We obtained the data on average salaries for these degrees from Payscale.com.

Please note that the data points covering median salaries, job growth percentages, and numbers of job openings for each role have also been primarily obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the year 2023.

By the way, Insider Monkey is an investing website that uses a consensus approach to identify the best stock picks of more than 900 hedge funds investing in US stocks. The website tracks the movement of corporate insiders and hedge funds. Our top 10 consensus stock picks of hedge funds outperformed the S&P 500 stock index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). So, if you are looking for the best stock picks to buy, you can benefit from the wisdom of hedge funds and corporate insiders.

15. Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education

Average Salary: $54,000

This is one of the unique degrees that pay well. It is worth highlighting that preschool teachers require no prior work experience or on-the-job training. With a projected job outlook of 3% from 2022 to 2032, an estimated 17,200 new positions are expected to open within this period. With over half a million jobs in 2022, the profession plays a key role in laying the educational groundwork for children's future success.

14. Bachelor of Science in Social Work

Average Salary: $58,000

Social workers have a median salary of $58,380 per year. Unlike some professions, entry-level social workers often don't need prior work experience, but on-the-job training is common. With a projected job growth of 7% from 2022 to 2032, the field is expected to add 53,800 new jobs.

To become a social worker, one can also obtain an associate degree of two years in social work, making it one of the quickest degrees to get.

13. Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

Average Salary: $65,000

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a 4-5 year undergraduate degree with a focus on creative and visual arts. Typical majors include art education, dance, film, music education, and theater. The typical cost for pursuing this degree averages $10,740 annually for in-state students at public institutions. BFA graduates can pursue careers as graphic designers, video producers, photographers, or teachers, with entry-level salaries of around $65,000.

12. Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies

Average Salary: $66,000

In 2021, the field of Philosophy and Religion boasted 495,600 employed individuals, with a median annual wage of $60,000. Despite its often abstract nature, philosophy and religion offer viable career paths across different occupations.

It is interesting to note that Maryland and Massachusetts are the highest-paying states for religious teachers in the US with average salaries of $120,650 and $117,520.

11. Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice

Average Salary: $67,000

In the US, pursuing a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice requires completing around 120 credits over four years. Three primary degree options are available for majors like Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences. The coursework covers different aspects of the criminal justice system like criminology, forensic science, criminal law, and ethics. Admission typically requires a high school diploma or GED, official transcripts, minimum GPA, and standardized test scores.

10. Bachelor of Science in Marketing

Average Salary: $67,990

Bachelor of Science in Marketing is one of the easiest degrees to get a job with due to its high demand and potential. While the average salary of marketing majors in the US is around $67,990, salaries for managerial roles in the field are exceptionally high. For example, advertising, promotions, and marketing managers earned a median salary of $156,580 annually in 2023. With 389,000 jobs in 2022, this field is expected to grow 6% from 2022 to 2032 which will result in 24,300 new positions.

9. Bachelor of Arts in English

Average Salary: $68,000

The English language teaching market in the United States saw significant activity in 2022. With 750 active providers nationwide, California was the hub with 16% of the total, followed closely by Florida and New York. These institutions enrolled a combined total of 70,579 students.

Moreover, With so many online options available to pursue a degree in English Language, it is one of the easy online degrees that pay well. To read about companies offering English teaching opportunities, see 13 Best Companies for Teaching English Online.

8. Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology

Average Salary: $68,300

While Anthropology is often considered one of the easiest college majors, there are only 6290 accredited anthropologists across the US. Moreover, a bachelor's in anthropology typically spans 120 credits, though some programs like Oregon State University's online course require 180. From anthropologists with a median salary of $63,940 to historians earning $64,540 annually, the field offers a plethora of different occupational options.

7. Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

Average Salary: $69,000

One of the biggest reasons why psychology is one of the highest-paying careers in the US is the pressing need for the profession in the country. With over 50 million American adults facing mental health issues and a major portion not receiving essential care as of 2022, the demand for psychologists is undeniably high. Despite the prevalence of conditions like depression and anxiety, many individuals remain untreated.

6. Bachelor of Arts in Communications

Average Salary: $70,000

A communications college degree holds paramount importance in today's media landscape. According to a recent survey by Boston University's College of Communication, 72% of Americans acknowledge the need of media literacy skills to combat misinformation. However, only 42% know how to access quality media literacy training online. This explains why it is becoming one of the most popular degree choices as it is also one of the easiest degrees to make money.

Click here to see the 5 Easiest Degrees That Pay Well.

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Disclosure: None. 15 Easiest Degrees That Pay Well is originally published on Insider Monkey.
In this article, we list and discuss the 15 states with the highest rates of SNAP recipients in the US. If you would like to skip our detailed discussion about the SNAP program, you can go directly to the top 5 States With the Highest Rates of SNAP Recipients in the US.

While the United States is the largest economy in the world, about 37.9 million or 11.5% of Americans live in poverty, according to the Census Bureaus 2022 report.

Every year, the federal government of the United States pays billions of dollars in economic security benefits to low-income populations. The CBPP analysis finds that the US allocated $522 billion, or about 8% of the federal budget, to financial security benefits in 2023, supporting low-income individuals and families. One such benefit is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is a monthly cash provision to help pay for food. It targets families and individuals with low income and who cant work due to physical or mental disability. According to USDA, on average, 42.15 million people, or about 12.5% of the US population used SNAP in 2023, for which the US paid a total benefit of more than $107.06 billion. Compared to 2022, the US cut off its SNAP spending by nearly $7 billion in 2023.

For further context, on the 1st of March 2023, the federal government ended the emergency allotments (EAs), which were temporary benefits to provide relief to those in need during the pandemic. Consequently, the monthly snap expenditure fell from $10.47 billion in February 2023 to around $8.72 billion in March 2023. Additionally, there were further steep cuts in the SNAP benefits for households, which brought the cost down to around $7.4 billion from April 2023 onwards. For more context, the average monthly SNAP benefit fell from $211.65 in 2023 to $190.12 in the Q1 of 2024.

Moreover, SNAP recipients are also projected to decline by 1 million in 2024, to 41.1 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The main reason for the decline of SNAP recipients is the expansion of the US economy and the job creation performing well above the pre-pandemic projections by the end of 2023.

However, some states in the US are economically performing better than others, which means some states receive more SNAP benefits than others. SNAP benefits vary by state, and the largest US state by population, California, received the most SNAP benefits in January 2024, amounting to over $1 billion. By the way, California ranks 3rd on the list of states with the worst job markets in 2023, with 782,288 Californians unemployed. The high rate of unemployment directly results in high food insecurity for the individuals who depend on SNAP benefits.

In addition to federal food aid programs like SNAP, many multinational corporations like Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), US Foods Holding Corp (NYSE:USFD), and General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) help ease the food insecurity for millions of people in the US.

Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), a multinational American corporation that has a massive network of retail stores, is one of the largest donors of Feeding America  a non-profit organization with a nationwide network of over 200 food banks. Over the last five years, Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) and its division, Sams Club, alongside participating suppliers and customers, contributed over $114 million to Feeding America. In FY 2023 alone, the company donated over 665 million pounds of food.

Meanwhile, US Foods Holding Corp (NYSE:USFD), a leading food service distributor in the US, participates in various philanthropic programs, including the food insecurity ones. In 2023, the company donated more than $12 million to Feeding America and its more than 50 food banks nationwide. The company started donating to Feeding America in 2007 and, since then, has donated over $170 million worth of food and supplies. Moreover, US Foods Holding Corp (NYSE:USFD) also generated $100,000 in donations for hunger relief programs through associate giving and volunteer initiatives in 2023.

On the other hand, General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS), a multinational company that manufactures and markets branded processed consumer foods, enabled more than 431 million meals in food donations since 2000. Moreover, the company has also been part of Feeding America, contributing $37 million since 1979 to support the food network. In addition to substantial food donations, General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) also funded $3.4 million to develop MealConnect, a food recovery app, allowing more than 5 billion pounds of food to be rescued.

Below, we list the states with the highest rates of SNAP recipients in the US.

15 States With the Highest Rates of SNAP Recipients in the US

Beautiful Sacramento capitol, the headquarter of Arnold Schwarzenegger. ;-)

Our Methodology

For our list of the 15 states with the highest rates of SNAP recipients in the US, we consulted the most recent SNAP data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) of January 2024. The rate of SNAP recipients  the percentage of people receiving food stamps  was calculated by dividing the number of SNAP participants per state by the population estimates of the respective states, as of the Censuss 2023 data. The list is in ascending order of rates of SNAP recipients in each state.

By the way, Insider Monkey is an investing website that uses a consensus approach to identify the best stock picks of more than 900 hedge funds investing in US stocks. The website tracks the movement of corporate insiders and hedge funds. Our top 10 consensus stock picks of hedge funds outperformed the S&P 500 stock index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). So, if you are looking for the best stock picks to buy, you can benefit from the wisdom of hedge funds and corporate insiders.

15 States With the Highest Rates of SNAP Recipients in the US

15. Kentucky

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 12.98%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 587,805

Home to over 4.5 million people, Kentucky is the 36th largest state in the United States. With a poverty rate of 16.5% and an unemployment rate of 43.2%, 587,805 of Kentuckys residents, as of the initial data of January 2024, received food stamps. For those employed, the median household income is $59,341, which is $15,414 less than the national average.

14. Mississippi

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 13.24%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 389,267

Mississippi is one of the southern states in the US, home to over 2.9 million people. The median household income in Mississippi is $52,719. Compared to the national average of $74,755, according to the Census, Mississippis median household income is $22,036 less. Moreover, the poverty rate of the state is 19.1%, which is 6.5% higher than the overall poverty rate of the US. Given this backdrop, Mississippi is one of the states with the highest rates of SNAP recipients in the US as of 2024.

13. California

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 13.69%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 5,335,531

A western state, California is the third largest state in the US by area and is home to around 39.5 million people. According to the Census data, California does better than the national average in terms of poverty rates as well as the median household income. For context, the median household income in California is $91,551, and the poverty rate is 12.2%. Despite this, due to its large population, California has the thirteenth highest rate of SNAP recipients in the US.

12. Alabama

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 14.62%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 746,939

Alabama is a southeastern US state with a population of about 5.02 million people. According to the Census, the median household income of Alabama is less than that of the whole US; standing at $59,674. Also, the unemployment and poverty rates are 44.3% and 16.2%. Given this backdrop, 14.62% of the population participates in SNAP.

11. New York

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 14.80%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 2,897,231

New York, one of the most popular states in the US, is the 30th largest state by area. It is home to a vast population of over 20.2 million people, out of which 40% of the individuals have attained higher education, reflecting the good educational record of the state. However, 40.6% of the population in New York is unemployed, and the poverty rate is also 14.3%  higher than the national average. Moreover, New York has the largest homeless population per capita. (See also: 20 States with the Largest Homeless Populations Per Capita)

10. Michigan

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 14.98%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 1,504,350

Michigan, the state with the longest freshwater coastline in the United States, is home to over 10 million people. Out of these, 58.7% of the population is employed, while 32.1% have attained higher education. For those employed, however, the median household income is only $66,986, which is $7,769 less than the national average. Also, the poverty rate for Michigan is 13.4%. All these factors combined result in a large number of the population requiring aid in terms of food, which positions the state 10th among the top 15 states with the highest rates of SNAP recipients in the US.

9. Pennsylvania

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 15.31%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 1,984,531

With a population of a little over 13 million people and a land area of 44,729.9 square miles, Pennsylvania is one of the most densely populated states in the US. 39.9% of the population is unemployed in the state, while 11.8% lives in poverty. Also, the median household income in the state is $71,798, which is only slightly less than the national average. Despite these positive metrics, Pennsylvania still ranks among the states with the highest rates of SNAP recipients in the US because of its large population.

8. Illinois

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 15.32%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 1,923,443

Often referred to as the Prairie State, Illinois is located in the midwestern region of the US. The state is home to a large population of over 12.8 million people, of which 37.7% have attained higher education, and 61.7% are employed. The median household income in Illinois is $76,708, which is higher than the state average. On the other hand, the poverty rate stands at 11.9%, which is slightly less than the national average. Similar to Pennsylvania and California, the number of residents that participate in SNAP is high in Illinois due to the generally large population.

7. West Virginia

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 15.54%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 275,104

Ranked 7th, West Virginia is an eastern U.S. state, best known for its landscapes and the Appalachian Mountains. It is one of the top 10 smallest states in the US by area, covering only about 24,034.8 square miles in land area. West Virginia is home to about 1.8 million people, of which only 24.8% of the people have attained higher education and 49.8% are unemployed. Furthermore, the median household income of the state is only $54,329, while the poverty rate is at a whopping 17.9%. Resultantly, West Virginia is home to the seventh-largest number of SNAP recipients as of 2024.

6. Massachusetts

Percentage of Residents Receiving Food Stamps: 15.67%

Number of Residents that Participated in SNAP: 1,097,389

Massachusetts, covering a land area of 7,798.9 square miles is the 5th smallest state in the US by area. Home to over 7 million people, Massachusetts ranks 6th on the list of states with the highest rates of SNAP recipients, with 1,097,389 people receiving food stamps.

Click to continue reading and see the 5 States With the Highest Rates of SNAP Recipients in the US.

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It pays to follow which stocks Warren Buffett is buying. His holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B), has averaged double-digit annual returns for decades.

What is Buffett and Berkshire buying today? Two stocks in particular stick out. While technically competitors, they each control a huge chunk of a growing, highly profitable market. Investors have already greatly profited from these two stocks, but it's not too late for you to jump in.

Buffett has already made 1,500% returns with these two stocks

If Warren Buffett has taught the market anything, it's to buy businesses that continue to grow for far longer than anyone anticipates. Sure, some stocks zoom in value over a period of months or years. However, compounding consistent growth over decades is the most reliable method of producing long-term wealth.

There are two businesses in Buffett's portfolio that very well could be the next $1 trillion stocks: Visa (NYSE: V) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA). Regulatory filings currently show Berkshire with a $2.2 billion position in Visa, and a $1.7 billion stake in Mastercard. Both stocks have been in the portfolio since 2011 -- another sign that Buffett is playing the long game with these investments.

Buffett has already accrued huge gains through these holdings. Both stocks are up well over 1,500% since 2011. The S&P 500, for comparison, grew in value by just 427% over that time period.

V Total Return Level Chart

Visa and Mastercard stocks have more upside from here

Is there still time to follow Buffett into Visa and Mastercard? Absolutely. That's because the same factors that made both businesses so successful are still in place. In many ways, these factors are stronger than ever.

Perhaps the best type of business to buy is one that benefits from network effects. That is, the more people use the business's product or service, the more valuable that product or service becomes.

Network effects can create positive feedback loops that can persist for decades. Visa and Mastercard are great examples of this. If no one uses Visa or Mastercard, merchants won't accept them as a form of payment. But if millions of people use Visa or Mastercard, millions of merchants will rush to accept them. This dynamic naturally consolidates market share to a few competitors. Just look at the U.S. market. Today, Visa controls 61% of the U.S. credit and debit card market, while Mastercard controls roughly 25%. In combination, these two businesses dominate 86% of the entire U.S. payment card market!

The reason Visa and Mastercard are so powerful is partially because that's what the market demands. Consumers want payment cards that are accepted everywhere. Meanwhile, merchants only want to accept payment methods that customers actually use.

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In return for plugging merchants and customers into a global, widely adopted payment network, Visa and Mastercard charge a small fee per transaction. Because Visa and Mastercard are primarily software-based businesses -- as compared to companies that require costly physical infrastructure -- even small fees can be very profitable, especially when applied to trillions of dollars of purchases.

V Profit Margin Chart

As you can see in the chart above, Visa and Mastercard both have abnormally high profit margins of around 50%. That's an extraordinary feat, considering that earnings per share have also grown considerably over the decades. You might also notice that profitability has increased as profits have grown. That's partially due to the benefits of scale. As primarily software businesses, Visa and Mastercard are considered asset-light. That is, much of its added profits fall straight to the bottom line rather than needing to be reinvested back into the business.

Visa and Mastercard stocks aren't cheap, trading at 30 and 36 times earnings, respectively. But that's a fair premium for such highly profitable, highly scalable businesses that essentially have a duopoly in a trillion-dollar market. Buffett and Berkshire didn't sell a single share last quarter, and it isn't too late for investors to follow suit with an investment of their own.

Should you invest $1,000 in Visa right now?

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2 Warren Buffett Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist in May was originally published by The Motley Fool
In this article, we will look at the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US. You can skip our detailed analysis to go directly to 5 States with the Highest High School Dropout Rates in the US.

Overview of Dropout Rates in US High Schools

According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the overall status dropout rate in US high schools stood at 5.3% in 2022. The status dropout rate represents the number of people between ages 16 and 24 not enrolled in schools who did not earn a high school credential; neither a diploma nor an equivalent credential such as a GED certificate. 9.9% individuals of this rate were American Indians/Alaskan Natives, while 7.9% were of Hispanic origin. In addition, Pacific Islanders and Black people made up 9.1% and 5.7% of the total dropout rate in 2022, respectively. Asians and White people had the lowest concentration, standing at 1.9% and 4.3% respectively. The overall status dropout rate in 2022 also included 4.5% of people belonging to two or more races.

However, the overall status dropout rate in the US has decreased in the last decade, going from 8.3% in 2010 to 5.3% in 2022. The decrease was the most prominent for people who were Hispanic, dropping from 16.7% to 7.9% between 2010 and 2022. American Indian/Alaskan Native people underwent a reduction in the overall status dropout rate during the same time frame as well, changing from 15.4% to 9.9%. The rate also declined for people who were Black (from 10.3% in 2010 to 5.7% in 2022), White (from 5.3% in 2010 to 4.3% in 20212), and Asian (from 2.8% in 2010 to 1.9% in 2022). People belonging to two or more races also experienced a decrease in their overall status dropout rate, declining from 6.1% in 2010 to 4.5% in 2022.

In addition, the overall status dropout rate in US high schools was higher in males between the ages of 16 and 24 as compared to females in the same age group in 2022. Around 6.3% of the people who dropped out of high school in 2022 were male, while 4.3% were female. Data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention showed that the high school dropout rate is not spread evenly across the country. States in the northeastern region of the country had relatively higher dropout rates as compared to other regions. You can also look at 25 Countries with Education Problems.

Key Players Promoting Accessible Education

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that 2.78 million individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 dropped out of high school in 2012 in the United States. However, this number dropped to 2.11 million individuals in 2022, showing a positive trajectory. EdTech companies like Pearson PLC (NYSE:PSO) and Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) have played a significant role in promoting accessible education across the country, offering resources that streamline academic milestones.

On May 7, Pearson PLC (NYSE:PSO) announced plans to expand its gen AI-powered tools globally, allowing seamless access to students across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Australia by August 2024. The AI-powered beta study tools will be available across the companys Mastering study platform, along with MyLab and several Pearson eTextbook global editions in mathematics, engineering, business, and science. Equipped to offer personalized support to students, Pearson PLC (NYSE:PSO) claims that the tools will help students excel in education. On March 26, the company also reported the opening of three new Connections Academy virtual school offerings in California, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. These full-time, tuition-free, public-school programs will be offered in the 2024-2025 academic year for effective K-12 learning.

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) is another prominent name in the EdTech sector. The companys Duolingo for School offers ACTFL and CEFR-aligned curriculum, personalized assignments, and progress insights to facilitate language learning. Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) also collaborated with the International Languages Testing Association (ILTA) to offer the ILTA Duolingo Collaboration and Outreach Grant. On February 7, Carleton Universitys School of Linguistics and Language Studies reported the winners of the 2024 collaborative grant. Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) also pledged $1 million in funding for local schools in 2023.

Now that we have looked at an overview of high school dropout trends, lets move towards the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US. You can also look at 25 Least Competitive Dental Schools in America and 16 Dental Schools with Highest Acceptance Rates.

20 States with the Highest High School Dropout Rates in the US

Our Methodology

In order to compile a list of the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US, we have considered the status dropout rate, which is the percentage of high school dropouts among people aged 16-24, as the primary and sole metric. We have taken the data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The latest data is available from 2021. According to the source, the coefficient of variation (CV) for the estimates is between 30% and 50%. The 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US are arranged in ascending order of their status dropout rates.

20 States with the Highest High School Dropout Rates in the US

20. Washington

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 5.2%

Washington ranks 20th on our list of the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US with a 5.2% status dropout rate as of 2021. 9.3% of individuals in the rate are Americans.

19. Ohio

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 5.4%

Ohio has a status dropout rate of 5.4% as of 2021, with Black and Hispanic people taking up 7.8% and 7.3% of the count, respectively. 6.1% of individuals in Ohios status dropout rate belong to two or more races as of 2021.

18. Michigan

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 5.6%

Michigan is located in the Upper Midwestern region of the US. It ranks 18th on our list with a status dropout rate of 5.6%, of which 11.2% are Americans.

17. South Carolina

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.0%

South Carolina ties with Florida in terms of their status dropout rates as of 2021. The percentage of high school dropouts in the state between the ages 16-24 came up to 6.0% in 2021, of which 11.8% were Hispanic.

16. Florida

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.0%

Florida is located in the southeastern edge of the United States, bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The state is particularly known for Miami's bustling nightlife and Orlando's Walt Disney World. 7.4% individuals of Floridas status dropout rate of 6.0% were Hispanic, while 7.0% were Black in 2021. The state also had 3.0% Asians and 4.7% White people.

15. Alaska

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.1%

Alaska is located on the northwestern-most edge of North America, bordering Canada. The state has a status dropout rate of 6.1% as of 2021, with 11.6% individuals being American and 11.0% mixed-race individuals between the ages of 16 and 24.

14. Vermont

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.1%

With a status dropout rate of 6.1%, Vermont ranks on our list of the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US. Known to be a major producer of maple syrup, the state is located in the northeastern portion of the US.

13. Texas

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.1%

Also known as the Lone Star State, Texas has a status dropout rate of 6.1% as of 2021. 7.8% individuals of this rate are Americans, while 8.1% are Hispanic and 6.5% are Black.

12. Mississippi

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.3%

Mississippi is located in the southern United States and borders the Mississippi River to its West. It ranks on our list of the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US.

11. South Dakota

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.3%

18.5% individuals of South Dakotas status dropout rate of 6.3% are Americans, with both statistics from 2021. The state also has a 9.1% concentration of people of Hispanic origin. South Dakota is sparsely populated, and covers a large area in the midwestern region of the United States. It is known for Mount Rushmore, a granite peak depicting four honored presidents of the United States.

10. Oklahoma

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.3%

The landlocked state of Oklahoma is located in the South Central region of the United States. It ranks on our list with a status dropout rate of 6.3% as of 2021.

9. Alabama

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.5%

Alabama is a southeastern US state with a status high school dropout rate of 6.5% as of 2021, of which 18.8% individuals are Hispanic. It ranks ninth on our list of the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US.

8. Georgia

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.6%

Georgia is a southeastern US state lined with farmlands, coastal beaches, and mountains. With a status dropout rate of 6.6%, the state ranks on our list. 10.2% of the rate are Hispanic people, while 6.7% are Black.

7. Indiana

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.6%

Indiana is located in the midwestern region of the United States, and has a status dropout rate of 6.6% as of 2021. Of this rate, 9.3% individuals are Black, 9.1% are Hispanic, 6.1% are White, and 6.6% belong to two or more races.

6. Louisiana

Status Dropout Rate as of 2021: 6.7%

Around 11.7% of individuals of Louisiana's 6.7% status dropout rate belong to one or more races, while 8.6% are Hispanic and 7.6% are Black. It ranks on our list of the 20 states with the highest high school dropout rates in the US.

Click to continue reading and see 5 States with the Highest High School Dropout Rates in the US.

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Disclosure: None. 20 States with the Highest High School Dropout Rates in the US is originally published on Insider Monkey.
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.

Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends a meeting and delivers a speech in Beijing, capital of China, May 11, 2024. Xi Jinping's important instruction was conveyed at the meeting on boosting the development of ideological-political courses for schools. [Xinhua/Liu Weibing]

(Source: Xinhua)
This article is old - Published: Sunday, May 12th, 2024

Wrexham.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 his monthly column for Wrexham.com, Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes writes:

As your Member of Parliament, it is always a privilege to see the work of volunteers in communities across Clwyd South.

It was a pleasure to attend the launch of the appeal by St Marys Church, Chirk to raise 60,000 to restore their church bells on the 16th March.

Thank you to Deryl Crocombe for inviting me and to Peter Furniss for his inspiring talk about the six bells which were cast in 1814 and last overhauled in 1912. And thank you to the vicar Rev. Matt Wilkinson who always makes us all feel so welcome at St Marys Church.

As a Cluster of Towers, the churches in Bangor-on-Dee, Overton-on-Dee and Chirk have recently been awarded the Association of Ringing Teachers award for Cluster of the Year.

The judges were looking for ringers who demonstrated commitment and drive to develop the next generation of ringers and leaders by supporting each other in ringing and teaching as a Cluster of Towers. Many congratulations to everyone involved!

I had a wonderful time visiting the 1st Overton Cubs on the 11th April in their Scout Hut in Overton-on-Dee.

I enjoyed telling them about my life and work as an MP and was extremely impressed by how well informed they are as I discovered in their excellent questions.

I wish to thank their Cub Section Lead Volunteer Mark Sayer for inviting me and it was great to meet Erin Sayer, Lowri Hughes and David Huyton, who also help with the 27 Cubs  we owe so much to these volunteers for their care and leadership of the Cubs.

What a happy and inspiring evening it was!

It was a great pleasure to attend the High Sheriff of Clwyd Kate Hill-Trevors Service of Thanksgiving on the 23 March at the beautiful St Marys Church in Chirk.

It was a fitting way to celebrate all that the High Sheriff has accomplished over the last year in Clwyd and very generous of the Hill-Trevor family to invite us all to their stunning home, Brynkinalt, nearby for tea.

It was great to visit the Llanarmon DC Village Hall on the 12th April with Cllr Trevor Bates and Rt Hon Craig Williams MP, the Prospective Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, to meet with Ennis Griffiths, Sandra Halls and Gill Holt and their team of volunteers.

They organise the weekly gathering for senior citizens every Friday where they can get together for a good chat and are served soup and a cake. Everyone is so grateful to the volunteers for their kindness and commitment to the Llanarmon community.

I am proud of the investment that the UK government has made in Clwyd South, and I was delighted that the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Felicity Buchan MP, came with Dr James Davies MP to visit the Horseshoe Falls near Llangollen on the 14th March to learn about the impact of Levelling Up funding at the site.

The Horseshoe Falls are a truly magnificent site near Llangollen. As part of the World Heritage Site, they attract many visitors each year and serves as a wonderful local landmark for residents.

I am proud of the work that is being carried out to help enhance the visitor experience as part of the 13.3 million Clwyd South Levelling Up Fund that I secured as the local MP and I look forward to seeing these works completed.

Additionally, I was pleased to highlight the recent Community Ownership Fund grant made by the UK government to the Owain Glyndwr Hotel in Corwen of 452,700 during questions to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in the House of Commons on the 22nd April.

The announcement is a wonderful example of the hugely beneficial impact of the UK governments Community Ownership Fund on local communities, and will enable this much-loved hotel to play a central role in the town again and to benefit from the re-opening of Corwen Station and other projects in Corwen arising from my Clwyd South Levelling Up Fund.

Clwyd South is home to many other examples of our rich heritage such as the restored memorial to Huw Morus near Glyn Ceiriog, which I had the pleasure of visiting with the Prospective Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, Rt Hon Craig Williams MP, along with Cllr Keith Benning and Cllr Trevor Bates on the 12th April.

It is wonderful to see such an important piece of Welsh history restored and preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Huw Morus (1622  1709), also known by his bardic name Eos Ceiriog (the nightingale of Ceiriog), was one the most popular and prolific poets of his time. Moruss work bridges the gap between the strict-metre tradition of the Beirdd y Uchelwyr (the medieval Poets of the Nobility) and popular verse.

The restoration of the memorial would not have been possible without the kind permission and financial support of owner Martin Obbard, along with hard work and perseverance of Keith Benning, Chairman of the Ceiriog Ucha Community Council.

Following this, it was fascinating visit to the New Glyn Valley Tramway & Industrial Heritage Trust in Glyn Ceiriog on 12th April with Rt Hon Craig Williams MP and Cllr Trevor Bates.

As a proud member of the Trust, I always enjoy visiting them and seeing the progress they are making in preserving the heritage and telling the stories of the Glyn Valley Tramway and the industries it once served in the Ceiriog Valley.

As your Member of Parliament, my team and I are always here to provide advice and support  please email me at simon.baynes.mp@parliament.uk. For updates on my work in Clwyd South and Westminster, please visit my website www.simonbaynes.co.uk.
Council leader says Wrexham Town Fund will create legacies for the city

This article is old - Published: Sunday, May 12th, 2024

An eagerly awaited map will soon be released showing where in Wrexham will be eligible for the Town Fund, that the Council Leader hopes will create legacies.

Last year it was announced the city will receive 2 million per year for the next 10 years as part of the UK Government Towns Fund.

Wrexham Council is responsible for delivering the fund by working with interested parties, with broad investment themes including: Safety and Security; High Street; Heritage; Regeneration; and Transport and Connectivity.

According to the UK Government local people will be put in charge, and given the tools to change their towns long-term future via the ten-year endowment-style fund.

A Town Board has been formed to bring together community leaders, employers and local authorities to deliver the Long-Term Plan for their town and put it to local people for consultation.

The separate Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) saw Wrexham Council taking the lions share of the funding (8.8m) to then on the whole administer further sub funds (report here).

Wrexham.com had heard some grumbles that the forthcoming Town Fund spend could be, in part, used for Wrexham Council projects to help counter further budget cuts at the local authority.

In theory the fund can be used for cultural areas like arts galleries and museums, as well as wider cultural projects.

Environment budgets such as fixing potholes and traffic management systems could also come under the approved areas of spending.

Eyebrows were also been raised at what was describing as top sliced funding for administration overheads, that will be due to Wrexham Council.

At a media brief last week Wrexham.com asked senior leadership at Wrexham Council if once all the projects on SPF (Shared Prosperity Fund) and Town Fund are completed if the final numbers would show the majority of funding ended up with current or former council projects, or if they were confident wider local projects would benefit.

Leader of Wrexham Council Mark Pritchard said: I am confident it will be done for local projects and, and anybody else who wants to put in a bid.

On SPF he said: Wrexham Council were not excluded from this process, they were entitled to bid, which they did and some are successful.

Some Wrexham Council bids were put in and we rejected them.

Weve been very careful on what weve done. I think its a good balance.

David (Cllr Bithell) and I sit on the board, and we have a good working relationship with the board.

The most important thing is for me that we continue to look at the expenditure when its spent, we need to be meticulous on checks and balances, through an audit process of anybody that we give money to.

On the Town Fund he added: The Towns Fund is a different one. Our report has gone to the Executive Board, were looking forward to the Chair being announced.

Im looking forward to working with the Chair, and can I say Ive already met her and she seemed very enthusiastic and given her track record, I dont think we could have got a better Chair.

Now we have to agree the map, and then we have to take it forward.

20 million over 10 years, 2 million each year 75% is capital, and 25% revenue funding.

What I would like from this fund in years to come when we look back, that there are legacies, and weve made a difference within the city center and surrounding area.

As Cllr Pritchard mentioned a map being firmed up we asked if that was a tight town/city centre definition or if the public would be seeing weird bits where lines will go out and cover specific areas, places or buildings.

Cllr Pritchard said the map would be public and come back to the Executive Board for sign off: We took it to the Executive Board and youve seen the recommendations that a map will be drawn up.

We will bring it back. There will be some discussions on it. There has to be on how far we extend it. Thats where we are really.

(Top pic: Where is Wrexham Town? A question that will be resolved soon when the map of the area eligible for funding will emerge.)
 Flash

Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit welcomed on Saturday the resolution recently adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member.

"The overwhelming vote in favor of the resolution clearly indicates the compass of global will and the direction of international public opinion," Aboul-Gheit was cited as saying in a statement released by the Cairo-based, pan-Arab organization.

On Friday, the UNGA overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring Palestine's eligibility for a full UN membership.

Adopted with 143 votes in favor, nine against, including the United States and Israel, and 25 abstentions, the resolution states that "the State of Palestine... should therefore be admitted to membership" and "recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably."

The AL chief said that the move "reflects the reality of Palestine's eligibility to obtain an independent state, and it also sends the right message to the Palestinians at a time when they are exposed to a full-fledged tragedy," referring to the ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Aboul-Gheit stressed that "countries convinced of the two-state solution must accelerate steps to transform this vision into reality," adding that "the recognition of the Palestinian state and its full membership in the UN represent important steps on this path."

He underlined the importance of continuing diplomatic pressures on the countries providing "political cover for Israel" within the UN.

The recent resolution came after the United States vetoed last month a bid at the Security Council to grant the Palestinian state a full UN membership.
If you like income, you've come to the right place. A few Fool.com contributors have highlighted some of their favorite income stocks.

What they like about this particular trio, MPLX (NYSE: MPLX), Oneok (NYSE: OKE), and Enbridge (NYSE: ENB), is that they offer high dividend yields and are on track to grow their payouts. That combination of income and growth could enable these high-yield dividend stocks to generate high total returns in the coming years.

An 8% yield backed by the best in the business

Tyler Crowe (MPLX): Energy infrastructure has consistently been one of the highest-yielding industries for decades. Moving oil and gas is much more of a volume business than a commodity price business, which ensures steady cash flows. Also, many of the companies in this industry are structured as master limited partnerships, which makes each shareholder responsible for their portion of the partnership's taxable income. The business passes much of its cash flow to investors to cover their portion of taxes.

MPLX has emerged as one of the best in the energy infrastructure business. The company is a publicly traded subsidiary of Marathon Petroleum, and it owns much of the oil and gas infrastructure that moves oil, gas, and refined products to and from Marathon refineries.

What makes MPLX stand out among its peers is its strong rates of return, capital discipline, and generous returns to shareholders. It has simultaneously generated some of the highest returns on invested capital while keeping its leverage (defined as debt to EBITDA) lower than most.

MPLX Return on Invested Capital Chart

At the same time, its dividend growth has outpaced all of its competitors by a pretty wide margin.

MPLX Dividend Chart

Investors shouldn't expect huge increases in revenue or earnings. Oil and gas pipelines is a slow-growing business that generates lots of cash. Today, the stock has a forward dividend yield of 8.1%. There aren't many high-yield stocks out there that match what MPLX has to offer as a business or as a stock.

The best kind of dividend growth

Jason Hall (Oneok): There are a few dividend growth stock lists that investors love -- namely, the ones that are companies that have increased their dividend every single year for multiple decades. And while I own a few of those stocks, I'm here to challenge the idea of consecutive dividend growth as being a must-have before a stock is buy-worthy. The recent tales of Walgreens and 3M are great examples of when dividend-growth-can't-stop becomes a detriment, and ends up harming shareholders.

This is a big reason I wanted to share Oneok as my pick for this topic. Since January of 2020, this midstream energy company has only increased its dividend twice. That's right -- just two increases in the past four years.

Story continues

However, it also was able to navigate the Coronavirus pandemic without having to cut the payout. A boon for its shareholders, many of which may have been counting on that quarterly check to make ends meet.

Why is this notable? In short, because prior to the pandemic Oneok's management was able to raise the payout 11 times from 2015 through 2019, while still heading into one of the most challenging periods in the modern energy industry's history with a strong enough business and balance sheet to keep paying shareholders and operating its business.

Fast-forward to the post-pandemic period, and Oneok is back on a dividend growth cadence, after increasing its payout 2% in 2023 and 3.7% to start 2024. And while it hasn't been a market-beating stock over the past decade, it's been an income investor's dream, growing its payout 148%, and generating 156% in total returns, or almost 10% a year on average. With a yield near 4.9% at recent prices and a strong, cash-flowing business, Oneok deserves consideration from investors prioritizing a high-dependable yield, and a long-term track record of growth, but with a management team that puts the needs of the business ahead of raising the payout.

Lots of fuel to continue growing

Matt DiLallo (Enbridge): Enbridge is approaching another milestone. This year should be the Canadian pipeline and utility company's 30th in a row of increasing its dividend. That's an impressive streak, considering the energy market's volatility.

The company built its business to generate very stable cash flow. Enbridge pays 60% to 70% of its steady cash flow to investors in dividends. It retains the rest to help fund expansion projects. That approach provides investors with stable returns while allowing it to continue growing.

Enbridge currently has a massive backlog of expansion projects. It ended the first quarter with $25 billion Canadian ($18.3 billion) of commercially secured growth projects. That backlog gives it lots of visibility into its future earnings growth. It supports the company's view that it can increase its adjusted EBITDA by around 3% annually through 2028. On top of that, Enbridge expects to deliver another 1% to 2% in annual earnings growth from optimizations and cost savings.

The company has the financial capacity to fund its growth with room to spare. This financial flexibility will allow it to sanction additional projects, make bolt-on acquisitions, and opportunistically repurchase shares. Those upside catalysts support its view that it should deliver 5% annual earnings growth over the next several years.

That should give Enbridge plenty of fuel to continue increasing its high-yielding dividend, which currently stands at over 7%. Combined with its growing earnings, Enbridge could have the power to continue producing double-digit average annual total returns, consistent with its long-term track record of growing shareholder value.

Should you invest $1,000 in Enbridge right now?

Before you buy stock in Enbridge, 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 Enbridge 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*.

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Jason Hall has positions in Enterprise Products Partners. Matt DiLallo has positions in 3M, Enbridge, Enterprise Products Partners, and Kinder Morgan. Tyler Crowe has positions in Enterprise Products Partners and MPLX. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Enbridge and Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool recommends 3M, Enterprise Products Partners, and ONEOK. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

3 High-Yield Stocks on Track to Grow Their Payouts was originally published by The Motley Fool
Small businesses take flight with free international export programme

This article is old - Published: Sunday, May 12th, 2024

Small businesses will take flight by capitalising on export opportunities with the support of Antur Cymru Enterprise.

The Global Reach Out Programme is funded by UK Government, powered by Levelling Up and delivered by Antur Cymru Enterprise in collaboration with International Trade Support Group and Powys County Council.

The project explores trade and overseas partnerships via a series of funded remote and in-person training sessions which resume this month.

Delivered by international trade advisor Clive Barnard  who has more than 30 years industry experience, including a decade with Business Wales  attendees from across the region can learn all about the world of international sales and customer relations, no matter the size of their commercial operation.

As part of a small team of industry experts who launched ITSG in 2019  and subsequently the Wrexham-based Centre for International Trade Support  Clive says small and independent companies in any sector should target exports, particularly given the economic and social challenges of recent times.

Our Never Too Small to Export programme with Antur Cymru demonstrates there is a market out there for all businesses, especially at a grass roots level, said Clive.

In fact, many smaller firms have already sold products or dealt with customers outside the UK to some extent and have experience of dealing in exports, but dont consider that an avenue to pursue further.

He added: In Wales since the pandemic  and this is certainly the case in Powys and rural areas of north and mid Wales  there are many talented independents in different sectors, especially retail, selling online and in a position to capitalise on the huge demand out there  we can help them do it.

There have been geopolitical events which have affected international trade  Covid 19 and Brexit for example  so we navigate any issues and look at the principles from targeting which countries to sell to, distribution, transport and logistics, documentation and more.

The feedback has been very positive so far and Im sure interest will grow in the months ahead.

The course runs over 10 weeks and runs parallel with other support packages delivered under the Global Reach Out Programme

While the project is for a matter of weeks ITSGs involvement continues via guidance and advice as the entrepreneurs look at entry into relevant markets and start building relationships overseas.

Additional advice around wider business topics is also available through Anturs Local Business Support Project.

By combining Anturs reputation for excellence in business support with our experience and partnerships, including with various embassies, we have a robust understanding of opportunities to enable local businesses to grow their markets, said Clive.

Bronwen Raine, Managing Director of Antur Cymru, added: So many small businesses are unaware of the many opportunities out there globally, not just here in the UK or on their doorstep.

This programme explores where they are and how to make the most of them, so we hope to see a good turnout later this month. As an organisation that has worked to support businesses for more than 40 years, it is fantastic to be able to expand our offer into this specialist area with the support of ITSG 

For more on Antur Cymru, visit the website and follow them on social media at @AnturCymruWales.

Alternatively, call 01239 710238 or email info@anturcymru.org.uk. Visit www.itsgworld.com for more news and information from International Trade Support Group (ITSG).
Bulgac / Getty Images

Home renovations have been all the rage since COVID-19 forced people to spend more time at home. While trends come and go  hello custom bookshelves to impress clients on Zoom  home renovations are still top of mind. Depending on your budget, home updates range from extensive kitchen overhauls to commissioning a custom coffee table, but people are still just as focused on how their homes look in 2024.

Read More: 7 Ways People Destroy the Value of Their Homes, According to a Real Estate Agent

Check Out: 4 Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money

We chatted with three experts who work in the home renovation field to see what choices are worth cutting a check for and which arent worth the cringy price tag. Thanks to them, you can save some money without sacrificing style and achieving the look you want.

Custom Furniture

Dylan Shipley, founder of Dylan Martin Furniture LLC, specializes in custom furniture and millwork. Shipley is an expert in knowing which dining and end tables, cabinetry and bookshelves are worth investing in. As a fabricator who works primarily with interior designers, he brings their visions to life and is adamant about homeowners contributing to the planning phase.

After starting his career in industrial design, Shipley fell in love with working in the woodshop, creating custom furniture for residential and commercial clients. He still follows his tried-and-true philosophy: If youre going to spend the money, make sure you get what you want.

I believe affluent clientele are attracted to custom furniture because it is special in comparison with store bought pieces that anyone in the world can also own, explains Shipley, who is based in Chicago. Whether it is a coffee or dining room table or a bookshelf, people hire me because they want something truly unique made by someone local.

While recent fads have leaned towards a mixture of Midcentury modern and Art Deco, Shipley believes custom pieces should explicitly meet the clients design goals. The woodworker encourages his clients to put a lot of thought into what will be most functional for their home to receive the most payoff from their custom piece.

Once a client considers how the piece fits into the whole picture, they can know exactly what design choices to make. Putting a lot into the planning process is how Shipleys clients achieve the product theyre truly after. Custom furniture should be considered an investment piece that will last for decades to come, he says.

Explore More: 10 Things Frugal People Always Buy at Yard Sales To Save Money

Elevated Finishes

Rae Muranski, owner of Moderne Living, an award-winning company that specializes in high-end European furniture, carries a similar mindset that money should be spent right. The owner  who started her career as a CPA in the finance world  is proud to have taken over her husbands family business.

Story continues

Parlaying her financial background into the interior design business over the last 20 years, Muranski has adapted the company after the 2008 housing crash from a simple product line to a wide offering of kitchen, bathroom, floor, furniture and wallpapers. Similarly, while the business saw a significant uptick in home office and gym renovations during the pandemic, it now caters to all-around home refreshes.

Muranski, who generally works on million-plus dollar projects in Chicago, Lake Tahoe and Connecticut, looks at the bigger picture when dealing with renovations. Because we offer such a wide variety of products, anything the client wants from a kitchen overhaul to a foyer entrance facelift we can do, she explains. The client chooses the area they want to work on and we cater to that.

Yet, make no mistake that Muranskis team will always insert themselves as the experts. The biggest mistake clients can make is thinking they know everything after seeing a simple photo and product description online.

Muranski assures that her team, who knows every detail of their product line, will spot oversights a client might ignore  like different-sized doors within a foyer. Getting the details right is her focus no matter the projects budget.

We encourage our clients to invest in timeless, luxury, quality designs and products as a business strategy, she explains. Just because something looks good in a picture doesnt mean it looks right in real life. Thats why we use our acumen to select the products and designs that will both appeal to our clients taste and also raise their property value.

Strategic Updates

Nashville-based interior designer Hannah Crowell takes just as pragmatic an approach to her craft. When renovating her own home in recent years, she decided to make a bold move and take the 1960s ranch down to its studs. During the experience, Crowell learned a few lessons shes delighted to share so others can sidestep the same pains.

While it might sound mundane to an interior designer known for bold, quirky designs, not including heating floors was a huge oversight. If I could go back, that is the number one thing I would change because, while it sounded frivolous at the time, I now realize it is worth every single penny, Crowell explains.

On the other hand, deciding to replace all of the windows in her historic home was a hard check to write but worth every penny. Beyond aesthetic value, the energy efficiency of her home went through the roof. I did not realize how poorly heated and cooled my house was until I replaced my cracked, old double-paned windows which were always letting heat and cold out, Crowell explains.

Getting new windows and insulating the house with spray foam made a huge difference in her electric and gas bills. While more expensive, spray foam is so much more energy efficient and totally worth it in the long run when it comes to steamy summers and frigid winters, she says.

Yet, one surprising area that Crowell does not feel is worth a hefty paycheck is hardwood floors. While some might feel that floors are everything, Crowell assures that you cant tell the difference between an $8 board and a $20 option.

I went the affordable route and do not regret it at all because you cannot tell the difference whether youre an expert or a novice, she explains. If you are renovating a million-plus dollar house, I believe you can go the cheaper side when it comes to your hardwood floors and get the same chic look, she says.

Still, there are some areas of your home you simply cant skimp on. In Crowells eyes, this includes having your appliances paneled in key areas like the kitchen to create a clean and luxurious look.

Speaking to cabinetry, she explains, I would recommend doing high-end custom cabinetry in the places that truly matter like the kitchen or primary bathroom, where you will spend the majority of your time. On the other hand, she suggests spending less on spaces like childrens bathrooms and laundry rooms that dont require the same level of finish.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 3 Home Renovations Worth the Cost, According to Millionaires
Kids today don't understand the feeling of waking up early on a weekend or summer day and watching cartoons. We'll look back on the '90s and 2000s as the peak of cartoons, especially when it comes to Nickelodeon's Nicktoons. This era had some absolute classics that still hold up to this day, so it's a good thing one can stream most of them with a Paramount+ subscription.

The following is a rundown of our ranked list of the best Nicktoons from the '90s through the 2000s. Readers will notice the glaring omission of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and while it technically qualifies for the list and is fantastic, it felt like an odd inclusion factoring in most of these shows skew toward comedy. With that said, let's dive in and remember all the best Nicktoons of the past:

The Penguins of Madagascar

15. The Penguins Of Madagascar

It's rare that I find the side characters of a movie more entertaining than the main stars, but this was certainly the case with Madagascar. The Penguins Of Madagascar was a show for the crowd that wanted more of the Penguins scheming and less of the zoo animals adapting to life in the wild. The concept proved popular enough to get 149 episodes, which is pretty astounding, considering they were envisioned as minor characters initially.

Oblina, Krumm, and Ickis stunned by headmaster on Aaahh!! Real Monsters

14. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters hasn't quite withstood the test of time like other Nicktoons on this list, but it's very worthy of this list all the same. Making a horror comedy for children centered around monsters is daring, especially when using an art style that is somewhat frightening to younger audiences. Its inclusion on the list of massively underrated cartoons is also justified, because we should all have more Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm merch in stores, given how great the storytelling was.

Daggett and Norbit scared in Angry Beavers

13. The Angry Beavers

I don't think there's ever been a better characterization of brothers who are around the same age than Norbert and Daggett from The Angry Beavers. Both were different and alike in the same ways, and oh so entertaining to watch as a kid. I won't lie, these two effectively drilled the word "spoot" into my vocabulary.

Otto on Rocket Power

12. Rocket Power

When Rocket Power was first on television, I begged my parents for a skateboard for Christmas. Seeing Otto, Reggie, Twister, and Sam shred had me convinced I could do it just as well. That never really worked out, but I still have fond memories of all the extreme fun those friends had and think this series would be worthy of a reboot in 2024.

Invader Zim on Nickelodeon

11. Invader Zim

I don't think there's any stating how culturally significant Invader Zim was to millenials who embraced the emo lifestyle. Whether it was a love of Zim or his robot, Gir, who posed as a dog, the franchise had enough of an impact to make a comeback to Nickelodeon years later for a full-length movie.

Henry and June on KaBlam!

10. KaBlam!

The wonderful thing about KaBlam! was that the actual show was a collection of several mini-shows. I loved the excitement of tuning into an episode and not knowing if I was about to watch Prometheus and Bob, Action League Now, or one of the many other shorts in rotation for the comic-book-themed series. The show only aired 48 episodes, but the number of shorts packed in makes it feel like there were a lot more.

Doug and Skeeter on Doug

9. Doug

There are a lot of great shows about the middle school experience that kids can look to for guidance these days, but Doug felt like one of the only animated options back in the day. Unfortunately, the series hasn't survived with a reboot or revival in the modern day, though creator Jim Jenkins did reveal if he thought Doug and Patty ever ended up together.

The characters on Rocko's Modern Life

8. Rocko's Modern Life

Rocko's Modern Life is one of those shows that was great when you were a kid, and it holds up really well when you're an adult. It's one of the weirdest Nicktoons of all time, but not so over the top that it was obvious to a child audience, like Ren & Stimpy was. I'll forever love this show and appreciate that it taught me the key difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby.

Star of Danny Phantom

7. Danny Phantom

There's something truly special about Danny Phantom. The series was mainly meant to be a comedy, but there were plenty of dramatic elements and action to it that made it about as enjoyable as the modern features in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Frankly, I'm surprised that there hasn't been a live-action series or movie announced for this hero, as a teen whose powers allow him to become a ghost and fight baddies is pretty damn cool.

Sheen and Jimmy

6. The Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius

The Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius might be one of the cases in which the television series exceeded the quality of the original movie in about every way. The Nickelodeon series expanded on Jimmy's well-intentioned but chaotic inventions and the colorful cast of characters in town. You might have even forgotten it spawned a spinoff called Planet Sheen, but we don't talk about that one, because it's terrible.

Arnold from Hey Arnold!

5. Hey Arnold!

Hey Arnold! was a great series that encapsulated the life of children living in the big city. As for what big city that is, I always assumed it was New York City, but as Bustle and others over the years have pointed out, the show actually takes place in Washington state. Put that mindblowing fact aside for a bit and remember that this is a series that celebrated the rich diversity of our world long before Hollywood made it a priority, and it holds up really well to this day.

Ren and Stimpy on The Ren & Stimpy Show

4. The Ren & Stimpy Show

When I look at the humor Gen Z finds most appealing on TikTok, I always think about how much they'd probably enjoy The Ren & Stimpy Show. It's loaded with bizarre tension, over-the-top reactions, and visuals that you can't help but cringe watching. It's no wonder that a reboot is in development, though we've heard little about it in recent years. Hopefully, it's still coming, because I think it'll be something people enjoy.

Wanda Timmy and Cosmo on Fairly Oddparents

3. The Fairly OddParents

The Fairly OddParents is the ultimate fantasy if you're a kid. Who wouldn't want a pair of fairies who are capable of granting wishes beyond your wildest dreams just to make the boring days pass by faster? It's a concept that, frankly, never gets old, and I think the series could still work today if it got a reboot.

Chuckie Finster and Tommy Pickles on Rugrats

2. Rugrats

Before the parents of today were obsessed with Bluey, Rugrats was the definitive show that they could enjoy with their children. The series' early episodes featured plenty of jokes for the older audience, but it went entirely over the heads of the kids tuning in to watch what adventure the babies would get in that week. In hindsight, it's a wonder none of these kids ever died, but I guess it wouldn't be a kids cartoon if it was realistic.

Spongebob Squarepants

1. Spongebob Squarepants

In 2024, I don't think there's any disputing that Spongebob Squarepants is the king of Nicktoons programming. What started as a bizarre show about a sponge in a pineapple has evolved into a franchise in which its starring character is as recognizable to children around the world as Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny. The series is still rolling strong, has had three movies, and has two more on the way. All hail the king of Nicktoons, and long live Spongebob.

As mentioned, you can find a bunch of Nicktoons available on streaming on Paramount+. There's also a '90s Kids channel on Pluto TV worth checking out for those who want that Saturday Morning cartoon experience without having to click around on their own.
(The Hill)  Dozens of students walked out of the Duke University commencement ceremony ahead of Jerry Seinfelds scheduled speech Sunday, apparently in protest of the Jewish comedians support for Israel, according to news reports and videos circulated on social media.

As Seinfeld received his honorary degree, before beginning his commencement speech, the graduating students rose from their seats and walked out, waving Palestinian flags and chanting, Free, free Palestine. Some in the audience joined in support, but many audience members booed at the protesters and chanted Jerry repeatedly.

More US and World News

After the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, Seinfeld publicly voiced his support for Israel and has spoken out against antisemitism. He also traveled to Tel Aviv in December to meet with family members of people being held hostage by Hamas.

In the commencement speech, Seinfeld avoided confronting the protesters, instead delivering a lighthearted speech with jokes and life advice for the graduating students.

FILE  Jerry Seinfeld is shown before the mens singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships between Casper Ruud, of Norway, and Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, in New York. Seinfelds upcoming Netflix comedy will be featured during this weekends IndyCar race at Long Beach as rookie Linus Lundqvist will drive a car painted to look like a Pop-Tart in recognition of the movie Unfrosted.(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

The Duke walkout is just the latest example of protests on college campuses in response to the ongoing war in Gaza.

Students on campuses throughout the country have expressed frustration with institutional support for Israel, with many calling for their schools to divest from groups that back Israels military campaign in Gaza.

Small pro-Palestinian protests popped up sporadically Saturday as colleges and universities from North Carolina to California held commencement ceremonies, including dozens of graduating students at Virginia Commonwealth University who walked out on an address by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

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At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a small group of demonstrators staged what appeared to be a silent protest during commencement at Camp Randall Stadium. At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, pro-Palestinian demonstrators splattered red paint on the steps of a building hours ahead of the schools commencement ceremony and chanted on campus while students wearing light blue graduation gowns posed for photos, the News & Observer reported. At the University of Texas, Austin, a student held up a Palestinian flag during a commencement ceremony and refused to leave the stage briefly before being escorted away by security.

And at the University of California, Berkeley, a small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators began waving flags and chanting during commencement and were escorted to the back of the stadium, where they were joined by others, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. There were no major counterprotests, but some attendees voiced frustration.

I feel like theyre ruining it for those of us who paid for tickets and came to show our pride for our graduates, said Annie Ramos, whose daughter is a student. Theres a time and a place, and this is not it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Emily Goldberg, the ex-girlfriend of the late EDM DJ Avicii, died in La Jolla, California in April at age 34, according to her online obituary.

Born in Poway, Goldberg passed away on April 3 in her hometown of La Jolla from a pulmonary embolism, according to her obituary.

Goldberg went to school at La Jolla Country Day School, played cello in the San Diego Youth Symphony, and had a passion for art, photography, American and Japanese wrestling and animals, her obituary reads.

She graduated from George Washington University in 2012, receiving a Bachelors Degree in Art History.

Kris Jenners sister dies in San Diego County

After graduating college, her obituary goes on to say 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. She was the ex-girlfriend of EDM DJ Avicii, who had a residency at the Wynn.

Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, died unexpectedly in 2018. He was best known for his 2013 hit Wake Me Up, which has since earned an RIAA Diamond Certification, and the distinction of the highest certified dance/electronic song in RIAA history, according to Billboard.

General Hospital star Tyler Christophers cause of death identified

Its not publicly known when Avicii and Goldberg started dating, but following his death she shared a tribute on her Instagram where she said they were together for two years.

In her last Instagram post, she shared on May 24, 2023 that she had cancer for the past year and was officially cancer free.

She is survived by her parents, Julie and Sam Goldberg of La Jolla, and her brother, Aaron Goldberg, of Chicago, Illinois.

According to her obituary, a private memorial service will be held.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
Claim:

Kate Middleton's return to royal duties will take "many years," rather than a few months, and some of her friends have admitted they have lost contact with her.

Rating:

Rating: Unfounded

In early May 2024, a Facebook user posted a screenshot of an X post disputing reports the Princess of Wales would make a royal comeback, claiming her return to public duties could take "many years." The text in the screengrab also said Kate Middleton's close friends had mentioned they were no longer in contact with her.

The text in the post read: "BREAKING!! Despite numerous reports of Kate returning to royal duties within the next few months, sources close to her say that her come back could take 'many years'. Close friends of Kate admit they have 'lost contact' with her. #WhereIsKate #WhereIsKateMiddleton #KateMiddleton"

Reacting to the X post, the Facebook user wrote: "What in the world!!!!"

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224800273209884&set=a.2081539633816

Similar posts also appeared elsewhere on X and in numerous iterations on elsewhere on Facebook, where one user wrote: "#NotSorry but if there is truth in this and #TimeWillTell as it always does, then something with this whole thing is WAY OFF from being normal!!!!!!"

Together, the posts had amassed more than 985,000 interactions at the time of this writing.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122141812550211983&set=a.122101951508211983

However, Snopes found no examples of any reputable news outlets reporting the same claims, which appeared to originate from the X user, and no relevant announcements from the Royal Family, which is why we have rated this claim "Unfounded."

Searching the Royal Family's website and Google, we found no evidence of anyone revealing Kate's return would take "many years." There was also no proof she had "lost contact" with friends. No reputable news publications substantiated the claims  which, if true, would be eminently newsworthy.

Snopes contacted the X user and Buckingham Palace for comment on the rumor and will update this article if, or when, we receive responses.

On Jan. 17, 2024, Buckingham Palace announced the princess was admitted to a hospital the day before for planned abdominal surgery, and that she was "unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter." However, on March 22, Kensington Palace released a video of Kate announcing she was being treated for cancer.

After releasing the footage, multiple British media outlets, including Sky News, ITV and The Independent, reported a statement from Kensington Palace, which read:

The princess will return to official duties when she is cleared to do so by her medical team. She is in good spirits and is focused on making a full recovery.

Snopes also asked Buckingham Palace whether this was the latest update on Kate's health and will update this article if, or when, we receive a response.

Similar unsubstantiated rumors appeared on social media about King Charles III in March and May, where rumors spread that the British monarch had been given two years to live and, respectively, his funeral plans had been updated, as he was "very unwell."

Sources:

'A statement from Kensington Palace'. Royal.UK, 17 Jan. 2024. https://www.royal.uk/news-and-activity/2024-01-17/a-statement-from-kensington-palace. Accessed 8 May 2024.

Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/C402JKPtLVB/?hl=en. Accessed 8 May 2024.

Kate Middleton Catherine OR Princess OR of OR Wales OR Return OR Comeback 'Many Years' - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?as_q=+kate+middleton&as_epq=%22many+years%22&as_oq=catherine+princess+of+wales+return+comeback&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&as_filetype=&tbs=&gws_rd=ssl. Accessed 8 May 2024.

Kate Middleton Friends Catherine OR Princess OR of OR Wales 'Lost Contact' - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?as_q=+kate+middleton+friends&as_epq=%22lost+contact%22&as_oq=catherine+princess+of+wales&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&as_filetype=&tbs=&gws_rd=ssl. Accessed 8 May 2024.

'Princess of Wales Cancer Treatment: When Will Kate Return to the Public Eye?' Sky News, https://news.sky.com/story/princess-of-wales-cancer-treatment-when-will-kate-return-to-the-public-eye-13100363. Accessed 8 May 2024.

Royal.UK. https://www.royal.uk/news. Accessed 8 May 2024.

'When will we see the Princess of Wales in public again?' ITV.com, 23 Mar. 2024. https://www.itv.com/news/2024-03-23/when-will-we-see-the-princess-of-wales-in-public-again. Accessed 8 May 2024.

William, Helen. 'When Will We See Kate in Public Again?' The Independent, 22 Mar. 2024. www.independent.co.uk, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/prince-of-wales-kensington-palace-prince-wales-princess-of-wales-b2517284.html.
U.S. Yahoo News

Hurricane Milton hit Florida this week, leaving at least 10 people dead and 2 million without power. Amid the devastation, emergency personnel turned to heroes. Here are three great rescue stories from the storm.
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11)  Ice Spice has joined an exclusive list of New York City musicians to be honored in a very New York City way  with a custom MetroCard.

The MTA will release the limited-edition MetroCards with Ice Spice at midnight Monday at four subway stations across the city:

Where to get discounted MetroCards in NYC

Fordham Road No. 4 station

Fordham Road B/D station

34th StreetPenn Station A/C/E station

Times Square42nd Street N/Q/R/W/S/1/2/3/7 station

The MTA released specialty Ice Spice MetroCards. (MTA)

The MetroCard features a photo of the Bronx-native rapper in a black and purple Versace Goddess shirt with fishnet tights and shorts against a purple background.

The MetroCards are available at vending machines at the four stations, which accept cash, credit, and debit cards, according to the MTA. Only 50,000 cards will be available.

Ice Spices debut album, Y2K, is expected to be released in 2024.

Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered local news for years. She has been with PIX11 since 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Texas state one-act play contest: See who's competing and when

In this 2022 file photo, Christoval High School's Beth McCann (background) plays Molly during a production of "Unexpected Tenderness" by the Christoval one-act play company, represented in the scene by Jayton Lee, left, Tatum Reeves, middle, and Benjamin McCann, right.

Everything is a competition in Texas  even drama.

This week, 48 of the state's best public high school theater companies will descend on the capital to compete in the UIL One-Act Play State Meet, which runs May 13-18 in at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center.

Young thespians  up to 24 from each high school  have been working since winter to prepare a 40-minute play, which they will perform for a panel of judges. The judges will rank the eight plays from each classification and also name outstanding cast and crew members.

The companies advanced to state by placing high at zone, district, bi-district, area and regional contests against schools of similar size.

The competition begins Monday with Class 1A performances and concludes Saturday with Class 6A. Performance sessions begin at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each day.

Below is a schedule for the contest. Competing schools are listed in performance order by classification, along with the title of their competition play.

1A | Monday, May 13

Session 1  3 p.m.

Oakwood  "Mockingbird"

Avery  Scenes from "The Voice of the Prairie"

Abbott  Scenes from "A Monster Calls"

Benjamin  Scenes from "The Ballad of Maria Marten"

Session 2  6:30 p.m.

Ackerly Sands  Scenes from "They Promised Her the Moon"

Roscoe Highland  "The Girl in the White Pinafore"

Bowie Gold-Burg  "Interview"

Guthrie  "The Beggar's Opera"

2A | Tuesday, May 14

Session 1  3 p.m.

Centerville  Scenes from "The Book of Everything"

Wellington  "All My Sons, Act II"

Hico  "The Girl in the White Pinafore"

Bogata Rivercrest  Scenes from "Unexpected Tenderness"

Session 2  6:30 p.m.

Saratoga West Hardin  Scenes from "Tracers"

Shiner  Scenes from "Silent Sky"

Gladewater Union Grove  Scenes from "The Rivers and Ravines"

Sudan  Scenes from "Shakespeare in Hollywood"

Jeron Robinson, left, and Natalee Sanchez perform in a 2022 production of "The Unreturning" in the Lubbock High Auditorium.

3A | Wednesday, May 15

Session 1  3 p.m.

Pharr Vanguard Rembrandt  "Tracks y Huellas"

Falfurrias  "Anna Mae"

Early  Scenes from "Silent Sky"

Shallowater  Scenes from "Collaborators"

Session 2  6:30 p.m.

Mt. Vernon  Scenes from "Ghetto"

Grapevine-Colleyville Collegiate Academy at Tarrant County College Northeast  Scenes from "Front"

White Oak "The Women of Lockerbie"

Hempstead  Scenes from "Equus"

4A | Thursday, May 16

Session 1  3 p.m.

Brownsboro  Scenes from "A View from the Bridge"

Canyon Lake  Scenes from "Ripcord"

Canyon  Scenes from "Anatomy of Gray"

Salado  "The Trial of the Chicago 7"

Session 2  6:30 p.m.

Anna  Scenes from "The Sweet Science of Bruising"

Marble Falls  Scenes from "The Caucasian Chalk Circle"

Zapata  "Blood Wedding / Bodas de Sangre"

Canyon Randall  Scenes from "The Book of Everything"

5A | Friday, May 17

Session 1  3 p.m.

Harlingen South  Scenes from "Machinal"

Brownsville Veterans Memorial  Scenes from "Con Mis Manos / With My Hands"

Frisco  "Antonio Lorenzo Vannozzo's Pinocchio"

Lubbock  Scenes from "Burying Your Brother in the Pavement"

Session 2  6:30 p.m.

Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill  "The Awakening of Spring"

Magnolia  Scenes from "Black Snow"

Melissa  Scenes from "This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing"

Aledo Scenes from "Peter and the Starcatcher"

6A | Saturday, May 18

Session 1  3 p.m.

San Antonio Northside O'Connor  Scenes from "Amadeus"

Keller Central  Scenes from "The Corn is Green"

Houston Carver  Scenes from "To Be Young, Gifted and Black

Deer Park  Scenes from "The Ferryman"

Session 2  6:30 p.m.

Katy  Scenes from "Ghetto"

Harlingen  Scenes from "Big Love"

Arlington Martin  Scenes from "Equus"

Spring Westfield  Scenes from "Detroit '67"

How to get Texas state OAP tickets

The UIL Texas One-Act Play State Meet is open to the public. Tickets are available in advance online at www.uiltexas.org/theatre/state and at the door if they don't sell out ahead of time. They are $18 plus fees per session, and a separate ticket is required for each session.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas state one-act play contest: See schedule, who's competing
BEAVER, WV (WVNS) Guests had the chance to fly over to Little Beaver State Park on Saturday, May 11, 2024 for the Three Rivers Avian Centers Migration celebration!

The Migration Celebration is a family-friendly festival to celebrate West Virginias native wild birds and natural heritage.

Festival-goers could enjoy bird and nature walks, displays, face painting, a photography workshop, kids activities, watching live birds and more.

WVU Tech announces the Southern West Virginia Success Program, expanding access to higher education

Wendy Perroni, Executive Director for Three Rivers Avian Center, said one of the goals of the event is to spread awareness about how each person can impact the environment.

It all sort of ties together, said Perroni. If you looked at the activities we have going on downstairs, it encourages kids and people to go out and see whats in their ecosystem and take care of it.

The event was completely free to the public and fun for all ages.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS.
Experts Say These 6 Common Work Habits May Actually Be Signs Of ADHD In Adults

ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, often persists untreated into adulthood. Although approximately 10 million people are estimated to have it in the U.S., only 1 in 10 have received treatment for it.

Many adults with ADHD lead successful careers, but the condition can create job challenges. Impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattentiveness are hallmarks of ADHD, though symptoms vary.

Each person with ADHD is unique, and the symptoms of ADHD can differ from one person to the next, said Sean Abraham, a licensed clinical social worker at Grow Therapy. While one person with the condition might not enjoy or thrive in one type of career because of their symptoms, another might succeed in the same position.

Below, clinicians shared personality traits and work behaviors that are commonly associated with ADHD:

1. Needing everything to be perfect.

Peter Dazeley / Getty Images

There can be an overlap between people who have ADHD and employees with perfectionists tendencies, said Dede OShea, a psychologist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who is also a clinical faculty member at Tufts University.

ADHD does affect a part of the brain that controls how you direct your attention. People with ADHD, that control area is not working properly. So they really cant put their focus onto what they need to get done. It just keeps going back and forth between all of these different ideas. And so sometimes that perfectionism can come about as a way to try to cope with that and think, OK, if I get everything done correctly, then I can get started, OShea said.

Thats where they get into trouble, because they never get to that point where they feel like everything is perfect enough to be able to really get started.

2. Procrastinating until the very last minute.

10'000 Hours / Getty Images

Of the popular work archetypes, the procrastinator would be one way that adult ADHD presents, said Dr. Deepti Anbarasan, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. This can be attributed to their difficulty with executive functioning and with structuring their tasks in a timely manner.

For employees with ADHD, the inability to meet deadlines can often be due to anxiety.

Work archetypes among people with ADHD are as diverse as in any other group. Some might exhibit a procrastination-defeatist style, where overwhelming anxiety leads to paralysis, said Megan Anna Neff, a clinical psychologist. Others might use urgency as a motivator to combat procrastination.

3. Consistently running late to meetings and work.

Willie B. Thomas / Getty Images

People with ADHD may have trouble showing up on time to meetings and to work despite their best efforts. Being your own boss or meeting deadlines might be difficult, Abraham said.

While many of us are occasionally late, people with ADHD experience what is known as time blindness, where they might have difficulty really gauging how much time they need to get to where they want to go, or they only have in their mind the time that they need to arrive, OShea said.

What I hear a lot is that they are supposed to be at work at 9 a.m., and so they have in their mind 9 a.m. and thats when they leave the house, because all they could think in their mind was 9 a.m.

4. Having meltdowns when work gets stressful.

Daniel De La Hoz / Getty Images

Your brains prefrontal cortex controls your attention and your emotional responses, and for people with ADHD, that area can be underdeveloped, OShea said.

When they cant control all of those different thoughts, all of those different emotions that are going on in a high-stress situation, then that can lead to the dysregulation, having kind of a mental breakdown, really not being able to get ahold of their feelings, she said. Many people either just go blank with that dysregulation, or have an outburst as well and become really emotional, really irritable, under that high pressure, high-stress environment.

At work, that can mean having excessive reactions whenever theres an unexpected new task or setback.

Because people with ADHD already are prone to having difficulty with their reactivity, Whenever theres a change, something unexpected, or out of their usual routine, that additional piece can lead to that emotional dysregulation, OShea said.

5. Habitually emailing with mistakes.

Fiordaliso / Getty Images

Executive functioning is like the manager in your brain  its what helps you stay organized, OShea said. And for people with ADHD, their executive functioning can be impaired, and they can have trouble focusing when they need to and a tendency to rush through what theyre doing, she said.

They might feel like, OK, Im on task ... but theyre still not able to control that attention to read and fully process all of the information thats in front of them, OShea said. Its hard for their brains to stay stimulated long enough to really do that kind of especially tedious, more boring tasks that are like reading emails, looking at paperwork. The ADHD brain needs a lot of constant stimulation.

If colleagues are always having to follow up or fix what you do as a result of you making careless mistakes or you missing key details from emails or paperwork, that can be a sign of how ADHD is affecting your work, OShea said.

6. Brainstorming creative ideas that you later have trouble executing.

Maskot / Getty Images

People with ADHD tend to be creative problem-solvers, but because of their impaired executive functioning, these employees can also have trouble with making those creative solutions happen.

In the workplace, people with ADHD can be known as great creative thinkers, really passionate, someone who you want on the team to really be imaginative, OShea said. But they can still have trouble at the same time because of that difficulty with knowing how to come up with stuff to actually work on the project, and be able to focus on how to actually get things done.

What to do next if you suspect you have ADHD

Maskot / Getty Images

OShea said it can help to first get a sense if how people see you at work is in line with how you are viewing yourself.

You can do this without directly disclosing that you think you have ADHD. Ask a trusted colleague: How do you see my behaviors in the office? Am I having any trouble with getting things done, with meeting the deadlines that were laid out? Do other people in the office have the same kinds of problems? Like, is everyone under stress? she said.

That way, you can gauge how you are doing, compared to the productivity and stress levels of others on your team.

If you do think you have ADHD, a good starting point is consulting with your primary care provider or a clinical psychologist specializing in adult ADHD, said Neff.

Online ADHD screeners can be an initial step, but its important to keep in mind that these are just single data points, and high scores could be due to various reasons, Neff said. For some, medication might be beneficial, but this requires an official diagnosis and consultation with a health care professional. Starting the conversation with your primary care physician is often the best first step towards an assessment.

After that, you can get started on a treatment plan.

Adult ADHD can respond well to both behavioral and pharmacological interventions. Effective treatment can significantly improve quality of life and functioning, not just in the workplace, but also personally and socially, Anbarasan said.

For adults with ADHD, a treatment plan may also include asking your company for workplace accommodations. Abraham gave the example of moving to a desk with fewer distractions, using project management software for better organization, and providing written instructions instead of spoken instructions as a few examples of what those adjustments could look like.

You should highlight that the accommodations will help you provide the best results for your company and allow you to take advantage of your skills and abilities, Abraham said.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Craving a bite of fresh, flavorful seafood? Chances are, you probably don't think chain restaurants are the best option available. Seafood is at its absolute finest when it's as fresh as possible, and frankly, this isn't a virtue most chains prize. Some, however, do. The best consistently serve high quality seafood, even if the location in question is far from the shoreline, and we're here to celebrate them.

We assembled this list of high quality seafood chains through research and reviews; check the end of this article for more information on our methodology. Many of them offer thorough breakdowns of their seafood sourcing on their website. Some opt to use sustainable fishing practices. A few change their menu every season, week, and even day, to reflect the absolute best the ocean has to offer at any given time. Every single one of them offers delectable seafood. Get your lobster bib and tartar sauce ready, because we're checking out the nine chain restaurants that use the highest-quality seafood.

Read more: 12 Underrated Types Of Fish You Should Try At Least Once

1. Weathervane Seafood Restaurants

Weathervane Seafood lobster sign - EWY Media/Shutterstock

Weathervane Seafood Restaurants has opened its doors in five locations throughout New Hampshire and Maine, where some of the freshest seafood is readily available. The company takes advantage of that easy access, which places it high on our list of chain restaurants serving up the highest quality seafood. Once a small take-out stand that began in 1969, it is now known for its locally sourced seafood, a menu with various fresh options, and full transparency regarding sourcing.

Throughout New England, the company has fostered lasting relationships with the local fishing community. Each and every day, the company works with its connections up and down the coast to stock kitchens with the day's catch. Often, the food served at these restaurants began the day in the water. Perhaps most impressively, Weathervane Seafood hauls in a whopping 275,000 to 300,000 pounds of live lobsters each year from various locations throughout southern and central Maine. The chain also has a robust understanding of how to make the most of its ultra-fresh catch; excellent seasoning turns these goodies into truly delicious dishes.

2. Seamore's

Seamore's outdoor counter - Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Splashed across Seamore's website are the words "sustainable seafood." Dig a little deeper, and you'll find even more evidence of the chain's committment to integrity and freshness. Its Fresh Off the Dock menu makes this especially clear: It often includes oysters of the day, with their origin point clearly presented. This approach continues throughout the menu, which boasts such options as haddock from New Bedford, red snapper caught in the Gulf, and rainbow trout sourced from Maryland.

As the demand for fresh seafood rises, the supply has dwindled. For example, the world's obsession with sushi has led to a 97 percent drop in historic levels of bluefin tuna. To combat this decline in fresh fish, many restaurants turn to frozen and/or farmed seafood, which is easier to come by but not always of the highest quality. In contrast, Seamore's adheres to regulations that support sustainable fishing practices, such as sourcing species that have a growing or stable stock. This is ethical, and leads to a diverse menu full of unique dishes like red curry mussels and squid ink pasta alongside classic options like Baja fish tacos.

3. McCormick & Schmick's

McCormick & Schmick's exterior - bettercraftct / Facebook

McCormick & Schmick's makes the list due to its oysters, which are harvested from private beds, and its efforts toward sustainable seafood practices. Said beds, located in Virginia's Hog Island in the Chesapeake Bay and Eureka, California, truly yield some spectacular oysters. At any one of the chains' many locations, they taste deliciously fresh. This is seriously impressive, as some of those locations are located pretty darn far from the ocean.

Oysters aren't the only thing McCormick & Schmick's has to offer. To ensure quality, the restaurant sources its ahi tuna via the longline fishing method, which is known to be an effective, sustainable practice. Another menu favorite is the Open Blue Cobia, which is wild-caught and offers firm texture and mild flavor. The entire menu boasts this kind of fresh, ethically-caught seafood -- no matter what you order, it's bound to be good. The chain also has a cutting-edge mixology program in addition to stellar seafood.

4. Cousins Maine Lobster

lobster by Cousins Maine Lobster truck - bricktreebrewing / Facebook

Cousins Maine Lobster is a Shark Tank success story. The Maine-born founders were nostalgic for fresh lobster rolls and other classic coastal bites while away in California. To combat this craving, they found a way to successfully bring high quality lobster to far-off destinations. The chain has so completely perfected the practice of keeping seafood fresh that it can even ship fresh Maine lobster right to your doorstep.

Cousins Maine Lobster actively encourages customers to learn more about the origins of the lobster it serves. An online map, complete with latitude and longitude coordinates, displays the many ports and fishing areas from which its lobster hails. The menu is small but mighty, serving two forms of classic lobster rolls, Maine and Connecticut-style. The Connecticut roll is served warm with butter, while the Maine roll is chilled and dressed with mayo and a slice of lemon.

5. Luke's Lobster

Luke's Lobster shack exterior - Station51TruckCompany / Facebook

Luke's Lobster serves fresh-caught Maine lobster, employs local fishermen, and has a state-of-the-art processing facility in Saco, Maine with B Corp status. This mission-driven approach can be traced back to founder Luke Holden, a third-generation Maine lobsterman. Rising temperatures in the Gulf of Maine are a threat to lobstermen's way of life, as well as the species who call it home. Thus, Luke's Lobsters has thrown itself into being as sustainable as possible. Perhaps most impressively, Luke's Lobster has conducted a third party carbon footprint assessment that exhaustively documented the emissions involved in every part of its business. It has taken concrete action towards addressing these findings, and has more planned for the future.

This is all incredibly admirable. It also results in some very tasty seafood. Luke's offerings taste fresh, delicious, and utterly authentic. The lobster is sweet and tender -- it basically tastes like a sunny day on the Maine coast. It's no wonder, then, that Luke's Lobsters can be found in Georgetown, Boston, Newport, and many other places across the U.S., as well as internationally in Japan and Singapore. Everyone wants seafood that's this good and this sustainable.

6. Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen

Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen exterior - paul.puga.56 / Facebook

Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen can be found in eight different states, near and far from the coast. It boasts some of the highest quality seafood around, no matter where the restaurant in question happens to be situated. The chain has worked especially hard to cut delivery times to ensure the freshest products. One way that Pappadeaux achieves this is by operating its own fleet of delivery trucks. This ensures a certain level of control over the process and improves distribution overall.

In addition to this, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen offers a wide variety of seafood caught from all different parts of the country. To ensure diverse menus that customers can feel good about, the company trusts experienced fishermen who know what they're doing. Notably, the chain's website details every type of seafood it offers, from the Gulf Coast redfish, which hails from the bays that surround the Gulf, to the blue point oysters of New England.

7. Red Lobster

Red Lobster restaurant exterior - Anne Czichos/Getty Images

Red Lobster is probably one of the most popular seafood restaurants in the world. There are nearly 700 locations in the U.S., Canada, and beyond. This huge number might make you wonder about the quality of the chain's offerings. But in fact, Red Lobster has been setting the standard for excellent seafood since opening its doors back in 1968. From those humble beginnings, the company claims, Red Lobster has always been able to trace its seafood back to a known, trusted, and reliable source. This hasn't changed, even as the company has become a major player in the restaurant scene.

In fact, Red Lobster was a founding member of Global Seafood Assurances, a non-governmental organization that works to make the world of seafood more sustainable. This means Red Lobster actually helped create the guidelines that define best fishing practices in the modern day. It shows in its food. Classic items, such as grilled lobster, shrimp, salmon, wild-caught flounder, and clam strips are so good, they have guests returning time and time again. Even the side dishes, such as the chain's celebrated cheddar bay biscuits and creamy tartar sauce, are so loved that copycat recipes are an internet mainstay.

8. Bonefish Grill

Bonefish Grill restaurant sign - Eric Glenn/Shutterstock

Bonefish Grill has made freshness its signature style. With a menu that revolves around seasonal catches, the company serves excellent seafood from around the world, carefully seasoned and prepared to perfection. Like many restaurants on this list, Bonefish Grill was born from a passion for fresh seafood. This chain began back in 2000 in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the fishing is pretty much always good. Tim Curci and Chris Parker, experienced fishermen passionate about a good catch, wanted to share fresh, seasonal dishes with other seafood lovers. This turned out to be a successful approach, and so a single establishment expanded into the sweeping brand we see today.

Notably, Bonefish Grill is not as detailed about where its seafood comes from as other entries on this list. However, rave reviews make it obvious that it's doing something right. Customers routinely praise the quality and taste of its offerings, especially the bang bang shrimp. This dish began as a specialty menu item, but was so loved that it's become a permanent fixture.

9. Legal Sea Foods

Legal Sea Foods outdoor seating - QualityHD/Shutterstock

A company with the slogan "If it isn't fresh, it isn't Legal" is bound to make a list of high-quality seafood. Legal Sea Foods grew from a small family-owned business into a restaurant behemoth. It all began more than 70 years ago, as a small market in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Proximity to the ocean and intimate knowledge of the New England fishing industry enabled the company to serve only the freshest options. This is still the standard: Legal recently opened an "Innovation Center," which promises to keep the company's food interesting, well-prepared, and of the highest quality.

Legal Sea Foods can be found in five states: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. No matter where it's operating, the chain ensures fresh catches by enforcing certain standards. It prizes cold-water catches that are hauled onboard right before docking or fished by day boat operators above all others. This cuts down the time between when the fish is caught and when it's served.

How We Determined Which Chains Have The Highest-Quality Seafood

Variety of raw seafood - Olesia Shadrina/Getty Images

To determine this list, we sought out restaurants with a reputation for freshness, as this is the number-one factor in seafood quality. We carefully considered each spot's sourcing, especially whether or not its seafood is wild-caught or farmed, and how traceable these offerings are. When a company was upfront about its source, it was almost always a positive sign. Other factors, such as sustainability efforts and fishing practices, were also taken into consideration. We also took a look at online reviews, which reveal particularly impressive dishes. With all this in mind, we assembled this list of stand-out seafood spots.

Read the original article on Daily Meal
In this article, we shall discuss the 40 best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe. To skip our detailed analysis of the Asian economy in 2024, trends in Asian travel, and the tourism industry as a whole, go directly and see 10 Best Places to Visit in Asia That Are Beautiful and Safe.

Investment Potential in Asia in 2024: An Analysis

According to a report by J.P. Morgan, the Asian economic outlook was marred by a host of different challenges in 2023, ranging from aggressive U.S. rate hikes to underwhelming economic growth in China, which largely hovered below expectations of 5.2% at a little over 4.6%. With local currencies weakening against the dollar, regional central banks tended to mirror the Fed's aggressive stance. However, even against this backdrop of economic turbulence and geopolitical tensions, economic growth in some of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe outperformed expectations, reaching more than 5% for the year according to the IMF. Near-term risks are largely balanced owing to global disinflation and the prospect of monetary relaxation providing a strong cushion to the market. Equity markets in countries like South Korea, India, Japan, and other underrated travel destinations in Asia saw impressive gains in the double-digits, supplemented by secular tailwinds and impressive fund flows, thereby pointing towards a favorable investment atmosphere in these areas.

A good way to gauge investor sentiment around the Asian economy in 2024 is to evaluate the performance of the top Asia-focused ETFs, many of which we covered in our article on the 12 Best Asia ETFs to Buy. One of the top Asia-focused ETFs is iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF (NYSE:IPAC), which provides investors access to large, mid, and small-cap equities based in the Asia-Pacific region. As of May 7, the ETF has 1494 holdings, including prominent stocks like Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) and Sony Group Corporation (SONY). As of May 7, the ETF has a P/E ratio of 16.86% and is up more than 11.95% in the last five years, signaling strong investor favorability around the ETF. Another prominent Asia-focused ETF is the Franklin FTSE India ETF (NYSE:FLIN), which allows investors to gain exposure to the Indian stock market at substantially low costs. With total net assets worth north of $1.02 billion at of May 7, the fund holds more than 229 equities, including prominent names like HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) and ICICI Bank Ltd. (IBN). As of May 8, the fund is up 32.8% in the last one year, pointing to strong investor interest in the Asian economy in 2024.

Story continues

One major pain-point in Asia's economic outlook in 2024 remains China, which despite meeting year-on-year real GDP growth targets of 5.2% in 2023, recorded subdued economic momentum as the year drew to a close, despite being one of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe. Amid heavy property strains and depleting confidence, consumption momentum remained largely unimpressive, with nominal GDP growth maxing out at 4.2% in Q4 2023. However, with China's New Year travel and tourism spending posting a strong resurgence in 2023, exceeding 2019 levels for the first time, investors are increasingly optimistic around consumer spending patterns in the country. Although retail sales seem to have slowed year-on-year in the first two months of 2024, comparisons with 2019 suggest a pick-up in momentum.

Travel Recovery in China: A Deeper Look

As the Chinese economy struggled to achieve stability and attract investors in 2023, Chinese travelers, once the largest spenders on overseas travel, limited travel close to home since the country reopened its borders in 2023 post the COVID-19 pandemic. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, outbound airline capacity hovered below 60% of 2019 levels during Q4 2023. When compared to markets in the US and the UK, the Chinese recovery lagged significantly behind, sending shockwaves across the travel industry. In 2019, Chinese travelers accounted for more than 170 million outbound trips, making up more than 14% of the world's foreign-travel spending. The pullback cost the global economy more than $129 billion in 2023, with China's expansive network of international airline routes retracting by more than 43%. More than 45 foreign destinations were no longer catered to by direct flights at all. These shockwaves reverberated across the Asian travel industry, especially affecting major travel stocks catering to Asia like Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG), Airbnb Inc. (ABNB), and Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE). One of the main reasons for the Chinese pullback was the slow economic growth spurring the Chinese consumer to opt for more budget-friendly travel options. Furthermore, political turbulence delayed the reconstruction of certain important tourism ties, with conflicts in Europe and the Middle-East making long-distance travel much more complicated, even to some of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe. Moreover, much of the pullback could also be attributed to careful policy deliberations by the Chinese government, which incentivized domestic travel in a bid to offset some of the headwinds perpetrated by the country's struggling economy in 2023.

However, according to a report by Bloomberg, the Chinese international travel market is poised for a strong comeback, with more than 63% of Chinese residents saying they are likely to opt for international trips in 2024. The average Chinese consumer is looking to travel to some of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe, signaling strong tailwinds for companies like Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB), and Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), which have diverted large investments into the Asian travel market. As of April 2024, outbound travel bookings for China's May holiday season only lagged 2019 levels by a meagre 13% and included some of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe. According to the report, global Chinese tourist numbers are poised to reach more than 130 million in 2024, which make up for 84% of pre-pandemic levels. The return of the Chinese traveler was long-awaited by the global tourism industry, which is increasingly well-positioned to exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2024 by pumping more than $11.1 trillion into the global economy. Some of the top 10 tourist destinations in Asia which have either waived the visa process for the Chinese traveler or offer electronic visas on arrival are Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the UAE. Many of the 15 Friendliest Countries in Africa and countries in the Middle East are expected to lead the recovery in Chinese tourism, with Australia, the UK and Turkey following suit.

30 Cheapest Places To Visit In The World

Our Methodology

To compile our list of the 40 best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe, we first decided to use the index from our article on the 25 Most Visited Places In Asia And Pacific Ocean to create a primary list of 100 of the most popular travel destinations and spots in Asia. To ensure that each place is safe, we decided to consult the US Travel Advisories by the State Department, which issues advisories more than 200 countries globally and updates them by crime, terrorism and civil unrest. We only shortlisted countries which were scored at either a Level 1 (exercise normal caution) or a Level 2 (take increased precaution), eliminating countries at Level 3 (reconsider travel) and Level 4 (do not travel).

For the beauty component of our scoring criteria, we decided to use a study conducted by Purdue University's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management which uses theoretical frameworks from environmental psychology to reveal dimensions of tourist aesthetic judgment in the context of both nature-based and urban tourist destinations. Based on the findings of the study, we created a three-pronged criteria to measure the beauty of each destination, namely scenic attraction (30 points), based on the index from our article 41 Countries With the Most Beautiful Nature in the World; cultural or architectural heritage (25 points), based on the indices from our articles 15 Countries with the Most Beautiful Culture in the World and 20 Countries With The Best Architecture; and overall photogenic appeal (20 points). We then proceeded to award each place a cumulative beauty score according to the aforementioned criteria. We then ranked the places according to their cumulative beauty score from lowest to highest. In instances where there was a tie, we broke it based on the countries' safety level and the scenic attraction of the place.

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. 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.

You can also check out our article on the 30 Best Places to Visit in Mexico that are Beautiful and Safe.

Best Places to Visit in Asia That Are Beautiful and Safe

40. Ajanta Caves, India

Insider Monkey's Score: 24

Ajanta Caves, located in the Maharashtra state of India, are ancient Buddhist cave mountains that are known to be extremely majestic and beautiful, and are one of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe.

39. Phuket, Thailand

Insider Monkey's Score: 25

Phuket is packed with natural beauty as it includes pristine beaches, palm trees, and remote islands that attract many tourists. The most popular attractions in Phuket include The Big Buddha and Chaithararam Temple.

38. Osaka, Japan

Insider Monkey's Score: 27 The crime rates in Osaka are extremely low because of a strong police presence and the respectful nature of the locals. One can visit the Osaka Castle and Universal Studios Japan while visiting Osaka.

37. Taipei, Taiwan

Insider Monkey's Score: 27

Taipei is one of the safest and most beautiful cities in Asia, primarily because the locals in the city are extremely welcoming towards foreigners. National Palace Museum and Lungshan Temple are known to be some of its most best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe.

36. Davao, Philippines

Insider Monkey's Score: 29

Davao is known mainly for its natural beauty, which includes thick rainforests, waterfalls, and beaches. The city also has a vibrant history. Some of the most popular attractions in Davao include People's Park Davao and Philippine Eagle Center.

35. Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar

Insider Monkey's Score: 31

The Museum of Islamic Art is a must-visit site while traveling to Doha. The museum displayed ancient and modern art, which adds to the value of the place.

34. Lhasa, Tibet

Insider Monkey's Score: 31

Crime is known to be extremely rare in Tibet, especially in the city of Lhasa. This makes Lhasa an extremely safe place to travel to, even for solo female travelers. Some of the must-visit spots in Lhasa include the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, and Sera Monastery.

33. Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Insider Monkey's Score: 31

The sixth largest desert in the world, the Gobi Desert is a cold desert located in Mongolia. It is known to be one of the most beautiful places in Asia.

32. Petra, Jordan

Insider Monkey's Score: 32

Petra, located in Jordan, is known to be an extremely safe and beautiful place to visit since it is extremely welcoming toward tourists. The Treasury, the Monastery, and Al-Siq are some of the most beautiful spots in Petra.

31. Great Wall of China, China

Insider Monkey's Score: 34

The Great Wall of China stretches over 21,000 km across the country. It passes through many provinces including Qinghai, Gansu, and Shaanxi.

30. Petronas Twin Tower, Malaysia

Insider Monkey's Score: 34

The largest twin towers in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers allow the visitors to look at the beautiful city view from the top, making them one of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe.

29. Kumano Kodo, Japan

Insider Monkey's Score: 35

Kumano Kodo is one of the UNESCO World Sites in Japan and holds great historical importance. The site is home to many shrines that provide a spiritual experience to tourists.

28. Paro Taktsang Monastery, Bhutan

Insider Monkey's Score: 37

Paro Taktsang Monastery is known to hold immense cultural importance in Bhutan. The green valleys and mountains add to the beauty of the monastery.

27. Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

Insider Monkey's Score: 37

Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress located in Sri Lanka and is known to be one of the most beautiful places in Asia.

26. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Insider Monkey's Score: 37

The Ha Long Bay is considered to be an extremely beautiful site mainly dominated by natural beauty, including caves and beaches.

25. Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Insider Monkey's Score: 38

Since the city of Bukhara has been inhabited for more than 5000 years, it is home to innumerable historic and Islamic attractions, including Ark of Bukhara, Kalan Mosque, and Ismail Samani Mausoleum, making it one of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe.

24. Georgetown, Malaysia

Insider Monkey's Score: 41

Georgetown, located in Malaysia, is known to be one of the most peaceful places in the world. The city is known for its vibrant history. The Gurney Plaza and Pinang Peranakan Mansion are some of the must-visit spots in Georgetown.

23. Bangkok, Thailand

Insider Monkey's Score: 43

Bangkok is known for its vibrant nightlife and world-famous street food, which adds to the beauty of the city. Some of its most iconic attractions include the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Chetuphon.

22. Golden Temple, Amritsar, India

Insider Monkey's Score: 44

Located in Amritsar, the Golden Temple is a pilgrimage site for Sikhs. The temple is named Golden Temple primarily because of its golden exterior, and is one of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe.

21. Kandy, Sri Lanka

Insider Monkey's Score: 46

Known for the Temple of Tooth Relic, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kandy is one of the most beautiful cities in Asia and offers a wide range of activities including hiking. Sri Dalada Maligawa and Bahirawakanda Temple are some of the most popular tourists spots in Kandy.

20. Railay Beach, Thailand

Insider Monkey's Score: 47

Home to white sand beaches and limestone cliffs, Railay Beach is known to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Asia.

19. Hanoi, Vietnam

Insider Monkey's Score: 48

Hanoi is known to be one of the safest cities in Southeast Asia since it is extremely safe to walk around the city at night. Some of its most visited attractions include the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and the Temple of Literature.

18. Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal

Insider Monkey's Score: 48

Sagarmatha National Park is a UNESCO-listed park with mountains, glaciers, and valleys situated in it. It is mainly known to be dominated by Mount Everest.

17. Maldives

Insider Monkey's Score: 49

Made up of around 1100 islands, Maldives is known for tropical landscapes, white sand beaches, and coral reefs that add to the beauty of the city and make it one of the best places to visit in Asia that are beautiful and safe. The National Museum and Gulhi Beach are the most famous attractions in the city.

16. Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong

Insider Monkey's Score: 49

Victoria Harbor, the Hong Kong skyline, is one of the most iconic and beautiful sights in the world. It is known to have extremely picturesque scenery.

15. Beijing, China

Insider Monkey's Score: 53

Beijing is known to be an amalgamation of history, beauty, and culture, which attracts millions of tourists every year. Some of its historic and cultural attractions include Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and Lama Temple.

14. Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi

Insider Monkey's Score: 55

One of the largest mosques in the world, the Sheikh Zayed Mosque is known to be an amalgamation of ancient and modern Islamic architecture.

13. Kerala Backwaters, India

Insider Monkey's Score: 56

Most of Kerala is covered by backwaters, which are known to have an extremely picturesque landscape for tourists to visit, making it one of the most beautiful places to visit in Asia.

12. Bagan, Myanmar

Insider Monkey's Score: 57

Known as the capital of the Pagan Kingdom in the 11th century, Bagan is home to the largest archaeological site in the world, which makes the city extremely beautiful. The city is also known for its majestic temples including That Bin Nyu Temple and Ananda Temple.

11. Hoi An, Vietnam

Insider Monkey's Score: 60

Hoi An is known to be an extremely safe city as the streets are well-lit, providing a safe environment for tourists. An Bang Beach and the Old House of Tan Ky are some of the must-visit spots in Hoi An.

Click here to continue reading and see 10 Best Places to Visit in Asia That Are Beautiful and Safe. Suggested Articles:

Disclosure: None. 40 Best Places to Visit in Asia That Are Beautiful and Safe is originally published on Insider Monkey.
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 Ohio 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.

#4. Deeds Point MetroPark

 Rating: 4.5/5 (5 reviews)

 Address: 510 Webster St. Dayton, Ohio

 Read more on Tripadvisor

#3. Cleveland Script Sign

 Rating: 4.5/5 (5 reviews)

 Address: Upper Edgewater Dr. Edgewater Park Cleveland, Ohio

 Read more on Tripadvisor

#2. Overlook Area

 Rating: 5/5 (7 reviews)

 Address: 354 Sackett Ave. Akron, Ohio

 Read more on Tripadvisor

#1. Ledges Overlook

 Rating: 5/5 (143 reviews)

 Address: 405 Truxell Road Cuyahoga Valley National Park Peninsula, Ohio

 Read more on Tripadvisor

This story features data reporting by Karim Noorani, writing by Sheeka Sanahori, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 37 states.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
The city told a homeowner to hide his boat behind a fence  his creative and hilarious response went viral

Is this guy the B.O.A.T., or what?

A Seaside, Calif., man ordered by the city to to hide his boat behind a fence has gone viral with his hilarious and creative response to the washed-up request.

Etienne Constable was surprised to receive a sternly-worded letter from his local code enforcement office, informing him that large vehicles parked in driveways must be hidden from view.

Constable said he isnt a rule breaker, per se, but is keen to make a political and humorous statement when necessary. KSBW 8

So he built a fence  and had a local artist turn the barrier into a mural of his prized possession.

Im not a rule-breaker but I like to make a political statement as necessary as well as a humorous statement and a creative statement, Constable told local TV station KSBW.

I thought, This is ridiculous, and my first reaction was to leave a nasty, nasty message at the city hall, he told the Washington Post.

And then I thought, well, I might as well build a screen  Ill do what they want, but Im not going to do it their way.

After running his grand idea by his neighbors, Constable hired muralist Hanif Panni to paint a photorealistic image of the ship, named Might As Well, on his new, 6-foot tall fence in the driveway.

In response to the letter from the city, he hired a muralist to paint the image of his beloved boat, trolling city officials who asked him to fence in his ship. ModestHouse/X

Ill do what they want, but Im not going to do it their way, he said. ModestHouse/X

Municipal code orders large vehicles, such as a ship, to be fenced in if they are stored in a driveway. ModestHouse/X

He hired artist Hanif Panni to paint the mural. KSBW 8

Im a big proponent of public art in spaces, Panni told KSBW. It engages people in ways that reaching out and having conversations doesnt sometimes.

While the city has yet to respond to the cheeky artwork, images of the painting have gone viral and drummed up quite a bit of buzz online.

Im all in favor of generating a discussion and making people smile, Constable told KSBW. The reaction is extremely more than we ever expected and were both just tickled about it.
ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (WJW)  Those photos of the Northern Lights being posted everywhere showing exceptionally brilliantly bright colors of purple, green, and red are accurate depictions to cell phone camera lenses, but not even close to what we saw with our naked eye, according to celestial gazers and a professional photographer.

George Avata saw the northern lights from Lake Eries Rocky River Beach, along with hundreds of people who gathered there Friday night.

When I saw the super colorful photos of the aurora borealis on Facebook, my neighbors and I went to the lake, Avata said. We couldnt believe how much brighter and colorful our cell phone cameras made them look compared to what we saw at the same exact time with our eyes, but Im still so tickled I saw it in person.

Others at Huntington Beach in Bay Village echoed what Avata said, while the aurora borealis was a rare treat the colors were much more faint with my naked eye than the brilliantly vivid pictures I took with my phone one second after looking at the sky, Avata said.

Cameras are collecting actual light that really is there, its just that they do it so much better than our human eyes, Andy Fowkes who owns AF Photography in Avon Lake told Fox 8 News Saturday.

Giant Eagle soon offering reusable bags for free

The cell phone camera can expose longer which makes more light enter the sensor. A photo I took had a 15 second exposure which means the shutter was open for 15 seconds and it let all that light in during the time it was open, Fowkes added.

Cell phone cameras have amplifiers in their sensors for better night detection, more importantly the size of the sensor is physically larger at 30 millimeters compared to a human retina sensor, which is only 6 millimeters!, astronomer Jay Reynolds told Fox 8 News.

Avata saw the 2 the photos below taken in Rocky River by Fox 8 Web Producer Jordan Unger who used a much lower shutter speed, those are really nice photos, accurate and how I saw it with my own eyes, Avata said.

I would say his (Unger) photos are very close to what the naked eye saw Friday night.

Courtesy: Jordan Unger



Watch: Bull visits FOX 8 ahead of upcoming rodeo

The next images below are also from Rocky River, and show how intensely colorful the cell phone photo on top appeared, while the other faint image on the bottom taken a second later is a freeze frame/screen grab from the phones video camera that shows a truer view of how the lights appeared to the eyes, Avata said.

The dazzling photo below was taken by Fowkes in Avon Lake with the camera set to a 15-second exposure, he said.

Im thrilled I saw the lights in person though, Avata said. It still felt magical and left me with a good feeling Ill keep with me, and I dont have plans to go to Finland to see wildly bright northern lights in person. Overall this was quite impressive.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
College graduations will be twice as sweet for class whose high school celebrations happened online

Jacob McCullough is eagerly awaiting the day he'll cross the stage at Bethel University's graduation.

"I just hope I don't trip when I walk across," he said half-joking. "I don't have any practice."

Thousands of people will graduate from Minnesota colleges this year. For many, including McCullough, it will be their first chance to have an in-person ceremony. High school graduations were upended four years ago by COVID-19 lockdowns  making this year's college celebrations twice as momentous.

Without the big high school ceremony, "it felt like you skipped over something, and all of a sudden I was in college," said Onella Nkurunziza, who will graduate soon from the University of St. Thomas.

Nkurunziza was studying abroad in Wisconsin when the pandemic sped up her plans to return home to Rwanda. Her family gathered in the living room to watch her high school ceremony. This year, they'll fly in to watch her walk across the stage, cheering as she goes.

"Getting to have that experience finally is exciting," Nkurunziza said. She noted: "Four years is a hustle."

Elliot Steeves is feeling more relaxed about graduation this year. His final months at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis were spent online, and "anytime I thought about the transition to college, it felt like mostly I was grieving the very sudden end of something."

He watched the video of his high school graduation in his pajamas, while eating takeout. His upcoming graduation from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., will happen on a field outside, weather permitting. He'll be surrounded by classmates.

Maybe it's the passage of time. Maybe it's the end of lockdowns, but "I feel just way more peaceful and settled about graduation and that transition process specifically," he said.

Ian Zukor was scheduled to give the speech for his Wayzata High School graduation on the stage at 3M Arena at Mariucci at the University of Minnesota. But COVID-19 moved the ceremony online, so he pre-recorded his message instead.

"It was happy but weird, which almost anyone would tell you," he said.

On Sunday, Zukor got the chance to finally deliver a speech inside the arena  this time as a graduate of the University of Minnesota.

"I'm thrilled," he said. "I really see it as a special moment in my life timeline."

COVID-19 changed college

When McCullough's high school graduation moved online, celebrating almost felt like an afterthought.

"It wasn't like the world was going on normally and we were the only ones suffering with no graduation," he said.

Masking and social distancing were still commonplace when he started at Bethel University. Movie nights happened outside, with people spaced 6 feet apart. Food from dining halls was served in take-out containers. The only people he saw without masks were the guys on his floor, the people who remain his best friends to this day.

When he looked back through his photos of those early days on campus, "it was fun to relive those things and just realize how crazy that was and, in a sense, how far we've come at the same time."

His final days at Bethel University will be different. There will be a benediction. There will be a graduation ceremony and a reception. Senioritis is kicking in, and McCullough is "hitting the point where I'm ready to run across that stage."
Dont be surprised if the frozen Presbyterians of Hilton Head Island stand and throw roses at the altar on May 19 when their music minister of the past 25 years clasps his hands in thanks for the last time, smiles and exits into retirement.

Samuel Russell Rusty Floyd III came well-credentialed to First Presbyterian in 1999: degrees from Furman University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Michigan State. He was a college professor, choral director and composer.

He wanted to get closer to home, the small town of Lake City in South Carolinas Pee Dee section, where piano lessons from Miss Ruby and the church youth choir of John Stoudenmore helped shape his life. And its where he fawned over the Beatles and played in a garage band, The Spyrles, that made it all the way to The Pavilion in Myrtle Beach.

But many would say the best thing he brought to this calling was his wife, Laura Sutton Floyd, a daughter of musical missionaries to Brazil whose operatic soprano voice was discovered when she was in the fourth grade and cast as Gretel in the Hansel and Gretel opera.

Music was our life, she said.

They have added life to the local music scene.

He is co-principal clarinetist with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and has led the community presentation of Handels Messiah. His church choir performed at Carnegie Hall. She sings in the Mary Green Chorale, teaches voice and has performed in countless memorial services and special musical programs. They created a number of new choirs at the church over the years.

Mary Green, whose 50 years of conducting orchestras and choruses includes 13 seasons as music director and CEO of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, said they are both very modest, humble and self-effacing but have contributed heavily here on stage and behind the scenes.

He is a great pleasure to work with, always well-prepared, she said. And Laura has a remarkable voice presence that reaches out and holds the audience in her hands.

The Sanctuary Choir that weathered the Zoom rehearsals of COVID to include some 50 voices will pour all it has into a service of song on Rusty Floyds last day May 19.

A piece of music has been commissioned for the occasion. And the 10:30 a.m. service will include a piece written by Rusty when he was in the Furman choir, where he was indelibly marked by Dr. Milburn Price and where he met Laura.

The title seems appropriate.

Lord Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace.

CELEBRATE LIFE!

Rusty and Laura Floyd were married twice.

The first time, his father did the honors in his living room due to complications in getting to her home in Brazil. Russell Floyd Jr. was a lawyer and magistrate judge in Lake City. Rustys mother was the witness, and a neighbor took pictures.

Youre as married as youll ever be, he said.

But a month later, Lauras father performed a marriage ceremony for them in the chapel at the Southern Baptist seminary in Brazil where he taught choral conducting, worship planning and voice. Her mother, a violinist, translated a hymnal full of songs into Portuguese, in addition to a large portfolio of choral music, including the whole Messiah.

The weddings followed a long-distance courtship while he was in seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, in which he sent her tapes of music that might help her understand who he was.

He was a combination of things. He was an only child of a father reared on a farm with 10 siblings and a mother who was an art major. He was in part Miss Ruby Smith who taught his mother piano and was an extremely demanding teacher to young Rusty, introducing him to Sergei Rachmaninoff.

And he was a product of the golden era of youth choir productions that the kids of Lake City First Baptist Church hit the road performing. He says the peak was Celebrate Life! Two pieces from it were performed by his island choir this Easter.

Rusty Floyd says his department head at Hope College in Michigan wept when he told him he was leaving after 14 years on staff.

They felt like Hilton Head was the right place, in part because of a chance meeting during his interview here. They were taken to the Long Cove Club for lunch, and there sitting with parishioners was the Rev. Robert Cuttino, a longtime Beaufort County Baptist leader who was Rustys pastor growing up.

And they felt it all fit together in a larger plan for their lives when they were able to adopt Samantha, their miracle who is artistic and musical and working on the island as she turns 21.

SOLID RIVER FLOWING

Retirement plans are hazy for Rusty.

He hopes to do more composing. Hell stay with the symphony, and Laura hopes hell have time to play the guitar more.

Theyre proud of special productions at the church on his watch, including the British one-act opera Noyes Fludde. Local youth played in the orchestra. Mark Taylor built the ark, and his wife, Ginny, made the masks. Mark Taylors late parents, Charles and Ellen Taylor, had taken the Floyds in almost like their own children when they moved to the island.

Rusty says music is unique because very few forms of art move the soul, move the spirit, inspire, change ones life like music does.

A choir allows people to take their talents and their voices and come together, to participate, and support each other in and out of the choir loft, he said.

Laura Floyd says that when Scripture is set to music, it makes it easy to remember.

It can carry you through difficult situations, she said. Its the words of hymns that come back to you.

She said, We are commanded to praise. Music is a way to express our faith, express what the Lord has done for us and what we believe. It helps us to grow spiritually.

Rusty Floyd said the music ministry can hold a church together.

Its that solid river flowing constantly that has always helped sustain the church.

David Lauderdale may be reached at LauderdaleColumn@gmail.com.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA)  University of Illinois Extension held a resource fair on Saturday. Over 200 people  mostly consisting of families  came out.

Booths showcased the Extensions resources. Food vendors were there. Children were getting their faces painted, playing in a bounce house, or enjoying a slushy. The Champaign Fire Department also hosted a Touch-a-Truck event.

How to tell if cicadas are ready to emerge in your yard: Illinois Extension

Organizer and U of I Educator Emily Harmon said it was a great day.

Its been very rewarding, just as a university Extension employee, because Ive had so many people, both community members and different organizations, come up and say how happy they are with everything, she said. Its such a positive event, so Im just so happy we could be here to organize it.

The next Extension Day will be on Juneteenth.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.
BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL)  According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, less than 1% of children are diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a Motor Speech Disorder that affects the way a child speaks, making it difficult for them to articulate what they want to say.

Skye Wallers 6-year-old son, Mason, was diagnosed with CAS in 2022 after she noticed the signs.

Around two years old, he started regressing in some speech a little bit, said Waller. So we got him into speech therapy, and he was treated for Articulation Disorder.

The rarity of the disorder leads to the possibility of a misdiagnosis. Waller said their therapist came to a different conclusion due to its uncommon nature.

Our speech therapist was a little delayed in getting that diagnosis because it is so rare, said Waller. Its not the first thing you think of when you hear speech disorder.

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Recently, Waller met Payton Lynch, a local mother whose 3-year-old son Carter shows the same signs.

The syllables arent there, said Lynch. He cant do more than two syllables. He cant put sentences together. Its just not where it should be.

Carter has not received an official diagnosis from a therapist, but the idea of CAS has been brought up.

Its suspected at this point, Lynch said. But [were] still wanting to go ahead and learn as much as we can about it.

After connecting, the two moms teamed up and worked alongside the City of Bristol, Tennessee to help them spread awareness for their children. Waller said she did this on her own last year, but Lynch was there to help this year.

I reached out to the Mayors Office, Mr. Vance Turner, Lynch said. And then he sent it to who it needed to be sent to.

The proclamation declared May 14th as Childhood Apraxia of Speech Awareness Day for the city. Waller and Lynch hope this day of awareness will spread the word about CAS.

Even if its not my little boys diagnosis, we still need to raise awareness and educate everyone that we can because I would have never heard about it, said Lynch.

It just makes me happy that people are knowing what it is, learning more about it, and supporting the awareness that everyone has a voice, said Waller.

The moms added that while their children arent able to articulate their words as well as other children, they simply want their boys to be treated the same.

Everyone has different abilities, but theyre all still kids, said Waller. Everyone wants to be included.

Give them a chance, said Lynch. Even if you see that they maybe have a little different speech, but inclusion is the biggest thing.

11 businesses around the city will have QR codes available to scan for donations throughout the week, and others will offer special items throughout the week. Those businesses include:

Misty Mountain Designs 524 State St. 620 State restaurant 620 State St.

Special blue cocktail Tounge Twister available through May 14 Taste Buds 9 Pennsylvania Ave #1

Blue ice cream, cones, and other treats throughout the month

On May 14, half of the proceeds made throughout the day will be donated to Apraxia Kids Southern Churn 627 State St.

Blue Cookie Monster fudge is available the week of May 14 Mini Miracles 109 Meadow View Rd. Tipn the Scale 201 Pennsylvania Ave

Blue Cheesecake available May 12-18 AR Workshop 626 State St. ZaZas 2001 West State St. Bears Subs 1728 Edgemont Ave. Champion Striking and Fitness 1701 Euclid Ave. Twin City 420 1119 W State St.

Anyone who donates $5 or more and shares their contact information will be entered into a drawing to win either a $60 gift certificate to Tipn the Scale or a 1 month free membership to Champion Striking and Fitness.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
Given Australias gigantic scale and wild nature, archaeological research can be difficult and costly. Where to start digging on such a vast continent, where the archaeological sites can often be remote and difficult to reach?

Now a joint team of scientists from The University of Sydney, Southern Cross University, Flinders University, and Universite Grenoble-Alpes has used new technology to simplify matters. The group recently published its research in the journal Nature Communications.

Australias Atlantis

They studied, in particular, the terrain inhabited by the first hunter-gatherers as they traversed Sahul. This is the so-called Australian Atlantis  a supercontinent that existed up to 75,000 years ago and contained Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Tasmania.

A map of Sahul, the supercontinent that included Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Tasmania. Illustration: Salles et al/Nature Communications

As sea levels rose at the end of the Pleistocene, the landscape took the form we now know. How the first humans reached Sahul is still a mystery, and the paths they took to spread across it are also lost to the sands of time.

A useful tool

Until now. In an article published in The Conversation, the scientists explain their approach. They first chose two likely entry points, a northern route through West Papua (entry time: 73,000 years ago) and a southern one from the Timor Sea shelf (entry time: about 75,000 years ago).

A computer model then combined geological evidence of how Sahul changed over time with how hunter-gatherer populations typically spread. The resulting maps show radiating waves of migration, with humans following receding coastlines, ancient waterways, and other likely routes since erased by the march of time.

The model also suggests that early humans spread between 0.36 and 1.15 kilometers per year.

An illustration showing the likely movement patterns of early humans across Sahul. Illustration: Salles et al., Nature Communications

The upshot is a series of maps that will help archaeologists narrow their search for dig sights. The team also hopes their methodology can illuminate other migration mysteries, like the movement of early humans around  and out of  Africa.

The post Mapping Human Migration Across Australias Lost Atlantis appeared first on Explorersweb.
Meet Amber Ollis, who taught English in South Korea and now works at North Canton Library

Amber Ollis serves as the community engagement librarian at the North Canton Public Library and also coordinates senior events at the North Canton Civic Center.

Amber Ollis has taught English abroad, then worked in a library at the TimkenSteel and a few other jobs before coming into her current position as community engagement librarian at the North Canton Public Library.

She graduated from GlenOak High School in 2008. She then went on to graduate from the University of Akron in the Honors College (2012) with a bachelor's degree in social work and earned a second college degree from Kent State University (2017) in knowledge management and information architecture.

Along with Ollis' long-term partner Matt, they have several rescue animals including three potbelly pigs (Mr. Oinkers, Daisy and Lorelai) and two rescue pups (Skylar and Atlas).

After graduating with my undergraduate degree, I did not immediately go into my chosen career field (social work)," she said. "Instead, I took a job teaching English in Ilsan, South Korea. From there, I was able to visit countries like Japan, Dubai the UK and stayed in M'Saken, Tunisia, with a family I met online and we are still friends to this day.

Ollis returned to the U.S. in 2014 and was hired by TimkenSteel  now named Metallus  as a librarian. The company had just split into Timken Co. and TimkenSteel. One of her tasks was to go through the company vaults and clean up/save any important documentation or any relics.

I had the time of my life building their metallurgical library from scratch," she said.

TimkenSteel paid for her to obtain a master's degree from Kent State. Her roles changed over the years as she was promoted, and eventually began coding and learning computer engineering skills.

Sadly, from the time I started in 2014 to the time I left in 2020, many of the people I had worked with had retired, been laid off or moved on," Ollis said. "The steel industry wasn't doing well and there were several rounds of layoffs. I finally decided to leave in December 2020 to see what other kinds of work I might be interested in. I tried roofing, my own cleaning business (I learned if I cleaned other people's houses, I didn't really feel like cleaning my own), taught classes online and worked as a tech engineer at PNC and at PBS Animal Health in Massillon.

It wasn't until I was laid off from PNC in late 2023 that I knew I was ready to return to my roots. I had previously worked at the North Canton Library as a teenager and discovered there was a community engagement librarian role open. I went ahead and reached out to a few people I knew to see if I could be considered for the role.

5 questions with Nicholas DuBose: A volunteer with the Stark County Fatherhood Coalition

Amber Ollis serves as the community engagement librarian at the North Canton Public Library and also coordinates senior events at the North Canton Civic Center.

Why did you want to work in a local library?

I had worked in a library both in North Canton and the Stark Plain Local branch when I was still in high school as they had just built it onto GlenOak.

Growing up, I figured I would always be a writer and wished I could get paid to read books. Every year, I upped the number of books I would read. This year, my goal is 110, which I am on task to achieve.

Some of my fondest memories are of going to the North Canton Library's teen events, especially when "Twilight" started getting big.

What are your favorite parts of the library?

The people, easily.

Librarians are passionate about what they do, create and provide to the community. We recently had several large boxes of Magic cards donated for our teen department to checkout/trade and engage with. How cool!

Right now, I coordinate and lead the senior events at the North Canton Civic Center. I have already grown to love and enjoy the approximately 25 seniors who attend regularly. They make me feel like my work is valuable and important (but especially makes them smile).

You have manufacturing and engineering in your professional background, how do you incorporate those experiences into your current position?

Through my strategic thinking. I feel more organized and prepared when I have events to plan or tasks to complete.

I am already booking programs into 2025, and know that the years of using Excel, invoicing and talking to clients have prepared me for this role. I believe I gained confidence by stepping into a workplace where I knew nothing.

I am not afraid or intimidated to say I do not know something and now I know I can truly accomplish anything  if I want it.

Which genres do you read most often?

Usually, I read mostly fantasy novels. Think King Arthur, dragons, Lord of the Rings.

However, right now I am going through a horror jaunt and don't see any stop in sight. I'm finishing up "The Exorcist" on Audible this week.

One for fun: If you had a superpower, what would you want it to be?

If I had a superpower, I absolutely would want to talk to animals!

I'd love to be able to know what my piggies are saying when they oink at me, which is probably more food. But it would still be worth it.

Editor's note: Five questions with ... is a Sunday feature that showcases a member of the Stark County community. If you'd like to recommend someone to participate, send an email to newsroom@cantonrep.com.

Amber Ollis serves as the community engagement librarian at the North Canton Public Library and also coordinates senior events at the North Canton Civic Center.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: 5 questions with Amber Ollis of North Canton Public Library
Nespresso catapulted into the world of coffee in 1986, and in 2000, love for the espresso-filled pods became an in-person experience in Paris. This first boutique store not only showcased a new logo for the entrepreneurial coffee brand, but also brought Nespresso pods directly into the hands of consumers without requiring an online order. The success of the Paris boutique led the brand to open up additional locations around the world where customers could sample different coffee flavors, buy Nespresso machines, stock up on new capsules, and bring in used coffee pods to recycle.

"Stores are destinations where people come not just to shop but to experience something special, something that transcends the transaction," Jaime Mur, Nespresso's global head of retail and customer experience, told Forbes. "It is a feeling that draws us to physical stores, no matter where we are in the world." The brand's marketing approach has research to support it. Research conducted at the University of Oxford has investigated how the coffee-drinking experience is affected by presentation -- a key factor for Nespresso, and a differentiator at a time when the coffee world lacked color and choice. Though the company began packing its coffee in neutral tones, colorful pods soon began to indicate flavors and variations. As the University of Oxford's Professor Charles Spence explained to The Guardian, "You are trying to give people visual clues about the origins of the product."

Read more: 26 Coffee Hacks You Need To Know For A Better Cup

Nespresso Stores Are Part Of The Brand's Vision

Nespresso in Paris - Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images

Until the Paris boutique opened, Nespresso fans had to rely on shipping and online shopping to fill their coffee makers. Today, Nespresso has over 800 stores worldwide that aim to keep customers at the heart of the business. "Retail is not only about fulfilling a need but is also about discovery, learning, sharing experiences and being heard," Mur told Forbes.

Nespresso, which remains part of the Nestle Group, began operations with only five ambitious employees. They began by bringing the first portioned coffee machines to workplaces in Japan, Switzerland, and Italy. And they didn't stop with flavored coffee packed in pods. Chocolate squares stamped with the letter N were introduced in 1992 and can be found in the boutiques as both a sweet treat and palate cleanser in between coffee tastings. This further emphasizes that the stores aren't simply about sales and shopping, but are designed to expose customers to new offerings. They also aim to be places to educate consumers about the world of coffee, and inform coffee lovers about sustainable best practices.

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IKEA is known as the go-to place for affordable furniture that, with the right instructions and a little  or, sometimes, a lot  of patience, you can set up on your own. From the dorm room to the dining room of your first home, youll be able to furnish your space with chic IKEA furniture.

Read Next: 6 Best Expensive-Looking Things You Can Buy at Big Lots

Find Out: How To Get $340 Per Year in Cash Back on Gas and Other Things You Already Buy

You might not expect a furniture store to be celebrated for its culinary delights, though IKEA does make a mean meatball. Fortunately, youd be wrong. If youre looking to stock your fridge or cupboards with some groceries as you get your new living room set up, you can grab a few goodies while youre already in the store.

GOBankingRates did the mouthwatering work of finding the IKEA grocery items that delight the taste buds and the wallet alike.

HUVUDROLL

IKEAs famed Swedish meatballs are now available for you to bring to your own kitchen. At $14.99, you can snap up two pounds of the delectable meatballs  perfect for feeding a whole family or enjoying over multiple meals.

Whether youre craving a meatball sub or meatballs and pasta, youll find a use for these delectable delights.

Discover More: The Single Best Thing To Buy at Costco When Youre on an Extra Tight Budget

GRONSAKSKAKA

If youre looking to serve some veggie-based options, you could definitely do far worse than these frozen vegetable medallions.

Perfect when paired with a salad or breakfast food, or as a snack in its own right, this multisyllabic goodie only costs $8.99 for a little over a pound of food within each box.

ALLEMANSRATTEN

ALLEMANSRATTEN is a mighty big word for mighty tasty mashed potatoes.

The bag for these frozen mashed potatoes invites you to sample them with meatballs, sauce and lingonberry jam, but you can also pair them with traditional fare like other veggies or even a nice chicken breast. At only $5.49 a bag, you can snap up several all at once.

SILL DILL

Odds are you probably cant find marinated herring with dill at almost any other grocery store. Thats why you should pick up your new favorite snack food  best with crackers, bread or eaten right out of the jar  for only $2.99 a jar at your local IKEA.

SYLT HALLON & BLABAR

At only $4.99 a jar, this delightful organic raspberry and blueberry jam will cost about the same at IKEA as many other sugar-laden jams will run you at your local grocery store.

So why not try the fresh, fruity taste of the one-of-a-kind jam at IKEA?

BELONING

No snack cabinet is complete without this bar of sumptuous white chocolate and raspberries. For only $2.79, you can feast on a truly luxurious candy anytime you feel like.

Story continues

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 6 Cheap Grocery Items To Buy at IKEA That Are Worth Every Penny
Pilot hands out hundreds of roses for Mothers Day: cabin of roses

NEW YORK (PIX11)  A plane full of hundreds of red roses will land in LaGuardia Airport Sunday in a Mothers Day tradition thats coming to an end.

Russ Wayant, a Captain at American Airlines, has passed out roses on Mothers Day for 12 years. Hes handed out over 4,000 roses to female passengers traveling on the holiday, Wayant said.

Free admission to NYC Whitney Museum on Mothers Day

Its a joy to do it, passengers love it, Wayant said. Once everybody gets their roses I ask them to hold their roses up in the cabin and it looks like the cabin is full of roses.

The tradition started when Wayant went to a florist to get Mothers Day flowers for his crew. At the florist it dawned on him, wouldnt it be neat if everybody in the airplane had a rose, Wayant recalled.

Now, preparations for his cabin of roses flight start a month in advance, and the florist knows to expect him.

But given Wayant is retiring, this year will be his last.

Its bittersweet. I look forward to this flight every year, he said.

This years flight took off from Chicago OHare International Airport and landed in New York. Wayant will also pass out hundreds of flowers on a flight going the opposite direction later Sunday.

Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered local news for years. She has been with PIX11 since 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Mother's Day was celebrated across the U.S. on Sunday by families of all kinds, including furry families.

That's right, a very popular Pennsylvania power couple had some celebratory news to announce in honor of the Mother's Day holiday.

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle announced on Facebook that two names had finally been chosen for Phil and his wife, Phyllis' new babies, who were born in March.

Tom Dunkel, the president of The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, and Vice President Dan McGinley read the news proclamation in a video.

"Born to royalty, a boy and a girl, names have been chosen to share with the world. Welcome with us as we say hello to little girl, Sunny and a boy, Shadow. With pride and joy as the kids play, from Punxatawney, happy Mother's Day!" McGinley read from a scroll.

Dunkel told CBS Pittsburgh in April no one knew Phyllis was pregnant and that they found the two babies now named Sunny and Shadow when someone went to feed the groundhogs one day in March.

The Groundhog Club Inner Circle set up suggestion boxes, open from April 30 to May 9, so the Punxsutawney community could take part in naming the happy couple's new babies.

The Groundhog Club said they reviewed all the names and discussed them with Phil in his native tongue, Groundhogese.

Here's a fun fact: Dunkel's signature cane allows him to communicate with Phil and speak Groundhogese!

Congrats to the happy family - Phil, Phyllis, Sunny and Shadow!

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Whiskey fans have a lot of thoughts about Diageos Orphan Barrel brand, a series of whiskey releases that supposedly come from forgotten casks discovered slumbering in the darkened corners of warehouses. That unlikely narrative has kind of taken a backseat to the stories behind the individual whiskeys in the series, some of which are very goodif often overpriced. The new Indigos Hour, however, is an 18-year-old bourbon that doesnt live up to its backstory, and its arguably not worth its hefty price tag.

Anything is possible, I suppose, but its extremely unlikely that any distillery or whiskey brand would actually misplace a barrel of whiskey. Casks are barcoded and inventory is carefully monitored as it ages because, after all, its all about the bottom line and each barrel contains money in liquid form. Sure, its conceivable that a few barrels could slip through the cracks over the years, but not enough to literally create a brand identity. Regardless, as mentioned before there have been some excellent Orphan Barrel releases over the yearsMuckety-Muck was a tasty 24-year-old single grain scotch whisky from the esteemed Port Dundas ghost distillery, and Copper Tongue was a bourbon exemplar aged for 16 years at the home of George Dickel, Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. The latter whiskey is a good example of overpricing, especially considering you can find whiskey bottled under the Dickel name nearly that old for less than $100 per bottle.

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The new Orphan Barrel is called Indigos Hour, and its an 18-year-old bourbon distilled at MGP in Indiana from a high-rye mashbill (68 percent corn, 28 percent rye, and 4 percent malted barley), aged in Kentucky (maybe in warehouses owned by Diageo, but probably not), and bottled at Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. in Tullahoma, TN. So basically you have an older MGP whiskey that was aged in Kentuckysounds pretty good, right? Unfortunately, thats just not the case here. Eighteen years old is really pushing the upper limits of bourbon, giving the whiskey a solid chance of becoming an oaky, tannic bomb. Thankfully that not the case here, but instead it veers towards the opposite endthe whiskeys mouthfeel is very thin, and instead of oak you get notes of faint vanilla, crisp pear, honey, coffee bean, and a bit of spice from all of that rye. The proof is just a hair under 90 degrees, which could be part of the problem. You could easily believe this bourbon is less than 10 years old, which is a totally respectable (and maybe preferable) age. But given the price ($225, and likely much more on the secondary market) and age of this whiskey, I was expecting something much more complex.

The bottom line is that this whiskey is inoffensive but unremarkable, kind of the Coldplay or Ben Affleck of bourbons. Thats all well and good for a $40 bottle, but not for an ultra-premium brand like this. If you really want to drink some 18-year-old bourbon, there are better options out there like Knob Creek 18, Elijah Craig 18, or Dickel 18 (yes, its a Tennessee whiskey, but it also meets all the qualifications of bourbon). Sure, these are all expensive whiskeys, but maybe good enough to justify their price with rich, full, assertive flavors that deliver exactly what youre looking for. Indigos Hour is not that, so unless youre an Orphan Barrel completist (you know who you are), move along.

Score: 81

100 Worth trading your first born for

95  99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet

90  94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram

85  89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market

80  84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable

Below 80 Its alright: Honestly, we probably wont waste your time and ours with this

Every week Jonah Flicker tastes the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Friday for his latest review.

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Tourist takes carelessness to another level, squatting on the ground for photos with bison at Yellowstone National Park

Tourists often court danger by getting too close to bison at Yellowstone National Park, but one visitor has been caught taking it to another level (quite literally) by squatting in the tall grass to pose for selfies with one of the animals.

The incident was caught on camera by David Spady and shared on Instagram account TouronsOfYellowstone this week. As we enter hiking season, it serves as a timely reminder to give wildlife plenty of space to avoid causing them distress, or provoking them.

Each year, there are reports of people being seriously injured by bison after getting too close, and in 2023, two women were gored by bison within the space of a week at US National Parks. Both survived, but were hospitalized with serious abdominal injuries.

A post shared by TouronsOfYellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone) A photo posted by on

Bison might bear a passing resemblance to domestic cattle, but they are seriously powerful and their behavior can change in an instant if they think that they or their young are in danger. As the National Park Service (NPS) warns visitors, "The animals in Yellowstone are wild and unpredictable, no matter how calm they appear to be."

Visitors are warned to stay at least 25 yards (23 meters) away from bison at all times, and Park Rangers recommend watching these magnificent animals from the safety of a vehicle.

Approaching, distracting, or touching wildlife at National Parks is illegal, and punishable by a fine or jail time. Last year a well-meaning visitor was fined after trying to help a newborn bison calf that had become separated from its herd. The man, Clifford Walters of Hawaii, pushed the calf up from a river bank, but it was rejected by the other animals and Rangers took the difficult decision to euthanize it after it began approaching people and cars.

A spokesperson for the park explained that some calves do die, but it's part of the natural cycle of life, and provides food for other animals.

"Those deaths will benefit other animals by feeding everything from bears and wolves to birds and insects," the spokesperson said on Twitter. "Allowing this cycle of life to play out aligns most closely with the stewardship responsibility entrusted to us by the American people."

For more guidance, take a look at our guides how to avoid being gored by a bison, and wildlife safety: eight tips for surprise encounters.

The best binoculars: enjoy watching wildlife from a safe distance
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  One person was shot during a car meetup in Grand Rapids early Sunday, police say.

Around 1:50 a.m., officers with the Grand Rapids Police Department were sent to the area of 41st Street SE and Trade Drive after receiving reports that someone had been shot.

Responding officers found over 100 people from the 313 and 616 area codes doing burnouts and donuts in the streets and firing gunshots into the air. GRPD said the car groups were asked to leave multiple times from various areas before the shooting.

A woman who was in her vehicle had a bullet graze her head when it went through her back window, GRPD said. Her injuries are not considered life-threatening.

Stocking Avenue NW near 3rd Street NW where gunshots were heard around 2:40 a.m. on May 12, 2024.

GRPD said that gunshots continued to be heard on Stocking Avenue NW near 3rd Street NW around 2:40 a.m.

After shooting, metro Grand Rapids police promise crackdown on car meetups

This is not the first time that someone has been shot at a car meetup in Grand Rapids. In September 2023, a woman was shot and killed at a car meetup in the area of Freeman Avenue SW and Hall Street SW.

After the shooting, metro Grand Rapids police agencies vowed an aggressive approach to shut down dangerous car meetups after a woman was shot and killed.

Im happy that the law enforcement community here is unified in recognizing the need to respond to these events, which often feature firearms offenses, violence, disregard for the law and disregard for the well-being of others, Grand Rapids Police Department Chief Eric Winstrom said in September after the shooting. Not only will we be working together to take an aggressive approach to addressing this illegal activity, we will work together to identify the organizers of these events and hold them accountable, as well.

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The shooting remains under investigation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
More than a dozen car brands have been discontinued over the past 25 years.

Some of the brands fell victim to corporate restructuring, while others came from failed startups.

Dead brands include Pontiac, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, and Mercury.

Over the last 25 years, as a slew of new carmakers have popped up such as Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian  while more than a dozen other car brands have disappeared.

Pontiac and Plymouth are long-standing American car brands that fell victim to corporate restructuring, while Oldsmobile and Mercury failed to generate fresh consumer interest.

Saturn and Scion were created by their corporate owners as experiments to reach new customers that ran their course.

CODA was a novel EV startup that simply ran out of cash.

Regardless of the reason for their failure, each one of these brands still created memorable vehicles that helped move the automotive industry to where it is today.

Here's a closer look at 15 car brands that disappeared over the past 25 years.

Eagle

A 1998 Eagle Talon TSI AWD. Stellantis

Eagle was launched by Chrysler Corporate in 1988 following its acquisition of American Motors Corporation (AMC) one year earlier. The Eagle name was pulled from AMC's eponymous line of crossovers. In the early years, it became a place where Chrysler could sell models developed by AMC such as the Eagle Premier and the still AMC-badged Eagle Wagon. Eagle also sold re-branded Mitsubishis such as the Eagle Talon and Eagle Summit, which were re-badged Mitsubishi Eclipse and Mirages. Chrysler shuttered the brand in 1999 due to lagging sales.

Plymouth

The Plymouth Voyager minivan. Stellantis

Chrysler originally introduced Plymouth in 1928 as an entry-level brand in the marketplace. Over the years, Plymouth was home to a litany of iconic models, including the Barracuda muscle car and Prowler roadster, as well as popular family offerings like the Neon sedan and Voyager minivan. Chrysler shuttered the Plymouth brand in 2001 following its merger with Daimler.

Oldsmobile

The Oldsmobile Alero. AP

Ransom E. Olds brought his original Oldsmobile to the market in 1897. General Motors purchased the automaker in 1908, and it served as one of the company's leading luxury brands for nearly 100 years before it was shuttered in 2004 due to declining sales.

Rover

One of the final 2005 Rover 75 sedans produced. Heritage Images/Getty Images

For a century, Rover was a consummate presence in the British car industry. However, the Rover brand struggled to compete in the two decades before its demise in 2005.

Even though Land Rover continues today as part of India's Tata Group, the Rover name has remained dormant.

Pontiac

A 2008 Pontiac Solstice. General Motors

Pontiac, one of America's most storied automotive brands, was first incorporated in 1926. Pontiac was responsible for some unforgettable cars in American lore, such as the Firebird and the GTO. Unfortunately, Pontiac was one of three brands dissolved as part of GM's financial crisis restructuring in 2010.

Mercury

The Mercury Cougar. AP

Ford Motor Company established Mercury in 1938 to bridge the gap between its mass-market Ford brand and luxury-focused Lincoln line. Ford discontinued the Mercury line in 2010 due to diminished market share.

Hummer

The Hummer H2. AP

GM launched the Hummer division in 1999 to sell the AM General-made H1, a civilian version of the US military's High Mobility Multipurpose Wheel Vehicle (HMMWV). In the subsequent years, GM introduced the H2 and H3 models before shuttering the Hummer division in 2010.

GM revived the Hummer name in 2021, but not as a stand-alone car brand. Instead, it's an EV truck made by GMC.

Saturn

The Saturn SC. AP

Formed in 1982 and branded in the '90s as "a different kind of car company," Saturn was created mainly to compete with smaller Japanese brand models. By the early 2000s, GM had stopped developing standalone models for the brand and re-badged existing GM products. After years of lagging sales, production was halted in October 2009.

Scion

A Scion XB. Scion

Toyota's Scion experiment attempted to create a smaller car that appealed to younger customers. Its lineup of small, quirky economy cars failed to make as much of an impact as Toyota had originally hoped. Sales declined substantially following the 2008 recession, and the brand was dissolved in 2016.

Daewoo Motors

A Daewoo Nubira wagon. ullstein bild/Getty Images

Daewoo Motors was once one of South Korea's largest carmakers before a financial scandal at its parent company, followed by a bankruptcy in 1999. General Motors acquired Daewoo Motors in 2002. The company was rebranded as GM Daewoo before becoming GM Korea in 2011. Daewoo vehicles continued to be sold for years after its acquisition by GM, but the brand has been dormant for more than a decade.

Fisker Automotive

The Fisker Karma. Fisker Automotive

Before the current Fisker Inc. there was Fisker Automotive. Fisker Automotive was founded in 2007 and came to market in 2011 with a stylish range-extended EV called Karma. However, slow sales strained the company's finances, which worsened after much of its inventory was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. Fisker Automotive filed for bankruptcy in 2013 before being sold to China's Wanxiang Group in 2014.

Saab

A Saab 900 Turbo. National Motor Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images

The Swedish automaker was founded in 1945, and GM took a $600 million stake in 1989, acquiring the remaining shares in 2000. After years of poor financial results and a global recession, GM sold the brand in 2009. A collection of European car companies owned the troubled brand until it dissolved in 2016.

CODA Automotive

A 2012 CODA electric sedan. CODA Automotive

CODA Automotive was an American EV startup that was founded in 2009. In 2012, the company launched an affordable EV based on a small Chinese internal combustion economy sedan but fitted with an all-electric drivetrain. CODA Automotive went bankrupt in 2013 after only a handful of customer deliveries.

Holden

A Holden Ute. Holden

Holden was arguably Australia's most iconic car brand. It was founded in 1856 as a saddlemaker and moved into the car business in 1908 before becoming a part of General Motors in 1931. Holden had a popular lineup of muscle cars and utes, but it wasn't popular enough for GM to keep it in business. GM ended automotive production in Australia in 2017 and shuttered the Holden brand at the end of 2020.

Borgward

The Borgward BX7. picture alliance/Getty Images

Borgward was once one of Germany's largest carmakers before going bust in 1961. The Borgward brand remained dormant until Chinese automaker BAIC revived the brand in 2015. The new Borgward proceeded to launch a line of modern crossover SUVs. But the brand struggled to gain traction in the marketplace and filed for bankruptcy in 2022.

Read the original article on Business Insider
2 arrested, 1 on the run after drive-by shooting at Barrow County gas station

Three suspects are facing charges in connection to a drive-by shooting that happened last month in Winder.

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On April 24, around 7:30 p.m., Winder officers received a 911 call about shots being fired at the Shell gas station on Midland Avenue.

Police found multiple shell casings that had been fired at the scene along with a suspected bullet that impacted nearby gas pumps.

Detectives said the investigation led them to identify the suspects vehicle, including three suspects connected to the car.

TRENDING STORIES:

Winder police charged Avonte Rogers, 20, of Statham, Tatianna Wilbon, 22, of Athens and Brayson Hayes, 23, of Statham with aggravated assault.

Rogers and Hayes were also charged with reckless conduct. Rogers and Wilbon were arrested. Hayes is still wanted.

The investigation is ongoing. Winder officials have not said what led up to the shooting.

No other details were released.

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JOLIET, Ill.  Police in Joliet are investigating after a woman and her estranged husband were found stabbed to death in an apparent murder-suicide on Saturday morning.

According to police, officers were called to the scene in the 3400 block of Pandola Avenue, in Joliet, just after 11 a.m. following reports that a woman had been stabbed in the street.

After arriving on the scene, officers located a 35-year-old woman lying in the street with multiple stab wounds to her chest. A 32-year-old man, who also suffered multiple stab wounds to his chest, was found lying on the ground in a nearby driveway.

Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines

Police say a preliminary investigation revealed that the man was the estranged husband of the woman and the two were in the process of divorcing.

Prior to the stabbing, police say the man had allegedly come to the womans home and a disturbance occurred, which caused the woman to run from the home. Officers say the man, who was armed with a kitchen knife, then allegedly chased after the woman.

According to police, the man caught up with the woman in the street near the home and allegedly stabbed her several times in her chest.

Witnesses told police that after the stabbing, the man then stabbed himself in the chest several times before collapsing in the driveway of the womans home.

Both were taken to the hospital where they were later pronounced dead.

LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

Officers later located the couples three-year-old son, who was at the home during the incident. He was unharmed and officers called the Department of Children and Family Services.

Police say there is no threat to the community as the incident appears to have been targeted and domestic-related.

Authorities say the identities of both individuals killed and the manner of death will be determined by the Will County Coroners Office.

An investigation into the deadly stabbing is ongoing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
Davell Gardner Jr. was fatally shot in the abdomen while sitting in a stroller at a Brooklyn park on July 12, 2020

Gofundme Davell Gardner Jr.

Two men have been charged in connection with the killing of Davell Gardner Jr., who was just 22 months old when he was fatally struck by a stray bullet while sitting in a stroller at a cookout in Brooklyn, New York, in July 2020.

The men, Dashawn Austin, 28, and Akeem Artis, 27, were sentenced on May 8 after being convicted in April on charges in Gardners death, as well as other charges, according to a press release from the Brooklyn District Attorneys Office.

The release stated that both men  who were arrested in connection with the fatal shooting in May 2021  are members of a violent street gang, called Hoolies. According to evidence presented at trial, "the reason for Hoolies to commit acts of violence include retaliation against rival gangs and to display the gangs strength."

Scott Heins/Getty A program from the funeral of Davell Gardner Jr.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said that, according to the evidence, Austin was seen entering an Audi driven by Artis on July 12, 2020.

The men drove onto Madison Street, where Gardner was attending a cookout at Raymond Bush Playground, per the release. Austin then fired into the park, hitting four people, including Gardner, who was struck in the abdomen and later died.

The other victims were three male adults, ages 27, 35 and 36, who were also hospitalized with gunshot wounds, the New York Police Department previously told PEOPLE.

Austin was convicted of second-degree murder and Artis was convicted of first-degree manslaughter for Gardners shooting death, per the release.

Austin was also convicted of three counts of second-degree attempted murder, while Artis was convicted of three counts of first-degree attempted assault in connection with the other three victims of the July 2020 shooting.

Courtesy Davell Gardner Jr.

In addition to Gardners fatal shooting, the men were also convicted of other charges in connection with other gang-related homicides and shootings, per the release.

In a statement, Gonzalez said, Todays lengthy sentences must send a message to those engaged in gun violence that it will not be tolerated in Brooklyn. Senseless gang rivalries perpetrated by these defendants left six people injured and three people dead, including Davell Gardner Jr., who was shot in the abdomen.

Little Davell never got to celebrate his second birthday, Gonzalez continued, adding, My heart breaks for his mother and father and all the families and victims affected by such devastating gun violence. I commend my prosecutors and the NYPD for their determination to bring these defendants to justice.

LAURA BONILLA CAL/AFP via Getty A memorial for Davell Gardner Jr. at Raymond Bush Playground in Brooklyn

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.

During a press briefing following Gardners death in 2020, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the toddler's death "heartbreaking" and said the prevalence of gun violence is a "tragedy."

"Davell was just starting his life, and his life was full of possibilities," he added in a statement at the time. "This is not anything we can allow in our city, and it's heartbreaking."



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Read the original article on People.
(This May 11 story has been refiled to say IAM, instead of AIM, in paragraph 1)

(Reuters) - Workers at Apple's store in Towson, Maryland, have voted in favor of authorizing a strike, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said in a statement late on Saturday.

The date for work stoppage has yet to be decided, according to the union, which represents Apple's retail store workers in Maryland.

"The issues at the forefront of this action include concerns over work-life balance, unpredictable scheduling practices disrupting personal lives, and wages failing to align with the area's cost of living", IAM said in the statement.

"We will engage with the union representing our team in Towson respectfully and in good faith," an Apple spokeswoman said.

In June 2022, Apple workers at Maryland voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, becoming the first retail employees of the tech giant to unionize in the United States.

Meanwhile, workers at Apple's store in Short Hills, New Jersey, voted against unionizing, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday.

Communications Workers of America (CWA), which filed complaints with the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) alleging illegal union-busting by Apple at the New Jersey store and others, blamed the defeat on the company's behavior, the report said.

Apple retail staff at its New Jersey store had filed for union representation with Communications Workers of America on April 8, according to John Nagy, who is the operations lead at the Short Hills store and a member of the organizing committee

Apple did not respond to requests for comment on the vote against unionization. CWA and the NLRB did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the Bloomberg report on the New Jersey workers' vote.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Two Tennessee state representatives from opposing parties joined Good Morning Nashville to discuss a wide range of topics from school vouchers, the grocery tax, and a push for more bipartisan work.

State Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) was quick to double down on his distain for Gov. Bill Lees failed school voucher program.

After casting vision for the bill back in November, the bill quickly became the governors signature proposal, which sparked conversation from both sides.

WATCH: Lawmakers reflect on school voucher expansion bill

The school voucher plan never made it to the governors desk after falling short during the 2024 legislative session.

I am extremely disappointed for the families who will have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child, especially when there is broad agreement that now is the time to bring universal school choice to Tennessee, said Lee. While we made tremendous progress, unfortunately it has become clear that there is not a pathway for the bill during the legislative session.

The proposal aimed to expand the voucher program to all 95 counties in Tennessee, allowing tax money to cover the tuition of a student going to private school.

Another bill that never saw the light of the day was state Rep. Aftyn Behns (D-Nashville) renewed push to eliminate the grocery sales tax in Tennessee.

WATCH: Push to end grocery tax fails

According to previous reports based on data from the Tennessee Department of Revenue, eliminating this tax would have saved the average Tennessee family about $400 a year.

The bill would have dropped the food tax but increased taxes for businesses who grossed at least $250,000 a year. However, Republicans said they wanted to keep the state business-friendly.

Behn said she plans to bring back the bill in 2025, citing financial concerns she hears from her constituents.

While in studio, Warner and Behn both shared their discontentment after a bill the two teamed up on never made it out of committee, sharing a similar frustration on the challenge of bipartisan work in Tennessee.

Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom

HB 2533, led by Warner and Behn, hoped to move sexual harassment cases from control of the Legislature to a third party like the state Attorney Generals office.

Warner and Behn both seemed hopeful the two could find common ground moving forward, but recognizes the challenge that is in politics today.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Three Atlanta police officers were shot while responding to a call Saturday evening, officials said.

The unidentified officers were called to Desoto Avenue SW shortly after 5 p.m., about a call of a man with a gun, Atlanta PD Chief Darin Schierbaum told reporters.

The officers encountered the suspect, who was allegedly armed with a handgun and knife, when shots rang out, Schierbaum said.

PHOTO: Heirs to $35 Billion Fortune Face Off Over Atlanta's Controversial 'Cop City' (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The unidentified suspect was killed in the scuffle, according to the chief.

The three members of the Force were taken to Grady Hospital and described as "alert, conscious and breathing," according to the police.

MORE: 2 officers shot, killed while investigating suspicious vehicle in Salina, New York

Two of the officers were described as 31-year-olds who were on the force for four years. The third officer was described as a 28-year-old who was on the force for five months.

One officer was shot in the shoulder, another was shot in the leg and the other was grazed, Schierbaum said. Two of the officers underwent surgery, according to the chief.

MORE: Video 3 police officers shot and suspect dead after standoff: Officials

The investigation remains ongoing.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens visited the officers and their families at the hospital.

"My thoughts are with these officers and their families, and we are cooperating fully with this ongoing investigation. Thanks to the surgeons and staff at Grady Hospital for ensuring that our officers will survive," he said in a statement.

3 Atlanta police officers shot during response to call originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  Two men were killed and one man was hospitalized in an early morning shooting, according to Tampa police.

The Tampa Police Department said patrol officers in the area of South Howard Avenue heard gunshots at about 2:57 a.m.

5 boaters rescued within 3 hours in Tampa Bay by Coast Guard

When officers responded to a nearby parking lot, they found three injured men. However, two of those men died shortly after being taken to a hospital.

The deceased individuals were identified as Kenneth Washington, 28, and Kevon Christmas, 23.

According to Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw, two groups of people got into an altercation that escalated into a shooting in front of the Jimmy Johns on South Howard Avenue.

Looked like they were having a disturbance, literally seconds later they were shooting at each other, he said.

SoHo is a popular spot for college students to hang out.

Marcel Caughman, who frequents the area, said the heavy police presence was unusual but he believes the video police are looking for should surface soon.

Just because its the age of information and everybody puts everything on social media, Caughman said. So it wont be too hard.

Until then- investigators are using their metal detectors, evidence markers, and photographs to put the pieces together.

We do know that the groups knew each other and had a beef with one another, Bercaw said. What we dont have is video at this point and were asking the public which we know people were out here in filming this to share that with us as we are trying to unfold the details of this investigation.

The State Attorneys Office is assisting with the investigation.

This act of violence will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, State Attorney Suzan Lopez said.

Caughman said the shooting put things into perspective for him.

Well when I woke up this morning, I called my mother, told her happy Mothers Day, he said. Just told her I was thankful for being here.

If you know anything related to the shooting, call the Tampa Police Department at 812-231-6130 or Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 800-873-8477. You can also send information by texting SAFETAMPA to Tip411 (847411).

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
A man was killed early Saturday when the vehicle he was driving slammed into a utility pole on State Street in East St. Louis.

St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. identified the victim as JeCory Ewing, 37, of the 8800 block of Dennison Avenue in St. Louis. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:33 a.m., Dye said.

No one from the East St. Louis Police Department could be reached for details of what led to the accident.
A total of 4,073 people have been evacuated from Kharkiv Oblast since the beginning of the recent Russian offensive.

Source: Oleh Syniehubov, Head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram;

Details: According to reports, 1,377 local residents have been evacuated from the Chuhuiv district, 2,097 from Kharkiv, 29 from Bohodukhiv, and 570 more people have been evacuated by volunteers.

Citizens are being evacuated from settlements where their lives and health are at risk.

The authorities stated that individuals in need of temporary housing will be accommodated. However, 70% of the displaced population have a place to live, with the majority staying with relatives or friends.

So far, around 900 extra locations for evacuees have been established in the region. Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) has also pledged to send additional trains if the evacuation pace increases.

Background: DeepState analysts noted that Russian troops have seized six more settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.

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62-year-old alone on camping trip found dead in water near canoe, Minnesota cops say

A 62-year-old man on a solo camping trip in northern Minnesota has been found dead near a partially sunken canoe, officials told news outlets.

The man, later identified as Duluth resident Mark Ham, was discovered in the water by a group of outdoorsmen at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness before 5 p.m. Friday, May 10, the St. Louis County Sheriffs Office told Northern News Now.

The BWCA encompasses more than 1 million acres of forest, rivers and lakes  and 1,200 miles of canoe routes, according to the U.S. Forest Service, adding that the area offers freedom to those who wish to pursue an experience of expansive solitude, challenge and personal integration with nature.

Hams family told authorities he set out to the BWCA alone for a solo canoeing excursion, KSTP reported. His body was found close to a capsized canoe, on Lake Agnes, the sheriffs office said.

Authorities say a life jacket was also found but Ham wasnt wearing it, Fox News reported.

With the opening of the Minnesota fishing season this weekend, the St. Louis County Sheriffs Office and Rescue Squad would like to remind everyone to please wear their life jackets while out on the water enjoying their favorite water recreations this summer, the department said, the station reported.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area is roughly 100 miles north of Duluth.

18-year-old swimming with friends vanishes under water at Utah park, officials say

Man is fishing with woman when acquaintance approaches, beats him to death, IN cops say

Strong foul odor leads to discovery of three bodies in Texas apartment, cops say

Bizarre tornado witnessed in Oklahoma among most impressive of its kind, experts say
Former President Donald Trump put himself on shuffle and played the hits Saturday night at his rally in Wildwood, New Jersey.

The MAGA shindig along the beach drew a crowd estimated to be between 80,000 and 100,000 people, according to a spokesperson for the city. But if they were hoping to hear any new ideas, they were out of luck.

Careening from tangent to tangent, Trump went from praising the late great Hannibal Lecter to falsely claiming offshore windmills are slaughtering whales.

Trump: Silence of the lamb! The late great Hannibal Lecter. It is a wonderful man. pic.twitter.com/edG9oCH933  Acyn (@Acyn) May 11, 2024

Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? Trump said. The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He often times would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? Excuse me. Im about to have a friend for dinner, as this poor doctor walked by. Im about to have a friend for dinner. But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter, he said, apparently rooting for the villain played by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film.

Trump used the Hannibal Lecter riff to compare undocumented immigrants to cannibals, saying theyre destroying our country.

Later on, Trump did his usual schtick about windmills killing all the birds, while also doubling down on a previous false claim that offshore ones are killing whales.

One notable tidbit from the early speaker portion of the rally was North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaking second-to-last, telling the crowd he flew in with the former president on his plane. Burgum has gone from a favorite to get a cabinet position to a genuine contender for Trumps VP pick, as previously reported by The Daily Beast.

You wont find anybody better than this gentleman Get ready for something, just get ready, Trump said of Burgum.

Otherwise, there was not much new at Trumps first rally since a pair of stops in Michigan and Wisconsin on May 1.

Trump falsely claimed his 2017 tax cuts brought in more revenue to the federal governmentwhen they actually grew the deficitand promised an unspecified tax cut for lower class, upper class, and business class Americans.

He offered a more forceful endorsement of Israels military campaign in Gaza, firming up his support for President Benjamin Netanyahu after complaining the Israeli militarys killing of civilians amounted to bad optics.

I support Israels right to win its war on terror, Trump said. "I dont know if thats good or bad politically. I dont care. Youve got to do whats right.

Trump also wished a happy Mothers Day to his wife, Melania, who was not in attendance.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Owned by husband and wife team Jon and Stacy Bichelmeyer, Archway Homes buys houses as is in any condition: houses needing little to no repair, houses needing everything repaired from leaking roofs to bad foundations, cluttered houses, or those simply in need of cosmetic updating. Archway provides a no-obligation offer within 24 hours, can pay cash and close within three days or on a future date of the sellers choice, and there are no fees or commissions to pay.

One of the advantages of working with us is selling as is, said Jon. That means you dont have to do any extensive and expensive renovations to make your home appeal to todays buyers or have it ready to show at a moments notice, wait for the right buyer, wait for it to close, and then pay a real estate agents commission or sellers closing costs.

A third-generation real estate investor with roots in the Kansas City community for over 40 years, Jons extensive experience really makes a difference. The ability to sell a house quickly, in lieu of the traditional, lengthy home selling method, to an established and reputable company has been the perfect solution for numerous homeowners all over the Kansas City area, including Michael and Cynthia F. They wanted to sell a rental house in Leavenworth, but since they lived over an hour away and the house needed some freshening to make it market-ready, it didnt make sense to sell the traditional route. After seeing Archways ads in the newspaper, Michaels mother suggested getting more information.

We contacted a few companies, but the others didnt seem as reputable as Archway, said Cynthia. They offered us a fair price, and everything went as smoothly as could be. They did what they said they would do and lived up to every promise. They were very good at following up and contacted us shortly before closing to check in with us. Jon even came to the closing. Hes just a nice, down to earth person. We were so happy we sold to them and have already recommended Archway to friends.

Archway has purchased homes in all sorts of situations. Sometimes the properties need extensive repairs. Archway Homes will buy the home and make the needed repairs, relieving the sellers of the hassle and expense. Sellers can even leave the unwanted contents, saving time and expense. We are committed to working with sellers, even in difficult situations, to find a solution for all, Stacy said.

They strive to make the difficult process of selling a home as stress-free as possible, especially in these challenging times. We even wrote the book on it. Literally! Home to Home Local Edition  Kansas City Metro outlines the steps homeowners can take to sell their home and our experiences helping people do just that, Jon said.

Weve seen some great times; we lived through the real estate crash in 2008-2010 and have come through the other side. We plan to keep working with sellers no matter what the market is doing, said Jon. I know people are being cautious and careful, so we are using smart technology and every health precaution to make sure our sellers feel comfortable.

Archway Homes features a no-obligation offer process. The first step is to call the office at 913-599-5000 to schedule an appointment. Jon will then walk through the home and can provide an offer price within 24 hours. Archway Homes can pay cash and close in as fast as three days. However, some sellers need the opposite approach, needing a delayed closing several months away. They may need time to find their next home, or they are building a home and need time for it to be completed. Coordinating closing schedules in a traditional sale can be challenging. Archway Homes sets a closing date that will meet the sellers needs.

Anyone who wants to sell a home quickly for cash should call Jon Bichelmeyer at 913-599-5000 or email him at jon@archwayhomesinc.com. Or they can visit Archway Homes website at archwaypropertieskc.com to fill out an online form or to get a free copy of our book Home to Home Local Edition  Kansas City Metro, Kansas and Missouri, call our office.

Archway Homes

Location: 15301 W. 87th St. Parkway, Suite B35 in the UMB Bank building

Contact: Jon Bichelmeyer at 913-599-5000 or jon@archwayhomesinc.com

Website: archwaypropertieskc.com
A courtroom sketch of Donald Trump's defense attorney Susan Necheles cross-examining Stormy Daniels on the first day of her testimony in Trump's hush money trial. (Elizabeth Williams / Associated Press)

Last week, after Stormy Daniels spent nearly eight hours over two days testifying in former President Trumps hush money trial in New York, the time seemed right to crack open her memoir, Full Disclosure.

I had missed the book when it was published in 2018, but now that she has been a star witness in the first criminal trial of an American ex-president, a trial that has seen the introduction of the memorable phrase "orange turd," I wanted to read her version of her relationship with the man who claims he barely knew her and certainly never had sex with her.

As you can imagine, Daniels, 45, who began her career as a stripper, has had a fascinating, tumultuous life. She is smart, bawdy and hilariously self aware.

For example, in 1999, while she was unconscious on the operating table, her plastic surgeon decided to dramatically increase the size of the breast implants theyd agreed on. When she awoke, she writes, she was shocked and angry. But not for long. Her breasts, which she calls Thunder and Lightning, have been integral to her success.

Its amazing, she writes, what blond hair and big boobs instantly do, by the way. Noted.

By the age of 22, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had become a successful adult film actor, writer and director.

Read more: Stormy Daniels is shameless and it's wonderful

She was so successful, in fact, that in 2009, she was recruited to run against then-Louisiana Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a family values crusader who was revealed to have ties to prostitutes. My endgame, she writes, was to get someone more qualified to step up to the plate. Her motto in that brief campaign: Stormy Daniels: Screwing people honestly.

She had small parts in the Judd Apatow movies The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. For a Maroon 5 music video, she chased Adam Levine in a sexy cop costume.

Apatows producer Shauna Robertson invited her to tag along on the sets of Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Superbad, which is how she learned to make films.

After the hush money scandal broke in 2018, Seth Rogen told Ellen DeGeneres, Ive known Stormy Daniels a long time, and Ill be honest, she may have mentioned this stuff around 10 years ago. At the time, when you asked a porn star who theyd been sleeping with, and the answer was Donald Trump, it was like the least surprising thing she could have said.

Read more: Litman: Did Stormy Daniels' testimony help or hurt the case against Trump? It's complicated

The reason she agreed to have dinner with Trump on that fateful evening in 2006, at the urging of her publicist, was because she thought he might help her career. Shed been impressed when she met him earlier that day that he had looked at her face, not her breasts. He wanted to know all about the business aspects of the porn industry.

She spent three hours in his hotel penthouse, and she still seems mad that he never served dinner. I am food motivated, she testified.

I have no doubt that she is telling the truth about their sexual encounter, nor that she submitted to him without being physically forced to, in order to get it over with. There certainly was, as she testified, a power imbalance. He was almost 60; she was 27. His bodyguard was posted outside his door.

Nor do I doubt, as she testified, that she was shocked when she emerged from the bathroom to find him lying on the bed in his underwear, nor that her hands were shaking so badly afterward that she had trouble putting her shoes on.

Read more: Here is what Stormy Daniels testified happened between her and Donald Trump

And when it was over, I have no doubt that Trump actually said, as she writes, Oh that was just great. Were so good together honeybunch. (I mean, who could make that up?)

Trump, then reality televisions biggest star thanks to The Apprentice, had dangled the possibility of her appearing on his show. He thought it would be a ratings boon to have a porn star as a contestant.

Youd be fabulous on it, she says he told her. Youd be huge.

That is the only reason she met him again in July 2007 in his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, she writes, and took his many phone calls until January 2008 when it became clear that there was no way NBC was going to feature a porn star in its hit show.

Read more: Trumps trial is about more than sex and money. Its about what presidents can get away with

I am not sure I fully understand why it was so important to put Daniels on the stand for hour after hour last week, and to focus so heavily on whether she and Trump actually had sex in 2006, which he denies.

Aren't his denials, after all, transparently false? He's a man who has bragged about grabbing women by the genitals, saying, When youre a star, they let you do it. And he's been found liable in a civil trial for what the judge called rape as many people commonly understand the word.

Anyway, the question in the hush money trial is not whether he actually had sex with Daniels. It's whether he falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Daniels for her silence during the 2016 election.

Of course he did. But only a jury can decide whether that was illegal.

That makes Stormy Daniels, however riveting her testimony, a sideshow at the trial.

Whether Trump is convicted or not, Daniels has secured her place in presidential history. Sideshows, after all, are often the most memorable part of the circus.

@robinkabcarian





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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
This photo provided by the Afghan Civil Protection shows a road flooded with mud after flash floods. The death toll from devastating flash floods in Afghanistans northern province of Baghlan has risen to 315, according to the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation on Sunday. -/NDMA/dpa

The death toll from devastating flash floods in Afghanistans northern province of Baghlan has risen to 315, according to the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation on Sunday.

The true death toll from Friday's floods in unclear. The latest confirmed figure from local officials in Baghlan is 131 fatalities, with over 100 injuries. However, UN agencies and the ministry report a much higher toll.

The disaster has disproportionately affected children. Save the Children, an international aid organization, estimates that around 600,000 people, including roughly 310,000 children, reside in the five severely impacted districts of Baghlan province.

The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, expressed his condolences for the loss of life and pledged swift action.

Taliban Deputy Prime Minister, Abdul Ghani Baradar, has travelled to the affected region to oversee relief efforts.

Extreme weather events such as floods and droughts are on the rise in Afghanistan. Experts blame the climate crisis. After decades of wars and conflicts, the country has hardly any means to mitigate the consequences of climate change.

At the start of the week, there were deaths and destruction in parts of the country after heavy rainfall. Last month, at least 70 people lost their lives in floods.

Indrika Ratwatte, UN deputy and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, stated that the country remains among the world's top 10 climate-impacted nations despite having a negligible carbon footprint.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said there is declining support for free speech on college campuses as pro-Palestine protests take place at universities across the country.

As part of a commencement address he gave at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a Catholic Ohio college, Alito said support for the freedom of speech is declining dangerously.

Right now in the world outside this beautiful campus, troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles, Alito said, reported first by NBC News.

Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously, he said, adding that its especially so on college campuses where the exchange of ideas should be protected.

He said that very few colleges live up to that ideal.

Students at more than 400 universities across the country, from the Ivy Leagues to small colleges, have held protests asking for their schools to divest from Israeli companies or companies with ties to Israel as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

Alito, who is Catholic, told the students that freedom of religion is also imperiled.

When you venture out into the world, you may well find yourself in a job, or community or a social setting when you will be pressured to endorse ideas you dont believe, or to abandon core beliefs, he said. It will be up to you to stand firm.

In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is set to issue major rulings in a series of issues, including whether former President Trump is immune from prosecution and abortion rights.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Activists from "Stop Tesla" initiative have built tree houses in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg plant. According to the police, more than 1,000 activists marched from Fangschleuse station to the Tesla factory. Patrick Pleul/dpa

Police say they have filed 76 criminal charges and temporarily detained 23 activists during days of protests against US electric car manufacturer Tesla at its manufacturing plant outside Berlin.

These included five activists who were brought before a magistrate, the police announced on Sunday. However, all of them were eventually released from custody.

According to the police, the criminal charges mainly related to offences against the assembly law, coercion in road traffic, acts of resistance, breach of the peace and damage to property.

Since Wednesday, several organizations had been calling for a week of action with protests relating to environmental threats posed by the Tesla plant and its planned expansion. The manufacturer denies that its factory poses a threat to the nearby ecosystem.

Police said they counted a total of 18 gatherings during the days of action. They also banned a planned demonstration on a motorway bridge.

Further protest action against Tesla's expansion of its giant electric car factory, dubbed a gigafactory, in the small town of Grunheide near Berlin is possible in the coming days despite the end of recent demonstrations, several activist groups warned on Sunday.

The alliance Tesla den Hahn abdrehen, which translates as "turn off Tesla's tap" in reference to the company's huge water usage, said it will attend Thursday's local council meeting in Grunheide on the growth plans for the US company's gigafactory.

If the council votes in favour of significantly expanding the site, contrary to a public consultation, the allied protest group Disrupt Tesla "will be back," their spokeswoman Lucia Mende said.

On Saturday, more than 1,000 environmental activists staged a march against the factory, following clashes and arrests the previous day.

A supporting forest camp was to be dismantled on Sunday as agreed, but a protest at a nearby railway station will continue, said Caro Weber, a spokeswoman for a third group called Stop Tesla. The groups said they would keep their options open for further actions.

Around 12,000 people work at the plant in Grunheide, which is partly located in a water protection area and has been the focus of environmental protests since February.

The latest demonstrations against the site's expansion began on Wednesday and were set to end on Sunday.

Following the public consultation in Grunheide, in which a majority voted against the expansion, the municipality and Tesla signalled that a smaller forest area would be cleared.

An activist from the "Stop Tesla" initiative sits in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg plant on a bench with the inscription "We are Friedrich! Who are you?". According to the police, more than 1,000 activists marched from Fangschleuse station to the Tesla factory. Patrick Pleul/dpa
JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (WIVB)  A candlelight vigil was held Saturday night for 34-year-old mother of three, Kalamae Hodgkin, who was a victim of a homicide that occurred on May 11 in her Jamestown home last spring.

Hodgkins family and friends gathered for a memorial service filled with remembrance and a call for justice.

Her memory is still there in the back of your head, like theres nothing you can really do about it, Kirra Hodgkin, Kalamaes daughter, said.

At the time Hodgkin was killed, the suspect, Michael Burham, had an active arrest warrant charging him with Hodgkins rape.

Michael Burham Manhunt

Hodgkins best friend, Ashley Hallett, said she was going through a similar situation, but was able to get the person she felt endangered by arrested and sent to court before the worst happened.

She asked me what I was doing, and I told her, Hallett said. She started breaking down because she is not strong enough and obviously, we see it now.

She can help everybody else, but she wasnt strong enough to do it for herself, Ann Overturf, Hodgkins mother, said.

Burham has yet to be charged in New York State for his alleged role in Hodgkins death. This past November, he pleaded guilty to charges he was facing in Pennsylvania.

He received the maximum sentence in connection to a kidnapping of a Sheffield, Pa, couple in the days following Hodgkins death and for his escape from the Warren County Jail, which sparked a 10-day manhunt.

Hodgkins family said even though Burham is behind bars, they are disappointed that charges have yet to be filed in relation to her murder.

No justice yet, I have not seen nothing and Im hearing about charges are being lessened and the reason for the charges that started everything  other women have gone through domestic rape and all that, and theyre trying to sweep it under the rugs now, and thats the whole reason everything happened. Everything happened because of that, Overturf said.

Burham is currently still being held in Pennsylvania.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said he does not have an update to the case at this time. He said he is actively working on the investigation and should be able to provide a public update in the near future.

He needs to pay for what hes done, Therasa Shaw, Hodkins aunt, said. Something needs to be done shortly, I mean, its been a year already.

If you are in any kind of danger, if someone threatens you, take it seriously, Overturf said. If you have small children, get a living will so you know where to place your children if something were to happen to you.

Latest Local News

Dillon Morello is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has been part of the News 4 team since September of 2023. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to News 4 Buffalo.
Israel Gaza

Members of TikToks Israel team woke up on the morning of October 7 to the sound of sirens blaring throughout Tel Aviv.

Scrambling down to bomb shelters while checking their phones, employees quickly realised the horror unfolding near the border with Gaza.

Videos of Hamas terrorists rampaging through southern Israel were going viral across social media  including on their app. Clips of paragliders circling over the Nova music festival and families begging for their lives were flooding their feeds.

Barak Herscowitz, at the time a government relations lead at TikTok in Israel, says the local team sprang into action: Its middle of the night in America, early morning in London, but some of the employees in TikTok rang all the bells, made all the right phone calls, and woke everyone up from their beds.

A rapid crackdown on pro-Hamas accounts stemmed the initial tsunami of videos. For a brief moment, he was proud of the companys response.

But the feeling did not last long. For some Israeli and Jewish employees at TikTok, the months since the massacre have left them increasingly disillusioned with the Chinese-owned company, prompting allegations of anti-Israel bias and questions over the companys response to a surge of antisemitism online.

Insiders also allege that TikTok staff have used internal chat forums to express sympathy for groups attacking Israel.

The internal backlash from Jewish employees was cited by US senators as they grilled Shou Zi Chew, TikToks chief executive, in February about safety concerns with social media.

Shou Zi Chew faces calls for TikTok to be banned in the US - Alex Wong/Getty Images North America

The tensions come as TikTok, which is owned by Chinas Bytedance, faces a possible ban in the US after Joe Biden signed a law that will block the app unless it is sold within nine months.

According to Herscowitz, his frustrations began just days after Hamass brutal attack. A former adviser to ex-Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, Herscowitz was the main point of contact between the company and the government in Jerusalem.

However, he was quickly fielding complaints that TikTok  which has long had a policy of banning political advertising  had blocked a swathe of Israeli government ads, alleging its slogans were too overtly political amid the crisis. Adverts for the Israeli volunteering group for young adults  Taglit  were also blocked, he claims.

Soon after, a social media campaign set up by the families of the 250 hostages seized by Hamas encountered the same problem.

It was just videos of the hostages before they were taken, mentioning how many days [they] are in captivity of Hamas  this was also banned from TikTok, saying its political, he says of the Bring Them Home Now campaign.

At the same time, adverts for Palestinian aid, featuring graphic footage from the war, were approved. Herscowitz, who raised the discrepancy internally, says: I just wanted things to be equal.

Herscowitz adds that he also discovered troubling posts by some staff on the companys internal messaging app, Lark.

Among the posts were individuals appearing to express support for Yemens Houthi rebels, who had just launched attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea to protest the military action in Gaza. A source says that one message read: Get you a friend that loves you the way Yemen loves Palestine.

Herscowitz alleges that the offending messages were largely written by members of TikToks trust and safety apparatus  the teams responsible for the sites moderation.

Barak Herscowitz was the main point of contact between TikTok and the government in Jerusalem

In December, Herscowitz put his name on an internal memo, shared with senior executives at the company, that alleged the views of some of the companys trust and safety team very likely influenced the moderation of the app.

Addressing the apparent block on hostage adverts, he wrote: Labelling kidnapped babies, women, children, and elderly citizens who were taken from their beds by Hamas-ISIS as a political issue is, at the very least, one-sided.

After the note circulated around the company and later leaked to Fox News, Herscowitz was quizzed by senior managers but he said his concerns were never properly addressed.

They tried to please me by saying they had removed some of the messages [from Lark], he says. The real problem is that those employees with such radical views are in such sensitive positions.

In the aftermath of the complaints, a number of Jewish employees were also blocked from accessing the pro-Palestinian support group within Lark, he claims.

In January, Herscowitz quit TikTok, leaving a cryptic note on Twitter about his exit.

Following the horrific attacks of 7 October, we immediately mobilised significant resources and personnel to bolster our moderation teams and platform safety, including increased capacity in Hebrew and Arabic, a TikTok spokesman says.

Allegations from a former employee, who neither worked in or with our safety or moderation teams, mischaracterise the significant efforts and resources we rapidly deployed to maintain the safety of our community and integrity of our platform.

 .

          .    ,     .      Barak Herscowitz (@BarakHer) January 29, 2024

Months after his departure and nearly six months into the war, which has left 1,400 Israelis and 34,000 Palestinians dead, TikTok quietly shifted its stance on the hostage adverts, allowing some previously blocked campaigns to run on the app.

Dorit Gvili, a Publicis One advertising executive who has organised the Bring Them Home Now campaign, says the group finally ran two TikTok campaigns where they were permitted to use the word hostages after months of talks.

However, the families have chosen not to run any new campaigns on TikTok as its anti-terror policies effectively block mentions of the word Hamas or any videos that are too triggering, she says.

The word Hamas was not even allowed on the landing page.

The groups other campaigns have run on Google and Meta, she says, but TikTok is the biggest and most influential platform.

The Bring Them Home Now campaign has decided not to run ads on TikTok - Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images Europe

More than 130 people taken by Hamas on October 7 are still unaccounted for  among them the brother of an Israeli TikTok manager.

A TikTok spokesman said the company had been working intensively to bring the hostage campaign to its app. According to the company, TikTok previously blocked all war-related content, but it has since amended its rules to allow more humanitarian campaigns. The company says there is no policy blocking the word hostage.

Concerns over TikToks handling of the Israel-Hamas war have repeatedly been raised by US senators amid a recent drive to ban the app.

A new law, which forces Chinas Bytedance to sell the app by next January, was signed by President Biden last month, citing security fears that the app could be influenced by Beijing.

But Senator Mitt Romney, the senior Republican and an advocate of the bill, also appeared to link the rapid passage of the law to alleged pro-Palestinian bias among TikTok users.

Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down  potentially  TikTok, the senator said on 3 May. The number of mentions of Palestinians, relative to other social media sites  its overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts.

The remarks have sparked a backlash from free speech activists and risk further angering young voters who face losing access to their favourite app.

Last week, TikTok sued the US government over its attempt to ban the app, arguing that the new law is punitive and discriminatory and an extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights.

The company has repeatedly rejected claims it is biased against either side, arguing its posts simply reflect what its audience, dominated by younger millennials and Gen Z, is sharing.

In April, TikTok said it had removed 3.1 million pieces of content originating from Israel and Palestine since October, blocked 140,000 live streams in the region, and taken measures that resulted in a 234pc increase in the number of blocked comments that broke its rules.

Hate speech campaigners, however, argue that TikTok has made it harder to track anti-Israel posts after blocking researchers from a digital tool used to analyse hashtags being shared on the app.

Imran Ahmed, of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, says TikTok had quietly removed a vital data feature used to scrutinise the spread of digital hate. TikTok has said the tool was being used to generate flawed research.

Herscowitz, for his part, believes the companys handling of the war has added impetus to Americas TikTok crackdown  although he is not fully sold on the US ban.

I am not quite sure banning TikTok is the right answer, its a last resort, he says, but transparency on their content, making sure their policies are being implemented equally and fairly, is very important to address as democratic countries.

Since leaving, Herscowitz says he has had more than 150 messages of support, mostly on secure messaging apps, from other current and former employees. They are doing their best to fight from within, he says.

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.
DENVER (KDVR)  The Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office is celebrating the newly gained U.S. citizenship of one of its deputies.

Deputy Jackson Kato is from Kampala, Uganda. Before moving to the United States he served as a security contractor with the U.S. Department of Defense in a tour of duty in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In that role, he supported U.S. troops and coalition forces, according to ACSO.

Greenwood Village K-9 finds missing 85-year-old clinging to a tree

In 2017, he moved to the U.S. and worked as a security guard at the Arapahoe County Justice Center. There, he met and worked alongside some Arapahoe County court deputies, who ACSO said inspired him with their commitment to serving the community.

Thats why he decided to join law enforcement. He joined ACSO in 2022, becoming Colorados first POST-certified officer of Ugandan.

Deputy Jackson Kato with the Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office is from Kampala, Uganda. After six and a half years, he finally gained U.S. citizenship. (Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office)

Deputy Jackson Kato with the Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office is from Kampala, Uganda. After six and a half years, he finally gained U.S. citizenship. (Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office)

Deputy Jackson Kato with the Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office is from Kampala, Uganda. After six and a half years, he finally gained U.S. citizenship. (Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office)

After six and a half years, Deputy Kato finally gained U.S. citizenship.

We are so proud of him. Please join us in congratulating Deputy Jackson Kato on becoming a citizen of this great country! ACSO said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Area man, 3 others formally charged for alleged deer poaching following ODNR investigation

An area man, who was under investigation for allegedly poaching an 18-point antlered whitetail deer in Clinton County was formally charged.

News Center 7 previously reported that 28-year-old Christopher Alexander, of Wilmington, was under investigation for allegedly taking a potential record deer during archery hunting season in Clinton County.

The indictment, which was returned by a Clinton County grand jury Friday, accuses Alexander of unlawfully harvesting the deer on Nov. 9, 2023.

Blinded by greed, the defendants set their sights on fame and fortune while disregarding basic hunting regulations, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. Instead of the cover of Field & Stream, their notoriety will be a booking photo.

Alexander claimed that the animal had been on property owned by his sister, Kristina Alexander when he harvested the deer and presented written permission from his sister to hunt on her land to a wildlife officer.

An Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife investigation revealed that Alexander had illegally hunted the trophy buck on private property about 10 miles from his sisters land.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Area man under investigation for alleged deer poaching, ODNR officials say

Wildlife officers discovered this through cellphone data searches. They later learned that the written permission from his sister he had presented to wildlife officers had been falsified after the deer was killed to mislead authorities.

Further evidence revealed Alexander had staged the deer taking at his sisters property with the help of 29-year-old Corey Haunert of Hillsboro and his brother, 31-year-old Zachary Haunert of Lebanon, to conceal the poaching.

The investigation also found that Corey Haunert aided Alexander in poaching deer on multiple occasions by providing the crossbow used to hunt and assisting in deer retrieval and staging with his brother, Zachery Haunert. Alexanders Sister, 37-year-old Kristina Alexander of Blanchester, is accused of falsifying the date when the written permission to hunt occurred.

Alexander was found to have deceptively profited from the illegal deer taking, selling deer antlers, and receiving payments totaling $20,000 from an antler collector, a hunting magazine, and a company that sells deer products.

According to a press release provided by Yosts office, the deer is the largest typical whitetail in Ohio, showcasing remarkable antler uniformity. Some reports also rank the deer as the third largest typical whitetail in North America.

This once-in-a-lifetime deer embodies the great natural resources Ohio has to offer, Yost added. It is shameful that this deer ended up in an evidence room rather than adorning an ethical hunters wall as a prized trophy.

>> Unmarked police vehicle stolen while Ohio detective was on break

Alexander is facing 23 total charges:

Five counts each of illegally hunting deer without written permission and taking possession of a deer in violation of a division rule, which are third-degree misdemeanors.

Three counts of theft by deception, fourth and fifth-degree felonies.

Two counts each of hunting without a license, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, hunting deer without a valid deer permit, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

One count each of jacklighting, a third-degree misdemeanor, theft, a first-degree misdemeanor, falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor, and sale of wildlife parts a fourth-degree misdemeanor.

Corey Haunert is facing eight charges:

Four counts of aiding a wildlife offender, a third-degree misdemeanor.

Two counts of hunting without written permission, a third-degree misdemeanor.

One count each of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, and falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Alexanders sister, Kristina Alexander faces one count of falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor, and one count of aiding a wildlife offender, a third-degree misdemeanor.

Zachary Haunert faces two third-degree misdemeanor counts of aiding a wildlife offender.

The cases are being prosecuted by attorneys from Yosts Environmental Enforcement Section.








Baytex Energy Corp. (NYSE:BTE) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 10, 2024

Baytex Energy Corp. isnt one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Baytex Energy Corp. First Quarter 2024 Financial and Operating Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity for analysts to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Brian Ector, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Brian Ector: Thank you, Ishia. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter 2024 financial and operating results. Today I am joined by Eric Greager, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Chad Kalmakoff, our Chief Financial Officer, and Chad Lundberg, our Chief Operating Officer. While listening, please keep in mind that some of our remarks will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. I refer you to the advisories regarding forward-looking statements, oil and gas information, and non-GAAP financial and capital management measures in yesterday's press release. All dollar amounts referenced in our remarks are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified.

Following our prepared remarks, we will be taking questions from the analysts. In addition, if you are listening in today via the webcast, you will have the opportunity to submit an online question, and we will do our best to answer all questions submitted. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Eric.

Eric Greager: Thanks, Brian. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter 2024 conference call. In the first quarter, we safely and efficiently executed the largest exploration and development program in company history, and delivered operating and financial results consistent, with our full year guidance. We are off to a strong start in 2024 and expect to deliver substantial free cash flow, and meaningful shareholder returns over the next three quarters. We increased production per share by 15% in Q1, 2024, compared to Q1, 2023, with production averaging more than 150,600 BOE per day, 84% oil and NGLs. We drilled 83 net wells with 13 rigs running at the peak of the quarter and E&D expenditures totaling $413 million, one-third of our guided full year expenditures.

Story continues

Our 2024 guidance remains unchanged with E&D expenditures of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion and production of 150,000 to 156,000 BOE per day. Based on the forward strip, we expect to generate approximately $700 million of free cash flow in 2024. Our strong free cash flow profile reflects the efficiency of our E&D program, higher forecast production volumes for the remainder of the year, and improved crude oil realizations in Canada, and Eagle Ford. In Canada, we are benefiting from the completion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion and increased oil export capacity, which is contributing to narrowing basis differentials out of Western Canada. In Eagle Ford, we benefit from our exposure to premium U.S. Gulf Coast pricing for our light oil and condensate production.

We intend to allocate 50% of free cash flow to the balance sheet, and 50% to direct shareholder returns, which includes a combination of share buybacks and a quarterly dividend. I'd like to now turn the call over to Chad Kalmakoff to discuss our financial results.

Chad Kalmakoff: Thanks, Eric. In Q1, adjusted funds flow per share was $424 million, or 52% per basic share, which is a 21% increase compared to Q1 last year. The first quarter is our highest capital spend quarter of the year, which sets the stage for a strong free cash flow and increased shareholder returns for the balance of the year. Our current normal course issuer bid allows us to purchase up to 68.4 million common shares, during the 12-month period ending June 28, 2024. As of May 7, we had repurchased 46.7 million common shares for $253 million at an average price of $5.42 per share, representing 5.4% of our total shares outstanding. Our total debt at March 31, 2024 was $2.5 billion, largely unchanged from year-end, due to our large Q1 capital program, and the impact of the weakening Canadian dollar on our U.S. dollar-denominated debt.

As I stated, our Q1 capital program has set the stage for a strong free cash flow profile, through the balance of the year. A significant portion of that free cash flow will go to debt reduction. In addition, we're actively managing our debt maturities to ensure ample liquidity and flexibility, to execute our business plan while our overall debt position is reduced. With this in mind, subsequent to quarter-end, we undertook two significant transactions. Firstly, on April 1, we closed a private placement of US$575 million aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes with an eight-year term. We are very pleased with the market support for this offering. The notes bear interest at 7.38% per year and mature on March 15, 2032. Net proceeds from the offering were used to redeem the remaining $410 million 8.75% notes, due April 1, 2027 and to repay a portion of our credit facilities.

An oil platform in the sea, illuminated by a sunset, showing the companies power.

Secondly, we extended the maturity of our credit facilities, by two years to May 9, 2028. Again, we had great support from our syndicate, and I was pleased that we could complete the extension of our US$1.1 billion credit facility. The refinancing of our notes to 2032 and the extension of our credit facilities out to 2028 puts us in a great position with respect to our maturity schedule. We have ample liquidity and flexibility, to execute our business plans while reducing debt and providing shareholder returns. Turning to risk management, we employ a disciplined commodity hedging program, to mitigate the volatility and revenue due to changes in commodity prices. For the balance of 2024, we have hedged approximately 40% of our net crude oil exposure, utilizing two-way collars with an average floor price of $60 per barrel and an average ceiling price of $96 per barrel.

For the first half of 2025, we have hedged approximately 20% of our net crude oil exposure, utilizing two-way collars with an average floor price of $60 and an average ceiling price of $91 a barrel. Now I'll turn the call over to Chad Lundberg, to discuss the results of our first quarter capital program.

Chad Lundberg: Well, thanks, Chad. I'm now pleased to speak to our Q1 operations, and highlight the significant efforts of our team. In the Eagle Ford, we continue to deliver strong results across the black oil, volatile oil, and condensate thermal maturity windows. In the first quarter, we brought 19 wells on stream, including 15 lower Eagle Ford wells, three upper Eagle Ford wells, and one refrac. When we compare our operated Eagle Ford performance to a data set of over 560 wells sourced from public data, our performance over the last nine months ranks in the top quartile. On a production per lateral foot basis, we are at the top of the second quartile. I'm very pleased with our results, and I'm confident there's more of this to come.

We remain focused on optimizing our acreage and our systems. Our 2024 program includes four upper Eagle Ford wells, three of which were brought on stream, during the first quarter and are still ramping. We also completed a refrac in our Medina unit that, is expected to generate an internal rate of return of over 100%. Additional refrac opportunities have been identified to supplement our capital program. For 2024, we are targeting an 8% improvement in our operated drilling and completions costs for completed lateral foot over 2023. In our Canadian light oil business unit, we completed our 2024 drilling program in the Pembina Duvernay, and executed another successful winter drilling program in the Viking. We were pleased with the efficiency of our two-path, seven-well drilling program in our Duvernay, which saw a 21% improvement in drilling days, measured from spot to rig release and a 10% improvement in drilling costs, compared to 2023.

Fracture simulation of three-well pad commenced in April and the four-well pad is expected to commence in June. In our conventional heavy well business unit, Peavine continued to outperform expectations, and we followed up early exploration success with development in Morinville and the greater Cold Lake area. At Peavine, we brought 12 wells on stream during Q1, 2024 and initial well performance exceeded type curve expectations. At Morinville, we brought four multilateral horizontal wells on stream, and targeted the Rex formation, a Clearwater equivalent. In the greater Cold Lake area, we recently brought five Waseca horizontal multilateral wells on stream. I'm very pleased with our first quarter development program, which delivered strong results across the portfolio.

And with that, I will turn the call back to Eric, for his closing remarks.

Eric Greager: Thanks, Chad. I want to take a moment to thank our operating teams. As many recall, we started the year with some really challenging conditions, extreme cold across North America followed by heavy rainfall in Texas. The teams did a great job. They maintained safe and efficient operations, delivered on the quarter, and delivered the largest Q1 capital program in company history, setting us up well for the rest of the year. I want to highlight the expansion of our land base in the Pembina Duvernay. During the first quarter, we successfully acquired approximately 31 net sections of high quality Duvernay lands on the Southern flank of our existing acreage. This brings our core Pembina Duvernay acreage to 142 net sections, providing us with significant inventory and growth potential, in what is becoming a very interesting part of the Duvernay.

We believe the resource associated with the newly acquired lands, is of very high quality. These lands will immediately compete for capital in our portfolio. As I mentioned at the outset, we are building momentum, and expect to generate substantial free cash flow and direct shareholder returns this year. We are committed to a disciplined returns-based capital allocation philosophy aimed at driving increased per share growth and returns. Our Board has declared a Q2 cash dividend of $0.0225 per share to be paid on July 2, 2024. And now we are ready to open the call for questions.

See also

50 Countries with Biggest Financial Markets in the World and

11 Best Farmland and Agriculture Stocks To Buy According to Analysts.

To continue reading the Q&A session, please click here.
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 Woman Who Tried to Kill Husband with Poisoned Coffee Is Sentenced to Probation

Melody Felicano Johnson, who admitted to putting bleach in her husband's coffee pot, will serve three years of probation

13news Melody Felicano Johnson

An Arizona woman who was charged with attempted murder after she poisoned her husband's coffee has been sentenced to three years of probation.

Melody Felicano Johnson, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of adding poison or a harmful substance to food or drink last month, according to reports from CNN. Johnson's attorney previously said that she admitted to putting trace amounts of bleach in her husband Roby Johnson's coffee pot on two occasions in 2023, per local news outlet KOLD.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Javier Chon-Lopez sentenced her to three years of probation in addition to mental health treatment, citing a statement from her now-estranged husband that he did not want her to go to prison, per CNN.



She had already been in prison for close to a year after being unable to pay her $250,000 bond, the outlet reported. Prosecutors had requested a high bond because they considered her a flight risk, as she had recently bought a home in the Philippines.



Pima County Sheriff's Office Melody Feliciano Johnson

Related: Arizona Woman Charged with Trying to Kill Husband with Poisoned Coffee

Melody, of Tucson, was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder, and she pleaded not guilty in August 2023, but her charge was lessened after she agreed to a plea deal.

Melody was first accused of poisoning Roby's coffee in March 2023 after he noticed a "foul taste." At the time, they were living in Germany with their child, as Roby is a U.S. Air Force member.

After suspecting that something was being put into his coffee for several weeks, Roby bought pool testing strips and set up video cameras in an attempt to catch Melody poisoning it, according to court documents reported by CNN affiliate KVOA in August 2023.

Per CNN, Roby's security cameras  placed in the couple's laundry room, over their coffee machine, and a third placed to show Melody walking between the two areas  reportedly captured footage of her pouring bleach into a container and then pouring liquids from that container into the coffee machine.

Related: Arizona Woman Accepts Plea Deal After Poisoning Husband's Coffee, Attempting to Kill Him

According to NBC, Roby discovered from the pool testing strips that the coffee "showed high levels of chlorine." However, he pretended to continue drinking the coffee and waited to report the poisoning until his family had arrived home to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, he told investigators.

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Investigators who later searched the couple's home recovered a container with liquid in it that smelled like bleach under Johnson's bathroom sink, NBC reported. Investigators also alleged that the liquid inside the coffee machine smelled like bleach.



Although Melody and her husband were living together at the time of the incident, they were in the process of divorcing, CNN reported. Investigators said Roby "believes [Melody] was trying to kill him to collect death benefits.



For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.
Arkansas United holds Immigrant Integration Fair in Little Rock this weekend

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  A non-profit group has launched a yearlong campaign to assist immigrants in Arkansas.

Arkansas United held the first Immigrant Integration Fair at Plaza Frida on West 65th Street.

Organizers said the goal is to gather legal, tax and health information in one location.

Central Arkansas nonprofit looking to give all kids a place to sleep

Around 20 local nonprofit groups and service providers took part in todays fair. Mireya Reith, founding Executive Director for Arkansas United said that they are looking forward to working together across the state to achieve their potential.

This is just the first of more to come so were looking forward to working together across Arkansas to help all of us achieve our potential, Reith said.

Arkansas Uniteds goal is to hold ten events throughout the next year to provide critical services to immigrants.

For more information on Arkansas United, visit them online at ArkansasUnited.org.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
Atlanta police say a man and a woman were killed in a shooting at the Elleven45 Lounge early Sunday morning.

Four other people were injured in the shooting.

Police are searching for the shooting suspect.

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

They have not yet provided any description of the suspect.

Police told Channel 2s Audrey Washington that a gunman started shooting during a fight inside the club.

Police say three of the victims were men and three of them were women, all between the ages of 20 and 30 years old.

Atlanta Police Homicide Commander, Lt. Andrew Smith said the survivors are expected to survive and are stable.

Atlanta police officers responded to the club at about 2:30 a.m.

They are currently reviewing the clubs surveillance footage to learn more about what happened and to develop a description of the suspect.

Washington will have the latest updates throughout the morning on Channel 2 Action News Sunday AM.

TRENDING STORIES:

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Pro-Palestine protesters march from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) to UCL (University College London), both part of the University of London, to protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

A range of organizations including Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action could be banned in the UK as "extreme protest groups" under new proposals tabled by a senior government adviser.

The approach currently applied to terrorist organizations should be used as a model, according to adviser on political violence John Woodcock, also known as Lord Walney, the BBC reported on Sunday, citing extracts from the report.

In recommendations now due to be presented to the Cabinet, Woodcock backs proscribing groups that "routinely use criminal tactics to try to achieve their aims."

"Militant groups like Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil are using criminal tactics to create mayhem and hold the public and workers to ransom without fear of consequence," he said.

"Banning terror groups has made it harder for their activists to plan crimes - that approach should be extended to extreme protest groups too."

If adopted, the measures could restrict a group's ability to fundraise and its right to assembly on British soil.

Climate activists from Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have repeatedly paralysed public life with large protests in which people have glued or chained themselves together.

Just Stop Oil rejected the proposed sanctions, arguing instead that the government were the "dangerous radicals that are endangering all of us" through their climate policies.

According to the BBC, the government is considering the report's recommendations.

A small number of protesters had in recent months displayed "violent and hateful behaviour," the Home Office told the broadcaster.

"Extremism of any kind has no place in our society and we will not tolerate tactics that set out to intimidate, threaten or cause disruption to the law-abiding majority."
Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations has reported that eleven people were killed in a house collapse in Belgorod, and the rubble was being cleared.

Source: Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on Telegram

Details: At 18:46, the Ministry reported that the sixth body had been removed from the rubble in Belgorod.

The governor of Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported that 20 people, including two children, were injured in the attack on Sunday.

Background:

An entire stairwell of a high-rise building collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod on Sunday.

Russia's Defence Ministry has claimed that a 10-storey building in the Russian city of Belgorod was severely damaged by wreckage of a missile downed by Russian air defence.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A man is in critical condition after being shot in Bethel Grove on Saturday.

At 4:35 p.m., officers responded to a shooting in the 2500 block of Arlington Avenue.

One male was taken to Regional One Hospital in critical condition.

Police have not provided suspect information at this time, but ask that if anyone has tips, they call 901-528-CASH.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
Biden isnt flying migrants to Florida. People pay for their own flights, legally enter US

Sen. Rick Scott

Statement: Joe Biden flew hundreds of thousands of illegals into Florida last year.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is joining other Republican lawmakers and social media users in accusing President Joe Biden of using taxpayer dollars to fly immigrants into the U.S.

"Joe Biden flew hundreds of thousands of illegals into Florida last year," Scott wrote May 4 on X, formerly Twitter, linking to a Fox News article.

Scott is criticizing a Biden humanitarian parole program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Scotts post gives the impression that Biden is paying for the humanitarian parole beneficiaries flights. But, as weve previously fact-checked, the programs beneficiaries must pay for their own travel to the United States, and theyre not in the U.S. illegally.

Scotts communications director, McKinley Lewis, responded to PolitiFacts request for more information with a question about CBP One, a U.S. government app that humanitarian parole beneficiaries can use to see information about their cases.

"Is there an argument that this travel, which allows illegal aliens to use the DHS CBP One App in lieu of government-issued ID, is not authorized by the Biden administration?" Lewis asked PolitiFact.

Humanitarian parole beneficiaries do not use the app "in lieu" of a government-issued ID. To qualify for the program, people must have an unexpired passport issued by their countrys government that is valid for international travel, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said.

Biden program allows entry to eligible immigrants from four countries

In January 2023, the U.S. started accepting 30,000 people monthly from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under a humanitarian parole program. The program, an expansion of an October 2022 initiative for Venezuelans, lets people legally enter, live and work in the U.S. for two years. To qualify, migrants need a U.S. sponsor and must meet other requirements.

Although people paroled in are authorized to be in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security can terminate their parole if they violate U.S. laws. People who overstay a parole period also can be deported.

As of March, the latest month with available data, 404,000 people have entered the U.S. through the program, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

People allowed into the U.S. through this program do not receive free flights to the country; rather, they buy their own plane tickets, Nicole Hallett, a University of Chicago Law School professor, told PolitiFact in March.

People entering via the parole program are in the country legally

In April, the Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security, requesting information and data on the humanitarian parole program. The Fox News article to which Scott linked in his X post includes eight pages of the departments response to the committee.

The committee asked DHS for the monthly number of parole program applicants "from each country for which travel authorization was issued who were found to be inadmissible at a port of entry but released into the United States."

DHS responded that "all individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible."

But this doesnt mean the people who entered under the humanitarian parole program are in the country illegally.

"People allowed into the U.S. through parole are legally entering," said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. Parole gives people who would otherwise not be allowed into the U.S. temporary permission to enter.

Even though parole is an official permission to enter and temporarily stay in the U.S., its not considered a formal admission into the country under immigration law, the Congressional Research Service wrote in a 2020 report.

"An admission occurs when an immigration officer allows a noncitizen to enter the United States pursuant to a visa or another entry document, without the limitation of parole," the American Immigration Council, an immigrant rights advocacy group, said in a 2022 report.

People in the U.S. under parole have a temporary lawful presence in the country, but they do not have a lawful status or a pathway to U.S. citizenship. That means once they enter the country, people in parole programs must apply for a legal status, such as asylum.

Destinations for immigrants arriving through the parole program

In its subpoena response, the Department of Homeland Security said 200,000 people arrived at U.S. airports from January 2023 to August 2023 and were paroled into the country.

More than 161,000 entered the U.S. through Florida airports, particularly Miami International Airport, which is a hub for flights from Latin America.

But that doesnt mean all 161,000 people settled in Florida. DHS tracks the first airport people reached in the U.S. This is where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers screen people for admission. After that, people can settle elsewhere within the U.S.

Its unclear how many parole beneficiaries settled in Florida. However, the parole program benefits people from four countries that have large immigrant populations in Florida.

PolitiFact's ruling

Scott said, "Joe Biden flew hundreds of thousands of illegals into Florida last year."

A Biden humanitarian parole program lets 30,000 eligible immigrants a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela enter the U.S. They can live and work in the U.S. legally for two years. The Biden administration does not cover travel costs; beneficiaries must book and pay for their own travel.

More than 161,000 program beneficiaries entered the U.S. at a Florida airport. However, its unclear how many of those people settled in Florida.

We rate Scotts claim False.

Our sources

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: No, Biden isnt flying migrants to Florida at taxpayers' expense
The S&P 500 fell 4.2% in value last month. According to S&P Global, "Geopolitics, rising government bond yields, inflation and monetary policy concerns are behind the recent drops, yet stocks may still have room to rise again."

After the drop, three iconic dividend stocks now pay huge yields between 6.5% and 9%. If you're looking for big dividends, this is your chance.

This 9% dividend has always been reliable

Altria Group (NYSE: MO) has long been a high-paying dividend stock. Over the last five years, the dividend yield has always remained above 6%. Due to some recent share price weakness, the dividend yield is now around 9%. This is a great opportunity to buy into a recession-resistant business with high levels of free cash flow.

At its core, Altria is a tobacco business. It owns a portfolio of recognizable brands including Marlboro, Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, Benson & Hedges, Chesterfield, NJOY, and Black & Mild. This is a market that varies little year to year, even during recessions. The mix of products may shift -- combustibles, for example, have slowly ceded share to vaporized nicotine -- but overall nicotine use has remained stable. Altria's reputation, market access, and capital advantages have allowed it to compete wherever its core market heads.

Just because the nicotine market is stable doesn't mean it's growing. From 2018 to 2023, for instance, nicotine usage rose by just 1%. That's the reason Altria pays such a large dividend. This stock will never make you rich overnight, but it's proven a reliable way to generate consistent dividend income over the long term. That equation won't change much in the years to come.



MO data by YCharts.

These 2 stocks have become dividend all-stars

The telecom industry has long paid above-average dividends. These businesses can be expensive to establish at first, but once up and running, they typically generate high levels of free cash flow. AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), for example, now pay dividends of 6.5% and 6.7% respectively. Before you jump in, however, there are a few things you should know.



VZ data by YCharts.

As you can see in the charts above, both AT&T and Verizon have consistently paid high dividends, although Verizon's yield in particular has picked up strongly in recent years. The impetus behind these high yields, however, wasn't a dramatically higher payout. What's changed is that the share prices for both companies has gradually fallen, artificially inflating the dividend yield.

You can see this dynamic in action by looking at each companies total return over the past decade. These returns factor in both share price movement and dividends. Since 2014, Verizon and AT&T have both posted total returns of around 35%. The S&P 500, for comparison, rose in value by 234%.

Story continues

AT&T and Verizon both face their own difficulties, but the root challenge has been competition, which has eroded pricing power and increased operational costs. AT&T actually had to cut its dividend in 2022 after the spinoff of its media division, WarnerMedia. Verizon has been able to gradually raise its payout, but not by much. Last quarter, the company implemented a 2% boost to the payout.

Should you buy Altria, Verizon, or AT&T stock?

If you're looking for a reliable, high-yield dividend stock, Altria Group is the better pick versus AT&T or Verizon. It's not that the latter two are poor businesses, but rising telecom competition won't abate anytime soon. And while Altria has faced competition of its own, its established supremacy in the combustibles market buys it time to innovate and control new market categories as they emerge.

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Bipartisan effort secures funds to screen 29th and Grove residents for cancer. Now what?

For the first time in the 30 years since contaminated groundwater was discovered under several of Wichitas historically Black neighborhoods near the Union Pacific Railroad rail yard, public money has been dedicated to screening residents for cancer.

A state health study released last May found that residents living on top of the three-mile plume of trichloroethene (TCE) near the 29th and Grove spill site were more than twice as likely as other Kansans to have been diagnosed with liver cancer.

The diagnosis rate was found to be particularly high for Black residents in the nearly 2,800 affected addresses  23.9 cases per 100,000 people compared to 10.9 cases for Black residents statewide.

Now, a collaborative effort between Gov. Laura Kelly and lawmakers from both parties has secured $2.5 million in next years budget to pay for health screenings for current and former residents.

The fund will support a wide variety of tests used to detect cancer, including, but not limited to, comprehensive metabolic panels, complete blood count with differential tests, routine comprehensive urinalysis with microscopic examinations and alpha fetoprotein tests.

This is a very critical issue. Were looking forward to getting testing started as quickly as possible, Rep. Susan Estes, a Wichita Republican, said.

None of the money will go toward community outreach or paying the medical expenses of people who come in for a screening and leave with a cancer diagnosis, which could create a hardship for some residents  particularly those without health insurance.

And $1 million of the state allocation will require one-to-one local matching dollars from other public or private entities. That puts the pressure on Sedgwick County and the city of Wichita to determine how costs will be split.

Everyones responsible, said Rep. KC Ohaebosim, a Wichita Democrat who represents some of the affected neighborhoods at the Statehouse. Now is the time to wake up and actually make sure that justice is done. And when you talk about local match, it does have to come from the city. It does have to come from the county, too.

Union Pacific is already committed to pay for a $13.9 million cleanup plan outlined in the Kansas Department of Health and Environments final corrective action report for the 29th and Grove site. Remediation efforts have been underway since 2004, 10 years after the city first identified contamination in the groundwater. Experts think the chemical spill occurred in the 1970s or 80s.

The state agencys website lists 235 active contamination sites in Sedgwick County alone.

Exposure and risks

TCE, a common solvent used to clean off paint and remove grease, can cause cancer in humans  especially kidney cancer and possibly liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. TCE exposure occurs when a person breathes, ingests or touches the chemical.

The KDHE health study reviewed rates of other cancers among residents but only found elevated rates of liver cancer. The agency has repeatedly emphasized that theres no way of knowing for sure if TCE exposure is responsible for the outsized number of diagnoses.

Data doesnt lie. If there is a higher rate of any particular cancer compared to elsewhere, you have to admit something aint right, Ohaebosim said. KDHE cant say, Well, its because youre an alcoholic or a smoker, I mean, come on.

Two thirds of the 66 water quality tests conducted in May 2021 found samples of more than the acceptable 5 parts per billion of TCE, including some of up to 64 times the EPAs threshold.

This map shows the boundaries of the 29th and Grove contamination site in Wichita.

KDHE hosted a public meeting about the contamination site in 2003, but afterward, state and local officials made no effort to communicate with residents about potential environmental and health risks until a November 2022 meeting, when most people in the area learned about the chemical spill for the first time and requested a health study.

Aujanae Bennett, president of the Northeast Millair neighborhood association, said her community has been constantly disrespected, overlooked and mistreated in the decades since the spill was discovered. Shes glad money for testing has been approved, but said its going to take more than that to build back residents trust.

With the allocation of these funds, were saying that some of this money needs to be appropriated or there needs to be funding established for public service announcements and incentives for people to go and get tested, Bennett said. A lot of people still arent really aware. Everybody doesnt have internet. Everybody doesnt do social media.

She said even a small incentive could be enough to encourage someone to come in for a screening at a health clinic.

A $20 WalMart gift card makes a difference in a persons life sometimes, Bennett said.

Tens of thousands of people are believed to have lived in houses or apartments on top of the contaminated plume in the decades since the spill.

Rep. Henry Helgerson, a Wichita Democrat who helped shepherd funding through the fraught budget process, said the allocation is specifically for testing costs  not outreach. But he agreed thats also worth paying for.

Were going to have to come up with some additional dollars somewhere in order to take care of that, Helgerson said.

In the year since the health study was published, Hunter Health and GraceMed Health Clinic have been providing current and former residents health screenings at no cost, whether or not they have health insurance, with the expectation that state and local funding to support testing would eventually be approved.

A representative for Hunter Health said the clinic has conducted 62 health screenings for current and former residents affected by the groundwater contamination. He said the clinic could not provide any further information about patient diagnoses stemming from that testing.

A spokesperson for GraceMed said the clinic has no data on how many people have been screened and whether testing has returned new liver cancer diagnoses.

Whose liability is it?

Hazel Carlis has lived in the same house in northeast Wichita for 54 years.

When I moved into my house, I used the city water. I didnt use well water, but some people still had their wells in the back of their yards and they were active and they were watering their grass and stuff like that, Carlis said.

She said it isnt very common for neighbors to share openly about their personal medical histories.

People dont discuss their health issues, you know what Im saying? But theres several people that I know that have passed away with cancer. But I couldnt tell you what type, Carlis said.

The last meeting I was at, people were talking about their health issues, and more so about their parents than themselves. The elderly people were the ones who were affected by it the most.

Estes said thats why its so important to expand the screening effort as quickly as possible.

I hope people are OK. But if they are not OK, theres a lot of people who own a piece of making them whole again, she said.

Helgerson agreed, saying it shouldnt be entirely up to residents to pay for their own liver cancer treatment expenses in light of the heightened risk of carcinogenic chemical exposure.

I would think that theres going to be some discussion about whose liability is it and who should step forward in order to take care of those medical bills, either voluntarily or through the legal process, Helgerson said.

In December, Union Pacific asked a federal judge to throw out the class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of residents of the 29th and Grove contamination site. Last month, Judge Eric Melgren dropped counts of negligence, private nuisance and unjust enrichment brought against the railroad, but ruled a count alleging Union Pacific violated Kansas anti-discharge law can proceed.

That law requires anyone responsible for an accidental release or discharge of materials detrimental to the quality of the waters or soil of the state to compensate affected property owners.

Contacted for comment, Union Pacific declined to commit any money to the local matching fund for health screenings.

Safeguarding the health and well-being of the community has been, and remains, our top priority since we began this process over 20 years ago, spokesperson Kristen South said in an email statement. We initiated additional [TCE] testing within the community to re-evaluate previous results and encourage residents identified for testing to sign the access agreements and participate in this vital process.

City and county officials contacted by The Eagle said they were still seeking clarification from the state about how local fund matching is supposed to work. Jim Jonas, Wichitas strategic communications director, said a memorandum of understanding will be developed between the city, county and state about funding expectations and responsibilities.

In an email statement, a KDHE spokesperson declined to elaborate on the agencys future involvement in testing efforts before funding is finalized with Gov. Kellys signature.

Once the bill has been signed, we will work with state and community leaders on the best way to distribute the funding to ensure the residents are provided quality health screenings, Communications Director Jill Bronaugh said.
The Birmingham University pro-Palestinian protesters were told that 'your occupation at the premises is a trespass'

Pro-Palestinian protesters have been threatened with police action by Birmingham University 24 hours after setting up an encampment.

The universitys director of legal services has issued the warning to students who have occupied the lawn at the main campus in Edgbaston.

In a letter sent to protesters on Friday, Dr Nicola Cardenas Blanco said they were trespassing and that police would be contacted if they did not leave the premises immediately.

It marks the first time that any of the 20 student encampments set up across the UK in the last week have been ordered to disperse.

The pro-Palestinian protest camp outside King's College Cambridge - Bav Media

Student demonstrations have taken place at some of Britains most prestigious universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, over the war in Gaza.

Rishi Sunak called a meeting with vice-chancellors at No 10 on Thursday and warned they must not tolerate anti-Semitism, amid reports from Jewish students that they felt unsafe on campuses.

The Telegraph understands that Professor Adam Tickell, Birmingham University vice-chancellor, attended the meeting.

Less than 24 hours after students pitched tents on the lawn at the university on Thursday, they were issued a letter ordering them to leave.

Dr Blancos message to students states: The University of Birmingham confirms that it does not give permission for you to protest at the Green Heart or any other part of Edgbaston Campus (the premises) which is private land.

Your occupation at the premises is a trespass. The University requires you to leave the premises immediately.

Failure to do so will result in the University taking legal action and/or reporting your trespass to law-enforcement officers without further notice.

The university said that police had not yet been contacted as there was a whole list of processes to go through first. She refused to expand on what these processes would involve.

Prof Tickell has cancelled a meeting with the protesters scheduled for Tuesday and said he would not talk with them until they had left, the Mail Online reported.

West Midlands Police has been contacted for comment.

The spokeswoman said the students had no permission or authority to set up tents on university property.

She said: A small group of tents has been set up on campus by individuals protesting in support of Palestine.

The University is operating as normal with exams and other activity continuing as planned.

The University of Birmingham recognises that students will wish to take part in protests about issues that they care deeply about. There are many ways in which this can be done lawfully, and the profile of a cause raised.

Our Freedom of Speech Code of Practice sets out how we support this, including through authorised demonstrations. However, this does not include setting up tents on University property where there is no permission or authority to do so.

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.
Blinken: No doubt there has been cost in months-long delay of aid for Ukraine

Without a doubt, there has been a cost in the "months-long delay in getting the supplementary budget request approved and the equipment sent out to Ukraine," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News on May 12.

Despite the setbacks, Blinken also said he believes Ukraine can "hold the line in the east," as Russian troops launched a new offensive operation targeting Kharkiv Oblast earlier on May 10.

"I'm convinced Ukraine can effectively hold the line in the east," Blinken said during a televised interview. "It can continue to press the advantages achieved for itself in the Black Sea, where it's getting as much out through the Black Sea, feeding the world as it did before the Russian re-invasion of Ukraine, as well as holding Russian forces at risk, including in Crimea to make it more difficult for them to continue this aggression."

"We've been providing the systems to do that, but it's a challenging moment," he added.

After six months of political infighting and delays, the U.S. recently passed a long-awaited $61 billion aid package, with much of it covering military aid. The following day, the Pentagon announced that it was ready to move forward with sending $1 billion worth of weapons to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles.

But during the six-month break in funding, Ukraine lost the key front-line city of Avdiivka in February amid a severe ammunition shortage.

Blinken says they are "doing everything we can to rush this assistance" to Ukraine, adding that Europe is doing the same.

"Just this week, we did a drawdown of about $400 million in defense equipment for Ukraine coming from the supplemental," he said.

Earlier on May 10, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized a $400 million defense aid package for Ukraine, namely ammunition for Patriot and NASAMS air defenses, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, HIMARS systems and ammunition, 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells, and equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukrainian systems.

"We are not going anywhere, and neither are more than some 50 countries that are supporting Ukraine. That will continue, and if Putin thinks he can outlast Ukraine, outlast its supporters. He's wrong," Blinken said.

Read also: What Ukraine lost while waiting for the US aid bill to pass

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
In the wake of a new report suggesting that Israel may have violated international humanitarian law during military operations in Gaza, high-profile guests appeared on Sunday morning shows to share their views on the subject.

The 46-page report, released on Friday by the State Department, also found that it is impossible to verify whether or not U.S.-supplied weapons were used by Israel in Gaza in actions that may have violated international human rights law. Since the Oct. 7 attacks, which left an estimated 1,200 dead in Israel, nearly 35,000 Palestinians and more than 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ongoing war, according to multiple reports.

In an interview with NBCs Meet the Press, Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the U.S. doesnt apply double standards to Israel in holding the country accountable for possible humanitarian crimes. He later told CBSs Face the Nation that its very difficult to draw any final conclusions about whether or not Israel used U.S.-supplied weapons during its attacks on Gaza.

Meanwhile, in separate interviews with Meet the Press, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, compared the consequences of the Israel-Hamas war to that of World War II while Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proclaimed that Israel should not be receiving another nickel in military aid.

Here are some key takeaways from their interviews.

On Israel's accountability

Blinken insisted that the U.S. treats Israel with the same accountability as any other country when it comes to humanitarian crimes, noting that the U.S. and Israel currently have hundreds of open investigations looking into particular incidents.

Israel has both the means and the will to try and police itself, Blinken told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker. But our own process that has been underway for many months to look at individual incidents  that will continue as well.

WATCH: @SecBlinken says the U.S. does not apply double standards to Israel when it comes to holding the country accountable for actions in Gaza.



We treat Israel, one of our closest allies and partners, just as we would treat any other country. pic.twitter.com/xl4VRMFMQw  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 12, 2024

Blinken later defended Bidens decision to delay bomb shipments to Israel if it attacks Rafah in southern Gaza.

If Israel launches this major military operation to Rafah, then there's certain systems that we're not going to be supporting and supplying for that operation, he told Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan. But at present, the only thing that we've delayed and are holding back are these high payload bombs.

Echoing the newly released report, Blinken said, "It's reasonable to assess that in a number of instances, Israel has not acted in a manner that is consistent with international humanitarian law."

He added that the U.S. is in active conversation with Israel about whether or not those weapons will indeed be delivered.

We believe two things, Blinken said. One, you have to have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven't seen. Second, we also need to see a plan for what happens after this conflict in Gaza is over. And we still haven't seen that.

Should the U.S. withhold military aid to Israel?

On Meet the Press, Sanders advocated for the U.S. to pause all military aid to Israel as a means to an end.

[Israel] has not just gone to war against Hamas; its gone to war against the entire Palestinian people and the results have been absolutely catastrophic, Sanders told Welker. According to humanitarian organizations, were looking at the likelihood of hundreds of thousands of children facing starvation.

WATCH: Sen. @BernieSanders (I-Vt.) says Israel should "not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid."



Sanders: "Israel has ... gone to war against the entire Palestinian people, and the results have been absolutely catastrophic." pic.twitter.com/9RXbCviKA6  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 12, 2024

Graham took a different approach when pressed by Welker about Bidens decision to delay bomb shipments from Israel, calling it the worst decision in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they cant afford to lose and work with them to minimize casualties, said Graham. When youre telling the world youre going to restrict weapons delivery to the Jewish state, whos fighting a war for their survival, it emboldens Iran, it emboldens Hamas.

WATCH: Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC compares the Israel-Hamas war to WWII:



Why did we drop two ... nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? To end a war we couldnt afford to lose. ... That was the right decision. ... Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. pic.twitter.com/Wo5wUQaYpF  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 12, 2024

Biden's approach to the war vs. Trump's

Welker asked Sanders about recent statements he made calling the Israel-Hamas war Bidens Vietnam, criticizing the president for supplying Israel with weapons.

I think theres a lot of people in the Democratic base who are concerned about his support for Israel in this war, Sanders said without answering the question directly. He then defended Bidens choice to potentially withhold more aid: I certainly support the president saying that its absurd to provide Israel with two thousand-pound bombs which could level an entire square block in the midst of Rafah, which is an incredibly densely populated area.

Later on Meet the Press, Graham told Welker that former President Donald Trump will be a stronger ally to Israel than Biden is.

President Trump is poised to win, Graham said. He said last night when it comes to Israel, I will have their back. I will give them what they need.

On May 9, Trump spoke about Bidens decision to withhold military aid to Israel in an interview with North Carolinas Spectrum News 1.

Theres been no president [that] has ever done anything close to what I've done for Israel, he said, later adding: I wouldn't do what Biden did. He just abandoned Israel. I've never seen anything like it.
Blinken says more civilians in Gaza have been killed than terrorists

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the U.S. believes more civilians in Gaza have been killed than terrorists.

CBSs Margaret Brennan asked Blinken on Face the Nation whether the U.S. shares the same assessment of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who she said recently said Israel has killed 14,000 terrorists and 16,000 civilians in its war against the militant group Hamas.

Yes, we do. And I think the report makes clear that while Israel has processes, procedures, rules, regulations, to try to minimize civilian harm, given the impact that these operations, the war in Gaza, has had on the civilian population  those have not been applied consistently, Blinken said in the interview.

Blinkens interview comes days after President Biden said hell stop sending offensive weapons to Israel if it invades Rafah  where more than a million civilians are estimated to be sheltering from the war. World leaders and humanitarian aid groups have sounded the alarm about Israels efforts in the Gaza Strip, warning it is putting civilians in harms way.

Blinken also spoke about a recent review from the State Department about Israels war conduct, which raised serious concerns about its actions in Gaza.

Our assessment will be ongoing. But as I said, given the totality of what weve seen in terms of civilian suffering, in terms of children, women, men caught in this crossfire from officers whove been killed or been injured. Its reasonable to assess that in a number of instances, Israel has not acted in a manner thats consistent with international humanitarian law, he said.

The war in Gaza has left more than 34,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and militant deaths. The war began shortly after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 200 people as hostages.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Bob Menendez after a Senate luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, on 23 January 2024. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

The criminal corruption trial of the Democratic US senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is scheduled to get under way in a Manhattan federal court on Monday, with prosecutors preparing a colorful tale of a greedy politician with a fondness for gold bullion, fast cars and almost half a million dollars in cash found hidden around his home.

Menendez, 70, insists he is innocent of the 16 felony charges brought against him by the US attorneys office of the southern district of New York, including bribery, extortion, obstruction and acting as a foreign agent.

But prosecutors allege he used his considerable power and influence as chair of the Senate foreign relations committee to illegally smooth over lucrative business deals for several associates with the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Related: Bob Menendez faces fresh corruption allegations involving Qatar

And they say the 13 gold bars  and money found stuffed into jacket pockets, closets and a safe during a summer 2022 raid on his house in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, as well as a gleaming new Mercedes-Benz in the garage  were his rewards.

Menendez resigned his committee post but refused to stand down as a senator, even after a superseding indictment in January leveled new allegations, including that he took gifts of more cash and gold, as well as Formula 1 tickets and high-end wristwatches, for promoting Qatari interests.

The charges are wide-ranging. Prosecutors say he also divulged secret information to Egyptian officials about the number and nationalities of US embassy staff in Cairo  and that he tried to disrupt a New Jersey criminal case against another businessman friend.

What the government really has going for it in this case is the picture of a powerful senator renting his office to a foreign power, Daniel Richman, an expert on federal bribery law at Columbia Law School, told the Washington Post.

Politicians in his own party have been critical of Menendez, who will stand trial alongside his wife Nadine and three New Jersey businessmen, including Wael Hana, an Egyptian government representative alleged to have set up shell companies to transfer the money and some of the gifts.

The Pennsylvania Democratic senator John Fetterman is among those demanding Menendezs resignation and has repeatedly called the New Jersey senator a sleazebag. Fetterman told CNN last week: He wont be around much longer  that would be my bet.

Menendez has declared he will not be running as a Democrat in November for re-election to the New Jersey Senate seat he has held since 2006. But he has not ruled out a campaign as an independent.

At a press conference last September, Menendez remained defiant, claiming the $480,000 found in the raid was for his personal use and insisting that he would not quit. Asked last week by CNN if he would resign from the Senate if convicted, he replied: I am looking forward to proving my innocence.

The trial, to begin Monday with jury selection, is expected to last several weeks.

It is the second time in a decade that Menendez has faced bribery charges after a 2017 mistrial into separate corruption claims, including that he misused campaign donations from a Florida eye doctor and cavorted with prostitutes at the doctors home in the Dominican Republic.

A jury was unable to reach a verdict after an 11-week trial, and prosecutors announced in February 2018 that they would not seek to retry him. Menendez was elected to the Senate for his fourth term later that year.
Former national security adviser John Bolton criticized President Biden after he threatened to halt weapons to Israel pending an invasion of Rafah, with Bolton calling it an unprecedented break in allyship.

Bolton joined John Catsimatidis on The Cats Roundtable on WABC 770 AM, where he highlighted how the U.S. interference in the Israel-Hamas war has come to an amazing point.

On Wednesday, Biden declared that if Israel goes into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million people are seeking refuge, the U.S. will not supply the weapons.

This is the kind of break between the U.S. and Israel that is just unprecedented, to put this sort of pressure on an American ally like that in the middle of what they see as an existential threat, Bolton said.

Bolton continued, saying people think Biden made the declaration because he is responding to pressure from the left wing of the Democratic Party and the concern that they would stay home in November and not vote for him.

He predicted theres likely a lot going on behind the scenes, because the Israeli government hasnt responded directly to what Biden had to say.

In remarks delivered last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would stand alone if it had to.

Still, Bolton said hes never seen anything like Bidens threat, essentially saying it would cut Israel loose if they proceed. He argued that this is a signal of weakness on Bidens behalf and sends a very bad message to Russia and China.

I mean, if we wont come to Israels support, what are we going to do  if Russia or China threatened countries along their borders that are not so close to the United States? he said. I mean, people have to wonder  if were not going to follow through on our commitments to Israel, who will we follow through on?

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Editors Note  The story has been updated to reflect new changes D.C. police made about how the boy was injured.

WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said a 12-year-old boy was hurt in Northeast D.C. after he accidently shot himself.

MPD said officers responded to the the 3600 block of Jay St. on Sunday afternoon. There, they found the boy who was still conscious and breathing.

Crews respond to apartment fire in Northeast DC

He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

(Zach Coleman/DC News Now)

(Zach Coleman/DC News Now)

(Zach Coleman/DC News Now)

After investigating, MPD found out that the boy accidently discharged a gun and injured himself.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
Boyfriend smashes window, kills man he says tried to assault girlfriend, IN cops say

An Indiana man was caught on surveillance camera smashing through a plexiglass window and killing another man at a motel, police told news outlets.

Officers responded to the Esquire Inn, in Evansville, on Saturday night and found 36-year-old DeWayne Bruce Whitney, Jr., sitting in his car near the scene, WFIE reported. A man was dead inside the motel and Whitney told a firefighter that he killed him, according to police.

Officers arrested Whitney on a charge of murder, a police report shows.

Whitney told investigators that the victim had tried to sexually assault his girlfriend, so he went to the motel to confront him, WEHT reported. Whitneys girlfriend backed up that claim, police said.

Investigators say the man was an employee at the motel and also the womans ex-boyfriend, the Evansville Courier & Press reported.

Whitney was staying at the motel with his girlfriend and at one point returned to their room to and saw the employee fixing his pants, the newspaper reported. She told investigators the employee attempted to sexually assault her and, moments before, he had texted her and demanded she go to her room at the motel.

Following a brief altercation in the room, surveillance videos captured Whitney confronting the man a second time elsewhere in the motel, then punching and breaking a plexiglass window to get to the man, then pushing him against a wall, police told the station.

During the struggle, investigators say the man can be seen raising his hands, which are covered in blood, WFIE reported. He was stabbed in the chest and died at a hospital, police said.

Whitney was booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail, records show.

Strong foul odor leads to discovery of three bodies in Texas apartment, cops say

Accused carjacker kills dad of 7 just hours after release from jail, Indiana cops say

70-year-old man guns down neighbor in racially motivated shooting, IL officials say

Woman passes out during boudoir shoot, photographer accused of sex assault, TX cops say
By Lisandra Paraguassu

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) - Less than two weeks after floods devastated Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state leaving at least 143 dead, the state is again on alert this Sunday with the risk of water rising once more to record levels.

Under intense rain since Friday, four rivers about 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of capital Porto Alegre are recording rising levels, according to government data. Guaiba lake, on the edge of Porto Alegre, is already overflowing in several locations and is rising.

The Guaiba, which receives water from the entire valley region, could exceed the 5.35 meters (6 yards) recorded last week to reach 5.5 meters, a record flood for the capital, researcher Fernando Fan from the Institute of Hydrological Research at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, told Radio Gaucha, a local radio station.

"We already have news of flooding in several cities. And this water will reach Guaiba and Porto Alegre," Fan said.

The state has suffered from overwhelming rain since April 29. Storms, landslides and floods have displaced over 538,000 and left 81,000 homeless in 446 of the State's 497 cities.

Near the valley of the Taquari river, one of the four where water is rising again, residents were trying to return to their homes as a new alert asked people to leave the area once more.

"We are removing people from risky areas. We will have another large event," Mateus Trojan, the mayor of Mucum, one of the towns affected, told Reuters.

On Saturday residents of Mucum began to remove mud from inside their homes. The following day, cleaning was interrupted due to the risk of the fourth flood in seven months.

Near Porto Alegre, camping under the rain by the side of a road, displaced people looked with apprehension at the resurgence of a flood that they expected to begin to subside.

"It's already rising again," said Fernando Ayres, who fled his home when a dike broke and flooded his neighborhood.

"If it rises any further, I don't know if it won't flood as far as where we are."

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu, Writing by Fabio Teixeira and Chris Reese)
A photo finish could be in store in Maryland this week as Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) and Prince Georges County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) fight for supremacy in what has turned into potentially the bloodiest primary on the Senate map this year.

Trone, the co-owner of Total Wine, had been buoyed for much of the race by his tens of millions in blanket advertising in an attempt to put him over the finish line. But that status has suddenly come into question as his lead appears to have evaporated into thin air.

A new poll released by Emerson College/The Hill showed that Alsobrooks, the favorite of the states Democratic establishment, has taken a slight lead ahead of Tuesdays primary in what has become a bruising race for a seat Democrats can ill-afford to lose in November.

Maryland is a small state in terms of politics, and everybody knows everybody. Nobody wanted to see this turn into a nasty fight, said Katie Grant Drew, a Democratic strategist who was a longtime top aide to former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

Its not surprising that things get heated towards the end, she added, but especially given the fact that the winner of the primary will be facing a popular former governor, there was not an unreasonable expectation for the candidates to stay focused on the broader goal of keeping the seat in Democratic hands.

The vast majority of the attacks have been one-sided as Trone has gone on the offensive against Alsobrooks, who has seen her stock rise in recent weeks. The beverage magnate has spent more than $61 million of his money thus far, and sources tell The Hill his ads are outpacing hers by at least a 6-to-1 margin, and potentially more, in the final days.

But Alsobrooks has been on helium watch in recent weeks despite the barrage of advertisements. The executive of the states second-largest county has the support of much of the states Democratic hierarchy, including Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Hoyer, with operatives arguing that Alsobrooks is on the rise because she is animating the base as voters have increasingly tuned into the race.

You can buy name ID. Its hard to buy excitement, one Democratic operative with Maryland ties said, noting that Alsobrooks leads among both women and Black voters according to the Emerson/The Hill survey  two core constituencies for Democrats.

In Maryland, you dont win by going against the other guy, the operative said. You win by exciting the base.

While Alsobrooks has been rising, Trone has been the leader in the clubhouse throughout much of the primary after months of heavy spending on the air.

The wealthy businessman has also argued that his financial prowess is a reason Democrats should get behind him. The party is set to spend hundreds of millions in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and elsewhere in order to protect incumbents. The congressmans deep pockets would help spare the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and outside groups from having to spend in the longtime Democratic stronghold.

Well be able to plow tens of millions of dollars into it to beat Larry Hogan, Trone recently told Politico, referring to the Republican former governor running for the seat. Because we need every dollar we can have to win in Arizona, win in Ohio, win in Montana.

A victory for Alsobrooks would make history, as she would be the first Black woman elected to the Senate from the Old Line State. She would also likely become the second sitting Black woman in the chamber; Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) is the heavy favorite to replace the retiring Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) next year.

Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) is the lone Black woman in the Senate right now, but she decided against running for a full term and likely will be replaced by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) after he defeated Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), among others, in the primary earlier this year.

Also checkering the final weeks of the race have been a number of gaffes by Trone, including accidentally using a racial slur during a committee hearing, labeling supporters of his primary opponent low-level and raising his voice with a reporter while on the campaign trail.

A second Democratic operative expressed surprise with this string of incidents because Trone had been known for being a disciplined campaigner throughout his House tenure since winning his seat, which is based in western Maryland, six years ago.

The winner will take on Hogan, who is already on a fundraising blitz of his own after he raised more than $3.1 million in less than two months during the first quarter and has proven his statewide bona fides with two high-profile wins in the deep-blue state.

Despite Hogans presence, Democrats remain confident that either one of the candidates has what it takes to topple him, and that the presidential race at the top of the ticket will add needed fuel to overcome the former governors strengths. President Biden carried the state over former President Trump by more than 33 percentage points in 2020  the third-largest margin of any state the president won.

This is a national election, its not a state election, and Marylanders are going to want to make sure that the Democrats control the agenda in Congress, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) told reporters. At the end of the day  itll be a clear choice for Maryland voters, and it also is helpful to know whos at the top of the ticket, and all that means that its going to be a federal election, not a state election, and the Democrats are going to win.

Cardin has not endorsed either to be his successor, indicating he didnt want to weigh in because its his seat theyre seeking. He also added that Trone and Alsobrooks are two excellent candidates who are both good people and that he is confident in either going up against Hogan.

Hogan has led in most head-to-head surveys against both candidates since he launched a surprise, last-minute bid in mid-February. However, the recent Emerson/The Hill survey found both Trone and Alsobrooks leading the former governor in hypothetical match-ups. And Democrats have latched onto one polling number in particular: that 55 percent of Marylanders prefer that Democrats hold onto control of the upper chamber, according to a Washington Post/University of Maryland survey released in March.

At this point, Democrats are hopeful the bad blood does not spill over into the summer and allow Hogan  who has never run on a presidential ticket before, let alone with Trump on the ballot  to capitalize.

People will recognize that when it comes to the future control of the Senate, they will put aside any differences and unite for the general election, Van Hollen said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Kabel's steakhouse, on the left, had issues with staff from Dine and Wine, right, using its car park, the court heard - GOOGLE

A restaurant owner involved in a feud with a rival establishment brandished a meat cleaver at a parking attendant, a court heard.

Zhe Huang, 49, became angry after he was told he could not park his van in a car park reserved for a rival restaurant.

The buffet boss took a cleaver from inside his restaurant and waved it around in front of the attendant as he prepared to write a ticket.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told a parking attendant was working for Kabels Steakhouse, in Shaw Street, Walsall, at about 6.15pm on Oct 13 last year.

The business had been having issues with unauthorised use of its car park, particularly by staff of Huangs restaurant, Dine & Wine.

Restaurant owner told to move van

Huang drove a white van on to the car park, despite the attendant warning him that spaces were reserved for staff and customers of the steakhouse, and walked into his restaurant.

The parking attendant took pictures of the van and noted down the registration plate as he prepared to issue a ticket, Gary Cook, prosecuting, told the court.

Huang returned and was told to move the vehicle but started shouting at the attendant in Mandarin before going back inside and returning with a cleaver.

He was aggressive and threatening, towards the parking attendant, who feared for his safety, the court heard. But a restaurant employee intervened and took him back inside.

Huang, who lives in Birmingham, was arrested by the police. In his interview, he insisted he was entitled to use the car park but accepted he was angry and had waved the meat cleaver around.

He went on to say he was sorry and had not appreciated the seriousness of his actions.

A momentary lapse in judgment

Suzanne Francis, defending, said committed family man Huang, who has no previous convictions, came to the UK in 2009, and had built up the restaurant with his wife over the past five years.

He is embarrassed and ashamed over his momentary lapse in judgment, Ms Francis said, adding that he had been under stress because his wife was being treated for cancer.

She added: Over the last few years, it has been a stressful time as his wife has had breast cancer. She has just completed chemotherapy and they are finally coming out of what has been a very difficult time.

He clearly acted in a disgraceful manner. He is not someone who will trouble the courts again.

Sentencing Huang, who admitted threatening the attendant with a bladed article, Recorder Sunil Khanna said: You threatened a person just doing their job.I accept this was something that was totally out of character for you.

However, knife crime in this country is at a point where it is almost an epidemic. The courts must be shown to be taking a serious view of those who are in possession of knives or offensive weapons.

I do accept that your situation is perhaps slightly different from many cases that these courts often deal with.

Huang was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 100 hours unpaid work and 425 costs.

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Boris Pistorius, German Minister of Defense speaks at a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of Berlin Blockade. In response to the currency reform in the western sectors, the then Soviet military administration blocked all access routes to the western part of Berlin from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949 and massively restricted the supply of electricity and gas. Carsten Koall/dpa

On the 75th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift on Sunday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius hailed the Allies' robust stance against Soviet intimidation, and called for international solidarity in the present day too.

"The airlift showed how important it is to do the right thing," Pistorius told a ceremony at the Berlin Airlift Memorial in the German capital.

"If our partners had just shrugged their shoulders or argued that the costs were too high and the risks too great, Berlin would very probably have been finished," he said of the resistance to Moscow's blockade of the city in 1948-49.

Sunday's event bore particular poignancy amid international support for Ukraine as it battles to repel a more than two-year-long invasion by Russia.

In response to the introduction of a stable currency, the Deutschmark, in the West of Germany as part of attempts to rebuild the economy under a capitalist system, the Soviet Union blocked access to the western sectors of Berlin and massively restricted the supply of electricity and gas.

However, with more than 270,000 flights, the United States, Britain and France managed to supply of West Berlin with food, fuel and raw materials. Moscow ended the blockade on May 12, 1949.

Without the airlift, the capital would not be "the city of freedom, cosmopolitanism and tolerance" of today, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said.

The ceremony brought together members of parliament from Berlin, the German Bundestag and the European Parliament, as well as numerous veterans and eyewitnesses of the events 75 years ago.

"We Germans in particular have benefited greatly from partnerships and assurances of common security in the past," said Pistorius.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) and fellow Republicans at the Capitol on Wednesday announce the introduction of a bill that would require Americans to prove their citizenship before they could register to vote. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

Here they go again.

Six months before election day, for the third straight presidential contest, Donald Trump and his Republican lickspittles are sounding alarms about virtually nonexistent voting fraud, laying the groundwork to claim that he wuz robbed should he lose to President Biden.

Trump has refused in recent interviews to commit to accepting the results in November; since the sore loser still doesnt concede his 2020 defeat, his antidemocratic perfidy about 2024 doesnt surprise. Neither do the echoes from his servile party, especially the Republicans vying to be his running mate. Lately, their dodges of reporters questions about whether theyd honor the outcome are nothing short of cringeworthy.

And Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-La.), after huddling with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on the topic, is seeking to ram through the House a bill forcing anyone registering to vote to provide documentary proof of citizenship beyond driver's licenses or Social Security cards, to prevent noncitizens from voting  something that almost never occurs and is already a federal crime.

Policy isnt the point, however; politics is. This gambit is a two-fer for firing up Republican voters: It plays to their anti-immigrant fervor and election fraud myths.

Read more: Column: He lost by 5 votes and conceded graciously. Trump could learn something here

We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections, Johnson lied at a news conference Wednesday at the Capitol steps. But it's not been something that is easily provable. We don't have that number.

Because it doesnt exist, certainly not on the scale that Johnson, Trump and other Republicans claim. Repeated studies, including last year in Arizona , show that examples of noncitizens trying to vote are infinitesimal, and even those few are mostly prevented from actually registering or casting ballots.

Heres how I would like to make America great again: By getting Republicans to stop lying about fraud, stop legislating unnecessary voting restrictions and restore what had been a bipartisan consensus  that our elections are free and fair, a model for the world. The 2020 election that Trump still insists was stolen from him? A council of his own Homeland Security Department declared it the most secure in American history.

Read more: Donald Trump puts America on notice again: If he loses, he won't go quietly

Before Trump, no one had to ask candidates whether theyd accept the results of an election. Of all Trumps shattered norms, his refusal to commit to that bedrock principle is perhaps the most corrosive to our democratic foundations.

If everythings honest, Ill gladly accept the results, Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this month, before another MAGA rally where he falsely claimed he won Wisconsin in 2020. If its not, you have to fight for the right of the country. When a Time magazine reporter asked if he expected violence after the 2024 election, Trump replied matter-of-factly, If we dont win, you know, it depends.

In other words, If I win, Ill accept the results. And, If I lose, you might get hurt. As Biden says, most recently on CNN on Wednesday, You cant only love your country when youre winning.

Read more: A Central Valley politician was charged with voter fraud. Right-wing conspiracies took over

Even when Trump won in 2016, thanks to a majority in the electoral college, he cried fraud. Stung that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots, he concocted the lie that 3 million to 5 million immigrants in the country illegally had voted for her. Trumps alliance with the House speaker against all-but-nonexistent voting by noncitizens has the added benefit, for him, of fortifying that falsehood.

Trashing elections  and specifically, declining to pledge support for the results  comes naturally to Trump. But for his toadies, the stance is awkward, to say the least.

The once-respected Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina last week embarrassingly dodged the question of whether hed accept the outcome of the 2024 vote more than a half-dozen times on NBC News Meet the Press. When host Kristen Welker persisted in seeking a simple yes or no, Scott peevishly objected, This is why so many Americans believe that NBC is an extension of the Democrat Party. (Scott, like many Republican trolls, childishly wont use the oppositions rightful name: Democratic Party.)

Among others aching to be Trumps vice presidential nominee, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum similarly sidestepped the question on CNNs State of the Union. And Rep. Elise Stefanik, a House Republican leader from New York, refused to say whether shed vote in Congress to certify 2024 results. Well see if this is a legal and valid election, she told Welker.

Read more: Noncitizen parents will again be able to vote in S.F. school board elections after group drops legal fight

In February, Trump favorite Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio lashed out at host George Stephanopoulos on ABC News This Week for asking about the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol and finally conceded that if hed been vice president, he wouldnt have certified Bidens election afterward as former Vice President Mike Pence did. Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida wouldnt commit to Axios that, if hes Trumps vice president, hed certify the 2028 presidential votes if a Democrat wins.

What a sorry signal to the rest of the world when prominent politicians  and, really, their entire party  wont acknowledge the proven integrity of U.S. elections.

If Democrats are stealing elections, how do these Republicans account for their own victories? How is it that Democrats allowed Republicans to capture control of the House in 2022?

Read more: House quickly rejects Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort to remove Johnson as speaker

Well, Republicans now seem to have their answer: Its because Democrats hadnt yet allowed enough undocumented migrants into the country to vote illegally!

That is the design, I think, of why they opened the border, Johnson said on CNBC , mimicking Trumps rally rhetoric . To turn them into voters.

That just aint so, and Johnson knows it  I give him that much credit. Noncitizens arent voting. U.S. elections arent rigged. Voter fraud is vanishingly rare. Republicans who tell you differently are lying.

And we all know, intuitively, why.

@jackiekcalmes

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
FILE PHOTO: Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, site of the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey

TORONTO (Reuters) - A fourth person has been arrested and charged with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, Canadian police said on Saturday, in a case that strained diplomatic relations with India.

Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta and said they were probing whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) announced Saturday that Amandeep Singh, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar's killing.

Singh, an Indian national who resided in Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, was already in custody for unrelated firearms charges out of Peel, Ontario, IHIT said.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited what he said was evidence of potential Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India. The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labeled Nijjar a "terrorist".

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Alistair Bell)
FORTY-FORT, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)  The weather certainly cooperated Saturday morning for fundraising walks and runs across northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Cancer Wellness Center of NEPA held its 27th annual walk. Hundreds of people took part in the two-mile walk around Forty Fort.

Some walked as individuals while others walked in groups but everyone walked with a shared purpose to take part in the non-profits largest annual fundraiser to provide free services to cancer clients and their caregivers.

Building Blocks Learning Center opens new location

This place really helps out a lot of people mentally, physically, and its very helpful in those situations that people need, said Tina Wittman from Forty-Fort.

It brings the community out. You can see the crowd we have here. Again, another great year. Close to 400 walkers. This raises a tremendous amount of money for us. Its great to see the community come out and support us, stated Tom Ruskey the director at the Cancer Wellness Center of NEPA.

PA live host Chris Bohinski served as emcee of the event which also featured raffle baskets, a deejay, and cheerleaders.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PAhomepage.com.
'They Can't Afford To Lose': Sen. Graham Livid Over Biden's Threat To Withhold Aid To Israel

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lost his temper while explaining what he thinks Israel should do to fight Hamas, calling experts wary of a continued bombardment of Gaza full of crap.

During a Sunday appearance on Meet the Press, Graham harshly criticized President Joe Biden for his threats to withhold certain types of weapons from Israel if it continues plans for a ground invasion in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians are sheltering.

Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war, the politician told host Kristen Welker. They cant afford to lose.

Asked why it was allowed for former President Ronald Reagan to withhold similar aid from Israel during its war in Lebanon in the 80s, Graham said Bidens move emboldens Hamas and other enemies of Israel.

He also repeatedly compared Israels efforts to eliminate Hamas to the United States choice to deploy nuclear bombs on Japan during World War II.

Lindsey Graham is throwing a tantrum pic.twitter.com/zjyQsHf3JJ  Acyn (@Acyn) May 12, 2024

Why is it OK for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Graham asked. Why was it OK for us to do that? I thought it was OK.

So Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state, he continued. Whatever you have to do.

When Welker told Graham that certain military officials have said decimating the entirety of Gaza is excessive, given the precision of modern weapons, he got even more testy.

Yeah, these military officials that youre talking about are full of crap, he said.

The politician then blamed Hamas for the civilian devastation in Gaza, saying, I think its impossible to mitigate civilian deaths in Gaza as long as Hamas uses their own population as human shields. Ive never seen in the history of warfare such blatant efforts by an enemy  Hamas  to put civilians at risk.

Graham previously referenced Hiroshima and Nagasaki earlier this week in regard to the Biden administration pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel.

If we stop weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the state of Israel at a time of great peril, we will pay a price, he said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. This is obscene. It is absurd. Give Israel what they need to fight the war they cant afford to lose. This is Hiroshima and Nagasaki on steroids.

Watch Grahams appearance on Meet the Press below.

Related...
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (NYSE:SID) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 10, 2024

Companhia Siderurgica Nacional isn't one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to CSN Conference Call to present Results for the First Quarter 2024. We have with, the companys Executive officers. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in listen-only mode during the company presentation. Ensuing this, we will go on to the question-and-answer section at which time further instructions will be provided. Today's event can be accessed at ri.csn.com.br, where the presentation is also available. The replay service will be available after the call. Before proceeding, please that the forward-looking statements herein are mere expectations or trends and are based on the current assumptions and opinions of the company management and that future results, performance, and events may differ materially from those expressed herein, which do not constitute projections.

Actual results, performances, or event may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of several factors overall, and economic conditions in Brazil and other countries, interest rate and exchange rate levels, future rescheduling or prepayment of debt denominated in foreign currencies, protectionist measurements in the U.S., Brazil and other countries, changes in laws and regulations and general competitive factors at a global, regional or national basis. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Antonio Marco Campos Rabello, CFO and Investor Relations Executive Officer, who will begin the presentation. You may proceed, Mr. Rabello.

Antonio Marco Campos Rabello: Good morning, everybody. My name is Marco Rabello. It is a pleasure to share with you the results of CSN. We -- I joined CSN in the second fortnight of March. I would like to thank the team and Marcelo Ribeiro for all of the support that I received in the transition period and for the deliveries that he gave us, while he was at CSN. Thank you, Marcelo. On Slide number two, we see the main slides attained this quarter. Despite the fact that we faced several challenges regarding the price of our products at beginning of the year was important to reinforce operating enhancements beginning with mining, where we had record sales for the first quarter. The company benefited from this period, prior period, and we sold more than 9 million tonnes.

Story continues

In terms of steel, this is the fifth quarter -- consecutive quarter of sales, showing the normalization of the operation and the asserted commercial strategy by managing to compensate for a seasonally weaker quarter in the domestic market with increased sales abroad. We captured synergies, delivering a 26% EBITDA margin, something unheard of since we carried out the last acquisition. Lastly, and not least important, we have an ESG highlight with the publication of the 2023 integrated report with advances in emissions control. ESG is a strategic fundamental topic for CSN. We go on to Slide number 4. We see the EBITDA evolution. You see an impact of the price of iron ore and the impact on our results this quarter besides seasonality of the period, the drop in the flat price had an impact on the mining EBITDA and on the consolidated results.

There was a difference between the first quarter 2022 and the fourth quarter 2023, leading us to an EBITDA margin of 19% for the period. In the next slide, we can see the CapEx and the working capital. On the part of investments, the drop of 50% vis-a-vis the previous quarter is due to a seasonality of CSN that wants to concentrate investments for the end of the year. When we compare this with the same period year-on-year, we made significant advances in investment in steel and coke batteries, centering and the streamlining of UPV operations. We also had advances and capacity expansion projects in mining, mainly related to new P15 equipment purchases. In terms of working capital, a reduction in accounts receivable directly related to the weaker sales performed in the period, especially in mining because of a drop in the international prices.

We go on to Slide number 6, where we present the adjusted cash flow evolution with a negative result of BRL636 million, impacted by lower operating results but also because of the negative impact of interest rates and the hedging with iron or this should be reverted in the coming quarter with the change of prices we have observed in the last weeks. In Slide number 7, we show you the leverage evolution and net debt buildup after two consecutive quarters of drop of leverage, we had an increase in the level of indebtedness of BRL1.2 billion when compared with the first quarter last year. This performance was expected because of the drop in prices of commodities. We're making the most of this moment to reinforce our commitment to continue to reduce leverage in the coming quarters and comply with the goals of the company.

We will have more robust results in the coming quarters with seasonality acting in our figure in terms of volume and with an increase in price. In iron ore and steel, we also have strategic projects remarked upon in previous calls. We have a partner in energy and work with strategic investors for a minority stake in mining. These are topics that are extremely important because we need to have a diversified company with relevant action in different areas, and they will enable us to recycle our internal capital and of course, we will have a variation of leverage in less stable periods. In Slide number 8, you see our debt amortization schedule. We show you the sound cash position CSN has had with several million reals at our disposal. Additionally, the company is very active in terms of rolling its debt with a focus on long-term operations and the local capital market.

This quarter, we had the reissuance of bonds of last year with a raising of $700 million maturing in 2030. Yesterday, we concluded our 15th simple debenture with a total value of BRL800 million, divided in two series with the objective of investing in infrastructure for long-term and efficient structures. With this, we conclude the consolidated analysis of our performance. And we now go on to the highlights of the segment. On Slide number 10, we see the steel performance. For the third consecutive quarter, we had a growth in sales. Because of the strong dynamism of the foreign market, especially SWT, offset by the drop in the domestic market, there was a price readjustment that was significant because of competition with imported material and because of the diversified mix with a higher concentration of lower added value products.

This offset the increase in price and enabled us to have a good EBITDA at the beginning of the year. In Slide number 11, you see a growth of 5.7% in steel production, referring to the enhancement of the production process that we have observed over the last few quarters compared with the same period in 2023, where we had some bottlenecks in production. Now, we have a higher dilution of fixed costs, leading to a drop in slab in the first quarter 2024. As mentioned in the previous slide, this decrease was not sufficient to offset the drop of price. On the other hand, the expectation is that the costs will fall even further, but we will resume our performance in the coming quarter where seasonality will play in our favor. There is also a drop in raw material and a more comfortable position once we have quotas for imported products.

On Slide 13, we see the mining performance despite seasonality. The company maintained operational excellence in recent quarters to deliver yet another production record for the year, overcoming the critical period of rainfall. Now, the readjustment in the price of iron ore was intense, a change of $30 per ton in the price practice this quarter vis-a-vis the last quarter, offsetting all of the problems we saw and leading to a drop in EBITDA, reaching a margin of 40% this quarter. On Slide number 14, in greater detail, you will see the impact of this adjustment on our results, especially in price provisions. This effect added to the effect of seasonality per volume where we're responsible for a difference of BRL1 billion between the last two quarters.

We look at the result of cements on Slide number 16, and we can see that despite the seasonality with increased rainfall, the company maintained an assertive commercial activity with minor impact on the volume between the two quarters differently from what we observed last year when we had more aggressive price strategies. This quarter, we see an enhancement in the competitive environment, allowing for a price adjustment in this quarter, which means we have a stable behavior of revenue despite the lower volume. The message of this slide is a sound capture of synergy and operational efficiency gains surpassing for the first time, the mark of 25%, mark of adjusted EBITDA margin since the integration of assets. So, we're on the right path to capture benefits with a sound and efficient financial performance.

With this, I would like to end the presentation on the segments, and I invite Helena Guerra to speak about the highlights in ESG.

Helena Guerra: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for the opportunity of presenting our results for the quarter. I couldn't begin the call without first referring to our for solidarity to the disaster in Rio Grande do Sul. It is an economic and humanitarian tragedy due to climate change, and it reinforces the need to focus on climate change and the need for the society to adapt to avoid the impacts of this new reality, our deep solidarity and help to our associates in the region. Even in extremely difficult working conditions, our employees have worked consistently in a very competent way to maintain our dam stable despite this new volume of rainfall and to ensure that our company could be properly mobilized through different actions to help the people in Rio Grande do Sul to face this disaster.

A large commercial freight train rolling through the countryside carrying steel products.

Although the call is for the first quarter of 2024, we highlight the publication of the fourth edition of CS10 report was published yesterday. Both have been reviewed by outside auditors and we're complying with our obligations until 2026. We refer to this double matter reality. It considers the impacts caused by the company environmental frameworks, but risks and impact to the business, especially financial risk with double materiality as part of the European system that was approved in 2023 and will become a mandatory practice. And this has been incorporated into the 2023 report. In the quarter, we have some actions referring to advance in health and safety. We have a decrease in the margins of [Indiscernible]. We have a dam that was improved in December.

It had reached level one-off stability. This was stated through an external audit. So, all of the dams in the company have the highest level of safety. We also highlight the evolution in our safety and operations. In the first quarter of 2024, we surpassed the goal set forth regarding our accident frequency rate vehicle for 2030, we have reached in 2024. This is the best historical day, 1.62 accidents and we also have an expressive reduction in the seriousness of accidents, thanks to the program implemented in December called [Indiscernible] to act. And this has reduced the potential number of accidents in environmental management. More than 500 tons of cement produced according to the best rules in the world. In terms of emissions, very good results in Minas Gerais, almost 2,000 cubic meters an hour allowing for good availability of water at Casa de Pedra, something fundamental for the project.

In terms of diversity, we have increased women participation. We have reached 62% in the CSN group, 10% of women in leadership position compared to the same period last year. And of course, we participate with the evolution of CDP grade that has the largest data bank in the world, and we have become global leaders in environmental management, especially in terms of water, safety, and climate change. Thank you very much.

Antonio Marco Campos Rabello: Thank you, Helena. Before we go to the question-and-answer session, I would like to give the floor to our President, Benjamin Steinbruch for his remarks.

Benjamin Steinbruch: Well, good morning, everybody. Thank you for your participation in the CSN earnings call. I would like to simply review some points, and we will then open for questions and answers. I highlight what was said in the [Indiscernible] call and CSN. In mining, we had a record production. However, we had a timely negative impact on prices with a reduction of almost 20% and with a direct impact on EBITDA. This impact that we had in the first quarter will be eliminated as prices have increased 20% once again. We believe that the negative impact that we had in EBITDA in the first quarter will end up being positive in the second quarter. If we consider that the mine is doing well in terms of production, it is working with control costs, this is the effect of direct price on EBITDA.

And if we take into account the movement at the port enabling us to ship more ton through our ports. Regarding steel, we had an increase in the amount of steel, but we focus a great deal on mix and price. We had an impact of the imported products, and this issue has begun to be addressed by the government. Eventually, there will be a better projection of the domestic market, and we believe it will lead to better results in the second quarter. In cement, conditions are normal. We have been growing in terms of amount and margin. We have been able to raise the price and cement has shown the potential that it truly has. And gradually with the synergies that we have captured, we have a consolidated position with the integration of Lafarge Holcim and the production of our prior plan.

The EBITDA, despite the negative effect, as I mentioned, basically due to the drop of flat. Now, regarding our investments, we continue our normal pace. We have investment policy that is higher now for 2024. We're advancing at a normal pace. And the main investment that we have for P15, has been fully contracted. All of the equipment has been contracted. The engineering side under a rapid development, and we believe that very briefly, we will have the P15 becoming operational. This is the main investment from the quantitative and qualities viewpoint for the entire group and for mining. And still, we have coking centering and high furnace also underway. The leverage, of course, which is an issue of great concern. We have made commitments to remain below 3 times.

We continue on with this commitment despite that slide into 1.3% due to the drop of EBITDA and also due to that drop of 20% in prices for iron ore, for plots that seems to have recovered that price loss. We believe that very speedily we will be able to once again have that commitment complied with the market. As we have been saying for almost two years, our goal is to always work between 2.5 and 3 times leverage and to attempt to be as close as possible as 2.5. We do have a significant investment program, notwithstanding that we believe in our operations, and we will quickly return to that level that we have set forth to comply with. I can say that mining very broadly is doing very well. It is under control. We have growing volumes. The price has returned.

The cost is dropping and the port is doing very well. So, all of the variables seem to be in place and working in harmony quarter-after-quarter as we were able to show this last quarter. Regarding mining, what we have to do is more of the same. We truly don't need to make corrections or adopt major actions. With this resumption of price, we will once again go back to having the results that were forecast in our budget and we're quite calm when it comes to mining. With cement, the same holds true. We're doing well, capturing synergy. We are working very close to our nominal volumes. When we lose something because of gold silos, for example, we do lose a bit of the nominal capacity because of this, but the productivity and the yield that we have set forth for ourselves are quite strong, and we have had good receptivity on the part of the market.

Our costs are under control, allowing us to have growing margins as was a concrete fact in the first quarter of going beyond 25%. Now, when it comes to the steel plant, this is where we have our major problems there's nothing different, nothing unknown. It's simply an issue of management and ability to forecast. We had a serious problem with converters with coke and centering. Well, all of these problems are known at large, but as in any capital-intensive company, when you detect the problem, even though you know how to resolve it, even though you know how to return to normalcy, you do depend on spare parts that should be immediately available, and they're not and the delay because of the articulated order for each type of equipment can be impactful despite knowing what we need, despite having a defined strategy to regress these variables.

Unfortunately, this will take some time and we are presently in that phase where we are losing production. Even though we know what needs to be done, we have to continue to live with that for an additional period. We are attempting to reduce that problem that we have with third-parties in the market. We have been successful. The purchases are lower than our cost of operation, but we're getting ready to recover for our loss of the time of difficulty in production have gone beyond what we expected in the steel mills. Now, commercially, we have a highly competitive market because of the imported products. It is a pity that the Brazilian government proceeds so slowly with that reaction that we're expecting regarding imported products. It's not only in the steel segment, we have to be attentive to this and quickly react quickly in all segments that impact our economy.

This is not a timely issue with the general problem. China attack very strongly and fully impacts competition. Nobody can say let China come, we're ready. We are not, not in the automotive sector, not in chemistry, not in the consumption sector, or in the spare part sector and the damage takes some time to recover from the Brazilian government is under the obligation of reacting rapidly to protect the industry as a whole. We have seen this in the past. There is a drop in the share of industry in Brazilian GDP and for each point that we dropped, it takes threefold the effort to go back to our original position. Although the Brazilian government is somewhat attentive, it has been slow in terms of its reduction and not very aware in terms of what should be done with imported products.

To give you an idea, the Brazilian government used the averages of the year's 2022, 2023 to set up the average imported added 30% in amount. And based on that has come up with a new import levy. Now, if the government would have wanted to inhibit imports, they should have based themselves on the averages of the United States with a reduction of 30% to show that they're truly combating imports. Unfortunately, we have done the contrary. What will happen in May and June is that imports will be extremely strong and to set up this higher quota. And only after that, there will be a new taxation levy. It continues to stimulate imports, which truly doesn't make very much sense and which is effectively hampering the entire Brazilian economy. I repeat here, nobody can face up China.

Nobody. When China is ready to export any type of product, it simply goes over everybody in any country. We have to be attentive to that. And the faster and the stronger this action is, the better the production for industry as a whole and for Brazilian economy. And this will have a huge repercussion as it is already happening in the consumption area. It's an issue that is pending, and we have to wake up to this and act quickly. Very well. We're now going to open the floor for questions and answers, and we are at your entire disposal to answer your questions. Thank you very much for your attention and let us continue on.

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Socialist candidate Salvador Illa makes a toast with members of his team and party colleagues after the announcement of the results of elections to the Catalan parliament in Barcelona, Sunday May 12, 2024. The Socialists led by former health minister Illa won a majority of 42 seats, up from their 33 seats in 2021 when they also barely won the most votes but were unable to form a government. They will still need to earn the backing of other parties to put Illa in charge.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP)  Six years after plunging Spain into its worst political crisis in decades, Catalonia's separatist parties are in danger of losing their hold on power in the northeastern region after the pro-union Socialist Party scored a historic result in Sunday's election.

The four pro-independence parties, led by the Together party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, were set to get a total of 61 seats, according to a near-complete count of the ballots. That is short of the key figure of 68 seats needed for a majority in the chamber.

The Socialists led by former health minister Salvador Illa savored their best result in a Catalan election, claiming 42 seats, up from 33 in 2021, when they also barely won the most votes but were unable to form a government. This was the first time the Socialists led a Catalan election in both votes and seats won.

Catalonia has decided to open a new era, Illa told his thrilled supporters at his party headquarters. Catalan voters have decided that the Socialist Party will lead this new era, and it is my intention to become Catalonia's next president.

Illa led Spains response to the COVID-19 pandemic before Sanchez sent him back to Barcelona to lead his party. The 58-year-old Illas calm tone and focus on social issues convinced many voters that it was time to change after years of separatists pressing for severing century-old ties with the rest of Spain.

Sanchez congratulated Illa on the X platform for the historic result.

The Socialists will need to earn the backing of other parties to put Illa in charge. Dealmaking in the coming days, maybe weeks, will be key to forming a government. Neither a hung parliament nor a new election is out of the question.

But there is a path for Illa to reach the goal of 68 seats. The Socialists are already in a coalition government in Madrid with the Sumar party, which now has six seats in the Catalan parliament. But the hard part will be wooing over a leftist party from the separatist camp.

Regardless of those negotiations, Illas surge should bode well for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the Socialists before European Parliament elections next month.

Separatists have held the regional government in Barcelona since 2012 and had won majorities in four consecutive regional elections. But polling and a national election in July showed that support for secession has shrunk since Puigdemont led an illegal  and futile  breakaway bid in 2017 that led to hundreds of businesses and Catalonia's major banks leaving the region.

The candidacy that I led had a good result, we are the only pro-independence force to increase in votes and seats, and we assume the responsibility that entails," Puigdemont said. But that is not enough to compensate the losses of the other separatists parties.

Sanchezs Socialists have spent major political capital since then in reducing tensions in Catalonia, including pardoning jailed high-profile separatists and pushing through an amnesty for Puigdemont and hundreds more.

The Socialist win "is due to many factors that will have to analyze, but one of those factors were the policies and leadership of the government of Spain and Pedro Sanchez," Illa said.

The Together party of Puigdemont restored its leadership of the separatist camp with 35 seats, up from 32 three years ago. He fled Spain after the 2017 secession attempt and has run his campaign from southern France on the pledge that he will return home when lawmakers convene to elect a new regional president in the coming weeks.

Puigdemonts escape from Spain became the stuff of legend among his followers, and a huge source of embarrassment for Spains law enforcement. He recently denied during the campaign that he had hidden himself in a car trunk to avoid detection while he slipped across the border during a legal crackdown that landed several of his cohorts in prison until Sanchezs government pardoned them.

Now, the only way Puigdemont could keep the separatists in government would depend on the far-fetched possibility of a deal with Sanchez to guarantee the separatists' support of his national government in Madrid in exchange for Illa returning the favor to the separatists in Barcelona.

The Republican Left of Catalonia of sitting regional president Pere Aragones plummeted to 20 seats from 33. But the leftist separatist party, which has governed in minority during a record drought, could be key to Illas hopes, although that would require it to break with the pro-secession bloc.

The Popular Party, which is the largest party in Spain's national parliament where it leads the opposition, surged to 15 seats from three.

The far-right, Spanish ultra-nationalist party Vox held its 11 seats, while on the other end of the spectrum, the far-left, pro-secession Cup took four, down from nine.

An upstart pro-secession, far-right party called Catalan Alliance, which rails against unauthorized immigration as well as the Spanish state, will enter the chamber for the first time with two seats.

We have seen that Catalonia is not immune to the reactionary, far-right wave sweeping Europe, Aragones, the outgoing regional president, said.

The crippling drought, not independence, is currently the leading concern of Catalans, according to the most recent survey by Catalonias public opinion office.

The opinion office said that 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.

More than 3.1 million people voted, with participation at 57%. Potentially thousands of voters had trouble reaching their polling stations when Catalonias commuter rail service had to shut down several train lines after what officials said was the robbery of copper cables from a train installation near Barcelona.
By Joan Faus

BARCELONA (Reuters) -Spain's Socialists won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday's Catalan elections, dealing a serious blow to more than a decade of separatist governance and the independence dreams still nursed by some in the wealthy northeastern region.

The Socialists, led locally by Salvador Illa, had 42 seats in the 135-seat chamber with more than 99% of the vote counted, while hardline separatist party Junts was in second place with 35 seats, and the incumbent more moderate separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) had 20 seats.

Spain's largest opposition party, the conservative People's Party, also had a good night, seeing the biggest increase since the last vote in 2021 from three seats to 15 on Sunday. Turnout for the vote was notably low at 58%.

The result looks to be an existential threat for separatist governance in Catalonia which led a 2017 illegal independence referendum and declaration of independence that caused Spain's worst institutional crisis in more than 30 years but whose movement has lost energy and unity more recently.

It also represents a vindication of Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's controversial bid to normalise relations with restive Catalonia, including issuing pardons for convictions over the independence drive and, more recently, a controversial amnesty including others still facing prosecution.

Speaking as the voting count concluded, Illa hailed a "new era" for the region. However, with no party holding a clear majority and deep ideological divisions between them, there remains the risk the vote will have to be repeated.

The separatist parties combined of the ERC, Junts, far-left CUP and far-right Alianca Catalana, do not have the required 68 seats to be able to form a coalition government.

Illa's Socialists will also need to forge an agreement - most likely with the ERC - but separatist parties until now have rejected any suggestion of helping the national ruling party govern in Catalonia.

Illa might instead attempt to form an unorthodox alliance with not only far-left Sumar, its coalition partner in national government, but also the conservative Peoples Party and far-right Vox, with whom the socialists have long said they would not negotiate.

On Sunday night, the ERC's leader Pere Aragones, Catalonia's outgoing president, told reporters that his party would move into opposition, effectively ruling out backing the Socialists.

Junts' leader Carles Puigdemont said his party had performed well but turnout among separatist voters remained low and without a strong showing by the ERC, AC and CUP, his options were limited.

He previously said that if he didn't win and the Socialists allied with the PP to lead the region he might withdraw his support from its minority national government - offered after inconclusive national elections in July, risking fresh instability on a national level.

Political analyst and historian Joan Esculies said whatever came next, the night's headline was the tamping down of Catalan separatist sentiment: "The pro-independence movement has run out of ideas to convince or mobilise people as they did before."

(Reporting by Joan Faus; Additional reporting by Belen Carreno, Alejandra Angulo and Graham Keeley; Writing by Joan Faus and Aislinn Laing; Editing by Frances Kerry, David Holmes and Diane Craft)
(Bloomberg) -- Catalans vote on Sunday in a landmark parliamentary election for the wealthy Spanish region torn by a pro-independence movement and urgent challenges including overstretched public services and a severe drought.

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Personal animosities and infighting in different camps may make it difficult to pick a new regional president in Barcelona by the deadline set for the end of August, potentially leading to new elections later this year. The election is also expected to have an impact on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs fragile coalition in Madrid.

Here are the key issues to keep an eye on:

Impact in Madrid

A strong victory of Socialist candidate Salvador Illa may prevent secession-supporting parties from getting a majority in the regional chamber for the first time since 1980. The defeat of those parties could then lead them to withdraw support for Premier Sanchez in Madrid and accelerate the collapse of the ruling left-wing coalition in Spain, which has so far resisted a broader swing to the right across much of Europe.

Alternatively, a good election result for the pro-business Junts party of Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium following an illegal independence referendum in 2017, could bring the fugitive Catalan leader back to power in Barcelona if he reaches an agreement with left-wing party ERC, another pro-independence group.

Puigdemonts return as regional president would deal a blow to Sanchezs strategy for Catalonia. That involved trying to dampen the pro-independence push by offering concessions, including an amnesty for Puigdemont and others involved in the illegal referendum.

Ahead of Sundays election, candidates also tried to address concerns about public services or investment in infrastructure, including to help tackle the impact of climate change. But Sanchezs surprising decision to consider resigning as premier in late April disrupted the campaign and brought to the fore his clash with right-wing forces.

Unite or Divide?

Polls indicate that the Socialist partys Illa will win but fall short of the 68 seats needed for an absolute majority in the regional chamber. If unlikely allies such as the conservative Peoples Party or far-right group Vox combined with the Socialists, the bloc of forces opposing independence could hold an absolute majority, according to some polls.

Illa, who campaigned under the slogan unite and serve, may instead seek the support of ERC. That partys candidate and current Catalan President Pere Aragones wants an independence referendum as a condition for giving backing. Thats a red line for the Socialists, Illa has said.

Separatist Negotiations

The regional election will also show who commands the pro-independence camp. While ERC remained a more pragmatic partner for Sanchez over the past years, Puigdemonts Junts refused to negotiate with the Socialists in Madrid until they got the amnesty agreement and then helped Sanchez win his latest investiture.

Puigdemont is expected to win more votes than ERCs Aragones. If the pro-independence camp wants to retain power, the two would need to set aside a personal rivalry that was further stoked in 2022 when Junts broke with the Aragones-led regional government, leaving it in a weak position and leading to the decision taken in March to call a snap election.

Newcomers and Exits

Polls indicate a new far-right pro-independence party called Alianca Catalana may get as many as four seats. The newcomer would probably erode some support for Junts and complicate agreements in parliament as parties on the left have refused any deals with the new group.

Meanwhile, Ciudadanos may fail to win seats. The liberal party born in Catalonia nearly two decades ago took first place in the regional election in 2017 at the peak of the pro-independence push.

The Day After

Exit polls will be released shortly after voting ends at 8 p.m. in Barcelona.

Candidates will likely provide more clarity about potential partners in a regional government, possible concessions and red lines after the vote count. They dodged many of these issues during the campaign.

For Sanchez in Madrid, the election aftermath will also offer clues about how difficult it will be to pass legislation, including a delayed budget, and his options to remain in power. Even if his party has a good election night, it wont be straightforward. To avoid the risk of losing support from Junts in the national parliament means the Socialists will need to calculate carefully if they can just partner with ERC in a regional government in Barcelona.

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Their mission is to destroy: video shows thieves use car to break into Commerce City dispensary

DENVER (KDVR)  The Commerce City Police Department said it has responded to four marijuana dispensary burglaries and attempted burglaries in the first week and a half of May.

The department posted a video on Facebook Friday that shows thieves using a car to break into the dispensary before stealing products inside.

Video: Thieves ram stolen car into Commerce City vape shop

It happened at about 3:30 a.m. Thursday the Stadium Gardens on Quebec Street.

According to police, this isnt the first time the business has been hit by burglars. The first time, police said the thieves were unsuccessful at breaching the doors.

Police said thieves used a Kia that had no license plates on it to smash right through the front of the building.

Video shows the vehicle backing into the glass doors at the front of the building multiple times. Once doors were broken, the thieves entered the building and can be seen using a tool to pry open another door past the waiting area.

The Commerce City Police Department said it has responded to four marijuana dispensary burglaries and attempted burglaries in the first week and a half of May. (Commerce City Police Department)

The Commerce City Police Department said it has responded to four marijuana dispensary burglaries and attempted burglaries in the first week and a half of May. (Commerce City Police Department)

The Commerce City Police Department said it has responded to four marijuana dispensary burglaries and attempted burglaries in the first week and a half of May. (Commerce City Police Department)

Business owner says this wasnt the first time

It wasnt very pleasant to watch for us, said owner Rita Tsalyuk.

In the video, two suspects get out of the car, both wearing dark hoodies, one carrying a backpack.

Once inside the suspects use what appears to be a crowbar to pry open a locked security door to get past the waiting room. Minutes later they are seen taking off with marijuana products in a trash can, causing thousands of dollars in damage in the process.

It was four men that didnt care about the property, in fact, it felt like they wanted to damage as much as they can, said Tsalyuk.

She told FOX31 she got the notification from her security company and arrived shortly after the suspects got away.

Everything is kind of halfway fixed now, but when we arrived in the morning glass was all over the place. They drove in through the storefront everything was inside. All the doors since then have been repaired to some extent, said Tsalyuk. We just put two metal doors, they are security doors so very strong doors it took four people three minutes to open this door. Maybe thats why they got less cannabis, but they damaged the door which is also expensive.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston answers questions on Reddit

Stalyuk says this isnt the first time her store was hit.

This time, when you see them on camera, it feels like their mission is to destroy, she said. That mission is even bigger than to steal. Its just bad.

Right now, she is unsure of the amount of cannabis that was stolen but estimates it will cost her roughly $60,000 in repairs.

It feels like somebody just went to your house and made a mess out of your life. This keeps happening, she said. The Attorneys General Office needs to start enforcing low-level crimes. People need to start getting arrested and get punished for stealing products out of stores and trespassing on someones property.

The police department said it is working with other Denver metro agencies that are investigating similar crimes to see if there is any connection.

Police are looking for the vehicle involved and the two suspects, and likely others. Anyone with information regarding the thefts is asked to call the CCPD tip line at 303-289-3626.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Julie Philley will be the next president of the University of Texas at Tyler.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents unanimously approved hiring Julie Philley as the next president of the University of Texas at Tyler.

The board in March had named Philley as the lone finalist before making its final decision Thursday. She currently serves as the school's executive vice president for health affairs, a title she held when UT-Tyler and the UT Health Science Center in Tyler merged in 2021, and she became vice provost as well in 2022. She is a doctor in pulmonary and critical care medicine.

"I'm just honored and so grateful for the opportunity," Philley told the American-Statesman after the board's meeting. "I'm just so excited to serve."

Philley, who was born in Overton, about 20 miles outside of Tyler, said she has lived in East Texas for a long time. She received her bachelors degree from Texas Womans University and studied medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, according to the UT System and her biography on the UT Health East Texas website. She completed an internal medicine residency program at Johns Hopkins University/Sinai Hospital and a fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

When she begins in her new role June 1, Philley said she will work to understand UT-Tyler's needs and the needs of the community. She wanted to be the school's president to expand the opportunities the university provides, she said.

"It's just an incredible chance of a lifetime to help make things better for others," she said.

Kirk Calhoun, the university's current president, will retire May 31. Calhoun announced his retirement in February.

"I could not be more excited that a colleague that I've worked with now for a number of years has been identified as the next president of UT-Tyler," he said. "It's really a thrill."

Calhoun said he will miss working to change young people's lives but hopes to continue to do so in his next chapter.

"There's no greater experience or honor than being one of the few who gets to serve as a president of a UT institution," Calhoun said.

UT-Tyler has five campuses and more than 9,600 total students. The university houses the system's seventh medical school and is also a Carnegie R2 research institution.

UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken chaired the search committee that recommended Philley for the top job.

Dr. Philley received numerous accolades from the committee, with a special emphasis on her deep knowledge across the board in academic, clinical, administrative and operational matters, along with a track record of working collaboratively with many individuals to make significant advancements for UT Tyler, Milliken said in a UT System news release. I am grateful to the committee for its enthusiastic recommendation.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: University of Texas System names Julie Philley as UT-Tyler president
KANE COUNTY, Ill.  A 22-year-old Chicago man has been charged with sexual assault for allegedly impregnating a disabled resident at a Geneva nursing home.

Kane County prosecutors say an arrest warrant was issued for Isaiah Fields, of the 5000 block of West Maple Avenue on Chicagos Northwest Side, after his DNA test came back positive. Fields was taken into custody on Friday.

The victim is a longtime resident of the Marklund Hyde Center in Geneva, a western suburb. Administrators of the facility learned she was pregnant last month, and she subsequently gave birth at Delnor Hospital in Geneva.

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In a statement, the states attorney called the actions heinous against a vulnerable individual. Prosecutors charged Fields with sexual assault and battery, saying he knew the victim had severe disabilities and that she was unable to give consent.

Prosecutors allege Fields assaulted the woman between Aug. 1 and Sept. 5 of 2023. The Kane County Sheriffs Office had collected DNA samples from current and previous male employees of Marklund before arresting Fields.

Marklund is a non-profit founded in 1954 that provides 24-hour residential, educational and therapeutic services to people with severe and profound developmental disabilities.

Marklund President and CEO Gil Fonger released a statement on Saturday afternoon that said in part:

Since we first reported the case of sexual abuse against a Marklund resident on April 9, we have worked closely with the Kane County Sheriffs Office. We are grateful for their diligent efforts, as well as the support of the Kane County States Attorney, which has led to the arrest of a former Marklund staff member.

Fonger added that Marklund is not able to comment on the health status of residents, due to HIPAA regulations.

Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines

When asked how a longtime residents pregnancy could go unnoticed Fonger told WGN News the victim is non-verbal and physically disabled and has a distended abdomen due to her condition that likely masked the pregnancy.

Fields is scheduled to be back in Kane County Court on Friday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
The citys new budget is creating a pathway to employment for several Charlotte-Mecklenburg School graduates.

MORE: New fiscal year budget could bring parking changes throughout Charlotte

Charlotte is starting a new apprentice program for CMS high school graduates.

They will get a full-time job with the city with a starting salary of $47,480thats more than a first-year CMS teacher with a four-year degree.

The Political Beat Team reached out to the district and the city of Charlotte, who did not respond to a request for comment

(WATCH BELOW: CMS approves $2.1B budget, includes raises)








 Flash

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)

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.
Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. For example, although software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.

So should Besra Gold (ASX:BEZ) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

Check out our latest analysis for Besra Gold

How Long Is Besra Gold's Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. As at December 2023, Besra Gold had cash of US$21m and no debt. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$7.0m. That means it had a cash runway of about 3.1 years as of December 2023. There's no doubt that this is a reassuringly long runway. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Is Besra Gold's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Besra Gold didn't record any revenue over the last year, indicating that it's an early stage company still developing its business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. In fact, it ramped its spending strongly over the last year, increasing cash burn by 104%. That sort of spending growth rate can't continue for very long before it causes balance sheet weakness, generally speaking. Besra Gold makes us a little nervous due to its lack of substantial operating revenue. So we'd generally prefer stocks from this list of stocks that have analysts forecasting growth.

Can Besra Gold Raise More Cash Easily?

While Besra Gold does have a solid cash runway, its cash burn trajectory may have some shareholders thinking ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn.

Besra Gold's cash burn of US$7.0m is about 26% of its US$27m market capitalisation. That's fairly notable cash burn, so if the company had to sell shares to cover the cost of another year's operations, shareholders would suffer some costly dilution.

How Risky Is Besra Gold's Cash Burn Situation?

Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Besra Gold's cash runway was relatively promising. While we're the kind of investors who are always a bit concerned about the risks involved with cash burning companies, the metrics we have discussed in this article leave us relatively comfortable about Besra Gold's situation. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 3 warning signs for Besra Gold (1 is significant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)

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.
Russia's new Kharkiv offensive pushes Vovchansk to the brink of annihilation

VOVCHANSK, KHARKIV OBLAST  The glide bombs arrive in groups of three.

Their flight can be heard from far away, but only in the last second before impact is it clear where it will hit.

The explosions, orders of magnitude more powerful than regular artillery shells, shake the ground where the two police officers lay prone.

Getting back on his feet, Oleksii Kharkivskyi, the boisterous young police chief of the border town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, climbed onto a pile of rubble and pointed to the plumes of dark grey smoke rising in the distance, the nearest less than half a kilometer away.

I see one, I see a second, and the third is just behind this house, he said.

If you dont want to die, I suggest you gather your things and follow me.

A local resident looks for a dog over the fence of a house destroyed by a Russian bomb in Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on May 11, 2024. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

Vovchansk is ground zero of Russias new offensive into Kharkiv Oblast, the first time a serious push has been made to take territory across the border since the area was liberated from Russian occupation in Ukraines lightning counteroffensive in September 2022.

Now, the town is on the brink of becoming the first major settlement to be occupied by Russia for a second time once already liberated.

The prospect of a new, large-scale offensive on Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, had loomed for months, and now comes at a time when overstretched Ukrainian forces are steadily losing ground in several hotspots further southeast in Donetsk Oblast.

The Kyiv Independent visited Vovchansk on May 11, one day after the first incursions were made into Ukrainian territory in two sectors of the border.

Further west, Russian forces have reportedly taken several Ukrainian villages, bringing them around 25 kilometers from the outskirts of Kharkiv itself.

The second axis is aimed at Vovchansk.

Map of Russia's offensive in Kharkiv Oblast as of May 12, 2024. (Lisa Kukharska / The Kyiv Independent)

By the time of publication, Russian forces had reached the outskirts of the town, according to a Facebook post by Denys Yaroslavskyi, a Ukrainian reconnaissance commander serving in the area, as well as police officers cited by Associated Press journalists on May 10.

The road to Vovchansk is clouded in parts by thick smoke: large tracts of pine forest across the area are in flames, though its unclear if due to the very dry spring or Russian bombing.

Inside the town, the atmosphere is eerie: no Ukrainian soldiers could be seen out in the open, only the occasional civilian, usually sitting outside, oblivious to the battles being waged around them.

Above, the ominous buzz of Russian drones can often be heard in the clear skies, always on the lookout for potential targets.

A former hospital building damaged by Russian shelling in Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on May 11, 2024. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

Local police teams and volunteer organizations are racing against time to evacuate as many civilians from Vovchansk and the surrounding villages.

Operating out of a central hub in a nearby village, police cars fan across the town, heading to addresses where people have called in with requests to be pulled out.

Since the offensive began, hundreds of those remaining in Vovchansk, which had a pre-war population of around 17,000, are being evacuated each day, Kharkivskyi told the Kyiv Independent.

As of the afternoon on May 12, around 500 people were left in the town, according to Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

In the midst of the wholesale destruction of their city, some residents insist on staying put no matter what.

As is the case in front-line settlements across Ukraine, residents often remain stubbornly out of attachment to their homes and other belongings.

The police car takes a turn onto a nondescript street of houses outside the town center.

A stocky, curly-haired man wanders aimlessly out onto the road. His hands, face, and clothes are caked in dark grey soot, while his wrist is adorned with a fresh foam and bandage dressing.

For 65-year-old retired railway worker Serhii Kotsar, as of the previous day, there is almost nothing left to remain attached to.

The house behind him, where he was born and grew up, took a direct hit from a Russian gliding bomb around 2 p.m.

Smoke still rises from the rubble, with very little left of the interior that hasnt been buried or burnt beyond recognition.

Thats where I was with her (his wife), we were just having lunch, he said, looking to the last intact walls of what used to be his house, and this is what happened, turning to point towards the rest of the ruins.

Suffering major head and rib injuries, his wife was immediately evacuated to hospital in Kharkiv, but Kotsar himself, despite everything, chooses to stay put.

Police officer Oleksii Kharkivskyi looks at smoke rising from a Russian glide bomb impact site in Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on May 11, 2024. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

In a rusty shack behind the house, singed and shaken, lies the reason why.

Kotsars goats, three adults and two kids, cry out as he strokes their heads gently.

To one side, a small tabby cat, badly burnt but still alive, meows softly.

I cant bring myself to kill them with my own hands, he said, holding back tears.

With police and volunteers usually refusing to evacuate livestock, these animals create another reason for people like Kotsar to stay.

In these conditions of wholesale destruction, the idea of a second Russian occupation often takes a back seat in the psyches of locals.

I know perfectly well that things won't get better, Kotsar said.

Of course we thought about a second occupation, but we had nowhere to go. We are both pensioners with just a few hryvnias to our name.

A bicyle destroyed by a Russian bomb in Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on May 11, 2024. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

Approaching on her bicycle, 48-year-old neighbor Oksana makes her own attempt to convince Kotsar, pleading for him to reunite with his wife.

He doesn't have documents or anything, he needs to leave but doesn't want to, she said to the Kyiv Independent.

Oksana, who declined to give her last name out of fear, works tirelessly to coordinate humanitarian aid for the residents, but still refuses to leave herself.

I believe in our guys, that they won't let them into our city, she said.

We had them once (the Russians) and nothing good came out of it. They took my son away, to the cellar, and they tried to take my brother too.

The conversation is interrupted by more glide bombs; Oksana crouches down behind a tree and flips forward the hood of her coat.

If the bomb falls anywhere nearby, neither are likely to offer much protection.

A destroyed minivan on the streets of Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on May 11, 2024. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

Over the next half hour, Kharkivskyi and his deputy check several more streets, but none of the residents are willing to evacuate.

One theme that arises regularly among the residents of Vovchansk as a reason not to leave is the need to help ones neighbors.

Delivering a power bank to a family next door, Olha Khodaiko speaks with a soft, high-pitched voice, doing everything to hold back tears.

I have my dogs, I have my cats, I have my birds, my neighbors... I will not abandon them, she said. If I am needed here, may God protect me, and if I am needed there, let him take me, just please let it be without pain.



I won't be here under a second occupation, she added. I think they will kill us all.

You hear a lot of 'Nobody needs us out there, I want to die in my own house, let them kill me then;' there are millions of phrases people use to justify staying here, Kharkivskyi said laconically.

A police officer listens for Russian drones as shrapnel from aerial bombs lie on a table in Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on May 11, 2024. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

Finally, the police team reaches an address where a resident is sticking to his plan to evacuate.

With his bags packed already, 65-year-old Oleksandr bangs on a neighbors door in a last-ditch attempt to convince them to leave with him.

Failing in his attempt, he crosses himself three times in front of his proud brick home, breaking into tears as he makes his last goodbye.

Oleksandrs departure is cut off by yet another glide bomb attack: the fifth set of three bombs released on the town in the space of less than two hours.

Bundling him into their car, the police officers speed out of the city.

Back at the evacuation hub, more and more civilians, including families with children, flow in from Vovchansk and neighboring villages.

After being given a warm meal and having their documents checked, the residents board buses and cars heading to Kharkiv.

The lucky ones are heading to friends and family elsewhere in Ukraine or abroad, but those without support networks of their own, like Oleksandr, will have to search for programs to complement the meager financial support received from the state.

As much as Russias first six-month occupation of Vovchansk was a nightmare defined by torture and fear, the second time will likely be much worse, said Kharkivskyi.

That occupation was nothing like what it could be this time; he said, back then the Russians rolled in without even waking most people up and by noon they were already fighting on the outskirts of Kharkiv.

This time, when they come in, they first wipe everything off the face of the earth. Nothing will be left here.

A few hours before publication on May 12, Oleksii Kharkivskyi, the police chief, told the Kyiv Independent that Serhii Kotsar had been evacuated. His animals were released to fend for themselves.

Olena Zashko contributed reporting. Watch the video version of this story here:

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Francis Farrell, cheers for reading this article. I hope that news about Russia making gains across the front line hasn't come as a surprise to you. Things are moving fast, and not in the direction we would like, but whatever happens, we are dedicated to continue being Ukraine's voice to the world, no matter how dangerous and dark this war gets. Please consider supporting our reporting.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
A longtime senior adviser to former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit the Biden campaign over its strategy in a New York Times op-ed Sunday, arguing the president is siding too much with his base and leaving moderates behind.

Mark Penn, who served as an adviser to the Clintons from 1995 to 2008 and now runs the Harris Poll, said focusing on the left wing of the Democratic Party instead of independent voters could cost him in November.

If Mr. Biden wants to serve another four years, he has to stop being dragged to the left and chart a different course closer to the center that appeals to those voters who favor bipartisan compromises to our core issues, fiscal discipline and a strong America, Penn wrote in the op-ed.

Bipartisanship and fiscal responsibility were the core tenets of Clintons 1996 reelection campaign, which Penn advised. He said Biden is like a scared candidate, convinced to appeal to his left-leaning base to ensure turnout instead of focusing on drawing new voters.

I believe most of the 101,000 uncommitted votes that Mr. Biden lost in Michigan will come home in the end because they have nowhere else to go, and the threat Mr. Trump poses will become clearer and scarier in the next six months, he wrote, referring to progressive protest votes in state primaries. But regardless, theres a much bigger opportunity for Mr. Biden if he looks in the other direction.

The path to victory, Penn argued, is through former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haleys moderate Republican base. Biden has repeatedly reached out to Haley voters since she dropped out of the GOP primary, attempting to bridge the gap for Republicans turned off by former President Trump.

These people are in the moderate center, and many of them could be persuaded to vote for Mr. Biden if he fine-tuned his message to bring them in, he said of Haley voters.

Penn said that Biden should instead reinvent his entire policy platform to more closely match what he believes moderates want by being hard on crime and immigration, doubling down on support for Israel and backing off of key promises toward combating climate change  all recommendations that would align with many conservatives preferences.

The 2024 election is a rematch, but Mr. Biden should not assume that he will get the same result as he did in 2020 in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and other battleground states by running the same playbook, he wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Coast Guard rescues two people off the coast of Oregon

US Coast Guard in the Pacific Northwest rescued two people and a dog from the water off the Oregon coast on Saturday, May 10.

Their boat had capsized approximately 2.5 miles east of Tongue Point.

Air Station Astoria successfully hoisted one person, while the other person and the dog were rescued by Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment.

Both people were transferred to Emergency Medical Services following the rescue.

#BREAKING: @USCG rescued 2 people and 1 dog in the water after their boat capsized approx. 2.5 miles east of Tongue Point, OR., yesterday. Air Station Astoria successfully hoisted 1 person while the other person and the dog were rescued by CG Station Cape Disappointment.  USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) May 12, 2024
DENVER (KDVR)  Did you know Colorado is the host of the longest-running gay rodeo event in the United States? The Rocky Mountain Regional happens every year right here in Denver and supports several local charities.

Denver advances as sole US city to potentially host Gay Games

The Colorado Gay Rodeo Association has been around for more than 40 years and will host the 41st Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo later this summer.

Participants say its not just about the horses and the lassos, its about creating a better community.

I dont think many people know that weve had a rodeo for 41 years. A gay rodeo, in fact, for 41 years, and I think thats what makes Colorado so special, said Jordan Roberts with the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association.

While some may have never heard of a gay rodeo, they arent much different from your traditional one.

Classic sports like bull riding are mixed in with a few unique events. Ever wanted to see a drag queen in the arena? This is the place for you.

What may not be accepted as the norm is accepted here at our rodeo, said Christina Miner, who sports the title of Ms. International Gay Rodeo 2024.

That welcoming community is what attracted Miner to the sport.

We all love rodeos, you know? she said. And horses.

Did you know Colorado is the host of the longest-running gay rodeo event in the United States? The Rocky Mountain Regional happens every year right here in Denver and supports several local charities. (KDVR)

Did you know Colorado is the host of the longest-running gay rodeo event in the United States? The Rocky Mountain Regional happens every year right here in Denver and supports several local charities. (KDVR)

Did you know Colorado is the host of the longest-running gay rodeo event in the United States? The Rocky Mountain Regional happens every year right here in Denver and supports several local charities. (KDVR)

Did you know Colorado is the host of the longest-running gay rodeo event in the United States? The Rocky Mountain Regional happens every year right here in Denver and supports several local charities. (KDVR)

Voters to decide on Colorados 2006 ban on same-sex marriage

The Rocky Mountain Regional welcomes contestants from all across the country, raising money that the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association donates to charities around the state. Last year, it raised $12,000.

This year were focusing on six figures, thats our big goal, said Roberts.

For Trixxie Deluxxe, the grand marshal of this years event, it isnt their first rodeo.

Ive been a part of the rodeo system since 2012, Deluxxe said.

They say that sense of unexpectedness is what makes the event so special.

Rodeos just really bring together a bunch of people that you would never see, a huge group of people that you would never see at a gay pride or just brings different groups and organizations together that you may not think would actually come together to make up a stronger community, Deluxxe said.

A stronger community that welcomes even those brand new to the rodeo.

Even if youve never come to a gay rodeo before, or a rodeo for that matter, come on out, give us a try and wed love to have you, said Roberts.

The Rocky Mountain Regional is a three-day event, lasting from July 12 to 14. Tickets are on sale now.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Column: What a surly California governor's race can  and can't  tell us about the Biden-Trump rematch

Former California Gov. Gray Davis standing outside a power plant during his reelection bid. He had a hard time convincing voters of his achievements, so he devoted most of his efforts to tearing down his opponent, Republican Bill Simon Jr. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

It was a choice few relished, in a dismal election season.

The incumbent was deeply unpopular, spending his entire campaign on the defensive as he struggled to sell voters on his accomplishments.

His opponent, a wealthy businessman, was equally disliked. At one point during the contest he was dragged into court to face fraud charges.

The year was 2002, and Democrat Gray Davis was struggling mightily to win a second term as California governor.

The night before the election, his favorability was only 39%, his campaign manager, Garry South, recollected. Thats something you dont forget.

Strategists for Joe Biden can no doubt relate. For the past many months, the president has dwelled in similarly abysmal polling territory. The latest aggregation of nationwide surveys pegs his approval rating at 38%.

No two elections are alike. But there can be striking similarities, like the parallels between that surly California contest 22 years ago and Biden's tough reelection fight.

Davis clawed his way to a second term despite his wretched approval rating, which is not to say that Biden will win in November. (If he does, he won't face the risk of being ousted less than a year later, the way Davis was recalled and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.)

Read more: Column: He lost by 5 votes and conceded graciously. Trump could learn something here

Even strategists for Davis can't agree on the lessons gleaned from the Democrats' uphill reelection effort.

South said that campaign convinced him Biden will ultimately prevail. "I've gone through this before," he said.

Paul Maslin, the pollster for Davis' 2002 race, is less certain. He makes no predictions beyond his expectation the presidential race will be close. The only similarities Maslin sees between then and now are the candidates' lousy approval ratings and voters' sour mood.

But even if past experience is no guarantor of future results, history can inform the way we view existing circumstances  which suggests that, as difficult as things look today for Biden, the president can't be counted out.

Mainly because of who he's running against.

"It's a binary choice," said South. "Yes, there are other candidates in the race. But in the final analysis, it's between Biden and Trump."

David Doak, the chief ad-maker for Davis' reelection campaign, agreed. He, too, tends towards a glass-half-full assessment of Biden's chances, suggesting a race between two disliked candidates "is a very different equation than if you're lined up against someone popular."

In 2002, Davis faced Republican Bill Simon Jr. The political neophyte was a bumbling candidate who ran a terrible campaign. Compounding his difficulties, Simon was slapped just a few months before election day with a $78-million fraud verdict. (The case involved his investment in a coin-operated telephone company, which, even then  five years before the iPhone was introduced  was a head-scratcher.)

Though the verdict was overturned after just a few weeks, the political damage was done and Davis limped past Simon to a narrow victory.

As it happens, Trump has also been tied up in court. He's spent the last several weeks gag-ordered and squirming as his salacious behavior is examined in forensic detail at a hush-money, election-fraud trial in New York.

But Maslin, the number-cruncher for Davis' campaign, warned against getting too carried away with comparisons.

For starters, he pointed out, California was a solidly Democratic state, giving Davis a considerable advantage even as his support flagged amid a recession and rolling blackouts. Biden doesn't have that partisan edge in the roughly half-dozen toss-up states that will decide the presidential race.

Moreover, Maslin noted, Simon was a little-known commodity, which left the Davis campaign free to define him in harshly negative terms. Trump, by contrast, has been America's dominant political figure for nearly a decade. His reputation, for good and ill, is firmly fixed; there are plenty of voters who won't be dissuaded  by rain, sleet, snow, a sexual-assault verdict, multiple criminal indictments  from voting for Trump come November.

Perhaps most significant, Biden is the oldest president in American history and, at 81, very much looks it. Davis' age  he was 59 when he sought his second term  was never remotely a campaign issue.

"There are many millions of voters who, even if they appreciate Biden's achievements, still question his ability to serve on the job, much less for four more years," Maslin said. "I'm not saying that's accurate, but that's what they're thinking."

Read more: Lauren Boebert is her own best asset  and worst enemy  as she fights to stay in Congress

Davis, for his part, expects Biden to be reelected, given his record and the contrast he offers to the wayward, unprincipled ex-president. Biden, he noted, has been repeatedly underestimated.

"I experienced that when I ran for governor," said Davis, who was considered an exceeding long-shot before he romped to victory in the 1998 Democratic primary. "Everyone told me I had no chance to make it, so I know the fire that burns inside you when people say that."

He's loath to offer the president advice  "he's got access to the best minds in the world"  but Davis had this to say to hand-wringing Democrats: "We have a winner. Stick with him. Get excited about him."

"Because," the former governor added, "another four years of Trump and you're not going to recognize this country."

Get the latest from Mark Z. Barabak

Focusing on politics out West, from the Golden Gate to the U.S. Capitol.

Sign me up.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Guest Opinion. Cherokee Nation leads in growing the economy, creating jobs, and improving the well-being not just for our citizens  but for all of northeast Oklahoma. We are constantly seeking ways to support and increase access to health care, education opportunities and economic development, among other top Cherokee Nation priorities.

Cherokee Nations latest move toward these goals is a partnership with Rogers State University to further the Claremore institutions growth in STEM education and allied health programs. Our $4 million commitment will support construction of RSUs proposed Center for Science and Technology where students can train for careers in health, technology and other science-related fields.

The center will become RSUs new home for programs in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology, featuring about 52,000 square feet of lab, classroom and office space. The partnership to build the facility includes a 10-year provision for up to 10 Cherokee Nation citizens to have tuition and mandatory fees covered by the Rogers State University Foundation.

Never miss Indian Countrys biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning.

The new program will support health professionals and beyond, ensuring students are well-prepared for taking skilled jobs with growing opportunities and pay. Much like our collaborations with the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation, Northeastern State Universitys College of Optometry and the OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center in Tulsa, we are creating great educational opportunities that meet critical health needs for Cherokee Nation priorities and all of Oklahoma.

Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr.

We see stacking success in every investment into Cherokee Nation Health Services. Our Cherokee health program is the largest tribally operated health care system in the United States, with about 220 full-time providers and more than 2,700 health service employees, receiving almost 2 million patient visits annually.

The foundation of health and well-being built by our health system leads to greater prosperity for future Cherokee generations. We have dramatically expanded our health care capacity, yet demand is still great, with appointments filling up rapidly every time we add providers. As our services and world-class facilities continue to grow, we need highly trained nurses and specialized health care professionals to make the most out of our investments.

Just as we need skilled professionals to fill facility expansions, the state of Oklahoma has health care workforce shortages that started before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, the current number of nurses is insufficient to meet demand, which will only increase through 2030. The study shows registered nurses  already near the most pressing need for Oklahoma health care  will become the top health care staffing need by 2030.

Oklahoma is not alone. A national workforce shortage leaves 75 million Americans without adequate care in health professional shortage areas, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

In the truest spirit of Gadugi, investments into nursing programs and health care workforce training not only lead to Cherokee prosperity but also support the needs of our neighbors. At the Cherokee Nation and our partners at RSU and other schools, we are pairing excellent education and career opportunities with chances to heal and provide great care for one another.

Chuck Hoskin, Jr. is the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Isabel's behavior technician watches as she completes a puzzle in class. (Shahrzad Raskh/CT Mirror)

At least once a year, parents of students with disabilities enter a meeting with school district leaders to discuss their childrens development and any changes to their individualized education plans, which spell out what services students will receive that school year.

State guidelines say parents are an equal member of the Planning and Placement Team  a group also made up of teachers and school administrators that determines the educational needs of a child  but the families in the room and hired experts that help them navigate the special education system say otherwise.

They describe the meetings as a battlefield.

They say the encounters often end with ignored concerns, belittlement or intimidation on the part of school officials toward parents.

Parents, lawyers and special education advocates say the problem isnt the educators in the classroom but instead local administrators who create a relationship thats lacking in partnership and transparency.

Theres hundreds of cases of poisoned relationships between schools and parents, said Andrew Feinstein, a special education attorney whos been practicing for over 20 years. [Districts] think they absolutely understand the child, but they dont understand them at all.  Its this kind of arrogance of expertise  where theyre going through the motions and talking to parents like, Were doing what we have to do.  And our hope is the parents agree with us, but if they dont? Well, we still know whats right.

In a statement to The Connecticut Mirror, the state Department of Education stated that positive and proactive communication between the school district/program and the parent is essential to effective outcomes for students with disabilities.

Matthew Cerrone, the education departments director of communications, also outlined state resources, including the Bureau of Special Education Call Center and the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center, which can help parents understand procedural safeguards, file complaints and other options to help families and schools resolve disputes.

But stakeholders argue that more has to be done.

Legal and educational jargon, hundreds of pages of pamphlets and interactions that make parents feel like theres a clear power dynamic make it difficult to meaningfully engage in the meetings with districts, stakeholders say. Its also difficult to know the full extent of rights and what you can challenge, ask for or negotiate with the district educating your child.

Its hard enough to have a child with a disability, then, on top of that, to have to be expected to know what you dont know about education.  Schools are set up to confuse parents on every level, said Kit Savage, the managing director of Savage Advocates and mother of two children with disabilities. [The system] is stacked against them. Its set up to fail parents who dont have outside support.

When you walk into a room as one parent with a room full of professionals who are on the same team, it feels intimidating. Its intimidating for anyone. They work for the same district, theyve been in contact and communication about the matter, and you have an imbalance of information, said Kathryn Scheinberg-Meyer, an attorney at the Center for Childrens Advocacy.

Scheinberg-Meyer said theres times where district leaders may speak over parents or give families the runaround, when they ask for certain information, data or request more services for their child.

Parents across Connecticut say meeting with districts is a frustrating process that leaves them feeling that the education leaders they once may have trusted are cheating some of the highest-need students out of equal access to public education.

But Fran Rabinowitz, the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and a former superintendent in Bridgeport and Hamden, says most districts are doing the very best they can amid a teacher shortage and increasing costs for special education services.

I know Waterbury was down about 55 special ed teachers, Rabinowitz said. Theres no way that you can provide the full services that you want to provide. And the caseloads have become much higher  I worry about that.

Rabinowitz said she hasnt heard superintendents directly speak about complaints between families and administrators, but if its occurring in many districts, the concerns from parents are reasonable.

If were down all these special ed teachers, para[educators] and school psychologists, its got to have an impact, Rabinowitz said, adding that several districts are now hiring contractors to make up for the staffing challenges, which affects school budgets and rising special education costs.

Connecticut public schools spend nearly $2.7 billion annually on special education services. For some districts, special education costs make up a significant portion of their budgets. For example, in Bridgeport, which educates the most students with disabilities in the state, over 26% of the total expenditures go toward special education for things like teacher salaries, transportation or outsourcing to other schools if the district cant meet the students needs.

A new portal on the education departments website that went live in late April will now make state complaints publicly available. A handful of complaints filed in the first few weeks, mostly pertaining to failure to properly implement an IEP, have been uploaded so far from Danbury, New Haven, Wallingford, Bristol and the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System.

Formal state complaints can be filed by families or organizations if theres a belief that a local school district or other public educational agency has violated a requirement of state special education law, or federal law, according to guidance by the state education department. The Bureau of Special Education is then required to investigate and issue a findings letter within 60 days.

The state Department of Education did not respond to questions asking how common complaints of inadequate services are, why the process between families and districts may feel combative or what factors can make it difficult for a district to meet special education demands. Interviews with parents across the state from some of the wealthiest districts, like Woodbridge, to towns like Watertown, to cities like Bridgeport and suburbs like Enfield, however, point to enough similarities to indicate that the issue may be widespread.

Its like a battlefield

When Jennifer Cotto prepared for her PPT meetings with Watertown Public Schools, nervousness would kick in a few days before.

She called the meetings anxiety-ridden.

Jennifer Cotto and her daughter Isabel leave home to drive to school. (Shahrzad Raskh/CT Mirror)

She would make a list of all of the questions and concerns she had about her 4-year-old daughter Isabels pre-K education plan. Sometimes the preparation would be several pages long. She just wanted to stay organized.

Before the meetings, Cotto would sit in her car and take a few deep breathes to make sure she could enter the meeting calm and collected.

This is my daughter, and I will go to war for my children, but I dont want that to be the first impression that they get from me, she said.

Cotto, whos worked as a case manager for over 15 years and is currently studying for her masters in social work, is familiar with the system and how theres nothing easy about it.

Her professional background has prepared her to expect the worst.

She anticipated her first PPT meeting to be painful after all her experiences advocating for other families many, many, many times over the years.

But when the meeting was easy to set up and went well  just introducing herself and her child and setting a time for testing  she was hopeful maybe her case would be different.

That dream was short-lived. The second meeting was full of disagreements about the services her daughter needed.

When youre a parent of a high-functioning child, youre always being told Well, its not enough of a disability to get the help youre looking for, or you have to argue your way to get what youre looking for, Cotto said, adding that despite her daughter being medically diagnosed with autism, the district wanted to limit her IEP as developmentally delayed.

Watertown Public Schools did not respond to requests for comment.

My school district tried to tell me  she might grow out of this, Cotto said. But we were quick to say No. You dont grow out of autism. She will always be on the autism spectrum. She will learn, she will grow and eventually be a very productive kid, but  you cant label her as developmentally delayed to keep her from getting the services she needs. Its ridiculous.

Jennifer Cotto and her daughter Isabel embrace at home before Cotto takes her to school. (Shahrzad Raskh/CT Mirror)

The disability classification could change the services a student is provided. A child on the autism spectrum would have access to behavioral therapy and one-on-one instruction, while children diagnosed with learning disabilities may receive limited services, like additional time for testing.

Its this resistance to give complete services, well-rounded services, Cotto said.

After her daughters medical diagnosis, Cotto got her into private occupational therapy. Cotto said the district told her that they didnt believe her daughter needed physical therapy services at the school because she was doing well holding a pencil and other tasks.

But the only reason why she is doing as well as she is, is because I have a private OT outside of the school, Cotto said. The school is looking at it as How is this impacting education right now, right in this moment? And my thing is, how is this impacting education long term? So if I were to stop giving my getting my daughter outside OT right now  in six months, how will she be?

By the third PPT meeting, all held within the first year of enrollment in the pre-K program, Cotto said she felt the district was just looking at her daughter as a price tag after she said the district refused to provide 30 minutes of physical therapy a week.

Youre not willing to give her 30 minutes of your services, just so we can say, At least we try it and then we determined its unnecessary? Cotto said, adding that it would have been a different story if the district had made attempts to compromise rather than completely shut down the suggestion.

Its literally like a battlefield. Its just so awful and feels like youre constantly going to war, Cotto said. The way it was handled was awful. It really did feel like Sorry, your kids not worth it. Your kids needs are not enough for us.

Cottos family left Watertown and relocated to Ansonia this spring.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease

After her child was enrolled in public schools for 13 years, Shari Jackson said, she cant wait for that last PPT meeting at the end of the year.

Having a child with special needs is not the hardest thing, but having a child with special needs go through the school district is the hardest thing Ive ever done in my life, Jackson said.

Throughout her adopted daughters K-12 educational career, spent both in Wethersfield and Enfield, there would be some days where Jackson would stay up until 2 a.m. preparing for meetings.

Connecticut Mirror is a content partner of States Newsroom. Read the original version here.

The post For Conn. parents, special education meetings with schools are a battlefield appeared first on Rhode Island Current.
The world might currently be concerned with the rise of AI sentience, but human consciousness is still a field ripe for exploration.

A new study from scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem proposes a new perspective on two well-known neuroscience theoriesone that explores the importance of memory in human consciousness.

By understanding how the brain forms memory units using metal cations, the researchers hope to delve deeper into the biochemical formation of consciousness and discover potential causes behind certain brain disorders, such as Alzheimers and autism.

The definition of consciousness is becoming ever more important as artificial intelligence continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Although some overzealous AI researchers have marveled at large language models ability to display a convincing facsimile of consciousness, most researchers agree that humanity is many years removed from achieving Artificial General Intelligencean incredibly strong AI where the consciousness of humans and AI would begin to blur.

One reason why there is such a large discrepancy among researchers regarding when such an event might occur is that our understanding of human consciousness is far from complete (which is honestly putting it mildly). If we cant even put a finger on what makes a human conscious, spotting such an ability within a machine seems near impossible.

However, a new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is exploring a new perspective on the subject by digging into the role memory plays in shaping human consciousnessa marked departure from previous work that compared neural memory to computer data. It would mean that consciousness naturally arises from the evolution of memory in a biochemical sense.

A Global Neuronal Network (GNW) hypothesis has been forwarded as a central tenet of consciousness  we have previously described a tripartite mechanism of neural memory in which neurons encode cognitive information within the surrounding extracellular matrix (nECM), using trace metal cations and neurotransmitters to encode emotive states, the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in the International Journal of Psychiatry Research . We propose a fusion of the GNW hypothesis with the tripartite mechanism of emotive memory to describe how the brain achieves mental states of memory and emotions to experience consciousness.

Fusing these two neuroscience theoriesthe Global Neuronal Network and the Tripartite Mechanism of Memoryforms the basis of this new paradigm. The researchers state that this combined theory relies heavily on the biochemical metal cations found in the human brain.



"We discovered that certain metals binding within the matrix can alter its structure, forming complexes that serve as the fundamental units of memory, the researchers said in a press statement. These metal complexes have the ability to interact with neurotransmitters, resulting in the formation of emotional memory units.

Its this process of encoding emotive states in the extracellular matrix that diverges from the typical idea of information theory that underlies computer-based information. These memory unitsunified by structural units in the brainadd depth and significance to a humans conscious experience.

This exploration is more that just a philosophical exercise or an effort to better understanding artificial consciousness if and when it arises. Having a deeper understanding of this consciousness-making mechanism can have a big impact on people in the here and now.

This proposed mechanism sheds light on how disturbances in metal levels could potentially impact memory functions. Furthermore, we speculate that disorders such as Alzheimers and autism may be linked to dysregulation of metal handling by the body, the researchers said in a press statement. Understanding these intricate relationships provides insight into the processes of memory formation and retrieval, aiding in comprehension of conditions ranging from short-term memory loss to more severe memory impairments.

So while the debate surrounding the consciousness of AI continues to grab headlines, the exploration of human consciousness remains a vast frontier ripe for exploration.



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On March 26, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland collapsed after one of its support columns was hit by the Dali, a massive container ship that had lost power. For weeks, the Dali has been trapped amid the remaining wreckage, but now crews are scheduled to conduct a controlled demolition on Sunday that should allow the ship to be refloated  and for maritime traffic to return to normal in the Port of Baltimores main channel.

According to a report from NPR, engineers will use surgical precision to cut the steel trusses trapping the container, which will then be thrust away from the Dali when explosives are detonated. The demolished steel sections will be lifted onto barges using hydraulic grabbers and hauled away.

The Dalis 21-member crew has not been allowed to leave the ship since the accident, which is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the FBI. William Marks, a spokesperson for the crew, told NPR in an email that all precautions are being taken to ensure everyone's safety and that the crew would be in a designated safe area during the explosions.

Officials did not say how soon after the controlled demolition the Dali would be returned to the Port of Baltimore, but The Baltimore Sun obtained an email that indicated it is expected on or about May 14.
Colorado State University Pueblo faculty members are seeking salary increases for professors, associate professors, and assistant professors to make them more competitive with salaries offered at similar institutions.

CSU Pueblo's Faculty Senate passed a resolution on April 29 to benchmark faculty salaries at the 50th percentile of median salaries at similar institutions. If implemented, the resolution would increase faculty pay substantially from the current 25th percentile benchmark.

"While the Faculty Senate has approved the resolution, there are a number of steps to gain support at multiple levels throughout CSU Pueblo and the CSU System," resolution author and management professor Mike Wakefield told the Chieftain in an email. "It is far from officially approved, but the first step has been made."

Prior to passing the Faculty Senate, the resolution was approved by the university's Faculty Compensation Committee and supported by the local American Association of University Professors (AAUP) chapter. The resolution was partly in response to a 2024 study on CSU Pueblo faculty's economic well-being, Wakefield said.

The study, which was conducted by CSU Pueblo Assistant Professor Heidi Reynolds-Stenson, reported that 93% of CSU Pueblo faculty members have supplemented their salary out of necessity, 51% of faculty have taken a second job and 49% have cut expenses by foregoing medical care.

"Dr. Reynolds-Stenson found a number of our faculty are struggling on multiple financial criteria, and the adjustment from the 25th percentile to the 50th percentile is intended to alleviate some of the financial stress experienced by faculty," Wakefield said.

A large sign on the Colorado State University Pueblo campus.

How do CSU Pueblo salaries compare to similar institutions?

A 2022 Data Feedback report from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) compared the nine-month salaries of non-medical, full-time instructors at CSU Pueblo during the 2021-22 school year to those of ten other "comparison group" institutions.

CSU Pueblo professors made $85,973, associate professors made $70,194 and assistant professors made $60,552 on average in 2021-22. Salaries at the comparison group schools averaged $94,106 for professors, $77,433 for associate professors and $67,024 for assistant professors, according to IPEDS.

Comparison group schools included California State University-Stanislaus, Emporia State University, Midwestern State University, the University of Tennessee-Martin, the University of Texas at Tyler, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, University of Michigan-Flint, University of South Carolina-Upstate, and Washburn University.

Story continues

Salary data from these ten "peer institutions," along with national College and University Professional Association (CUPA) data and data from accrediting agencies, may be used to determine the 50th percentile benchmark salaries proposed in the resolution, Wakefield said.

CSU Pueblo President Armando Valdez discusses faculty compensation at a Faculty Senate meeting on April 29, 2024.

'We want to retain our quality faculty': CSU Pueblo President Valdez responds to resolution

Armando Valdez, who began serving as president of CSU Pueblo this year, told the Chieftain he has been presented with information about the resolution to raise the benchmark for salaries. He commended the faculty for approving the resolution and said he will be working with them through a "shared governance" process.

"I haven't seen actual numbers associated with (the resolution)," Valdez said. "That's where our shared governance process will work in to collaborate with the Faculty Compensation Committee and determine what that means in actual dollars."

Valdez also told the Chieftain that he is committed to being "employee centered," supporting all staff members, and making sure staff is paid "at least at market rate."

"We want to compensate and reward our employees appropriately, especially as it meets market conditions," Valdez said. "We want to retain our quality faculty... We want to reward them. We want to keep them."

Student of the Week: Who will be the Chieftain's Student of the Week? Vote here by May 9

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: CSU Pueblo professors want a raise to compete with similar institutions
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Sunday pushed back against criticism of the Biden administrations review of Israels war conduct in Gaza, arguing that President Biden has taken forceful action.

In an interview on ABC Newss This Week, co-anchor Martha Raddatz referenced Sen. Chris Van Hollens (D-Md.) comment last week that the U.S.s review of Israels war conduct was woefully inadequate.

Asked for his response, Coons said, Well, I disagree. I think President Biden has taken forceful action.

So much so theres been a lot of blowback for his recent public statement. And Ill remind you, other American presidents have done the same thing when a close, trusted partner isnt listening to private admonitions, he continued.

In a highly anticipated report from the State Department released last week, the U.S. concluded it was reasonable to assess Israel violated international humanitarian law while stopping short of determining wrongdoing as it did not find specific instances of violations.

The report pointed to the more than 34,000 Palestinians killed in the ongoing war in Gaza, according to local health officials, and said there were sufficient reported incidents to raise serious concerns about how Israel has conducted its wartime campaign against Hamas.

Van Hollen, who repeatedly pushed for Biden to recognize the death toll as a result of Israels war conduct, said the report showed a big gap in the assessment of reports from international nongovernmental organizations that have criticized the Israeli militarys actions.

So, for my colleague and friend, Sen. Van Hollen, to say that theres been no consequences and no forceful action by President Biden, I think, misses the point here  that President Biden has, over and over, urged the far-right government of Prime Minister Netanyahu to take the appropriate action and have now publicly said what the consequences will be, Coons said Sunday.

Biden warned last week that he would stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons  including bombs and artillery shells  should Israeli forces launch an invasion of Rafah. The White House has repeatedly urged Netanyahu against sending forces into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are seeking refuge from the war.

Netanyahu has maintained that moving into Rafah is necessary to go after the leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has run the Gaza Strip since 2007 and carried out the Oct. 7 surprise assault against Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

Coons said he believes Biden will act should Netanyahu push forward with a full-scale assault on Rafah.

I think well be looking closely at the path forward that Prime Minister Netanyahu chooses in the days ahead, Coons said.

Martha, Ill remind you and your viewers, it was just three weeks ago that President Biden ably came to Israels defense, in partnership with the British, the French, the Saudis and the Jordanians when Iran launched 300 missiles and drones at Israel, he added later. Its clear we are willing to strongly defend Israel, but hes urging  Prime Minister Netanyahu to choose the path of peace thats right in front of him, that requires reaching a deal with regional actors.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Could Colorado see aurora borealis more this weekend?

DENVER (KDVR)  Coloradans were treated to a rare sight Friday night thanks to an extreme G5 geomagnetic storm.

A G5 solar storm hasnt occurred in over 20 years  the last time was in 2003, and it caused power grid issues in Sweden and South Africa.

Aurora seen around Denver, across Colorado

Its a once-in-a-lifetime sight for many people, and luckily much of the U.S. will get a chance to see the northern lights again Saturday night.

Will Colorado see aurora borealis again on Saturday?

The good news is, according to the NOAAs Aurora Forecast, most areas that saw the lights Friday, including Colorado, will have another chance to watch them on Saturday.

The chances are good because were expecting this level of activity to continue into Sunday and through Sunday, Robert Steenburgh, a space scientist with NOAA, explained to FOX31. Monday were expecting it to ratchet down a little bit, itll still be decent.

He said Saturday night is shaping up to be a repeat performance, but the bad news is much of Colorado is expected to be cloudy Saturday night.

We are expecting another nice show tonight if you can get out from under the clouds, really thats going to be the key is avoiding the clouds and light pollution, Steenburgh said.

Low clouds could wipe out chances to see aurora, but some areas might get some pockets of clear sky.

Here is the National Weather Service cloud cover forecast for Saturday night:







The National Weather Service said the clearest nearby skies will be north of Cheyenne, which is about an hour and a half drive north of Denver.

UPDATE: Aurora borealis seen overnight Saturday to Sunday

Viewer Chet Reisdorph shared images taken around 2:30 a.m. Sunday of the northern lights as seen from Elbert County.

Aurora borealis seen from Elbert County, Colorado on May 12, 2024 around 2:30 a.m. (Chet Reisdorph)

Aurora borealis seen from Elbert County, Colorado on May 12, 2024 around 2:30 a.m. (Chet Reisdorph)

What causes aurora borealis?

Steenburgh said that geomagnetic storms are a result of energy from the sun.

The solar cycle is 11 years long, and Steenburgh said the peak is coming up, so there are a lot of sunspots, which produce solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which he describes as parts of the solar atmosphere that are blown off in the interplanetary space.

Sometimes, Steenburgh said, blobs of plasma from the sun reach Earth and interact with our magnetic field, and thats what were experiencing and thats what drives the geomagnetic storms.

The result is streaks of bright colors that light up the sky, also known as northern lights or aurora borealis.

The most noticeable thing, and really the only visible manifestation of space weather, is the aurora, Steenburgh said.

How do geomagnetic storms affect us on Earth?

Other impacts arent exactly visible; it impacts power grids, GPS systems, communications and more.

Because these blobs slab into our magnetosphere, the magnetic field that surrounds the earth, that field moves, and when it moves, it induces current on power lines and railroad tracks and pipelines, Steenburgh said. It also affects communications, it can affect long-distance communications that use a part of our atmosphere called the ionosphere, and that gets riled up during these storms so its harder to make those transmissions. And similarly, signals from the GPS satellites have a hard time getting through the ionosphere because its so turbulent, and that can cause receivers on the ground to lose lock.

Thats why space weather forecasters notify the necessary agencies and companies about geomagnetic storms ahead of time. Overall though, Steenburgh said most people on Earth will not have anything to worry about other than whether or not they can see the aurora.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
A Valparaiso man is in custody after arranging to meet who he thought was a 13-year-old girl for a possible sexual hookup, only to be met by police when he found out he was communicating with a member of Northwest Indiana Predator Catchers, according to court documents.

Liam Raphael, 19, is charged with two counts of child solicitation, one a Level 4 felony and the other a Level 5 felony. He was in custody at Porter County Jail as of Friday evening.

According to the charging documents, officers were called on Thursday to meet at a Valparaiso gas station with a representative of NWI Predator Catchers, who had been in contact with Raphael, who believed he was meeting a 13-year-old girl.

Police transported Raphael to the Valparaiso Police Department and the representative from NWI Predator Catchers also went to the police station to explain how he posed as Ashley on Grindr and communicated with Raphael through text messages.

The representative from NWI Predator Catchers told police he had been communicating with Raphael for four or five days through Grindr, posing as Ashley, according to court documents, and screenshots showed Raphael made the first contact.

Raphael asked for a picture and if Ashley was real, documents state. He then provided a contact number and advised he just sent a text.

The two exchanged non-explicit photographs and Raphael asked Ashley for her age, noting that he was 19. Ashley, according to the charges, responded that she would be 14 in December, implying that she was currently 13-years-old. He indicated that he was not trying to catch a case but they could still talk.

Raphel texted Ashley on May 3 and said U can do bad stuff without her knowing, among other texts, including one about getting together and another about a sex act, according to the charges.

As the text exchange progressed, according to the documents, Raphael indicated they could smoke, game and maybe have sex. He also texted a picture of his genitals.

On Thursday, the two set up a meeting time and place, at the Valparaiso gas station, after Raphael indicated he would bring protection if she wanted to try to have sex with him.

He texted again to say he was on his way and reiterated that he did not want to catch a case for her status as a minor, documents state. Police made contact with him at the gas station.

Raphael told police he asked the minor to cuddle but he brought condoms with him in case she wanted to have sex, documents state. Police collected four condoms from him and noted the text he sent of his genitals. He advised that, due to his poor memory, he forgot he sent that image.

The NWI Predator Catchers Facebook page states that the group is an anonymous organization dedicated to protecting children. The page includes information reportedly about the sting involving Rafael, including a video in which police are seen in the background.

In a comment on another post, the organization states that the police are informed on every catch, and that it is responsible for several arrests and a conviction.

In May of last year, Shawn Ensign of Hebron, a member of the board for the Metropolitan School District of Boone Township who also was on the board of Hebron Little League, was arrested at a Dunkin Donuts parking lot in Goshen on a Level 5 felony charge of child solicitation after a similar operation set up by Goshen-based Bikers Against Predators, an organization that goes after alleged child predators.

According to an online court docket, Ensign pleaded guilty to the charge in Elkhart Superior Court on Feb. 29. He was sentenced to three years in the Indiana Department of Correction and given credit for two days spent in the county jail there; the rest of the sentence was suspended. Ensign was required to register as a sex offender.

Raphael is scheduled for an initial hearing at 9 a.m. Tuesday before Porter Superior Court Judge Mary DeBoer. His bond has been set for $20,000 cash, according to online court records.

The Level 4 felony charge is for being 18 years of age or older and soliciting a child under age 14, or someone they believe to be younger than 14, for sexual conduct, and using a computer and traveling to meet the person.

The Level 5 felony charge is for being 18 years of age or older and soliciting a child under age 14, or someone they believe to be younger than 14, for sexual conduct.

alavalley@chicagotribune.com
SALISBURY N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  Crews battled a four-alarm building fire in Salisbury Sunday afternoon.

Crews responded around 12 p.m. to a three-story apartment building on the 600 block of Hamilton Drive. Officials arrived on the scene to visible smoke.

Multiple mutual aid units responded including Rowan County and the city of Kannapolis.

Fire officials report no injuries at this time. We are still unsure of how the fire started.

We are sending a crew to this scene and will provide updates once we know more.

This is a Developing Story . Check back for updates

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron warned that the situation in Kharkiv is extremely dangerous during a televised interview with Sky News on May 12.



Cameron stressed that Kyivs allies must do everything they can to help the Ukrainians. He pointed to the U.K.s recent 3 billion ($3.74 billion) yearly package to Ukraine, adding that Westminster is encouraging others to do the same.



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.



Ukraine's military said that Moscow's troops had been contained in the "gray zone" border villages on May 11, while Russia alleged the capture of five local settlements: Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylne, and Strilecha.



Speaking about the delayed $61 billion U.S. military aid package approved on April 24, Cameron said that it would have been better if the funding came earlier. But added that the money will make a difference.



"If other countries did all the things the UK is doing in terms of long-range weapons, in terms of the training and support. We've just basically got to make our strength count, he said.



Amid the new Russian offensive in Kharkiv, Ukrainian border towns have come under heavy strikes. Russian troops attacked 27 settlements in Kharkiv Oblast over the past day, killing three people and injuring five.



Over the past two days, over 4,000 civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been evacuated from their homes, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Read also: Syrskyi: Russias breakthrough attempt halted, situation in several sectors changing rapidly

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
On This Day, May 12: Carter is 1st U.S. president to visit Cuba since 1959

Former President Jimmy Carter poses for the media and signs books at the November 17, 2003, launch of his new fiction novel "The Hornet's Nest" at New York's Border bookstore. On May 12, 2002, Carter began a visit to Cuba. He was the first president, in or out of office, to visit the island since communists took over in 1959. UPI File Photo

On this date in history:

In 1909, two giraffes, one leopard and one buffalo killed, and two leopard cubs captured were the latest additions to the former President Teddy Roosevelt's hunting trophies, according to reports out of Nairobi.

In 1926, the British general strike, which had held the nation in its grip for more than 8 1/2 days, was called off.

In 1937, George VI was crowned king of England, succeeding his brother Edward, who abdicated to marry U.S. divorcee Wallis Simpson.

In 1949, Soviet authorities announced the end of a land blockade of Berlin. The blockade lasted 328 days but was neutralized by the Allies' Berlin airlift.

NASCAR Busch Series Grand National driver Adam Petty died May 12, 2000, after crashing into the wall during practice at New Hampshire International Speedway. File Photo by Patrick Ward/UPI

In 1975, a Cambodian gunboat fired on the U.S. cargo ship Mayaguez and forced it into a Cambodian port, setting off an international incident. Although authorities were to release the ship's crew members unharmed, a mission to rescue them led to the downing of three U.S. helicopters, and many deaths among U.S. troops and others.

File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Air Force

A man stops to look at a sidewalk photography exhibit of images taken after the killer May 12, 2008, earthquake hit Sichuan, in Beijing January 14, 2009. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

In 2000, Adam Petty, the fourth-generation driver of NASCAR's first family of racing, died after crashing into a wall during a practice session at New Hampshire International Speedway. He was 19.

In 2002, former President Jimmy Carter began a visit to Cuba. He was the first president, in or out of office, to visit the island since communists took over in 1959.

Former president Theodore Roosevelt during his Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition in March 1933. On May 12, 1909, two giraffes, one leopard and one buffalo killed, and two leopard cubs captured were the latest additions to the Roosevelt's hunting trophies, according to reports out of Nairobi. File Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

In 2008, a magnitude-8 earthquake, China's deadliest in three decades, killed more than 69,000 people, with nearly 18,000 missing and hundreds of thousands homeless. It is often called the Great Sichuan Earthquake.

In 2010, a man armed with a meat cleaver entered a central China kindergarten classroom and slaughtered seven children, a teacher and her mother before taking his own life. Seventeen people died and about 100 were injured in five attacks in Chinese schools in a two-month period.

On May 4, 1926, the Trade Union Congress called a general strike in response to government plans to change the working conditions for coal miners. On May 12, the strike was called off. File Photo courtesy The National Archives

Extra security watches over students leaving school in Beijing on May 14, 2010, two days after an armed man attacked a kindergarten classroom. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

In 2013, 19 people were injured in what police said were gang-related shootings at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans.

Britain's King George VI (L), on top of an armored vehicle, gives a salute as tanks of a Guards Armored Division pass during a demonstration in 1942. With him are his wife, Queen Elizabeth and his mother, Queen Mary (R). On May 12, 1937, George VI was crowned king of England, succeeding his brother Edward, who abdicated to marry U.S. divorcee Wallis Simpson. UPI File Photo

In 2019, attackers killed six people attending a mass at a Catholic church in Dablo, Burkina Faso.

U.S. Air Force Douglas C-47 transport planes prepare to take off from Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift in August 1948. On May 12, 1949, Soviet authorities announced the end of a land blockade of Berlin.File Photo courtesy of the USAF
The 50th CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show is just over a month away and officials have announced another aircraft that will be on display, according to a social media post from the Air Show.

>>RELATED: Dayton Air Show to celebrate 50th anniversary with Blue Angels, fan favorite, more

The B-52 Stratofortress will join the Air Shows initial ground display lineup.

The aircraft is a heavy-bomber capable of performing various missions and can fly at high subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet, the post said.

The B-52 joins the German Air Forces Airbus A400M Atlas, in the ground display.

>>RELATED: Blue Angels preview act for CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Shows 50th Anniversary

Some featured performers include the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, the USAF F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, the U.S. Army Golden Knights, and the Wright B Flyer.

The 50th Dayton Air Show will take place June 22 to 23 at the Dayton International Airport.

For more information about the Air Show or purchase tickets, click here.
DC police looking for man who sexually assaulted woman in Northwest DC

WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said it is looking for a man who assaulted woman in Northwest D.C.

Two people arrested in connection to Southwest robbery

Police said that on May 10 at about 6:45 a.m., the victim was walking with a group at the 1100 block of N. Capitol St. when the man approached her and touched her in a sexual manner.

The victim fled the scene and was not physically injured.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Columbus police are still searching for clues in a 2023 murder in which a man was shot outside a Dollar General store in northeast Columbus.

According to Columbus police, officers responded to a walk-in shooting victim at Riverside Methodist Hospital on March 25, 2023, around 12:15 a.m. A friend of the victim, later identified as Travis Rush, reported that the two were in a car parked outside a Dollar General store on Oakland Park Avenue in North Linden.

They told police they heard gunshots and realized Rush had been shot. The friend drove Rush to the hospital in a 2011 Kia Sorrento. He remained hospitalized for two weeks and was expected to survive his injuries. But his condition began to deteriorate and on April 7, Rush died.

Police classified his death as a homicide and Central Ohio Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for any information leading to the arrest and/or indictment of the person(s) responsible for this crime. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477) or visit www.stopcrime.org and submit your tip.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Standing in front of a ruined warehouse in tornado-ravaged Marietta, Oklahoma, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell was full of questions.

Have you gotten any sleep yet? she asked the mayor.

To the sheriff: Your home is okay? Your family?

Do you have any questions for me? she prompted another official.

Its a style emblematic of Criswells attitude toward disaster relief: On the ground in this small rural community following a devastating EF-4 tornado, her first priority is the people.

After a wave of deadly tornados struck Oklahoma, CNN joined Criswell for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how she and her agency approach natural disasters.

Her message to officials is straightforward: You dont have to do this alone.

The reaction from local leaders and survivors alike is uniformly one of gratitude that the countrys top emergency response official came to their town to see the damage and hear their stories firsthand.

But Criswell shrugged off the praise and thanks.

This is what I do, she said.

Breaking barriers

Long before she became the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Criswell got her start as a firefighter in Aurora, Colorado  just the sixth woman to hold that job.

I never thought I was going to be a firefighter, she told CNN in an interview. That wasnt on my list of things to do.

At the time, Criswell was going through a divorce and  juggling college tuition with being a single mother to two sons  decided to join the Colorado Air National Guard to help make ends meet. Given a choice between loading bombs or fighting fires, she chose the latter.

Deanne Criswell working as a firefighter in Aurora, Colorado. - Courtesy Deanne Criswell

The firefighters were having a lot of fun and I said, Ill give that a shot, she said with a smile. I loved it, I was good at it, and I said, Im going to come back and this is the job that Im going to do.

Its a job Criswell would do for more than two decades, including two overseas deployments to Kuwait and Qatar after 9/11. Along the way, she graduated from college, earned two masters degrees, and eventually rose to lead Auroras office of emergency management, where she worked to house evacuees and reunify families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

She joined FEMA during the Obama administration, helping to oversee the agencys response to natural disasters across the country. In 2019, she became the first woman to lead New York Citys Emergency Management Department, where  less than a year into the job  she helped navigate the city through the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, as FEMAs top official, Criswell hopes her unorthodox career path will encourage others to seize opportunities and take professional risks.

You have to be able to allow the journey to help guide you along the way, she said. Have the confidence in yourself, take the personal risk if necessary, and just do the work to get to the level that you want to get to.

A seat at the table

When Criswell was unanimously confirmed as FEMAs 12th administrator  becoming the first woman to hold that position  shattering a glass ceiling wasnt at front of mind.

When I first was asked to come in and do this job, I didnt really think about it, she admittted.

That changed in her first week on the job.

One of my younger female employees had come up to me after a meeting and she said, You know, a year ago, there were zero women in my chain of command between me and the president of the United States, Criswell said. Now there are five. And so what it told me is, people notice, right?

Criswell knows from experience the obstacles women can face in her line of work.

As I was coming up in my career, it was always a balance between demonstrating your confidence and your competence with being called the B word, she said, acknowledging that term was directed at her many times over her career.

You have to believe in yourself that you deserve a seat at that table, that you deserve your voice to be heard, she said.

Now that shes a woman in a major leadership role in the federal government, Criswell uses her position to help elevate the voices of the women beneath her.

I like to watch how women are either voicing their opinions, or I can maybe sense if theyre afraid to voice their opinions and help encourage them, she told CNN. And when somebody says something, I will immediately step in and say, well, thats a really amazing idea, right? In giving that validation at the time, I think its important, especially as the leader in the room, to always be observant about the dynamics of whats happening within that conversation.

That dynamic is already starting to change  Criswells first meeting in Oklahoma, with state emergency management leaders and regional FEMA officials, was led entirely by women.

On-the-ground leadership

In three years as administrator, Criswell has logged more than 100,000 miles of travel, visiting disaster zones in every corner of the United States.

Criswell said seeing the devastation firsthand is critically important to the decisions she makes when determining FEMAs response.

It helps me get rid of the red tape, she said. It helps me break down bureaucracy in order to ensure that its more than numbers  its people.

Criswell emphasizes the importance of taking the time to hear directly from victims. Otherwise, she said, you cant feel that emotion, you cant feel the heartache.

Deanne Criswell while deployed overseas with the Colorado Air National Guard. - Courtesy Deanne Criswell

It also allows her to get face time with officials at every level. In Oklahoma, Criswell made a point of meeting with first responders, local leaders, state emergency management officials, and representatives from affected tribal nations.

Criswell knows that disaster relief transcends party, an approach that has earned her respect and appreciation from across the political spectrum.

When theres a disaster and theres people in need, were all Americans, Oklahomas Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt told CNN shortly after appearing with Criswell at a news conference. And thats, I think, the administrators attitude. These are federal agencies that we have to work with regardless of whos in the White House.

Criswell agrees.

This kind of a partnership, this is absolutely critical to make sure we bring the right people into these communities to help with their specific needs, she said.

Shaking the governors hand, she added, We will be in touch  you have my number.

Putting people first

At FEMA headquarters in Washington, DC, the agencys motto is prominently displayed on the wall: Helping people before, during, and after disasters.

Its a mission statement Criswell has taken to heart. Coming into the job, she said, I wanted to make sure that we put people first.

As a former city emergency management director, Criswell knew all-too-well FEMAs reputation for bureaucratic red tape and convoluted relief programs that made it harder to get help to people who needed it.

We are an agency that deals with risk every day  thats the nature of what we do, yet when it comes to our policies, we can sometimes be a little bit more risk averse, she says. I wanted to get away from that. I wanted us to really understand what it meant to put people first.

Her solution was to listen.

I went to different open disasters and listened to our people, listened to governors, listened to actual people that were impacted about what their barriers were, Criswell said. And then we were able to address those by making changes.

The result was the most sweeping reforms to the FEMAs disaster assistance programs in two decades.

The changes, which went into effect in March, include:

Automatically providing disaster victims with $750 to cover immediate expenses and basic household needs.

Providing people displaced by disasters money up front to give more flexibility when it comes to finding temporary housing.

Expanding eligibility for FEMA assistance and streamlining the appeals process

Removing a rule that required survivors to apply for a Small Business Administration loan before they could be considered for FEMA financial assistance; they can now apply for both at the same time.

Streamlining rules to allow victims to receive up to $42,500 in FEMA assistance to cover costs not reimbursed by insurance companies.

Allowing FEMA to make repairs to damaged homes regardless of their prior condition and allowing survivors with disabilities to use FEMA funds to make their homes more accessible.

Criswell believes the changes will be transformational and make it easier for FEMA to have an immediate impact on the ground.

We can actually help people on their road to recovery in a way that makes sense, she said, instead of being so restricted by some of the regulations that we have.

That focus on helping people extends to her staff as well. Recognizing the toll that responding to a seemingly endless stream of natural disasters can have on her teams mental health, Criswell implemented a wellness room just outside FEMA HQs nerve center  complete with comfortable chairs and a soothing livestream of birds at a feeder.

This is a spot where they can come take a timeout, she said. We have to be able to invest in our employees and we have to be able to give them, not just the support, but the permission to recognize when they need a break.

Grandma Cookie

To her staff, shes Administrator Criswell. But to her family, shes known by a different title.

Im affectionately known as Grandma Cookie, she admitted

Deanne Criswell with her sons in Washington, DC for her Senate confirmation hearing. - Courtesy Deanne Criswell

Despite a career filled with demanding jobs, Criswell has never lost sight of her other job: that of a mom to two grown sons and grandmother of three.

It hasnt come without sacrifices, between multiple deployments and constant travel to different disaster zones. But when Criswell appeared before Congress for her confirmation hearing, her sons were by her side.

When they were with me that day and you could see how proud they were and how successful they have both become, she said, it really just gave me a really warm feeling as a mother.

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About once every 90 days, publicly traded companies have to face their shareholders and let them know how their businesses have performed over the past quarter. Those earnings releases often bring with them all sorts of news that can move the market.

Sometimes that news is bad, which can knock a company's stock down. Yet that can provide an opportunity for investors to buy shares at a bargain price in a company that still look solid over the long term, despite facing some short-term pain.

With that in mind, three Motley Fool contributors went looking for companies whose earnings calls left their shares down, but not out. They found Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG), and Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY). Read on to find out why, and decide for yourself whether the market's short-term pessimism has created a long-term opportunity to pounce on.

Image source: Getty Images

The No. 1 coffee slinger has cooled down far too much

Eric Volkman (Starbucks): I think any notable dip in Starbucks provides a fine chance to get this tasty grande latte of a stock at a discount. After publishing its fiscal second-quarter results, the company saw its shares hit with a monster sell-off that erased nearly 20% of their value. And that's not fair.

It was understandable that investors weren't impressed by the quarter. I get that the company missed by a fairly long jump on both the top and bottom lines and posted declines in its all-important comparable-store sales.

But this is Starbucks we're talking about here, folks. It's the unavoidable java stop that's a constant sight in nearly every American city -- and still an attraction in many thriving municipalities around the world.

The Starbucks stores I visit near my Southern California home are basically just as busy as they've ever been; this doesn't make me jump for joy as a customer, but I'd be heartened and eager to hold my shares if I were an investor.

So by my admittedly anecdotal experience, it appears that it's not feeling that pinch everywhere. On top of that, the sales drop-offs could be due more to economic factors than anything else. Other companies in the food and beverage space, such as McDonald's, have said recently that their customers are starting to be more cautious about their spending.

Starbucks isn't shrugging its shoulders at this development. It's taking active steps to improve its business and bring back the occasional customers who seem to be turning away from it. Technological advancements should reduce waiting times for drinks and snacks; meanwhile, new offerings in both categories are likely to stir interest and encourage more visits.

Story continues

Starbucks is a long-term play on the world's love of coffee. That's never going to fade, so I'm chalking up the sour second quarter to temporary rather than permanent factors, and ones that aren't necessarily under the company's control. I very much doubt the java king's stock is going to stay at this depressed price for long.

A very good dog

Jason Hall (Datadog): When the leader in cloud-data security and observability reported first-quarter results, shares fell sharply. This was despite the company reporting 27% revenue growth, seeing losses under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) turn into profits, and a 60% increase in free cash flow.

So why the disconnect? In short, the market is always looking ahead. In this case, it saw the expectations from management, and downvoted the 22% revenue growth the company is forecasting for the second quarter and the rest of 2024. The market always wants more of what you were doing and doesn't love it when the growth story slows.

The irony is, we've seen how this short-term focus plays out, even over the past 18 months:

DDOG Chart

Factoring in this week's drop (not shown above since the data is too fresh), Datadog's stock has fallen post-earnings in four of the last six quarters. But shares over that same period are up a lot because investors have steadily focused more on the strong increase in profitability and cash flows, and become less concerned over decelerating growth.

When you look closer, though, things are very interesting. Based on the 31% free-cash-flow margin it earned in the first quarter, and full-year guidance of $2.6 billion in revenue, that's $800 million in free cash flow (FCF) in 2024. That puts share prices at around 48 times its potential 2024 FCF.

At recent prices, Datadog stock trades for about 75 times trailing FCF and has averaged about 88 times FCF since 2022, when it began generating positive cash.

With very good prospects to keep growing FCF at high rates for many years to come, that strikes me as a price worth paying.

There's a lot of bad news now priced into this company's shares

Chuck Saletta (Bristol Myers Squibb): When Bristol Myers Squibb reported its most recent earnings, the market swiftly punished the company's shares. Not only did it deliver a massive loss for the quarter, but it also gave downward guidance for the rest of 2024, providing all the reasons that many market participants needed to be spooked out of owning it.

As if that earnings miss weren't enough, the company faces a patent cliff, with Eliquis and Opdivo facing loss of patent protection over the next few years. Still, that's nothing new for companies in the pharmaceutical business, and its strong pipeline means that the company could very well come up with ways to replace those blockbusters' revenue.

Yet with that decline in its share price comes a potential opportunity. On average, analysts expect the company to be able to deliver $6.92 per share in earnings in 2025 -- after the immediate crisis passes. At its recent market price of $44.74 per share, that means the company is available for around 6.5 times its anticipated earnings for next year.

On top of that, it currently pays out $2.40 per share in dividends each year, giving investors a substantial yield near 5.4%. With its earnings expected to be soft in 2024, that dividend could be at risk.

Still, with a comfortable cash position on its balance sheet and solid operating cash flows despite its earnings challenges, it is likely that management will be willing to retain its dividend. That's especially true if it really believes in its anticipated 2025 earnings recovery.

Put it all together, and the market's recent post-earnings souring on Bristol Myers Squibb's stock has put it in a position where the risks appear reasonably balanced by the potential rewards. When it comes to stocks that have been knocked down, that's not a bad place for patient investors to consider as an entry point for a company's shares.

Get started now

While the market will often punish companies that miss earnings or guide downwards, its short-term focus often works both ways. As a result, legitimate bargains rarely last long.

So make today the day you decide for yourself whether one of these three companies has been excessively punished by the market for its recent earnings. If it turns out that you're right, you'll be better set up for the potential rewards that long-term ownership can often bring.

Should you invest $1,000 in Starbucks right now?

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Chuck Saletta has positions in Bristol Myers Squibb. Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Jason Hall has positions in Datadog and Starbucks. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bristol Myers Squibb, Datadog, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Down but Not Out: 3 Stocks to Buy on a Post-Earnings Dip was originally published by The Motley Fool
At least 15 people were killed in the Russian city of Belgorod after an apartment building collapsed on May 12, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry claimed.

Two children are among those killed, the ministry claimed.

According to the Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, a part of a 10-story apartment building collapsed there earlier in the day.

Gladkov also claimed that the building was hit by a Ukrainian projectile during an air raid alert in the oblast.

Russian air defenses allegedly shot down six Tochka-U missiles and six rockets over Belgorod Oblast, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ministry claimed that the residential building was "damaged" by a Tochka-U missile fragment.

Ukrainian officials did not comment on the claims. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports.

Claims of rocket or drone attacks against Belgorod Oblast, which borders Ukraine's Sumy, Kharkiv, and Luhansk oblasts, have become a common occurrence in recent months.

Read also: Ukraine claims downing of another Russian Su-25

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Death toll climbs over 140 in Brazilian floods with no end in sight

A view of a house roof damaged by exceptionally heavy rainfall in in Lajeado. "The impact of the floods and the scale of the tragedy are devastating," wrote the governor of Rio Grande do Sul. Antonio Valiente/dpa

The death toll has risen to 143 following the devastating floods in southern Brazil. A further 125 were missing and 806 people injured, the Rio Grande do Sul State Civil Defence Department said on Sunday.

As it also rained this weekend, the number of people who had to leave their homes has risen to over 618,000. In total, over 2 million people have been affected by the floods.

According to the regional government, the largest warship in Latin America arrived in the harbour of the city of Rio Grande on Saturday for humanitarian aid operations.

Its most important equipment includes two water treatment plants that can produce a total of 20,000 litres per hour. It also has an intensive care unit, a thermal bath, an operating theatre, a dental practice and a complete pharmacy.

The deployment of the ship represents the Brazilian Navy's greatest effort to aid the state's population, Vice Admiral Fonseca Junior said.

Almost 90% of all towns in the state, which is almost as large as Italy in terms of area, have been affected by the floods, news agency Agencia Brasil reported.

Many communities were cut off from electricity and water supplies. Telephone and internet connections were also interrupted in many places.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced an aid package of more than 50 billion reais ($9.7 billion) for the region.

According to the Civil Defence Department, more than 76,000 people and over 10,000 animals have been rescued so far.

It is now autumn in the southern hemisphere and flooding is a common occurrence in the south of Brazil at this time of year. According to scientists, however, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of these events.

Residents clean up the mud that entered their homes during exceptionally heavy rainfall in Lajeado. "The impact of the floods and the scale of the tragedy are devastating," wrote the governor of Rio Grande do Sul. Antonio Valiente/dpa

A boat sails along a damaged bank after exceptionally heavy rainfall in Lajeado. "The impact of the floods and the scale of the tragedy are devastating," wrote the governor of Rio Grande do Sul. Antonio Valiente/dpa
DeKalb County man sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection to 2022 murder

A Stone Mountain will spend more than 20 years in prison after he was convicted for murder, the DeKalb County District Attorneys Office says.

Drew Brooks, 40, was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the shooting death of Ashley Watkins, 33, on May 25, 2022.

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

Officials say the DeKalb County Police Department responded to a shooting call in the 4000 block of Autumn Circle in Stone Mountain in May 2022.

When they arrived on scene, Watkins was laying in the street suffering from a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She was taken to the hospital where she died from her injuries.

According to police officials, Watkins and Brooks were familiar with one another as Watkins was Brooks landlord and the home on Autumn Circle. Officials say the relationship between the two became strained as Watkins attempted to evict Brooks from the home.

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Police also learned Watkins attempted to file multiple restraining orders against Brooks, however, her attempts were unsuccessful.

Witnesses told police an argument between the two escalated, leading Brooks to shoot Watkins. Officials say Brooks also pointed a gun at a second woman who lived in the home with Watkins, threatening to kill her.

Brooks attempted to cite self-defense as his reasoning for shooting Watkins, but video of the incident, however, showed Watkins holding her keys.

He was sentenced to 25 years in custody and an additional 10 years on probation.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
As demolition begins on one of the last Klamath River dams, attention turns to recovery

Work has now begun on removing the third of four dams that nearly destroyed salmon populations on the Klamath River in Oregon and California and caused some of the nation's largest-ever fish kills.

Karuk elder Leaf Hillman and his wife, Lisa, were on hand this month to see the first shovelful of dirt scraped from the top of the earthen dam. They and other tribal fish and water protectors had fought for years to demolish the dams that nearly made one of their cultural touchpoints and primary food sources extinct.

"We sweep all the bad things off the downriver edge of the world and off the upriver edge of the world," said Hillman. "We make this place all new again in service of all the spirit people that exist on this earth, both human and nonhuman ancestors and relations."

Karuk Tribal member Lisa Hillman, left, gives her husband Leaf Hillman a hug on an overlook above Iron Gate Dam as crews begin the removal of the top layer of the earthen dam that blocks the Klamath River east of Yreka, Calif., on May 1, 2024.

The Iron Gate Dam was the last of the dams built to provide electricity to Northern California in the early 20th century. The reservoir behind the 173-foot-high dam, which went into service in 1962, was drained in January along with the other reservoirs. Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the nonprofit in charge of the largest dam removal project in the U.S. to date, chose to drain the reservoirs in the dead of winter because it was in between fish runs.

The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, traveled to the Klamath last year for a series of stories about the damage inflicted by the dams and the work to restore wildlife habitat and ancestral homelands.

How removing the dams will change the landscape

Tribes and environmentalists had fought for decades for removal of the dams as part of a basin-wide restoration effort. After a fish kill in 2002, spurred by toxic algae entering the river from the reservoirs that had acted as blue-green algae nurseries, tribes amped up the battle to "undam the Klamath" and restore health to the waters and lands the Yurok, Hoopa, Karuk, Shasta and Klamath Tribes have inhabited and stewarded for millennia.

In 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the dam removals, and demolition began in 2023. The first dam, Copco II, came down in mid-2023. Copco I demolition began in March. FERC approved an early start to Iron Gate's removal process.

The final dam, JC Boyle, is expected to come down this fall, just in time for Chinook salmon season.

When all the dams are gone and the Klamath flows freely again, salmon and other fish will once again seek out their ancient spawning waters. Water quality, always an issue in northern California and southern Oregon because of high natural concentrations of phosphorus, will improve as free-flowing water carries the nutrient away. Wetland and juvenile fish habitat restoration is also in progress.

Hillman acknowledged that the dams and reservoirs are on the ancestral lands of the Shasta Indian Nation. The 300-member tribe has asked for the return of 2,200 acres of land that were once under water. The land was taken by eminent domain in the early 1900s.

"They have been gracious in allowing us to do this work," he said.

'It is pretty awesome'

Mark Bramson, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, said it has been a challenge and an honor to be in charge of the massive operation.

"We are simply standing on the shoulders of our tribal friends and partners who have been advocating for this project for several decades and been working for this day for longer for that," he said. Bramson said that he values that relationship and partnership with tribes.

Other longtime fish protectors like Dania Rose Colegrove of the Hoopa Tribe posted their thanks on social media:

"BIG HAPPY TEARS.. they start demo here to day.. UNDAM THE KLAMATH ..IRON GATE BEGONE!!"

"For us, this day has always been inevitable," Hillman said. The tribes endured setbacks, struggles and hardships including people who said "no" and walked away from the negotiating people, he said, "but no other answer than success was the only thing that was possible for us.

"I didn't think I'd live to see this day, but since I am still alive to see it is pretty awesome."

Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at debra.krol@azcentral.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @debkrol. Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Demolition starts on Iron Gate Dam, one of the last Klamath River dams
CHICAGO  DePaul University has reached an impasse in negotiations with the schools pro-Palestine encampment, administrators said Saturday night, as protest organizers worry theyll be forcefully removed from the Lincoln Park quad, accusing the school of negotiating in bad faith.

The future of the nearly two-week old encampment remains unclear. A university spokesperson declined to elaborate on what methods might be used to end the encampment given the stalemate, or the timeline for intervention.

DePaul President Robert Manuel and Provost Salma Ghanem said in a statement that while students are peacefully protesting, responses to the encampment have inadvertently created public safety issues that put our community at risk. There was a heavy Chicago police presence on campus last Sunday as tensions flared between the encampment and pro-Israeli counterprotesters.

They also said they are extremely disappointed negotiations have fallen apart in the past few days.

Manuel released the schools updated response to the encampments demands, which if students had accepted would have required that the encampment disband by noon Sunday. Among other items, DePaul agreed to say the university is devastated by the destruction of Gazas civilian infrastructure, but not to call the war a genocide because the phrase is a question of international law and fact. They also agreed to host a meeting between organizers and Board of Trustees leadership.

However, representatives with the DePaul Divestment Coalition said they felt pressured to close the encampment immediately and that they had too little notice to properly consider the latest response. They called on the school at a Saturday night news conference to continue negotiations, urging them to disclose their investments and divest from those with ties to Israel or weapons manufacturers.

Despite this coalitions dedication to encouraging and facilitating the community built with empathy and compassion, and continuing to come to the table in good faith, this university has met us with constant disrespect, professional ignorance and extraordinary apathy, said Parveen Mundi, DePauls student body president.

Mundi said school administrators have cited vague threats that theyre unwilling and unable to specify as the reason the encampment must end. She said it would be a mistake for them to call in Chicago police to break it up.

Whats most concerning to us is that the presidents office is unwilling to directly answer what exactly happens now that a stalemate has been declared, she said.

For around a week, there was little to no police intervention at Chicago-area campuses, even as schools across the country sent in law enforcement to douse pro-Palestine demonstrations, leading to more than 2,400 arrests nationwide.

That changed last Saturday, however, when Chicago police arrested nearly 70 protesters at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Loop, and university police raided the encampment at the University of Chicago a few days later. In rarer instances, schools including Northwestern University, struck agreements with protest leaders to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.

Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th Ward, said at the news conference that students are exercising their First Amendment rights to denounce the genocide, to denounce the complicity of our own government.

We are asking the university to come back to the negotiation table, to refrain to use any force against students that are peacefully demonstrating, he said. Furthermore, those who perpetrate violence, those who provoke, those who come to actually instigate a great violence in our city, those individuals and those organizations should be investigated.

Lena Rajab, a Palestinian student at DePaul, said some of her family is still in Gaza and that she finds it disgusting that her tuition money is going to the genocide of my own people.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as Israel ordered new evacuations Saturday in the southern city of Rafah as it prepared to expand its military operation. Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, where the group killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.

President Joe Biden has defended the right to protest but insisted that order must prevail at college campuses, as some in Chicagos Jewish community demanded action at local universities to prevent hate speech.

_____
In March this year, Russias President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering a spring conscription into military service. Ever sensitive to Russian public opinion, The Kremlin promised these conscripts would not take an active part on the frontlines.

This was a lie  one bad enough if you are Russian, but far, far worse if you are a Ukrainian living in one of the territories occupied by Russian forces. In 2022, the so-called governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, one of these regions, had already assured the public that there would be no conscription there in the coming years. However, we can now definitively say  after much research  that Moscow has been conscripting Ukrainian youth from across the country to serve in the army. Not only that, but Ukrainian intelligence has recorded many cases where these conscripts have ended up on the front lines.

This is not just a moral crime, but a war crime.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), told the organisation I run from Kyiv, the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre (USCC), that at the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022, a group of students from Donetsk  another occupied region  were summoned to the deans offices of educational institutions in February and registered as recruits right there. Literally in a week, without any training or equipment, they found themselves on the front line in Zaporizhzhia region, Yosov said.

This is in addition to the mobilisation that has been ongoing almost continuously in the occupied parts of Donbas since the war began in 2014. There, Russia created two army corps with a total of 35,000 servicemen; in 2023, that corps was included in the Russian armed forces. As reported by DIU, their unit has lost its regional character, as forced mobilisation has scooped up all suitable men from various different places.

To stress, all of these territories are legally Ukrainian under international law.

The city of Mariupol, formerly Ukraines tenth largest city, also located in Donetsk, has seen similar Russian mobilisation efforts under the guise of conscription. The lack of Russian citizenship is no longer an obstacle. Immediately after being drafted, men are offered to sign a contract with a payout of 200,000 rubles (around 1700) if they are ever sent to the front.

Mobilisation activities also continue in illegally-occupied Crimea. According to the Ukrainian resistance, in April 2024, the occupiers raided the local population of the Simferopol district, which happened on one of the major Muslim holidays. The goal is obvious  to recruit the most problematic part of the population for Russia, the Crimean Tatars. Russia is also actively trying to persuade vulnerable men to sign contracts with its army  those with debts, problems with the law, or other difficult situations.

In light of the Russian offensive, personnel losses, and desertions, it is evident that Moscow will continue to intensify these illegal mobilisation activities. They will continue because they also offer another macabre advantage: providing opportunities to psychologically break those living under occupation. This applies not only to the mobilised people themselves but also to their family members. It is just another method of war to the Russians.

Yet Ukrainian resistance uses the situation to their advantage  by recruiting Russian officers, passing on information, and targeting Russian administrators. Most of these activities are top secret. But they are happening. Expect to see more in the coming months.

Serhii Kuzan is a former adviser to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. You can listen to his exclusive interview on the Telegraphs podcast Ukraine: The Latest 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.
Holstein cows feed on hay at a California dairy farm. Bird flu has not been detected in California's dairy herds. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Government scientists are warning consumers to stay away from raw milk, citing research showing "high viral load" of avian influenza in samples collected from infected cows  as well as a disturbing cluster of dead barn cats who'd consumed contaminated raw milk.

We continue to strongly advise against the consumption of raw milk, said Donald Prater, acting director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the Food and Drug Administration.

But raw milk enthusiasts are doubling down on the claimed benefits and safety of their favorite elixir, and say the government warnings are nothing more than "fearmongering."

Read more: Federal government 'believes' virus found in grocery store milk is safe for consumption

Mark McAfee, founder of Fresno's Raw Farm and the Raw Milk Institute, said his phone has been ringing off the hook with "customers asking for H5N1 milk because they want immunity from it." (Bird flu has not been detected in California's dairy herds.)

Other raw milk drinkers, such as Peg Coleman, a medical microbiologist who runs Coleman Scientific Consulting, a Groton, N.Y.-based food safety consulting company, claimed the government's warnings have no basis in reality.

Coleman, who is an advisor to the Raw Milk Institute, has provided expert testimony on the benefits of the unpasteurized dairy product in courtrooms across the nation.

"It's a fear factor. It's an opinion factor. It's based on 19th century evidence. It's absolutely ridiculous," she said, citing research that shows healthy gut biomes and breast milk provide immune system benefits.

The process of heating milk to a specific temperature for a specific period of time and then allowing it to rapidly chill is named for the French chemist and germ theory pioneer Louis Pasteur. Recently, the FDA reaffirmed the effectiveness of pasteurization in destroying Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and other viruses, as well as harmful pathogenic bacteria and other microorganisms.

Coleman, however, says the risk of illness are overblown.

"This is all people's opinions, their gut feelings, their ignorance," she said. "I think that if there were a study done, and the microbiota of raw milk drinkers was tested, you might very well find a healthier gut microbiota that's better able to withstand occasional challenges."

It's a message that health officers and food safety experts say is dangerous and foolhardy, especially at a time when government investigators are scrambling to understand the extent of dairy herd outbreaks, and the potential for harm.

"Deliberating consuming raw milk in the hope of becoming immune to avian influenza is playing Russian roulette with your health," said Michael Payne, a researcher and outreach coordinator at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at UC Davis. "Deliberately trying to infect yourself with a known pathogen flies in the face of all medical knowledge and common sense."

He and other food safety experts say the safest way to consume dairy is to ingest only pasteurized milk products.

"It's been the gold standard for more than a century," he said.

Read more: 'Nobody saw this coming'; California dairies scramble to guard herds against bird flu

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has been found in 36 herds in nine states, and detected in samples of commercially sold, pasteurized milk. Testing has shown those viral fragments to be inactive  neutralized by the pasteurization process.

The live virus, on the other hand, has been detected in raw cow's milk and colostrum  the nutrient rich milk expressed by mammals in the first days after giving birth  and a study that examined dead barn cats at bird-flu-infected dairies in Texas and Kansas suggests contaminated raw milk could be dangerous for other mammals, including humans.

However, the researchers were unable to definitively show the cats acquired the virus via raw milk; it is possible they consumed diseased birds.

It's a point that Coleman has seized on  highlighting it as proof that the government's caution regarding drinking raw milk is specious.

"Show me that it infected the cats through the GI tract," she said. "Otherwise, you are just ... crying wolf trying to blame raw milk or saying ... that raw milk is inherently dangerous, even when the scientific evidence does not support that opinion."

She noted that the cats' symptoms were not gastrointestinal in nature. Instead, they developed depressed mental states, their bodies showed stiff movements, they lost coordination, produced discharge from their eyes and noses, and suffered blindness. More than half of the farms' cats died. She said even if the cats had contracted the virus via the milk, it was likely a result of breathing in milk droplets rather than from consuming it.

"Have you ever seen a cat eat?" asked Coleman. "It's messy. If they got the disease from the milk, it's probably because they breathed it in."

Eric Burrough, a professor and veterinary diagnostic pathologist at Iowa State University who led the cat study, acknowledged that there were things they were unable to control for and other things "we do not know"; the analysis was "diagnostic."

But he and his team were able to show that the cats fed on contaminated raw milk with high concentrations of the virus and that the pattern of infection and death "does not align with random exposure to wild birds," he said.

As for Coleman and McAfee's belief that stomach acid and a healthy gut biome would offer protection, he noted previous studies that showed cats eating wild birds did get the virus, suggesting those safeguards are not sufficient to protect mammals against bird flu.

Read more: California wildlife is vulnerable to an avian flu apocalypse. What is driving the spread?

He said "there is also the possibility that virus could enter via the tonsils in the pharynx of the cats prior to ingestion in both the bird consumption and milk consumption scenarios."

In any case, said Payne, there's enough concern out there right now that should give people pause about consuming dairy products that have not been pasteurized.

Even Coleman acknowledged that toddlers and young children  who have been known to be messy eaters  might consume milk differently than adults. And if her messy eating theory has weight with the cats, "it's something to think about" with children.

So far, the virus does not seem to have evolved any genetic adaptations that would make it more amenable to pass between people.

Only one person  a Texas dairy worker infected in March  has so far been reported to have acquired the disease from cattle. His symptoms were mild  just a moderate case of conjunctivitis, or pink eye, according to a case report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Local and state health departments have tested about 25 other people for the virus and monitored more than 100 for symptoms.

This particular bird flu virus originated in China in 1996, but the clade  or subvariant, known as 2.3.4.4b  found in U.S. dairy cattle became dominant in 2020. It has since killed hundreds of millions of domestic and wild birds  and has been detected on every continent except Australia. It has also jumped to mammals, and is responsible for killing at least 48 different species, including elephant seals, dolphins and sea lions.

Researchers now believe this clade of H5N1 virus was introduced by birds to cattle at one site in the Texas Panhandle, and then spread by cattle-to-cattle transmission as cows were moved between different farms. Evidence also shows that infections have spread from cattle to domestic poultry. And samples have been discovered in wastewater.

There have been 887 confirmed cases of H5N1 human infection across 23 countries since 2003. Of those, 462 were fatal. It is unclear if there were more mild cases that went undetected, something that could potentially reduce the 52% fatality rate.

However, epidemiologists say HPAI is dangerous  and potentially fatal. Considering the global, cross-species spread of illness, they are urging people to be cautious and avoid raw milk.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
FILE - Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., speaks during a Republican Indiana gubernatorial candidate forum in Carmel, Ind., Jan. 25, 2024. The day after his primary victory,Braun announced state Rep. Julie McGuire as his pick for lieutenant governor. Four of the past five lieutenant governors in Indiana have been women. But none have successfully won the state's top executive office. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Women have never held Indianas top office, but their streak as the states second-in-command appears to be going strong heading into the fall elections.

Indiana is one of 18 states to never elect a woman as governor, according to the Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics, even as four of the state's past five lieutenant governors have been women. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick will face an uphill battle against U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, who soundly defeated Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch in this weeks competitive and expensive gubernatorial GOP primary.

The day after his victory, Braun announced state Rep. Julie McGuire as his pick for lieutenant governor. If party delegates back her, McGuire will become the latest female number two in Indiana.

Braun is likely to be the next governor, the selection of McGuire kind of continues that legacy," said Laura Merrifield Wilson, a professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis. Always lieutenant governor  that's a woman. But never a female governor.

Just two years ago, McGuire unseated Republican John Jacob, who angered members of his party in part by repeatedly pushing a complete ban on abortion. Indiana law only allows abortions in rare and limited circumstances.

Running with a woman on his ticket also gives Braun a credence of diversity, Wilson said, as well as partial credibility against possible attacks from McCormick, his Democratic opponent. But it does little to gain him votes in November, Wilson said.

Influential Republicans have started to fall in line behind Braun and his pick, though McGuire faces an unusual lieutenant governor campaign from a conservative pastor from Noblesville ahead of the June 15 GOP convention. Delegates usually go for the gubernatorial nominees pick.

A strongly conservative legislator herself, McGuires policy record shows a focus on education. Braun, who moved into national politics in 2018, likely picked McGuire for her recent legislative experience and connections on the floor, Wilson said.

The lieutenant governor holds little constitutional power but is first in the line of succession if the governor cannot perform the duties of the office. The lieutenant governor oversees four state agencies and ceremonially presides over the state Senate.

Kathy Davis was the first woman to hold the post. Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan, who moved from lieutenant governor himself after his predecessor died in office, appointed her in 2003.

Davis was on Kernans ticket in 2004 when they lost to Republican Mitch Daniels and his running mate Becky Skillman. Skillman considered a run for governor at the end of Daniels' second term but bowed out citing minor health concerns at the time.

Once I said Im not doing it, I was so at peace, Skillman told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in 2019. My saddest moment was that I might have let down a lot of women."

Skillmans exit left a clear path to the gubernatorial nomination for Mike Pence in 2012 alongside Sue Ellspermann. But she resigned before the end of their first term and Pence appointed Eric Holcomb to the position of lieutenant governor. Holcomb succeeded Pence and is completing his second and final term in the governor's office.

Crouch's bid for governor this year is arguably the closest Indiana ever has come to putting a woman in the state's highest office. She was considered the likely runner-up for the entirety of the race thanks to her statewide name recognition and fundraising.

But in a crowded field, Crouch finished 18 points behind Braun, who had similar strengths and the coveted endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who carried the state by 16 points in his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.

Even as she cast herself as a political outsider, Crouch relied on her decades-long career in public offices including two terms in Holcomb's administration. She rarely invoked her gender in her bid.

Crouch said in a recent interview that she has seen womens visibility in government fluctuate. She became auditor in 2014 and women held most statewide elected roles for the next eight years.

But she noted there are still meetings where she is the only woman in the room and about a quarter of Indiana's lawmakers are women.

People would be better served if our government was reflective of our population, she told The Associated Press before Tuesday's primary.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  Dozens of people gathered at the University of Texas at Austin campus on Saturday night to for a pro-Palestine protest after commencement ceremonies ended.

People were seen gathering shortly before 10 p.m., with the Texas Department of Public Safety and UT Police watching from a distance. UT Austin officials were also present and monitoring the demonstration but were later seen walking away.

UT grads reach milestone after protest clashes on campus

At the demonstration, people were heard chanting nothing here to celebrate and Palestine will be free.

Another protest at commencement was organized by Austin Students for a Democratic Society.

Previously, there was concern whether commencement ceremonies would proceed as planned following the April 24 protest where law enforcement clashed with pro-Palestine protesters on the UT campus. That protest ended in dozens of arrests.

Ceremonies began Thursday and continued through Saturday evening. Students who graduated Saturday morning could be seen snapping photos with family and friends near the iconic UT tower, the same site where the troubling conflict happened just two weeks ago, sparking debates over free speech and the right to protest on college campuses.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, receives the Dresden International Peace Prize at the Schauspielhaus Dresden. The prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, is awarded posthumously to the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sebastian Kahnert/dpa

The well-known Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was posthumously awarded the Dresden International Peace Prize on Sunday.

His widow Yulia Navalnaya accepted the award on his behalf, which is endowed with 10,000 ($10,774), at the eastern German city's Schauspielhaus theatre.

Former German president Joachim Gauck honoured the man who died in prison almost three months ago as a "selfless, almost superhumanly courageous man who shows that there can be another Russia."

Navalny's life's work is "a monument, he remains a role model for all those who believe in freedom and dignity, including the people of Russia."

His long-standing fight "against the corrupt elite" was ultimately one of the "most important delegitimizing factors of the Putin system," said Gauck, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, of whom Navalny was an ardent critic.

There are not many others "who stick to their goals so unwaveringly, so absolutely free of fear and unbroken," despite permanent intimidation and harassment.

It was "encouraging and inspiring" to see her continue his work "so unwaveringly, so courageously and self-confidently," Gauck said to Yulia Navalnaya. "I bow to you with great esteem and deep respect."

In an epilogue to the laudatory speech, he then spontaneously doubled the prize money because he was unable to attend the memorial service in Moscow.

The world must finally put aside its illusions and false hopes and listen to those who have warned against Putin all these years, Navalnaya appealed in her acceptance speech, referring to the war against Ukraine, which her husband had condemned to the end.

You can't negotiate with Putin, you can't believe a single word he says, he will never stop, she said. Putin is war, she added.

She dedicated the award to those who fight for peace in Russia and risk everything in the process.

Navalny died under unexplained circumstances in a Siberian prison camp inside the Arctic Circle on February 16.

Former German interior minister Gerhart Baum, representing the organizers, described Navalny as a "human rights defender" who had given his life. "He has set an example, and he is not alone."

This award was also an honour for his wife Yulia, who supported and continued his fight, Baum said. "[His legacy] must be remembered and we must ask ourselves what we can do for freedom, not only here but also in Russia."

Since 2010, the Friends of Dresden have awarded the Dresden Prize on the anniversary of the city's destruction in World War II in February to individuals who have made a special contribution to peace and international understanding.

In 2024, a new initiative took over the organization together with the previous sponsor, the Klaus Tschira Foundation, based in the south-western city of Heidelberg. The Dresden Prize then became the Dresden Peace Prize.

Past recipients of the Dresden Prize include former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, war photographer James Nachtwey and architect Daniel Libeskind.

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, receives the Dresden International Peace Prize at the Schauspielhaus Dresden. The prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, is awarded posthumously to the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sebastian Kahnert/dpa
Dozens of students participated in a walkout during Duke University's commencement ceremony on Sunday to protest comedian Jerry Seinfeld, a supporter of Israel who was invited as the guest speaker.

The walkout was one of the latest commencement disruptions to come amid continued protests on college campuses of Israel's war in Gaza. On Saturday, protesting students at Virginia Commonwealth University walked out as Gov. Glenn Youngkin delivered the commencement address. On the same day, students at the University of California, Berkeley interrupted commencement with pro-Palestinian chants.

In North Carolina, students dressed in caps and gowns got up from their seats in Duke's football stadium and headed toward the exit; several waved Palestinian flags and shouted "free, free Palestine," videos show. Chants of "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!" could be heard from the stands as Seinfeld received an honorary degree.

The comedian, who has supported Israel throughout the war in Gaza, gave his speech largely without interruption.

"A lot of you are thinking, 'I can't believe they invited this guy.' Too late," he said, before moving on to the concept of privilege. "I say, use your privilege. I grew up a Jewish boy from New York. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian."

Universities across the country announced changes ahead of commencement and various graduation events, some much more drastic than others. Columbia University and the University of Southern California canceled their main commencement ceremony. Others, like Emory University in Atlanta and Pomona College outside of Los Angeles, moved large graduation events off campus. Several universities that did not change locations or cancel commencement have said they've taken extra measures to ensure the events run smoothly, like upping security.

Pro-Palestine protesters hold a rally after The University of Texas at Austins commencement ceremony at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024 in Austin. About 100 protesters, which included current and graduating students and faculty and staff, gathered to call for the University of Texas at Austin to divest from weapon manufacturers that supply arms to Israel.

Commencement speakers removed, others drop out

In addition to the protests, speakers themselves have either been removed from commencement plans or chose to drop out themselves.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has been removed from the commencement program of Xavier University in Louisiana and the University of Vermont after an uproar of rebukes from students.

Last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead backed out of his planned speech at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, calling the university's decision to call police on student protesters "a shameful act." Days before Whitehead's announcement, police arrested over 130 people and dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment.

Before the University of Southern California canceled its mainstage graduation, it canceled a planned commencement speech by valedictorian Asna Tabassum, who faced backlash from pro-Israel groups who accused her of espousing antisemitic views on social media. She said in a statement that she was silenced and subjected to "racist hatred because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all."

For nearly a month, pro-Palestinian encampments, sit-ins and building occupations have popped up across hundreds of college campuses in the U.S. and overseas. The protests exploded in size and quantity after Columbia University had the New York City Police Department clear an encampment on April 18.

Contributing: Reuters; Jeanine Santucci and Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jerry Seinfeld faced with pro-Palestinian walkout at Duke commencement
NEW YORK (PIX11)  The Crime Stoppers program is used by police departments in New York City, Suffolk County, and Nassau County  but how does it work?

In New York City, you can earn up to $3,500 for anonymously providing information that leads to an arrest and indictment of a violent felon, according to the citys website. You can submit a tip via the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline, 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or through an app called CS-NYC. New Yorkers can also submit a tip online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org.

More Crime News

In Suffolk County, the reward can reach up to $5,000, according to the SCPDs website. You can submit a tip for a crime that happened inside Suffolk County by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). You can also use the P3 Tips app that is available in the Apple and Google app stores.

Nassau County also offers a reward of up to $5,000 and allows tips to be submitted through the P3 Tips app. You can also submit tips through the website or call 1-800-244-TIPS (8477).

Jonathan Rizk is a digital journalist who has covered local news in New York City and Washington, D.C. He has been with PIX11 since August 2022. See more of his work here, and follow him on X and Facebook @OfficialRizk. Get in touch at jonathan.rizk@pix11.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
The faithful started to assemble at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 21. They slipped through the doors of the Gothic Revival church on the historic corner of East 10th and San Marcos streets. As they glided through the vestibule and into the sanctuary at Ebenezer Third Baptist Church, congregants exchanged warm, sometimes formal, sometimes informal greetings. Some laughed and joshed, others hugged and shook hands.

With an original seating capacity of 800 on 20 rows of pews divided into three sections, the buff brick church, trimmed in limestone, was sanctified almost 70 years ago in 1955.

The congregation, however, goes back 150 years to 1875, as Reconstruction was ending and dozens of mostly segregated Black churches began to blossom in freedom colonies of independent, landowning African Americans around the fringes of Austin  north, south, east and west.

On the hill where Ebenezer rises, formerly part of the French Legation's tract, the Robertson family had enslaved African Americans. Later, the seeds of Austin's first Black public schools were planted at this intersection.

More: Where can you learn more about early Black history in Austin? These sites are worth visiting

Pastor Ricky Freeman spoke at a Sunday service at Ebenezer Third Baptist Church on April 21. He was kicking off celebrations for the East Austin church's 150th anniversary, which will peak in February 2025.

This day, during a service that started just after 10 a.m. with close harmonies delivered by the Men's Chorus  one of the church's six choirs  the Rev. Dr. Ricky Freeman preached a crescendoing sermon on Matthew 11:2-6, titled "Are you the one?"

Responding to John the Baptist's question to Jesus, Freeman said: "We want to be reassured that things and people are real and authentic. We are skeptical. We ask: 'Are you the one? Are you the one?'"

One thing that the Ebenezer crowd could be sure of, Ebenezer is real. Ebenezer is authentic.

It has been the faith home of many of the city's African American leaders through much of its history  recently, Judge Harriet Murphy, the first Black woman appointed a permanent judge in Texas, was memorialized here  and while its congregation has aged and many are geographically scattered, it remains one of the palpable hearts of East Austin culture.

Other Black East Austin leaders have been associated with Wesley United Methodist, St. James Episcopal, Holy Cross Catholic, Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist, Greater Mt. Zion Church, David Chapel Missionary Baptist and dozens of other sacred spots.

Usher Dora Glover collects offerings from the congregation at Ebenezer Third Baptist Church on April 21. The congregation was first formed in 1875.

Yet this day, as light poured through the modernist stained-glass windows and spring blossoms nodded in front of the red-curtained baptistery and the altar below, it felt as if history were streaming through the church.

Teamed with pianos, drums and other instruments, the Men's Chorus sang from multiple musical traditions. Freeman, who has served as pastor since 2012, told stories about his predecessors who had led the church since 1875.

His words were not without humor. Freeman knows his followers and their long memories, which might outmatch his on any given day.

"I'm sure you'll have thoughts and feelings," he said with an indulgent smile. "Please share them. I am a pastor, not a historian."

The Men's Chorus performs during a Sunday service at Ebenezer Third Baptist Church.

A jubilee year for Ebenezer

Today's leaders of Ebenezer Third Baptist Church take their 150th anniversary seriously.

While April 21 witnessed the pastoral kickoff, a printed calendar of events, published by steering committee chairs Deacon Leroy Davis and Trustee Gloria J. Davis, lays out a full year of events stretching from Feb. 18, 2024, to Feb. 16, 2025.

During the entire month of July, for instance, a historical exhibition about the church, "An Echo of Belonging, Becoming and Believing," will run at the George Washington Carver Library.

More: 'We didn't let this place die': St. John Colony, Texas, endures for 150 years of grace

On July 13, a special 1987 video tribute to famed Ebenezer music director and composer Virgie Carrington DeWitty will be shown, to be followed by a presentation about the history of music at the church on Oct. 27.

It all comes to a head on Feb. 16, 2025, with the sesquicentennial anniversary service. (Check for updates at ebc3austin.org; the American-Statesman plans to cover additional events.)

The current home of Ebenezer Third Baptist Church was sanctified almost 70 years ago in 1955.

A new church is born

Like many Austin churches, Ebenezer started in someone's home, in this case, that of Eliza Hawkins. In 1875, a full 18 members met at her residence at 1104 E. 10th St.

Itinerant preachers such as E.S. Corn and C. Ward nurtured the faithful until early resident pastors  such as Andrew Herbert, Chester Anderson, C.P. Hughes and A.W. Moss  were sent to shepherd the congregation.

By 1884, according to a 1957 souvenir program titled "Ebenezer (Third) Baptist Church: A Religious Epoch," the congregation had built a brick church at Catalpa and Curve streets. For a while, the group's administrator was none other than L.C. Anderson, an educational pioneer whose name graces Anderson High School in Northwest Austin.

A tabernacle was added at East 10th and Waller streets in 1915.

The charter members of Ebenezer Third Baptist Church, identified as they were in the late 19th century, from left, standing, Mrs. Martha Carrington, Mrs. M.M. Buckner, the Rev. L.L. Campbell, Mrs. Eliza Hawkins and Mrs. Isabella Johnson, and seated from left, Mrs. Betsy Johnson, Mr. Bob Burditt and Mrs. Betsy Madison.

By this time, the St. John Regular Baptist Association, founded in 1867 as a network of mostly rural Black churches, had purchased extensive land northeast of Austin for an orphanage, school and revival camps that attracted more than 20,000 faithful a year. (The St. John  alternatively rendered St. John's  and Highland neighborhoods, along with Austin Community College's main campus, now occupy much of that land.)

More: What ever happened to the St. Johns Orphan Home?

After World War II, the orphanage faded away, but Ebenezer continued to grow. In 1950, construction began on the current sanctuary, and a nursery school and other structures were added. In a small way, the crowning glory was the senior housing built across East 10th Street, since it anticipated the diaspora of East Austin congregants after the 1968 enactment of fair housing laws and ordinances, which sometimes dislocated the elderly from lifelong Austin communities.

The Rev. Lee Lewis Campbell was pastor of Ebenezer Third Baptist Church from 1892 to 1927. He also served as moderator of the St. John Regular Baptist Association.

Pastors who led Ebenezer

In many Christian faiths, the pastor is the visible manifestation of the church. Yet as anyone who has spent time in a faith community will attest, the whole will not thrive without leaders who embody its parts, in this case, deacons, trustees, music directors and others.

Yet as Ebenezer looks back over the last 150 years, a good place to start is with the men  it has always been men  who have led the congregation.

The first great Ebenezer pastor was Lee Lewis Campbell, who served from 1892 to 1927. He was the driving force behind Ebenezer's first big growth spurt and spearheaded the founding of the orphanage on the St. John Association grounds. He served for 24 years as president of the General State Convention and 33 years as moderator of the St. John Association.

More: The high-spirited daughters of East Austins Pastor

"When they held his memorial services, there were 5,000 to 6,000 in attendance," Freeman said in April about Campbell. "The services lasted from 5:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m."

Freeman's congregants responded to this bit of history with audible surprise and perhaps a little dismay. No doubt some had attended some protracted Baptist services in their time.

The Rev. Jerome Christopher Lott, who served as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church from 1928 to 1949, was a great evangelist and outstanding leader in the state and national Baptist conventions.

Serving from 1928 to 1949 was Jerome Christopher Lott, considered a triumphant evangelist and organizational leader. (I can't yet pinpoint whether he was distantly related to the family of Virgil Lott Sr., the first Black graduate of the University of Texas Law School, a family that produced several other distinguished leaders in Austin.) Among his higher duties, he chaired the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention of America. During this period, Ebenezer ran quite a few missionary societies.

Robert L. Rowe served from 1949 to 1968. The native Texan, who had attended Bishop College in Dallas, oversaw many new building projects on the church campus, including the current, handsome sanctuary.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, and also educated at Bishop College, Marvin C. Griffin spoke from the Ebenezer pulpit from 1968 to 2011. He was the first African American to graduate from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He earned his doctorate at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Griffin was also the first Black chairman of the Austin school board.

During his time, Ebenezer counted some 1,200 members, as opposed to about 500 today.

The Rev. Marvin C. Griffin spoke from the Ebenezer Baptist Church pulpit from 1968 to 2011.

According to a 2010 interview with "The History Makers," a digital repository about the Black experience, Griffin helped found the East Austin Economic Development Corporation, and in 1990, along with other board and church members, he helped earn a grant that allowed the Ebenezer Child Development Center to construct a new facility.

A collection of Griffin's ministerial research, sermons, his political involvement and his leadership in the Baptist Convention at the state and national level, beginning with his education in 1940 and ending with his retirement in 2011, is available through the Texas Collections at the Baylor University Library.

A greater meaning for Ebenezer

The history does not end there. Freeman follows in the distinguished line of his predecessors. A native of Chicago, he received his call to the ministry when he was 16 years old and later preached at several Illinois churches. He earned degrees at Bishop College in Dallas, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. Like other Ebenezer pastors, Freeman has served in leading denominational roles as part of state and national Baptist organizations.

Pastor Ricky Freeman leads the congregation in a final prayer as the April 21 service ends at Ebenezer Third Baptist Church.

During this "Gateway to the Sesquicentennial" period, Chairpersons Gloria and Leroy Davis, with Freeman's guidance, hope that the presentations, videos, exhibits, musical tributes and social receptions reflect the changing dynamics of the community, from the early days of freedom colonies during the 19th century to the rise of formal segregation  as well as a deepening sense of cultural affinity as experienced in partial isolation  in the early 20th century; from the days of leadership in the civil rights movement locally, while fighting the neglect of Central East Austin, to times of necessary adjustments as churchgoers left the rapidly evolving blocks around the major stems of East 11th and East 12th streets.

"Very few of us live in the immediate community," Gloria Davis said. "Those who used to walk to church, many of them drive in."

"We hope people learn not only the rich history of our church," said her husband, Leroy Davis, former principal of Kealing Middle School, "but also the part our church played in our community, in Austin as well as in the state, national and international spheres."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Ebenezer Third Baptist Church in Austin celebrates a year of tributes
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on the east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Egypt announced on Sunday it would back South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, in a sign of Cairo's frustration over an Israeli military operation in Gaza's southern city of Rafah that borders Egypt.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the move comes "in view of aggravating intensity and scale" of Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza and the "continued perpetration of systematic practices" against Palestinians, including direct targeting of civilians and destruction of infrastructure.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the military campaign in Gaza has inflamed anti-Israeli sentiment in the Arab world's most populous nation.

Earlier in the week, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, an operation that has halted humanitarian aid deliveries via the vital facility into the heavily populated strip.

Cairo is also concerned that a major Israeli incursion in Rafah, crowded by refugees fleeing the fighting in Gaza, would trigger a mass exodus into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Israel deems Rafah the last stronghold of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which killed hundreds of civilians in Israel in October last year.

Egypt's state-affiliated TV station al-Qahera News, citing a high-level source, reported that Cairo has refused to coordinate with Israel on aid entry into Gaza through the Rafah crossing because of the "unacceptable Israeli escalation."
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

Egypt announced on Sunday it would back South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in a sign of Cairo's frustration over an Israeli military operation in Gaza's southern city of Rafah that borders Egypt.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the move comes "in view of aggravating intensity and scale" of Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza and the "continued perpetration of systematic practices" against Palestinians, including direct targeting of civilians and destruction of infrastructure.

It was an "unprecedented humanitarian crisis," it added.

At the end of December, South Africa took Israel to the ICJ for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention during the Gaza War. In an interim ruling, the UN court ordered Israel to take protective measures to prevent genocide.

Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide and argues it invoked the right to self-defence after militants from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations killed hundreds of civilians in Israel on October 7.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the military campaign in Gaza has inflamed anti-Israeli sentiment in the Arab world's most populous nation.

Earlier in the week, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, an operation that has halted humanitarian aid deliveries via the vital facility into the heavily populated strip.

Cairo is also concerned that a major Israeli incursion in Rafah, crowded by refugees fleeing the fighting in Gaza, would trigger a mass exodus into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Israel deems Rafah the last stronghold of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Egypt's state-affiliated TV station al-Qahera News, citing a high-level source, reported that Cairo has refused to coordinate with Israel on aid entry into Gaza through the Rafah crossing because of the "unacceptable Israeli escalation."

Meanwhile, negotiations on a possible exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails continued.

A high-ranking Israeli delegation arrived in Egypt on Sunday for this purpose, according to sources at the airport in Cairo. Like Qatar, Egypt has acted as a mediator in the war.
Palestinians flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt on Sunday said it would intervene in support of South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, citing the growing scale of Israel's operations in Gaza and their impact on civilians.

The move highlights growing tensions between the two neighbours as the Israeli operation in border town Rafah tests long-term agreements and security cooperation.

"The announcement of the intervention in this case comes in light of the expansion in scope and scale of Israeli violations against civilians in Gaza," the Egyptian foreign ministry said, without specifying what the intervention would entail. Egypt has in the past presented arguments in the case.

South Africa asked the court on Friday to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures in an ongoing case that accuses Israel of acts of genocide.

Egyptian security sources told Reuters that Egyptian officials had relayed to Israel that they blamed its actions for the strained bilateral relations and the breakdown of ceasefire talks delegations from Hamas, Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have held in Cairo.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza, welcomed Cairo's ICJ move.

"We appreciate the announcement by the sister Arab Republic of Egypt of its intention to join the lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa," Hamas said in a statement.

Asked about the 1979 treaty between the two countries in light of the Rafah operation, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry on Sunday said that the treaty between the two countries was necessary to ensure security, and that it had mechanisms to handle any violations, without going into detail.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah in Dubai, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo, writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
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Egypt said it would join South Africa in an International Court of Justice case alleging that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. The decision was made in light of the worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs letter posted to X on Sunday stated.

The decision comes as negotiations in Egypt between Israel and Hamas faltered once more; its unclear how Egypts role as a mediator might change going forward. Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden said if Hamas released Israeli hostages a ceasefire would be more possible, but Hamas said the comments threatened to setback negotiations even as international calls to reach an agreement mount amid concerns over Gazans in Rafah.

Aid is a major point of contention: The Israel Defense Forces said it has taken control of the Gaza side of the Egypt-Rafah border crossing, a crucial artery for humanitarian aid already in short supply. Some 300,000 people have fled the city, once a haven for displaced Gazans.

As the offensive continues, the matter of US-provided munitions is also becoming more salient: A report to Congress suggested Israeli forces had potentially violated international humanitarian law using US weapons. On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said if Israel launches a full military operation on Rafah, certain systems wont be supported or supplied due to real concerns about the way theyre used unless Israel has a clear, credible plan to protect civilians.

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US lawmakers unite in dissatisfaction over new report

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Source: Politico

In the US, the new Congressional report into Americas role in the war briefly united some Democratic and Republican lawmakers in that members of both parties criticized its findings, albeit for slightly different reasons. Some Democrats said the report stops short of holding the US accountable, Politico reported, and one senator said it essentially ducks the critical question at hand and that the US has weakened its credibility on human rights. Meanwhile, some Republicans called the report redundant and contributed to politically-motivated anti-Israel sentiment.





Rafah offensive further strains Israels relations with its neighbors

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Source: The New Yorker

While Jordan cannot afford to sever ties with Israel due to its relationship with the West, the two countries will likely have a cold relationship, a former Jordanian foreign minister and Carnegie researcher told The New Yorker. Jordanian officials are increasingly concerned that Israels objective is not just to destroy Hamas but also to effect the mass transfer of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and from the West Bank to Jordan, which one minister likened to an act of war that affects Jordans national security. As aid deliveries to Gaza have all but ceased, there are growing calls for Jordan to open up its borders, making security forces very worried that such protests might be redirected against Jordan, against the system itself.

Biden is caught in a no-win situation

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Sources: NBC News, Axios

Biden is stuck in a no-win situation while trying to thread the needle on Israels war against Hamas, NBC News Jonathan Allen said. Bidens recent threat to stop sending arms to Israel left some in Washington wondering whether hes lost that thread. In an election year where he would like to end a war, Bidens current message is counterproductive and relieves the pressure on Hamas to release hostages, one lawmaker told NBC on condition of anonymity. Republicans in Congress are also likely to push for a vote on the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which would complicate Bidens withholding of Congressionally approved military aid to Israel  and likely further divide Democrats.



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Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SBH) came out with its second-quarter results last week, and we wanted to see how the business is performing and what industry forecasters think of the company following this report. Statutory earnings per share fell badly short of expectations, coming in at US$0.27, some 29% below analyst forecasts, although revenues were okay, approximately in line with analyst estimates at US$908m. The analysts typically update their forecasts at each earnings report, and we can judge from their estimates whether their view of the company has changed or if there are any new concerns to be aware of. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

View our latest analysis for Sally Beauty Holdings

Taking into account the latest results, Sally Beauty Holdings' seven analysts currently expect revenues in 2024 to be US$3.71b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to climb 19% to US$1.82. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$3.72b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.84 in 2024. So it's pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there's been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results.

There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of US$11.40, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Sally Beauty Holdings at US$14.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$8.00. As you can see, analysts are not all in agreement on the stock's future, but the range of estimates is still reasonably narrow, which could suggest that the outcome is not totally unpredictable.

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. From these estimates it looks as though the analysts expect the years of declining revenue to come to an end, given the flat forecast out to 2024. That would be a definite improvement, given that the past five years have seen revenue shrink 0.1% annually. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 4.9% per year. Although Sally Beauty Holdings' revenues are expected to improve, it seems that it is still expected to grow slower than the wider industry.

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The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Although our data does suggest that Sally Beauty Holdings' revenue is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$11.40, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have forecasts for Sally Beauty Holdings going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

However, before you get too enthused, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Sally Beauty Holdings that you should be aware of.

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.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  The El Paso Fire Departments Water Rescue Team recovered a body from a Lower Valley canal late Saturday night, May 11, according to the departments X account.

Crews initially responded to reports of a person in a canal at about 9:30 p.m. along the 10000 block of Southside Road. That is near the Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant.

It later turned into a body recovery operation. The scene was then turned over to law enforcement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage was demolished in a controlled explosion on Monday evening after being delayed due to lightning near the site on Sunday.

The removal process took place Monday at 5:00 p.m., officials said.

Engineers set off controlled explosives in the steel remains of the Key Bridge to help remove the debris from the freighter that crashed in March.

Ongoing storms in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. region had delayed the demolition since Friday.

The explosives split a large section of truss at specific locations to allow "salvors to use cranes and barges already on scene to remove these sections of the bridge and ultimately remove the MV Dali from the channel," Unified Command, the group in charge of the recovery and salvage operations, said in a statement.

PHOTO: Explosive charges are detonated to bring down sections of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge resting on the container ship Dali, May 13, 2024, in Baltimore. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

"By using precision cuts, we reduce risks to our personnel and can safely and efficiently continue clearing the channel for the Port of Baltimore," Capt. David OConnell, the Key Bridge Response federal on-scene coordinator, said in a statement.

MORE: Baltimore bridge collapse timeline: Inside the cargo ship collision

Officials said hearing protection would not be required outside of a 2,000-yard radius of the site.

PHOTO: Salvors with the Unified Command prepare charges for upcoming precision cuts to remove section 4 from the port side of the bow of the M/V DALI, April 21, 2024, during the Key Bridge Response 2024. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Christopher Rosario)

"Sound levels outside of the noise radius will be no louder than a standard fireworks show and will last two to five seconds," Unified Command said.

A cellphone alert went out to residents warning them about the explosion, Unified Command said.

The freighter has been stuck in the location ever since it slammed into the bridge during the early morning hours on March 26 after the vessel experienced a malfunction.

MORE: Containers being removed from ship that struck Baltimore bridge

Body camera footage of the incident, which was released Friday by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in response to a public records request by ABC News, shows officers getting an up-close look at the location where the bridge once stood.

PHOTO: Salvors with the Unified Command prepare charges for upcoming precision cuts to remove section 4 from the port side of the bow of the M/V DALI, April 21, 2024, during the Key Bridge Response 2024. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Christopher Rosario)

"There is no bridge," an officer can be heard saying. "The whole center span is gone completely. Its in the water."

Another officer reported encountering a "large debris field" with containers on the side of the river closest to Baltimore. In one video, he can be heard shouting toward the freighter to ask if anyone was hurt. Someone aboard the ship responded that their finger was cut.

MORE: Body of 6th construction worker killed in Key Bridge collapse recovered

The bridge suffered a near-total collapse and caused massive logistical delays in the Port of Baltimore. Six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time were killed in the incident.

PHOTO: Wreckage removal is ongoing on the M/V DALI to prepare to refloat and remove the vessel from the Fort McHenry Federal Navigation Channel, April 21, 2024. (Christopher Rosario/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District)

The incident is still under investigation and the recovery efforts are ongoing.

ABC News' Beatrice Peterson, Jared Kofsky and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage demolished in controlled explosion after delays originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Civilians continue to be evacuated from northern Kharkiv Oblast as massive artillery and air strikes increase in the region, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 12.



Around 500 people remain in the city of Vovchansk, close to the Russian border. Earlier in the day, two casualties were reported in Vovchansk and the nearby village Liptsy.



Vovchansk, Liptsy and all points of the northern border are under enemy fire almost around the clock. The situation is difficult, Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.



He noted that the hostilities are spreading to other settlements but that the Ukrainian troops continue to defend the region.



Vovchansk was under Russian occupation at the start of the full-scale invasion before being liberated on Sept. 11, 2022, during Ukraines successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast.



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.



Russian troops continue their attacks in several sectors, but attempts to break through Ukraine's defenses have been halted, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on May 12.



The situation "is changing rapidly" in the Kupiansk, Siversk, Lyman, and Pokrovsk directions amid ongoing fighting, according to Syrskyi."The enemy has partial success in some areas, and in others, (Ukraine's) Defense Forces are pushing the enemy out and improving their tactical position," the general said.



Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, told Politico on April 5 that Russia could launch a new offensive targeting Kharkiv Oblast in May or early June.



Over the past two days, over 4,000 civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been evacuated from their homes, Syniehubov said.

Read also: The road from death to life: Medics evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers amid intensified fighting (Photo)

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The First Lady spoke about deportation, the pain of losing loved ones, adoption, and the feeling of powerlessness experienced by Ukrainian women. Olena Zelenska on Facebook

Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine, has been telling people outside Ukraine about the different experiences of Ukrainian motherhood in the full-scale war. She says that every Ukrainian mother today is part of a great wall that is holding back Russian aggression against the world.

Source: Olena Zelenska in an op-ed for The Washington Post

The First Lady believes that right now, Ukrainian women are fighting for the survival of the democratic world order, taking on the roles of carers, doctors, soldiers and breadwinners.

Zelenska told the story of 6-year-old Renat and 10-year-old Varvara from Mariupol. The children were simply taken away from their mother when she was captured, and deported to an orphanage in Russia.

Their grandmother knocked on every door to get her grandchildren back on her own. She even crossed the Ukraine-Russia border to find the children. Although Renat and Varvara's mum returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange, the grandmother had to wait nine months before she saw her grandchildren again.

More than 19,000 Ukrainian children are still in Russian captivity. Their families are tormented by uncertainty.

Some mothers have managed to transform pain into hope, the First Lady said  such as Natalia Makovetska, who joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine after her son was killed in action. And she isnt the only one  there are currently more than 60,000 female soldiers, all of whom joined the Ukrainian army voluntarily.

Other mothers are taking care of children who have lost their parents and homes  Tatiana Yurychko, for example, has fostered ten children. She believes that every child deserves to have a family.

But not all stories of Ukrainian mothers are happy. Zelenska reminded us that two months ago, Anna Haidarzha and Tatiana Kravets were found dead by rescue workers after a Russian missile attack on Odesa. The women were killed shielding their babies, 7-month-old Liza and 4-month-old Tymofii, with their bodies. Their older children were orphaned.

One of the most difficult challenges for mothers in Ukraine today is the feeling of helplessness, the inability to protect their children either physically or emotionally, Zelenska says.

"Now in Ukraine, every mother must steel themselves against the question, 'Mom, are we going to die today?'" she said.

The First Lady of Ukraine also shared her own "recipe" for being a mother in wartime: be sincere, and remain an example of love and care.

"But my only recipe for being a mom during the war is to be sincere and an example of love and care. It is to teach my children the need to care for others, because that is why we are all holding onto through the war. It is about hoping that the war will remain just an episode in the lives of our children. That they will enjoy normal lives after it to erase that trauma," Zelenska said.

Earlier, we told the story of Nataliia Tarabalka, mother of deceased military pilot and Hero of Ukraine Stepan Tarabalka, who has become a military chaplain in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Months before his arrest in Russia, U.S. Army soldier Gordon Black made a surprise video call from his overseas tour in South Korea to his 6-year-old daughter in Texas.

Instead of a normal chat, however, his daughter and wife witnessed a fight break out between Black and his Russian girlfriend that became bloody, said his wife, Megan. Screaming turned to violence, with his girlfriend clawing at his face. Then she pulled a knife.

"She stabbed him," Megan Black told Reuters in an exclusive interview, saying Black "had blood on his face." Her daughter was distraught.

Black could not be reached for comment about the video call. The Army did not respond to a request for comment about his case. Reuters was unsuccessful reaching Black through the State Department.

Black, a U.S. Army staff sergeant posted at Camp Humphreys outside Seoul, was arrested on May 2 in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok and is being held in pre-trial confinement, accused of theft after an argument, according to Russian authorities.

His mother, Melody Jones, told Reuters he followed his girlfriend to Russia even though they "fought like cats and dogs."

"I told them both: You don't need to be together. One of you is going to get hurt one of these days," Jones said. "You know, because if you fight, it's a not a good thing if it's all you do."

Black's arrest presents another headache for U.S. officials already coping with several high-profile detention cases in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

An Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, Black broke army rules by traveling to Russia without Army authorization, and flew through China to get there, the Pentagon says.

Neither Russian authorities, the Pentagon, Black's wife nor his mother have suggested anything like espionage as a concern. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the case had no political element.

'PULLING TEETH'

In her only interview, Megan Black became emotional when describing life with her husband, and explained that they were finalizing their divorce when Black was arrested.

Her attorney, Jeff Linick, said Black's wife had not received any of her husband's housing allowance, which he is given by the military. Linick said she and her daughter are entitled to support under military regulations, even if the couple is separated.

Although Megan Black is caring for their daughter, her husband had refused to pay the court-ordered child support, Linick said. It was not until she went to the military and its lawyers that they recently started withholding some child support from his paychecks, he said.

"It really took pulling teeth... essentially threaten legal enforcement to finally get the Army - I imagine against his wishes - to finally withhold some child support from his payments," Linick said.

The Army did not respond to a request for comment about support payments, and Black could not be reached for comment. Linick said Gordon Black was representing himself in the Texas divorce.

Megan Black said she met her husband at a bar in 2014 in Killeen, Texas, near his base at Fort Cavazos. The two hit it off quickly, and she recalls how he was charming and accepted her despite a speech impediment.

"He was good to me at one point," she said.

Things started to sour around 2018, and Gordon Black initiated divorce proceedings shortly after he left for South Korea.

CONFUSION

Megan Black said she first learned of the Russian girlfriend around January 2022 when she saw pictures of them together on Facebook. The girlfriend was calling him "her husband," Black said.

Jones said she thought the Russian girlfriend was "sent back" to Russia from South Korea, possibly after a problem with her paperwork. She had warned her son not to follow her there.

"I tried to tell him not to go," she said. Megan Black said she and her daughter had no idea he was in Russia and had been expecting him in Texas, as his tour in South Korea had just ended.

On May 2, the day Russian authorities say they arrested him at a local hotel, Megan Black says she got a message from him "telling me that he wasn't coming home."

That was the last she heard from him.

She said the case has hurt her daughter's image of her father.

"She now looks at her dad as a bad man," she said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Don Durfee and Gerry Doyle)
(Associated Press)  On the afternoon of May 3, Roger Fortson opened the door of his Florida apartment with a gun in his hand and was immediately shot six times by a sheriffs deputy responding to a complaint about an argument.

Fortsons supporters point to the deputys rapid decision to open fire and his mere presence at the apartment  where the Air Force senior airman was apparently alone and FaceTiming with his girlfriend  as proof that it was a blatantly unjustified killing and the latest tragedy involving a Black American being shot at home by law enforcement. Authorities, meanwhile, have seized on Fortson holding a gun when he answered the door to cast the shooting as a clear-cut case of self-defense for a deputy confronted with a split-second, life-or-death decision.

Investigators will consider these factors when deciding whether to charge the deputy in a case that also reflects the realities officers face every day in a country where millions of people carry guns, including in Florida, one of the largest gun ownership states.

Policing experts say Fortson simply holding a gun when he opened the door wasnt enough justification to use deadly force, but investigators will also have to consider what information the deputy knew when he responded and whether Fortson showed any behavioral indication that he posed a threat. They also say the proliferation of legal and illegal firearms is forcing officers throughout the country to have to decide faster than ever what constitutes a deadly threat.

The speed of the shooting is pretty intense. Its happening very, very fast, Ian Adams, an assistant professor who studies criminology at the University of South Carolina and a former police officer, said after watching the deputys body camera video of Fortsons shooting.

The presence of a gun enhances the risk. But mere presence is not at all justification for using deadly force, Adams said.

Video shows Florida deputy announced himself prior to fatal shooting of Black airman

The redacted video released Thursday by the Okaloosa County sheriff in response to allegations raised by attorneys for Fortsons family shows the deputy speaking to a woman outside the Fort Walton Beach apartment complex who described someone hearing an argument.

The deputy, whose name and race havent been released, bangs on Fortsons door, pauses, then knocks again, yelling that hes from the sheriffs office. Fortson eventually answers the door while holding what appears to be a gun by his side pointed at the ground. Within a few seconds, the deputy shoots Fortson six times, only then yelling for him to drop his weapon.

Sheriff Eric Aden said the deputy acted in self-defense, and he rejected assertions that the deputy was at the wrong apartment. Ben Crump, an attorney for Fortsons family, said they remain adamant that the deputy went to the wrong unit because Fortson had been home alone and on a Facetime call with his girlfriend.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.

Adams said beyond the body camera footage there has to be some behavioral indication that a person intends to cause deadly harm with their gun.

We also live in a nation with more guns than people. If the mere presence of a gun were the standard for reasonable use of deadly force, we would be awash with police shootings, he said.

The increase in gun ownership has changed policing in ways, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank that focuses on critical issues in policing.

This is a tragedy on so many levels, for everyone  for the family and for the officer. Guns accelerate decision-making and thats the challenge here, he said.

In a statement Friday, Crump focused on the deputys quick use of deadly force, and the lack of a verbal command for Fortson to drop his weapon until after the deputy shot him.

But experts say officers arent required to issue commands or warnings whenever they use deadly force. David Klinger, a criminal justice professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who is also a former police officer, said the standard is to give a warning when its feasible.

But if pausing to give a warning or a verbal command is going to increase the risk of a deadly threat, then it isnt feasible, he said.

Scott Lacey, a former Air Force Special Operations Command officer who served in the same squadron as Fortson, said he believes Fortsons shooting was unjustified.

When he just opens the door, sees him with a gun and unloads six rounds on the senior airman, to me that just screams unjust right away, said Lacey, who spent time as an Arizona state trooper after leaving the military. The airman didnt raise his gun and showed no kind of hostile intent.

Lacey responded to a Facebook post from Air Force leaders that called for people on base to support Fortsons family while maintaining professionalism. Lacey called the shooting unjustified and urged the commander to instead, Take a stand and do something, adding that hed feel unsafe with the sheriffs department at his doorstep.

Its not the first time the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office has come under scrutiny for its use of force.

LaTanya Griffin filed a federal lawsuit against the department in August alleging that deputies used a battering ram to enter her home while serving a search warrant in 2019. Griffin, who had been asleep naked, was ordered at gunpoint to walk outside and remain nude in front of officers and the public, she said. She was never arrested or charged with a crime.

In court papers, lawyers for the sheriffs office said the deputies actions were consistent with established, reasonable, and generally accepted police procedure. The litigation is ongoing.

I think the Department of Justice needs to take a look at whats happening with the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office, said Kevin Anderson, a lawyer for Griffin.

In another incident six months ago, an Okaloosa County deputy reacted to the sound of a falling acorn hitting his patrol vehicle by firing multiple rounds at the vehicle, where a handcuffed Black man sat inside.

After hearing the deputy yell shots fired and Im hit, his supervisor also fired at the vehicle. The man inside survived the barrage rattled but unscathed.

Internal investigators found that the supervisors actions were objectively reasonable because she was acting to protect the other deputy in what she believed was an imminent and immediate danger of death. But the report found that the deputy who initially screamed shots fired hadnt acted reasonably in firing his gun. He resigned before the investigation was completed.

In her interviews with investigators, the supervisor mentioned that deputies had been through a lot in recent weeks, including the killing of a deputy who was responding to a domestic violence call and the involvement of another in an on-duty shooting.

The shooting of Fortson came just days after four members of a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force were killed while serving a warrant in North Carolina. Some officer groups have suggested such killings could affect how officers perceive threats.

I dont think the presence of previous shootings is ever going to be justification, Adams said. There is no world where officers dont encounter a firearm risk. Officers swim in risk. But risk alone is not cause for using force, let alone deadly force.

___

Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Key Insights

Element Fleet Management's estimated fair value is CA$33.99 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Element Fleet Management is estimated to be 34% undervalued based on current share price of CA$22.54

Analyst price target for EFN is CA$27.33 which is 20% below our fair value estimate

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Element Fleet Management Corp. (TSE:EFN) by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Element Fleet Management

Step By Step Through The Calculation

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (CA$, Millions) CA$698.2m CA$773.0m CA$828.5m CA$875.4m CA$915.5m CA$950.5m CA$981.9m CA$1.01b CA$1.04b CA$1.06b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Est @ 7.18% Est @ 5.65% Est @ 4.58% Est @ 3.83% Est @ 3.30% Est @ 2.94% Est @ 2.68% Est @ 2.50% Present Value (CA$, Millions) Discounted @ 8.5% CA$643 CA$656 CA$648 CA$631 CA$608 CA$581 CA$553 CA$525 CA$496 CA$469

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CA$5.8b

After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.1%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.5%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = CA$1.1b (1 + 2.1%)  (8.5% 2.1%) = CA$17b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= CA$17b ( 1 + 8.5%)10= CA$7.4b

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is CA$13b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of CA$22.5, the company appears quite undervalued at a 34% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

Important Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Element Fleet Management as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.404. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Element Fleet Management

Strength

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Weakness

Earnings growth over the past year underperformed the Commercial Services industry.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Commercial Services market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Canadian market.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Paying a dividend but company has no free cash flows.

Annual revenue is expected to decline over the next 3 years.

Looking Ahead:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Element Fleet Management, there are three further factors you should look at:

Risks: Take risks, for example - Element Fleet Management has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about. Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market's sentiment for EFN's future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Canadian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
On the afternoon of 12 May, an explosion thundered in Sumy; a few minutes before that, the Ukrainian military issued an air-raid warning throughout the region.

Source: Ukraines Air Force on Telegram; Suspilne

Details: During the air-raid warning, Ukraines military reported that a missile was flying over Sumy Oblast. In a matter of minutes, the media reported that the sound of an explosion was heard in the city of Sumy.

After that, the Air Force also called on residents of Poltava Oblast to remain in shelters.

Support UP or become our patron!
Explosions rocked Sumy and Kharkiv on the afternoon of May 12, as reported by Ukraines Air Force and a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground in Kharkiv.



A Kyiv Independent correspondent heard explosions in Kharkiv at around 4:15 p.m. An hour before, the Air Force reported a missile attack on Sumy, located next to Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine, minutes after an alert was announced in the region.



So far, there are no details on casualties.



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.



Russian forces struck 10 communities in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast in 21 separate attacks throughout the day, the regional administration reported on May 11



A missile attack against the outskirts of the city of Sumy killed a woman aged around 37 on May 11, the regional military administration reported. The strike was aimed against local infrastructure, officials said without providing further details on the target or the consequences.

Read also: Syrskyi: Russias breakthrough attempt halted, situation in several sectors changing rapidly

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Fact Check: About the Claim Biden Was Arrested as a Kid While Standing on Porch with Black Family During Desegregation Protest

Claim:

U.S. President Joe Biden was arrested as a kid while standing on a porch with a Black family as white people protested desegregation.

Rating:

Rating: False

On April 26, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden was interviewed by radio personality Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show, where he claimed that as a child growing up in Delaware, he was arrested while standing with a Black family on their porch during protests by white people against racial desegregation in their community. The claim spread across news outlets and social media platforms. However, a number of investigations by news organizations, including Snopes, have failed to find evidence to support Biden's claim.

During the interview, the president recounted a conversation with his mother, Catherine Finnegan, recalling her warning against joining protests during the desegregation of Lynnfield:

"I looked at my mom. I said, 'Honey, you haven't said anything.' She said, 'Joey, remember,' true story, she said, 'Remember when they were desegregating Lynnfield the neighborhood into 70 homes?'" President Biden told Stern during the interview. "'And I told you, there was a Black family moving in and there were people down there protesting. I told you not to go down there and you went down. Remember that? And you came, you got arrested for standing out on the porch with a Black family. And they brought you back, the police.' And I said 'Yeah, Mom, I remember that.'"

Biden's assertion on Stern's show gained traction across various accounts on X, sparking skepticism among users about its veracity.

One X user, Greg Price, a spokesman for the State Freedom Caucus Network, shared the alleged incident, stating that "On Howard Stern's show today, Biden claimed  he was arrested as a kid while standing with a black family on their porch as people were protesting desegregation. (Lie)." That post had received 4.3 million views at the time of this writing.

An account managed by the Republican National Committee, RNC Research, wrote, "Biden claims he 'got arrested standing on the porch with a Black family' during the civil rights movement. That never happened."

Snopes agrees with that assessment and rates this claim "False." We reached out to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment.

The origins of this story trace back to October 2018, when Biden told the anecdote to the Economic Club of Southwest Michigan in the context of a conversation he had with his mother in 2008, when he was deciding whether to join Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as his vice-presidential running mate. According to PolitiFact, he said:

"She said, 'Joey, didn't I call you about a month ago and ask you about Barack?' I said, 'Yeah, mom.' She said, 'Didn't you say to me you thought he was really bright and had a great deal of integrity and would make a good president if he was the nominee?' I said, 'Yeah.' "She said, 'Joey, remember at 15 years old and that real estate agent sold a house to the Black couple in Lynnfield.'  This was in suburban sprawl, the neighboring neighborhood. 'I told you not to go down there because of the protests, and you went down and you got arrested because you were standing on the porch with the Black couple?' I said, 'Yeah, mom. I remember that.'"

Investigations into Biden's past have found no records indicating that he was formally booked at a police station or faced any consequences in the criminal justice system. In some instances, when recounting the Lynnfield anecdote, Biden himself has characterized the police's actions as merely driving him home, rather than taking him into custody.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden repeated the anecdote while appearing via Zoom as a guest on Oprah Winfrey's show, but did not mention being arrested, only that his mother had said the "police brought you home because they thought you'd get in trouble."

While instances of racial discrimination in housing occurred near Biden's Delaware residence during his teenage years, there is no credible evidence to support the claim of his arrest in connection with these incidents.

A report published Feb. 25, 1959, in Wilmington newspaper The News-Journal documented seven arrests linked to a protest at a Collins Park residence, about 10 miles south of Lynnfield. According to PolitiFact, among those arrested were three men charged with disturbing the peace and four teenagers apprehended for possessing fireworks.

Similarly, an Associated Press article from the same year mentioned arrests at the home of a Black family but did not name Biden. According to the report, a 17-year-old, described as the son of a "Harold Figgett," was arrested for juvenile delinquency, alongside three members of his family, during a protest that took place on a Saturday at the home of a Black family "in a previously all-white housing development." It's worth noting that Biden would have been 16 years old at the time.

Forbes, in its "Biden-Trump Gaffe Tracker," noted that the claim that Biden was arrested during civil rights protests has been disputed, highlighting the lack of evidence to support the assertion. Furthermore, CNN investigated Biden's claim and found it to be unsupported by available evidence. PolitiFact investigated the allegation and concluded that evidence supporting Biden's arrest during civil rights protests is scant. Similarly, The Washington Post also found little substantiation for Biden's repeated claim of being arrested when he was younger.

Biden's 2007 memoir "Promises to Keep," does not mention the president having been arrested at any point in his life. Additionally, his 2017 memoir "Promise Me, Dad" does not include any mention of being arrested.

Sources:

"PolitiFact: Evidence Scant That Joe Biden Was Arrested Protesting For Civil Rights." NBC 6 South Florida, 26 Jan. 2022, https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/politics/politifact/politifact-evidence-scant-that-joe-biden-was-arrested-protesting-for-civil-rights/2672132/.

Dale, Daniel. "Fact Check: Biden Repeats His Claim That He 'Got Arrested' Defending Civil Rights. There's Still No Evidence for It | CNN Politics." CNN, 26 Apr. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/26/politics/fact-check-joe-biden-claim-arrested-defending-civil-rights/index.html.

Desk, ALEC SCHEMMEL |. The National. "Biden's Claim about Getting Arrested given 4 'Pinocchios' by Fact-Checker." WPMI, 13 Jan. 2022, https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/bidens-claim-about-getting-arrested-given-4-pinnocchios-by-wapo-fact-checker-president-biden-washington-post-black-family-election-reform-barack-obama-glenn-kessler.

DocumentCloud. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21178511-clipping_92493385. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

---. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21178514-25-feb-1959-page-1-the-news-journal-at-newspaperscom. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Dorn, Sara. "Biden-Trump Gaffe Tracker: Biden Repeats Disputed Claim He Was Arrested During Civil Rights-Era Protests." Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/04/26/biden-trump-gaffe-tracker-biden-repeats-disputed-claim-he-was-arrested-during-civil-rights-era-protests/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Glueck, Katie, and Thomas Kaplan. "Biden Adds a Claim to His Biography: An Arrest in South Africa." The New York Times, 21 Feb. 2020. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/us/politics/biden-south-africa-arrest-mandela.html.

"Https://Twitter.Com/Greg_price11/Status/1783900381346410512/Video/3." X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1783900381346410512/video/3. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

"Https://Twitter.Com/Lovelynancie/Status/1784042491529875695." X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/lovelynancie/status/1784042491529875695. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

"Https://Twitter.Com/Nuked4Every1/Status/1783886394257015179." X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/Nuked4Every1/status/1783886394257015179. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

"Https://Twitter.Com/RNCResearch/Status/1783877375328993575." X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1783877375328993575. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Jacobson, Jeff Cercone, Louis. "No Evidence Biden Was Arrested in Civil Rights Protest." @politifact, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jan/13/joe-biden/evidence-scant-joe-biden-was-arrested-protesting-c/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Kessler, Glenn. "Analysis | Biden Claims yet Another Arrest for Which There's Little Evidence." Washington Post, 14 Jan. 2022. www.washingtonpost.com, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/13/biden-claims-yet-another-arrest-which-theres-little-evidence/.

Morris, Kyle. "'NO EVIDENCE': Biden Mocked for Stretching the Truth on Shock Jock Howard Stern's Show." Fox News, 27 Apr. 2024, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/no-evidence-biden-mocked-stretching-truth-shock-jock-howard-sterns-show.

"President Joe Biden Says He Was 'Arrested Standing On The Porch With A Black Family.'" Yahoo News, 27 Apr. 2024, https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-joe-biden-says-arrested-154508087.html.

Biden, Joe. Promise Me, Dad. Macmillan, 2018, https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250171696/promisemedad.

"Promises to Keep by Joe Biden: 9780812976212 | PenguinRandomHouse.Com: Books." PenguinRandomhouse.Com, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/13392/promises-to-keep-by-joe-biden/. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
Claim:

A photograph genuinely shows two goats climbing what appears to be a sheer-faced wall.

Rating:

Rating: True

An image shared to X on April 25, 2024, that had garnered more than 24.6 million views as of this publication supposedly showed two goats standing along a steep, brick wall. "So apparently the laws of physics do not apply to goats," the image's caption read.

So apparently the laws of physics do not apply to goats pic.twitter.com/24s3zQDv5L  Nature is Amazing  (@AMAZlNGNATURE) April 25, 2024

A reverse-image search revealed the photograph has been published across social media channels for years, including on TikTok, X and Instagram. According to Snopes' research, the earliest iteration of the photo online was posted on Reddit in 2017.

Because goats are known climbers and the pic did not have any signs of digital editing or AI, we rated this claim "True"  the image authentically documented a moment in time. However, its origin remained unknown.

Snopes ran the image through Hive Moderation, an AI-detection tool. According to the tool's analysis, the photograph was "not likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content."

(Screenshot/Hive)

An early iteration of the photo existed on Pinterest, posted on March 22, 2017. That post described the photograph as being captured at "Castle Spielberg"  which presumably referred to Spilberk Castle in the Czech town of Brno. Snopes was unable to independently confirm the photo was taken there. Also, the Pinterest post did not say who supposedly took the photo or from what sources it got its information. No photographer was listed for Snopes to contact.

Snopes contacted experts in animal welfare to get their thoughts on the image. Johanna Hamburger, director and senior attorney for the advocacy group Animal Welfare Institute's Terrestrial Wildlife Program, wasn't surprised by the photo.

"Goats are truly phenomenal climbers," she wrote in an email. "The fact that the wall the goats pictured are climbing is uneven in terms of the bricks (some are jutting out) combined with the generous amount of grout that also provides surface area for the hoofs to cling to, leads me to believe this is legitimate."

Hamburger likened the goats in the photograph to species in Colorado that are "able to scale nearly sheer rock faces, clinging to the smallest of outcroppings with their specialized hoofs, which have two flexible pads that provide a remarkable grip."

D.J. Schubert, a senior scientist in wildlife biology at the Animal Welfare Institute, said the goats in the photograph resembled domestic goats, though he wasn't able to determine their specific breed.

Like cattle and sheep, goats are cloven-footed animals  that is, a goat's hoof "consists of two digits, instead of one solid entity like that of a horse." As Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service explains, these two digits are analogous to the third and fourth fingers of the human hand. The two toes allow species of goats, like mountain goats, to balance on and climb protrusions in cliff faces and walls, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Brent Huffman, an expert in ungulates at the Toronto Zoo, identified the species in the video as domestic goats, scientific name Capra hircus.

"There are numerous images [and] videos of goats climbing seemingly vertical brick walls by balancing on the mortar (goat hooves have a hard outer hoof wall for grip against fissures and ridges, as well as softer inner pads that provide grip on smoother surfaces)," wrote Huffman.

Huffman added that although the image is likely real, it was "cleverly taken and a bit disingenuous." As is shown in the image provided by Huffman below, the top of the wall is not horizontal and the image was probably rotated to appear more level.

(Image courtesy of X user @AMAZINGNATURE with edits from Huffman)

"The wall that the goats are climbing is thus more easily seen for what it is: a steeply angled surface, but one which goats would not have trouble negotiating," Huffman added.

A simple Google keyword search led Snopes to several videos posted by reputable publications showing the antics of wall-climbing goats. Take, for example, this video shared to YouTube by National Geographic on Sept. 10, 2016:

Or this video posted by PBS that shows the desert-dwelling Nubian ibex, a species of goat found in parts of the Middle East, climbing windswept mesas.:

Sources:

Domestic Goats Climbinb Cliff - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=domestic+goats+climbinb+cliff&oq=domestic+goats+climbinb+cliff&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDM1NzlqMGo0qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed 6 May 2024.

"GOAT CLIMBERS Remarkable Goat Skills. From Castle Spielberg in Brno, Czech Republic. | Mountain Goat, Goats, Animals." Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/733031276830781000/. Accessed 6 May 2024.

Google Lens. https://lens.google.com/search?p=AbrfA8pAkxwXKgk5qc3rzvPD9Y0SJT0wf_7EZtQ8VSV0XbU3Z2ozWkEpv9XCzTc4a3qucx8wKlhE7iiGZfbu0HEDn4LD2MRAQiR_vXaXcCPSznZX7SmLPC3Yq0-6pX1EuGjrLw9Qu4PTBP9i6GHsDZ6-xPwNCG-GfH-q2K2fMuOG-YhS72KnLiarj87-oFJsuZ-Jv7en42Ieb30YTmlcG5mWUrI6oi1wqRoREJculAZsBF4MXuxPlCWUPVnwpZ09PyXviQ7kbvaWPN8wuFx8#lns=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsIkVrY0tKRGN3T0RFeE56STRMVEJrTURJdE5EaGhNaTA0WmpsbUxUa3pZamcyTVRZNVl6Sm1OaElmYjNkeExXRmFRbFU1ZVUxWFZVTm1hVWxtYTFwaVJFSTViUzFqVVRoNFp3PT0iXQ==. Accessed 6 May 2024.

"Https://Twitter.Com/DickKingSmith/Status/864367700335771648." X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/DickKingSmith/status/864367700335771648. Accessed 6 May 2024.

Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/unownedspaces/p/CuPRNAvswMu/?img_index=8. Accessed 6 May 2024.

National Geographic. Amazing Footage: Goats Climbing on a Near-Vertical Dam | National Geographic. 2016. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0jMzdbEui0.

Nature on PBS. Rock-Climbing Goats. 2015. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8TJKMtmtI.

Our Team. https://awionline.org/content/our-team. Accessed 6 May 2024.

TikTok - Make Your Day. https://www.tiktok.com/@lindsaynikole/video/7069878175379000618. Accessed 6 May 2024.
Fact Check: The Truth About Photo Allegedly Showing a Man Standing on Large Pile of Bison Skulls

Claim:

A photograph shows a man standing on top of a towering pile of bison skulls.

Rating:

Rating: True

For years, a photograph showing a man standing on top of a large pile of bison skulls has spread across the internet. We've found social media posts on platforms like TikTok, X, Facebook and Reddit that contain the claim since at least 2016.

We fact-checked this claim in 2016 and found the photo is real. The image, which was archived in the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library, was taken in 1892 in Rougeville, Michigan:

Man stands on top of enormous pile of buffalo skulls; another man stands in front of pile with his foot resting on a buffalo skull; rustic cage is at foot of pile. Handwritten on back: "C.D. 1892 Glueworks, office foot of 1st St., works at Rougeville, Mich."

National Geographic's page on the American Bison said nearly 50 million bisons were killed by settlers in the 19th century for a variety of reasons, including depriving Native Americans of an important natural asset:

Bison once covered the Great Plains and much of North America, and were critically important to Plains Indian societies. During the 19th century, settlers killed some 50 million bison for food, sport, and to deprive Native Americans of their most important natural asset. The once enormous herds were reduced to only a few hundred animals. Today, bison numbers have rebounded somewhat, and about 200,000 bison live on preserves and ranches where they are raised for their meat.

Sources:

"American Bison | National Geographic." Animals, 10 May 2011, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/american-bison.

Evon, Dan. "Is This a Real Photo of a Man Standing on a Large Pile of Bison Skulls?" Snopes, 25 Feb. 2016. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pile-bison-bones-photo/

Men Standing with Pile of Buffalo Skulls, Michigan Carbon Works | DPL DAMS. https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A151477. Accessed 8 May 2024.
Grand Final of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, in Malmo

Grand Final of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, in Malmo

MALMO, Sweden (Reuters) - Swiss artist Nemo won the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, beating 24 rivals with the song "The Code", while Israel's Eden Golan finished fifth despite calls for a boycott over the war in Gaza.

The winner of the annual music competition was decided by votes from television audiences in Europe and around the world in combination with juries of music professionals in each participating country.

Each jury awarded points to their 10 most favoured songs, with a maximum of 12 points going to their top choice. Votes by viewers were converted to the same scale so that each country could award a maximum of 24 points to a single act.

WHO WERE THE TOP 5 IN THE FINAL?

1. Switzerland: Nemo with 591 points

2. Croatia: Baby Lasagna with 547 points

3. Ukraine: Teresa & Maria with 453 points

4. France: Slimane with 445 points

5. Israel: Eden Golan with 375 points

HOW DID THE EXPERT VOTE COMPARE TO THOSE OF VIEWERS?

The jury votes often deviate sharply from those of viewers.

Music professionals ranked Switzerland as the number one act with 365 points, ahead of France with 218 points. Israel was only 12th with 52 points.

The popular vote ranked Croatia first with 337 points, ahead of Israel with 323 points and Ukraine in third with 307 points. France came fourth with 227 points while overall winner Switzerland was fifth with 226.

HOW MANY PROFESSIONAL JURIES AWARDED 12 POINTS TO NEMO?

In total 22 juries gave a full score to Switzerland's Nemo.

DID ANY PROFESSIONAL JURIES AWARD ISRAEL 12 POINTS?

None of the national juries gave 12 points to Eden Golan and her song "Hurricane".

IN HOW MANY COUNTRIES DID ISRAEL WIN THE POPULAR VOTE?

Israel won the popular vote in 15 countries, including in Britain, France and Germany as well as in the "rest-of-the-world" category, more than any other contestant.

Croatia won the popular vote of nine nations.

DID NEMO WIN THE POPULAR VOTE IN ANY COUNTRY?

Only viewers in Ukraine awarded Switzerland's Nemo the full 12 points.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Malmo and Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen; writing by Terje Solsvik)
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN)  Wake County Sheriffs Office K-9 Santos, who died in the line of duty nearly a year ago was honored Saturday at the National Police K-9 Memorial Service in Washington, D.C.

Santos handler, Master Deputy Maria Fuentes lay a rose at the memorial in her partners honor.

K-9 Santos died in May 2023, after being shot, accidentally, by a Knightdale Police Officer, while helping Knightdale Police track a suspect.

Heartbreaking tragedy  Wake County deputies create video tribute for K-9 who died in line of duty

An emotional deputy Fuentes described Santos as more than a partner.

Santos was my best friend, an awesome partner, and he was a family friend, and all my family loved him because he was sweet, she said, wiping away tears. He was a sweet boy, 85 pounds of sweet boy.

Santos joined the Wake County Sheriffs Office in 2016. He was their longest-serving K-9.

The National Police Dog Foundation organized the Annual National Police K-9 Memorial Service. This years service, held at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, paid tribute to law enforcement K-9s who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2023.

 Click here for more heartwarming news across the Carolinas

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
American farmers feel like the little red hen working alone to grow the wheat, mill the flour and make the bread, as they struggle to meet labor demands across sectors. Few domestic workers find agricultural employment attractive, and our nations visa program to hire foreign workers for agricultural work simply does not work for employers or employees.

From spring pruning to fall harvest farm labor demands go unmet across every crop and region, as workers both unwilling and willing sit idly by wondering who will grow the bread.

Farmers and ranchers in the United States have grown reliant on the H-2A visa program to hire temporary foreign workers due to the absence of American workers willing to take farm jobs. H-2A visas grant a pathway for farmers to address labor shortages and the reliance on the program is only growing.

H-2A visa participation grew by 226% from 2010 to 2019. Despite an increase from 79,000 workers in 2010 to 258,000 in 2019, farms are still short on workers and some farms needing year-round employees, like dairies, are barred from the program.

As for the farms feeling like the little red hen, those operations have had to wait for decades as legislation designed to make H-2A workable for agriculture go unapproved by the U.S. Senate. Instead, the most recent government effort to fix the ag labor market came from the Biden-Harris administration in the fall of 2023, in an obscure grant program that promises financial relief if farm operations are willing to adopt costly employment practices.

The Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program throws $65 million of taxpayer money at an issue that in the real world requires actual labor to solve the problem, not dollar signs. Throwing hard-earned taxpayer money at a government-created issue isnt solving the problem but only masking the consequences.

In the story of the little red hen, money by itself cannot grow the wheat, to make the flour, to make the bread. It took the physical hard work of the hen. That is the solution American food security needs today. We need legislation that allows the physical hard work of agriculture to continue unhindered by complex and redundant bureaucracy.

That is exactly what the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA) allows. The FWMA favors work solutions over monetary bandages, aligns closely with recent recommendations of a Congressional working group on ag labor, and is supported by over 250 agricultural groups and organizations.

But redundancy on this issue is becoming the norm. Not only has the U.S. House of Representatives successfully passed the FWMA multiple times, these 250 groups and members have spoken about ag labor reform for years and nothing has changed. For decades farms have sought improvements to the H-2A program without success, and out of necessity have adopted expensive new technology, increased human resource costs to navigate the H-2A system, outsourced hiring to farm labor contractors, or gone out of business. Additionally, the skyrocketing wage rate used in the H-2A program that the FWMA seeks to freeze and reform is becoming unsustainable for farmers across the country.

Reforming the H-2A visa program for temporary workers is critical for protecting the future of American agriculture. If enacted, the reforms outlined in FWMA would improve efficiencies in filing, reform wages and control volatile fluctuations, reduce housing costs, meet year-round labor needs and mandate E-Verify for the agricultural sector.

Its time that the little red hen had a little support, especially when neighbors are more than willing to help, if only the farmer would open the gate. Adopting policy reforms, like the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, would begin much-needed and long-awaited reform for agricultural labor, bringing stability to farmers, improving food security, and providing good jobs to those willing to put in the actual work to produce and harvest Americas crops.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, is currently serving his thirteenth term in the House of Representatives for Idahos 2nd Congressional District. Mike serves as chairman of the House Interior and Environment Subcommittee on Appropriations. Madi Clark is a senior policy analyst for the Mountain States Policy Center, a free-market research organization based in Idaho.
*Above video shows the most dangerous highways in Ohio*

ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW)  The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating a three-vehicle fatal crash that occurred Saturday around 12:30 p.m., eastbound on the Ohio Turnpike in Elyria, east of State Route 57.

Man dead after shooting inside Stark County movie theater: Police

Troopers said the driver of a compact SUV drove off the left side of the roadway after losing control, struck the concrete median barrier wall, then the SUV came back onto the roadway and struck the trailer of a semi-tractor and was then struck by a another vehicle.

Troopers said the driver of the SUV, 23-year-old Jackson Williams of Broadview Heights, was killed in the crash.

The crash remains under investigation at this time.

How closely do Northern Lights photos show what we saw?

Impairment does not appear to be a factor in this crash and all parties involved were wearing their seat belts, troopers said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
Presque Isle Skating & Event Center, a 17,000-square-foot skating rink on West Lake Road, has a new name and new owners who plan to make some changes.

Jeni Lanier, who already owns two roller rinks, one in North Carolina and another in Indiana, closed recently on a deal to purchase the Millcreek Township rink from owner Israel Rivera.

Mikhayla Dugan, 26, left, and her wife Sierra Dugan, 28, are shown inside Gem City Skate on West Lake Road.

Lanier paid $425,000 to buy the building, which was built in 1949, according to a deed on file at the Erie County Courthouse.

But it will be married couple Mikhayla and Sierra Dugan who will be living in Erie and running the day-to-day operations of a business they have renamed Gem City Skate.

The couple, who worked together at a rink Lanier owns in Jacksonville, North Carolina, said Lanier began last summer to float the idea of purchasing a new rink and becoming partners with them in the venture.

The skating floor at Gem City Skate.

A scan of roller rinks for sale would lead them 700 miles to Erie, a place that neither of them knew anything about.

After a few months of sizing up Presque Isle Skating and its financials, the Dugans have signed a lease with Lanier that will give them the option to either purchase the business or extend the lease at the end of five years.

A winding road to Erie

Mikhayla Dugan found herself working in the roller skating business last summer after working for 10 years in the restaurant industry, including some time running the test kitchen for a large regional restaurant chain.

Before she began a career in roller skating, Sierra Dugan served for five years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

The rink in North Carolina was much smaller than the one at 3162 West Lake Road in Millcreek Township.

Mikhayla Dugan said they were both excited about "starting a rink of their own and doing it on a much larger scale."

Changes are coming

The Dugans say they have plans to update the building, the equipment and the way of doing business.

"I don't think it was living up to its potential," Mikhayla Dugan said. "The previous owner was offering birthday parties and field trips, but not to the extent that we had done at our previous location."

The first big change for the business was the name. Mikhayla Dugan said she liked the connection the old name gave the business to Presque Isle State Park.

But a bit of internet research led them to the Erie nickname of Gem City  a reference to Erie's status of Gem of the Great Lakes  which they liked even better.

Sierra Dugan, 28, left, and her wife Mikhayla Dugan, 26, discuss improvements planned for the skating rink.

"I loved the idea of it as soon as I saw it," Mikhayla Dugan said. "We really wanted to play to the connection to the city. We have noticed how tight-knit it is here. That is something that we want to represent."

Story continues

Physical changes are coming as well. Sierra Dugan said the rink is overdue for the hardwood floor to be redone. That project, which is expected to cost more than $30,000, should happen soon.

By working around the clock, the project should only take about four days, Sierra Dugan said.

"The floors need some major love," she said, adding that carpeted areas also need to be replaced.

The new operators say they also plan to replace "the fleet of skates," which have seen better days. That's expected to cost between $50,000 and $60,000.

Other changes won't cost so much money. The Dugans say they want to bring back the limbo and other games traditionally associated with roller rinks, along with a modern sensibility.

At some point, they said, Gem City could add space for an arcade.

A warm welcome

Sierra Dugan said they're feeling good about the future and encouraged by the reaction from customers.

Presque Isle Skating & Event Center, located at 3162 W. Lake Road, has been sold. The long-time skating rink will continue to operate under the name Gem City Skate.

Even though they just opened the doors last week for business, the Dugans said they've already signed on as the home rink for Erie Roller Derby and are excited about the connections they've made.

As lifelong southerners, Sierra Dugan said they arrived in Erie with certain expectations of how they might be received.

Billion-dollar industry: Erie County tourism growing as visitor spending is on the rise

"It's been a breath of fresh air," she said. "We have not met a single soul who has been rude or disrespectful."

That warm welcome has both of them making plans to be in Erie for the long haul and focused on their business.

"We have been here every day," Sierra Dugan said. "We are trying to put everything we have into this. We want to give the community the skating rink they deserve."

It wasn't a certainty that the longtime roller rink would continue as one, said Cherie Bishop, who, along with Jim Barbour, handled the sale for Keller Williams Reality.

"We had people who were interested, but didn't want to keep it as a rink," she said.

Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie PA area roller skating rink sold to buyer from North Carolina
Journalists take part in a candlelight vigil to condemn the killing of veteran Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 11, 2022. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI

May 12 (UPI) -- The FBI is facing pressure to release its long-awaited report investigating the 2022 killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11, 2022, while covering a raid by the Israeli military on a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank while wearing a press vest and standing with other journalists when she was shot dead by an Israeli soldier.

Her death, which former U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price admitted was caused by Israel, increased the temperature between Palestinians and occupation forces already strained by rising violence by illegal Israeli settlers and, later, police raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in the buildup to the current war in Gaza.

"Israel continues to shield itself from accountability by deliberately refusing to cooperate with the FBI and by indicating it won't let its soldiers be questioned before the International Criminal Court should it open an investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh's killing," Carlos Martinez de la Serna of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

"It is time to break Israel's longstanding impunity in journalist killings, which have only multiplied in the Israel-Gaza war. The FBI needs to disclose a timeline for the conclusion of its investigation, and Israel must cooperate with the FBI probe and any future ICC probe."

The FBI has not released any of its findings into Abu Akleh's killing, including information about whether the journalist had been intentionally targeted. Before the Gaza war began, Israel also failed to be held accountable for killing 20 journalists in the past two decades.

Israeli forces have killed 92 Palestinian journalists and three Lebanese journalists since the war began in October.

Meanwhile, Israel on Saturday detained journalists on suspicions they were working for Al Jazeera after banning the news broadcaster for its coverage of the war 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

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) said 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.

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.

Israel said on Saturday evening it had discovered further tunnels in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari reported that an "underground route" had been found in Zeitoun and a major military operation was taking place there.

According to Hagari, around 30 terrorists were killed and dozens of weapons had been seized in a school. A tunnel had also been discovered in eastern Rafah in the south of the strip.

In the evening, Israeli fighter planes also attacked targets in the northern Gaza Strip, said the army spokesman.

In recent weeks, attempts by Hamas to restore its military facilities had been observed, Hagari said. "Wherever we have knowledge of such attempts by Hamas, we will act."

Calls are growing louder to desist, including from the United Nations and the United States, Israel's main backer.

US President Joe Biden emphasized the responsibility of Hamas with regard to the negotiations for 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.

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.

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
Federal prosecutors are recommending a 40-year sentence for the man convicted of attempting to kidnap former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and assaulting her husband with a hammer after he broke into the couples San Francisco home in 2022.

In a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, prosecutors said that David DePape has failed to take responsibility for his crimes and has not shown remorse. They also argued that his sentencing should include a terrorism enhancement.

Prosecutors referred to DePape's crimes as "an assault on our democracy and fundamental values."

"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," prosecutors wrote.

DePapes attorneys, federal public defenders Jodi Linker and Angela Chuang, have requested a 14-year prison sentence, citing their client's "abusive, long-term relationship with a partner who exploited his innate vulnerabilities and immersed him in a world of extreme beliefs where reality is not reality."

"Her influence began at a formative and critical period in his life and extended far beyond the end of their relationship leaving him completely unmoored in the years leading up to the offense, when he was further radicalized through his obsessive consumption of media amplifying extreme beliefs," DePape's attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo.

They also argued DePape has shown remorse for his actions, citing his trial testimony "during which he explained that he felt 'really scared for [Mr. Pelosis] life.'"

Sentencing is scheduled for Friday.

During DePape's trial last year, assistant U.S. Attys. Laura Vartain Horn and Helen Gilbert laid out details of DePapes "violent plan" on the night he traveled from his East Bay residence to the Pelosis Pacific Heights home in October 2022.

DePape broke into the couple's home around 2 a.m. on Oct. 28, planning to hold Pelosi hostage and break her kneecaps if she lied to him, prosecutors said in their memo. Pelosi wasn't home, but her husband, Paul, was and called 911.

When the police arrived, Pelosi opened the door, and DePape then violently hit Pelosi three times, twice on the head, before the police were able to subdue him, prosecutors said.

Read more: David DePape found guilty in federal court of trying to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, attacking her husband

In court, prosecutors showed jurors the graphic police body-camera video of DePape bludgeoning Pelosi, fracturing the then-82-year-old mans skull and seriously injuring his right arm and left hand.

This is the moment where Paul Pelosi ends up attacked in the dead of night in his own home, lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, Gilbert said in her closing argument as a still frame of the moment before the attack was displayed on courtroom screens.

Jurors heard portions of a police interview in which DePape said he considered Speaker Pelosi the Democrats leader of the pack, and said he would break her kneecaps if she didnt admit to corruption and other unfounded claims of human trafficking and child abuse by public figures. He told the officer that Pelosi would have to wheel herself into Congress, where other lawmakers could see the f consequence to being the most evil f people on the planet.

DePapes attorneys argued that their client was inspired by elaborate and baseless conspiracy theories that may have seemed bogus but were nonetheless his deeply held beliefs.

The Pelosis home was only the first stop in a cross-country plan to target other powerful people in America he believed were involved in QAnon-like conspiracy theories of criminal activity, Chuang said. His goal was to root out the corruption of the ruling class, the cabal, to stop the molestation of children and expose the truth to everyone.

The jury spent a day deliberating the two federal charges before finding DePape guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal officer or employee and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official.

In letters to the judge, DePape's mother, Shirley Jean Lawrence, asked him to have mercy on her son, stating that he'd "messed up big time."

"How did it come to this. This is not the child that I raised. This is not my David," she wrote. "I love my son dearly and in my heart I know who he really is ... hes not a monster."

Times staff writer Hannah Wiley contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is opening disaster recovery centers in Auglaize and Logan counties for people impacted by the March 14 tornadoes, according to a spokesperson from the agency.

>> PHOTOS: Strong tornadoes, severe storms bring destruction across Miami Valley

FEMA specialists and the U.S. Small Business Administration will be at the centers to help residents apply for federal disaster assistance, upload documents, and more.

Both centers will open on May 13, the spokesperson said.

The center in Logan County will open at Galilee Lutheran Church at 301 Lincoln Blvd. in Russells Point.

Its hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. This location will be closed on Sundays.

>>RELATED: Heart-wrenching; Community members hopeful as FEMA crews begin tornado damage assessment

The center in Auglaize County will temporarily open at Fairbanks Center at Cross Oak Camp & Retreat Center at 272 Jack Oak Point Rd. in St. Marys.

Its hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It will close at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Additional recovery centers will be opening in other impacted counties soon, the spokesperson said.

Tornado survivors can visit any center for assistance, according to the spokesperson. To find the center closest to you, click here.

>>RELATED: Area homeowners impacted by Marchs tornadoes can apply for federal aid

If you cant make it to a center but need to apply for FEMA assistance, visit DisasterAssistance.gov, download the FEMA mobile app, or call the FEMA Helpline at (800) 621-3362.

For more information about the disaster recovery operation in Ohio, click here.
Palestinians inspect damages following an Israeli air strike on Al-Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip. Omar Naaman/dpa

Israeli troops are engaged in fierce fighting with armed Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

The military wing of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas cited heavy clashes between its fighters and Israeli forces in the area of Jabalia, some 4 kilometres north of Gaza City.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the previous evening that warplanes had attacked targets in Jabalia after the civilian population there had been evacuated.

The Times of Israel wrote on Sunday that the army had called for an estimated 100,000-150,000 Palestinians in the Jabalia area to be evacuated.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has expressed "extreme concern" about evacuation calls for both Jabalia as well as Rafah in the south.

The clashes in the north have highlighted apparent differences between Israel's political and military leaders over strategy in the Gaza war.

Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi reportedly complained to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the lack of a political strategy for the post-war period meant that the army was now fighting in places such as Jabalia, which it had previously taken and withdrawn from.

According to media reports, Israeli soldiers are also still deployed in other locations in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Earlier, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip reportedly hit a residential building in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

Three people were injured in the overnight attack on the city about 10 kilometres north of Gaza, according to Israeli media reports on Sunday.

The Israeli Kerem Shalom border crossing was also targeted again on Saturday, according to the Israeli army. Militants fired four missiles at the crossing, which is used to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

One was intercepted by Israel's missile defence system, while the others hit uninhabited areas.

Israel is preparing for an increase in attacks on its territory as the military penetrates deeper into the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The offensive into the city has been heavily criticized internationally, including by Israel's allies, but the Israeli leadership sees it as necessary to achieve its stated war aim of completely eliminating Hamas.

Palestinians inspect damages following an Israeli air strike on Al-Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip. Omar Naaman/dpa

Palestinians inspect damages following an Israeli air strike on Al-Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip. Omar Naaman/dpa
Firefighters were dispatched to a raging structure fire in Boyle Heights on Sunday morning.

Preliminary information from the Los Angeles Fire Department indicates that the fire broke out just after 10:30 a.m. at an abandoned and apparently vacant building located at 320 South Soto Street.

Family of doctor who drove kids off California cliff say he has schizoaffective disorder

The detached one-story commercial building, formerly a restaurant, was the site of a previous fire, LAFD said.

Video posted to the Citizen App shows flames ripping through the walls of the building; other angles show a thick plume of black smoke rising into the sky.

It took 35 LAFD firefighters just 13 minutes to extinguish the blaze, LAFD said at 10:45 a.m.

No injuries were reported, and what caused the fire is not known.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
The wreckage of a car lies in a village affected by a flash flood in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, May 12, 2024. Heavy rains and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano's slopes on Indonesia's Sumatra island triggered flash floods that killed and injured a number of people, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/Fachri Hamzah)

PADANG, Indonesia (AP)  Heavy rains and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano's slopes on Indonesias Sumatra island triggered flash floods that killed at least 37 people and more than a dozen others were missing, officials said Sunday.

Monsoon rains and a major mudslide from a cold lava flow on Mount Marapi caused a river to breach its banks and tear through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight on Saturday. The floods swept away people and submerged more than 100 houses and buildings, National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.

Cold lava, also known as lahar, is a mixture of volcanic material and pebbles that flow down a volcanos slopes in the rain.

By Sunday afternoon, rescuers had pulled out 19 bodies in the worst-hit village of Canduang in Agam district and recovered nine other bodies in the neighboring district of Tanah Datar, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

The agency said that eight bodies were pulled from mud during deadly flash floods that also hit Padang Pariaman, and one body was found in the city of Padang Panjang. It said rescuers are searching for 18 people who are reportedly missing.

Flash floods on Saturday night also caused main roads around the Anai Valley Waterfall area in Tanah Datar district to be blocked by mud, cutting off access to other cities, Padang Panjang Police Chief Kartyana Putra said Sunday.

Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed roads that were transformed into murky brown rivers.

The disaster came just two months after heavy rains triggered flash floods and a landslide in West Sumatras Pesisir Selatan and Padang Pariaman districts, killing at least 21 people and leaving five others missing.

The 2,885-meter (9,465-foot) Mount Marapi erupted late last year killing 23 climbers who were caught by a surprise weekend eruption. The volcano has stayed at the third highest of four alert levels since 2011, indicating above-normal volcanic activity under which climbers and villagers must stay more than 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) from the peak, according to Indonesias Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.

Marapi is known for sudden eruptions that are difficult to predict because the source is shallow and near the peak, and its eruptions aren't caused by a deep movement of magma, which sets off tremors that register on seismic monitors.

Marapi has been active since an eruption in January 2023 that caused no casualties. It is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The country is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

___

Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta, Indonesia.
I flew on Europe's 3 biggest budget airlines: easyJet, Ryanair, and Wizz. The best wasn't the cheapest, but its friendly staff made all the difference.

I flew with Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz in a two-day trip to compare Europe's main budget airlines.

Ryanair's small carry-on size and efforts to maximize profits were irritating.

EasyJet's cabin crew were perhaps the friendliest I've ever encountered.

Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz are Europe's three biggest budget airlines, but the experiences can be quite different.

If you're planning a vacation soon, you might find the prices are similar  or have found a great deal with Ryanair.

Last month, to compare the three airlines, I flew from London to Madrid with Ryanair, then on to Rome with Wizz, and back home with easyJet.

Ryanair's base price was $44, but I chose a seat and also upgraded from its restrictive carry-on size to make it $83. The easyJet flight cost around $76, and Wizz was $59. Of course, prices can vary wildly depending on demand. I've seen Ryanair tickets as low as $18 and as high as $250.

After my trip, I think the biggest difference was with the staff. EasyJet's flight attendants were friendlier than most I've encountered flying economy with legacy airlines.

The British budget carrier also seems to have the most respect for its customers because it doesn't have as many additional fees as Ryanair and Wizz.

I took three flights in two days to compare Europe's three main budget airlines. They were all around two-and-a-half hours long.

I was most impressed by easyJet thanks to its friendly flight attendants, and least liked Ryanair because it felt like the airline tries to squeeze out as much extra money as possible.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Booking the flights, easyJet was helpfully straightforward. There weren't any surprise pop-ups and every stage was clear.

easyJet

There wasn't too much to complain about in the Ryanair booking process, but it definitely took longer with a couple of pop-ups and a range of addons to click through. It had the cheapest base price at 35 ($44) without extras, but I paid 8 ($10) to choose a seat.

Ryanair

The booking process at Wizz Air was irritating. To avoid signing up for its "Discount Club," you have to scroll down and click some tiny text. I missed this the first time and had to start all over again.

Wizz

The button to agree to sign up was the same design and in the same place as the skip button for every other page. I didn't realize this until I noticed the membership fee at checkout.

Wizz is also the only one of the three that doesn't take American Express, which can be disappointing if you want to maximize your rewards points.

Since budget airlines have restrictive baggage rules  and it was a one-night trip  I only traveled with my trusty tartan rucksack. The night before my first flight, I checked its size against the airlines' limits.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Since my bag's laid flat, it measured an inch or two wider than after I'd packed.

EasyJet's app has a nifty augmented-reality tool which means you don't need a measuring tape for its size limit  the largest of the three at 45 x 36 x 20cm.

easyJet

This matched up at the airport's sizer. I couldn't find one for Wizz, but its limit is slightly smaller at 40 x 30 x 20cm.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

But I was disappointed to see just how tiny Ryanair's limit is: 40 x 20 x 25cm. My bag still squeezed into the sizer, but I'd already paid an extra 24 ($30) because I wanted to ensure I wouldn't face a fine of up to 70 euros ($75).

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Ryanair's free carry-on size is also smaller than US budget carriers like Frontier, Spirit, Allegiant, and Southwest.

However, when boarding, the staff didn't seem to care how big anyone's bag was  and some looked much larger than mine. I didn't risk it because Business Insider paid for the flights, so being stuck with a fine would be hard to explain to my boss.

All three airlines charge extra for checked luggage, and the prices vary by route and season. EasyJet starts at $8.75, Wizz starts at $9.15, and Ryanair starts at $12.90.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

EasyJet doesn't say what its prices could go up to. For Wizz, a 20kg bag could be as much as $93, and on Ryanair it could be as much as $75.

If you have a large suitcase and you're visiting several cities on vacation, you might find it cheaper to travel around Europe via train. Of course, this varies route by route, but it's worth looking into.

I rode on one of Europe's fastest high-speed trains in first class from Amsterdam to Paris for $160. It easily beat flying.

Fortunately, all of my flights were on time. However, a 2022 analysis of data from the British aviation regulator found Wizz had the longest average delay at 44 minutes.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Wizz was named the worst short-haul airline in a survey published in February by Which?, a British consumer advocacy group. It said 44% of passengers reported some kind of problem.

I've heard bad stories from friends about Wizz cancellations. Last summer, my roommate had his flight home canceled twice, and it took him several attempts to get his money back.

With Wizz and easyJet, I boarded via a jet bridge, whereas Ryanair has steps built into its planes to save time between flights, and minimize costs.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

I tracked the Boeing 737-800 on Flightradar24 and saw that boarding opened at my gate almost as soon as it touched down at London Stansted Airport, leaving the crew with little time between trips.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the three flights was the friendliness of the cabin crew. There was no hello when I boarded Ryanair; Wizz greeted most passengers; and easyJet said a grinning hello to everybody.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

After boarding the Ryanair flight, I was somewhat flummoxed when I found my seat was in the emergency exit row, even though I paid 8 ($10) for a normal aisle seat.

Ryanair

Of course, this would usually be a benefit, but it hampered my ability to compare like-for-like. Also, it suggests people could spend extra to choose row 18 but end up with a normal amount of legroom.

A Ryanair spokesperson said this happened because after I booked, the aircraft was changed from a 737 Max to a 737-800, "due to operational reasons."

I also thought the Ryanair interior was ugly, with its garish color scheme and ads on the overhead lockers.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

The easyJet Airbus A319 I flew on was 13 years old, so the interior looked dated, although I thought the seats' moquette pattern was fun without being overbearing.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Wizz Air had the most modern plane of the bunch, a 14-month-old Airbus A321neo fitted in its latest interior with blue leather seats.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

All of the airlines are no-frills so there were no plug sockets, and none of the seats reclined. I was comfiest on board Wizz, but that might just be because its seats were more than a decade newer.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Ryanair maximizes its turnaround time between flights by eschewing the seat pocket so it doesn't have to be cleaned out. This can be a bit of a nuisance if you want somewhere to stow a book or water bottle.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

However, there is something to be said in favor of that because on easyJet, both myself and a passenger in front found some trash in the pockets.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

The Ryanair plane was indeed the cleanest. On board Wizz, I found an empty coffee cup in the bathroom  plus there wasn't any soap in the dispenser.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

EasyJet's bathroom was pretty spacious and included its own branded bottle of soap.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Ryanair also had airline-branded soap  plus a custom no-smoking sign in eight different languages.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Video shows police hauling a Ryanair passenger off a flight after he was caught smoking in the plane's toilet

I was the least impressed by the flight attendants on board Ryanair. The food and drinks cart was one row away from me when the seatbelt sign came on, but never returned even when it went off again.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

I didn't plan on buying food or drink  let alone scratch cards or tax-free cigarettes  but I was surprised I wasn't even given the option.

I had low expectations for Ryanair but still came away disappointed, especially after I'd flown with Wizz and easyJet the following day.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Looking through Ryanair's list of fees is almost exasperating.

Remember to check in on the app at least 2 hours before departure, or pay $69 at the airport. It's also $144 to change the name on your booking. Plus, there's a $69 fee if you need to reserve therapeutic oxygen for medical reasons.

Coupled with the tiny carry-on size, it feels belittling.

Wizz and easyJet don't list fees for therapeutic oxygen. The former charges up to $43 to check in at the airport while it's free with the latter.

The Wizz crew appeared to be professional and friendly and knew what they were doing. But I'm wary of its record for delays and expected the bathroom to be in a better condition.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Seeing the friendliness of the easyJet cabin crew made me smile after a long day of traveling. They were chatting to passengers and sharing stories about Rome during the trolley service.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

I'd even say they were friendlier than most flight attendants I've spoken to in economy class on legacy carriers.

EasyJet also says it will let you fix spelling mistakes on bookings for free, which is a nice touch in the world of budget airlines where fees can pile up.

In short, it felt like the only airline that properly cared about the customer, with a friendly crew, fewer fees, and the largest carry-on size.

Even though the base price of my ticket was the most expensive, I thought it was worth more than the Ryanair and Wizz experiences. On some routes, it might even turn out cheaper with easyJet.

Of course, ticket prices and the cabin crew depend a lot on where you're flying to, and some destinations might only be served by one airline. If you have a suitcase, you might even find it cheaper on a legacy carrier.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

Read the original article on Business Insider
Key Insights

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, IOI Corporation Berhad fair value estimate is RM3.49

Current share price of RM4.04 suggests IOI Corporation Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

Our fair value estimate is 16% lower than IOI Corporation Berhad's analyst price target of RM4.15

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of IOI Corporation Berhad (KLSE:IOICORP) by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

View our latest analysis for IOI Corporation Berhad

Is IOI Corporation Berhad Fairly Valued?

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM1.22b RM1.07b RM1.14b RM1.19b RM1.24b RM1.30b RM1.35b RM1.40b RM1.45b RM1.51b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Est @ 4.86% Est @ 4.47% Est @ 4.19% Est @ 4.00% Est @ 3.87% Est @ 3.77% Est @ 3.70% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 8.6% RM1.1k RM908 RM886 RM856 RM823 RM789 RM756 RM723 RM690 RM659

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM8.2b

The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.6%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM1.5b (1 + 3.6%)  (8.6% 3.6%) = RM31b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM31b ( 1 + 8.6%)10= RM13b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM22b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM4.0, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

Important Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at IOI Corporation Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.6%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for IOI Corporation Berhad

Strength

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Food market.

Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market.

Threat

Annual revenue is forecast to grow slower than the Malaysian market.

Moving On:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For IOI Corporation Berhad, there are three fundamental factors you should further examine:

Risks: You should be aware of the 1 warning sign for IOI Corporation Berhad we've uncovered before considering an investment in the company. Future Earnings: How does IOICORP's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the KLSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
A photograph released by the family of Nadav Popplewell, who Hamas have claimed died in an Israeli attack - Family handout/PA Wire

The Foreign Secretary has branded Hamas callous after it released a video of a British-Israeli hostage with a black eye before claiming hours later that he was dead.

Lord Cameron said on Sunday he could give no updates on the fate of 51-year-old Nadav Popplewell but the Foreign Office was investigating.

On Saturday, Hamas said Mr Popplewell had died after being wounded in an Israeli air strike a month ago. It provided no evidence for the claim and the Israeli military has not commented.

Hours earlier, the Palestinian terrorist group released undated footage of Mr Popplewell, who was taken hostage during its Oct 7 attack on Israel, with a black eye.

Dreadful, inhuman people

Lord Cameron told the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: I cant give you any new updates this morning.

Like everyone else, I watched the video on Twitter, X, last night, put out by Hamas of Nadav answering a question as to who he was. And I watched that video and you just think, what callous people they are to do that, to play with the familys emotions in that way.

I met Nadavs family, his sister, and I know the heartbreak theyve been going through for over 200 days, and when you see what Hamas are prepared to do, you just realise the terrible, dreadful, inhuman people, frankly, that we are dealing with.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is trying to work out what has happened and will not say anything until we have better information, he added.

The Tory peer also urged the BBC to call Hamas a terrorist group. Maybe its a moment actually for the BBC to ask itself again, shall we describe these people as terrorists? They are terrorists.

On Saturday, an FCDO spokesman 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.

Hostages brother died in Oct 7 attack

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, while his mother was released during a temporary ceasefire in November.

The campaign group described Mr Popplewell as generous and kind and an avid reader of science fiction novels.

Hamas still holds around 100 of the 250 hostages taken during the Oct 7 attack, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed. More than 30 of the hostages are thought to be dead.

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 Ohio campaign treasurer pleads guilty to stealing nearly $1M in funds

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A Columbus man who served as a campaign treasurer for more than 100 political candidates in the 1980s pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud related to stealing nearly $1 million in campaign funds.

According to the office of the U.S. Attorney Southern District of Ohio, Willis Curlis, 76, was charged by a bill of information in April. Curlis pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of wire fraud for stealing $995,231 in campaign funds.

Court documents state that Curlis defrauded candidates of the money between 2008 and June 2023. Curlis admitted that he wrote checks from bank accounts of certain candidates and one PAC to himself for personal use.

Curlis would then transfer funds between campaign accounts without the candidates knowledge to conceal the deficit he created.

At least 179 checks were written from 18 different candidates and one PAC. In 2016 Curlis sold his home to cover the cost of campaign expenses, including campaign media costs and account balances, to prevent getting caught.

While Curlis has yet to be sentenced, part of his plea agreement is to make full restitution of the funds stolen. Wire fraud is a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Raise your voice for ceasefire

During the Vietnam War, protests were held at universities across the country, including at Fresno State. Though protesters faced immense backlash at the time, we now celebrate their role in standing against unnecessary bloodshed.

At Fresno State, the library commemorates the role that campus unrest played in shaping history. For this reason, I would like to emphasize to our Fresno community that protesters at Fresno State in support of a ceasefire in Palestine are not acting pointlessly, nor are they acting out of malice or ignorance. They are continuing a tradition exemplified through the protests held here during the Vietnam War: Making it clear that our campus refuses to stand in the way of justice, liberty, and human life.

Our community is full of bright, passionate, and caring people. It shows through the volunteer efforts at the Poverello House, the unique music heard from the streets at Porchfest, the artistic displays at the libraries, and countless other points across Fresno.

Its time we extend our communitys compassion toward those suffering at the hand of conflict throughout Palestine, and make our voices heard in favor of justice through a ceasefire, release of non-combatant hostages on both sides, and humanitarian aid.

Angie Johnson, Sanger

You cant eat solar

I just read (Dan) Walters column stating that fallow farm land could be used for solar farms. How about finding away for this land to start producing what it seems Walters loves: food.

Its obvious that you can`t eat solar. Newsom and merry band of morons have done enough damage to this state. Now now lets ruin the only thing people need other than water, and that is food.

Clean air means nothing if you can`t function without the items mentioned in the last paragraph. If Walters and the rest of the folks think the way he does, I feel sorry for them. Facts are facts.

Bill Kandarian, Fresno

Helping with student medical debt

I totally agree with the commentary by Genoveva Islas and Carlina Hansen about the shortage of primary care physicians in the San Joaquin Valley. They refer to mental health problems that go unsolved by this shortage. The problem is widespread, affecting not only mental health problems, but all areas of health.

Opinion

This is more acute in underserved areas of the Central Valley. The San Joaquin Valley Medical Scholarship Foundation (SJVMSF), is addressing this problem by paying a significant amount of the medical tuition debt of primary care residents that are from the Valley, agree to stay local, commit to work in an underserved area for four years and have a formal debt with a loan company, bank or an online loan company.

Their debt is as high as $260,000 to $300,000, depending where they go to medical school, and including activities of daily living, it goes as high as $400,000. The SJVMSF awards $220,000 over a four-year period. Please visit our website for more information at www.sjvmedicalscholarship.org.

Dr. Sergio D. Ilic, Fresno

Many thanks to reading tutor

With the school year coming to a close, Im writing to celebrate someone who has dedicated the last four years to supporting our students. As an AmeriCorps member with Reading Corps, Leticia Serna has focused on providing our students with extra practice and support to improve their reading skills.

Over the past four years, she has given a total of 3,000 hours to help our students succeed. Leticia works one-on-one or in small groups with students who need extra help building their skills. With Leticia supplementing the excellent work our teachers are doing in their classrooms, weve seen wonderful growth.

Leticia was part of my first cohort of tutors in 2021. She started tutoring students on zoom, then moved to in-person. She has been very adaptable and helped her school grow into one of the most successful sites in our program. Having Leticias support has been vital.

I couldnt let the school year end without acknowledging Leticia and all shes done for our students. As Leticia moves on to her next adventure this summer, well have big shoes to fill in the fall. If youre interested in joining our team as a reading tutor, please visit join.readingandmath.org.

Nick Chacon, Fresno

New perspectives needed

Like the daily harangue on the KMJ radio morning show, some things never change.

Oh, that Christina Musson and John Broeske could walk in someone elses shoes for a day.

Jim Doyle, Fresno

No males in womens jails

You may have noticed an interesting billboard up on Highway 99 north of Fresno. It reads No Males In Womens Jails! Womens Liberation Front placed it to alert the community to human rights abuses in the Central California Womens Facility in Chowchilla.

In 2020, California passed Senate Bill 132 to allow male inmates to transfer into womens facilities based on their self-proclaimed identity as transgender. The law allows incarcerated men who have no intentions of transitioning to transfer into a womans facility.

We received desperate calls from women in custody facing these men, so we filed a lawsuit against the state in 2021 to defend their rights.

One male inmate that transferred in will be in court in Madera for a preliminary charges on May 17 to face two rape charges committed inside the Chowchilla facility.

The state Office of the Inspector Generals audit revealed that the prisons must accept male transferees. Women who complain face retaliation and punishment.

The community may not have known any of this. Workers and businesses serving the prison are being forced into this terrible violation of womens human rights. We invite you to let your elected officials know how you feel.

Sharon Byrne, Santa Barbara
Ahed Bseso lay on the kitchen table in her home in northern Gaza, watching as her uncle amputated her injured right leg with a knife. Standing by, her mother cried, Ahed is dead!

But 18-year-old Bseso was very much alive, and she has survived to tell her story, from a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina.

Bseso said that on December 19 last year, she went to the top floor of her house in Gaza to get a cellphone signal when an Israeli tank outside fired at her building. It destroyed part of her homes wall, which came crashing down on her leg, along with heavy debris. With her neighborhood under siege and no possibility of medical attention, her uncle, who used to work as an orthopedic surgeon, used kitchen supplies to amputate her leg below the knee and dress it with unsterilized gauze.

The days that followed were horrifically painful.

For four days, I couldnt leave the house because the Israelis wouldnt let me, she told CNN through a translator, at the Shriners Childrens hospital. There was no medication I could take to inhibit the pain or to help me with my condition. So, I just sat in agony for four days.

Ahed Bsesos right leg was amputated at home in Gaza after a tank fired at her building, bringing a wall and debris crashing down on her. Shes seen here in a wheelchair accompanied by PCRFs Tareq Hailat and Annie Clyborne. - Celina Odeh

The video of her amputation went viral and caught the attention of the Palestine Childrens Relief Fund (PCRF), a US organization that provides free health care to thousands of injured and ill Palestinian children in the Middle East. The organization worked for weeks to evacuate her from northern Gaza and bring her to the United States for medical care, according to Tareq Hailat, head of the Treatment Abroad program at PCRF.

She is one of three Palestinians who received PCRFs help to come to the US for leg injury treatment.

At least 1,000 children in Gaza have had one or both legs amputated, UNICEF reported in December. Though he couldnt give an exact figure, UNICEF spokesperson Joe English told CNN that the number has since grown.

Nearly 26,000 children  or just over 2% of Gazas child population  were killed or injured in the Gaza Strip in the first six months of the Israel-Hamas war, according to international nongovernmental organization Save the Children. From October 7, 2023  the date of the Hamas attack on Israel  to early April, more than 13,800 children were killed and at least 12,009 were injured, the organization said.

Avoiding amputations

Two-year-old Jood Damos house was struck by a tank shell on December 26 last year, killing his mother and fracturing his right leg.

His father, Ahmed Damo, who accompanied him to the US, told CNN that the toddler witnessed his mother dying. To this day, he still has episodes where he asks about his mom, he said. Sometimes, he wakes up in the middle of the night, just crying and screaming, and asking about his mother.

Now, doctors at another hospital in Chicago are assessing whether his injured leg will respond to treatment and grow at the same rate as his left leg. If not, it could significantly delay his path to recovery and treatment plan, PCRF said.

Two-year-old Jood Damo with a PCRF staffer. - PCRF

Ayham Musalm, 13, said his left leg was fractured and had glass shrapnel lodged in his knee when debris from a strike on a neighbors house came straight into his home on December 10. He went months, however, without anyone identifying what was wrong. I wasnt able to see any physician for a long time, he told CNN. Then one physician just sewed my wound, and said it wasnt serious and sent me home.

In the care of Shriners Childrens hospital in Greenville, Musalm has had access to imaging and MRI processes, which helped American experts find the shards of glass inside his knee. That led to surgery and further treatment, and he avoided amputation. He is now in physical therapy.

It took PCRF weeks and sometimes months to get children out of Gaza. Besides the time needed to secure their US visas, evacuating the children  or even moving them from one part of the strip to the other  required Israeli approval, which can be a complicated process, according to Hailat, who works on the evacuations.

This delay in treatment for such injuries can result in grave repercussions, said Dr. Amber Alayyan from Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), an international aid NGO. The longer they wait without care, the worse its going to be, she said.

Alayyan, who has traveled in and out of Gaza several times, said the enclave could have handled the care for such injuries before its healthcare system was devastated by the war.

We see people who, despite their burns, walk into the clinic without a jaw because the healthcare system has completely collapsed and there are no spaces to take care of these people in the hospitals, she said. There were 3,500 beds in the hospitals in Gaza before the war. But there are so many displaced people living, squatting, seeking shelter in hospitals, that theres not even space for the patients.

As a result, the wounds that these patients are suffering from are beginning to literally rot, she added. They smell now.

In these overwhelming conditions, doctors are struggling to identify infections and types of injuries, and the focus is entirely on saving lives.

You wouldnt necessarily need to carry out these life-saving amputations because you would have had a system that functioned. You would have had reconstructive surgery. Possibly, you would have had immediate lifesaving surgery possible, and they would have been able to save these limbs, she said. And now we are doing everything we can just to save lives in the moment.

PCRFs Hailat said he doesnt know if Bsesos injury required an amputation either. But with Gaza under siege, and no immediate medical attention, hospital care, and sterilized equipment available, amputation was the only choice. When she arrived in the United States, the bone in her other leg was also deeply infected. Doctors feared that she may have needed both legs amputated, but with adequate care and treatment, she has avoided that outcome.

An anxious wait to return home

Evacuating to the United States is not the obvious answer for all injured children, Hailat said. The country has accepted 20 children from Gaza for treatment, but Hailat said he has rerouted 17 of them to other nations.

Some injuries are so severe that Hailat said he has to choose medical care as quickly as possible  which means staying in the region  over expertise and the advanced level of care in the United States.

He also said he wants to ensure that the children who are evacuated to the US need treatment thats specifically available in the country. Were trying to limit how many people we bring to the United States. We would much rather bring people to local areas and local countries around Gaza, he said. However, if specific treatment of that particular child is needed to be done in the United States, then we will go out of our way to ensure that happens.

Culture is also important for care and recovery, Hailat said. Culturally, you dont want to separate them so far away from their homeland that its difficult for them to adapt, he said. And I want them to be close to Gaza. This is a very sensitive time, and I dont want them to feel as though we are separating them from their country.

Back home, Bseso said her mother fell sick as malnourishment has plagued northern Gaza. She worriedly waits for more news and updates from home, and she knows that her family would be trying to make their way to the top of their residential building, to find a cell signal to contact her  the same ritual that put her in the Israeli line of attack.

Her hope is to reunite with them in a safe place. We really need our family to be with us together, she said.

Musalm, too, wants his treatment to finish so he can return to Gaza and see his family.

But there is no knowing when that may be. After their treatments, which Hailat said will most likely take a year, PCRF will ensure it is safe in Gaza before returning the children there. We will not do that if it puts them in danger, he said. So we will have to wait to ensure that Gaza is able to be a safe location for them to return.

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Students and their professors are asking universities to divest from Israel.

At Indiana University, protesters say they've been met with a militarized response from police.

Professors say the current protests share stark differences and chilling similarities to past ones.

On April 25, a day after Indiana University made a controversial change to its protest policies, students built an encampment on the school's Dunn Meadow.

The meadow had been designated a free speech lawn since 1969, when the school experienced increased student protests over tuition hikes, anti-Black racism, and the Vietnam War.

Multiple generations of activists are now gathered on that same ground to protest Israel's war on Gaza  though the police presence was much different than what protesters before had known or experienced, per people who spoke to Business Insider.

The decision made on April 24 required that the "temporary or permanent installation of structures in Dunn Meadow (including, but not limited to posters, tents, etc.) at any time must be approved in advance by the university and, if approved, adhere to the guidelines provided by the university," according to a statement from Indiana University President Pamela Whitten.

The university enforced its policy against the encampments by calling police to arrest demonstrators who did not comply with the rule against "unapproved temporary or permanent structures," it said in a press release.

A statement from Whitten shared with Business Insider said the policy change was made to "balance free speech and safety in the context of similar protests occurring nationally."

The change resulted in what Barbara Dennis, a 64-year-old professor at Indiana University's School of Education and self-described "longtime peace activist," called a "militarized" police response.

A Palestinian flag waves over the Indiana University Liberated Zone. Isabella Volmert/AP Photo

She joined the campus protests on April 25 alongside her husband, an IU staff member. Within hours, Dennis was detained  and is now appealing a one-year ban from entering the university campus.

Dennis said the response was unlike anything she had witnessed on campus since she began teaching there in 2001 and went against everything she knew beforehand about the university's history.

From Vietnam to the Israel-Hamas War

When Dunn Meadow was established in 1969, official university policy dictated that overnight encampments were not allowed. Despite this, Dennis said the policy had never been enforced until now.

She said that during the Vietnam War era, South African Apartheid in the 1980s, and the first Gulf War, protest tents were left up in the meadow, sometimes for months.

Dennis described similar scenes while on campus witnessing the Iraq War protests and the Occupy Wall Street movement. She said a kitchen was erected during protests, and people slept there overnight.

"It's not just that the militarization is new," Dennis told BI, "IU had previously allowed people to camp in the meadow in peaceful protests without invoking its own policy on overnight tents."

IU did not respond to questions about enforcing its overnight tent policy in the past and pointed Business Insider to public statements from Whitten.

'We know this kind of thing has happened on college campuses'

Videos and images from college campuses across the nation over the past weeks show a mass police presence and dozens or hundreds of demonstrators being detained. In the US, over 2,000 demonstrators have been arrested so far, The New York Times reported.

At Columbia and City College of New York, 300 protesters were arrested in one night on April 30.

As students face university and police responses to their protests, school faculty and staff are also taking a stand and, in some cases, protecting students by getting in front of the police or forming human chains.

Pro-Palestinian protesters lock arms at the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University in New York City. Jia Wu/AFP via Getty Images

Dennis said that when she was arrested, she and two other faculty members tried to stand between students and police. Though she said that none of the protests on college campuses that she's ever participated in or witnessed have required professors to protect students similarly, she said that college campuses have sometimes experienced worse violence.

"We just passed that anniversary of the Kent State massacre," Dennis told BI. "We know this kind of thing has happened on college campuses. College protests haven't been completely free of this kind of military police response."

On May 4, 1970, four unarmed students at Kent State University were killed and nine others were injured when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on protesters opposed to the expansion of the Vietnam War. None of the guardsmen received criminal convictions for their actions.

The Indiana University Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Passing the torch to Gen Z

Bryce Greene, a Gen Z graduate student at IU who helped found the school's Palestine Solidarity Committee, helped to launch the encampment to "protest the genocide and, precisely, of our school's complicity in it," he told Business Insider.

The main goals of the encampments, Greene said, are to get the university to disclose any investments in Israeli companies or weapons manufacturers and divest from them.

Some students demand the school cut ties with the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana. IU's STEM departments have research partnerships with the facility, which helps in the research and development of warship and submarine systems. The University also announced late last year that it had invested $111 million in partnership with the NSWC to advance "strategic initiatives focused on advancements in microelectronics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and cybersecurity" for defense purposes.

Greene is also appealing a five-year ban on campus after his own arrest on April 27.

Representatives for IU did not immediately respond to questions asking why there were discrepancies in bans, but they pointed Business Insider to statements about campus safety made by Whitten. The ACLU of Indiana is suing the campus, claiming these bans violate free speech rights.

All the arrested protesters, including professors, have been banned from Indiana University's campus for a year. Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

While on campus, however, Greene said he and other students witnessed faculty shielding students from police and offering help to students who lost housing due to school suspensions.

Dennis said that in her holding cell, she helped comfort students as they comforted her back. She sang "old hippie songs and freedom ballads" to herself after everyone else was booked.

"I knew things were going to be OK, Dennis said. "I was the oldest person arrested that day."

Greene said many faculty members feel similarly to students and have some institutional power to help advance the cause.

"Faculty are typically more permanent fixtures of the institution. If they are upset, well, that causes long-term problems that can't be swept under the rug for a year or two," Greene said.

'How can we ignore what's going on and consider ourselves educators?'

Greene and Dennis are both supporting the student encampment following their arrests. Dennis still returns to the encampment  she received a stay on her ban as part of her appeal  and encourages other educators to participate in the student-led movement.

"I'm unsupportive of war as an answer to any sort of human or ecological problem, I think we need to push our moral and intellectual capabilities to really solve our problems in peaceful ways," Dennis told BI.

The current student protests have the fixtures of something from the Vietnam War era: student conversations on blankets, an outdoor library, and teach-ins by university faculty. At the IU encampment, Dennis is participating in a teach-in herself.

"UNICEF has said that Palestine is the worst place in the world to be a child," Dennis said. "I mean, how can we ignore that and consider ourselves educators? That just doesn't seem fathomable to me."



Read the original article on Business Insider
GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  The Georgetown County Sheriffs Office is asking the public to help locate a woman last seen on Friday.

Heather Crawford, 31, was last seen at her 1191 Montford Road home. She is described as 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighing 130 pounds with brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing dark gray yoga pants and an aqua blue shirt.

Anyone with information about her is asked to call (843)-546-5102.

* * *

Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
Georgia Mom Found Dead After Being Attacked by 'Several Aggressive Dogs,' Police Say

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that 35-year-old Courtney Williams was found dead on May 9

WALB Scene of apparent dog attack in Georgia on May 9, 2024

A Georgia mother was found dead earlier this week, just days before Mother's Day, following a dog attack that left "several" children  reportedly two of her own  hospitalized with injuries, authorities said.

On May 9, the body of 35-year-old Courtney Williams was discovered by police following reports of an apparent late-afternoon encounter with "several aggressive dogs," according to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

Local NBC and ABC affiliate WALB reported that the incident left two of her own children injured.

Related: 4-Year-Old's 'Scalp Was Torn Off' in Dog Attack, Says Relative, as Mom and Boyfriend Arrested

In the release, the GBI said that authorities headed to Webster Road in Quitman around 4:45 p.m. local time following "a complaint of multiple minors being attacked by a dog."

Upon arrival, deputies for the Brooks County Sheriffs Office spotted "several aggressive dogs on the property," per the GBI.

After the incident, which WALB reported happened at a bus stop behind Brooks County Middle School, a person transported "several minors to a local hospital."

Police then "subsequently located" Williams' body "in the yard of the home," per the GBI release. "An autopsy will be performed by the GBI Medical Examiners Office to determine the cause and manner of death," the release said.

Google Maps The Georgia Bureau of Investigation headquarters

I do feel for the family and for the kids because now they are going to have to celebrate Mothers Day without their mother, a neighbor told WALB.

Another Brooks County resident told the outlet that locals "dump dogs all over the county and no one can get help with them because theres no county animal control."

"This is so sad, they added.

Related: Man Who Killed Angie Harmon's Dog Said It 'Attacked' Him, But Police Found No Visible Injuries

A tribute later shared on Facebook by a woman named Crystal Cox, who said she's Williams' sister-in-law, read that "the neighbor's dogs attacked her and the kids."

"Her son Kayden didn't get away fast enough as he pushed his sister out of harm's way," she continued.

"He was hurt pretty bad and [is] doing good, they stapled him up [he's] in pain and at my house resting," she added.

The GBI said that the case is "active and ongoing" and they are encouraging those with information to reach out to the GBI Investigative Office in Thomasville.

According to statistics shared by Forbes in October (citing both the National Library of Medicine and American Veterinary Association), around 30 to 50 people annually die due to dog bites, which account for less than 1% of 4.5 million bite incidents each year.

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Read the original article on People.
The Georgia Water Coalition has released its 13th Dirty Dozen report, spotlighting 12 critical issues impacting Georgias waterways and the well-being of its 11 million residents.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

Contrary to misconceptions, the report does not focus solely on polluted water bodies but underscores the broader challenges threatening the states water resources.

In a statement accompanying the release, the coalition highlighted the consequences of rampant economic development on Georgias waterways. The states status as a prime destination for business comes with a price when growth outpaces planning, existing laws lack enforcement, and funding for vital agencies falls short.

The report outlines a range of concerns across various regions:

Abercorn Creek (Effingham/Chatham counties) : Threats to water supplies due to growth spurred by the Port of Savannah.

Altamaha River (Wayne County) : Continued pollution from a pulp mill impacting Georgias Little Amazon.

Conasauga River (Whitfield County) : Persistent contamination of drinking water sources by forever chemicals.

Coosa River (Floyd County) : Groundwater pollution during coal ash cleanup.

Flint River (Decatur County) : Environmental risks associated with a monkey breeding facility.

Floridan Aquifer (South Georgia): Stress on water supplies due to coastal county growth.

Georgias Rivers, Streams, and Water Resources (Statewide):

Energy grid strain and water supply stress from data centers.

Soil contamination of creeks due to lax enforcement of development laws.

Slow progress in limiting algae causing pollution.

Concerns over the privatization of public resources.

Ogeechee River (Multiple Jurisdictions): Health threats from toxic forever chemicals in fish.

Okefenokee Swamp (Charlton County): State leaders actions endangering the natural wonder.

The report serves as a clarion call for action, urging policymakers, stakeholders, and residents to address these pressing issues before irreversible damage occurs.

[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.
Demonstrators hold a rally to protest against a bill on "foreign agents" in Tbilisi

Demonstrators hold a rally to protest against a bill on "foreign agents" in Tbilisi

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze vowed on Sunday to push ahead with a law on "foreign agents" that has sparked a political crisis, after opponents of the bill rallied in one of the largest protests seen since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Kobakhidze told a televised briefing that the ruling Georgian Dream party would secure passage of the bill in a third reading this week, and threatened protesters with prosecution if they resort to violence.

Georgia's opposition has called on opponents of the bill to stage on all-night protest outside parliament to prevent lawmakers from entering the building on Monday, when they are due to begin debating the bill's third reading.

The bill requires organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence or face punitive fines.

Western countries and Georgia's opposition denounce it as authoritarian and Russian-inspired. Critics liken it to Russia's 2012 "foreign agent" law, which has been used to hound critics of Vladimir Putin's Kremlin.

The dispute over the bill has come to be seen as key to whether Georgia, which has had traditionally warm relations with the West, continues its push for European Union and NATO membership, or instead builds ties with Russia.

The EU, which granted Georgia candidate status in December, has repeatedly said the bill could jeopardise Tbilisi's further integration with the bloc.

Georgian Dream's founder, billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, said last month that the law was necessary to assert Georgian sovereignty against Western powers which he said wanted to drag the country into a confrontation with Russia.

On Saturday evening, a crowd of protesters braved driving rain to stage the largest protest yet, with several columns of marchers shutting down much of central Tbilisi.

A Reuters estimate, using the Mapchecking crowd counting tool, placed the number of protesters at around 50,000 people.

Some Georgian media and activists have put the crowd size in the hundreds of thousands, citing their own calculations. The ruling party said 18,000 attended, but did not explain its reasoning.

(Reporting by Felix Light and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Ron Popeski and David Holmes)
Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism, presents the Civil Society Situation Report on Anti-Semitism.German anti-Semitism commissioner condemns Eurovision protests. Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The German government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, has condemned the protests against Israel's participation in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest this weekend.

"It is a common anti-Semitic trait to hold Israelis collectively liable for the actions of their government or their army, which they themselves often condemn," he told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper.

"The progressive Israeli cultural scene in particular is already suffering considerably from this and is facing increasing international isolation," he said.

The latest Eurovision was one of the most controversial in recent memory, coming over seven months after the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Demonstrations took place around the Eurovision venue in Malmo, Sweden, directed against the organizers' decision to allow Israel to compete and to ban Palestinian flags at the event.

On Saturday evening, the police removed climate activist Greta Thunberg as well as other demonstrators from the site of protests.

The war, which has devastated Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, erupted when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7.
German Chancellor on Ukraine's Peace Summit: This could be a big step

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sees potential in the Ukraine conference planned for next month.

Source: Scholz during a discussion organised by by Redaktionsnetz Deutschland (RND) in Potsdam, writes Tagesschau, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "Even if the main issue of peace is not discussed there yet, but rather the issues that are also part of it, this would be a big step," Scholz said.

"You could develop further from this," he added.

Scholz also voiced hope that Arab countries, India, South Africa, Brazil, and China would attend the gathering.

"I really want countries from the Arabian Peninsula, India, South Africa, Brazil and, if possible, China to be there as well," the German Chancellor added.

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.

On 11 May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he will attend the Ukrainian Peace Summit in Switzerland in June.

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MAURY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  A drivers dash camera captured a terrifying moment Wednesday as an EF3 tornado crossed over Interstate 65 near Columbia.

The driver came to a stop just as the tornado was passing over the interstate. Thats when, amid a blur of rain and wind, a white van could be seen tumbling down from the sky. The van landed upside down on the side of the highway.

The man was on the phone with his wife as it was all unfolding. During the video, they can be heard praying, with the man repeatedly shouting, God please protect me. He and his wife, who was driving behind him, were uninjured.

Maury County hit by EF3 tornado, per preliminary NWS report

At this time, its still unclear if the driver of the van was injured. A survey team from the National Weather Service said the tornado touched down near Spring Hill around 5:45 p.m., reaching wind speeds of up to 140 miles per hour and stretching half a mile wide.

One woman died after her mobile home was thrown into the trees by the tornado and at least 12 more people were injured, according to first responders. Officials said the woman who died was inside her home when the tornado struck.

Gov. Bill Lee spent time Thursday surveying the damage and visiting some of the hardest hit areas, including where the death was reported. Maury County Emergency Agency Director Jeff Hardy told Lee and other state officials that 105 homes were damaged in the storms.

Woman dead, 100+ homes damaged after tornado tears through Maury County

Maury County was one of several areas hit by tornadoes during the severe weather on Wednesday, May 8. So far, officials have confirmed that at least six tornadoes touched down in the Middle Tennessee area.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Gold bars, basement carpeting and more. Heres what prosecutors say bought off a US senator

A version of this story appears in CNNs What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey faces his second, distinct bribery and corruption trial in seven years starting Monday.

This new case is a complicated affair involving multiple gold bars, envelopes of cash, a Mercedes and a lot more that, prosecutors say, the powerful former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his new wife (they got married during the alleged bribery scheme) obtained in exchange for helping a halal meat monopoly, granting favors for people from Egypt and Qatar and trying to influence a New Jersey prosecution.

Menendez, who has until June to announce if hes running for reelection, has pleaded not guilty and denied all of the charges. He told CNNs Manu Raju on Capitol Hill last week, I am looking forward to proving my innocence.

Also pleading not guilty and denying wrongdoing are his wife Nadine, who is also a named as a defendant, and two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who have ties to Egypt and Qatar, respectively. Another man, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe, on the other hand, has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Heres what prosecutors say the senator and his wife got:

Gold bars

Prosecutors say Hana and Daibes gave Menendez and his wife gold bars, which were seized by the FBI from the Menendez residence. After returning from a trip to Egypt and getting a ride home from the airport from Daibes driver, prosecutors say Menendez searched online for the price of a gold bar.

Two of the gold bars found at Menendez's house during a court-authorized search of the home. - US District Court Southern District of New York

Envelopes full of cash

The indictment includes photos of piles of cash next to envelopes spread across jackets on which the senators name is embroidered. There are piles of $20 bills and $50 bills in one photo and $100 bills in another photo.

Prosecutors included this photo of a jacket bearing Menendez's name underneath $100 bills. - US District Court Southern District of New York

Prosecutors included this photo of a jacket bearing Menendez's name underneath stacks of $20 and $50 bills. - US District Court Southern District of New York

They also found cash in closets, a safe and Nadine Menendezs safety deposit box. Some of the envelopes, according to prosecutors, bore fingerprints or DNA belonging to Daibes or his driver.

Total cash discovered: More than $480,000 in the home and more than $70,000 in the safety deposit box.

Later court filings that added charges in the case are more specific, describing bags full of cash being found on top of hangers in the senators basement and stuffed into boots in the closet.

Convertible Mercedes

The 2019 vehicle, which prosecutors value at more than $60,000, was parked in the driveway at the Menendez home when it was raided.

The indictment describes Nadine Menendez obtaining $15,000 in cash from Uribe in a parking lot the day before she picked the vehicle up and put $15,000 as a down payment. Uribe is alleged to have then hid his monthly financing payments for the vehicle.

Nadine Menendez purchased the Mercedes-Benz C-class convertible with a $15,000 down payment the day after prosecutors say she was given $15,000 in a parking lot by Uribe. They included this photo in court documents. - US District Court Southern District of New York

Later, after the raid, she would write Uribe a $21,000 check, which prosecutors say was an effort at cleanup, making the gift look like a loan.

Nadine Menendez needed a new car, apparently after hitting and killing a jaywalker in Bogota, New Jersey, in December 2018. A police report was filed but she faced no charges.

Mortgage payment

Prosecutors say the senator and his wife also tried to cover up around $23,000 in help Nadine Menendez got from a halal meat company owned by Hana that bailed her out of foreclosure on a mortgage. Reimbursement checks were paid in December 2022, months after the initial raid on the senators house.

Payment for low- or no-show work

Hanas company paid Nadine Menendez $10,000 on three occasions, according to prosecutors. At the time, they allege, she was acting as a sort of go-between for Egyptian officials, Hana and the senator.

Engagement ring

Prosecutors describe a recorded conversation between Hana and a confidential source in which Hana is described as obtaining $150,000 from a man to purchase a car and an engagement ring for Nadine Menendez in exchange for the senator giving a push in a New Jersey criminal case that saved the man three years.

Basement carpeting

Prosecutors said in their February court filing that Nadine Menendez arranged for carpeting to be installed in her basement, apparently in exchange for setting up dinners between the senator and officials  and also for his call, according to prosecutors, attempting to interfere in a New Jersey state prosecution.

Furniture

The initial September 2023 indictment makes several mentions of furniture and furnishings provided by Hana and Daibes but does not go into specifics.

Formula One tickets

In a superseding indictment filed in March, prosecutors allege Menendez obtained tickets to Formula One races in 2022 and 2023 for Nadine Menendezs relative. Menendez made comments supportive of Qatar during that period and lobbied Qatari officials to invest in Daibes real estate venture, which they ultimately did.

Daibes is described as sending the senator pictures of luxury watches priced between roughly $10,000 and $24,000, but it is not clear from the filing if Menendez ever obtained a timepiece.

Whats the quid pro quo?

There is a long list of actions prosecutors say Menendez undertook in exchange for all of these alleged bribes. They allege Menendez, in his prior role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

 lobbied the US Department of Agriculture to maintain Hanas monopoly on US halal meat exports to Egypt, even though it drove up prices.

 met with Egyptian officials in exchange for cash.

 gave Hana not-classified but also not-public information about employees at the US embassy in Egypt.

 passed on information about US military sales to Egypt to Hana and signed off on certain sales.

 lobbied Qataris on behalf of Daibes real estate scheme and supported resolutions in the Senate supportive of Qatar.

 tried to influence court cases in New Jersey related to Uribe and his associates. Uribe, recall, is now cooperating with prosecutors.

 tried to disrupt a federal prosecution of Daibes.

Again, Menendez denies all the charges, and the jury that will get to hear his side of the story will begin to be selected in New York starting Monday. Nadine Menendezs trial is slated for July.

Perhaps Menendez and his wife can convincingly argue the mortgage and car payments were a loan. Perhaps Menendez will argue he did not know about payments related to dinners and meetings organized by his wife. The envelopes of cash prosecutors say bore Daibes fingerprints may be more difficult to explain.

Menendez escaped previous bribery charge

Menendez is used to being under the microscope of federal prosecutors. The Department of Justice ultimately decided not to retry Menendez in 2018 after a previous jury deadlocked over whether he accepted trips and gifts from a friend, an ophthalmologist named Salomon Melgen.

Melgen went to prison in a separate Medicare fraud scheme, but that sentence was commuted by then-President Donald Trump after lobbying by Menendez on Melgens behalf.

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Russian troops attacked 27 settlements in Kharkiv Oblast over the past day, killing three people and injuring five, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 12.

As Russian forces launched new offensive operations in the north of Kharkiv Oblast on May 10, a number of border settlements have come under heavy strikes.

A massive attack on Vovchansk, a town only some five kilometers (three miles) south of the Russo-Ukrainian border, damaged dozens of houses on May 11 and killed a 51-year-old man, Syniehubov said. An 83-year-old woman and four men aged between 39 and 64 were reportedly injured.

A 38-year-old man was wounded in Vovchansk in another attack overnight on May 12.

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Dozens of houses and residential buildings were destroyed and damaged after Russian morning airstrikes against the town, Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported.

A family of four was trapped under the rubble. First responders rescued two men and another one was able to get out on his own, according to the service. A 73-year-old woman was killed, Syniehubov said.



Russian forces also shelled the village of Hlyboke killing a 63-year-old man, the governor reported.

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.

Over the past two days, over 4,000 civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been evacuated from their homes amid renewed Russian attacks on the region, Syniehubov said.

Read also: Surviving through the darkness: How Kharkiv endures new wave of brutal Russian attacks (Photos)

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) -France secured on Sunday new jobs and investments with Internet giant Amazon, healthcare company Pfizer and Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley, as the country prepared to host a key foreign investment summit.

President Emmanuel Macron kicks off the annual 'Choose France' event, aimed at winning big business from overseas, on Monday. The 2023 edition raised 13 billion euros ($14 billion) of foreign investment.

The French presidency said on Sunday that Amazon would announce an extra 1.2 billion euro investment in France which could create 3,000 new jobs, while healthcare companies Pfizer and AstraZeneca announced new investments worth a total of nearly $1 billion.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire added that Morgan Stanley, which plans to raise its overall headcount in Paris to 500 by 2025, was adding 100 staff in the French capital.

Macron wants to burnish Paris' role as a top European business capital. The French economy, the euro zones second largest, faces pressure over its budget deficit, while its first-quarter growth was just 0.2 percent.

COMPETITION FROM U.S., CHINA

Paris has traditionally lagged New York and London as a global financial hub, with the closely watched Z/Yen survey published in March ranking New York as the world's top financial centre, with London in second place.

Le Maire said France and the European Union as a whole still had to do more against competition from China and the U.S., with French oil major TotalEnergies saying last month that it was looking at having its primary stock market listing in New York.

At an EU meeting in Brussels this week, Le Maire said he would reaffirm the need for a capital markets union to facilitate investments in new areas of the economy such as renewable energy and artificial intelligence.

"Europe needs money. If not, it will continue to lose out in terms of productivity to the United States and China."

Le Maire added that as part of the 'Choose France' event, he would host meetings on Monday with the CEOs of JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, among others.

"These roundtables will give us an opportunity to once again reach out to the big financial investors so they can continue to set up sites in Paris and finance the major industrial and economic projects on which we are working with the President," said Le Maire.

($1 = 0.9286 euros)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Jan Harvey)
The whooping cough outbreak has prompted GPs to bring back masks in their surgeries.

At least five babies have died this year in England and Wales from the infection, dubbed the 100-day cough, and officials are concerned about its spread, with almost 3,000 confirmed cases so far.

Some general practices are now asking patients to wear a face covering when attending an appointment or while travelling to the surgery in a return to Covid-style measures.

And at least one surgery has advised its patients to wait outside before being called to appointments.

Parkside Family Practice in Reading, Berkshire, has told all patients they must wear a mask again.

For infection control purposes, please do wear a face mask when coming to our surgery, a statement on its website said.

The Parkview Surgery in Uxbridge, Middlesex, told patients: If you have a face to face appointment, the doctors ask that you wear a face mask to your appointment.

West Hampstead Medical Centre in north west London has emailed all its patients warning of a local upsurge in measles and whooping cough.

If you have a cough, please wear a mask in the practice, it warned, adding that anyone with symptoms should book a telephone call but be available to attend in person within 30 minutes.

It added that parents should then notify the reception you have arrived but wait outside to be called in when your appointment starts.

The Weardale Practice in Stanhope, Bishop Auckland, is also asking all patients who have symptoms of a respiratory infection to wear a mask when attending the practice in updated guidance.

NHS updates infection control guidance

The moves follow updated NHS England infection control guidance earlier this year in the wake of a measles outbreak and increasing whooping cough cases. It advised reinstating mask-wearing measures where appropriate.

The guidance says if possible or tolerated the patient should wear a surgical face mask in communal areas to avoid spreading the highly contagious diseases to others.

The decision on mask-wearing is made by local service providers depending on how bad infection rates in the area are.

Whooping cough is as contagious as measles and more so than Covid-19, with young children who are not protected at the greatest risk from serious complications.

Dr Philippa Kaye, a London-based GP, told the Mail on Sunday patients with suspected whooping cough should wear a mask while travelling.

The outbreak has been widespread across the country but the south east and London have seen the most cases so far.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed that five babies  all under three months of age  died after contracting the infection in the first three months of the year.

There have been reports of further fatalities since, including Evie-Grace Lewis, who died last week at just 15 days old.

It is the highest number of deaths caused by whooping cough in a decade and experts fear more will follow as case numbers could hit 40-year highs.

The surge in cases has been attributed to circulation of the disease being slowed during the pandemic and lockdowns, as well as the decreasing uptake of the whooping cough vaccine, particularly among pregnant women.

The latest figures show just 37 per cent of pregnant women in London had been vaccinated by the end of last year, down from 61 per cent before the pandemic.

Across the country, take-up fell by 19 per cent in pregnant women, while take-up among under-fives fell by 4 per cent.

The NHS recommends all pregnant women are vaccinated against whooping cough between 16 and 32 weeks to protect their baby in the first weeks of its life before it can get its own vaccinations.

Confusion over vaccine responsibility

However, experts claim there is confusion about whether the GP or antenatal team should be responsible for offering the jab.

The NHS website says the whooping cough vaccine, first made available for pregnant women in 2012, is available from the GP and some antenatal clinics, where expectant mothers go for check-ups during pregnancy and may be offered the vaccination.

Dr David Elliman, a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said a lack of clarity as to who is responsible for giving the vaccine to expectant mothers was the most probable reason behind low uptake.

There is no evidence that the low uptake of whooping cough vaccine in pregnancy is due to women declining the vaccine, he said. More likely is a lack of clarity as to who is responsible for giving it  primary care or maternity.

The vaccine is 92 per cent effective in protecting a newborn baby if given to the mother while pregnant, providing protection before the baby can get its six-in-one vaccination at eight weeks old.

Immunity from the jab passes through the placenta to protect newborn babies in their first weeks of life.

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Graham: Israel Should Do Whatever They Want to Palestinians Like When U.S. Nuked Japan

Sen. Lindsey Graham doesnt want Israel to hold back on its assault in Gaza, comparing the Israeli militarys efforts against Hamas to when the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, killing more than 100,000 civilians.

Right now, one million Palestinians  including many women and children  are huddled in the southern Gaza city of Rafah while 300,000 have fled the area as Israel advances its ground invasion. Already Israeli tanks have entered Rafah. The United Nations warned that if Israel invades Rafah, puts hundreds of thousands of civilians at imminent risk of death. For nearly a week, no humanitarian aid has entered the Gaza strip due to an Israeli blockade, exacerbating famine conditions. As of May 6, at least 34,735 Palestinians have died during Israels assault, while another 78,108 have been injured.

But the Republican senator from South Carolina, a notorious war hawk, showed no mercy for Palestinian civilians during an interview on Sundays Meet the Press.

When we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by the bombing, Hiroshima [and] Nagasaki with nuclear weapons, Graham told NBCs Kristen Welker. That was the right decision.

Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war, he added. They cant afford to lose.

WATCH: Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC compares the Israel-Hamas war to WWII:



Why did we drop two  nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? To end a war we couldnt afford to lose.  That was the right decision.  Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. pic.twitter.com/Wo5wUQaYpF  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 12, 2024

In recent days, President Joe Biden has held back some weapons shipments to Israel, including 2,000-pound Mark 84 bombs that can level a city block. Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs, Biden told CNN this past week. The Biden administration shared a summary of a report to Congress on Friday that concluded Israels use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza probably violated international humanitarian law. A New York Times investigation in December discovered that one-ton U.S.-made bombs were responsible for some of the most devastating attacks on Palestinian civilians since Oct. 7.

When moderator Kristen Welker pointed out to Graham that Republican former President Ronald Reagan withheld weapons shipments to Israel in the 1980s during its conflict with Lebanon, Graham returned to World War II.

Can I say this? Why is it okay for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? he said. Why was it okay for us to do that? I thought it was okay.

So, Israel do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. Whatever you have to do, Graham concluded.

Welker noted that even U.S. military officials have said that the U.S. has developed more precise weapons since WWII, but Graham responded by saying those military officials were full of crap.

Yeah, these military officials that youre talking about are full of crap, Graham said.

Grahams interview followed Secretary of State Antony Blinkens Meet the Press appearance where Blinken said, absent a credible plan to get [civilians] out of harms way and to support them, the presidents been clear for some time that we couldnt and would not support a major military operation in Rafah.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) clashed with NBC News anchor Kristen Welker after he maintained Israel should do whatever it takes to defeat Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, while comparing Israels wartime conduct to the U.S. dropping atomic bombs in World War II.

Heres what I would say about fighting an enemy who wants to kill you and your family: Why did we drop two bombs, nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end a war that we couldnt afford to lose? You dont understand, apparently, what Israel is facing, Graham said Sunday on NBC Newss Meet the Press.

So, when we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Habor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki with nuclear weapons. That was the right decision, he added. Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they cant afford to lose, and work with them to minimize causalities.

Welker interjected and noted military officials have argued technology has since been developed since the bombs were dropped in World War II to increase their precision and prevent civilian deaths.

As you know, former President Ronald Reagan, on multiple occasions, withheld weapons to impact Israels military actions, Welker said. Did President Reagan show that using U.S. military aid, as leverage, can actually be an effective way to rein in and impact Israels policy?

Graham responded, When youre telling the world youre gonna restrict weapons delivery to the Jewish state who is fighting a three-front war for their survival?

It emboldened Iran, it emboldened Hamas, [Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza] is probably juiced up on the idea theres daylight between the United States and Israel, he continued. This is the worst decision in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship to deny weapons at a time the Jewish state could be destroyed.

President Biden last week warned he would stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons, including bombs and artillery shells, if Israeli forces launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. The White House has repeatedly urged against sending forces into the city, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter amid the ongoing war.

When Welker further pressed Graham over why it was OK for Reagan to withhold weapons and not Biden, he said, Well, can I say this? Why is it OK for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war?

Why was it OK for us to do that? I thought it was OK for Israel [to] to do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state, Graham said.

Welker then noted again military officials say technology has changed, prompting Graham to say, Yeah, these military officials that youre talking about are full of crap.

Bidens threat to withhold offensive weapons from Israel prompted criticism from several Republicans in recent days, including Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who called the threat disgusting and accused Biden of being a part of the pro-Hamas group of the Democratic party.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) said he hopes Biden was having a senior moment when he made the threat.

I hope  I believe hes off-script, Johnson said. I dont think thats something that staff told him to say. I hope its a senior moment, because that would be a great deviation in what is said to be the policy there.

In a statement to The Hill last week, a senior Biden administration official said the president shares Israels goal of dismantling Hamas and he has done more than any world leader to support Israel as it has defended itself since October 7.

The President was very clear last [week], as he has always been: While the United States will continue ensure that Israel has all of the military means it needs to defend itself against all of its enemies, including Hamas, he does not want to provide material support to an operation we oppose  especially since we believe there are alternate ways that Israel can accomplish its objectives, the official added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (WFRV)  A motorcyclist was taken to the hospital with significant injuries after he was seen by a Grand Chute officer speeding down West College Avenue and crashing into another vehicle at an intersection.

According to the Grand Chute Police Department, an officer was on their way to a structure fire in the 3000 block of Green Meadow Drive around 10:15 p.m. on Saturday.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Fond du Lac man refuses officer help after OWI crash with light pole, pursuit ensues through fields, fences

During the officers response to the fire call, they saw a motorcycle eastbound on West College Avenue near I-41. Officers say the motorcycle was reportedly seen rapidly accelerating away from the location at a high rate of speed.

The officer then reported seeing the motorcycle crash into another vehicle at the intersection of W. College and South Bluemound Drive. The officer turned their attention to the crash and immediately began to render aid to those involved in the crash.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

The motorcyclist was taken to a local hospital by ambulance with significant injuries.

No one ever looks: Wisconsin officer sitting on side of the road clocks 14 drivers for speeding

The Wisconsin State Patrol is conducting the accident investigation and reconstruction.

The Grand Chute Police Department assisted the Wisconsin State Patrol along with the Appleton Police Department, Outagamie County Sheriffs Office, Grand Chute Fire Department, Appleton Fire Department, and Gold Cross Ambulance.

No other information was provided.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
ROCKY MOUNT, Va. (WFXR) Greater Roanoke Workforce is hosting a hiring event at the Franklin Center on Claiborne Ave. in Rocky Mount on Monday, May 13.

The hiring event, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., will bring in businesses and companies from around the Roanoke Valley looking to bring in new hirees.

Hilton preparing to open new Home2 Suites in Lynchburg

This event is open to the public and no registration is required.

For more information, visit the Greater Work Force of Virginias website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv.
Foreign-born workers in the United States are far more educated and skilled than their positions in our economy let on. Brain waste is to blame.

About one in five workers in the U.S. is foreign-born and about a quarter of them are employed in service jobs such as food service, construction or cleaning. Only 15% of U.S.-born workers hold those kinds of jobs. But foreign-born workers are generally more educated than U.S.-born adults, with almost half holding at least a bachelors degree when they arrive.

Brain waste occurs when a highly educated, highly skilled individual is placed in a low-wage, low-skill job for which they are overqualified. Besides being illogical, the economic impact is significant, both for the individual and for the country.

I come face-to-face with brain waste twice a month when I meet with foreign-born students at JVS Boston (Jewish Vocational Service). In my volunteer role, I conduct mock job interviews with students who are learning English and workforce entry skills. I remember interviewing a Ukrainian lawyer seeking a preschool teachers aide position and a multilingual Afghan teacher with a decade of experience who sought any job that might hire.

When highly skilled and educated workers are mismatched with low-wage work, their earnings are lower. This means they spend less in the economy, but it also means the U.S. then loses important tax revenue given that low-wage workers pay less in taxes.

The U.S. missed out on over $10 billion each year in tax revenue from 2009 to 2013 due to about 1.5 million highly educated immigrants holding low-wage, low-skill jobs. This assumes that these workers could otherwise be employed in high-wage jobs related to their qualifications and earning about $40 billion more per year than they do in low-wage work.

The primary driver of brain waste for recent immigrants is our approach to workforce entry training.

Currently, most new arrivals are matched into jobs as quickly as possible while going through a crash course in English. Harvard researchers found that 63% of vocational and technical training organizations helping immigrants find work focus on entry-level workforce skills instead of advanced job skills for higher-paying roles.

Alexandra Parker, an instructor at JVS Boston, emphasizes the dual needs of placing immigrants into jobs immediately to stabilize their finances and housing but also helping them advance professionally. To achieve upward mobility in the workforce and earn higher wages, long-term career training would be ideal. However, many organizations either dont offer it or dont have the funding to start.

The second issue contributing to brain waste is licensing and credentialing challenges for foreign-born workers who were previously certified in their home countries.

In 2020, over 260,000 immigrants with undergraduate health care degrees such as nursing were underemployed. How might this untapped group of health professionals have buoyed the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic if theyd been licensed in the U.S.?

The main reason that foreign-born health professionals arent employed in similar work here is U.S.-specific licensure standards that make no exceptions. For example, both domestic and immigrant nurses must pass the U.S. national licensure exam (commonly known as the NCLEX-RN exam) to practice nursing, no matter what comparable testing was done previously. For physicians, postgraduate residency is required for all providers regardless of birthplace, though length of residency varies by state.

These requirements ensure that our health care workforce is capable and safe. (They also help maintain shortages, reducing competition that supports higher wages in health care.) However, foreign-born workers with prior education face the barriers of time and cost to bridge the gap between their current licensures and U.S. standards. Many skilled workers feel forced into low-wage work instead.

What can be done to fix these two issues and better match foreign-born workers skills to higher-paying jobs?

Adjusting the workforce entry model so that immigrants can still be placed in short-term jobs while simultaneously getting long-term technical and English training is a start. Organizations like JVS Boston already operate this way. Students complete a crash course in English proficiency and workforce entry skills to get on their feet, but can also continue their education in longer-term, skilled training like bank teller or pharmacy technician programs.

In terms of licensure and credentialing, some states like Alaska have passed legislation to give license eligibility to foreign-educated professionals, such as physical therapists, provided their program met U.S. standards. Other states have awarded grants and loans to students for schooling to close the gap between their foreign credits and U.S. requirements. These grants can cover the $200 registration fee for the NCLEX-RN exam and associated travel costs to sit for the test, or the costs to translate transcripts and diplomas into English.

These pathways are just a few of the many levers that can prevent brain waste amongst the foreign-born workforce. The charge is that we do something quickly. As Parker said to me, If someone is coming to the U.S. with advanced degrees and skills, were not taking advantage. Its their loss, but its also our loss.

Katherine O'Malley is a policy analyst at the Boston University School of Public Health.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Guest column: Stopping 'brain waste' for foreign-born workers in US
It was another Sunday morning of sometimes heated but always civil political debate on Hancock and Kelley for Sunday, May 12, 2024.

Republican consultant John Hancock and Democratic consultant Michael Kelley discuss the following topics:

Missouris State Auditor held a news conference to call out Kim Gardner, the former St. Louis Circuit Attorney, for not complying with his audit of her office during her tenure.

St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis now plan to use a portion of the more than half-billion dollars from the Rams/NFL settlement on everyday needs like roads, sidewalks, and water mains.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones wants to create a taxpayer-funded loan fund to help people pay sales taxes, property taxes, and insurance premiums to properly license their vehicles. The city is plagued by people driving with no license plates or expired temp tags.

Governor Mike Parson lashes out at fellow Republicans in the legislature for repeating false claims that a Kansas City Chiefs fan was an illegal immigrant who opened fire during the mass shooting at the Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade and rally.

President Joe Biden pledged ironclad support for Israel in its war against the terror group Hamas, but now he is withholding thousands of U.S.-made weapons from Israel.

Former President Donald Trump was reined in by a judge for audibly cursing and shaking his head as porn star Stormy Daniels testified about having sex with Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump is on trial for allegedly disguising hush money payments to Daniels to benefit his 2016 presidential campaign.

Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a rising star in the GOP, removes a claim from her new book that she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Our quote of the week from St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III on the possibility of the team seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers in the coming years for upkeep and upgrades at Busch Stadium.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.
Happy Mother's Day? In Texas, more like heartbreaking. | Letters to the Editor

If you were pregnant this year and had the misfortune of having severe health complications, and had to wait for care until sepsis took over your body and destroyed your ability to have future pregnancies, or if you're an OBGYN and had to choose between what your profession considers to be evidence-based medicine or getting sued and going to jail, I wont wish you "Happy Mothers Day.

If you stay awake with the knowledge that statistically your LGBTQ child is at higher risk of attempting suicide, and transition-related health care, which is known to improve mental health, is banned, I wont pretend this day exists to honor you.

Sarah Bentley, center, leads songs at an International Women's Day Sit-In for Abortion Rights in the Texas State Capitol Rotunda, March 8, 2023.

If your child attended Robb Elementary, or if you dared to go shopping for a Mothers Day gift on a sunny afternoon in Allen last year, I'll spare you the platitudes. What this day really is in Texas: heartbreaking.

Carly Bassett, Round Rock

Paxton again shows us his values by

attending Trump's hush money trial

Ken Paxton, who was impeached for allegedly misusing resources of the Attorney Generals office to protect an adulterous relationship, again showed his values. He attended Trumps trial in New York, where the former president is accused of fraudulently reporting hush money payments as corporate expenses. Who better to show up in support of an adulterer than a fellow adulterer?

Neil Cohen, Austin

We can help migratory birds

by turning out the lights, Texas

As we sleep, millions of birds are passing over. With migration under way, we can help these high flyers reach their summer nesting grounds.

The Lights Out, Texas! campaign urges turning off nonessential lightsfrom 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.from March to June and during fall migration, August to November. Essential outside lights should face the ground and be shielded. Motion sensors minimize use.

Migrating birds need dark skies to navigate because they rely on stars. Their journey can stretch thousands of miles, from as far away as South America. City lights disorient birds, leaving them confused. Because birds are attracted to illuminated windows, up to 1 billion die yearly colliding with manmade structures.

Travis Audubon asks homeowners to douse outside lights, and for commercial buildings to reduce lighting and adopt bird-friendly designs so reflective windows and glass walkways arent fatal to passing birds.

John Bloomfield, president, Travis Audubon, Austin

Equal and fair treatment for all,

whether immigrants or citizens

The recent loss of Hispanic workers on the Baltimore Bridge stirred past thoughts of our family loss in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Many Americans hold negative feelings and impressions of Hispanic immigrants. But if not for the hard work of Hispanics who came to New Orleans to help rebuild after the storm, we would not have recovered from the disaster to where the city is now.

Some Americans claim to be pro-life, yet some lives are viewed as dispensable. Companies do not have safety and health measures in place for minorities and immigrants. I remember watching Hispanic workers stripping the lead paint from public school windows without adequate protection.

We should demand equal and fair treatment of all, whether they be citizens or immigrants.

Carol Chance, Georgetown

Judge should call 'bratty' Trump's

bluff for violating his gag order

Watching Donald Trump repeatedly violate Judge Merchans gag order reminds me of a bratty schoolboy continually mocking the teacher and refusing to follow the rules because his rich father is chairman of the school board.

Since Trump seems to be goading the judge into sending him to prison so he can cry about how unfairly he's being treated, simply because he paid off a porn star while his wife was home with a newborn.

I think Judge Merchan should call Trump's bluff and treat him like any teacher would treat a lying, 77-year-old bully; by making him take a time out and forcing him to sit in the corner for the remainder of the trial.

Sharon Austry, Fort Worth

How to submit a letter to the editor

Send letters of no more than 150 words by using our online form at https://bit.ly/3Crmkcf

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Happy Mother's Day? In Texas, it's more like heartbreaking.
Head of press service of Ukraine's Defence Ministry to leave his office and come back to Ukraine's Defence Intelligence

Illarion Pavliuk, head of the Department of Press and Information of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, will leave the office and return to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

Source: three sources in military circles, independent from one another

Details: One of the sources told Ukrainska Pravda that Pavliuk would come back to service in Defence Intelligence. This issue has been discussed for weeks, and the transfer will take some time.

Another source noted that the issue of this change is connected to appointment of Kyrylo Tymoshenko as an advisor in Defence Intelligence.

Pavliuk himself stated that he was not ready to comment on this information at the moment.

Background:

Illarion Pavliuk, a writer and former military officer of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, took over the position of Head of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Defence in October 2023.

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Her son was deported from Charlotte under this policy. NC lawmakers could revive it | Opinion

In 2018, Laura Carnevalinis son Gustavo was arrested in Charlotte for riding the light rail without a ticket.

After two years of legal battles, paperwork and court hearings, during which Gustavo remained in a federal detention center, he was deported to a country he had never known.

Carnevalini brought Gustavo to the United States from Argentina in 2002, when he was just 2 years old. At the time of his arrest, he was 18, just a few months away from graduating from South Mecklenburg High School. He spoke both English and Spanish, and active in his church. Charlotte was the only home he had ever known.

Gustavo told the police officer who arrested him that he was undocumented, and he was taken to jail. But by the time Carnevalini arrived at the police station, Gustavo was already in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The next day, Carnevalini got a call from Gustavo. Mami, mami, me van a deportar. (Mom, mom, theyre going to deport me.)

Gustavo had been detained under the 287(g) program, a voluntary agreement under which state and local law enforcement agencies can act as immigration enforcement agents. According to the American Immigration Council, the program has historically targeted people with little to no criminal history, or who commit minor, nonviolent offenses such as traffic violations. Mecklenburg Countys 287(g) program sent more than 15,000 people into deportation proceedings between 2006 and 2018, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Gustavo was taken to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, where he remained for the next two years. During those two years, Carnevalini and her husband tried desperately to obtain legal status for Gustavo. The legal fees piled up, and Gustavo attended hearing after hearing in his orange jumpsuit. The worrying and constant lack of sleep took a toll on Carnevalinis health, and Gustavo fell into a deep depression.

He had illusions, he had dreams, Carnevalini said. And I just let him know we wouldnt give up on those.

Just when it seemed like things might work out, the pandemic happened, and visa processing ground to a halt. At his final hearing, the judge issued a deportation order, and in June of 2020, on what Carnevalini describes as the worst day of my life, Gustavo was deported.

Its easy to retell the story, but to live through it is something completely different, Carnevalini said. The mental health issues that went with it, the pills, the doctors, paying for the lawyers. Everything I had to go through  the excruciating worry, the letters that we were writing constantly to ICE, to the judge.

Now, Gustavo is living the life Carnevalini hoped to spare him from by bringing him to the United States 22 years ago. Argentina is in the midst of an ongoing economic crisis, and although Gustavo has a job, Carnevalini has to send him money to help him afford the cost of daily necessities. She hasnt seen her son in almost two years, because she cannot afford the cost of travel.

He always tells me, What am I doing here? I have no future, Carnevalini said.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden ended the countys 287(g) agreement following his election in 2018. Sheriffs in many other North Carolina counties, including Wake County, also have ceased cooperation with ICE.

Now, however, state lawmakers want to compel law enforcement to cooperate with ICE once again through the passage of House Bill 10, which would require sheriffs to notify ICE if they cannot determine the legal status of a person charged with certain high-level offenses. It would also require sheriffs to honor voluntary detainers issued by ICE. Its their third attempt to pass such a bill in recent years; Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed similar legislation in 2019 and 2022.

Advocates warn that the bill could lead to racial profiling of Hispanic and Latino communities and discourage them from contacting the police. Even people believed to have committed minor offenses, like Gustavo, could be deported.

I just want to say that with this law, and with what happened to Gustavo, theyre essentially taking away our dream. They took away his dreams, Carnevalini said. And I dont want this to happen to other families, for people to go through what I did.
 Flash

China's fruit imports from five countries along the Mekong River amounted to 10.68 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the country's total.

The figure was released on Friday by Guo Libin, Party chief of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, at the Lancang-Mekong Fruit Industry Development Workshop held in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou.

According to the workshop, durians, mangoes, bananas, longans, mangosteens, coconuts and other fruits from Mekong River countries and other Southeast Asian countries are popular among Chinese consumers. Similarly, Chinese dates, persimmons, pears, pomegranates and cantaloupes have entered the Southeast Asian market, renowned for their excellent quality, competitive prices and delicious taste.

After the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, economic and trade cooperation between China and the Mekong River countries has continued to deepen, and the trade in agricultural products, including fruits and vegetables, has been growing continuously, according to Guo.

"Thanks to the China-Laos Railway, fruits from the Mekong River countries can enter China more quickly, providing a broader space for agricultural cooperation," Guo said.

Six countries -- China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam -- jointly established the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation framework. These countries share the same river, called the Lancang River in China and the Mekong River when it flows through the other five countries before emptying into the sea.
Citigroup has brought in a new leader as the company looks to make big changes. Viswas Raghavan, who comes from JPMorgan Chase, is set to join Citigroup as head of banking this summer.



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According to CNBC, his hiring comes amid the largest reorganization in decades at Citigroup, which has announced plans to significantly reduce its headcount in the next couple of years.

CEOs Take on the New Hire

In announcing Raghavans hire, Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, said Raghavan will help keep them on the path toward delivering on commitments of expanding wallet share, seamlessly offering the full power of Citigroup to our global clients, and driving improved returns for the business.

Given his background at JPMorgan Chase, Raghavan may be the right fit to help Citigroup transform into a leaner company. Raghavan, according to Bloomberg,  is a dealmaker known for his scrappy streak  and little tolerance of laggards.

In his new role, Raghavan will oversee a broad banking unit  one that was recently reorganized to streamline operations and includes investment banking, commercial banking and corporate banking. According to Euromoney, One area where Raghavans role will be critical is ensuring the connectivity between those three businesses.

His hire also comes as Citigroup is looking to raise its standards. The bank wants to move from what some see as an underdog status to a more competitive placing with its more profitable peers, according to Business Standard.

As part of Citigroups efforts to better meet client expectations, the bank created a centralized client organization. One big goal with this unit is to ensure effective delivery of all of Citigroups services to its clients.

In her letter about the hiring, Fraser hints at the fact that she is ready to ruffle some feathers and make even more changes. With Raghavans background and reputation, hes looking like a hire that is poised to help her achieve this.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How the New Head of Citigroup Bank Is Trying To Raise Standards for Customers Like You
Appalling decision

CA adviser suspended after school paper prints Hitler quote, (sacbee.com, May 9)

As we all know, there are limits to freedom of speech. But those limits dont include speech in a public setting just because it makes people feel uncomfortable. When I read that C.K. McClatchy High School had suspended their journalism advisor because the student newspaper quoted a student who said that Hitler had some good ideas, I was appalled.

Note that the paper didnt say it agrees with that. They quoted a student who said that. Lets be clear: the Nazi regime did unspeakable things. Hitler was a monster. But curtailing freedom of speech was part of how the Nazi reign of terror started. We need to be very careful not to follow in their footsteps.

Dawn Wolfson

Cameron Park

Kiley for sale

Want to join Kevin Kileys Cabinet? Donate big money, (sacbee,com, April 6)

Each member of Rep. Kevin Kileys cabinet has a campaign fundraising director to keep them informed on when Kevin is back in CA if youd like to meet individually. Donors can also attend roundtables (the article mentions one at a very fancy French restaurant in Roseville) where you get to meet with Kiley for an hour. All you have to do to be included in his cabinet is donate $6,600 (or, as a couple, contribute up to $13,200).

Is this the way of our Congress now? Do we have to buy our representation now? Im more than angry about this. How about you?

Rosalie Wohlfromm

Auburn

Opinion

Reduce incarceration

California budget deficit could get worse for Gavin Newsom, (sacbee.com, April 30)

To date, the state corrections budget has climbed to $15 billion. The current cost of incarceration per person is $132,860 annually  a 90% increase in the past decade. At a time when our state is facing a significant budget deficit, it is fiscally irresponsible to maintain empty bed capacity when thousands of Californians are facing cuts to the very social programs that keep them alive and out of crisis.

We can better balance necessary budget cuts by eliminating surplus capacity at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in a structured way, as Assembly Bill 2178 (Rep. Phil Ting, D-San Francisco) proposes.

Tannah Oppliger

Irvine

Cut prison spending

California budget deficit could get worse for Gavin Newsom, (sacbee.com, April 30)

Prison closures are a clear path toward achieving savings in a difficult budget year. While we are seeing proposed cuts to vital services like housing, climate change mitigation and education, we are also seeing increased spending on the infrastructure and staffing expenditures in the Department of Corrections. We need legislators to protect Californians in this budget deficit and cut spending on prisons.

California can and must reduce excess prison capacity, close at least five more prisons (which is in line with the Legislative Analyst Offices recommendations) and cut spending on incarceration to preserve progress in these tough budget times.

Olivia Gleason

Long Beach

Concerns with AB 2751

California right to disconnect bill passes first vote, (sacbee.com, April 18)

As an advocate for workplace excellence, I have concerns about Assembly Bill 2751 Right to Disconnect legislation. While well-intentioned, the bills one-size-fits-all approach fails to consider diverse industry needs and could stifle innovation and competitiveness.

AB 2751 unrealistically attempts to legislate work-life balance, ignoring the complexities of modern work and global collaboration. Its ambiguous language may lead to inconsistent enforcement and legal challenges, creating unintended consequences for employers and employees alike.

Instead of broad penalties, fostering clear communication and expectations between employers and employees is more effective in promoting a healthy work-life balance. I urge policymakers to consider targeted efforts like enhancing paid time off, improving retirement planning and increasing access to mental health resources.

Emily M. Dickens, J.D.

Society of Human Resources Management

A win for NorCal

President Biden expands Berryessa Snow Mountain monument, (sacbee.com, May 2)

As a Lake County Supervisor, I could not be more glad that my communitys calls to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument have been heard! Thank you, President Joe Biden, for taking action to expand the monument and protect Molok Luyuk, and to Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. John Garamendi for their continued leadership on this effort.

The expanded national monument includes Molok Luyuk, public lands on the ridge east of the monument that was left out of the original monument designation in 2015. On these public lands, people love to explore the outdoors, visit sweeping viewpoints and witness an incredible diversity of plants and animals.

Protecting Molok Luyuk is a boon to locals who have long enjoyed visiting these lands, making the area more appealing for visitors who support local businesses and protect rich tribal heritage for future generations. What a win for Northern California!

Eddie (EJ) Crandell

Lakeport

Representatives listened

President Biden expands Berryessa Snow Mountain monument, (sacbee.com, May 2)

I am thrilled to hear that President Joe Biden has expanded the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to protect Molok Luyuk. This action helps ensure access to the outdoors for locals. Access to nature is vital for communities of color, and in Lake County, 22.7% of the population identifies as Latino/Hispanic, and in Colusa County, 61.7% of the population is Latino/Hispanic. Molok Luyuk is also central to Patwin origin stories and is significant to the Pomo, Wappo and Miwok people.

Thank you to our representatives for hearing our collective call and ensuring a more accessible outdoors for all.

Jazzari Taylor

Oakland
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
Hikers not ready for deep snow and freezing rain on Mount Washington, NH rescuers say

Two Canadian hikers ended up calling 911 for help after battling winter conditions on Mount Washington, New Hampshire officials reported.

The hikers, who were wet and tired, called for rescue after they couldnt continue in the deep snow at 5:18 p.m. Thursday, May 9, New Hampshire Fish & Game said in a news release.

Three conservation officers met the hikers at 10:10 p.m. and guided them to a road, where they were driven down the mountain, the agency said.

The hikers did not take into account winter conditions with below freezing temperatures and rain, the release said. They also were not prepared to deal with deep snow.

Conservation officers reminded visitors that winter conditions persist in the White Mountains, the release said.

At 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is the highest peak in the White Mountains, according to Brittanica.

About 400,000 people visit the mountain annually, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported.

Each year about 25 people require rescue on the mountain, according to the Mount Washington Avalanche Center.

How to be prepared while hiking

If youre planning to hike, the National Park Service says there are 10 essentials you should take:

Navigation: Pack a map, compass and a GPS system. Make sure you study your route beforehand and understand how to use the tools.

Sun protection: Sunglasses, sunscreen and a hat can help protect your skin and eyes from UV rays.

Insulation: A jacket, hat, gloves, raincoat and thermal underwear can help you be prepared for rapidly changing weather conditions.

Illumination: A flashlight, lantern and headlamp can create light if you get stuck in the dark  and dont forget to pack extra batteries.

First-aid supplies: Its a good idea to have a first-aid kit on hand while hiking. Check the expiration date on items before you pack them.

Fire: Matches and a lighter can help start fire to act as an emergency signal in times of need.

Repair kit and tools: Duct tape, a knife, screwdriver and scissors can be helpful if items break during your hike or you need assistance.

Nutrition: You should pack an extra days worth of food in case something goes wrong. Park officials recommend having salty and easy to digest snacks.

Hydration: You should drink water often and before you feel thirsty if youre hiking in hot weather. Keeping your body hydrated is of utmost importance, park officials said.

Emergency shelter: Packing a tent, space blanket, tarp and bivy can help you be prepared if severe weather breaks out or your plan takes a turn.

Missing teen found dead in icy river after 4 jump into water, Washington rescuers say

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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A 63-year-old hiker from Hillsboro was airlifted by a US Army medical helicopter after falling about 300 feet down a hillside from the designated trail near the Dog Mountain summit.

The rescue began around 1:30 p.m. Friday, the Skamania County Sheriffs Office said on their Facebook page. A search and rescue began immediately, and rescuers found the hiker unconscious and unresponsive.

Because of the steep terrain where the hiker fell, a US Army medical helicopter was brought in to hoist and recover the hiker, who was flown to PeaceHealth Southwest in Vancouver for treatment.

Hot Oregon weather, cold waters is recipe for danger

Authorities said the hiker is listed in stable condition, but no further details were provided.

The Dog Mountain Trail is about 6 miles long with the summit around 2900 feet.

KOIN 6 News will have more information as it develops.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Late Friday night and early into Saturday morning, much of the western hemisphere, including the Pacific Northwest, was able to see the Northern Lights due to extreme geomagnetic storm activity.

In case you missed it, OMSIs Director of Space Science Education Jim Todd told KOIN 6 News there may be another chance Saturday night between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. since the geomagnetic activity, or Kp levels, were at a historic high of 9, the highest in nearly 20 years.

Huzzah! Oregon Renaissance Faire back for feasting, jousting

Everybody throughout the United States, from the Canadian border to the Mexico border were able to see it, which is rare, he said.

Todd added that this activity even has the potential to rival The Carrington Event, the largest solar storm in recorded history which happened in 1859, causing electrical disruptions worldwide.

The Northern Lights from Lake Oswego, Oregon on May 11, 2024. (Courtesy: Alicia Moya-Mendez)

However, Todd noted that modern infrastructure is built to specifically withstand any solar flare damage to the power grid as we know it. So any viewers can just enjoy the colorful display, which will still likely maintain a high level of activity.

The NOAA is expecting that the storm will continue [Saturday] he said. But we dont know if its going to be a level 7 or 8 or 9, at the top. But even if its a 7 or 8 its still going to be a good storm, but it might be a little fainter than [Friday].

Planes will soar, drones will fly during 2024 Oregon International Air Show in Hillsboro

Additionally, if you want to document the auroras, Todd suggests using the time exposure on your smartphone photo app to get a vivid view. Without a camera, the storm may appear to look like a haze with brief flashes of red and green at its strongest points.

If you can put it on a long exposure and get it down to about 1600 ISO and adjust the shutter speed, all you have to do is take a three or four second shot and youve got yourself a picture, he noted.

Furthermore, Todd emphasized your greatest chances of best viewing comes when away from city lights and pointing towards a clear northern horizon.

In a statement to KOIN 6 News, the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management said they have been in touch with power and communications companies in case they experience an interruption. No significant interruptions have been observed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Republican Rep. Mike Waltz (Fla.) alleged Sunday that President Bidens threat to halt weapons to Israel is politically motivated, with the November election less than six months away.

I think the reality of us being in an election year now and the election just six months away  I think you have kind of a political and an operation reality there. But  he certainly is withholding aid, and he is obviously doing it for political reasons, Waltz said Sunday in an interview on NewsNations The Hill Sunday.

Biden warned earlier this week that he would stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons  including bombs and artillery shells  if Israeli forces launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. The White House has repeatedly cautioned against sending forces into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are seeking shelter amid the war.

Netanyahu has maintained going into Rafah is needed to eliminate the threat of Hamas, and Israel ordered new evacuations in the southern city over the weekend.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, one of the major aid groups providing food, shelter and medicine to Palestinians, said at least 300,000 people are affected by the new evacuation orders.

NewsNation anchor Chris Stirewalt then noted the U.S. has a responsibility to monitor and direct how its allies use the weapons it provides them.

Oh, of course. We have weapon-use monitoring all over the world, Waltz said. But in this case, if you look at  I mean, hes making this kind of ridiculous distinction. He actually made it in the run-up to the Ukraine conflict, as well, of offensive and defensive weaponry.

The Florida Republican argued Bidens threat could be counterintuitive.

Its not going to get Biden what he wants. Its only angering the supporters of Israel who do believe, as I do, you have to destroy Hamas. You cannot allow them to survive another day. And I just dont think its going to get us to a reasonable result of resolution, Waltz said.

The Hill reached out to the White House for further comment.

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.
TechCrunch

Fidelity Investments, one of the world's largest asset managers, has confirmed that over 77,000 customers had personal information compromised during an August data breach, including Social Security numbers and driver's licenses. The Boston, Massachusetts-based investment firm said in a filing with Maines attorney general on Wednesday that an unnamed third party accessed information from its systems between August 17 and August 19 "using two customer accounts that they had recently established. We detected this activity on August 19 and immediately took steps to terminate the access, Fidelity said in a letter sent to those affected, adding that the incident did not involve any access to customers Fidelity accounts.
Save Holiday Hill Elementary signs are scattered across the schools Arlington neighborhood. Holiday Hill is one of more than 30 schools possibly closing and consolidating across the Duval County School District in the coming months due to budget cuts.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

Danielle Hernandez is a teacher at Holiday Hill Elementary and told Action News Jax on Sunday about the efforts to keep the school alive.

We want to save the school, not only for our present children but our future children too because it is such an integral part of this community, said Hernandez.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

School consolidation may also come with an unexpected side effect. Timothy Newman, the president of the North Florida Mortgage Brokers told Action News Jax in an interview that it could affect property values across the county.

There tends to be a slight downturn in property values in the near term after redistricting, said Newman.

Read: School leaders left scrambling after tree struck by lightning falls through roof of preschool

Thats caused by the loss of a valuable resource in those communities: their schools, the reason many move to specific neighborhoods.

However, Newman did add that if the districts quality of education ultimately improves with consolidation, homeowners may be just as happy in the long run as district leaders.

Hopefully, a well thought out and thoroughly planned redistricting can be a positive step in that direction for the students with overall positive housing appreciation to follow, especially in the lower income neighborhoods, explained Newman.

Read: Fitch upgrades JTA Issuer Default Rating to AA+, LOGT bonds affirmed at AA-

Newman said that ultimately, its about quality over quantity when it comes to schools.

Meanwhile, Hernandez said she hopes consolidation doesnt affect the quality of her neighborhood.

If we take [Holiday Hill] out of here, we are losing so much, and not just in this community but in a great deal of Jacksonville, Hernandez said.

Read: Woman found living in store sign with computer, coffee maker for around a year

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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.




Image source: The Motley Fool/Unsplash

Most airlines with rewards or miles programs also have elite status programs. Gaining elite status with an airline can unlock all sorts of valuable benefits, including:

Free checked bags

Complimentary upgrades

Priority check-in and security

Bonus miles on flights

Early boarding

Airport lounge access

But achieving that status is still one of the hardest tasks in the travel rewards world. This is mostly because frequent flyer status still requires quite a bit of flying -- though that's starting to change.

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The best way to earn status is still to fly frequently

As a blanket statement, the very best way to guarantee you earn elite status is to directly book, pay for, and take a lot of flights with the same airline. Typically, this is easier for folks who fly for work, be it paid for by the company or for their own small business.

Each loyalty program will have its own points or miles system (or other "currency") and a different target number you need to earn to reach each status tier. Generally, you'll need to spend a certain amount of money with the airline and/or fly a certain number of miles.

There are usually bonuses for booking higher fare classes. For example, international business class flights will usually get you to a higher status tier faster than short basic economy jaunts.

Second best way: Airline credit cards

Folks who love travel rewards cards will be glad to see that it's getting easier to earn airline status without traveling like it's your job. Many cobranded airline cards are starting to include ways to boost your elite status journey.

Earning American Airlines elite status without flying

The currency you need to earn American Airlines (AA) elite status is called Loyalty Points. AAdvantage Gold status -- the lowest elite status tier -- requires 40,000 Loyalty Points.

Most American Airlines cobranded credit cards earn 1 Loyalty Point per $1 spent on purchases. So, spending $40,000 on your eligible AA rewards card would get you Gold status. But there's no cap on how many Loyalty Points you can earn with your cards. So you could potentially spend $200,000 and reach the top AAdvantage Executive Platinum status which requires 200,000 Loyalty Points.

This may be particularly interesting for business owners, because you can get AAdvantage cobranded small business credit cards. If you can put a lot of business expenses on your card, you could earn elite status even if you don't need to travel a lot for your business.

Story continues

Earning United elite status without flying

There are two paths to earning elite United Premier status:

Obtain both PQF (Premier qualifying flights) and PQP (Premier qualifying points), or;

Obtain a higher number of PQP

In layman's terms, PQF refers to the flight segments, or how many miles you spend in the air on United flights. PQP is basically just how much money you give United to purchase flights, upgrades, and seat assignments.

Multiple United cobranded credit cards can earn PQP based on your credit card spend. Specifically, eligible cards earn 25 PQP per $500 in card purchases. At this rate, you would need to spend $100,000 to earn the 5,000 PQP you need for the bottom-tier United Premier Silver status.

One thing to keep in mind is that United credit cards have caps on how many PQP you can earn. The more expensive the card, the higher the cap. United's top-tier cobranded card is capped at 10,000 PQP per year.

Earning Delta elite status without flying

Early in 2024, Delta changed the requirements for Medallion status to a single spend-based currency: Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD). This means you can now spend your way to Delta Medallion status with your Delta cobranded cards.

First, eligible cardholders can get an MQD Headstart in the form of $2,500 MQDs each year just for being a cardholder. (Note this only applies to the expensive top-tier personal and business cards.)

Plus, most Delta cobranded cardholders will also have a way to earn an MQD Boost through card spend. Depending on your card, you may earn $1 MQD per $20 spent, or $1 MQD per $10 spent on your card. (The latter applies to, you guessed it, the cards with the most expensive annual fees.)

Reaching Medallion Silver status requires $5,000 MQDs. So, assuming you have an eligible card, you could potentially get the $2,500 Headstart then spend $25,000 on your card to reach Silver status.

Consider the opportunity cost

Before you run out and start putting all of your spend on your airline cards, take a minute to consider the cost. (No, I'm not talking about the annual fees -- though those are definitely worth consideration; some of these cards cost more than $500 a year!)

I'm talking about the opportunity cost. What are you missing out on if you move your spend to your airline cards instead of using other credit cards?

Although a few airline cards have useful bonus categories, you're still likely to lose out on a ton of rewards you could earn if you were maximizing those instead. For example, even if your airline card offers you double miles on restaurant purchases, a restaurant rewards card that earns 4X transferable points per dollar is going to blow that airline card out of the water in value.

If you fly enough that airline status would be truly valuable, consider a strategy that involves both flying and spending. This will help you earn status in a more organic way (and without wasting so much rewards potential).

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We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Here's the Single Best Way to Earn Airline Elite Status was originally published by The Motley Fool
Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation will celebrate a monumental achievement on May 16 as its inaugural class of 46 medical students graduates from the countrys first tribally affiliated medical school.

The commencement ceremony for both OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation is Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m., at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, 7777 S. Lewis Ave.

This milestone is the next significant step forward in addressing the health care needs of rural, underserved and tribal communities across Oklahoma.

Much like the founding of OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa, OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah was established with the mission to train physicians dedicated to serving rural and underserved populations.

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These graduates, who have completed their training in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, embody the values of service, compassion and excellence that define both the Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma State University, said OSU Center for Health Sciences President Johnny Stephens. Their journey has been one of dedication, perseverance, and cultural understanding. As they embark on their careers, they will carry with them the unique perspective and knowledge gained from this groundbreaking partnership.

About 35 percent of the students from the inaugural class matched with rural or tribal residency programs.

And 20 percent of the graduating class from OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation are Native American from several tribes including the Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Its a substantial number compared to the roughly 0.2 percent of Native American students enrolled in medical schools nationally.

"As we celebrate the historic milestone of the first class of students graduating from the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation, we honor the resilience of our ancestors who faced adversity with courage and determination. Today, their legacy lives on as this exceptional group of future doctors prepares to break barriers and forge new paths in health care, said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. Their dedication not only addresses the critical shortage of rural doctors but also increases the representation of Native and Cherokee physicians within our health system and other tribal health systems in this state, ensuring top-notch care rooted in culture for generations to come. Our ancestors would undoubtedly be proud of their achievements, knowing that their perseverance continues to inspire progress and healing in our communities."

Dr. Kayse Shrum, president of OSU, said the students represent the fulfillment of many dreams over many years to create a medical school in partnership with the countrys largest tribal nation in the heart of Indian Country on the Cherokee Nation Reservation.

A child growing up in northeast Oklahoma no longer has to leave this region to pursue their dream of becoming a doctor. They can attend medical school, complete their residency training, and practice medicine  all in the rural community of Tahlequah and under the auspices of OSU Medicine and the Cherokee Nation," Shrum said.

In October 2018, Shrum, who was the president of OSU Center for Health Sciences at the time, and then-Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker, announced the creation of OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation, a medical school to be constructed in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the headquarters of the Cherokee Nation.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in spring of 2019 followed by a topping off ceremony later that fall. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic along with building supply chain issues in 2020 delayed the opening of the 84,000-square-foot medical school building until January 2021.

It hasnt been an easy journey for the inaugural class who started coursework in August 2020. That first semester, they had to attend many classes virtually due to the pandemic and any required in-person classes were held at the Cherokee Nation Outpatient Health Center until the building was complete.

The first semester of medical school is difficult. Compound the stress of moving, forming new relationships, learning a high volume of complex information during a global pandemic, and you begin to understand the challenges faced by the class of 2024, said Dr. Natasha Bray, OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation dean. The class of 2024 demonstrated resilience and leadership. They developed deep friendships and a culture of support both in the learning environment and the community. They developed a deep, and I hope enduring, appreciation of the role of physician in service.

Ashton Glover-Gatewood, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation and descendent of the Chickasaw and Cherokee Nations of Oklahoma, was working as a nurse and health care administrator at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic when she applied to be part of the first class of medical students on the new Tahlequah campus.

I love being a member of the inaugural class. Weve been through a lot as a class. I think we had a unique set of challenges, but weve really grown together; we uplift each other, and we help each other. Our faculty, staff and facilities make this a premier medical school, especially for students interested in primary care, rural health and tribal health, Gatewood said. I also feel a responsibility to represent my tribe. I hope that my story can inspire others to continue pursuing their dreams, especially Native students and women who may not have many mentors in their communities.

Bray said students in the inaugural class completed an immense number of community service hours including being trained and then administering COVID-19 vaccinations through Cherokee Nation Health Services, building homes with Tahlequah Habitat for Humanity, supporting Tahlequahs Help in Crisis nonprofit organization, as well as serving many other community groups and organizations.

I cannot adequately express my pride and admiration for the class of 2024. Their selfless service to each other and the communities we serve is admirable. Watching their growth and development of professional identity has been a deep honor, she said. I know they will do such meaningful and amazing things in their professional lives and will make a deep impact on the communities they will serve.

Stephens said he is looking forward to the commencement ceremony and watching the inaugural class walk across the graduation stage as it is the culmination of a decades long pursuit to build a sustainable physician pipeline for rural and underserved Oklahoma.

I cant wait to congratulate them on their achievements and Im looking forward to the positive impact they will undoubtedly have on the health and well-being of the communities they serve," he said.

About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net."

Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net
JAKARTA (Reuters) - As Indonesias president elect Prabowo Subianto prepares to enter office in October, he looks set to take a more assertive stance in foreign policy, saying that diplomacy, negotiations, and the "Asian way" have helped to defuse tension.

Prabowo, 72, won February's general election by a huge margin along with his running-mate Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of outgoing President Joko Widodo.

In an interview with Qatar news channel Al Jazeera broadcast on Sunday, Prabowo said Southeast Asia had experienced wars, foreign colonisation, and interference in internal politics.

But, he added, "We solved it without foreign interference, we talked, we met."

The comments came in response to a question on what meaning the term "Asian Way" held for him.

Asked about competition between China and the United States for influence in the region, the former special forces commander said Indonesia was very open to both countries.

"We respect you, and are grateful for your past assistance," he said.

"We invite the U.S, the Japanese, the Koreans, the European. The fact that we are friends with you doesn't mean we can't be friends with China, India, Russia," he added, invoking Indonesia's tradition and history of non-alignment.

At a regional forum last November, Prabowo said Indonesia was committed to its policy of non-alignment and would maintain good ties with both China and the United States.

In April, he visited China, Japan, and Malaysia on his first foreign trip since winning the presidential election.

During the interview, he denied democratic backsliding, saying that Indonesia had seen years of peaceful transfers of government, despite problems that needed to be tackled, such as rampant corruption.

Prabowo added that "our national interests" will guide approaches to the situation on the easternmost province of Papua, where armed separatists have clashed with security forces for years.

In March, soldiers were arrested after a video emerged showing a man being tortured by troops there.

(Reporting by Dewi Kurniawati; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
A US laboratory that killed 10 children and gave 40,000 people polio went on to sell infected blood products to the NHS in what has been branded a failure of governance.

Cutter Laboratories was responsible for infecting haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated doses of the drug Factor VIII in the 1970s and 1980s.

The California-based company previously made a faulty polio jab that caused an epidemic of man-made cases in the US in the 1950s  a scandal that came to be known as the Cutter Incident.

Pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer which now owns Cutter, are expected to be criticised in the final report of the Infected Blood Inquirys final report, which will be published on May 20.

Around 1,250 people caught HIV from infected blood products supplied from US pharmaceutical firms and sold to the NHS.

The notorious Cutter Incident occurred when the family-run company was one of five given the task of making and stockpiling the first ever polio jab in the US as it went through clinical trials.

Its faulty manufacturing system and cost-cutting measures were responsible for paralysing more than 150 people and the debacle has been credited as a major driver of anti-vax sentiment.

However, despite the scandal, Cutter Labs continued to operate and went on to produce the contaminated blood product Factor VIII which was sold to the NHS.

The drug was made from the blood plasma of people who were paid to give blood, who were often high-risk groups such as gay men, sex workers, drug addicts and the homeless.

The NHS purchased the tainted blood products because the UK was not self-sufficient in blood product supply and the US products were cheaper.

Cutters Factor VIII, as well as that of other manufacturers, was to blame for more than 1,250 haemophiliacs in the UK contracting HIV, and around 5,000 people contracting hepatitis C.

Around 3,000 people in the UK have died as a result and the death toll of the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history continues to grow.

Dr Gareth Millward, a historian of medicine at The University of Southern Denmark, has written books on vaccination in the 20th century and said it is a failure of governance that the scandal-mired firm would be able to commit a second medical atrocity.

Cutter had bought the licence to manufacture Salks polio vaccine (developed at the University of Michigan), but they didnt put enough care into the process, he told The Telegraph.

The most obvious explanation appears to be cost-cutting, and the result was a contaminated batch that didnt properly inactivate the virus, so children were injected with live virus  which hurt not just those children, but also caused small outbreaks from those children.

Cutter was a family-owned business when the polio incident occurred, run by Robert Cutter, the son of founder Edward Cutter, who incorporated the business in 1897. The firm was purchased by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer in 1974.

Landmark in polio fight

In post-Second World War America, a polio vaccine was developed which used a dead version of the polio virus to make antibodies.

A US-wide trial in 1954 on almost two million children showed the vaccine was effective and safe. Cutter and other labs were making the vaccine in parallel with the trial, in anticipation of positive results, to allow for rapid deployment.

On April 12, 1955, the results were published and showed people with the jab were three times less likely to develop polio as those without  a landmark moment in the fight against the disease.

At the time, polio was the second most feared thing in the US, behind only a nuclear bomb, according to one poll. It was killing or paralysing around half a million people a year before the vaccine was created, with no cure and many people living in iron lungs.

On the day the results were released, around 165,000 vaccines from Cutter, as well as those from other pharmaceutical companies trusted with making the complex polio jab, were dispatched.

However, Cutter had failed to fully inactivate the virus, and many of the jabs contained live and disease-causing polio.

A seven-year-old girl died just two weeks later. An epidemic of polio was to come, with more than 40,000 infected,150 paralysed and ten killed.

The Cutter Incident is one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in the US and the lab was held financially responsible for the harms it caused with individual lawsuits.

Health officials had raised the alarm about the Cutter jab being faulty before the mass vaccination programme, but the reports went unheeded.

Scandal delayed UK polio programme

The fallout of the Cutter Incident was vast, and led to the UK suspending its plans to roll out its own polio vaccine programme.

Dr Millward said: In the investigation, it became clear this was one companys bad practice  and given the fear of polio and demand for a vaccine, states and publics quickly re-found their faith in the technology.

We see this a lot. Public sector IT contracts seem to be a recurring theme in recent times, where money is wasted on systems that dont work, but those companies continue to get new contracts.

Outsourcing can provide efficiencies through the profit incentive, but also through specialisation and expertise.

A state cant quickly build specialised laboratories, for example, every time a new drug comes along for public use.

The NHS has always leaned heavily on private pharmaceutical companies but if there arent meaningful consequences for failure to deliver or damage caused to society, then theres also no profit incentive to make absolutely sure it never goes wrong.

A spokesperson for Bayer told The Telegraph: 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 too many.

As the full findings of the Inquiry are still to be published, it would be inappropriate for Bayer to comment further.

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 mid-March, a scammer in California tried to buy $150 worth of Wingstop using my debit card. Aside from being impressed at the sheer size of the order, I was relieved because Citibank, which issued my card, declined the transaction on the spot and alerted me to the fraud. In minutes I was able to shut off my card, heading off any more purchases by the scammers, and order a new card. All's well that ends well.

When I went to Buenos Aires in April, I figured I might run into a similar situation. Sure, the banks say you don't have to call ahead when you travel anymore, but I assumed I'd still have some purchase flagged as potential fraud, as had happened in past trips abroad. Miraculously, everything went off without a hitch. I don't know how JPMorgan Chase knew that I would spend $200 on Botox in Argentina, but it did. (No, I didn't book my flight on the same card, and whatever, everybody gets Botox now.)

It's great that banks and credit-card companies are getting better at discerning which payments are fraudulent and which are legit. Many people have some horror story about having their credit card stolen or having their own legitimate transactions flagged as suspicious. And it's nice not to have to spend 20 minutes on the phone before a vacation explaining where you're going and when. Credit-card fraud protection is still far from perfect, but there's no denying that the technology is improving. On the flip side, it's also kind of wild to consider just how much financial institutions must know about you to make the right calls.

I was curious about how it all works  and, frankly, a little creeped out. So I reached out to some credit-card companies and academics to learn more. Why don't people have to alert their credit-card companies about travel anymore? And, more broadly, just how have banks gotten so good at figuring out what's normal about our spending habits and what isn't?

The Federal Trade Commission receives thousands of card-fraud complaints each year. The Nilson Report, which tracks the card industry, says payment-card fraud resulted in $33 billion in losses worldwide in 2022 and $13.6 billion in losses in the US. As such, credit-card issuers and banks are keen to do what they can to spot fraud. They want to keep their customers happy, and, more importantly, they want to stem their losses. In the US, the major credit-card issuers and banks generally have a zero-liability policy, which means that when a customer gets scammed, the organization, not the customer, has to eat the cost.

Years ago, whether a transaction went through was based on things like whether a physical card was present, whether you had enough money to make the purchase, and (if the cashier wanted to look) whether your signature on the receipt matched the one on the back of your card. In some cases, the cashier may have even asked for ID or called the bank to verify the funds. We've come a long way from those bad old days by using the same tools that power most innovations: data and computers. Credit-card companies and banks know a lot about us  where we shop, when we spend, and how much we're usually willing to pay for things  and they're getting better and better at turning that knowledge into action.

While it's all the rage to talk about newfangled forms of artificial intelligence, fraud detection owes a lot to machine learning, a field within AI that's been around for years. A bunch of data gets dumped into computer systems, and algorithms figure out patterns and relationships. The algorithms create decision trees to predict the likelihood of different outcomes and identify what may be considered normal or fishy. It's not that your credit-card company knows that you, specifically, would blow a bunch of cash on A and not on B  it knows that customers with your profile are in the "likes A" camp and not the "likes B" one.

"It's looking at what's happening that is very much out of the ordinary for your general behaviors," said Tina Eide, an executive vice president of global fraud risk at American Express. "And when I talk about general behaviors, it is generalized, right? It is not down to the specific purchase or to the specific merchant." Eide added, "The models are evaluating a trillion dollars' worth of transactions a year."

The machines know more now than ever. Mike Lemberger, Visa's regional risk officer for North America, said that over the past five years the number of data points people generate with their credit cards has grown tremendously. People are increasingly using cards over cash. And they don't just have a physical card they're pulling out at the store  they've got their card credentials in their Amazon account, Netflix account, iPhone, etc. The more purchases the card issuer can analyze, the more accurate the fraud detection will be.

"Visa, we don't have consumer information  that's your financial institution that has that  but what we have is this triangulation of all these data points," Lemberger said. "We can create more and better scores, layer on top of that machine learning and AI abilities, and it becomes a much, much more powerful predictor, which we then feed into all of our partners to say, 'Hey guys, if you want to make the best decisions, here's a whole bunch of really good information.'"

Visa isn't going to block your card directly, but it'll alert your bank that your purchase looks suspicious or that fraud has been detected at the merchant you're dealing with.

This all seemed pretty simple until I talked to Yann-Ael Le Borgne and Gianluca Bontempi, a pair of researchers at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium who work on machine learning and card fraud. They emphasized the vast scale of this fraud-detection technology. Companies and their algorithms are ingesting millions of transactions and creating so many decision trees to categorize certain activities that it can defy human logic, they said. Basically, the computer may be right that your transaction looks funky even if it's made in your home city at a fairly innocuous vendor, or it may be right that the transaction is fine even though it's made in a faraway place  but when humans try to figure out what did or didn't sound the alarm, nobody will really be able to pinpoint why.

"Machines can consider many more features, and at the end of the day it's not clear if all those features have meaning for humans," Bontempi said. "Humans are used to working with two, three features, at most five features, while machines can work with hundreds of features. So there are really different levels between what a machine can do."

There are human-written rules, which are generally interpretable, and there are machine-written rules, which can be a black box. They're more accurate, but they may be harder, if not impossible, for people to reverse engineer. And banks may be using several different algorithms, making this even more complicated. Data scientists are the ultimate decision-makers, but the information they're dealing with is based on highly complex tech.

When I explained to experts my somewhat embarrassing wings-versus-wrinkles conundrum and asked what may have triggered one alert and not the other, they offered up different explanations. Eide, from American Express, said that even though I hadn't booked my trip to Argentina with the credit card I used to buy the Botox, something else had probably tipped off the system that I was there. I realized I'd also bought a package of spin classes in Buenos Aires on my phone with the same card. I had also paid for a meal in the city. Lemberger, from Visa, emphasized that it's about all the data and spending patterns and said that given my spending patterns, the Botox likely matched my profile more than the massive delivery order.

"I hate to say this to you, but at the end of the day, all these data points build personas. Just like in marketing somebody would use personas to market to you, we're using that same technology to protect you," he said. "And the fact is that we use those data points to not just secure you but the whole ecosystem."

At some point it occurred to me that the supercomputers that credit-card companies and banks are working with could know more about me than I even know or understand about myself.

"It's probable that the exact reason why a transaction caused your card to be blocked has no straightforward interpretation," Le Borgne said.

I also asked whether there was a big difference in credit-card protections and debit protections and was told not really  maybe banks will be a little more restrictive about credit because they're technically lending you money that's not limited by your actual cash balance. I also asked if companies don't worry about preclearing travel because they don't care as much about losing money to fraud anymore, to which the answer was a hard no.

"At the end of the day, somebody's got to pay for the fraudulent activity," Lemberger said. Credit-card companies will give you your money back if you're a victim of fraud, but they'll find another place to recoup that money, just as they always do.

Instinctually, I am not a technology-is-awesome person  if the AI really is going to kill us, I feel like we should unplug it. I'm not super freaked out about the privacy stuff, but I also don't love the idea that AmEx and JPMorgan and Citi have me so pegged. But it's cool that companies really are making fraud detection better, especially in a world where fraudsters themselves are constantly getting better. I don't want to be like "Yay, banks!" but maybe here the answer really is a little "Yay, banks!" At least that's the case until the next major data-privacy breach, at which point I will regret everything.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

Read the original article on Business Insider
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  Our guests on Inside Utah Politics this week include Senator Mitt Romney and a military veteran fighting to secure help for ailing vets.

We speak with Senator Mitt Romney as he inches closer to legislative retirement. Romney, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, discusses his dismay with some members of the GOP over their opposition to sending American aid to Ukraine. Romney also weighs in on the state of American influence and power projection around the world as Russia and China assert themselves and bring other countries into their spheres of influence.

American white pelicans nesting on Utah island for first time in 80 years

Our second guest is Dave Crete, Chairman of The Invisible Enemy (Home  The Invisible Enemy). His nonprofit is fighting to secure federal benefits to veterans of Americas nuclear weapons testing program. From the 1950s to the 1990s, America tested nuclear weapons in the Nevada desert. Cretes group is highlighting hundreds of veterans who became ill or died from radiation related to the tests. A film (DOWNWIND Trailer) tells the story.

In Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson survived an attempt to oust him from his leadership role. But Republicans joined with Democrats to kill the attempt led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Green. In the meantime, the White House is threatening to withhold weapons from Israel if it moves forward with an invasion of Rafah. President Biden has expressed concern over the damage those weapons would cause in a densely packed area like Rafah. Many lawmakers are furious over his announcement. Our Washington correspondents bring us the latest from the center of American politics.

Inside Utah Politics airs Sundays at 8 a.m. on ABC4.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Forget summer travel or lifeguarding. College student Sky Crabtree is ready to sharpen his journalism skills this summer with an internship at NBC 4 New York at 30 Rock.

The 19-year-old rising junior at Stony Brook University on Long Island will be working with the consumer reporting team for Better Get Baquero, monitoring tip lines, interviewing sources, logging video and more.

Internships are necessary, said Crabtree. Classes give you the skills that you need to get the internship; you need to do well at the internship and then you can take those experiences and apply them to your classes. Then, you can take on more advanced projects and make yourself a better reporter. Everything benefits everything.

Crabtree believes his internship will help expand upon what he learned in class. Stefano Giovannini

Crabtree, a Bronx native and journalism and political science double major, anchors politics at the student-run TV station and edits the school newspaper. He also interned this spring at WSHU, the campus public radio station. I want to expand my journalism reporting skills and meet all these amazing people at the news outlets NBC owns, he said. The more you can do and the bigger the outlet, the more advantages youll have over other graduates.

Shawn VanDerziel  president and CEO of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a professional association that connects college career services and recruiting professionals  agreed.

Eighty percent of employers say that internships provide the best return on investment of any recruitment tool that they have for early career talent, he said. Internship experience is cited as the deciding factor between two candidates.

Indeed, it even surpasses grade point average as a determining employment factor. The vast majority of employers are not necessarily considering GPA as a screening mechanism  what they are looking for number one is generally internship experience, said VanDerziel. The bottom line is that employers, particularly for entry-level professionals, are looking for an educated workforce that has skills, ability and knowledge.

To gain coveted skills, students should aim to pursue multiple internships as well as volunteer activities, leadership roles on campus, research with professors and more.

If so, employers see the candidate as versatile, capable of learning quickly and able to effectively contribute to various projects and teams, said Rosa Santana, director of career development and planning at Wagner College on Staten Island. Multiple internships can significantly enhance a students portfolio and increase their competitiveness in the job market.

Crabtree, a Bronx native and journalism and political science double major, anchors politics at the student-run TV station and edits his school newspaper. Stefano Giovannini

VanDerziel pointed out that about 34% of internships will be in person and 60% will be hybrid. Very few will be fully remote. Hybrid opportunities offer students with flexibility typically working three days in the office, two days virtually from the place of the interns choice, said VanDerziel.

Sara Shepherd, director of employer relations at Mercy University in Dobbs Ferry, NY, said that student learning and development seems to be the strongest when most or all of the internship is on-site.

In-person internships teach students not only about their field, but professional etiquette in their industry, she said. Additionally, the value of networking in an in-person internship can be lifelong.

Regardless of location, pay is still vital. According to Brooklyn-based Jessica Vidal, assistant general counsel and human resources consultant at HR outsourcing solution provider Engage PEO, Employers should pay interns at least the applicable minimum wage, pursuant to industry standards. For example, tech-finance employers must often pay interns far above the minimum wage to be competitive.

Currently, the minimum wage in New York City, Westchester County and Long Island is $16 an hour.

Vidal said that typically theres an internship agreement or offer letter. The agreement should outline the terms of the internship including whether the intern will receive academic credit or compensation.

Sometimes, interns may earn both.

Unpaid interns may be receiving credit because theyre taking it alongside a course, but just because they are [getting credit] doesnt mean they cant be paid, said VanDerziel.

His latest data on this is that 60% of internships are paid and 40% are unpaid. Within unpaid internships, the majority fall within nonprofits, the government or small and midsize companies.

In this case, VanDerziel recommends talking to the campus career center to utilize work-study dollars, scholarship funds that may be set aside for internships and a number of other ways to be a little more creative to ensure that the internship is funded. They [interns] cant pay for coffee with a commemorative mug that theyve received from an employer. They need more than that to set them up for success in life. There is a new day upon us by which we need to look at the fact that internships are work.

The good news is that its not too late to apply for summer 2024 employment, since students may find last-minute opportunities, especially with small to midsize companies.

For aspiring journalist Crabtree, an internship is an important stepping stone.

Its going to help set me up to be more employable when I enter the workforce, he said. I dont view it as optional.
Totally plc (LON:TLY) insiders who bought shares over the past year were rewarded handsomely last week. The stock rose 43%, resulting in a UK4.4m rise in the company's market capitalisation, translating to a gain of 38% on their initial investment. In other words, the original UK109.2k purchase is now worth UK150.5k.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Check out our latest analysis for Totally

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Totally

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Non-Executive Chairman Simon Stilwell for UK61k worth of shares, at about UK0.062 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of UK0.075. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

While Totally insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. The average buy price was around UK0.054. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. However, you should keep in mind that they bought when the share price was meaningfully below today's levels. 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!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership Of Totally

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Totally insiders own 21% of the company, worth about UK3.1m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Totally Tell Us?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Totally shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Totally insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Totally you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

Story continues

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.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP)  The exodus of Palestinians from Gazas last refuge accelerated Sunday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the southern city of Rafah. Israel also pounded the territorys devastated north, where some Hamas militants have regrouped in areas the military said it had cleared months ago.

Rafah is considered Hamas last stronghold. Some 300,000 of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there have fled the city following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken from Israel in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

Neighboring Egypt issued its strongest objection yet to the Rafah offensive, saying it intends to formally join South Africas case at the International Court of Justice alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza  an accusation Israel rejects. The foreign ministry statement cited the worsening severity and scope of the Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement that he cannot see how a full-scale invasion of Rafah can be reconciled with international humanitarian law.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated opposition to a major military assault on Rafah, and told CBS that Israel would be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency without an exit from Gaza and postwar governance plan.

Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas armed wing to reconstitute itself even in the hardest-hit areas. On Sunday, Hamas touted attacks against Israeli soldiers in Rafah and near Gaza City.

Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain open-ended security control over the enclave of about 2.3 million Palestinians.

Internationally mediated talks over a cease-fire and hostage release appeared to be at a standstill.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Memorial Day speech vowed to continue fighting until victory in memory of those killed in the war. But in Tel Aviv, hundreds of protesters stood outside military headquarters and raised candles during a minute-long siren marking the days start, demanding an immediate cease-fire deal to return the hostages.

Netanyahu has rejected postwar plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to govern Gaza with support from Arab and Muslim countries. Those plans depend on progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israels government opposes.

The Oct. 7 attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Militants still hold about 100 captives and the remains of more than 30.

Israels offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which doesnt distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.

HEAVY BOMBARDMENT IN THE NORTH

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. U.N. officials say there is a full-blown famine there.

Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery also struck the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have battled militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.

It was a very difficult night, said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday Saturday. This is madness.

First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defense said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as from Rafah.

In central Gaza, staff at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah said an Israeli strike killed four people.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said forces were also operating in the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which were heavily bombed in the wars opening days.

Hamas military wing said it shelled Israeli special forces east of Jabaliya and fired mortar shells at troops and vehicles entering the Rafah border crossing area.

Hamas regime cannot be toppled without preparing an alternative to that regime, columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israels Maariv daily, channeling the growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months into the war. The only people who can govern Gaza after the war are Gazans, with a lot of support and help from the outside.

CIVILIANS FLEE IN THE SOUTH

Rafah had been sheltering 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere. But Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of the city.

Most people are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Muwasi, a coastal tent camp where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.

The U.N. has warned that a planned full-scale invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian deaths. The main aid entry points near Rafah are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down.

A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press that Cairo has lodged protests with Israel, the United States and European governments, saying the offensive has put its decades-old peace treaty with Israel  a cornerstone of regional stability  at high risk. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he wont provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah, and his administration says there is reasonable evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians.

Israel rejects those allegations, saying it tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll because the militants fight in dense, residential areas.

In the West Bank, where deadly violence has increased since the war began, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a man was shot dead by Israeli forces in Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The army said its forces responded with live fire after being shot at by militants in the camp.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel sent tanks into eastern Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday after a night of heavy aerial and ground bombardments, killing 19 people and wounding dozens of others, Palestinian health officials said.

The death toll in Israel's military operation in Gaza has now passed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The bombardment has laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis.

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 says 620 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, more than half of them during the initial Hamas assault.

Jabalia is the biggest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps and is home to more than 100,000 people, most of whom were descendants of Palestinians who were driven from towns and villages in what is now Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation the state of Israel.

Late on Saturday, the Israeli military said forces operating in Jabalia were preventing Hamas, which rules Gaza, from re-establishing its military capabilities there.

"We identified in the past weeks attempts by Hamas to rehabilitate its military capabilities in Jabalia. We are operating there to eliminate those attempts," Israeli military's spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.

Hagari also said Israeli forces operating in Gaza City's Zeitoun district killed about 30 Palestinian militants.

Israeli forces thrust deep into Jabalia camp, deeper than the first time when they invaded northern Gaza, with tanks close to the local market, residents said. They also reported the fiercest gun battles in months there.

"They were bombing everywhere, including near schools that are housing people who lost their houses," Jabalia resident Saed, 45, told Reuters via a chat app. "War is restarting, this is how it looks in Jabalia."

The army sent tanks back into Zeitoun, as well as Al-Sabra, where residents also reported heavy bombardments that destroyed several houses, including high-rise residential buildings.

The army had claimed to have gained control of most of these areas months ago.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday warned that Israel was risking facing an insurgency in Gaza without a post-war plan for the enclave.

The Israeli Defence Forces said air sirens had sounded in the southern Kerem Shalom area and it had successfully intercepted two rockets launched from the vicinity of Rafah. It said there were no injuries and no damage reported.

Later on Sunday, sirens sounded in the Israeli city of Ashkelon as a result of incoming rocket fire from Gaza, which signalled militants there were still able to launch rocket attacks after over seven months of war.

Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV said on its telegram account, the rockets were launched from Jabalia, despite the active army raid.

GUNFIGHT ON DEIR AL-BALAH OUTSKIRTS

The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in several areas inside Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, including in Rafah, previously the Palestinians' last refuge where more than a million people were sheltering.

An Israeli air strike on a house in Sabra, a suburb of Gaza City, killed Talal Abu Tharifa, a political official of the the Palestinian Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), Hamas media said and the group said.

The DFLP is the third major faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO ), the Palestinians highest decision-making body.

On Sunday, more families, estimated in the thousands, were leaving Rafah as the Israeli military pressure intensified. Tank shells landed across the city as the army gave new evacuation orders covering some neighbourhoods in the centre of the city, which borders Egypt.

Israel's military said on Sunday it had opened a new crossing in northern Gaza, called "Western Erez", to transfer humanitarian aid to the strip.

"As I moved out of Rafah, I passed through Khan Younis, I cried," said Tamer Al-Burai, a resident from Gaza, who had been sheltering in Rafah.

"I saw a ghost city, all buildings on the two sides of the road, complete districts were wiped out. People are fleeing for safety, knowing there was no place safe, and there are no tents and no people to care for them," he told Reuters.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said Cairo would continue its mediation between Israel and Hamas and urged the two sides to show the flexibility and the will needed to reach a deal.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke on the phone on Sunday with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi, the White House said, reiterating President Joe Biden's longstanding concerns over the potential for a major military ground operation into Rafah.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; Additional reporting by Nayera Abdallah in Dubai, Emily Rose and Maytaal Angel in Jerusalem; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Tomasz Janowski, Humeyra Pamuk and Nick Zieminski)
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) tried to push back on Sunday against the idea that Donald Trump could be antisemiticforgetting that the ex-presidents associations with known antisemites were as recent as 18 months ago.

State of the Union host Dana Bash grilled Vance, a vice presidential contender, for his support of Trumps claim that Jewish people who voted for Joe Biden should be ashamed of themselves after Biden added contingencies to U.S. aid to Israel. Vance tried to defend Trumps argument and past support for Israel and criticized Biden for trying to micromanage Israels actions in Gaza, saying it was reasonable for Trump to urge Jewish Americans to side with Republicans.

However, Bash noted how Trumps phrasing has historic roots in antisemitism. The notion of saying to Jews, you should put Israel first and what happens in Israel first, and not sort of consider them American citizens first, has been used as an antisemitic trope, Bash said. Do you recognize that there, and perhaps that language isnt exactly on point when youre talking about something that is veryits like a tinderbox right now?

Vance then bizarrely tried to claim that Trump made no effort to single out Jewish Americansdespite Trumps multiple comments doing just thatand claimed that Trump has made such claims about a variety of groups. I don't think anybody could look at the presidency in the conduct of Donald Trump and say this is a person whos somehow antisemitic, Vance said.

He had dinner with Nick Fuentes, who is an avowed antisemitic, Bash shot back, referencing Trumps November 2022 dinner with the white supremacist Fuentes and musician Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago.

Vance had no response and instead tried to paint Biden as a disaster for the U.S.

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Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) responded to former President Trumps recent remarks about Jewish Americans who voted for President Biden, suggesting it was a reasonable argument to make.

CNNs Dana Bash pressed Vance on recent remarks by the former president, where Trump again attacked Jewish Americans for considering voting for Biden instead of him. Vance, a potential contender to be Trumps running mate, brushed off the comments and suggested people look at Trumps record on Israel.

Do I think its reasonable to look at this situation and say that, if youre a Jewish American who cares about the state of Israel, who cares about these antisemitic riots, and say you should be on the side of Republicans in 2024 because they govern effectively on some of the issues that you care about? I think its a totally reasonable argument to make, Vance said on CNNs State of the Union.

And I think that Donald Trumps going to keep on making it, he added.

Trump has made several comments about Jewish Democrats while on the campaign trail, saying in March that any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel. He made similar comments to reporters last week and on social media, which Vance responded to on CNN.

What Biden is doing with respect to Israel is disgraceful, Trump said to reporters last week. If any Jewish person voted for Joe Biden, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Vance continued to defend Trump when pressed further about the comments.

But he made similar comments about a lot of different groups of people, Dana. I dont think anybody could look at the presidency in the conduct of Donald Trump and say, this is a person whos somehow antisemitic, he told Bash.

Bash then noted Trump had dinner with Nick Fuentes, who is an avowed antisemitic. The former president had dinner with Fuentes in 2022, prompting backlash from both sides of the aisle.

Dana, you should look at the record of Joe Biden and recognize that, whether youre Jewish or not, his presidency has been a disaster for the American people, Vance replied.

Earlier in the interview, Vance urged people to look at Trumps record despite the recent comments.

Well, what I think, Dana, is that people should look at the record here and recognize that Donald Trump has actually been really good for the state of Israel. We had peace and prosperity in our country, and we had a very stalwart ally of the Israelis, he said.

Now Joe Biden is president. The Israelis have been attacked. You have got these terrible campus protests with a lot of antisemitic overtones all over our country, and you also have him trying to micromanage the Israeli response to them being attacked, he added.

Pro-Palestinian protests have broken out on college campuses across the country in recent weeks, prompting thousands of arrests and the cancellation of numerous commencement ceremonies. Biden has maintained that while he has supported peaceful protests, there is no place for antisemitism or violence.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Johns Hopkins University and protesters occupying a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Homewood campus have reached an agreement to end the demonstration immediately.

In exchange for the encampment being dismantled and not restarted, Hopkins will conduct a timely review of protestors key question of divestment, according to the Baltimore university in a Sunday news release.

Hopkins Justice Collective, the group leading protests, said in its own Sunday news release that Hopkins committed to accelerating its Public Interest Investment Advisory Committee process, a preexisting process within the university for divestment, by five months. The Board of Trustees will meet to discuss the PIIAC proposal for divestment in March or June 2025.

The university also agreed to end student conduct proceedings related to the encampment, provided there arent further campus disruptions and excluding any proceedings related to violence, property damage, intimidation or threats, Hopkins release says. However, those who have been identified could have their participation used against them in future disciplinary hearings for future violations of the student conduct code, according to HJCs release.

Protesters who arent affiliated with the university must vacate campus, Hopkins said.

On Sunday afternoon, demonstrators were on campus packing up the encampment on the campus lawn known as The Beach.

The collective called the multiday negotiations in no way a total victory but a step towards Johns Hopkins commitment to divest from the settler colonial state of Israel.

Hopkins is deeply committed to free expression, but it has to be done safely and in a manner that respects university rules and norms, Hopkins President Ron Daniels said in the Sunday release. It is my fervent hope that at Hopkins, we can together continue our focus on the important work of a university  to engage in dialogue and learning with one another regarding challenging and complex issues such as these.

The agreement follows failed negotiations between protesters and the university earlier this month. Demonstrators were given two hours to accept what HJC said was a weak offer to their demands of divestment from Israel or they risked facing disciplinary action from the university.

During the six hours of negotiations, administrators proposed considering divesting and cutting the 18-month process that it would take.

Protesters continued to occupy the encampment and were presented with a letter to sign the following day by administrators. The letter pledged not to disrupt the university's upcoming commencement, leave the encampment and not return. In exchange, the university would not discipline student protesters in the encampment.

Negotiations ended, and the demands for the university to divest, disclose all financial ties to Israel, along with its lobbying efforts to increase militarized spending and an account of the use of military technology developed at Hopkins, were not met. The encampment continued.

The encampment began on April 28, when students pitched tents on The Beach. Early on, protesters said they would not leave unless Hopkins divest its endowment in companies that support Israel such as BlackRock, Elbit Systems, Northrop Grumman, Palantir, General Dynamic, Lockheed Martin and Google. Hopkins demonstrations remained peaceful and did not cause any major disruptions to university operations.

The movement is in response to Israels offensive in Gaza after Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Hamas, designated a terror organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union, killed nearly 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages in the attack. Since then, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians on the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.

Hopkins is one of many schools across the country to have held pro-Palestinian demonstrations during the final weeks of the academic year, ranging from single protests to multi-weeklong encampments. The activism has resulted in hundreds of college protesters being arrested. Due to demonstrations causing disruptions, Columbia University rescheduled its commencement.

Baltimore Countys Towson University has also been urged by students to divest from Israel, with the schools student government association passing a Tuesday resolution urging divestment. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Movements goal is to end international support for Israel and to pressure it to comply with international law, according to the movements website.

In a Thursday statement, the Maryland Republican Jewish Council said it strongly condemns the resolution.

The adoption of this BDS resolution will only server to further isolate Jewish students at the university, reads the release.

_____

(Baltimore Sun photographer Amy Davis contributed to this article.)

_____
BALTIMORE-- After 14 days, Johns Hopkins University and student protesters have reached an agreement on the dismantling of the protest-related encampment on the Beach at the Homewood campus.

According to a release by the university, protesters have agreed to take down the encampment Sunday, and not to restart it, effective immediately. Protesters who are not affiliated with the university taking part in the encampment have been instructed to vacate the campus.

Since the protest began April 29, the university has sought a peaceful resolution to the presence of the encampment, which violates university policies designed to protect freedom of expression and ensure campus safety.

Within the agreement, the university promised to review the protesters' key question of divestment, using the university's existing process. JHU has also committed to conclude student conduct proceedings arising out of the encampment, if protesters agreed to not to engage in further disruptions of university activities, including Commencement.

"Conduct proceedings will continue for any allegations involving violence, assault, property damage, discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or threats" according to the release.

"Bringing this situation to a peaceful resolution has been an urgent priority for us since it began almost two weeks ago. Hopkins is deeply committed to free expression, but it has to be done safely and in a manner that respects university rules and norms. We are grateful to the many members of our communityfaculty, staff, and studentswho helped us navigate this moment," said JHU President Ron Daniels. "This is a truly difficult time in our world and at our university, with the anguish of the ongoing conflict and human tragedy in Israel and Gaza. It is my fervent hope that at Hopkins, we can together continue our focus on the important work of a university  to engage in dialogue and learning with one another regarding challenging and complex issues such as these."

On Sunday, demonstrators gathered on the Beach, where the encampment, once stood to make their voices heard. The group marched through campus, passing Gilman Hall, the president's residence, and the Blue Jay Statue. Students can paint on this statue freely, so demonstrators added the Palestinian flag and their message to the university.

"Our message is simple: Palestinians are humans," one demonstrator said. "The agreement that we reached by no means is considered a victory, but it was a first step."

In the agreement, the university says it will accelerate a review of its investments in the Israeli conflict.

This is progress according to demonstrators  who called for a review of university finances by the Hopkins Public Interest Investment Advisory Committee.

The university says amnesty was also granted to students who were going through conduct proceedings because of the encampments. Hopkins President Ron Daniels said in a statement: "The university is committed to holding what will doubtless be a challenging set of conversations around divestment that will require us to engage fully the history and the complexities of the conflict between Israelis, Palestinians, and neighboring states."

"Just because the tents are down does not mean the fight is over. Let me tell you we will come back. And we will continue to organize until we see a free Palestine," a demonstrator said outside of Daniels' on campus home.

According to the university's statement, the agreement also says that protestors cannot engage in further disruptions of university activities, including commencement, nor reestablish an encampment. Graduation is scheduled for May 25, just ten days after the encampment was taken down.

Nature: Mustangs in South Dakota

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Meet Stan Herman, elder statesman of American fashion
The GOP unveiled a bill last week to bar noncitizens from voting in federal elections  prohibiting something thats already illegal to address a problem lawmakers cant prove exists.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was candid last week in telling reporters that Republicans are motivated by intuition in seeking another law that would limit voting to U.S. citizens.

We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But its not been something that is easily provable. We dont have that number. This legislation will allow us to do exactly that  it will prevent that from happening. And if someone tries to do it, it will now be unlawful within the states, Johnson said in a Wednesday press conference on the Capitol steps.

Federal law since 1996 has banned noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and many states have passed laws that do the same for local elections.

So Johnsons speech was a jarring admission to voting rights advocates who have the data on noncitizens voting  figures that show how minimal such instances are.

Well, the thing is, we actually do have the numbers, and we know that noncitizens dont vote illegally in detectable numbers, let alone in large numbers, said Eliza Sweren-Becker, a senior counsel in the Voting Rights & Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, pointing to a study reviewing data from 42 different jurisdictions.

The Brennan Center study from the 2016 general election showed an estimated 30 incidents of suspected  not confirmed  noncitizen votes out of 23.5 million, which is 0.0001 percent of the votes cast. So the Speakers intuition is incorrect, she told The Hill.

Thats a conclusion thats also been reached by the libertarian Cato Institute, with one of its experts calling the claims one of the most frequent and less serious criticisms relating to migration.

Johnsons appeal to gut feeling touched a raw nerve with civil rights advocates, who see illegal voting as a nonissue and a proxy to enact voter suppression against underserved communities.

Intuition doesnt count for anything  doesnt mean a lick. And we need proof. We need specifics. And I can tell you that many of our organizations have scoured for any signs of voting that has been irregular or done by folks who are not qualified. There just hasnt been any evidence, said Janet Murguia, president of UnidosUS, the countrys largest Latino civil rights organization.

So he can have intuition all he wants, but that does not mean its true. It does not mean there is evidence, and it does not mean its factual. We need to see specifics, data to demonstrate any proof of irregularities.

Johnson first floated the framework for the bill in an April trip to Mar-a-Lago, making the announcement alongside former President Trump shortly after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) threatened a vote to oust him.

I think this is another way for him to appease the crazies on the right, because hes on the chopping block right now and hes got to do something to feed them some red bait, and we saw him do that when he stood next to Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-Calif.) said.

House Democrats joined a majority of Republicans to save Johnsons job in a floor vote just hours after he unveiled the voter fraud bill alongside numerous Trump allies including Stephen Miller, the architect of many of Trumps immigration policies, and former acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, who helped carry them out. Cleta Mitchell, who aided in Trumps legal efforts to challenge the 2020 election results after he lost, was also in attendance.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act, would require voters to demonstrate they are citizens in order to be able to cast a ballot.

Such measures have often sparked concern among voting rights advocates who fear many citizens dont have passports or birth certificates on hand, documents that can be expensive to get and create barriers to accessing the ballot box.

Sweren-Becker said the Brennan Center has found that between 5 percent and 7 percent of Americans, adding up to millions of people, dont have the most common types of documents used to prove citizenship.

Its a barrier that has played out as states have passed their own proof of citizenship laws  many which have since been struck down in court. A Kansas law on the books for three years resulted in more than 22,000 people suspended from voter rolls after failure to submit proof of citizenship. Courts have killed that law along with similar plans in several other states, though in March a federal judge upheld an Arizona law after a multiyear effort to require proof of citizenship to vote.

Its stupid. Its already illegal. Theyre trying to create a message  a lie  to the American people that undocumented people are voting. Its illegal to do that now. They dont need to do another bill. Its already illegal, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said.

Its just one more waste of time that the GOP is specializing in.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the chief crafters of the legislation, said Wednesday it is needed because the most fundamental thing you can do to destroy the rule of law and to destroy our republic is to undermine faith in our elections.

We should have documentary proof.  We should have a system to guarantee that only citizens of the United States vote in federal elections, he said.

But advocates have long maintained that system is already in place, and they say research from right-leaning organizations proves it.

Weve got organizations that have been, you know, sort of right-wing organizations, very conservative organizations, highly scrutinize this area of any potential for illegal voting by anyone whos not qualified, particularly undocumented, and they just cant report any great number, if at all, Murguia said.

The Heritage Foundation maintains a database of what it calls recent instances of voter fraud, though some cases in the file go back to the 1980s. Under ineligible voting, the database reports about 50 cases of voting by noncitizens.

Among the noncitizen voting cases, many involve visa holders or legal permanent residents rather than people living in the country illegally.

Ahead of the 2014 midterm elections in Florida, then-Gov. Rick Scott (R) announced a program to purge 180,000 foreign nationals from voter rolls, but that number was first reduced to 2,600, then to 198, until 85 names were removed from the rolls and only one person was prosecuted.

Unlike other crimes where it can be difficult to sort out the culprit, voter registration and casting a ballot creates the paper trail that is itself the crime.

Noncitizens who even register to vote or take another action to falsely claim they are a citizen could face up to five years in prison, and those who cast a ballot could be incarcerated for up to one year.

Those who violate the law also face deportation and jeopardize any chances at gaining citizenship.

The man prosecuted in Floridas voter purge, Josef Sever, was sentenced to five months in prison, a relatively short sentence handed down by the judge in consideration that Sever would almost certainly be deported.

The consequences are so severe that really this is not something that anybody would risk, Sweren-Becker said.

And that intuition actually bears out in the numbers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:IAG) First Quarter 2024 Results

Key Financial Results

Revenue: 6.43b (up 9.2% from 1Q 2023).

Net loss: 4.00m (loss narrowed by 95% from 1Q 2023).

0.001 loss per share (improved from 0.018 loss in 1Q 2023).

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

International Consolidated Airlines Group EPS Beats Expectations

Revenue was in line with analyst estimates. Earnings per share (EPS) surpassed analyst estimates by 95%.

Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 4.1% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 6.7% growth forecast for the Airlines industry in Europe.

Performance of the market in the United Kingdom.

The company's shares are up 1.4% from a week ago.

Risk Analysis

You should learn about the 1 warning sign we've spotted with International Consolidated Airlines Group.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
A hotelier has been likened to Basil Fawlty by a judge after using misleading pictures to advertise an absolute dump of a guest house.

John Dixon Hart, 60, posted misleading photos of his accommodation, located near Beverley Minster in East Yorkshire, on hotel websites and claimed it was four-star.

Hull Crown Court heard a litany of complaints made by customers including the musty smells, shabby, awful, and unclean rooms, stained and gruesome bedding, security worries and rude and unwelcoming behaviour from Hart.

The judge said he was absolutely staggered that there were any guests whatsoever and told Hart to run this guest house as it should be and not as Basil Fawlty.

The court heard how guests arrived at the Georgian townhouse to find the reception desk empty, rooms filthy  and received a barrage of abuse from Hart when they complained.

One woman said she had been called a c--- by Hart, while in another of his extremely unwelcoming exchanges, he called some lady he had never met a f---ing lech and told her she was a sponger, Judge Mark Bury said.

The judge said the guest house was 'tatty and run-down'

Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, prosecuting, revealed that trading standards officers were bombarded with complaints during 2021 and 2022 about the tatty and run-down guest house, Minster Garth in Keldgate, which was advertised on Expedia, Booking.com and other sites.

She said one woman was concerned that a door would not shut properly and a fire alarm was not working, while a couple had to go into town and buy cleaning supplies for their room because it was so dirty.

She said the guest house had failed to maintain the minimum standards required of hygiene, health and safety, customer service and overall presentation.

Hart told the court his customers were only charged 40 per night for a double room, the cheapest in the area, but expected the world.

Theyd had a night with heating and light and I told them to sling their hook. I gave arrogant responses, he said.

He admitted that he had been less than polite to guests and said he blamed his drinking for some of his behaviour.

In the evening, I was in the habit of drinking quite a few vodka and cokes and that worsened my behaviour towards guests, he said.

Minster Garth guest house in Beverley, East Yorkshire - MEN Media

We have got 12 or 13 rooms and, if people are all turning up at the same time and demanding attention, it can all get a bit fraught, he added.

Complaints were made to the local Tourist Information Centre and a council investigator declared that even one star would be flattering to the guest house.

Hart was jailed in August last year for 22 weeks for public order and harassment offences, including drunkenly abusing a female verger in the grounds of Beverley Minster in front of two young children.

Hart admitted six offences involving misleading commercial practices between June 2021 and March 2022.

He was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence, 20 days of rehabilitation, and ordered to pay 729 compensation to reimburse eight guests who had complained.

Customers complained of 'musty' smells and 'unclean' rooms

In delivering his verdict, Judge Bury said: Its a great shame because its a good spot and this has huge potential to be a successful business.

I have heard how you treated guests. I am absolutely staggered you had any. I wouldnt even have dreamed of staying in a guest house like that.

The idea is that you get back on your feet and run this guest house as it should be and not as Basil Fawlty. You are charging reasonable rates so people should not expect The Ritz.

They should expect reasonable facilities and, from you, politeness.

Judge Bury said it was a shocking set of circumstances and told Hart: Do not go to the off-licence and buy vodka. All I can do is wish you the best of luck with it.

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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.
Juveniles set barn, vehicle on fire after running away from Riverdale rehab center, police say

RIVERDALE, Utah (ABC4)  Two juveniles were taken into custody Friday after they ran away from a local rehabilitation center and set a barn, where a vehicle was parked inside, on fire, according to Riverdale Police.

Just before 3:10 p.m. on Thursday, Riverdale Police responded to a youth rehabilitation center on a report of two runaway juveniles that had been receiving inpatient treatment at the facility.

Officers searched the area but were unable to find the pair. The juveniles were then listed as missing with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

READ NEXT: Man grabs little girl in child kidnapping at Emery High, police say

Police note that the rehabilitation center is not a correctional facility.

The youth living at the home are there at the consent of their guardians for treatment, a press release from Riverdale Police states.

The following day, Riverdale police and fire departments responded to the area of 6000 South Weber Dr. on a report of a structure fire.

A driver passing by reportedly told police that they saw a large barn fully engulfed in flames, as well as two juveniles running away from the property towards I-84.

The barn was full of hay, a vehicle, and farming equipment. There was substantial property loss to the victim, the release states. Due to the amount of hay in the barn it was difficult to fully extinguish the smoldering hay.

Fire crews remained on scene Friday to manage the fire, and South Weber Dr. was closed in both directions.

Riverdale Police found the two juveniles on the I-84 freeway Friday shortly after the report of the fire. Police said the juveniles also broke into several structures in the area.

Officers then took the pair into custody, where they are being held for reckless burning, burglary, and vehicle theft, according to police.

No further information is available at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
KBI investigates after man was found dead in Sumner County, Kansas Friday

Kansas state officials are investigating after a man was found dead Friday in Sumner County.

Sumner County sheriffs deputies responded Friday afternoon to the area of 358 North River Road in Belle Plaine after a body was found, according to Melissa Underwood, a spokeswoman for the KBI.

Around 4:15 p.m., the sheriffs office requested KBIs assistance, and agents and a crime scene response team recovered the body.

Officials transported the remains to the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center, where a coroner performed the autopsy and found signs of foul play.

KBI and the sheriffs office are working to identify the victim.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME (57-27463) or submit tips anonymously at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.
A deputy jailer at the Powell County Detention Center was arrested after an investigation revealed an alleged inappropriate relationship with an inmate, Jailer Teddy Lacy confirmed.

Christine Spencer was arrested on Saturday by the Stanton Police Department, court records show. Spencer worked as a corrections officer since fall 2023, Lacy, who oversees the detention center, told the Herald-Leader.

The Powell County Detention Center received information about Spencer being involved in a relationship with an inmate, and launched an internal investigation, according to its post on Facebook.

During the investigation, sufficient evidence showed Spencer was involved in the relationship and she was charged and transported to the Clark County Detention Center.

Spencer was charged with second-degree sexual abuse. She posted bond and was released, according to Lacy.

Lacy said in a statement the public should not worry about placing their trust in the detention center. He said he would place the cuffs on an employee himself.

The trust our community places in the staff here at the detention center is a bond I take very seriously, he told the Herald-Leader. So in the rare instance when that trust has been broken, its important to be transparent and take measures for our accountability.

We want to ensure that the public knows we wont let impropriety stand with serving the community.
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 Russian-Ukrainian border, has come under heavy strikes. The Kyiv Independent joined local police on their mission to evacuate civilians from Vovchansk on May 11  the operation that was constantly interrupted by Russian launches of aerial gliding bombs.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The land of the free (bus) is getting more expensive

Fare deal: All buses in Vermont, even the link from Burlington to the citys airport, are free  for another few days at least (Simon Calder)

The supervisor of the bus station in Burlington, Vermont, is named Romeo. He arrived in America from Somalia.

Mogadishu, his home city, has its qualities, he said, but life in Burlington is certainly more placid.

While I have not had the pleasure of visiting his corner of Africa, I imagine the bus service may be less well organised than in Vermont.

Romeo directed me to the bus to Middlebury: a one-hour ride through exquisite landscapes of woodland and water, meadows and hillsides, to a small college town huddled prettily around a cascading river.

Value of trip: priceless. Cost of trip: zero.

Early in 2020, two significant locations, each with a population of around 650,000, stopped charging for public transport. One was Luxembourg: a small, wealthy nation that has terrible traffic. The Grand Duchy pays about 1bn a year to keep its buses, trams, trains and funicular running. At the time the decision was taken, farebox income amounted to 40m.

Cut out fares, the thinking went, and the national coffers will hardly notice. Costs will fall (no need to handle cash and ticketing) and efficiency will rise (with no tickets, there is nothing for the driver to sell or collect). Luxembourg is maintaining the abolition of fares in the hope that more people will leave their cars at home.

The other location: Vermont in the northeastern US, 10 times larger. The reason was nothing to do with easing traffic, which is never a problem in this bucolic state. It was Covid.

With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, fares were eliminated for all transit services in Vermont, the state legislature says. The twin aims, according to the Vermont House and Senate Committees on Transportation:

To reduce the risk of Covid exposure by increasing social distancing between drivers and passengers.

To recognise the trying economic times.

The policy has survived for four years  but from next week, passengers must get used once again to the idea of paying for the privilege of being professionally driven through a beautiful state.

The state has had enough of subsidising tourists (I would gladly pay $20 for that southbound ride from Burlington to Middlebury), and giving free rides to the local airport for business travellers who have spent hundreds of dollars on their flights to New York or Washington DC.

Even though the fares are pitched way below the cost of providing the service, it is natural that some locals will complain.

Yet there is one component of the states transport network where charging fares is seen as a benefit for everyone.

The capital of Vermont, Montpelier, has an on-demand transport system called MyRide. This flexible-schedule, flexible-route service came in three years ago, completely replacing the citys fixed-route bus network.

MyRide works like Uber or Lyft: you book a ride on the app (or can even phone in for transportation). For truly on-demand travel, you typically wait five to 15 minutes for a vehicle to arrive and take you wherever you desire to be. For regular trips, such as to work, you can book days or months ahead.

Unlike commercial ride-sharing services, though, it is free.

The scheme is nothing to do with helping with Vermonts cost of living crisis: the aim is to reduce pressure on parking, which currently accounts for 60 per cent of the citys downtown real estate.

Yes, an astonishing three-fifths of the area of the Vermont state capital is given over to car parks. Offer a superior alternative to car ownership, the thinking goes, and some of that space could be handed back for housing  which will enable people to live closer to work, reducing still further the room required to store SUVs all day.

Red alert: Car parks in central Montpelier, Vermont (Jon Budreski/Airshark)

The state now wants to start charging  not to start recouping some of the cost, but to get MyRide to work better.

A report from the Vermont legislature concludes: Without the disincentive of losing a fare payment, many riders will book trips that they do not intend to complete, which results in diminished capacity and efficiency and wasted time and resources for the microtransit operation and passengers.

In other words: many people book lifts and then dont bother to take them, because there is no personal downside.

MyRide sounds an excellent proposition  not least because it avoids sending empty buses around. But even I have to concede it will work better with a fare.

Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue  and what it means for you.
(NEXSTAR)  There are two new COVID-19 variants circulating, posing a threat to a summer surge.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking the new variants, scientifically known as KP.2 and KP.1.1 since at least the start of 2024. Theyve been steadily growing in prominence ever since, and have garnered the nickname FLiRT because of their mutations.

The latest data shows KP.2 is the dominant strain in the U.S., comprising almost 25% of the tests that have been sequenced. KP.1.1 makes up about 8% as of the end of April. Both are sublineages of the JN.1 lineage of the Omicron variant, the main COVID variant for roughly three years.

Both FLiRT variants are considered very similar to JN.1, health officials say, with early data suggesting only a couple of changes in their spike proteins.

Brown eggs vs. white eggs: Whats the difference?

With the virus expected to spread as the summer months approach, it may be sparking concerns about whether the last vaccine dose you received is still protecting you. Ultimately, it depends on when you got your last dose.

In fall, an updated COVID vaccine was released. The CDC has recommended everyone 6 months old and older get the updated vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax. In February, a federal immunization committee voted in favor of recommending an additional dose for those ages 65 and up. Those between the ages of 6 months and 4 years old require multiple doses, the CDC says.

Previously, health officials have said the COVID vaccines would provide protection from the virus for several months. In a February update on the newest vaccine booster made available in September, the CDC said that while it had (from September to January) been effective, they expected that protection would decline over time as had been seen with previous doses.

However, because the FLiRT variants are relatively new, there isnt enough data to show whether the vaccine or immunity from a recent case of COVID will provide effective protection against them.

Speaking with TODAY, Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said lab studies so far have shown vaccines and immunity may only provide partial protection. Late last month, the World Health Organization recommended that future COVID vaccines formulations be based on the JN.1 variant, a close relative of the FLiRT off-shoots that reigned as the most common in the U.S. over the last few months.

As of Thursday, the CDC is reporting minimal COVID activity in wastewater nationwide, and virus-related hospitalizations and deaths, as well as the rate of patients visiting emergency departments testing positive for COVID, are down.

Man rescued by first responders after saving service dog in water on LI: NCPD

A spokesperson for the CDC tells Nexstar that the agency is working to better understand [KP.2 and KP.1.1]s potential impact on public health, but notes that based on lab tests, there are low levels of SARS-CoV-2 transmission overall at this time.

That means that while KP.2 is proportionally the most predominant variant, it is not causing an increase in infections as transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is low, the spokesperson added. Based on current data there are no indicators that KP.2 would cause more severe illness than other strains. CDC will continue to monitor community transmission of the virus and how vaccines perform against this strain.

Its too soon to say whether a new COVID vaccine will be created for the summer months. While the CDC recently eased guidance surrounding COVID, the agency still recommends everyone 6 months old and older get the updated COVID vaccine released in fall, if they havent already. Health experts are also continuing to encourage testing if you experience symptoms or are exposed, staying home if youre sick, practicing good hygiene, and wearing a mask and social distancing when in public.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
At least 11 dead, mostly students, in Indonesia bus crash after brakes apparently failed, police say

The wreckage of a bus lies on the side of a road following an accident in Subang, West Java, Indonesia, late Saturday, May 11, 2024. The bus carrying high school students and teachers returning from an outing smashed into cars and motorbikes in Indonesia's West Java province, killing a number of people on board. (AP Photo/Ryan Suherlan)

BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP)  A bus slammed into cars and motorbikes after its brakes apparently malfunctioned in Indonesias West Java province, killing at least 11 people, mostly students, and injuring dozens of others, officials said Sunday.

The bus carrying 61 students and teachers was returning to a high school in Depok outside Jakarta, the capital, late Saturday from the hilly resort area of Bandung after a graduation celebration, said West Java police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast.

It sped out of control on a downhill road and crossed lanes, hitting several cars and motorbikes before it crashed into an electricity pole, he said.

Nine people died at the scene and two others died later in the hospital, including a teacher and a local motorist, Abast said. Fifty-three other people were hospitalized with injuries, including some in critical condition, he said.

We are still investigating the cause of the accident, but a preliminary investigation showed the bus's brakes malfunctioned, Abast said.

Local television footage showed the mangled bus in the darkness on its side, surrounded by rescuers, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured.

Road accidents are common in Indonesia due to poor safety standards and infrastructure.

Last year, a tourist bus with an apparently drowsy driver slammed into a billboard on a highway in East Java, killing at least 14 people and injuring 19 others. In 2021, a tourist bus plunged into a ravine in the West Java hilly resort of Puncak after its brakes apparently malfunctioned, killing at least 27 people and injuring 39 others.
The frenzied homebuying days in Austin, Texas, that saw some buyers offer six figures over asking price are gone.

The Texas capital, where the average home price soared by $170,000 during the COVID pandemic, is now seeing major price corrections: The median price per square foot is down 9.5% from its pandemic peak two years ago, according to Realtor.com. As of April, the median list price stood at $557,000.

Austins real estate boom was driven by a sudden influx of workers, who were newly remote and suddenly more mobile thanks to early COVID office closures. They encountered a waning supply of inventory, and home prices subsequently spiked, dealing a blow to the citys affordability.

However, as mortgage rates increase, new construction finally enters the market, and out-of-towners begin to leave, Austins housing boom appears to be winding down.

We mirrored what happened across the country: We saw a lot of demand, which drove up prices really quickly, Kent Redding, president of the Austin Board of Realtors, told Yahoo Finance. But that [housing boom] was outside the norm. It was a blip on the map.

Read more: Mortgage rates top 7%  is this a good time to buy a house

An aerial view of downtown Austin, Texas, on April 21, 2023. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) (Brandon Bell via Getty Images)

'No inventory for two years'

Home prices in Austin soared during the pandemic as out-of-town remote workers and tech employees decided to trade in coastal cities for more space, affordability, and, in some cases, tax perks.

For many newcomers, the quickly expanding Texas tech hub  now home to giants like Google, Tesla, Amazon, and Apple  was a cost-effective move, especially given Texas is a no-income-tax state.

The market reached an absolute peak in 2022, Andrew Vallejo, Redfin agent based in Austin, told Yahoo Finance. Prices were climbing pretty rapidly.

According to population estimates from the US Census Bureau, the Austin metro population added nearly 140,000 new residents from 2020 to 2022. Between July 2022 and July 2023, Austins metro area added just over 50,000 residents.

That rapid influx of newcomers shocked the markets inventory.

At one point, the active listing count for all residential single-family homes, condominiums, or townhomes fell just over 64% from May 2020 to February 2022, according to Unlock MLS.

A "for-sale" sign is seen on March 19 in Austin, Texas. (Credit: Brandon Bell, Getty Images) (Brandon Bell via Getty Images)

Previously owned homes grew limited as homeowners set their sights on refinancing at ultra-low rates during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the few listings available drew fierce competition, multiple bids, and buyers purchasing well over the asking price.

It was almost a given that you would be paying over ask, and the question was how much, Stephanie Douglass, co-founder at Open House Austin, told Yahoo Finance. We saw offers on homes as high as six figures over-ask, and anywhere from five to 25 offers on almost every house.

Story continues

While new construction bridged some of the inventory gap, it wasnt enough to assuage demand. According to Austins city demographer, the average home price jumped from $420,000 in 2020 to $590,000 in 2022 as demand outpaced inventory.

There was just no inventory for two years, said Jeremy Knight, real estate agent and founder of The Knight Group in Austin. Now all of that inventory is finally catching up.

According to the Realtors board, the market is currently at 3.8 months of inventory. While five to six months is a balanced market nationally, four to five months is enough to feel balanced in this metro area, the Realtors group says.

Read more: Buying a new construction home: Pros, cons, and how to finance it

Graffiti saying "Leave Austin" is seen on signage near a newly constructed home on March 19 in Austin, Texas. (Credit: Brandon Bell, Getty Images) (Brandon Bell via Getty Images)

New construction, people moving due to circumstantial life events, in addition to some folks returning to coastal cities have also freed up inventory over the past year, said Knight.

One county in the Austin metropolitan area is already registering a shift, census data shows. Travis County  which encompasses downtown and central Austin  had negative net migration between 2022 and 2023.

More people moved out of the county than into it, Dr. Lila Valencia, Austins city demographer, told Yahoo Finance.

Between July 2022 and July 2023, Travis County had 2,411 more residents move out than move in, according to Census Bureau data. The data only looks at net migration figures and does not include details on people's origin or destination.

I cannot say whether there is a migration flow from Austin to coastal cities, Valencia noted.

Still, real estate professionals have a strong inkling that some of the flow is people returning to where they came from.

There was a big shift to move to Texas from more expensive cities due to work-from-home, but now people realize they may not need as much space after all. Back then, people were at home 90% of the time, and so they wanted those big houses and big backyards in Texas, said Douglass. So were seeing not this mass exodus, but a leveling out of the population growth.

According to Realtor.com, housing inventory surpassed pre-pandemic levels by nearly 30% in April. Thats ushered in a big price correction in some parts of Austin, bringing prices slightly closer to earth.

As of April, the median list price was $557,000, down 2% year over year. Still, the median listing price per square foot was up 1% from a year ago, according to Realtor.com. The required income to purchase a median-priced home was $157,000 annually.

Its really not a new normal, its just a normal, said Redding. There was normal in 2019 and before. We had a steady appreciation, then boom, prices went way up, and now were coming back down to what was normal. For the past year, prices have been pretty steady.

Workers renovate a newly constructed home on March 19 in Austin, Texas. (Credit: Brandon Bell, Getty Images) (Brandon Bell via Getty Images)

'Home prices claw back'

Where home prices correct the most really depends on where youre shopping for a home.

Ive seen home prices claw back to pre-pandemic 2019 prices in a lot of areas, Vallejo said. The suburbs are very significantly affected.

For instance, just 15 miles north of Austin, Round Rock saw average listing prices climb to a peak of $497,000 in 2022, falling to $399,000 in February. Despite that softening, they remain above the 2020 median listing price point of $259,500.

At the same time, there are still a few hotspots seeing multiple bids.

We still have pockets of multiple offers and neighborhoods that have retained their value well, Redding said, noting that areas close to downtown often see more demand.

Right now, I have a buyer thats running an offer against three others on a million-dollar property, Knight told Yahoo Finance.

But in most neighborhoods, the chances of getting multiple bids on a home or even expecting someone to offer over the asking price can be hard to come by.

Vallejo said he put up eight homes for sale in the last two weeks, but only three received offers the first weekend. Two or three potential buyers visited, and only one made a good offer on each.

Then the others where there was no traffic at all, Vallejo said. And they're all priced competitively to market, so it's very much hit or miss where if you find the perfect buyer that happens to like your home, that could be great. But also, we could end up sitting for 45 or 60 days and have to have a price adjustment.

Its unpredictable, he added.

Its a buyers' market just not on paper

Houses for sale are listed on a real estate agency. (Credit: Justin Tallis, AFP via Getty Images) (JUSTIN TALLIS via Getty Images)

Real estate professionals on the ground in Austin agree the market has changed a lot.

Before, you would go to a house that was just listed and would see 10 people outside waiting to show it, and you would know that you would have to put in an offer 10 to 48 hours after viewing it because it would be off the market in two to three days, Douglass said.

Thats not the case today. The days of buyers waiving appraisals and rushing to bid over-ask are fading in the rearview mirror.

Nationwide, the typical home spent 47 days on the market in April, Realtor.com found. In Austin, some real estate agents are seeing homes stay up to two months on the market if they arent priced right.

Across the US, the share of homes with a price reduction increased to 15.5% in April, from 12.3% a year ago.

While it may not be a buyers' market on paper just because the inventory is not there yet, buyers are severely slowing down, Douglass said. Not only are you seeing sellers keeping the contingencies in place but giving seller concessions in the form of closing costs, giving repairs that they never would have done during the pandemic.

Gabriella Cruz-Martinez is a personal finance and housing reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @__gabriellacruz.

Click here for real estate and housing market news, reports, and analysis to inform your investing decisions.
Let it go already! Marjorie Taylor Greene wont give up war with Mike Johnson after failed ouster

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has signalled that significant divisions between her and fellow Republican Mike Johnson remain as she spoke about her failed attempt to bring down the House speaker earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Greene brought her long-awaited motion to vacate to the floor in an effort to remove Johnson from the speakers chair. It failed spectacularly, with 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voting to kill her resolution.

But she appeared unable to move on during an interview with Fox News on Sunday where she accused Mr Johnson of being owned by the Democrats after the rival party voted to protect him.

Americans are fed up with Republicans that will not defend President Trump, Rep. Greene told host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures.

Bartiromo asked Greene whether her effort to oust Johnson was creating a disruption too close to an election when Republicans will be seeking to defend a thin majority in the chamber.

The Georgia lawmaker responded that the disruption, the chaos and the drama she was bringing to Capitol Hill was already a staple of the average Americans daily life, an allusion to problems she argues are failures of Washington.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, pictured speaking on the House floor on Wednesday, was defeated when she attempted to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (C-SPAN)

The congresswoman also shared that, ahead of her motion to vacate, she asked Mr Johnson to defund Jack Smith - the justice departments special counsel overseeing investigations into Mr Trumps attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and his handling of classified documents. The House speaker does not have the power to do that.

Ms Greene also claimed that the GOP would not win control of the House in November elections unless the party prove[d] to the American people that were worth theyre vote. And so far, under Mike Johnson, we havent proven that.

The remark is just one of many remarks from Greene that the Biden campaign is likely to weaponise against Republicans. A clip of her Fox interview was quickly shared on social media by an account operated by the Democratic National Committee, with the caption: Marjorie Taylor Greene: Republican voters are saying theyre going to skip our names on the ballot. Theyre not going to vote for us.

Marjorie Taylor Greene: Republican voters are saying theyre going to skip our names on the ballot. Theyre not going to vote for us pic.twitter.com/Y1x8B31F7r  DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) May 12, 2024

Ms Greenes war with Speaker Johnson has now stretched on for months. In January, she threatened to call a motion to vacate the speakership, if brought a bill to fund military assistance to Ukraine, which he eventually did in April. That bill passed with wide bipartisan support last month, as expected, though more Democrats than Republicans supported it.

Despite few backers among Republicans, the Georgia lawmaker continued in her lonely bid to oust Mr Johnson which came a head on Wednesday.

Unlike the process which led to former Republican speaker Kevin McCarthys ouster last fall, Democrats crossed party lines to vote for Mr Johnson, citing his willingness to bring the Ukraine vote to the floor under threat from his partys right wing. The chamber voted 359-43 to put aside her motion without an official vote or period of debate, a process called tabling the resolution.

I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort, Mr Johnson said after the ouster attempt. In this moment, the country desperately needs a functioning Congress.

Even conservative and right-wing members of the GOP rounded on Ms Greene following her ouster attempt.

We need to get our act together, said Nancy Mace, a Republican who supported ousting McCarthy, before Greene made her move this week. Shes gonna lose. I dont know why shes doing this because the votes arent there. Shes gonna lose the motion to vacate, and I dont know why shes doing it.

"One dumpster fire at a time," Dusty Johnson of South Dakota quipped when asked by one reporter if the caucus would punish Greene following the motion to vacate.

At this point, the congresswoman is persisting in criticizing the speaker contrary to the wishes of former president Donald Trump, who has remained the Republican partys de facto leader.

Mr Trump has now made clear on several occasions that he did not support Ms Greenes bid to oust Mr Johnson from the speakership.

The former president and Mr Johnson recently met at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two unveiled a piece of headline-grabbing legislation to combat the largely nonexistent problem of undocumented immigrants attempting to vote in presidential elections.
Letters to the Editor: A $24 monthly fee for power? It's time for solar users to go off grid

To the editor: The year was 2004. California had already passed net metering laws to encourage residents and businesses to install rooftop solar. I bit and plunked down tens of thousands of dollars for a system. My electric bill went to zero, and I was happy. ("Regulators approve sweeping change to the way most Californians are billed for electricity," May 9)

Southern California Edison and other private utilities were not. So, they went to work, playing the long game.

They convinced the California Public Utilities Commission to gut net metering, so that they would not have to reimburse me at market rates for the excess electricity I put on the grid. They also got the CPUC to tack on a $10 grid connection fee.

Governors and the Legislature have been complicit in this slow-motion bait and switch, because the utility lobbyists know how to do their jobs well. Of course the consumers are mad.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, drive around and look up at the roofs. You'll see lots of solar panels up there. Every one of them represents a vote you won't get if you have presidential aspirations.

And Edison, when battery technology reaches the point where I can go off-grid, you will be summoned to disconnect me from your system  at your expense.

Jon Rowe, Costa Mesa

..

To the editor: As someone who chooses to live in a small apartment and get around by walking or biking, I have a lifestyle that is already more climate friendly than those who live in large houses and drive electric cars.

Why, then, am I being punished with a higher electric bill, with the addition of a $24 monthly charge, just so the more wasteful among us can have a lower bill?

I don't understand why the state regulators would pass something that so clearly makes life harder for the people causing the least climate impact.

Justin Johnson, Redondo Beach

..

To the editor: After reading the entire article on the anger over the new flat monthly fee, I strongly feel we should throw out the rascals in Sacramento the next time they are up for election.

It is obvious that Newsom, most legislators and the CPUC commissioners serve the interests of the utility companies, not us.

Watana Charoenrath, Agoura Hills

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
To the editor: Like Hala Alyan, who wonders if recent protests signify a turning point in support for the Palestinians, I mourn the loss of innocent lives in Gaza. I have some questions for her:





Could the war and death of innocent Palestinians have been avoided completely if Hamas had not entered Israel and murdered and captured so many Israelis on Oct. 7?





What would Palestinian life be like in the Gaza Strip if Hamas, instead of building an extensive tunnel and weapons system, had spent that money building a thriving economy?





Do you really think that Hamas is interested in the well-being of the Palestinian people?





The Hamas doctrine calls for destruction of Israel. Do you believe that Israel has a right to exist? Do you believe in a two-state solution?





Who could best represent the Palestinian people in trying to create a Palestinian state? What should be the next step?

Hopefully the day will come when Israelis and Palestinians live in peace.

Howard Sherwood, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: As a 72-year-old secular Jew, I keep reading that my generation has a more favorable view of Israel than the younger generation because we remember when Israel was the proud underdog winning existential wars. We also know that at Israel's founding, it aspired to be a "light unto the nations," in accordance with that biblical phrase.

Israel's actions in Gaza betray that creed.

Asking me if I support Israel is like asking me if I support the police. I support them when they do the right thing; I do not when they do the wrong thing. I am not tribal.

To my fellow Jews who justify the catastrophe that is Gaza because of Hamas' Oct. 7 barbarity, I say we must be better than that. Otherwise, with an eye for an eye and then some, we surrender the light that marked Israel's founding.

Alan B. Posner, Santa Barbara

..

To the editor: Last February, in a poll conducted in Israel, 68% of Israeli Jewish respondents expressed opposition to the transfer of any food and medicine into Gaza. Eighty percent of right-wing Israeli Jews were opposed, as were 39% of Israeli Jews on the left.

There is a hole in humanity. As one very old woman, I am sad and shocked beyond belief, stopped in my tracks as though a cement hand has pushed me over and down.

And now, as I type, Israel strikes Rafah with American military might. Who can be surprised by Gen Z support for Palestinians?

Katherine Holden, Ojai

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Fix the Endangered Species Act

The federal governments plan to kill thousands of barred owls to try and save spotted owls perfectly displays a flaw in the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA requires that all plants and animals that existed in 1973 when it became law must never be allowed to go extinct. It essentially demands we stop time.

Science says species and habitats evolve over time. When things change, species that needed the pre-change conditions dont always survive. Thats how things go. Probably 99% of all the species that ever existed on Earth are extinct.

Trying to freeze this process at a single point in time is ludicrous. Which is why ludicrous things can sometimes happen when the ESA is strictly enforced. Shooting barred owls is technically required by the ESA because it does not allow for any extinction, even when it involves two species where one is clearly outcompeting the other.

The reason barred owls are supposedly bad is because they are better than spotted owls at surviving. If left alone, barred owls will simply replace spotted owls within the ecosystem, and everything will work just fine. The invasion of barred owls should be viewed as a natural process, not some insidious plague of evil.

Also consider how many mostly federal workers will lose their jobs if spotted owls become extinct. And then how many of these people helped make the decision that thousands of barred owls need to be killed to save spotted owls from extinction (and themselves from unemployment)?

Steve Shanewise, Olympia

Syd Locke for State Senate

As we face another election year, the dread and fatigue are palpable. Whether a voter on the right, left or center, people feel like their choices are limited, redundant and a forgone conclusion.

But into the mix the citizens of state Legislative District 22 have a new candidate to represent them for the Washington state Senate. Syd Locke is experienced, ready to go and unbought. With 30 years experience working as a senior legislative assistant, he knows the ins and outs of moving policy forward. He has seen what special interest and corporate money have done to our great state, which is why he takes no corporate donations. That means no big real estate, no pharmaceutical money, nothing!

What Syd is interested in is policies that advocate for the working class: instituting a robust state Medicare for All model as proposed by Whole WA; overturning the state ban on rent control; overturning the states regressive tax system; and advocating fiercely for Washington to be a leader in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

To learn more about Syd Lockes vision for Washington state, visit www.SydLocke.com, and join the movement that brings dignity to all people.

Elizabeth Ann Baldo, Olympia

Toys guns are not fun

I was shopping at the Haggen store on Cooper Point Road recently and found that they were selling toy guns. I was shocked to see that after all the efforts we have made to keep kids safe from guns. This is not how we want to raise our children.

Guns are not toys. Real guns kill kids. We have strict laws in our state (finally) on the purchase of real guns. Probably every one of us has been touched by the death of a child by a firearm.

According to the search results, firearms have become the leading cause of death for children and teens (ages 1-19) in the United States. Here are some key statistics:

 In 2021, there were 2,571 child deaths due to firearms, a rate of 3.7 deaths per 100,000 children. This represents a 68% increase in the number of deaths since 2000 and a 107% increase since 2013.

 In 2020 and 2021, firearms contributed to more deaths of children ages 1-17 than any other type of injury or illness, surpassing motor vehicle accidents.

 In 2021, firearms were involved in 4,733 child and teen deaths (ages 1-19) in the United States.

 Research estimates that every year, 19,000 children and teens are shot and killed or wounded in the U.S.

I hope you will join me in a campaign to stop Haggen from selling toy guns in their Olympia area stores.

Edie Harding, Olympia
Within a decade, Liberty City will look totally different.

That is by design. A 2016 partnership between Miami-Dade County and Related Urban, the affordable housing arm of Related Group, aimed to redevelop Liberty Square, the first public housing project in the southeastern United States, in order to transform the community. Gone will be the pre-World War II row houses awash in faded yellow, light blue, pink and green that dot portions of the block along NW 62nd Street in Miami. Gone will be the front porches and the open yards. In their place: several three-story buildings have emerged, painted different shades of gray with splashes of the aforementioned colors accented on doors and the facade. So far, three phases of 10 have been completed.

Since 2019, about 226 residents of the former Liberty Square public housing project have moved into the new properties in phases 1-3, according to Related Urban. The $300 million project will eventually feature 640 public housing units while the remaining roughly 1,200 will be a mix of affordable, workforce and market-rate. Rents for non-public housing tenants will range from $1,197 for a one-bedroom up to $2,750 for a three-bedroom unit. And though the experiment to see if this redevelopment will be a successful way to move residents out of poverty, some of the public housing tenants who relocated into the units still continue to face challenges in their new environment.

The old pre-World War II row houses of Liberty Square are being replaced in phases at Liberty Square, colloquially known as the Pork n Beans. The new mixed-use housing is currently building phase 4. Residents began moving in the new units back in 2019.

One tenant has persistent leaks. Another tenants wheelchair has torn up the units floor. Several tenants complain of mold. Some residents simply feel that they have lost their sense of community. Older residents have raised concerns about using safety, noise and the new appliances. And several tenants expressed concerns about presenting problems to the developments management, TRG Management, a subsidiary of the Related Group, saying they take a long time to respond. The Herald heard from about a dozen residents about Liberty Square who wanted to express their concerns. Many, however, did not want to use their names due to fear of intimidation.

Related Urban says that a lot of the issues that residents are experiencing are standard in new construction and that they have addressed them as they arise.

Individually, the concerns sound pretty manageable. In aggregate, they point to the growing pains experienced by a community in the midst of a cultural shift that perhaps neither the residents nor the developers of Liberty Square fully understood. A combination of the isolation of the pandemic, poor communication and lack of access to social services likely only aggravated tensions. Then came the documentary that showed life through the eyes of Liberty Squares public housing residents.

A changing Liberty Square

Related Urbans Liberty Square is block by block replacing its predecessor, colloquially known as the Pork n Beans. The original Liberty Square opened in 1937 as the first public housing project in the southeastern United States. Black Miamians moved into Liberty Citys new housing complex, many glad to abandon their wood framed homes in nearby Overtown with no electricity or running water.

The original 55-acre Liberty Square offered new concrete one and two-story row houses with groomed lawns and fences. Black Miami historian Nadege Green, said the community offered everything residents needed, providing for the first iteration of a robust live-work-play community. In addition to housing, residents had access to a community-run grocery story, daycare and doctors office at a community center.

This was considered moving on up, Green said.

An aerial view of the new Liberty Square next to the old pre-World War II row houses. When the project is completed there will about 1800 new units.

The community attracted residents from all over Miami, including the Heralds first Black female reporter Bea Hines. Hines moved into the community with her family in 1952 when she was 14 years old. In 2019 column, she wrote that back then it was one of the best places for blacks to live in the city.

Everything changed in the 1960s. Money dried up and the buildings deteriorated from lack of maintenance. Blame the federal government, Green said, for the poor upkeep. Decades later, during the McDuffie riots in the 1980s, much of the neighborhood went up in flames and businesses went bust. Federal funding failed to reach the community then again too to help it recover. That, plus the influx of crack, led to the surrounding neighborhood of Liberty City becoming a hotbed for crime. A 1994 Herald article stated that the area itself accounted for about 30 percent of all Miami homicides and 6,000 drug arrests over a period of a year and a half.

Fast forward to the mid-2010s: talks began between the county and Related to raze and revitalize the neighborhood in phases with a new $300 million Liberty Square. Miami-Dade County partnered with Related Urban to redevelop Liberty Square in 2016, part of the developers appeal was the very fact that the company wanted to transform not just the buildings but the community itself. Relateds project came with commercial tenants, retail, a supermarket plus would have a Jessie Trice Community Health Center, a school and robust social services available.

We are committed to actually helping this community, Related Group Vice Chairman Adolfo Henriques told the Miami Herald.

We were promised better

Some residents who have moved into their new units are skeptical.

This doesnt remind me of Liberty City, said public housing resident Samantha Kenley, calling the new building a beautiful facade. A mother of seven kids, Kenley made the decision to stay in the community that raised her in part due to the familial atmosphere and the guarantee of a better unit. Kenleys unit, however, has had many problems including a cracked ceiling that leaks during heavy rain, rusted hinges and mold, which she claims gave her youngest son asthma. Management, she says, did little to help solve her issues.

We were promised better, Kenley said.

Samantha Kenley, 39, is actively engaged in monitoring management responses and advocating for the concerns of fellow residents in the new Liberty Square development.

Another resident, Cheyenne Duncan, also claims to have lost 40 lbs due to the mold in her unit. The 29-year-old has lived in Liberty Square with her two children since 2021 and has faced problems for most of her time. At first, the toilets kept clogging. Then the counters kept flooding due to what she believed to be a cracked pipe. And finally, water began to drip into the unit from the ceiling whenever it rained. Maintenance came and repainted the walls but the mold only continued to grow.

It makes me feel sad, Duncan said, holding her 4-year-old daughter Queen in her arms. Every month, I have a hospital visit.

The water from the broken pipe even seeped into her neighbors unit, weakening the floorboards. Eventually, the floorboards broke under the pressure of the residents wheelchair. The floorboards were fixed after the Herald started its inquiry into Liberty Square more than two years after initially complaining, according to the resident. Information about tenants repair requests was asked for but Related Urban told the Herald it would not be provided.

Resident Cheyenne Duncan is held closely by her daughter, Queen, as she describes the recurring mold in her unit at Liberty Square, which she says has affected her daughters health. About 226 residents of the former Liberty Square public housing project have moved into the new properties in phases 1-3, according to the Related Group.

Some of the issues that residents cited  including Kenleys leaky ceiling  came to light in Razing Liberty Square, a 2024 PBS documentary by filmmaker Katja Esson, which explored how the public housing projects redevelopment and climate gentrification have impacted the surrounding neighborhood. A subsequent town hall in late March allowed more residents to speak their mind, this time in front of County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Public Housing and Community Development director Alex Ballina.

In that town hall, dozens of residents complained about issues like leaky ceilings and mold to a lack of handicap accessible accommodations like parking spaces and ramps. At the meeting Ballina pledged to have better communication with residents in order to hold his department accountable.

An elderly resident (who did not want to identified) sits in his wheelchair and explains how he struggles with the warped flooring inside his apartment in Liberty Square. The resident says Related Urban recently came in to fix the issue, but that he had been complaining about it for two years prior.

The elderly residents of phases 1-3 have their own particular set of gripes, from security to the noise that echoes through the hallways to kids running through the building at all hours of the night. One resident described the facility as no place for senior citizens.

I dont get any sleep, said an elderly resident who requested anonymity. They slam that door all night and the alarm goes off.

The resident also complained she was unable to use many of the appliances. The stackable washer-dryer unit, one of the main draws to Liberty Square, requires the elderly resident to stand on a stool.

I want to move but I cant, the resident added.

All residences have the same finishes and appliances  salt-and-pepper colored granite kitchen counters, General Electric stainless steal appliances and hurricane impact windows. Above: Inside one of the units at Harmony at Liberty Square.

Another resident said that after first moving into her apartment in 2021, a clogged pipe caused feces to erupt from the bathtub drain and toilet. The resident has long since moved to another unit on the property. But the resident thought maybe the incident was indicative of bigger issues  especially considering that it took roughly two weeks for it to fix.

Its a new building it shouldnt be having problems, the resident said.

Related officials explained to the Herald that the issue arose because of a soda bottle stuck in a pipe and took a while to resolve because of the severity of the damage. And the emergence of cracks like what Kenley experienced in her unit is a reality in new buildings.

Every building has settlement, Related Urban President Albert Milo Jr. said, later adding, Even high end condominiums that Related Group builds have issues that always have to come back and be addressed.

As for the seniors, Related says that they are now going to build phase 9 concurrently with phase 5. Phase 9 will be specifically for seniors.

Communication and services

In response to the complaints, Related officials admitted that the issues with residents are twofold. On one hand, theres an issue with communication. Prior to the COVID-19 breakout, they hosted frequent meetings Milo Jr. said he attended about 70 with the residents.

And on the other hand, Related officials also didnt fully realize the importance of having the social services component available immediately, as some of them are still on the horizon, and they didnt account for the learning curve when moving public housing residents into units that have modern appliances and require ongoing maintenance.

We actually start with a training program  weve done that, Henriques said. And what we have now learned is that we have to do more ongoing training, which we didnt totally understand before.

Related officials said they plan to create a program called Residents Care to help residents who find maintenance and upkeep challenging. They plan to do periodic inspections to check in on the conditions of the units, though they say residents are hesitant to allow it.

To foster better communication between management and residents, Related hired Nathaniel Joseph to be a liaison.

Now I get a chance to fix the problem and come with solutions, said Joseph, a Miami native with a background in social work. Part of his solutions included weekly meetings with the residents and a suggestion box. Future services will include seminars on a range of topics including conflict resolution, financial literacy and fatherhood.

Im here to serve my community, Joseph said.

For activist Anna Williams, who grew up in Liberty Square and now works to organize current residents into a collective voice, there will always be a disconnect. Private sector management is not trained for that environment They arent used to dealing with people in public housing.

The redevelopment of a vulnerable community needs to come hand in hand with an aggressive plan to address the underlying needs, says criminologist and University of Miami professor Alex Piquero.

You look at the history of that area, it has always been underfunded, under-resourced, says Piquero, listing issues like underperforming schools, poverty and substandard housing. Redevelopment alone is not going to solve the problems that have been existing in that community for so long. You have to put the resources in to take care of communities. Until that happens, youre not going to see substantive change on the things that really matter, which are kids outcomes with respect to education, health and welfare.

Albert Milo Jr., president of Related Urban

Related Urban, however, affirms that they are committed to addressing the needs of the community. This was never just about housing for us, Milo said. The issues residents are raising, says Related Urban, represent a small portion of the 226 public housing units already occupied. They also feel like the documentary created a false narrative around their project.

The underlying premises covered in that documentary are untrue, said Henriques. A land grab, gentrification based on climate change  none of that is true and continuing that kind of dialogue does nothing to help anyone.

But as the redevelopment of the neighborhood continues into the next phase, Liberty Square public housing tenants are in the process of voting for new residents council leadership so that they will be able to speak with a collective voice as other issues arise.
Lithuanians vote in a presidential election as anxieties rise over Russia and the war in Ukraine

A woman with children casts a ballot at a polling station during the first round of voting in presidential elections in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, May 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP)  Lithuanians voted in a presidential election on Sunday at a time when Russian gains on the battlefield in Ukraine are fueling greater fears about Moscows intentions, particularly in the strategically important Baltic region.

The popular incumbent, Gitanas Nauseda, was favored to win another five-year term in office. But there were eight candidates running in all, making it difficult for him or any other candidate to muster the 50% of the votes needed to win outright on Sunday. In that case, a runoff will be held on May 26.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT). Initial voter turnout was 59.4%, higher than in the previous election in 2019, the Central Electoral Commission said. Results were expected early Monday.

The presidents main tasks in Lithuanias political system are overseeing foreign and security policy, and acting as the supreme commander of the armed forces. That adds importance to the position in the relatively small nation given that it is located strategically on NATOs eastern flank as tensions rise between Russia and the West over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea is sandwiched between Lithuania to the north and east, and Poland to the south. There is great concern in Lithuania, and in neighboring Latvia and Estonia, about Russian troops' latest gains in northeastern Ukraine.

All three Baltic states declared independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union and took a determined westward course, joining both the European Union and NATO.

Nauseda is a moderate conservative who turns 60 a week after Sundays election. One of his main challengers is Ingrida Simonyte, 49, the current prime minister and former finance minister, whom he beat in a runoff in 2019 with 66.5% of the votes.

Another contender is Ignas Vegele, a populist lawyer who gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic opposing restrictions and vaccines.

Nauseda's first term in office ends at the beginning of July.

A referendum was also on the ballot Sunday. It asked whether the constitution should be amended to allow dual citizenship for hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians living abroad.

Lithuanian citizens who adopt another nationality currently must give up their Lithuanian citizenship, which doesn't bode well for the Baltic nation whose population has fallen from 3.5 million in 1990 to 2.8 million today.

For the first time, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe turned down an invitation by Lithuania to observe the election.

The Lithuanian government wanted to exclude monitors from Russia and Belarus, accusing the two nations  both members of the 57-member organization  of being threats to its political and electoral processes.

The OSCEs Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights said Lithuania was breaking the rules it signed up to when it joined the organization. It said observers dont represent their countries governments, that they must sign a code of conduct pledging political neutrality and if they break the rules they are no longer allowed to continue as observers.
Overshadowed by Russia's war against Ukraine, Lithuania elected a new head of state by direct vote on Sunday.

The 59-year-old incumbent Gitanas Nauseda was the clear favourite in the race for the highest office in the Baltic EU and NATO member state, which borders the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia's ally Belarus.

Seven candidates ran against the independent politician, among whom there was only one woman, the current Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte. Meaningful results were expected during the night. If no candidate achieves an absolute majority, the two best-placed candidates must head into a run-off on May 26.

Despite being the clear favourite, Nauseda is still deemed unlikely to achieve an absolute majority in the first round of voting.

According to the election commission in Vilnius, over 59% of the almost 2.4 million eligible voters had cast their votes by the time the polling stations closed. This was the highest turnout in the first round of the presidential election since 1997.

Independent Nauseda is vying for a second five-year term. The 59-year-old economist has made a name for himself as a staunch supporter of Ukraine.

He has also made a name for himself internationally as a committed representative of the interests of his home country, which is particularly exposed in the geopolitical confrontation with Russia due to its location on NATO's eastern flank. Germany therefore wants to permanently station a combat-ready brigade of up to 5,000 German soldiers in the Baltic state.

After casting his vote in the capital Vilnius, Nauseda said that he had voted "in favour of stability, reliability and continuity."

While in Lithuania the head of state primarily performs representative duties, the post does involve a say in foreign and defence policy and the president is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Lithuania is one of the most determined supporters of Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years.

Since 2017, the small Baltic country has hosted a German-led NATO task force involving around 1,600 troops. On Sunday, voters in Lithuania were also voting in a referendum on the introduction of dual citizenship.
Suzanne Harrison, who runs King's Crusade in honor of her brother who died of an overdose in 2016 poses for a photograph in Evesham, N.J., Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Harrison says the charity could use funding from national opioid settlements to help people if local governments made it available to groups like hers. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Settlement money to help stem the decades-long opioid addiction and overdose epidemic is rolling out to small towns and big cities across the U.S., but advocates worry that chunks of it may be used in ways that don't make a dent in the crisis.

As state and local governments navigate how to use the money, advocates say local governments may not have the bandwidth to take the right steps to identify their communities needs and direct their funding shares to projects that use proven methods to prevent deaths.

Opioids have been linked to about 800,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999, including more than 80,000 annually in recent years, with most of those involving illicitly produced fentanyl.

Drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies have been involved in more than 100 settlements of opioid-related lawsuits with state, local and Native American tribal governments over the past decade.

The deals, some not yet finalized, could be worth a total of more than $50 billion over nearly two decades and also come with requirements for better monitoring of prescriptions and making company documents public.

States alone fought the tobacco industry in the 1990s and they used only a sliver of the money from the resulting settlements on tobacco-related efforts.

We dont want to be 10 years down the road and say, After we screwed up tobacco, we trusted small government with opioids  and we did even worse, said Paul Farrell, Jr., one of the lead lawyers representing local governments in the opioid suits.

He notes that with settlement money rolling out for at least 14 more years, theres time for towns to use it appropriately, and resources to help.

The goal, experts say, is to help those who are taking opioids to get treatment, to make it less likely people who use drugs will overdose and to create an environment for people not to take them in the first place.

For many, its personal.

Suzanne Harrison and her family launched a nonprofit dedicated to getting New Jersey residents access to treatment and recovery programs after her brother and Navy veteran, King Shaffer Jr., died from a fentanyl and heroin overdose in 2016, days before he was scheduled to try another treatment program.

At the time, he was staying with a sister who lived in Moorestown, New Jersey.

That town's administration decided to hand its portion of settlement money over to Burlington County, which has used settlement funds to distribute an overdose antidote and run camps for kids affected by addiction.

The County was in a much better position to handle this subject, township manager Kevin Aberant emailed, noting reporting requirements and restrictions on how the money could be used.

The major opioid settlements, which include deals with Walgreen Co., CVS Health, Walmart, Johnson & Johnson and one with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that is before the U.S. Supreme Court, require that most of the funds be used to combat the crisis.

More than half of the funds will be controlled by local governments, according to Christine Minhee, who runs the Opioid Settlement Tracker website. In the biggest agreements, states receive larger amounts by getting eligible local governments with populations over 10,000 to join the settlements.

Unlike most states, New Jersey required local governments to complete reports on the funding.

Using those submissions and additional reporting, The Associated Press examined the spending and decision-making processes for communities in Burlington County, which includes Philadelphia suburbs and rural areas. Fourteen communities there receive allocations and by last June the amounts ranged from $5,000 to nearly $88,000.

By last year, most communities in Burlington County had not spent their allotted funds yet, nor had they followed advice to gather public input, devise strategic plans, conduct assessments of their communities needs and design processes for awarding funds.

In Mount Laurel, New Jersey, the police department was put in charge and launched outreach events around budget motels where first-responders often administer an overdose antidote. The idea is to connect people with treatment and other services, but advocates prefer police not be in charge of the spending.

Deputy Police Chief Tim Hudnall also said there is consideration of hiring peer-support navigators to try to help people address addiction.

Another New Jersey town, Willingboro, spent a little over $57,000 on a back-to-school wellness event, where students received backpacks full of school supplies and information about mental health resources.

Weve been trying to be aggressive about it, Gary Lawery II, the deputy township manager, said of spending the funds. If not, its just going to sit there.

But those approaches have not relied on the kind of community needs assessments that Sara Whaley, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who helps develop guides for counties, says are essential.

Some service providers, such as Shaffers sister Suzanne Harrison, have found the process frustrating. Her organization, King's Crusade, helps connect people with services, pays rent at sober living facilities and provides transportation to treatment. Theyve raised as much as $80,000 a year, but there is always more demand.

Harrison said she hasnt had a chance to apply for allocations to subsidize this. Instead, the organization received $6,625 in opioid settlement money to organize a one-time recovery community event in Evesham Township.

In Evesham, a suburb of 45,000 thats the most populous in Burlington County, most of the control over the settlement funds lies with the local alliance to prevent alcoholism and drug addiction, which is the sort of body Whaley says should be involved.

Marc Romano, director of operations for Prevention Plus of Burlington County, said he also wished there was a call for proposals for using the money. The group was paid $2,000 to hold a painting night for women in recovery, which he said was a nice event for recovery and recovery awareness, but the group could do more by getting funds to help support programs geared toward its mission of prevention.

Council member Heather Cooper, whose own brother was killed by a fentanyl overdose, said there are service providers in the area that can help get people into treatment, get them rides there and offer other services.

But what we hear is families still dont know where those resources are, she said. So I think the marketing of that has to increase.

Other governments have used different approaches.

In Arkansas, all the towns and counties pooled their money by creating the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership.

Grants have gone to a drug task force to hire an overdose investigator and peer recovery specialist, for the American Indian Center of Arkansas to hire peer recovery specialists, and for a religious organization to expand its recovery housing center in projects ranging from $100,000 to more than $2 million.

Kirk Lane, a former police chief and director of state drug policy who now serves as director of the partnership, said its able to steer projects to underserved parts of the state and to fill in gaps in the states treatment, recovery and prevention systems.

He explained, Individual mayors and county judges didnt have to worry about, How are we going to spend that money?
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  Local student Trista Husley was just 17 years old when she began experiencing extreme headaches as well as a large mass on her forehead.

Hulsey, originally from Visalia was taken to Community Regional Medical Center and it was there that doctors diagnosed her with an extremely rare type of tumor called Potts Puffy Tumor.

We could see, when we examined her, she had some unusual swelling over her, her forehead that was a bit prominent, said Dr. Nathan Deis, a neurosurgeon at Communitys Neurosciences Institute. And then on her CAT scan, we could see that there was clearly a bad sinus infection going on. And then what looked to be puss both just on the outside part of the skull, but also inside as well, where the where the brain is.

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Dr. Deis explained that Tristas sinuses were not draining properly.

He told me that I had developed a very rare infection called Potts Puffy Tumor that was eating at my brain and deteriorating it. There was air in my brain and It was growing on my frontal cranial bone, said Hulsey.

Trista underwent emergency brain surgery followed by a 2-month hospital stay.

It was pretty late at night by the time we operated on her. But there was a big team that had gathered. We were all concerned, said Deis.

Following the surgery, and while in the hospital Trista was able to bond with her care team and learn about the world of medicine. It was there she realized she had an interest in the field.

They would explain to me and talk to me in big medical terms, she said. I would ask them, what does that mean? And they were like, Wow, Trista, you keep us on our toes.

Trista said one nurse in particular, Laurena Gascon played an important role in her life.

She hardly complained even if she was in pain, she would just tell you without giving you problems, said Gascon.

Trista is now 19 years old and said her experience has inspired her to pursue a career in nursing.

I want to be that for another person because they made me feel so special in such a hard time of my life when I didnt know what was going to happen, she said.

She is now a prenursing major at Fresno State and said she is grateful for the care teams she had at Community Regional Medical Center.

I just want to say thank you to everybody who stepped in and whether they were my nurse or not, she said. They would come in there and talk to me and really build a bond with me and ask me about my life and not just about the case, they were very personable and I thank them for everything they did for me and for saving my life.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47.
A Michigan man couldnt believe the prize he won after buying an instant lottery ticket while getting groceries.

Hugh Leach, of Mason, went to Meijer and bought a Lotterys Diamonds & Gold lottery ticket, according to a May 10 news release from the Michigan Lottery.

I buy a $20 ticket every two weeks, he said. When I finished up grocery shopping, I stopped at the Lottery machine and purchased a ticket on my way out. When I got home and finished unloading the groceries, I scratched the ticket.

Leach said he had to take a double look at the ticket after seeing the prize amount.

When I saw I matched 02 for a $2 million prize, I thought: Wait a minute. This cant be right. I looked the ticket over a few more times and then said to my wife: I think I just won $2 million, he said.

Leach was right, he won $2 million.

I called the Lottery the next day to confirm it was real and schedule an appointment to claim my prize, he told lottery officials.

The 82-year-old man chose to receive his prize as a lump sum amount of $1.3 million instead of annual payments.

Going to the grocery store to fill your pantry and finding out you also filled your bank account must be an incredible feeling! Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli said.

Leach said he didnt think he would be one to win this type of prize.

You see these types of things happen to other people, but you never think it will be you, so winning was a complete shock, said Leach.

Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.

If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.

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This major Taunton road's been a gas station desert for decades. Soon it will have two

TAUNTON  Its gonna be a gas on Bay Street.

After decades of not having a single gas station on the four-mile-long Taunton thoroughfare, drivers can now look forward to two new gasoline and convenience store projects that are either being built or preparing to break ground.

This is one of the best things to happen to Taunton in I dont know how long, gushed Brenda Fonseca, who works for Advantage Solutions, which provides product demonstrations for BJs Wholesale Club at 2085 Bay St.

When I heard about it I was basically dancing a jig, said Fonseca, a Virginia native who moved to Taunton in 1984.

The two Bay Street gas stations will operate within two miles of one another on the far north end of the street that bisects Interstate 495.

Brenda Fonseca, seen here on April 26, 2024, in BJ's Wholesale Club, is thrilled to hear that two new gas stations are being built nearby on Bay Street in Taunton.

Where will gas stations be located?

One will sell Gulf gas and be located just north of I-495. That project has not yet broken ground.

The competing station at 1939 Bay St. is to be situated south of the interstate highway and will sell Mobil brand gas and diesel fuel.

In addition to I-495, upper Bay Street runs past Myles Standish Industrial Park and a plaza that includes not just BJs Wholesale Club, but also Northwoods Medical Center; Tractor Supply; Bluestone Bank; Wendys; Bracks Grille and Tap; Dollar Tree; and a new Dunkin'.

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Mobil station looking to add beer and wine license

BD Management LLCs Mobil station at 1939 Bay St. is a collaborative effort between local businessmen Bruce Thomas and his partner Daniel Lima.

In addition to being a Dunkin franchisee, Thomas, 57, previously developed a retail plaza at Harts Four Corners thats now known as Thomas Place. The bustling plaza on County Street comprises a Cumberland Farms convenience store and gas station as well as tenants including Planet Fitness, Taco Bell and Dominos Pizza.

Thomas and Lima said their total investment for the Bay Street project stands at well over $5 million. That includes purchase of the real estate and construction costs for the store, the 10-pump gas station and above-ground fuel tanks.

The whole site has been lifted 6 to 8 feet, Lima said.

He and Thomas, who have known each other since growing up on Winthrop Street, said theyd also like to bring in a smoothie and juice bar business such as Playa Bowls or The Blended Berry.

Were the only homegrown developers doing this, Thomas said, referring to similar projects now underway in the Silver City. Were local guys who give back to the local community.

They also say theyre interested in selling beer and wine once a liquor license becomes available.

Thomas said the 5,000-square-foot store, to be named Premier Convenience, will have the distinction of being the first convenience store to feature freshly made bagels courtesy of New York Bagel Company.

Daniel Lima, left, and Bruce Thomas are seen here April 29 at the Bay Street site of what will be their Mobil gas station and convenience store featuring New York Bagel Company.

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When will Mobil station open?

Lima and Thomas are shooting for an Aug. 1 soft opening for what will be their first commercial, joint business venture. The two previously collaborated on a residential housing project.

Theres not one person who has driven down Bay Street who hasnt said, I wish there was a gas station around here, Lima said.

Harvard-based construction company South Coast Development LLC is the general contractor for the new Mobil station and convenience store.

Theyre the best gas station developers around, Thomas said.

The owner of South Coast Development and a business partner in 1998 created the New England Farms c-store brand. They eventually built stores with self-serve gas on Winthrop Street in Taunton and Myricks Street in Berkley.

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Gulf will feature NY-style pizza,'elevated coffee'

Yatko isnt a household name in the greater Taunton region, but the dual Northborough-based convenience store brand and Marlborough-based gasoline wholesale distributor is poised to become a gas and c-store player at 2318 Bay St.

It will have visibility from (Interstate) 495 North, and its got a good traffic count, said vice president Hussein Yatim, whose father and uncles went into business 30 years ago when they bought an old Exxon station in Worcester.

Yatim, 32, said the Taunton Yatko will feature coffee from Rhode Island-based Coffee Connection, which he describes as an elevated coffee experience, as well as the Cumberland companys New York style Slice pizza.

When will gulf station open?

He says his familys company is investing as much as $6 million into the project. Yatim says Yatko now has a portfolio of 22 convenience stores and gas stations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and owns real estate associated with nine of those locations.

Yatim says the Taunton store and Gulf station should be open by late fall of this year. He said Yatko is currently developing five other c-store projects.

In addition to gas-brand loyalty programs for per-gallon discounts, Yatim says Yatko has its own rewards program for purchasing store items.

Our brand will be very unique to that (southeastern Massachusetts) market, he said.

Possibility for fast food restaurant next door

The property, previously owned by Taunton zoning board alternate member John Doherty and his wife Lisa, can also accommodate a second structure, according to Yatim.

He said that the second building, if built, could conceivably be utilized by a fast food chain.

But his familys main focus for the near future is establishing the Yatko brand along the 495 corridor on Bay Street.

It will be a nice store where a wife and the kids can come in and enjoy, Yatim said.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: 2 gas stations coming to Bay Street in Taunton. When, where and more
China has panda diplomacy, Australia parades koalas at global summits  and now Malaysia plans to join the Asia-Pacific trend for adorable ambassadors, by gifting orangutans to countries that buy its palm oil.

But the idea has come under heavy criticism from conservationists, who note that palm oil is one of the biggest factors behind the great apes dwindling numbers  with one leading conservation professor calling the plan obscene.

The worlds most widely consumed vegetable oil, palm oil is used in everything from shampoo and soaps to ice cream. Clearing land for palm oil plantations has been a major driver of deforestation, the greatest threat to the survival of critically endangered orangutans.

Malaysia is the worlds second-biggest exporter of palm oil after Indonesia.

Production is vital to the economy and government officials have gone to great lengths in recent years to defend and rebrand the industry by introducing initiatives to support sustainability  such as improving agricultural practices and issuing government-endorsed green certificates to companies that meet sustainability standards.

At a biodiversity summit outside the capital Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Malaysias minister for plantations and commodities announced plans for orangutan diplomacy. Hoping to emulate Chinese panda diplomacy  in which Beijing exerts soft power by loaning its beloved national animal to zoos overseas - the Malaysian government hopes to gift orangutans to some of its biggest trading partners, he said.

Those partners are increasingly concerned over the impact of agricultural commodities on the climate, said minister Johari Abdul Ghani. It is a diplomatic strategy where it would be advantageous to trading partners and foreign relations, especially in major importing countries like the EU, India and China.

Ghani did not provide further details such as a timeline or how the animals would be acquired  but welcomed palm oil giants to collaborate with local environmental groups in caring for the endangered giant apes.

This will be a manifestation of how Malaysia conserves wildlife species and maintains the sustainability of our forests, especially in the palm oil plantation industry, he said.

Halved oil palm kernels are seen on the trade floor of a commodities conference and exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. - Tengku Bahar/AFP/Getty Images

The announcement drew swift backlash from conservationists. It is obscene, repugnant and extraordinarily hypocritical to destroy rainforests where orangutans live, take them away and give them as gifts to curry favor with other nations, Stuart Pimm, chair of conservation ecology at Duke University, told CNN. It totally goes against how we should be protecting them and our planet.

Pimm also noted that cuddly-animal charm offensives were normally followed by wider long-term conservation efforts.

There is a huge difference between what Malaysia is proposing and what China has done for giant pandas, he said. China has state-of-the-art facilities for pandas and more importantly, has established protected areas that safeguard wild panda populations. What Malaysias government is proposing is hardly anything comparable.

CNN has reached out to Ghani, and Malaysias Ministry of Plantation and Commodities, for further comment about the proposed orangutan program and how it plans to ensure that it will support conservation and sustainability.

A panda basks in the sun at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. - VCG/Visual China Group/Getty Images

Environmental and conservation groups also strongly opposed the idea, calling on Malaysian officials to instead work on reversing deforestation rates, which they largely blame on palm oil.

Between 2001 and 2019, the country lost more than 8 million hectares (19 million acres) of tree cover, according to a 2022 report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an area nearly as large as South Carolina.

Malaysias land surface area was once almost covered with forest, the WWF said in its forestry report, which cited enduring threats such as palm oil cultivation and unsustainable logging.

According to a 2023 report by climate watchdog Rimba Watch, a further 2.3 million hectares of forests in Malaysia have been earmarked for palm oil production.

Orangutan diplomacy will not solve Malaysias deforestation crisis, Heng Kiah Chun, a regional campaign strategist for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told CNN. If the Malaysian government is truly committed to biodiversity conservation, it should implement policies against deforestation instead.

Conservation crucial

Orangutans are the largest tree-dwelling animals, known to spend most of their lives swinging through canopies of tropical rainforests.

Researchers have noted their incredible intelligence and ability to demonstrate skills such as instinctively treating wounds with medicinal herbs or using tree branches, sticks and stones as tools to break open hard objects like nuts.

The gentle apes, once found in greater numbers across Southeast Asia, have experienced sharp population declines, according to a WWF Malaysia report  particularly on Borneo, the large island shared between Malaysia, Indonesia and the tiny sultanate of Brunei. In 1973, Borneo was home to an estimated 288,500 orangutans. By 2012, their numbers had dropped by almost two-thirds, to 104,700 and the decline has continued, the WWF report said.

There are still believed to be around 100,000 orangutans left on Borneo, and 14,000 on Indonesias Sumatra island, it added.

Orangutans are critically endangered. Therefore it is crucial that all remaining orangutan habitats are conserved, WWF Malaysia told CNN in a statement.

A commitment to improving forest management and the sustainable production of palm oil would be the best way to showcase Malaysias commitment to biodiversity conservation, WWF Malaysia said.

Orangutan conservation is best achieved by ensuring the protection and conservation of their natural habitats  and that no further forest conversion into palm oil plantations is allowed.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
(Bloomberg) -- Malaysias ruling coalition retained its seat in a by-election in the countrys richest state on Saturday, a boost for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as he embarks on economic reforms.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Candidate Pang Sock Tao from the Democratic Action Party  the biggest group in Anwars unity government  won about 57% of the votes in a four-way fight in the Kuala Kubu Baharu district of Selangor state. That represents an increase of almost three basis points on the partys share of the vote in the previous election a year ago.

The state-level victory will embolden the prime minister in his efforts to carry out reforms to boost the countrys coffers and investor confidence, including a long-promised plan to unwind blanket fuel subsidies. Malaysia, whose A3 credit score at Moodys Ratings is the highest among peers in developing Southeast Asia, needs to attract foreign investment in high-value industries to support economic expansion.

The victory is a clear signal for the unity government to continue working hard to attract investment and heal and strengthen the national economy, Anwar said in a Facebook post Saturday.

The results suggest that support for both Anwars coalition and for the rival Perikatan Nasional is stable, according to Dr Syaza Farhana Mohamad Shukri, an associate professor of political science at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Neither are really getting new voters or on-the-fence voters excited, she said.

The status quo is a welcome result for Anwar, whose government was rocked by religious tensions last month and is seeing rising pessimism among the population. His alliance was able to shrug off Perikatan Nasionals attempt to boost its chances by fielding a Malay candidate to appeal to the ethnic majority.

Pangs victory has no direct impact on the composition of the Malaysian parliament, where Anwar has commanded a majority since rising to power in late 2022. The snap polls for the Selangor state assembly seat was held after the previous representative died in March.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
GRAYSLAKE, Ill.  A 44-year-old man died in a fire after being trapped inside a burning home in unincorporated Grayslake overnight, the Lake County Sheriffs Office said.

Firefighters from Gurnee found Thomas Morley inside the home on the 17800 block of West Winnebago Drive early Sunday. Despite efforts, Morley was pronounced dead at an area hospital. A Monday statement from the Lake County Coroners Office said his death was consistent with smoke inhalation.

Chicago man charged with sexual assault after impregnating disabled resident at Geneva nursing home

Sheriffs deputies called to the home just before 12:45 a.m. Sunday were met by a 63-year-old woman whod made it out of the home but said her son was still inside. Deputies attempted to enter the home and find the man, but they were unable to enter because the smoke was too heavy, the sheriffs office said.

According to the sheriffs office, Gurnee firefighters soon arrived and were able to enter the home wearing protective gear. They located Morley and found him unconscious and not breathing, the sheriffs office says.

Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines

Preliminary indications showed no suspicious activity in the fire, the sheriffs office said, but detectives responded to continue their investigation with fire officials and the Illinois State Fire Marshals Office.

Lake County coroner Jennifer Banek said toxicology testing on Moreley, including Carbon Monoxide testing, is pending.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
UPDATE: According to Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson, the victim has been identified as Omari Braxton, 21, of Rock Island.

An autopsy will be performed this morning and the cause of death will then be determined. The case is still considered an active and open investigation by the Rock Island Police Department and the Rock Island County Coroners Office.

EARLIER: A suspect has been arrested in Davenport after a shooting in Rock Island yesterday afternoon, according to a release from the Rock Island Police Department.

Officers with the department responded to a call of a gunshot victim inside the Maple Ridge Apartments, in the 3700 block of Fifth Street. When they arrived, officers found a 21-year old man in the parking lot suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to UnityPoint Medical Center by ambulance, but died from his injuries.,

Later that night, the Rock Island Police Departments Criminal Investigations Division obtained an arrest warrant for 29-year old Derrick B. Nephew Jr., for first degree murder. Nephew was taken into custody by officers with the Davenport Police Department. He was taken to the Scott County Jail where he is being held on no bond while awaiting extradition to Illinois, according to Scott County Jail records.

Derrick Nephew Jr. (Rock Island Police Department)

The incident remains under investigation by the Rock Island Police Departments Criminal Investigation Division and no further information is available at this time. Anyone with information on this case should contact the Rock Island Police Department at (309) 732-2677 or Crime Stoppers at (309) 762-9500 or use the P3 Tips app

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.
HAMPSHIRE TOWNSHIP, Ill.  A man has been charged by Kane County prosecutors after they said human remains of a missing person were found inside a home in Hampshire Township.

The investigation began on April 4 by the Crystal Lake Police Department after James Cromwell, 57, was reported missing, according to the Kane County States Attorneys Office.

Chicago man charged with sexual assault after impregnating disabled resident at Geneva nursing home

Through the investigation, human remains were found on May 7 inside a home in the 45W200 block of Illinois Route 72, according to a news release from the states attorneys office. They were later identified as Cromwell.

The Kane County Coroners Office said he died by a gunshot wound and the manner of death was a homicide, according to the release.

Detectives also found evidence and served search warrants in the 600 block of North Falls Circle in Pingree Grove.

Douglas Ottesen was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, two counts of unlawful possession of ammunition by a felon, one count of aggravated unlawful restraint and one count of concealment of a homicidal death, according to the states attorneys office.

I am immensely grateful for the tireless dedication and meticulous effort demonstrated by our investigative team throughout this case, Kane County States Attorney Jamie Mosser said. Their steadfast commitment to justice and relentless pursuit of truth embody the highest ideals of our profession. I extend my heartfelt appreciation to each member for their hard work, expertise, and unwavering dedication.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
YADKIN COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP)  A man is being charged after several juveniles fired gunshots that struck an elementary school building on Friday night, according to the Yadkin County Sheriffs Office.

At around 7:40 p.m. on Friday, deputies responded to a report of shots fired near West Yadkin Elementary School and were told that fired rounds had struck a building on campus during a sporting event.

One person killed after an early morning shooting in east Charlotte: CMPD

At the scene, investigators found evidence of rounds hitting a concession stand and from there determined the direction and location from which the shots were fired.

Deputies then went to a home where three juveniles were home alone. The adult in charge of the home arrived while deputies were still at the scene.

A search warrant was obtained and investigators found the gun used to fire the shots.

As a result, Salomon Maya Osorio, 39, of Hamptonville, was charged with violating North Carolina General Statute  14315.1 regarding the storage of firearms to protect firearms.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
After a three-day trial, a Gwinnett County man has been found guilty of his involvement in a scheme to distribute meth.

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

According to court documents, On October 7, 2020, a confidential source with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made several recorded phone calls to Jorge Rodriguez Martinez, 56, of Duluth to buy several kilograms of methamphetamine.

After the phone calls, Martinez was being watched as he traveled to meet with a drug supplier at a Dunwoody apartment complex.

Officials said Martinez traveled to the sources home where he dropped off his truck containing multiple kilos of meth, switched vehicles, then drove away. He then drove back to the CSs home, picked up the meth, and left.

Later, Georgia State Patrol stopped Martinezs car and found three kilograms of methamphetamine on the front passenger floorboard.

TRENDING STORIES:

Martinez was found guilty on April 25 on one count of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. He will be sentenced on July 29 at 2:30 p.m.

Methamphetamine trafficking funnels poison into our communities, said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. This defendants conviction sends a strong warning to others that those who peddle dangerous drugs will be held accountable for their conduct.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:
(FOX40.COM)  A man who was arrested and in the process of being fingerprinted died at the Sacramento County Jail on Sunday morning, according to the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office.

At around 4:20 a.m., SCSO said a 55-year-old man was brought into custody by another agency, the Sacramento Police Department, for two misdemeanor warrants. Deputies said the man was medically cleared for incarceration, but did not specify what he was examined for.

Deputies surround Sacramento residence for woman with machete, not her home

About one hour after the medical examination, deputies said they attempted to fingerprint the man as part of the intake process. While being fingerprinted, the man became unresponsive, according to SCSO.

Deputies said medical staff and first responders attempted first-aid, CPR, and administering Narcan to the man. Despite those efforts, he was pronounced dead at the jail.

The sheriffs office said the incident is under internal investigation. The Sacramento County Coroners Office will determine the cause of death and release the name of the deceased after notification has been made to his next of kin.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A 26-year-old man living in Columbus who illegally entered the United States from Mexico has been sentenced to prison for his role in selling fentanyl.

Luis Martinez-Torres received a 10-year prison sentence for conspiring to distribute kilogram quantities of fentanyl from Mexico to buyers in central Ohio, according to the U.S. Court of the Southern District of Ohio.

Video shows miles-long chase that ended with crash at Cooper Stadium

According to court records, Martinez-Torres illegally entered the U.S. and would deliver fentanyl to buyers selling the narcotics for a cartel in Mexico. In April 2023, court documents said he had nearly three kilograms of fentanyl including more than 6,200 pills marked as Oxycodone.

Martinez-Torres has illegally entered the United States on three occasions and faces deportation following his prison sentence. This is also the second time he has been arrested; Martinez-Torres was arrested last June for conspiring to possess and intent to distribute fentanyl. He pleaded guilty to that charge in January.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Key Insights

The projected fair value for Lockheed Martin is US$649 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of US$469 suggests Lockheed Martin is potentially 28% undervalued

The US$487 analyst price target for LMT is 25% less than our estimate of fair value

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

Check out our latest analysis for Lockheed Martin

The Model

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$6.22b US$6.16b US$6.41b US$7.09b US$7.16b US$7.25b US$7.37b US$7.51b US$7.66b US$7.82b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x10 Analyst x10 Analyst x6 Analyst x3 Analyst x1 Est @ 1.34% Est @ 1.65% Est @ 1.87% Est @ 2.02% Est @ 2.13% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 6.4% US$5.8k US$5.4k US$5.3k US$5.5k US$5.2k US$5.0k US$4.8k US$4.6k US$4.4k US$4.2k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$50b

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.4%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 6.4%.

Story continues

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = US$7.8b (1 + 2.4%)  (6.4% 2.4%) = US$197b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$197b ( 1 + 6.4%)10= US$106b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is US$156b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$469, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 28% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

Important Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Lockheed Martin as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.883. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Lockheed Martin

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded its 5-year average.

Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Earnings growth over the past year underperformed the Aerospace & Defense industry.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Aerospace & Defense market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Lockheed Martin, we've put together three essential aspects you should assess:

Risks: We feel that you should assess the 2 warning signs for Lockheed Martin we've flagged before making an investment in the company. Future Earnings: How does LMT's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Man stabbed wife to death in street then killed himself while toddler was home, cops say

Police in Illinois are investigating what they are calling a murder-suicide that left a man and woman dead.

Around 11:10 a.m., May 11, officers were called to a Joliet neighborhood for a report of a woman being stabbed in the street, according to a May 11 Facebook post by the Joliet Police Department.

When officers arrived, they found the 35-year-old woman lying in the street. She had been stabbed multiple times in the chest, police said.

In a nearby driveway, officers found the womans 32-year-old estranged husband lying with self-inflicted injuries.

Both were taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead.

Police say the incident started when the man went to the womans home and a disturbance occurred. The woman ran from the home, and the man chased after her with a kitchen knife. When he caught up to her in the street, he began to stab her.

At the time of the stabbing, the couples 3-year-old child was at the home, according to police. The child was not injured.

The man and woman were in the process of getting a divorce, police said. Officials have not released the identities of the victims.

Joliet is a 45-mile drive southwest of Chicago.

Three siblings die in apparent murder-suicide while mom is at hospital, Georgia cops say

Man sets wife and himself on fire in Texas murder-suicide with sons inside, cops say

Two teens, 14 and 17, die in murder-suicide at drug-fueled party, Florida cops say

If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
An Ohio police officer investigating a call of a disturbance at a home was fatally shot Saturday night in what authorities described as an "ambush" by an alleged gunman who was found dead Sunday.

The shooting unfolded just before 10 p.m. local time in a residential area of Euclid, Ohio, about 15 miles northeast of Cleveland, Capt. Mitchell Houser, a spokesperson for the Euclid Police Department, said in a statement.

PHOTO: Police in Euclid, Ohio, investigate a fatal shooting of a police officer who authorities said was 'ambushed' while answering a call on May 11, 2024. (WEWS)

Houser said officers were called to a residence to investigate a disturbance.

"While police were investigating, a gunman ambushed an officer, striking him with gunfire," Houser said.

The mortally wounded officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Houser said.

PHOTO: The Euclid, Ohio, Police Department announced that they are searching for Deshawn Anthony Vaughn, 24, as a suspect in the fatal shooting of the officer on May 11, 2024. (Euclid Police Department)

The slain officer was identified as Jacob Derbin, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

In a press conference Sunday afternoon, officials noted that Derbin's father is an active officer on the Euclid police force.

"Officer Derbin was proudly sworn in to the Euclid Police Department on July 24th, 2023," read a release from the police. "During his brief time with the department, he served the residents and business owners of Euclid, as well as his fellow Officers with dedication, honor, and professionalism. His kind heart and enormous smile were infectious. The world was a better place with him in it and he will be desperately missed by all who knew him."

Authorities began a search for the suspect, identified by police as 24-year-old Deshawn Anthony Vaughn, but said he was found dead by gunshot on Sunday afternoon in a home in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Police did not specify if Vaughn was killed by police or if the gunshot was self-inflicted.

A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

MORE: 3 Atlanta police officers shot during response to call

The shooting came just hours after three Atlanta police officers were shot while responding to a call Saturday evening, officials said. The officers were shot after being called to investigate a report of a man with a gun, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during a news conference.

The unidentified officers encountered the suspect, who was allegedly armed with a handgun and knife when shots rang out, Schierbaum said.

On April 29, four members of a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force were killed and four others were wounded in a shootout that erupted in Charlotte, North Carolina, as they attempted to serve active felony warrants on a suspect identified as 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes Jr., who was killed in the gun battle, according to police.

At least 58 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty so far this year, including 22 who died as a result of gunfire, according to the nonprofit Officer Down Memorial Page.

In 2023, 136 federal, state and local law enforcement officers died in the line of duty compared to 224 officers in 2022, a decrease of almost 40%.

-- ABC News' Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.

Police find suspect in fatal shooting of Ohio police officer in 'ambush' dead originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Map: Will you see the northern lights again on Sunday?

(NEXSTAR)  Its been quite the weekend for skywatchers as rare, strong geomagnetic storms have impacted Earth, sparking dazzling northern lights  and its not over yet.

NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) says more very fast moving coronal mass ejections will slam into Earths magnetic field through Sunday night, giving Americans a third consecutive night with a chance to see the northern lights.

Saturday, the aurora was strong enough to reach Florida, according to Nexstars WFLA. Thats only possible when geomagnetic storms reach G5 strength, the SWPC explains (heres how geomagnetic storms are classified).

Cant see the northern lights? Try using your phone camera

G5 level storms were also reported Friday night into Saturday. We havent seen G5 level storms since 2005, when a series of coronal mass ejections brought dazzling northern lights displays as far south as California, Texas, and Florida  states that rarely ever see them  and caused other (less awe-inspiring) technical problems.

As for Sunday, the SWPC is warning we could see storms of G4 or greater strength. Below is SWPCs aurora forecast for Sunday  areas in red have the greatest chance of seeing the northern lights, while those in green and near and above the red line have a slimmer chance. Its worth noting that the forecast may fluctuate, and the northern lights may appear even in areas that arent shaded red or green on the map below.

The aurora forecast for Sunday, May 12, 2024. (NOAA SWPC)

If youre unable to see the northern lights Sunday night, you may want to try using your phone. Point your camera toward the night sky and take a picture  you may be surprised to see the aurora.

Solar storm 2024: What should you do to prepare?

You may have a chance at catching the northern lights again this week, with the SWPC reporting the aurora activity could continue as solar activity remains especially high. That also means potential impacts to our power grid and other infrastructure, though many are prepared for events like this and no serious problems have been reported with this storm.

All of this solar activity is thanks to Solar Cycle 25, which was expected to peak this year. During the 11-year period of a solar cycle, the sun will flip its poles, causing solar activity that generates geomagnetic storms on Earth.

Alix Martichoux and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)  A national campaign march called Carry the Load is looking to remember fallen heroes.

The group made its way through Lansing on Saturday morning, with a purpose of honoring members of the military and first responders who gave everything for our country.

We kind of take things for granted and we just need to remember those who paid the ultimate price so that we can have these freedoms, so we can have these barbecues and our sales and have everyday life here in America, Midwest Relay Manager for Carry the Load Andy Medrano said.

(WLNS)

The goal is to try and connect people across the country and spread awareness of the sacrifices so many have made.

Carry the Load was started back in 2011 by two navy seals and they just wanted to bring back an active way to honor and just remember the fallen heroes, both our military, first responders, veterans, and their families, Medrano said.

The group consists of five relay times, each of them spread throughout the U.S. including the West Coast, the Mountain States, over in New England, the East Coast, and of course, the Midwest. All relay teams are walking 20,000 miles combined.

Our route is 22 days, we start out in Minneapolis, and from there we travel all throughout the Midwest on our way to Dallas and where we meet up with our other four relay teams for a total of five on Memorial Day, the official said.

(WLNS)

One veteran who recently got involved said the feedback has been amazing.

This area has been fantastic. Whether its those that actively participate and come and walk or its those that are driving by or standing in their yard, the reception has been very gracious and its appreciated, Bert Walton said, who is now helping out the organization. For me, Ive become complacent some with my personal version of honoring those that came before us. So, to take a more active role, it meant a lot to me and its life changing.

You can find out more about Carry the Load and their mission here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.
In a remarkably short space of time Britain has become a radically diverse country. The last census, held three years ago, found ten million of the sixty million people living in England and Wales were born overseas. Of those, 4.2 million had arrived in the preceding ten years. Almost six million hold the citizenship of another country, but not Britain.

It is, as political scientist Yascha Mounk has written, the great experiment. Yet remarkably little thought or debate has informed our response to this new reality. Norms of behaviour that were once taken for granted are now challenged by the co-existence of different cultures and nihilistic ideologies. The shared traits and traditions that once allowed us to recognise familiarity in strangers are now shared by fewer of us than before.

When a society cannot, through subtle social signals and those habits that build trust and habits of reciprocity, remain happy and safe in freedom, the state will end up more authoritarian: more laws, more policing, more intrusion. This is unavoidable, for the alternative is criminality, fear and insecurity.

Every day, society and the state contend with this very modern problem with policies and powers  underpinned by unchanged assumptions  that belong in a bygone age. Illegal immigrants and foreign criminals who cannot be deported because we grant them the same maximalist legal rights as the rest of us. Public services that cannot distinguish between those who have contributed and are entitled to use them, and those who should not. Police officers forced to contend with unacceptable and intimidating protests from those who have brought the worlds hatreds with them to our country. Social trust is eroding thanks to these and other trends caused by mass immigration and radical diversity.

In Britain, with its dependence on norms and trust, its dislike of prescriptive government, and its history of easy-going liberalism, the kind of change we need may be difficult to contemplate. But if we want to maintain our shared identity and restore social trust, change is urgently needed, and it will need to come in many ways.

The common thread that runs through this change is a different conception of British citizenship. Historically, the concept of citizenship has involved a deal: I owe my allegiance to my country, and my country affords me the protection it can offer. Implicit, then, is the balance between rights and responsibilities. I have the right to protection, full participation in society, and certain privileges even overseas. But I also have the duty to obey the law, pay my taxes, and if necessary contribute to our collective defence. In other words, to put the common good first. For most of us, this deal is not transactional, but instinctive, informed by our sense of responsibility and love for our country.

Citizenship should be an almost sacred contract between us as individuals and our wider society. But the very idea has been disrespected to the extent that its value is much diminished. This disrespect is informed by old liberal ideas about universalism, which are mistaken because of their careless disregard for the importance of different cultural and institutional contexts, and unavoidable clashes between irreconcilable values and interests. Our freedom does not occur spontaneously: it is the product of a well-ordered society in which, paradoxically, we accept limitations on our freedom.

Influenced by liberal assumptions, the disrespect is now fortified by a mindless modern urge to be kind, and the insistence that the whole world wants to be like us: democratic, pluralistic, respectful to women, tolerant of others. China, Russia, the Middle East all demonstrate the absurdity of this claim, but so do events here, from sectarian election campaigning to intolerant bullying by extremists of schools and other public institutions. Only those blinded by ideology can fail to see the truth  but just as those who scream be kind are anything but, the argument has long ceased to be reasonable.

If those who have never contributed to the common good, or indeed have actively harmed it, get to enjoy the privileges of citizenship regardless, why should anybody else take their responsibilities seriously? Broken trust kills reciprocity, and without reciprocity we have a harsher and more dangerous society.

So what can be done? A new citizenship law would restore the distinction between citizen and non-citizen in British life. It should, for example, remove voting rights from non-citizens, so we end the absurdity of Irish and Commonwealth nationals enjoying the right to vote here from the day they arrive, while other nationals who might have contributed for years do not. All should wait for British citizenship.

The new law should clarify access to public services and welfare. Citizens and those legally and ordinarily resident should have full access to healthcare and the education system for their children. Migrants applying for a visa with dependent children should pay an education surcharge, consistent with the healthcare equivalent. Those in the country illegally should be barred from all but urgent, life-saving health treatment. Their education and health records should be shared with the immigration authorities.

The criminal law should distinguish between citizen and non-citizen. Building on its policy to strip naturalised Britons of citizenship where they are a threat to national security, the Government should widen its interpretation of the public good to allow it to deprive serious criminals who are naturalised citizens too. Human rights laws should be reformed to make clear that they do not apply to those in the country illegally, and only limited rights should apply to non-citizens who have committed serious offences and should be deported.

To make the distinction between citizen and non-citizen a reality, we will need to take bold steps. We would need to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which has done so much to weaken national citizenship. ID cards would be required to identify who is entitled to what. These changes are contentious, but they are the unavoidable consequence of the society we have become, and they are needed for public safety anyway. If we want a higher trust society, we must respect and reward citizenship far more than we do.

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House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) argued Sunday that Israels invasion of Rafah is the final step in completing its military campaign in Gaza, as President Biden threatens to halt weapons in the case of a full-scale invasion.

Now, of course, you want the conditions with humanitarian to be in place. Of course, you want the tenets in place, but to say you cannot invade Rafah  were telling the Israelis, dictating their military strategy, McCaul said Sunday in an interview with ABC Newss This Week. This is a last point and a last step in the completion of their military objective.

Biden last week warned he would halt offensive weapon supplies to Israel, including bombs and artillery shells, should the countrys forces launch an invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. The White House has repeatedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against sending forces into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are seeking refuge from the violence.

For us to step in and say, No, you cant go into Rafah and finish a job  I think its tantamount to an arms embargo, McCaul said.

Netanyahu has long maintained that moving into Rafah is necessary to go after the leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has run the Gaza Strip since 2007 and carried out the Oct. 7 surprise assault against Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

McCaul suggested Bidens warning may not matter, given Netanyahus stance.

With respect to Israel, Netanyahu said  and Ive talked to him  Im going to do this alone if I have to,' McCaul said. Where it matters, is the signal and the message were sending the rest of the world that you cant count on the United States, cant trust the United States. Our allies  and our enemies see this as well.

Bidens threat to halt the weapons drew criticism from several Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), who said he hopes Biden was having a senior moment when he made the threat.

He suggested Bidens comments violated what the Speaker thought were promises to guarantee Johnsons support for the $95 billion emergency foreign aid package.

I hope  I believe hes off-script, Johnson said. I dont think thats something that staff told him to say. I hope its a senior moment, because that would be a great deviation in what is said to be the policy there.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) called the threat disgusting and accused Biden of being a part of the pro-Hamas group of the Democratic party.

In a statement to The Hill last week, a senior Biden administration official said, President Biden shares Israels goal of dismantling Hamas and he has done more than any world leader to support Israel as it has defended itself since October 7.

The President was very clear last [week], as he has always been: While the United States will continue ensure that Israel has all of the military means it needs to defend itself against all of its enemies, including Hamas, he does not want to provide material support to an operation we oppose  especially since we believe there are alternate ways that Israel can accomplish its objectives, the official added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Drones operated by Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) attacked military targets in Russia's Volgograd, Lipetsk and Kaluga oblasts overnight on May 12, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing its unnamed source in HUR.

One target was an oil refinery in Volgograd, where a fire was reported by local Russian authorities, according to the media outlet.

The Kaluganefteprodukt oil depot and the Novolipetsk metallurgical plant were also reportedly struck by drones.

"These military targets were hit by Ukrainian-made drones. The work will be continued," the source told Ukrainska Pravda.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.

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In recent months, drone attacks targeting energy facilities within Russia's borders have increased in frequency.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) confirmed on May 10 it was behind the attack on the oil refinery in Kaluga Oblast.

The day before, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) attacked an oil refinery, Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, and two oil depots in Krasnodar Krai, according to the Kyiv Independent's source.

Strikes against Russian energy targets have prompted criticism from U.S. officials, who have made it clear that Washington does not support Ukraine's attacks on oil refineries, citing fears that it could threaten the global energy market.

In response, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv has the right to use its own weapons with retaliatory strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Read also: Russian media: Attack on oil depot in occupied Luhansk Oblast kills 3, injures 7

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Madison Tolchin visits Paula Glass, an advanced registered nurse practitioner, for a health checkup at a Planned Parenthood clinic on April 14, 2017 in Wellington, Florida. President Donald Trump recently signed legistation that allows states to withhold federal money from health care providers that provide abortion services, including Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has approximately 700 health centers across the country that serve 2,470,000 and provide services for preventive health care, birth control, pregnancy tests and other women's health services. (Photo by Joe Raedle | Getty Images)

Isabella Rosario Blum was wrapping up medical school and considering residency programs to become a family practice physician when she got some frank advice: If she wanted to be trained to provide abortions, she shouldnt stay in Arizona.

Blum turned to programs mostly in states where abortion access  and, by extension, abortion training  is likely to remain protected, like California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Arizona has enacted a law banning most abortions after 15 weeks.

I would really like to have all the training possible, she said, so of course that would have still been a limitation.

In June, she will start her residency at Swedish Cherry Hill hospital in Seattle.

According to new statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges, for the second year in a row, students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.

Since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, state fights over abortion access have created plenty of uncertainty for pregnant patients and their doctors. But that uncertainty has also bled into the world of medical education, forcing some new doctors to factor state abortion laws into their decisions about where to begin their careers.

Fourteen states, primarily in the Midwest and South, have banned nearly all abortions. The new analysis by the AAMC  a preliminary copy of which was exclusively reviewed by KFF Health News before its public release  found that the number of applicants to residency programs in states with near-total abortion bans declined by 4.2%, compared with a 0.6% drop in states where abortion remains legal.

Notably, the AAMCs findings illuminate the broader problems abortion bans can create for a states medical community, particularly in an era of provider shortages: The organization tracked a larger decrease in interest in residencies in states with abortion restrictions not only among those in specialties most likely to treat pregnant patients, like OB-GYNs and emergency room doctors, but also among aspiring doctors in other specialties.

It should be concerning for states with severe restrictions on reproductive rights that so many new physicians  across specialties  are choosing to apply to other states for training instead, wrote Atul Grover, executive director of the AAMCs Research and Action Institute.

The AAMC analysis found the number of applicants to OB-GYN residency programs in abortion ban states dropped by 6.7%, compared with a 0.4% increase in states where abortion remains legal. For internal medicine, the drop observed in abortion ban states was over five times as much as in states where abortion is legal.

In its analysis, the AAMC said an ongoing decline in interest in ban states among new doctors ultimately may negatively affect access to care in those states.

Jack Resneck Jr., immediate past president of the American Medical Association, said the data demonstrates yet another consequence of the post-Roe vs. Wade era.

The AAMC analysis notes that even in states with abortion bans, residency programs are filling their positions  mostly because there are more graduating medical students in the U.S. and abroad than there are residency slots.

Still, Resneck said, were extraordinarily worried.

For example, physicians without adequate abortion training may not be able to manage miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, or potential complications such as infection or hemorrhaging that could stem from pregnancy loss.

Those who work with students and residents say their observations support the AAMCs findings.

People dont want to go to a place where evidence-based practice and human rights in general are curtailed, said Beverly Gray, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine.

Abortion in North Carolina is banned in nearly all cases after 12 weeks. Women who experience unexpected complications or discover their baby has potentially fatal birth defects later in pregnancy may not be able to receive care there.

Gray said she worries that even though Duke is a highly sought training destination for medical residents, the abortion ban impacts whether we have the best and brightest coming to North Carolina.

Rohini Kousalya Siva will start her obstetrics and gynecology residency at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., this year. She said she did not consider programs in states that have banned or severely restricted abortion, applying instead to programs in Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, and Washington, D.C.

Were physicians, said Kousalya Siva, who attended medical school in Virginia and was previously president of the American Medical Student Association. Were supposed to be giving the best evidence-based care to our patients, and we cant do that if we havent been given abortion training.

Another consideration: Most graduating medical students are in their 20s, the age when people are starting to think about putting down roots and starting families, said Gray, who added that she is noticing many more students ask about politics during their residency interviews.

And because most young doctors make their careers in the state where they do their residencies, people dont feel safe potentially having their own pregnancies living in those states with severe restrictions, said Debra Stulberg, chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Chicago.

Stulberg and others worry that this self-selection away from states with abortion restrictions will exacerbate the shortages of physicians in rural and underserved areas.

The geographic misalignment between where the needs are and where people are choosing to go is really problematic, she said. We dont need people further concentrating in urban areas where theres already good access.

After attending medical school in Tennessee, which has adopted one of the most sweeping abortion bans in the nation, Hannah Light-Olson will start her OB-GYN residency at the University of California-San Francisco this summer.

It was not an easy decision, she said.

I feel some guilt and sadness leaving a situation where I feel like I could be of some help, she said. I feel deeply indebted to the program that trained me, and to the patients of Tennessee.

Light-Olson said some of her fellow students applied to programs in abortion ban states because they think we need pro-choice providers in restrictive states now more than ever. In fact, she said, she also applied to programs in ban states when she was confident the program had a way to provide abortion training.

I felt like there was no perfect, 100% guarantee; weve seen how fast things can change, she said. I dont feel particularly confident that California and New York arent going to be under threat, too.

As a condition of a scholarship she received for medical school, Blum said, she will have to return to Arizona to practice, and it is unclear what abortion access will look like then. But she is worried about long-term impacts.

Residents, if they cant get the training in the state, then theyre probably less likely to settle down and work in the state as well, she said.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFFan independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

The post Medical residents are increasingly avoiding states with abortion restrictions appeared first on Daily Montanan.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Nashville authorities are turning to the community for help identifying a man accused of sexually assaulting a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) employee Saturday afternoon.

According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, the incident took place around 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, May 11 outside VUMCs east parking garage in the 1200 block of 21st Avenue South.

Sumner County traffic stop leads to arrest of dangerous fugitive, deputies say

The victim saw the suspect pacing nearby, but when tried to walk away from the area, the man allegedly grabbed her from behind, started choking her, and threatened to kill her. The two ended up in a physical struggle, during which time the suspect forcibly fondled the woman before she broke free and escaped, authorities said.

Officials reported the man had brown hair, a beard, and a mustache, adding that he was wearing dark pants and a white short-sleeved shirt with an orange number 5 on the front.

(Source: Metro Nashville Police Department)

(Source: Metro Nashville Police Department)

If you recognize the suspect from these surveillance photos, you are asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

 Download the News 2 app to stay updated on the go.

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 Find todays top stories on WKRN.com for Nashville, TN and all of Middle Tennessee.

This is a developing story. WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Key Insights

The projected fair value for Kudelski is CHF1.77 based on Dividend Discount Model

Current share price of CHF1.50 suggests Kudelski is potentially trading close to its fair value

Analyst price target for KUD is US$1.36 which is 23% below our fair value estimate

Does the May share price for Kudelski SA (VTX:KUD) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Kudelski

Crunching The Numbers

We have to calculate the value of Kudelski slightly differently to other stocks because it is a electronic company. Instead of using free cash flows, which are hard to estimate and often not reported by analysts in this industry, dividends per share (DPS) payments are used. This often underestimates the value of a stock, but it can still be good as a comparison to competitors. We use the Gordon Growth Model, which assumes dividend will grow into perpetuity at a rate that can be sustained. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (0.2%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.1%. Relative to the current share price of CHF1.5, the company appears about fair value at a 15% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= US$0.2 / (6.1%  0.2%)

= CHF1.8

dcf

The Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Kudelski as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.282. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

Story continues

Moving On:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Kudelski, we've compiled three pertinent aspects you should explore:

Risks: Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Kudelski (at least 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Future Earnings: How does KUD's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Swiss stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Here are all the bad things witnesses have said about Michael Cohen, Trumps former fixer who is set to testify Monday

Nobody has anything nice to say about Michael Cohen.

Donald Trumps former fixer and lawyer is expected to take the stand Monday as the key witness in the Manhattan district attorneys case against the former president, prepared to give testimony connecting to Trump the $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Through three weeks of testimony, jurors have already heard plenty about Cohen through numerous witnesses, who have painted an unflattering portrait of an aggressive, impulsive and unlikeable attorney.

David Pecker, former head of National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc., said Cohen was prone to exaggeration. Former Trump aide Hope Hicks said Cohen liked to call himself a fixer  a role she said was possible only because he first broke it. And Daniels former attorney Keith Davidson said he only worked with Cohen because he was a jerk whom Daniels then-manager Gina Rodriguez  along with everyone else  didnt want to deal with.

Gina called me up to tell me that: Some jerk called me and was very, very aggressive and threatened to sue me. And I, um, would like you, Keith, to call this jerk back, Davidson testified in the third week of the trial.

I hate to ask it this way, but who was that jerk? asked Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass.

It was Michael Cohen, Davidson responded.

Now Cohen is the witness whom prosecutors are relying on to deliver testimony that can help them prove Trump falsified business records when he allegedly reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 to Daniels to keep her from going public about a past encounter ahead of the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.

Cohen is the only witness who will testify about Trumps alleged involvement in both the decision to pay Daniels and the plan to reimburse Cohen for advancing the money. Cohen will likely serve as the narrator for the prosecution and take the jury from the initial meeting in which Pecker, Cohen and Trump allegedly agreed to buy negative stories that could hurt Trumps presidential run to the payment made to Daniels just days before Election Day to an Oval Office meeting in February 2017, just weeks after Trump was sworn in.

Prosecutors allege that during the February meeting, Trump and Cohen agreed how Cohen would be paid back. That arrangement, prosecutors say, included a false story that Cohen was working under a retainer agreement. The paperwork, from the invoices and general ledger entries to the checks signed by Trump, make up the 34 criminal charges in the case.

Witnesses who come with baggage

Prosecutors have waited to call Cohen until the end of their case, after introducing phone records, emails, text messages and bank records that they hope bolster his credibility with the jury. They have not tried to hide from the jury that he and other witnesses have plenty of problems.

We are going to be very up-front about the fact that several of the witnesses in this case have what you made might consider to be some baggage, Steinglass told a panel of prospective jurors during jury selection.

The testimony will pit Trump against Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for the former president. They last saw each other when Cohen testified in Trumps New York civil fraud trial last fall. Cohens testimony was brief, but the showdown was tense.

This week the stakes are higher, with a potential criminal conviction and possible jail sentence on the line for Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

It brings to a close a long journey for Cohen, who is still aggrieved that he served three years in prison and home confinement after pleading guilty to federal campaign finance charges related to the payoff, among other crimes.

Cohen met with prosecutors more than a dozen times and testified before the grand jury in the hush money trial. He has immunity on state charges for his role in the alleged conspiracy.

He will also face blistering cross-examination by Trump attorney Todd Blanche. The former presidents lawyers are expected to hammer at Cohens credibility, including digging into his past, and suggest to the jury that Trump had no idea what deal Cohen struck or how it was recorded on the books of his company.

Even before he takes the stand, Cohen has been attacked and undermined by the prosecutions own witnesses. On one hand, he could be damaged goods before he takes the stand. But he also might benefit from low expectations if the jury finds him to be better than advertised, said Elie Honig, a CNN senior legal analyst and former state and federal prosecutor.

After jail sentence, Cohen released books and podcast attacking Trump

The charges filed against Trump date to events that transpired during the 2016 election. But in many ways, the case against Trump stems from his former fixers decision to plead guilty in 2018 in federal court to two counts of making unlawful campaign contributions in violation of federal campaign finance laws. He implicated Trump directly in the scheme and admitted that he orchestrated to pay Daniels on Trumps behalf.

Cohen also pleaded guilty to tax charges and to lying to Congress about Trumps business venture to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, which he served behind bars and under house arrest.

Cohens plea prompted the Manhattan District Attorneys Office to launch the investigation surrounding the hush money payments that led to Trumps indictment last year.

Cohen became dedicated to antagonizing Trump. He published two books, Disloyal in 2020 and Revenge in 2022, and launched a podcast, Mea Culpa  all of which spent plenty of time bashing Trump and cheering on his prosecution.

On social media, Cohen continued to attack Trump in the weeks leading up to the trial, and even after it began. The social media jabs reached the point that Judge Juan Merchan told prosecutors Friday to give Cohen a message from the bench that he should stop speaking about the case. (Merchan has said he cannot legally gag a witness.)

Trump has often punched right back in interviews and on social media, including in several instances that violated the judges gag order on the former president barring discussion of witnesses in the case.

No one wanted to talk to Cohen

Beginning with the first witness in the case, Pecker, jurors have heard criticisms from witness after witness of Cohen ahead of his own expected testimony.

Pecker, who met with Cohen and Trump at a key Trump Tower meeting in 2015, was asked by Trump attorney Emil Bove whether Cohen was prone to exaggeration.

Yes, Pecker said.

Bove then asked Pecker whether he could not trust everything Cohen said. The judge sustained an objection to the question, telling Trumps attorney in a sidebar discussion that it was not the right place to impeach Cohens credibility.

More witnesses would keep doing so anyway.

Cohens former banker, Gary Farro, then testified that he was specifically given Cohens account because he could be firm with individuals who may be a little challenging. Farro said it was fair to call Cohen an aggressive guy.

Anything he did need, he called me, and it was always something that was urgent, the banker said.

Arguably the most negative assessment of Cohen came from Davidson, who negotiated the hush money deal with Cohen on Daniels behalf in 2016. Davidson described a 2011 conversation about a blog post on Daniels and Trump on thedirty.com, where Cohen unleashed a barrage of insults and insinuations and allegations.

I dont think he was accusing us of anything. He was just screaming, Davidson said.

Daniels former attorney went on to explain how he ended up involved in the hush money deal, when Daniels manager asked him to help finalize the deal for a nondisclosure agreement.

Asked why he got involved, Davidson said: The moral of the story was: No one wanted to talk to Cohen.

Davidson recalled under questioning from Steinglass that after Trump was elected in 2016, he got a call in December from a very despondent and saddened Cohen.

He said something to the effect of: Jesus Christ. Can you f**ing believe Im not going to Washington? After everything Ive done for that f**ing guy. I cant believe Im not going to Washington. Ive saved that guys a** so many times, you dont even know.

Others who didnt interact with Cohen as much as Davidson didnt have much better things to say. Jeff McConney, the former Trump Organization controller, was asked what Cohens position was at the company.

He said he was a lawyer, McConney responded.

Did he work in the legal department? asked prosecutor Matthew Colangelo.

I guess so, McConney said derisively.

And Hicks, who worked at the Trump Organization before becoming a key aide on the 2016 campaign, described to jurors how Cohen  Trumps fixer  was prone to inflate his influence on the campaign.

There were times where Mr. Cohen did things that you felt were not helpful to what you were trying to accomplish, right? Bove asked Trumps 2016 campaign press secretary.

Yes, Hicks responded. I used to say that he liked to call himself a fixer or Mr. Fix It, and it was only because he first broke it that he was able to come and fix it.

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Middle Tennessee schools director gives update on injured son: 'We aren't giving up hope'

Rutherford County Schools Director James "Jimmy" Sullivan gave a Friday update on his youngest son, Asher, and requested privacy for his family after the boy was sucked into a storm drain and critically injured Wednesday

"The doctor this morning told us Asher wouldn't survive his injuries," Sullivan posted on social media.

"Neurology saw a few signs (small response to pain in one arm, and pupils reacting to light) of activity a little while ago, so we aren't giving up hope."

A prayer vigil was held on Thursday, May 9, 2024, for Asher Sullivan, seen here in a family photo, the son of Superintendent/Director of Schools at Rutherford County Schools James "Jimmy" Sullivan, who was involved in a tragic accident last night after the storm, on Wednesday.

Ten-year-old Asher was playing with other children in the water that had accumulated in the street while neighbors gathered to begin the cleanup process after storms moved through Middle Tennessee Wednesday, when somehow, he "got caught in the storm drain and was swept under the neighborhood streets," Sullivan wrote.

"He eventually came out in a drainage ditch, and CPR was administered for quite some time," Sullivan posted Thursday. "His heartbeat was reestablished, but the damage is substantial."

Rutherford County Schools' Director James "Jimmy" Sullivan sits on a desk in a second grade classroom at Blackman Elementary School on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023.

'Damage is substantial': Rutherford Schools director shares new details about injured son

Since news of the boy's injuries broke, hundreds of people have posted prayers and well-wishes on social media.

More than 500 people attended a prayer vigil Thursday for Asher and the family in front of the Rutherford County Schools central office in Murfreesboro.

Sullivan acknowledged the outpouring in an earlier post on Friday, saying he and his family were thankful for all the support.

"Please keep up the prayers for our little buddy," Sullivan wrote.

After he was injured, Asher was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Sullivan has asked people to respect the privacy of the hospital as well.

"The number of visitors and phone calls yesterday put a strain on operations," Sullivan wrote earlier on Friday. He noted that he would provide updates as needed on social media but is focusing on his family.

In an earlier update, Sullivan wrote that Asher was, "not showing signs of brain activity and is not breathing on his own."

Like many in the community, Rutherford County Board of Education member Tammy Sharp said she's keeping faith that Asher will survive. She wrote on the window of her car, "Pray#forAsher."

"We are holding out for a miracle," Sharp said. "I don't care what the doctor says. The doctor doesn't get the last word. We're all believers."

Tammy Sharp

'Asher needs a miracle': Middle Tennessee prayer vigil sees 500+ after storm injures boy

Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Schools director shares latest on son injured in Tennessee tornados
Lawmakers are considering spending $6 million to test the use of "sprint" paramedics in three northern Minnesota counties and confront the state's worsening rural emergency response.

The hope is that paramedics, roving the Iron Range and northwest lakes region in cars and trucks, could shave minutes off response times, and sort out calls that don't need fully loaded ambulances in the first place.

"Could mean the difference in surviving and not surviving," said Jim Rieber, who has led efforts to use sprint paramedics in Otter Tail and Grant counties.

When rural EMS agencies are notified about medical emergencies, they often page paid or volunteer first-responders to hustle to the station and drive ambulances to the scenes. This long-standing approach is breaking down in some small towns, because the pool of first-responders is shrinking and taking longer to assemble.

Sprint paramedics by comparison would drive directly to the scenes in standard vehicles and begin treatment, even with ambulances on the way.

The solution gained House approval Tuesday and is awaiting Senate action after it was proposed by a legislative task force to address problems in Minnesota's system of emergency medical services, or EMS. Lawmakers also proposed replacing the existing licensing agency, and its industry-selected leadership with an agency that features more state oversight and a commissioner appointed by the governor. A 2022 audit found the state was lax in its existing oversight of its EMS providers.

Newly released response time data highlights the concerns, especially when looking at the 10% of emergency ambulance runs in Minnesota that took the longest in 2023. Ambulances in Hennepin County took 13 minutes on average to respond to these longest calls once they were notified by 911 dispatchers. The average was 17 minutes in St. Louis County and 22 in Otter Tail. In Lake of the Woods County, the average was 44 minutes.

Rieber said response times are acceptable when local crews are available, but when they aren't, EMS agencies are relying on neighboring communities to send ambulances from miles away. That often happens when agencies send ambulances and don't have enough medics to provide backup for other calls.

Some disparity in urban and rural response times is inevitable, especially in a county such as Otter Tail that spreads over 2,000 square miles and is dotted by 20 small towns and hundreds of cabin-country lakes.

Sprint paramedics could close the gap, said Becca Huebsch, the EMS director in Perham, Minn., by being placed strategically in vehicles with life-saving equipment. Their start positions would vary each day depending on which local EMS agencies in Otter Tail and Grant counties were the most understaffed. Problems are often greatest on weekdays for small EMS agencies, because their volunteer first-responders work full-time in other communities.

Paramedics have more training than emergency medical technicians, who make up the bulk of rural ambulance crews, and can do more complex life-saving techniques such as inserting breathing tubes and intravenous lines. Depending on the type of 911 call, a sprint paramedic might be sent first to assess a patient, or at the same time as a single EMT in the nearest ambulance. If a transport to a hospital is needed, the paramedic would leave the sprint vehicle behind and monitor the patient during the ambulance ride. In some cases, the paramedic could handle treatment on scene and keep ambulances with advanced-life support equipment from being dispatched unnecessarily.

"It opens up flexibility we've never had before," Huebsch said.

Rieber said EMS agencies have been pressed since the COVID-19 pandemic, which burned out volunteer medics and thinned their ranks.

"Before, you paged (about an emergency call) and you had 20 people, and the first two people there went out," he said. "Now, you have six people left on the ambulance service, and they have already done six or eight calls that week," he said.

Sprint paramedics have gone by many names, such as fly cars and intercepting paramedics, but the concept borrows from successes at larger urban ambulance services. Fire departments in the Twin Cities often have paramedics on board fire trucks or send them ahead in separate vehicles. The University of Minnesota deploys SUVs with mobile ECMO equipment, which can maintain blood-flow and circulation for patients in cardiac arrest.

Rieber said the state's test project, including St. Louis County, would be among the first in the nation to use sprint paramedics to confront rural shortages and response challenges. When sprint paramedics aren't on calls, they would visit frail residents in the region or check those who were recently discharged from hospitals. Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park pioneered that approach a decade ago, sending local firefighters to check on discharged patients.

EMS leaders said they are underpaid by the federal Medicare program for ambulance runs, and the state legislation isn't solving this problem. Rieber said agencies used to make up the difference through higher reimbursements by private insurers, but they have started paying at Medicare levels as well. EMS agencies also don't get paid when medics stabilize patients on scenes and don't transport patients.

Rural agencies as a result can't afford sprint paramedics on their own, Huebsch said, so the goal of this test is to prove their worth and justify ways to pay in the future.
Four years have passed since 17-year-old Jesus Jace Abarca was fatally shot inside the Kansas City, Kansas, home he shared with his mother, Jenna Stallard. Mothers Day hasnt been the same joyous occasion it once was for her.

How could it be? He was Stallards only child. She refers to her son as Jace.

I liked calling him, Mijo, she said of the Spanish translation for my son.

The fourth anniversary of Jaces death is May 18. Investigators have identified suspects. But because of a lack of evidence, the homicide remains unsolved, according to law enforcement officials in KCK. Stallard wont stop sharing Jaces story until those involved in the killing are brought to justice.

He was my best friend, Stallard told me during a recent sit down at Kinship Cafe in Kansas City, Kansas.

Far too often, we hear only about murder victims and their deaths. Rarely do we gain insight into their gifts. I wanted to know more about Jace and how he lived. I asked Stallard about Jaces personality and what he was like.

She beamed with pride as only a mother could as she recounted some of her fondest memories of her son. She cried, too. More than once.

Jace was funny and loved music, Stallard told me. He was an aspiring hip-hop artist with a love for math. Jace was smart, Stallard said. In high school, he studied subjects like trigonometry, psychology and architecture, she said.

Like a typical teen, Jace downplayed his intelligence sometimes to fit in with the kids in the cool crowd, his mom said.

He was not a thug nor a criminal, as some people like to portray minority youths in Wyandotte County, Stallard said. Jace was a fun-loving teen who planned to attend community college before his life was tragically taken. He did not deserve to be gunned down in an upstairs bedroom inside the familys home, she said.

I miss him so much, Stallard said.

A high school senior when COVID-19 hit

Theres something familiar about Jaces eyes  theyre big, blue, warm and inviting. In the pictures his mother shared with me, his smile radiates off the computer screen. He has a slight mustache above his upper lip  peach fuzz, its called.

As parents, Stallard and I share a similar story. My son was shot and killed in north St. Louis in 2009 at age 16. Nearly 15 years later, his homicide remains unsolved. Id tell anyone whod listen about the joy my child brought to my life, I told her.

When she first described her son, I couldnt help but relate to the agony of losing a child. Jace dreamed of being a mechanical engineer, Stallard said. He was a high school senior when COVID-19 sent students home for the remainder of the school year to learn virtually. He graduated as part of the 2020 class. Less than a week before a graduation ceremony at Boulevard Drive-In, someone fatally shot Jace inside the familys home.

Unlike his fellow classmates, Jace never got an opportunity to don a cap and gown as he walked the stage to receive his diploma.

WyCo DA Mark Dupress cant make criminal charges

The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department identified suspects, according to Stallard. A case file was turned over to Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Duprees office. Unfortunately, with a lack of evidence, Dupree has so far declined to pursue criminal charges, according to Jonathan Carter, a spokesman for the DAs office.

Because the case remains open, law enforcement officials have told Stallard not to discuss details of what occurred that night inside the familys home in the 1100 block of Metropolitan Avenue in KCK.

She did share with me email correspondence she had with Dupree. To his credit, the DA tried to reassure Stallard that if more evidence became available, hed bring charges against Jaces assailants.

Please know I truly believe that KCKPD are doing everything in their power to bring about justice, and know that this office will do the best that we can to assist, based on the evidence and the law, Dupree wrote in an email he sent Stallard in January. There are no limitations on when we can bring a murder case to the courts. We have prosecuted murder cases that were more than 25 years old, successfully. When we have evidence that can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt we will move forward. Because the case is part of an ongoing investigation I cannot speak about the particulars, but KCKPD is doing its best and so is this office. We hope to bring justice to you and your family.

Annual visit to sons resting place

Sunday will mark the fourth Mothers Day since Jace died. Stallard has established a routine since. She plans to visit Jaces resting place at Maple Hill Cemetery in KCK. Stallards dog, Rufus, who helps her cope with Jaces death, will be there.

Stallard isnt fond of the term grave site.

I go visit my sons spot and talk to him and bring him flowers, Stallard said. Then I usually just hide myself away from the world because of the hurt. I do look at the last card my son gave me on the last Mothers Day I had with him. It explains his funny personality so much.

She sent me a photo of that card. It read: Hey Mom  If I had an extra $1,000, youd get more from me than just a Mothers Day card.

How thoughtful (and funny), I thought.

My hope for writing this column is that someone who has information about Jaces death comes forward. As with any homicide, every small detail matters. Someone knows who killed her son, Stallard said.

He was such a good-hearted kid, she said. He didnt deserve this.

Anyone with information about the death of Jesus Jace Abarca should call the Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commissions TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477) or send email to tips@kc-crime.org
The Laurel Generation Station power plant in Laurel Montana as seen in September 2023. (Aerial photography by Ed Saunders)

Soon, Montanans will have an opportunity to show support for our constitutional rights while witnessing democracy in action.

On May 15 at 9:30 a.m., in Helena, the public can observe the Montana Supreme Court hear a case that could have immense consequences for our health, finances, and the prosperity of future generations.

In simple terms, the hearing will explore how NorthWestern Energys controversial methane-fired plant under construction in Laurel sits with Montanans constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. Unfortunately, the monopoly energy corporation has repeatedly shown greater concern with expanding executive salaries and shareholder profits than with respecting our laws or caring for our future.

NorthWesterns $310 million plant would saddle Montanans with higher energy bills on top of the historic 28% rate hike it recently levied on ratepayers. It would emit hundreds of tons of dangerous and carcinogenic airborne toxins in the Yellowstone Valley each year. Most relevant to this court case, it would also emit 23 million tons of climate-degrading pollution that contributes to the chaotic weather projected to cost taxpayers and Montanas ag and recreation communities hundreds of millions in the coming years. Even the Montana Public Service Commission staff recently criticized NorthWestern for its lack of transparency and failure to consider more affordable, non-polluting energy sources in its planning.

The case  Montana Environmental Information Center and Sierra Club vs. MT DEQ, NorthWestern Corporation, and the State of MT  is specifically about the air quality permit the Montana Department of Environmental Quality granted NorthWestern for its plant, sited next to the iconic Yellowstone River (constructed on land zoned for agricultural use, by the way). The court must decide whether our constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, and the states constitutional obligation to maintain it, require such permits to evaluate a projects climate pollution. When issuing the permit, DEQ refused to assess the climate impacts of burning methane or the impacts of all the associated methane leakage from wellhead to the plant.

Methane has 80 times greater warming impacts to our atmosphere than carbon dioxide during its first 20 years. Its this atmospheric heating that contributed to record-low levels of snowpack this year, burdening our ski industry with a huge financial hit and threatening our lakes and rivers water levels that impact fishing, wildlife, and agriculture. According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, 95% of the state is experiencing abnormally dry or extreme drought conditions. Its increasingly clear that ignoring climate pollution jeopardizes the things we love most in Montana.

But this case has serious ramifications for the health of our democracy, too. The executive branch, of which DEQ is a part, wants to undermine the role our elected state judiciary plays as a constitutional check on the other two branches of government. It argues that the courts have no meaningful say in determining the constitutionality of these permits. Does DEQ think it is above the law, that neither judges nor citizens can challenge its decisions or speak for our constitutional rights?

If the executive branch wins this argument, the people of Montana would be unprotected from erroneous, illegal, even corrupt executive and legislative decisions, without recourse. Montanas days under the stranglehold of the Copper Kings remind us why proper checks and balances are needed to prevent wealthy corporations from controlling government offices and running roughshod over everyday people.

State agencies exist to serve and protect we the people. Instead, DEQ is enabling NorthWestern Energy in its moves to conceal, pollute, and gouge ratepayers.

Karen Stears is a Billings resident, healthcare professional, and a member of Northern Plains Resource Council, a grassroots conservation and family agriculture group.

The post Montanans love the states Constitution. Why doesnt NorthWestern Energy? appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Mares and Foals by George Stubbs is one of his largest pictures. It is up for auction for up to 10m

A monumental painting by George Stubbs is being offered at auction for only the second time in its history.

Mares and Foals in a River Landscape is expected to fetch 7-10 million at Christies. Measuring 1.8m by 2.7m, it is one of a series of paintings on the theme, executed in the 1760s.

It is believed to have been painted for the 18th-century prime minister Augustus Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton.

It remained in the Grafton family until it was acquired privately in the mid-20th century by Jack R Dick, a colourful US financier-turned-cattle breeder who became one of the worlds most noted collectors of English sporting paintings.

Dick is said to have beat the Tate to buy the work, which he called the Big Painting.

If youre going to invest in horses, youre better off doing it on canvas because those animals dont eat, they dont get sick and they dont fade in the stretch, he once said.

The painting appeared at auction for the first time in 1976, two years after Dicks death, and was bought by a private collector in Illinois.

The descendants of that anonymous buyer are now offering it for sale at Christies, where it will be a highlight of the Old Masters Part I sale in London on July 1.

George Stubbs in a self-portrait. He is best known for his paintings of horses - Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty

John Stainton, international deputy chairman, Old Master Paintings, said: George Stubbs genius for animal painting is nowhere more evidence than in his series of Mares and Foals paintings.

The scale is monumental. It is a truly spectacular picture, and one of a series that helped to cement his reputation as the greatest animal painter in the history of European art.

It is a great privilege to be offering this, Stubbs most ambitious work on the theme, in our summer sale.

Stubbs crosses international boundaries

The quintessentially English painting is expected to attract buyers from across the world.

There hasnt been a great Stubbs like this on the market for a long time, Mr Stainton said.

Stubbs definitely crosses international boundaries. The traditional markets are Europe and North American and there will be clients who come from those regions, but also there is a great love of horses in Asia and the Middle East and we have sold pictures by Stubbs to those regions.

The work will be on public view at Christies in New York from May 18-22, and in the pre-sale London exhibition from June 28 to July 1.

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More addiction patients can take methadone at home, but some states lag behind

People wait in line for a methadone clinic to open in Hoquiam, Wash., in 2017. As a chorus of physicians and advocates calls for loosening methadone restrictions, states have been slower to adopt new relaxed federal rules. (David Goldman/The Associated Press)

Matt Haneys home in San Francisco isnt far from a methadone clinic.

The 42-year-old state lawmaker has watched people line up early each morning outside the clinic in the Tenderloin, a community long considered the epicenter of the citys substance use epidemic. His neighbors wait for the daily dose of methadone that relieves their cravings and minimizes opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Despite methadones effectiveness, a labyrinth of state and federal rules  meant to guard against its misuse  keeps it inaccessible to many people who desperately need it, Haney said.

What kind of normal person with a job, a life and a family can line up for medication every morning, sometimes far from where they live?

The Democratic assemblymember and majority whip noted that California is one of many states with rules that are stricter than federal regulations on when, where and how people can access opioid treatments like methadone.

Its almost comical how difficult it is to get this medication and stay on it, he said.

Yet addiction treatment in the United States is poised for change. This year, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, known as SAMHSA, made permanent a set of pandemic-era rules that loosened several restrictions, including those on take-home doses of methadone.

Its a move that a broad consensus of academics, advocates and providers says will improve treatment access and success rates. Having the flexibility to take medication at home can mean patients can get to work or get their kids to school on time. They can deal with family emergencies and unexpected travel. And they avoid the stigma of waiting in line at a clinic.

In theory, the new federal rules make more take-home methadone doses available to a wider subset of patients. But whats less clear is how the rules will trickle down to states. Theres concern states that didnt preserve the relaxed regulations they had during the pandemic might be slow to adopt them now.

A number of states will have to revise their regulations if theyre going to be in alignment with what SAMHSA has released, Mark Parrino, founder and president of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence Inc., a national trade group that supports the new federal regulations. What could delay implementation would be the state regulators.

Later this month at his groups annual conference, SAMHSA will convene a closed-door meeting of regulators from all 50 states to discuss the new federal rules and how states might bring their own standards into compliance, Parrino said.

Its all happening as the opioid crisis, driven by rising fentanyl overdoses, has prompted a chorus of physicians and advocates to call for loosening methadone restrictions even further  a move that leaders at many opioid treatment programs oppose.

Liquid handcuffs

Medications that treat opioid use disorder  such as methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone  are rigorously regulated by the government. They block the effects of opioids or halt withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings without causing the same feelings of euphoria.

But while medications like buprenorphine can be prescribed by a physician and taken at home, methadone can only be prescribed and dispensed in the United States through federally certified clinics called opioid treatment programs. Methadone can be taken as a liquid, a pill or an injectable.

Currently, about 1,800 certified opioid treatment programs operate in the United States, giving methadone treatment to about 400,000 people.

Thats just 19% of the estimated 2.1 million people in the United States who have opioid use disorder.

Until the pandemic, most methadone patients had to visit a clinic daily to take their doses while a provider watched. Restrictions stem from concern that methadone can be abused or resold. Even though it does not produce an intense high, its possible to overdose if its not taken as prescribed.

But the tight regulation created a system that keeps patients tethered to the nearest methadone clinic with what some have called liquid handcuffs. Long clinic lines, varying hours, counseling requirements and inflexible rules around rescheduling appointments make it difficult for patients to juggle job and family responsibilities.

One pregnant patient in a 2021 study reported being required to remain in line at her methadone clinic even after her water broke. Other patients said they were refused take-home doses for family emergency situations or were randomly required to make additional clinic visits. Ten states require methadone providers to observe patients during urine sample collection, according to a 2021 analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Theres no other medical condition where we feel like patients need to earn the right to treatment, said Ximena Levander, an addiction medicine physician and researcher at Oregon Health & Science University. What SAMHSA has done with these new rules is to try to shift that paradigm from a punitive, you need to earn this model to a patient-centered, individualized treatment plan.

But its going to take time for that culture change to happen.

A power imbalance

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal officials allowed states to give more methadone patients up to 28 days of take-home doses. In February of this year, SAMHSA made these new, looser rules permanent. They went into effect last month, and opioid treatment programs have until October to comply.

Thats an ambitious timeline, said Parrino, of the trade group. His association represents more than 1,300 opioid treatment clinics.

At least 10 states had stability criteria for take-home doses that were stricter than federal rules as of June 2021. Individual opioid treatment programs might be more conservative still. Some, for example, wont allow take-home doses for patients who drink alcohol or use cannabis. Even individual clinicians might have their own views about what patients must do before being allowed take-home doses.

The requirements help keep patients safe, Parrino said: Methadone is an incredibly successful medication and its extremely effective, but its deadly if used unwisely.

Yet for patients, opioid treatment programs monopoly on methadone treatment represents a power imbalance thats not as apparent in other areas of medicine.

Levander recalled one patient who said her treatment program had increased her required clinic visits from once a month to once every two weeks, and she felt like she had no recourse to challenge that decision.

Patients know if they lose access to their medication, they may not have another methadone program nearby and they could return to use [of illicit drugs], Levander said. The opioid treatment programs have all the power and control. Theres not a lot of desire from patients to rock the boat.

Haney, the California state lawmaker, has introduced a bill that would remove several barriers to methadone access, including allowing physicians outside of opioid treatment clinics to temporarily prescribe take-home doses. The bill passed out of committee late last month with bipartisan support.

Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bill this year, still in committee, that would bring the states rules for dispensing take-home doses in line with federal rules. Some states, such as Massachusetts, issued executive orders adopting many of the new federal guidelines. State agencies in places including Minnesota and Colorado have shifted their rules to adopt a more patient-centered approach to addiction medicine.

But other states havent yet followed suit.

Its so highly variable as far as where states are on this issue, said Bobby Mukkamala, a physician in Flint, Michigan, who is on the board of trustees at the American Medical Association. Some states are way ahead at truly looking at substance use disorder as a medical condition, not something to be punished.

Methadone monopoly

Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill in Congress could further deregulate the opioid treatment industry and open methadone treatment nationally to physicians outside of clinics. U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, have introduced legislation that would allow physicians trained in addiction treatment to prescribe methadone outside of a clinic.

Its a move supported by several national organizations, including the American Medical Association.

If its the restriction thats stopping patients with these issues from seeing a physician to help, then we need to remove it, said Mukkamala.

But the opioid treatment program industry is pushing back. Parrino noted that many opioid use disorder patients have other associated conditions, from HIV to emotional trauma, that require the kind of comprehensive and regimented treatment available from a certified clinic.

Earlier this year, Markey suggested opioid treatment clinics have more financially driven motivations for their opposition to expanding methadone to non-clinic settings.

Ultimately, tethering methadone exclusively to opioid treatment programs is less about access, or health and safety, but about control, and for many investors in those programs, it is about profit, he said in a February statement about the new rules.

Nearly two-thirds of opioid treatment programs are operated by for-profit companies. At least 562 of those are financed by private equity firms, according to a STAT News analysis. Private equitys involvement in health care has been the subject of an avalanche of scrutiny from lawmakers, advocates and researchers in recent years.

A growing body of research supports methadones deregulation. A 2022 survey of opioid treatment patients in a Midwest community found more than half reported travel and work conflicts kept them from treatment. Last year, researchers found that flexible methadone take-home policies were associated with fewer overdose deaths among Black and Hispanic men. Another recent study found that take-home flexibility of methadone did not lead to more methadone-involved deaths.

Haney, the California lawmaker, thinks moving methadone beyond clinic walls would benefit not just people with opioid use disorder, but also their surrounding communities, such as the Tenderloin.

These outdated policies come from a fear of these patients and a fear of this medication thats misguided, he said. Its fueling the crisis that we are now facing.

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 More addiction patients can take methadone at home, but some states lag behind appeared first on Washington State Standard.
Mothers who act as caregivers for ailing loved ones are truly the women who do it all | Opinion

This Mothers Day, lets acknowledge the indispensable role of mothers in maintaining our health care delivery system. Mothers carry a disproportionate weight of nurturing and maintaining families  a joy and a burden that is a reality here in Modesto and throughout the country.

Nearly 17% of Americans provide unpaid care to adults over 50, with women making up more than 75% of this group. On average, these caregivers dedicate 24 to 37 hours per week to caregiving tasks  paralleling a full-time job. Many manage caregiving responsibilities on top of employment, providing a hidden but indispensable work force in health care, with the value of their unpaid labor estimated at $470 billion annually.

Opinion

A 2020 report by the American Association of Retired Persons revealed that women account for 56% of working Americans who tend to a loved one. As the demand for caregiving grows, so does the disproportionate burden on women who must navigate the complexities of medical appointments, medication management and the emotional toll of illness, often without formal training.

These demands can profoundly alter a womans identity: Forcing a transition from a life partner to the central support system for their spouses well-being, for example. Its a transition marked by love, resilience and countless sacrifices.

A 2023 report by the Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America highlighted the significant impact of caregiving on womens physical and mental health, which is exacerbated by the stress of juggling work and caregiving responsibilities. Due to the demanding nature of their roles, only one-third of caregivers manage to keep up with their own health appointments. This strain extends to both their careers and financial stability, with many facing employment challenges and reduced income.

The emotional, physical and financial strains on women who are primary caregivers are complex: Nearly a quarter of these caregivers also support children under 18, placing them in the so-called sandwich generation. Constant stress and worry can lead to caregiver burnout, characterized by physical, emotional and mental exhaustion.

Physically, the demands of caregiving can lead to chronic fatigue and exacerbate health problems, with nearly half of caregivers expressing concern about the physical strains of their role. According to the Centers for Disease Control (2019), 53% of caregivers suffer from multiple chronic conditions.

Financially, the impact on women caregivers is significant: Some reduce their work hours or leave their jobs entirely, leading to lost income, benefits and career progression. AARP research indicates that caregivers forfeit an average of $237,000 in lifetime earnings, translating to a 20% reduction in Social Security and retirement benefits. This financial burden jeopardizes their long-term security and earning potential, with most caregivers needing to prepare for unexpected expenses.

A 2024 National Council on Aging report highlights that older women are more likely to live in poverty due to wage discrimination and caregiving responsibilities. Locally, a 2022 poll by Legacy Health Endowment across Merced and Stanislaus counties found that adult children, many of whom are women, often forego saving for their retirements, childrens college education or home down payments because they must financially support and provide care for one or more of their aging middle-class parents.

Nearly a super-majority (63.7%) has used savings, borrowed money or increased credit card debt to help pay for the costs associated with their caregiver responsibilities. More than half (56.4%) have recently borrowed between $100 and $1,000 to pay for caregiving costs.

The vital role of women as primary caregivers underscores the need for societal and policy reforms. Despite their critical contributions to the health-care system, support and recognition for caregivers remain inadequate.

The resilience of women and mothers  and their compassion and resilience  is undeniable. The responsibility of caring for family and loved ones, however, should not be theirs alone to bear. It is a societal imperative to recognize, support and uplift these caregivers, ensuring they have the necessary resources and acknowledgment.

Jeffrey Lewis is the president and CEO of Legacy Health Endowment and the EMC Health Foundation. Legacy Health Endowment was founded in 2014 and based in Turlock. Its mission is improving the health and well-being of residents in Stanislaus and Merced counties.
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD)  A motorcyclist was seriously hurt in a Sunday morning crash near Richland.

Around 9:45 a.m., troopers with the Michigan State Police were sent to the area of N 28th Street and E G Avenue for a crash.

Responding troopers learned that a Saturn Outlook didnt give the right of way at the intersection and crashed with a westbound motorcycle.

The motorcyclist, a 19-year-old Galesburg man, was seriously hurt. MSP said that he was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. He was last listed in critical condition.

MSP said that the motorcyclist was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

The driver of the Saturn is cooperating with troopers, MSP said.

Westbound E G Avenue was closed while crews investigated. It has since reopened.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

The crash remains under investigation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
Key Insights

Scott Technology's estimated fair value is NZ$2.13 based on Dividend Discount Model

Scott Technology's NZ$2.40 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate

Scott Technology's peers are currently trading at a discount of 25% on average

Does the May share price for Scott Technology Limited (NZSE:SCT) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

See our latest analysis for Scott Technology

The Model

As Scott Technology operates in the machinery sector, we need to calculate the intrinsic value slightly differently. In this approach dividends per share (DPS) are used, as free cash flow is difficult to estimate and often not reported by analysts. Unless a company pays out the majority of its FCF as a dividend, this method will typically underestimate the value of the stock. The 'Gordon Growth Model' is used, which simply assumes that dividend payments will continue to increase at a sustainable growth rate forever. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.7%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.3%. Relative to the current share price of NZ$2.4, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= NZ$0.1 / (8.3%  2.7%)

= NZ$2.1

dcf

The Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Scott Technology as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.224. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

Story continues

SWOT Analysis for Scott Technology

Strength

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Machinery market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the New Zealander market.

Good value based on P/E ratio compared to estimated Fair P/E ratio.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Paying a dividend but company has no free cash flows.

Looking Ahead:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Scott Technology, there are three relevant items you should further research:

Risks: For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Scott Technology (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here. Future Earnings: How does SCT's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every New Zealander stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Multiple agencies search for missing boater on Lake Jackson, FWC says

SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA)  Multiple law enforcement agencies searched for a missing boater in Highlands County Saturday.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, a boater was reported missing on Lake Jackson at about 6 p.m.

3 men shot, 2 dead in Tampas SoHo district

FWC crews were joined by Polk County Sheriffs Office, Highlands County Sheriffs Office, Sebring Police Department and the Sebring Fire Department in the search.

The search efforts continued into Sunday. The Veterans Beach Boat Ramp has been closed while crews keep looking.

This is a developing story. Stay up to date on the latest from News Channel 8 on-air and on the go with the free WFLA News Channel 8 mobile app.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
During the Oklahoma City Board of Education meeting, new member Jessica Cifuentes takes the oath of office, which was administered by OKCPS Board Clerk Craig Cates.

About two-thirds of the students attending Oklahoma City Public Schools are of Latino descent  a percentage thats steadily grown over the years  but the composition of the districts school board hasnt necessarily reflected that.

Only five people of Latino descent ever have served on the eight-person board, and only once  before now  have there been as many as two such people on the board at the same time. But the recent election of 25-year-old Jessica Cifuentes again gives the board two Latinos and provides leaders in Oklahoma Citys thriving Latino community with hope there could be more in the future.

Cifuentes, who defeated 59-year-old Cary Pirrong in an April 2 election for the District 3 seat, joins District 6 representative, Juan Lecona, on the board. In April 2023, Lecona became the first immigrant from Mexico to be elected to the board. Cifuentes is the first person of Guatemalan descent to serve on the board, and although records about such things arent readily available, she certainly is one of the youngest board members ever, district officials said.

Its a fantastic deal, said David Castillo, the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Oklahoma City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the first Latino to serve on the Oklahoma City Board of Education. He represented District 6 from 2003 to 2011. We actually need more. The board needs to mirror the community. One is good, two is better, anything else is best.

Oklahoma City Board of Education member Juan Lecona is pictured April 10, 2023.

During his time on the board, Castillo served with then-District 7 representative, Wilfredo Santos-Rivera, from 2006 to 2010. Gloria Torres served as the District 6 representative from 2014 to 2023, when Lecona was elected to that seat. All are of Mexican descent except Santos-Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican descent, Castillo said.

Lecona said its been challenging finding people in the Latino community willing to take on the commitment of serving on the school board, but he believes his election, and the subsequent election of Cifuentes, are indicators that change is happening.

Its time for us to step out our of our comfort zone and achieve greatness, he said. We came to achieve the American dream. Lets do it  lets be the American dream.  I hope we can continue to grow Latino leaders in the community and across the district.

Leaders in Latino community, OKC school district note the importance of representation on board

Jason Brown, the districts deputy superintendent, noted Cifuentes presence at her first board meeting on April 15 and stressed how important he thought her election was.

Diversity is our strength, Brown said. Were very proud of that diversity. Were very excited when we see that we can be representative of our students and our families in our community. Representation does matter.

Brown said Cifuentes was representative of our Hispanic families in our community. Having a daughter of your generation, we can have the same values, we can have the same color, we can have the same background, upbringing, ethnicity, and I can tell you that generation sees things differently sometimes than we do. So to have multiple viewpoints and multiple voices, I think, can do nothing but add strength to our board.

State Rep. Arturo Alonso Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, noted Lecona and Cifuentes come from diverse ethnic backgrounds and said the fact they are different genders is also important.

More: Don't blame the messenger: How meteorologists balance jargon, urgency in weather alerts

The Latino community isnt a monolith, Alonso Sandoval said. Its a community that does come from diverse backgrounds. Its important to have more perspectives. Before, if at least 60 percent of OKCPS students are Hispanic, half of those are young Latinas  young Hispanic ladies. They werent really being fully represented, so having a young Latina serving as a school board member will be huge for them.

Cifuentes  who spoke to the The Oklahoman at the law offices of state Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, where she works as his personal assistant  recognizes that responsibility.

Its been a lot about equitable representation, Cifuentes said. Were representing a majority (of district students) right now. One of the biggest things about that is almost one-third of OKCPS students are Latinas. Who is representing those people? If I didnt run, there wouldnt have been anybody. Now being elected, it is me.

In the space that we are in, this is all about education. Oklahoma is last in education. We are 50th out of 50 (states) in the nation  and the worst schools are in Oklahoma City Public Schools. The best schools are in Edmond, and theyre neighbors. So, unfortunately, the people that are being most affected are the Latino students, the Hispanic families. I couldnt just stand idle and not do something about it. I had to jump in. We need that representation. We still need more.

Cifuentes is both a student and a teacher, in addition to other responsibilities

Cifuentes grew up in Oklahoma City and attended James Buchanan Elementary School within the Oklahoma City district before moving to ASTEC Charter School for middle school and high school. She attended Emory University in Atlanta and earned a bachelors degree in materials science engineering before returning to Oklahoma.

She currently attends Metro Tech, a CareerTech center, where she is studying surgical technology, and is working this semester as a temporary science teacher at Mount St. Mary High School. Her ultimate goal is to attend medical school and eventually become a surgeon. But in the midst of that busy schedule, she said she believed it was important to be a voice for her generation and her culture in the public arena.

It does take a lot of diligence, a lot of effort, Cifuentes said. What I would really like to do, with this situation, is inspire many people. You can do it all. If you want to become that person who runs for office and is an engineer  you can absolutely do it all.

More: What led to Sean McDaniel's resignation as OKCPS superintendent? Emails shine a light.

According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, about 20.1% of Oklahoma Citys population is Hispanic. Castillo said the Latino community in Oklahoma City is comparatively young when compared to groups in other large cities like Dallas and has much room to continue its already rapid pace of growth. Eventually, he said, that growth will result in increased representation in local and state government.

Castillo played a role in the development of a Latino leadership program 11 years ago that aims to train younger Latinos to serve on local boards and to run for elected office.

As we have an increase in the Latino community, there is an increase in U.S. citizens (among that community), as well and young people who were born here becoming eligible to vote, Castillo said. It takes time, but were starting to see that evolution occur. We see more kids graduating who were born here.

There is a lot of work to be done, but a big part of it is educating Latinos and giving them information you dont get in school. We take them to the Legislature or the city council meeting. Thats how we open their eyes to start running for offices and getting on committees. Young people are starting to look at things that they can do.  Its so encouraging. Its great to see young Latinos running. I hope to see more of it.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKCPS board has multiple Latino members for 1st time in a decade
WASHINGTON  In addition to articles already covered by Native News Online, here is a roundup of other news released from Washington, D.C. that impacts Indian Country recently.

Legislation Introduced to Assist Tribes Access Tax Programs

On Thursday, U.S. Representatives Gwen Moore (D-WI) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) introduced the Tribal Tax Investment and Reform Act, legislation to ensure tribal governments can access, on an equal basis with state and local governments, tax programs and economic incentives to empower tribal nations to better meet the economic needs of their members and communities.

A key provision in this legislation is the repeal of the essential government function test which has unfairly prevented tribal governments from being able to use tax-exempt government bonds in the same way state and local governments can. These bonds are useful tools for financing important economic development activities such as housing, infrastructure, and public parks.

This legislation also modifies the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to make all tribal areas difficult development area so they automatically qualify for the 30% basis boost  meaning more credits would be available to cover the costs of a housing project in Tribal Nations financed with these tax credits. The Low-Income Tax Credit is our nations best tool for increasing the supply of affordable housing and rental units, but tribal governments face systemic barriers to accessing this credit.

Newly elected NAFOA President Rodney Butler, chariman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. weighed in on the legislation:

"This legislation is a significant step forward for tribal tax parity, and critical to spur business development in Indian Country. Allowing tribes greater access to tax-free bonds and making a much-needed increase in available credit will help create jobs and economic growth. Additional changes in the legislation, such as those to the New Market Tax Credits or General Welfare, will help bring the federal tax code more in line with the treaty obligations of the federal government. NAFOA strongly supports the Tribal Tax and Investment Reform Act introduced by Congresswoman Moore and Congressman Schweikert, and looks forward to working together to ensure its enactment for Indian Country."

NCUIH Recognized the Members of Congress for Their Work in Advancing the Health of Native People

The National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) presented four Congressional Urban Indian Health Champion Awards to Members of Congress for their efforts to advance urban Indian health during its 2024 Annual Conference: Sustaining Traditions: Culture, Identity, Health.

Representative Raul Ruiz, M.D. (D-CA-25), Representative Don Bacon (R-NE-02), Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), were recognized as Members of Congress who have demonstrated outstanding commitment and leadership in advocating for the advancement and improvement of urban Native health and health care.

These individuals have gone above and beyond in their efforts to champion legislation, policies, and initiatives that promote the health, welfare, and rights of urban Native peoples, and have a proven track record of collaboration, bipartisan cooperation, and effectiveness in advancing legislative agendas that address critical issues relating to urban Native health. NCUIH thanks the awardees for their dedication to upholding the federal trust and treaty obligation to provide healthcare services to all American Indian and Alaska Native people, regardless of where they reside.

Native Farm Bill Coalition Statement on Recently Released Farm Bill Summaries

Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Chairman Cole Miller and Intertribal Agriculture Council CEO Kari Jo Lawrence, Co-Chairs of the Native Farm Bill Coalition released the following statement regarding this weeks release of bill summaries by the House Agriculture Committee Republicans and the Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats:

Indian Country is a leading force in American agriculture, with more than 80,000 individual Native producers contributing $6.4 billion to the industry. In many rural communities, Tribes are the main economic drivers of development and infrastructure, requiring Tribally tailored support from USDA. We are excited to see positive momentum in discussions surrounding the next Farm Bill including Tribal-specific provisions in both the House and Senate bill summaries.

We appreciate the bipartisan efforts to ensure that measures which are important to Tribes and Native producers were included in the bill summaries; however, more could be done to address the critical needs of Indian Country in the Farm Bill. We look forward to working with Congress to further strengthen provisions that expand Tribal self-determination and self-governance, prioritize Tribal sovereignty, promote parity, eliminate unnecessary barriers to nutrition assistance programs, and increase access to critical USDA programs.

View a summary of Tribal references in the House and Senate Agriculture Committee summaries.

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  Monday marks 125 years since a schooner sank on Lake Superior, twisting one of the darkest tales in Great Lakes lore.

Thanks to the crew at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, that story, as dark as it may be, lives on.

For most nautical nightmares, a survivor has to deal with the loss of their fellow sailors  their work family. Capt. Andrew Haghney lost not only his work family but his wife and child.

The Nelson, a 199-foot, three-masted schooner, was built in Milwaukee and launched in 1866.

The Sweet House: An inside look at a piece of Grand Rapids history

On May 13, 1899, the A. Folsom departed, towing two schooners loaded with coal, bound for Hancock, Michigan. On one tow line was the Mary B. Mitchell. On the other, the Nelson, complete with Haghney and his crew.

Steamships would tow multiple schooner barges behind them for (economic purposes), so they can take as much coal or iron or whatever they were hauling, Corey Adkins from GLSHS explained to Nexstars WOOD. Sometimes, what would happen during a storm, is that these tow lines would break. The schooner barges then had no power because they didnt have a motor.

Artwork depicting the sinking of the Nelson by Bob McGreevy. (Courtesy GLSHS)

But a rough storm forced the Folsom, Mitchell, and Nelson to change plans. Newspaper reports from the time say conditions off the coast of Grand Marais, Michigan, turned frigid, with winds regularly breaking 40 knots  thats more than 46 mph. The trio turned around to seek refuge in Whitefish Bay, on the northeast side of Michigans Upper Peninsula. But like so many other ships now residing on Lake Superiors eerie lakebed, the Nelson never made it.

Caught without its tow, Haghneys crew was able to get the Nelsons sails up, but the heavy barge was in deep trouble.

New shipwreck discovered in Lake Michigans deep waters

Ice buildup made the wooden ship even heavier, and when the waves caused the Nelsons load of coal to shift, the schooner was doomed.

(Haghney) knew the vessel was in trouble. He had his crew and his wife and daughter on board the Nelson, so he put them all into what they called the yawl back then, but basically it was a lifeboat, Adkins said. He started to launch it and he was going to stay on board and then hop into the lifeboat with them. But a big wave came, and he got thrown into the lake. When he came up, the lifeboat was still attached to the Nelson, and the crew members and his wife and daughter all went down with that ship. The ship just dragged that all right down with it.

Haghney had to watch helplessly as his family and crew were lost among the waves.

Capt. A. E. White, on the A. Folsom, also witnessed the wreck firsthand, albeit from a distance. He told local newspapers that the Nelson sunk rapidly, saying it disappeared as suddenly as one could snuff out a candle.

In an exact contradiction of the famous maritime adage, Capt. Haghney was the only one to not go down with the ship. He managed to cling to a piece of debris and eventually made his way to the nearby Deer Park Life-Saving Station, a precursor to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Although nearly dead from cold and exposure, and with ice forming on his water-soaked clothes, he made his way to this place and is now being cared for, the Grand Rapids Press reported on May 15, 1899.

The Nelsons story is being shared once again now that the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society has found the ship. Its crew found the Nelson in 2014 off the shore of Grand Marais, approximately 200 feet under the lakes surface.

A sonar image of the Nelson at the bottom of Lake Superior near Grand Marais, Michigan. (Courtesy GLSHS)

Underwater footage of the Nelson found by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in 2014. (Courtesy GLSHS)

Underwater footage of the Nelson found by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in 2014. (Courtesy GLSHS)

Underwater footage of the Nelson found by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in 2014. (Courtesy GLSHS)

This is a shipwreck that we have wanted to find for a very long time, GLSHS Director of Marine Operations Darryl Ertel said in a 2014 news release.

The GLSHS uses a side-scan sonar to analyze the lakebed and look for signs of shipwrecks.

We call it mowing the lawn, Adkins said. He just goes back and forth, back and forth and back and forth, searching for stuff. In the past three years, we have found 13 wrecks.  We find it with the sonar and then we go back with our (remotely operated vehicle) and put that ROV down there and see what it is.

The GLSHS follows the basic maps of the older shipping lanes and has an idea of where some of the biggest undiscovered wrecks are, but they still use grid mapping to cover the rest of the lakebed.

The shipping lanes are a little bit different today with the bigger boats, but not that different. Sometimes, during storms, those ships get so blown off (course) that they are not where the historical reports say. We find that, more often than not, that theyre not where they are supposed to be, he said.

Lake Michigan Triangle: The might of the Great Lakes is more powerful than any myth

Adkins said that as fascinating as the hunt can be, the real mission of the GLSHS is to share the stories of the sailors who sacrificed their lives for others.

Its important to our history, he said. Without the coal that they were bringing up to those people in Hancock; they use that for heat, they use that for many other things. Its a part of our history that shouldnt be forgotten.  They were just out doing their jobs and they lost their lives.

The GLSHS will continue to search the Great Lakes for more shipwrecks and to tell more stories. But their search for the Nelson isnt quite over. One thing the crew didnt find in 2014? Its ill-fated yawl.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Sen. Chris Coons said Sunday that the legacy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be to damage the long-standing relationship between the United States and Israel.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week," the Delaware Democrat said of the longtime Israeli leader: "Right now his legacy is the huge, strategic and defensive failure of October 7th and his legacy could be a real gap, a break in the long, strong, bipartisan, strategic relationship between the United States and Israel. I think that would be tragic."

Coons, one of President Joe Biden's closest allies in the Senate, added of Netanyahu: "His legacy could instead be achieving regional security and peace for Israel."

Biden has paused the transfer of certain weapons to Israel to limit the ability of Israel to launch a full-scale attack on Rafah, a Hamas strong point that also has more than 1 million civilians in Gaza.



Coons explained to host Martha Raddatz the needle that Biden is trying to thread there.

"What matters, Martha, is whether the next stage of this conflict against Hamas, which Israel has every right to carry out, allows for civilians to get out of the way of any future attack on Rafah," Coons said. "And thats what President Biden has said now publicly, as well as privately, to our trusted ally, Israel."

The senator also said that Hamas, which continues to launch strikes on Israel, is responsible for the war now under way.

"I do think it bears repeating every time we talk about this, that Hamas started this conflict and Hamas, and their conduct, has largely driven the humanitarian crisis that continues in Gaza," Coons told Raddatz.
North GA man accused of abusing his girlfriends 6-year-old son

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has arrested a north Georgia man and charged him with aggravated assault, family violence, and first-degree cruelty to children.

Alan James Cain, 21, was arrested after the Hart County Sheriffs Office requested the GBI to investigate a child abuse and aggravated assault case.

They accuse Cain of abusing a 6-year-old boy, the son of his girlfriend.

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

Cain was arrested and booked into the Hart County Jail.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
North Korea has sent 6,700 containers of ammunition to Russia since September  South Korea

South Korea estimates that North Korea has supplied Russia with about 6,700 containers of ammunition since September 2023.

Source: South Korea's Defence Minister Shin Won-sik, as cited by the news agency Yonhap

Details: Shin Won-sik estimates that North Korea has shipped around 6,700 containers to Russia since a summit between their leaders in September. That is enough to hold approximately 3 million rounds of 152mm artillery shells or 500,000 rounds of 122mm artillery shells.

Moreover, South Koreas National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it was looking into suspicions concerning supplies of North Korean weapons made in the 1970s to Russia.

The NISs remark came in response to a recent report by a local media outlet that 122mm artillery shells manufactured in the North in the 1970s appeared to be among the weapons that Russia has used in its ongoing war against Kyiv.

"The NIS is analysing the relevant circumstance in detail and also continues to track overall military cooperation between North Korea and Russia," the South Korean intelligence service said.

Background:

Russia has strengthened its cooperation with North Korea since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in 2022. Pyongyang is known to have supplied Russia with artillery ammunition and ballistic missiles which have already been used to attack Ukrainian cities.

At a UN Security Council meeting on 28 March, Russia vetoed a resolution to extend the mandate of the group of experts responsible for monitoring sanctions against North Korea.

The US has stated that the nature of the security threat posed by North Korea may "change drastically" in the next decade as a result of its cooperation with Russia.

The Pentagon said in early April that North Korea continues to supply the Russians with weapons for its war against Ukraine, and the partnership between the two countries is flourishing.

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Northern lights: What causes the colors that we see  and dont see?

(NEXSTAR)  Amid a massive solar storm, Americans as far south as Hawaii, Florida, and Texas have had the chance to see the northern lights. For some, its the first time in nearly two decades that conditions aligned to bring the aurora to their night skies.

If you saw the northern lights  either with your own eyes or with the help of your phone  you may have noticed an array of colors. But what causes the different shades of greens, reds, blues, and purples? Its all about whats hitting our atmosphere, and what its interacting with.

Northern lights are sparked by coronal mass ejections, or explosions of plasma and magnetic material shooting out of the sun, colliding with Earths magnetic field. As those ejections, known as CMEs, smack into our magnetic field, currents send particles flowing to the North and South Poles.

Map: Will you see the northern lights again on Sunday?

Those particles will ultimately interact with the gases in our atmosphere: oxygen and nitrogen. The excess energy created by those interactions, according to NASA, will cause a burst of light which we see as the aurora.

What color we experience depends on which gases are involved and where it happens.

Green northern lights, the most common, occur when particles interact with oxygen between 75 and 110 miles in altitude. If oxygen and nitrogen are excited by the incoming particles at the same altitude, we can see blue aurora, NASA explains.

Slight lower, 60 miles and below, an interaction with nitrogen will cause pink northern lights. Above 120 miles, interactions with oxygen spark red aurora.

The northern lights glow in the sky over St. Croix State Forest near Markville, Minn., late Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Northern lights glow in the sky near Kroschel, Minn., late Friday, May 10, 2024. (Owen Caputo Sullivan via AP)

The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is visible over Ann Arbor, Mich., early Saturday, May, 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)

The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is visible over Ann Arbor, Mich., early Saturday, May, 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)

The Northern lights fill the sky at the Bogus Basin ski resort on Saturday, May 11, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. (Kyle Green (AP Photo/Kyle Green)

A communications tower is silhouetted against the northern lights Saturday, May 11, 2024, near St. Joseph, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

People take photos of the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, as they glow over Lake Washington, in Renton, Wash., on Friday evening, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are visible over Lake Washington, in Renton, Wash., on Friday evening, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

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. 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. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

The northern lights flare in the sky over a farmhouse, late Friday, May 10, 2024, in Brunswick, Maine. 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. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Like mixing paint, when these colors blend, you may see purples, whites, and other shades of pink.

Our eyes arent always able to see the shimmering northern lights, even though we know theyre out there. However, your phones camera (as long as its newer) may capture it because they are often more sensitive than our eyes, Michael Bettwy, operations chief of NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center, said last week.

Solar storm 2024: What should you do to prepare?

You may not be able to see it with your naked eye, but if you have a clear night with not that many clouds, and you put your phone to the sky, you may actually get an image or two, Bettwy said.

Visit Iceland (where northern lights are visible more frequently) recommends adjusting your phones settings to get the best shots. Look for something like night mode or another way to lengthen the cameras exposure to help capture more light. Using a tripod can also help keep your hands steady.

Alix Martichoux contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Northern Lights could be visible Mother's Day, but skies could turn overcast later tonight

The northern lights can be seen outside the National Weather Service Milwaukee Office in Sullivan.

Wisconsin has been able to experience the Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, the last two evenings.

According to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, the geomagnetic storm could be visible again on Sunday, Mother's Day 2024, but it's also expected to be overcast later this evening.

Particles from a coronal mass ejection arrived over Earth this weekend, causing this geomagnetic storm. Several more intense coronal mass ejections are still anticipated to reach the Earth's outer atmosphere later Sunday, and could be visible over much of the northern half of the country.

In the Milwaukee area, the Sunday forecast calls for mostly sunny skies most of the day, but a storm and scattered showers are expected to roll in around 4 p.m. that could result in cloud coverage, making it more difficult to witness the northern lights.

"We've got a front slowly making its way through tonight. And so that's going to leave a chance for clouds, lingering clouds really through the night," said NWS meteorologist Denny VanCleave.

"I don't think it's going to necessarily be overcast, so there might be some holes here and there. But a clear horizon to the north all night, I'd say is not anticipated."

To monitor the aurora forecast, you can use the NOAA aurora forecast tool, which has a 30-minute forecast window. There's also a tool on the Milwaukee Astronomical Society website at www.milwaukeeastro.org.

On the tool, you'll see the Northern Lights prediction for 35 minutes ahead. You'll have good odds of seeing the Northern Lights if the color over Wisconsin is yellow, orange or even red.

Here are some tips on how to see the Northern Lights:

Here are some viewing tips from Gene Hanson, observatory director for the Milwaukee Astronomical Society:

Head North: The Northern Lights get their name for a reason. Hanson says the aurora is bigger and more vibrant the farther north you go. Even 60 miles north can make a tremendous difference, Hanson says.

Look for the horizon: The northern horizon, that is. Hanson says that you want the most unobstructed view to the north that you can find. Again, theyre called the northern lights for a reason. The more north you can see, the more of the lights you could see.

Move away from the light: Light pollution is often the reason you cant see stars when youre in the city. So, get out and away from the city. Rural areas are best, and Hanson says that anywhere you can see the stars well will work, but the darker the better.

Where to view the night sky in Wisconsin:

Here's a list of places in Wisconsin that could offer some of the best views of the night sky:

Alex Groth contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Northern Lights could be visible Sunday night in Wisconsin
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is one of America's lesser-known privately owned makers of military hardware -- even though it makes everything from ground vehicles to airplanes to spacecraft. It's not a large company. According to our good friends at S&P Global Market Intelligence, SNC has only about 5,000 employees, only a few more than work for drone-maker Kratos Defense & Security, and just a tiny fraction of the workers at aerospace giant Boeing (NYSE: BA).

And yet last month SNC beat out Boeing to win a contract to build the "Doomsday" airplanes that protect U.S. presidents and defense secretaries in time of war.

Image source: Getty Images.

Doomsday -- but in a good way

SNC's new Air Force contract hires the defense company to supply four new aircraft to replace USAF's existing fleet of E-4B Nightwatch Advanced Airborne Command Posts (AACP) by July 2036. And that's just to start with. The contract, valued at $13.1 billion, could more than double in size if the Air Force follows through on its plans to eventually buy between eight and 10 of the planes over time.

While Sierra Nevada is itself a defense manufacturer, it's likely to buy commercial airplanes from another manufacturer -- maybe even Boeing itself -- and then heavily modify them to perform their Doomsday functions, hardening them against electromagnetic pulses for example, installing advanced sensors and communications gear, and utilizing other technology.

What it means for Boeing

Boeing itself may end up serving as a mere subcontractor on SNC's contract, after being eliminated from the AACP competition in December. As Reuters reported last year, Boeing refused to agree to a fixed-price contract to build the airplanes. That's understandable, seeing as Boeing has reported losses of $16.3 billion on fixed-price contracts it signed with the Pentagon over the past decade. But it's probably still a disappointment for the company's shareholders.

According to CFO Brian West, Boeing has decided to pass on future defense contracts when winning them would require it to commit to fixed prices. On the plus side, that's probably a good policy if winning these contracts would entail losses for Boeing.

On the other hand, it seems almost certain to mean Boeing's status as a major defense contractor is going to decline over time.

What it means for SNC

But what does this contract mean for SNC and its future as a defense contractor?

As I pointed out last year, SNC recently raised $290 million in private investment for its space company subsidiary Sierra Space. The valuation on that capital raise implied that SNC's space division alone is now worth more than $5 billion -- making it one of the biggest space unicorn stocks on the planet. It also laid the groundwork for what could be a fabulously successful initial public offering, if Sierra Space succeeds in launching its Dream Chaser spaceplane to the International Space Station later this year, and SNC then follows through on its plans to IPO the subsidiary in 2025.

Story continues

All of that, however, was before Sierra Space's parent company landed one of the biggest defense contracts in recent memory, and beat out one of the nation's biggest defense contractors in the process. Now I kind of have to wonder if Sierra Nevada Corporation should be considering an initial public offering!

Mind you, to date there's been no indication whatsoever that SNC's husband-and-wife owners, Fatih and Eren Ozmen (respectively the CEO and chairwoman of the company) are interested in selling, or in sharing ownership with a bunch of individual investors. But the thought must be crossing their minds right about now.

In 2022, SNC was reported to have annual revenue of $2.2 billion. The AACP contract, by adding $13.1 billion across 12 years, probably raises that annual revenue number by nearly 50% -- a big jump that would be guaranteed to attract interest in any IPO they might contemplate.

If SNC's owners are interested in doing an IPO, all I can say is that the iron is looking awfully hot at this point. If they're going to "strike," then now's the time to do it -- while excitement over the AACP contract is high, and before anyone gets around to wondering: If Boeing didn't think it could earn a profit on this contract, what's the chance that SNC might end up losing money on it as well?

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  After last nights incredible light show, the Northern Lights are likely to be visible in Florida on Saturday night as well.

WFLAs Meteorologist Eric Stone said the amazing sight can be viewed again in the Sunshine State tonight but under certain conditions.

Northern lights forecast: Auroras could be seen as far south as Alabama, NOAA says

The Northern Lights are expected to be visible from the hours of 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. and in areas with little light pollution. Stone recommends looking at the sky from the beach, in rural areas, or any place free from city and street lights.

Tonight, clear skies are in our favor, giving Tampa Bay area residents more of a possibility for visibility.

Many Americans are also viewing the light show with their phones. Viewing it may be difficult with just the naked eye, but newer phone cameras can possibly catch it, since they are more sensitive to light.

You may be surprised when you look at that image later, operations chief of SWPC Michael Bettwy said. You may not be able to see it with your naked eye, but if you have a clear night with not that many clouds, and you put your phone to the sky, you may actually get an image or two,

Northern Lights reach Florida during solar storm

On Friday night, people across the United States got a glimpse of the lights, which were caused by a massive solar storm, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A G4 geomagnetic storm watch was issued Thursday by NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center, giving most Americans a high likelihood of seeing the aurora.

The images below were captured on Friday, May 10.

(Credit: Chase Nawrocki)

Fridays Northern Lights captured in OFallon Illinois (Credt: Caleb Edney)

(Credit: Chase Nawrocki)

Fridays Northern Lights captured in OFallon Illinois (Credt: Caleb Edney)

Fridays Northern Lights captured in OFallon Illinois (Credt: Caleb Edney)

The Northern lights fill the sky at the Bogus Basin ski resort on Saturday, May 11, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. (Kyle Green (AP Photo/Kyle Green)

(Credit: Chase Nawrocki)

11 May 2024, Kochel: Northern lights sparkle in the night sky over Lake Kochel in Bavaria. Photo: Matthias Balk/dpa (Photo by Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images)

This very rare phenomenon will be more visible in midwestern states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Missouri.

Planning on capturing the lights tonight? Report It! Send in videos, photos and other information here. https://www.wfla.com/reportit/

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
Northern lights put on dazzling show across Eastern WA and Tri-Cities night sky

The northern lights colored the Tri-Cities sky Friday night with a spectacular light show.

The clear warm night drew thousands out into the darkness hoping to see the often elusive dancing display.

It didnt disappoint.

The explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the suns corona painted not just the horizon but much of sky for a few hours.

Aurora borealis as seen from Badger Mountain in Richland, Wash., on May 10.

Hundreds of Tri-City Herald readers shared their photos and videos on Facebook of the dazzling exhibit that began about 10:30 p.m.

They captured shots with friends, family and even their cars.

Northern lights display in Tri-Cities, Wash. on May 10.

Traffic was heavy on some rural highways as people tried to get away from the city lights for a better look.

On Hanford Route 10 north of Richland at the nuclear site cars stopped and lined both sides of the road.

Other people headed to the Horse Heaven Hills, Jump Off Joe Butte, west of Burbank and the Connell area to get away from city lights. Some climbed Badger and Candy mountains for a good view of the northern sky.

But many managed to see a beautiful sky from their backyards and city parks.

Tamra Harrison shared this photo of the lights from Horn Rapids in Richland, Wash.

The Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration issued a rare Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Friday night.

It was the first G4 watch it had issued since 2005.

NOAA officials had said there was a chance that the aurora borealis could be seen over the northern half of the United States and possibly as far south as Northern California.

Reader LeeAnn Howes shared this photo of the lights.

There was a possibility that some northern lights could be seen through the weekend, they said.

(S)torming of varying intensity could persist through at least Sunday, said NOAA.

Many people were posting on social media after catching Fridays display that they planned to watch for the northern lights again on Saturday night.

The northern lights are the results of coronal mass ejections that cause geomagnetic storms as they arrive at Earth.

The northern lights as seen from east Kennewick on May 10.

Melody Camp shared this photo of the lights from Prosser on Friday night.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  The short answer is, for Saturday evening, no. However, there is hope if you want to get up at 4 a.m. Sunday and take a look outside.

The updated forecast from NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center has said that we may reach G5 status again (like Friday night) between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. But remember, sunrise is at 5:43 a.m., so the closer to 4 a.m. you can get outside, the better.

Many Middle Tennesseans looked up at the sky Friday night to find a nice and unusual sight: A view of the Northern Lights. If you missed out on that, the Midstate will have another shot at viewing this phenomenon this weekend.

The science behind Northern Lights in Middle Tennessee & prediction for next showing

Many WKRN viewers sent in some great photos of the Northern Lights Friday night. Click here to see a gallery of these pictures.

Friday night, the intensity of the geomagnetic storm reached an incredible G5, which is the highest category on the Space Weather Prediction Centers (SWPC) geomagnetic intensity scale.

However, the chance of this on Saturday night is not as favorable as Friday night.

Cant see the northern lights? Try using your phone camera

After Friday nights peak intensity of G5, the storm has been G4 on the intensity scale during the evening hours through midnight Saturday. The storm is forecast to reach the G5 intensity level as we move towards daybreak hours between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. Sunday. This intensification could allow for the chance to see this rare phenomenon in Middle Tennessee once again.

Even if we do not get another view of the Northern Lights Saturday evening, this storm is one for the record books and will be remembered as one of the strongest to impact the United States. The last time a G5 storm occurred anywhere on the globe was over 20 years ago in October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.

Currently, no serious problems have been reported from Fridays G5 storm, which is very impressive considering the K-Scale values reached by this storm. This is another index used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which ranges from 0 to 9 and measures disturbances in Earths magnetic field. The value of Fridays storm peaked at the top of the K-Scale with a value of 9.

Views of the Northern Lights from around the US

Thankfully, no major power grid problems have been reported as a result of Fridays storm and the only noticeable effect from the storm has been beautiful views of the Northern Lights in many areas of the South that usually cannot see them.

If you do happen to take pictures of the Northern Lights on Saturday night or Sunday morning, feel free to send them to pix@wkrn.com.

Dont forget to take the power and reliability of the WKRN Weather Authority with you at all times by downloading the News 2 Storm Tracker app.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.


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As much as we love all of the conveniences of shopping online, theres something nicenostalgic, evenabout visiting a brick-and-mortar and being able to experience the furniture before buying it. Feeling the texture of a jute area rug, leaning back against the cushions of a L-shape sectional, and testing the efficacy of blackout shades with your phones built-in flashlight are opportunities the Internet cant offer. Weve been begging former online-only marketplaces for a physical store, and it seems one of them has finally listened. Thats right; Wayfair will open a giant outpost in a major U.S. cityget all the details below.

Where Is the Store?

The first Wayfair store will span 150,000 square feet in a shopping center about 30 minutes outside downtown Chicago. If you live in Illinois, you may be familiar with Edens Plaza in the suburban enclave of Wilmette, which already plays host to Bed, Bath & Beyond.

When Does It Open?

The highly anticipated store will open on May 23, 2024. Its complete with what the brand is calling a Dream Center, where you can test out the myriad mattresses; a Market Square, complete with textiles, decor, and small accessories; a design studio for free decorating advice; and a Porch, the clever name of Wayfairs cafe.

What Does the Wayfair Store Sell?

You can buy anything youd snag online in the store as well. Of course, the transparent amount of stuff will be limited, considering just how much inventory is available online, but the store will sell thousands of pieces you can buy right off the floor. If you like something but want it in a different color, the associates will be able to order it for you and either ship it to your home for free or to the store for pickup.

What Are the Deals Like?

Much like any physical store, there will be sales on sales, so be prepared to shop for things you didnt even know you needed because the savings will be that good. Because the store hasnt yet opened, the exact sales and discounts havent been released, but we know theyll be impressive. In the meantime, feel free to browse our current favorite finds on Wayfair right online.

Round Adirondack Side Table

Shop Now Round Adirondack Side Table wayfair.com $69.99

Manervia Upholstered Bed

Shop Now Manervia Upholstered Bed wayfair.com $414.99

Haileyville Arched Floor Lamp

Shop Now Haileyville Arched Floor Lamp wayfair.com $51.99

Grassland Jute Area Rug

Shop Now Grassland Jute Area Rug wayfair.com $307.95

Jolita Floating Desk

Shop Now Jolita Floating Desk wayfair.com $174.99

Sheep Dreams Memory Foam Mattress

Shop Now Sheep Dreams Memory Foam Mattress wayfair.com $659.99

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NYC mom demands justice after girl, 11, slashed by maniac career criminal and left showered in blood

Shaquan Cummings, 30, 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, authorities said.

An 11-year-old girl slashed in the head by an apparently homeless maniac was left showered in blood by the attack and is lucky to be alive, her mother fumed to The Post  while demanding the career criminal who hurt her be put behind bars.

I was thinking, Oh my God! She is going to die right now,  recalled Malgorzata Sladek, referring to her daughter, Maxi Park.

Her lips were blue. She was losing color.

The cut was so big, the mother of two added.

An 11-year-old girl slashed in the head by an apparently homeless maniac was left showered in blood by the attack and is lucky to be alive, her mother fumed to The Post. Courtesy of Malgorzata Sladek

Shaquan Cummings, 30, 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, authorities said.

Her clothes, her jacket was covered in blood. It looked like you poured red water on her, like she was showered in blood.

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, authorities said.

I turned around and saw her hair on the sidewalk, said Sladek, Her head was sliced from top to bottom. Blood was pouring out of her head. I was in shock.

The child required multiple stitches and staples to fix the gash and was doing a little better Saturday while still recovering in the hospital, her mom said. Doctors wont know if further procedures are needed to repair the wound until the bandages are removed, Sladek said.

Cummings, 30, allegedly preyed on the girl outside the 116th Street 6 subway station Friday and fled underground, moments after hes accused of sucker punching an unsuspecting 43-year-old woman around the corner, according to sources.

Bitch, get the fk out of my way, Cummings allegedly told the woman, prosecutors said at his Saturday arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.

The attack on Maxi, which left the girl with a seven-inch gash on the left side of her head, was caught on video and the box cutter was found near the scene, according to prosecutors.

Sladek tried to chase down Cummings, even hailing a conductor to stop a train from departing, but he managed to get away.

Cops ultimately tracked him down a block away.

Cummings allegedly preyed on the girl outside the 116th Street 6 subway station Friday and fled underground, moments after hes accused of sucker punching an unsuspecting 43-year-old woman around the corner. Timothy Fadek

The suspect was then cornered by a raging mob of Harlem locals seeking street justice, forcing a group of NYPD officers to protect him, video showed.

In the clip, a man appears to poke him with a cane as the alleged assailant cowers behind cops.

Manhattan Judge Laurie Peterson ordered Cummings, who lives in the Jerome Avenue Mens Shelter, held without bail Saturday. Hes facing a minimum of 12 years in prison as a persistent violent felon, prosecutors said.

The suspect has health issues, claimed his lawyer, Seann Riley.

Cummings rap sheet covers more than 20 arrests for assault, criminal mischief and fare evasion, sources said.

Hes been convicted twice for violent felony crimes  including in 2019 for first-degree attempted assault  and has five misdemeanor convictions, according to prosecutors

My daughter could have been dead  not with me anymore, said Sladek, who also has a 9-year-old son.

The suspect was then cornered by a raging mob of Harlem locals seeking street justice, forcing a group of NYPD officers to protect him, video showed. Citizen

Why is this person walking the streets of New York? They need to change the laws.

Residents who live near the Norwood shelter said its occupants notoriously harass people, but some pegged Cummings as among the more well-behaved temporary tenants.

All of them, one day they are normal, the other they are acting up, but I never see him acting up, said one Norwood resident.

I feel really bad  slashing women, slashing children. Thats big. I thought he was one of the best ones over there.

[The shelter residents] harass women. They attack people, especially if they beg you for money and you dont give them, another resident added.

I live around here and thats the worst thing they could have put there. Its not safe. They can go off at any time.

Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya
City of Odessa Water Distribution employees work through the night as they attempt to repair a broken water main on June 14, 2022. Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune

ODESSA  An outage left tens of thousands of residents without running water on Saturday afternoon after crews could not isolate a leak that city leaders say began earlier in the week.

Water also stopped flowing for county residents outside the city limits, a majority of whom rely on Odessas water plant as well, Mayor Javier Joven said.

The city shut off its entire water supply Saturday at 6:50 p.m. and issued a public notice roughly two hours later. By then, many people on social media said they went the day without running water. The city said it did not announce the outage earlier because some households still had water trickling out of the faucets, albeit on very low pressure.

On Sunday, the city announced that a boil water notice remained in effect and was expected to lift after 10 a.m. Monday. The announcement said that bacterial water samples must be incubated for 24 hours and had not been taken until Sunday morning, when crews flushed the water lines.

The outage is the latest in a yearslong race to keep up with the 700 miles of rapidly aging and deteriorating water infrastructure in Odessa. At the center of the Permian Basins oil patches and one of its fastest-growing cities, Odessa is struggling to adapt to an increasing demand for water and other city services. In 2022, a water line break left the city without water to drink, wash, or flush toilets amid a summer heatwave.

[Everything you need to know about Texas beleaguered water systems]

City leaders said Saturday that they expected to restore water service by midnight.

Joven expects similar water line breaks in the coming months because of years of neglect. Odessas utilities director last April warned that if the infrastructure was left unattended, the system could experience catastrophic failures, the Odessa American reported.

More breaks are going to happen, Joven said Saturday night.

City Manager John Beckmeyer said crews discovered a leaking valve on a main line on Tuesday but decided to wait before fixing the leak to avoid interruptions in service during the work week. At the time, officials told the public they believed the leak and the repair would be isolated. In the days that followed, water streamed down busy 42nd Street as maintenance crews attempted to release excess water pressure.

On Saturday, repair crews determined they would have to remove the valve and replace it, forcing them to shut off the water supply at the source.

City leaders said they will address the outage during the upcoming city council meeting on Tuesday, where they plan to confirm the amount of water the city and its residents lost  and how much it cost them.

The water line break caused disruptions throughout the county. Restaurants closed their doors due to the lack of water while others used their reserves. Residents flocked to supermarkets to purchase bottled water to make due.

Its one of those things where were always on high alert, said Alejandro Barrientos, owner of Curb Side Bistro, a local restaurant. Barrientos said he and his staff had been monitoring the water pressure on Friday. When the city issued its first notice on Saturday, the restaurant's staff turned to its backup water reserves.

You use that and pray you have enough to get through your shift, he said.

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.
Ohio flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of slain police officer

Ohio flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of slain police officer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered flags on government buildings in Columbus and in Cuyahoga County to fly at half-staff in memory of a police officer killed in the line of duty.

DeWine ordered U.S. and Ohio flags on all public buildings and grounds in Cuyahoga County and at the Ohio Statehouse, Vern Riffe Center, and Rhodes State Office Tower to fly at half-staff starting Sunday in memory of Euclid police officer Jacob Derbin.

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According to Euclid police, officers were dispatched to a home for a disturbance around 9:56 p.m. Saturday. While police were investigating, a gunman ambushed Derbin, shooting and killing the 23-year-old officer.

Derbin was a military veteran and a police officer with less than two years on the job.

Police said the suspect was found dead Sunday night.

Flags will fly at half-staff until sunset on the day of Derbins funeral, the arrangements of which have not been publically made available as of Sunday afternoon.

Other public buildings and grounds throughout Ohio may also fly their flags at half-staff at their discretion.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
One airlifted in critical condition, another injured in Provo Canyon crash

PROVO, Utah (ABC4)  One person was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition and another hospitalized in stable condition after a crash in Provo Canyon Saturday afternoon, according to Utah Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred at around 5 p.m. on U.S. 189 in Provo Canyon. Two vehicles  a Mercedes and a Kia Optima  were travelling down the canyon in the southbound lanes, according to Trooper Silva, UHP.

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The driver of the Mercedes reportedly switched lanes, crashing into the Kia and causing the vehicles to exit the road.

Of the five people inside the Mercedes, two were injured. One of those people, a woman aged 60-70 years old, was airlifted to the hospital via Life Flight.

The second injured person, a male aged 60-70 years old, was taken to the hospital via ground ambulance in stable condition.

There were two people inside the Kia who were uninjured in the crash.

The right southbound lane of U.S. 189 in Provo Canyon will be closed for the next 30 minutes, Trooper Silva said.

No further information is available at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM)  One man was injured and one man was arrested after an incident at an Elmira Byrne Dairy early on Sunday morning.

According to the Elmira Police Department, Russell Bodine, 45, of Southport, was arrested after police investigated a disturbance at the Byrne Dairy located at 528 Pennsylvania Ave. Police say they responded to the location at about 1:10 a.m. on May 12 and found one male victim with several lacerations on his head and face.

After police secured the location, paramedics from Erway Ambulance were able to enter the area and treat the victim, who has not been publicly named. The man was then taken to a local hospital to receive additional treatment for his non-life-threatening injuries.

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Bodine was charged with first-degree assault, a class B felony. His charges were read in the Elmira City Court, and he was taken to the Chemung County Jail.

The Elmira Police Department is investigating this incident, and the department says that it will not be releasing any further information to the public. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the EPD at 607-737-5626 or 607-271-HALT. Anonymous tips can also be submitted online through this form.

The Chemung County Sheriffs Office, the New York State Police Department, the Elmira Fire Department, and Erway Ambulance assisted the Elmira Police Department with this investigation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WETM - MyTwinTiers.com.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY)  Operation Blessing has deployed to Brazil to assist with a major flooding disaster.

Officials from the organization have categorized the situation in Brazil as the perfect recipe for a major humanitarian disaster.

The country is faced with massive flooding, contaminated water, the threat of mosquito-borne illnesses and homes that are submerged in water.

Operation Blessings International Disaster Relief team has been in some of the worlds worst flooding disasters, and what we are seeing right now in Brazil is among the most dire, said Jorge Pratts, deployment manager. Yesterday we assessed the flooding by boat and in one town, only the rooftops of multi-story buildings are seen above the water. Residents are still stranded, especially those with mobility issues. The water is heavily contaminated, there are mosquitoes with Dengue and Zika, and a lot more rain is in the forecast. The scope of this disaster is massive.

The team from Operation Blessing has worked with local partners to set up three Kitchens capable of feeding 6,000 people per day. Additionally, they are preparing hygiene kits and cleaning supplies for resident that have been evacuated from their homes.

To donate to the relief efforts visit www.ob.org/disaster-relief.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
 Flash

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.
(NEXSTAR)  Over the last decade, the total number of homeowners in the U.S. has increased year after year, particularly in Texas.

According to the Census Bureau, Texas had the largest growth in population last year by adding 473,453 people  an increase of 1.6% in population. In total, Texas has the second-largest population out of any state with just under 31 million people.

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But of those new people making Texas their home, one age group, in particular, has really taken a liking to the Lone Star State: millennials.

In a recent study done by MoneyGeek, they were able to pinpoint where people across the country have been buying homes the most from 2012-2022. In their research, they discovered that adults ages 25-44  the demographic that largely corresponds with the millennial generation  have purchased more homes in multiple Texas cities than anywhere else in the country.

Six cities in total landed in the top 10 with the highest growth of homeowners for people ages 25-44: Austin, McKinney, Midland, College Station, Odessa, and Temple. Lubbock finished just outside the top 10 at No. 11.

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Of the cities listed, Temple and Odessa finished on top by a large margin, with Temple seeing the largest growth in the country: a 75% growth in millennial homeowners. Odessa wasnt far behind with 70% growth, 12% more than third-place Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Heres how the top 10 list for growth of homeowners aged 25-44 from MoneyGeek shook out:

Temple, Texas: 75% Odessa, Texas: 70% Murfreesboro, Tennessee: 58% College Station, Texas: 56% Midland, Texas: 53% McKinney, Texas: 52% Hillsboro, Oregon: 51% Bellingham, Washington: 47% Austin, Texas: 44% North Charleston, South Carolina: 44%

Currently, the average home price for a home in Texas is $304,027 which is up 0.6% from last year, according to Zillow.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  The Oregon Zoos newest Humboldt penguin chick is learning to spread her flippers and hit the pool.

Opalo, who hatched in late March, has spent the past month and a half in her nest, growing feathers and preparing for this very moment, according to Travis Koons, who oversees the zoos penguin area.

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She couldnt wait to get in the water, he said. Before long shell be much faster in the water than she is on land.

The zoo adds that, although Opalo is nearly as tall as her parents, she is still easy to spot. Mostly due to her gray plumage which is distinctive to young Humboldts.

Furthermore, Opalos name  which is Spanish for opal- was inspired by the national stone of Peru, whose coast the Humboldt penguin calls home.

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However, Humboldts are considered the most at risk of all 17 penguin species, currently labeled as vulnerable, with an estimated population of 32,000 adult birds and declining.

The Oregon Zoo has been breeding Humboldt penguins since the 1980s to combat their population decline and Opalo is the 194th Humboldt to hatch at the zoo.

The zoo is currently home to 20 Humboldt penguins, with two more eggs incubating.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
With Oscar Pistorius released on parole after serving nine years for murdering Reeva Steenkamp, her family still want answers

On May 12, the CNN series How it Really Happened will explore the life of Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Paralympic and Olympic sprinter who was convicted in the murder of his girlfriend, South African model Reeva Steenkamp, more than a decade ago.

Known as the Blade Runner for his carbon-fiber prosthetics, Pistorius was once heralded as an inspirational figure

At the 2012 London Games, he became the first Paralympian to compete at an Olympics and during his successful track career won eight Paralympic medals, six of them gold. He was in his athletic prime when, on February 14, 2013, he killed Steenkamp.

If you take the celebrity of LeBron James and you combined it with the appeal of Leonardo DiCaprio, that was what Oscar Pistorius was, said Scott Roder, a crime scene reconstruction expert who worked on the case, in CNNs documentary, hosted by Jesse L. Martin.

The documentary features footage from the court in Pretoria, South Africa, during Pistoriuss 2013 murder trial and 2023 parole hearing and original interviews with Steenkamps mother, modeling agent and family attorney.

CNN's documentary examines the details leading to Reeva Steenkamps murder - Rikki Hibbert Photography/Courtesy of Stimulii

Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his house. In a trial that garnered global attention, he denied killing her in a fit of anger and instead said he had mistaken her for an intruder.

He pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder and a firearms charge associated with Steenkamps killing.

He was initially convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison before that conviction was overturned and upgraded to murder, increasing his sentence to six years. In 2017, his sentence was increased to 13 years and five months by South Africas Supreme Court of Appeal.

The documentary examines the details leading to Steenkamps murder  including disagreements between the couple shared over WhatsApp and the athletes obsession with firearms, though his motives remain unknown to this day.

Why would he kill her? Why did he do it? Steenkamps mother, June, asked in the documentary.

She called Pistorius version of events absolute rubbish and lies and spoke candidly about the pain she felt on that night in 2013. She recalled the moment she was told that her daughter had died, describing it as the worst day of my life.

I was hysterical, she said. I just wanted to die myself, honestly. I didnt want to live without her.

The documentary sheds light on the whirlwind romance between the couple and the life of Steenkamp, described by her mother as a blessing, a gift from God. Very clever, and she was always laughing.

She would have done amazing things, said Tania Koen, CEO of the Reeva Steenkamp Foundation. And she was so kind and passionate and compassionate. The world was a better place with Reeva in it.

Pistorius, now 37 years old, was released on parole on January 5 this year. A parole board granted his petition in November on the grounds that he had served half of his 13-year sentence for murdering Steenkamp, making him eligible according to South African law.

He has kept a low profile since his release, but the conditions of his parole include restrictions on his movements, mandatory classes on gender-based violence, anger management therapy, no alcohol and hes not allowed to speak to the media.

Steenkamps mother has been vocal in her criticism of his release and expressed her concern for the safety of other women.

At this time, I am not convinced that Oscar has been rehabilitated, she said in a victim impact statement in November 2023.

Rehabilitation requires someone to engage honestly with the full truth of his crime and the consequences thereof. Nobody can claim to have remorse if they are not able to engage fully with the truth.

If someone does not show remorse, they cannot be considered to be rehabilitated. If they are not rehabilitated, their risk of recidivism is high.

Oscar Pistorius: The Bladerunner airs on CNN on Sunday, May 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Once again the county commission wants to study the problem. That is, its Small/Minority/Women Business Enterprise program. This is, and always has been, a delay tactic to do nothing.

The problem is, white business owners do not want minority businesses to get any piece of the county contracts, even though Blacks contribute to taxes that pay them.

The county MUST fix this problem. The problem is, 92% of white business owners refuse to share.

Palm Beach County's seven county commissioners, clockwise from top left: Michael Barnett, Marci Woodward, Sara Baxter, Mack Bernard, Gregg Weiss, Maria Sachs, Maria Marino.

I opened a printing business in 1987. I ran the business for 10 years. There were only two black-owned printing businesses in the entire county. There was one in West Palm Beach and mine in Boca Raton. I went through the process to become a certified minority contractor but in 10 years never got a contract with the county. The answer was, We have our own printing shop. So, I asked, Do you ever have overflow requirements?" "Not really," I was told, "but we will consider you if we do. So, I went to the Tourist Development Council agencies, primarily, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, with their hundreds of brochures. Again I was told, We will call you if we have anything.

A Palm Beach Post editorial: DEI is key to higher education. The University of Florida must bring back those programs

I went to the school district. Printing is handled by the individual schools. Really? What about all the district-wide tests, instructions, policies, etc.? "We have our own print shop." So, I went to the schools. Luckily two principals felt sorry for me and gave me some work. I was grateful. What I could not understand was how I could receive two federal contracts from the Navy in Tennessee and Virginia and nothing from the county.

In 1990, after the case Richmond Virginia v. J.A. Croson Co. went to the Supreme Court to determine if minority businesses could get a piece of the pie with set-asides, whites cried foul. That is, reverse discrimination." It is so funny that some whites cannot see discrimination until they feel threatened. After that, Palm Beach County did a disparity study, seeking to increase minority participation in county business. I sat on the task force and listened to the arguments of why not: Reverse discrimination, they said. "NO quotas, NO set-asides, they said. That would be unfair. Let them compete like we have to.

Another view: Diversity programs don't work. They don't help college retention or graduation rates.

One day, I asked a critical question of the task force head. How much are Blacks getting now? The answer was 2.364%.That obviously did not include my business. So I said, that means non-Blacks, and primarily whites, are getting 97.654% of all county contracts. So, I asked the real question: How much do you want? How much would be the right amount for white-owned businesses to get? Silence! The answer is, you will not be happy until you have it all. I got up and left the room.

So now, 34 years later, the county wants to do another disparity study. We know it will come back with the same. And notice, Blacks are still at 2% participation.

As Tonya Davis Johnson, Director of the office of Equal Business Opportunity said, white contractors are refusing to award work to businesses certified by her office. Thats the problem. Whites and white-owned contractors, do not want to do business with Black-owned businesses. Whites want it all! Thats what greed looks like in this Free state of Florida.

More: West Palm Beach to spend up to $300,000 studying women and minority business assistance

The only lingering question for the county administration and commissioners is, what are you going to do about the fact that whites refuse to comply with your ordinances? Why do you keep awarding contracts to owners who do not comply with county rules?

I have an answer, if you want it. Other cities have solved this problem. I am from Atlanta, where Mayor Maynard Jackson dealt with this in the 70s to great success. Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, now the busiest airport in the world, had 30% Black-owned businesses participating in its construction and operations. He made it a mandate if any company wanted to do business with the county.

Where there is the will to do the right thing for all citizens, there is always a way.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County fails to enforce minority contracting rules
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP)  A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to two life terms in the shooting and stabbing deaths of her father and his longtime girlfriend 2 1/2 years ago in New Jersey.

Sherry Lee Heffernan, 57, of Landenberg, Pennsylvania was convicted in March of murder and weapons offenses in the deaths of her father, John Enders, 87, and Francoise Pitoy, 75, Enders longtime live-in girlfriend. Both were shot and stabbed repeatedly in Enders Long Beach Island home in the fall of 2021.

The Asbury Park Press reports that Heffernan stood calmly Friday as an Ocean County judge imposed the pair of consecutive life prison sentences. Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill said the crime was committed with extreme depravity and ordered her to serve 63 years, nine months without possibility of parole for each murder.

Minutes earlier, Heffernan had sobbed as she professed her innocence and called the victims priceless people she would forever miss.

I really wish I was the one who was killed, that I was the one who died, she said tearfully in a courtroom packed with relatives and friends of both victims.   Its horrible to lose people you love and then be blamed for it.

New Jersey authorities alleged that Heffernan was upset with her father because she had been cut out of his will, and she traveled to the home in her recreational vehicle on the night of Sept. 29, 2021.

Michael Weatherstone, chief trial attorney with the county prosecutors office, alleged that the defendant stabbed the victims as they slept, shot both not to kill but to inflict more suffering, then put her father in a chair and kept stabbing him while looking him in the eye. Enders was stabbed a total of 51 times and Pitoy 39 times, authorities said.

Prosecutors cited evidence tracking the vehicle and Heffernans cellphone along that route and footprints found in the home. Defense attorneys Steven Altman and Phil Nettl argued there was no evidence that Heffernan was in the vehicle.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
Residents of Vovchansk are evacuated from the city en masse due to the threat of a reoccupation of the city.

Source: Radio Liberty

Details: Radio Liberty emphasises that the city is being bombarded "continuously" by Russian troops.

During the evacuation, an FPV drone fell near rescue workers and journalists.

Quote: "People in Vovchansk are already under Russian occupation, and they don't want it

They are attempting to flee not only because of the bombardment, but also because they are afraid of being under occupation."

Previously: Emergency workers rescued two men from the rubble left behind by a Russian strike in Vovchansk on the morning of 12 May. A woman was killed in the attack.

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Russias renewed offensive in Ukraine represents a moment of great peril for the beleaguered nation. With the worlds diplomatic and political preoccupation more directed at Israels incursion in Gaza, Moscow has taken the opportunity to open a major front in a strategically important salient around Kharkiv.

This is designed to stretch Ukraines undermanned and outgunned forces which have been waiting for help from the West while Russia spent the winter rearming. The assault on villages in the north-east of Ukraine was the most significant in the area since the initial invasion was repelled. The Russian military unleashed a barrage of artillery and airstrikes in the early hours of Friday morning and fierce fighting raged into the weekend along a 45-mile strip of the frontier.

Ukraine has deployed reserves to reinforce their positions and stop Russia obtaining a foothold from which its forces can strike more easily into the rest of Donbas, but this leaves other parts of the front line vulnerable.

The offensive marks a significant new phase in the conflict. Despite promises to continue supporting Ukraine whatever it takes, western governments have been dilatory in their assistance. The Americans, the biggest supplier, held up an agreement to increase spending for weeks while the Europeans failed to step into the breach this caused.

Volodymyr Zelensky had been warning for some time that his country was facing a perilous moment and this might be it. Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said the situation in north east Ukraine was extremely dangerous, a point likely to be reinforced by Rishi Sunak in a major speech today on the worsening international situation.

Some analysts doubt Russia yet has the capacity for a full scale assault and there is no sign of entire brigades being mobilised. Nonetheless, the Russians are clearly intent on striking before the promised extra military hardware arrives. The new attacks follow the installation of Vladimir Putin for a fifth term as president, belying all predictions that his invasion would lead to his removal from power.

Meanwhile, Nato troops were in Estonia taking part in Exercise Steadfast Defender, the blocs biggest military exercise since the Cold War. The Baltic state, with a large Russian speaking population, fears it is next in the firing line. Should Ukraine fall, it may well be.

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.
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4)  A TRAX train was derailed in West Valley City on Sunday afternoon, causing the final car to collide with a power pole, according to the Utah Transit Authority.

UTA initially posted on social media to alert riders of the situation, saying, Expect significant delays on the Green Line between West Valley Central and Decker Lake Station due to severe mechanical issues.

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Less than an hour after the original post alerted riders of the issues, the UTA cited a rail issue, as the cause for major delays, and informed riders that Decker Lake Station would not be receiving service at that time.

Carl Arky, a spokesperson for UTA told ABC4.com that the TRAX derailment happened just before 2 p.m., in the vicinity of 3100 South and Decker Lake Boulevard.

A TRAX train is seen off the tracks after an incident on the afternoon of May 12, 2024. (Courtesy: Tim Pulley)

A TRAX train is seen off the tracks after an incident on the afternoon of May 12, 2024. (Courtesy: Tim Pulley)

A TRAX train is seen off the tracks after an incident on the afternoon of May 12, 2024. (Courtesy: Tim Pulley)

A TRAX train is seen off the tracks after an incident on the afternoon of May 12, 2024. (Courtesy: Tim Pulley)

As of yet, we dont know exactly what happened, Arky said. Its an investigation thats underway right now.

Arky said the four-car Green Line train was traveling southbound and was turning a corner. The first three cars made it around the corner, but the last car derailed and struck a power pole, according to Arky.

Arky said the incident caused substantial damage, but there have been no injuries reported as of yet. There were about 16 people on the train, and Arky said he believes most of them may have been in the first three cars.

No one was taken to the hospital after the incident, and Arky said the UTA is hoping to clear the car off the tracks with the help of a crane later on Sunday.

The hope is, is that we can reestablish service through this area tomorrow, but were not sure if that will be the case just yet, Arky said.

Drivers are being asked to avoid the area of 3100 South and Decker Lake Boulevard. Arky said service cannot resume until the power is restored.

Its not a common occurrence, Arky said of TRAX derailments.

Arky encouraged riders to check the Transit app and UTA accounts on social media for further updates if they typically rely on the affected TRAX route.

The UTA said a van bridge and a bus bridge had been activated between River Trail and West Valley Central while the derailment is being investigated and addressed.

A TRAX train is seen off the tracks after an incident on the afternoon of May 12, 2024. (KTVX/Jose Tabares)

A TRAX train is seen off the tracks after an incident on the afternoon of May 12, 2024. (KTVX/Jose Tabares)

A TRAX train is seen off the tracks after an incident on the afternoon of May 12, 2024. (KTVX/Jose Tabares)

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Will the money run out? Young Americans and boomers butt heads over future reforms to Social Security

Concerns about the future of Social Security have long been a major political issue in the United States, but a generational divide is now emerging that could impact the future of one of the country's most popular government programs.

A new survey from Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek shows younger and older Americans are deeply divided over the future of the retirement benefits program, with millennials and Gen Zers far more likely to support major reforms than baby boomers. This desire for change is driven by young people's fears that benefits won't be there for them.

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"In general, millennials and plurals  our name for Gen Z  are skeptical that Social Security benefits as robust as those retirees like me currently enjoy will be available to them when they retire," Morley Winograd, author of three books on the millennial generation, told Newsweek.

Here's what the survey shows, along with some harsh truths about the reality of Social Security's future.

Younger generations call for changes to program

Social Security is an earned benefit, as workers contribute to it through payroll taxes over their career. Once they reach retirement age, they can claim those benefits.

However, 4-in-10 Americans are concerned because they believe the program is now paying out more money to retirees than it's collecting in taxes. Millennials are the most likely to have these fears, with 52% reporting they believe more money is going out than coming in, compared with 39% of Gen Zers, a quarter of Gen Xers, and 39% of boomers.

Those worries over Social Security's finances are now prompting widespread calls for change, with 63% of Americans either agreeing or strongly agreeing that Social Security reforms are necessary compared to just 10% who either disagree or strongly disagree.

The desire for reform isn't shared equally among all generations, though. Millennials and Gen Zers are far more likely to want modifications compared with boomers. In fact, while just 56% of boomers think change would be appropriate, 76% of millennials and 69% of GenXers aren't content sticking with the status quo.

Story continues

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Will Social Security provide a secure retirement?

While most experts agree younger Americans are justified in asking for changes to the Social Security program  finding a consensus on what form those changes should take is proving difficult.

"Unless policymakers fix Social Security's finances in the next 10 years, millions of retirees and people with disabilities would plunge into poverty," Richard Johnson, director of the Program on Retirement Policy at the Urban Institute, told Newsweek.

And as it turns out, the 40% of Americans who believe it's paying out more than it collects are correct. The most recent report prepared by Social Security's trustees revealed the cost for retirement and disability benefits exceeded the program's income by $41.4 billion in 2023.

The same report found that Social Security is currently running at a deficit and things are only expected to get worse. The cost of the program is expected to grow faster than the country's GDP through 2030 due to a combination of an aging population and persistently low birth rates.

Currently, the gap between the income coming in and benefits going out is being covered using Social Security's trust fund, or cash reserves. However, the retirement benefits trust fund is expected to be depleted by 2033. If a law change allowed Social Security's retirement and disability trust funds to be combined, solvency could be extended to 2034.

Why there's no simple solution

By law, Social Security cannot borrow like other government agencies can. If the trust fund runs out it could pay benefits only from money it's collecting. That would mean retirees would face around a 23% benefits cut as Social Security would collect only enough to pay out 77% of promised benefits.

Such a substantial cut would be difficult for retirees to absorb, especially as Social Security only replaces around 40% of pre-retirement income. That generally isn't enough to live on without supplemental funds and the shortfall will only grow if benefit cuts hit.

With the average 401(k) balance coming in at just $30,017 for Americans age 25 to 34 and $76,354 for those ages 35 to 44, according to Vanguard's 2023 How America Saves report, many young people are ill-prepared to provide the additional money they'll need if Social Security falls short.

Sadly, this group "would have the largest gap to cover in terms of lost revenue in retirement," as Ida Rademacher, vice president at the Aspen Institute and co-executive director of the Aspen Financial Security Program, told Newsweek.

Regardless of Social Security's uncertain future, current and future retirees of all ages should take steps to shore up their finances so their retirement security doesn't depend on the political headwinds that could shape any Social Security reforms coming down the pipeline.

Saving consistently, maintaining an appropriate investment mix, and living below your means are good ways to build security for your later years.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Mishawaka Police, St. Joseph County Police, South Bend Police and Indiana State Police responded May 11, 2024, to reports of a fight and shots fired at University Park Mall in Mishawaka.

MISHAWAKA  Police are currently evacuating University Park Mall after a fight that broke out inside that reportedly resulted in someone firing a gun.

Mishawaka Police Assistant Chief Dan Gebo said police have found no victim or anyone with any injuries, but they are clearing the mall store by store, evacuating bystanders and looking for any victim or suspect.

"Right now, I don't have a person that got shot," Gebo said. "We're trying to clear out the mall store by store and push these people out of there. Most likely the mall will be shut down for the evening.

"I have no victim. We're looking for the suspect. If anyone knows who the suspect is, please call the police department or dispatch. Right now, we're just trying to get everyone out and the mall cleared."

Dispatch is reachable at 911 and Mishawaka Police Department at 574-258-1678.

Mishawaka police had set up outside the JC Penney entrance to the mall and were being assisted by South Bend police and Indiana State troopers.

Mall spokesman Christian Carlson declined to comment Saturday night, saying all communication was being deferred to Mishawaka police for the ongoing investigation.

The Cirque Italia's Water Circus Gold Unit is performing in the mall parking lot, and that 7:30 p.m. show has continued. Workers declined to talk to a reporter, as people were still buying tickets and entering the show.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Shots fired at mall in northern Indiana
NEW YORK  Police took numerous pro-Palestinian protesters into custody on the Manhattan Bridge Saturday afternoon as they trekked from Brooklyn to Manhattan, blocking traffic, police said.

The protesters met in front of the Barclays Center about 2 p.m. before splitting up into groups, with one group marching northwest to the bridge, according to demonstrators.

More than 100 protesters took over the bridge, blocking traffic on the upper-level west-bound lanes as they marched towards Manhattan, according to New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry and police.

Birds-eye footage that Daughtry posted on X showed officers intercepting the protesters, then taking several into custody.

More than an inconvenience, this is a public safety hazard, Daughtry wrote in the post. The NYPD will always protect freedom of speech and protest, but we will not stand for lawlessness!

Police could not immediately confirm how many people were taken into custody.

Protester Nas Issa, 26, said the Saturday rally was held to commemorate the 76th anniversary of "Nakba," the annual observation of mass Palestinian displacement during the 1948 establishment of Israel.

What we are seeing is history repeating itself with the destruction of homes, the mass displacement of people, the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians, she said, And so thats why we called this march for today, both to honor the Nakba but also to call for an end to the ongoing genocide.

Last year, the U.N. General Assembly requested that the anniversary of the Nakba be commemorated on May 15, for the first time in history.
EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (PIX11)  There is an active investigation into the fatal shooting of a man by NYPD officers in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, according to police.

According to NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, it all began at around 1 a.m. when two public safety officers and a sergeant were patrolling the area, and as they got closer to the intersection of Church Avenue and East 52nd Street. They saw a man pointing a gun at another man. Officers approached the gunman, and he attempted to run away.

James Ogle Is picking up the pieces from the shattered entrance glass door of his karate school. It was in front of his martial arts center that police shot and killed a man who they say was armed and had a gun pointing at another man.

Earn reward for tips: How does Crime Stoppers work in New York?

Bullets came in through the gates that were down, smashing the door, and one entered the wall over there, said Ogle.

The officers exit the vehicle. As they approached, the male with the gun started to run eastbound on church at the officers, the sergeant yelled gun! The officers gave commands for the male to drop the gun. said Maddrey.

According to authorities, the suspect did not obey and tried to flee the scene.

As he went to the street, one of the officers discharged their Taser. Taser momentarily, momentarily stunned the male, added Maddrey.

Police said the individual managed to get back up and was still holding the gun in his hand, and that is when they opened fire.

It was a lot, like one after another, one after another, said a worried mother who lives just steps away from where the gunman was taken down.

More Brooklyn News

It has been going on a lot of shootings around here. Everything is getting worse; violence is getting worse, she added.

Officials said first responders performed live-saving measures on the man. He was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital. A gun was recovered at the scene.

About an hour and a half after this incident occurred, another male walked into a local hospital with a grazed wound. Part of the investigation is to determine if he was involved in the shooting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (PIX11)  Police fatally shot a man in East Flatbush in the early hours of Sunday, according to the NYPD.

The shooting happened around 1:18 a.m. near 52nd Street and Church Avenue, according to Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. Police say the male was armed with a gun.

Gun fired inside Manhattan subway station, suspect in custody: NYPD

Two police officers and a sergeant were on patrol when they found a male pointing a gun at another person, according to Maddrey. The officers approached the two and the person with the gun started to run away, Maddrey said.

The officers told him to drop the gun and eventually tased him, Maddrey said. After more commands to drop the gun police fired their weapons, bringing him to the ground, according to Maddrey.

The male was rushed to an area hospital where he later died, Maddrey said.

Another man showed up to a local hospital saying he had a graze wound from near the shooting, according to Maddrey.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.

Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered local news for years. She has been with PIX11 since 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Police investigating after driver crashes into Bentley University building

Police are investigating after a driver crashed into a Bentley University administration building before running off early Saturday morning.

Waltham police say a vehicle drove into a Bentley administrative building on Beaver Street around 1:26 a.m.

Police say there was no one in the building at the time of the accident and the driver fled on foot.

There were no reported injuries.

Waltham PD is continuing to investigate the incident.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Police search for gunman after argument leads to deadly shooting on South Side

Police search for gunman after argument leads to deadly shooting on South Side

CHICAGO  Police are searching for answers on Saturday after a man was fatally shot during an early-morning argument outside of a popular 24-hour restaurant on Chicagos South Side.

According to Chicago police, the deadly shooting unfolded around 4:30 a.m. in the 7400 block of South State Street, in Greater Grand Crossing, near Maxwell Street Polish.

Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines

Officers say the victim, a 30-year-old man, got into an argument with another person in the area and the dispute eventually turned physical. Amid the altercation, the person pulled out a gun and shot the vicitm in the chest.

The person responsible then fled the scene, heading northbound, in an SUV.

The victim was later pronounced dead.

Chicago police were not able to provide a description of the individual responsible and no arrests have been made.

An investigation into the deadly shooting is now underway.

LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

Anyone with information that could help authorities in their search is asked to contact CPD Area One detectives at 312-747-8380 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.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  The Bakersfield Police Department is asking to community to help locate an at-risk, missing girl.

Koria Taylor,14, was last seen in the 6000 block of Chicory Drive on May 10. Police say Taylor went missing around 11 a.m., and is considered at risk due to this being a first time disappearance.

Geomagnetic storm produces northern lights in Bakersfield

Police describe Taylor as 5 feet tall, weighing 110 pounds. She was last seen wearing grey sweats and a sweatshirt at the time of her disappearance. She has red braided hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information regarding Taylors whereabouts is encouraged to contact the

Bakersfield Police Department, at 661-327-7111.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17.
For more on Rep. Jamaal Bowmans reelection race, watch Inside Politics with Manu Raju Sunday at 8 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET.

The war in Gaza is reverberating all the way through north Bronx and Westchester County, defining the most competitive primary an incumbent House Democrat is facing anywhere in the country.

Thats where Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who got to Washington four years ago by winning a primary against one of Israels then-most adamant defenders in Congress, is now facing a major challenger of his own, driven in part because of criticism of Israel that opponents say has put Squad-aligned politics ahead of what his district wants.

Bowman became a central figure in taking on Israel from the first days after October 7, almost immediately supporting a resolution calling for a ceasefire that made no mention of Hamas or the return of Israeli hostages. By December, he was standing with hunger strikers outside the White House, upping his criticism of the actions in Gaza. He has called Israel an apartheid state, and in a video that surfaced of him speaking at a demonstration in November, said it was propaganda and a lie that Hamas raped Israeli women in the October 7 attacks, though he later attempted to clean up that remark. (A United Nations report in March found convincing evidence that Hamas raped hostages.)

Hes gone far enough out that even the left-leaning Israel advocacy group J Street withdrew its endorsement of Bowman in January, complaining that he had crossed a line in putting the blame for the conflict too much on Israel and not on Hamas.

Now even many of Bowmans fellow New York Democrats in Congress say privately they doubt he will win  but more than that, when asked by CNN, several pointedly refused to say that they want Bowman to win, or that they would support him as the race enters its final month ahead of the June 25 primary.

While Bowman says antisemitism is abhorrent and that his criticism is targeted at the way Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is conducting a war he believes could constitute genocide, in some parts of his district, his response to October 7 is top of mind. Even Bowman supporters acknowledge he was already in deep trouble holding on to his seat by October 6.

With national and international politics mixing into the race  and the situation only becoming more fraught as President Joe Biden distances himself from Netanyahu and a likely mass casualty invasion of Rafah looms  several leading Democratic operatives in Washington groaned at the mention of Bowmans name, upset that the situation has come to this.

Shelley Mayer, a state senator whose district largely overlaps with the congressional district, initially backed Bowman. Bowmans response to the Hamas attack convinced her to switch to endorse Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

New York state Sen. Shelley Mayer at a state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in April 2023, in Albany. - Hans Pennink/AP/File

I believe that effective representation requires developing a bridge of trust and respect for all your constituents, even when there are disagreements, Mayer told CNN. After October 7, it was extremely evident that our congressman had failed to develop that relationship with almost every part of our large Jewish community, and I could not accept that.

Both personally as a Jew and as an elected official, Mayer added, I knew we deserved better.

Bowmans response to the war crystallizes larger problems, including pulling a fire alarm in a House office building last fall and public shouting matches with Republican colleagues, who say he has gotten caught up in Squad-style politics.

Its a reaction, though, that has made him so identified with the opposition to Israel that, within the space of three minutes last week on Capitol Hill, Bowman was first pressed by a Fox News reporter to call people who broke into university buildings domestic terrorists (Do better, he scolded), and then praised by a young protester with a keffiyeh wrapped around her shoulders as one of the few members who gives her hope.

Bowman said he knows people have called him anti-Israel because of moments like these, but, what they dont understand is us being critical of an ally, makes our allies stronger and safer in the long term.

If we are not critical in a healthy way, it leads to the cycle of violence that were in right now, he added, telling CNN, Its not criticism for criticisms sake, its about how do we govern from the perspective of human rights and diplomacy and justice and  a free Palestine?

Weve been talking about a two-state solution for how long, man, wheres the Palestinian state? Bowman asked. Lets do the work.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, left, speaks alongside, Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Jonathan Jackson and Cori Bush during a vigil with state legislators and faith leaders outside the White House in November. - Nathan Howard/AP/File

Bowmans mixed history on Israel support

Bowman voted for Iron Dome funding in 2021 and took a trip to Israel once in office, which led to the Democratic Socialists of Americas New York chapter to consider expelling him, and the congressman in frustration let his membership lapse.

The group did not return a request for comment on whether members would support him this time.

Bowman is also supporting Biden for reelection, in contrast to Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who ducked the question and walked away last week when asked by CNN whether she would vote for him. But the congresswoman, a Palestinian American who is arguably the most publicly identified Israel opponent in Washington, has formed a joint fundraising committee with Bowman to support him.

Explaining how his response to the Israel-Hamas war fits his district, Bowman cited a poll conducted by his campaign that he claimed showed an overwhelming majority in his district support a permanent ceasefire.

Bowman has proudly been critical of Netanyahus handling of the war, noting that his home states senior senator, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, has also called for new Israeli elections down the line.

The people of the district do not want taxpayer money and weapons going to Israel to continue to bomb children and support famine in Gaza, Bowman said. They want that money to come to their community so they can afford child care and health care and workforce development and all those things.

Bowman argued that while hes more interested in talking about guns, education and climate justice, Israel is being made into a major issue in this race because the super PAC of the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee is planning to spend millions against him  and that much of its money comes from MAGA Republican donors who he says are trying to destroy democracy.

Its a district issue because many Jews in the district care about the issue, and theres a large percentage of Jewish people in the district, he said. Its a local issue to other people because people are tired of being in war and theyre tired of watching US dollars go overseas to whatever country, and US weapons go overseas to kill Black and brown vulnerable people, mostly.

Some Bowman allies have warned Democrats that progressive voters would be deflated headed into November by seeing the incumbent New Yorker lose in a primary.

President Biden needs Jamaal Bowman voters more than he needs George Latimer voters, said Usamah Andrabi, the communications director for the Squad-supportive Justice Democrats, which is also spending money to support the incumbent.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer in White Plains, New York, on December 12, 2023. - Jeenah Moon/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Bowmans challenger says Israel support is important but not the point

Bowman and Latimer are two very different men who have both spent their lives in a district that has some of the steepest contrasts of any in the country, from inner city to suburbia, from people on food stamps to people picking out tile patterns for their third and fourth homes. Bowman is 48, Black, lives in Yonkers and was a middle school principal before he made his first run for office four years ago to unseat an incumbent who had been representing the area since Jimmy Carter was president. Latimer is 70, white, lives in Rye and has spent 35 years moving up in local politics from city council to the state legislature to Westchester County executive.

Most of Bowmans endorsements are from other members of the so-called Squad and from House Democratic leaders such as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is from Brooklyn, rather than from local elected officials in his district.

But among his supporters is Kevin Riley, a city councilman from the Bronx, who said he has never spoken with Latimer, but that on local issues, Bowman has been a great partner.

In the northeast Bronx, Riley said, Israel doesnt come up much with voters. That its showing up in other parts of the district is another demonstration of how disparate the constituents are.

It shouldnt be, he said, but a lot of times when youre running for office, it does seem like it happens.

Latimer insists hes not running against Bowman so much as he is running against Bowmans approach to being in the House, promising that his pitch is not Im going down there to lead a movement, or Im going to be speaking truth to power on behalf of an identity or demographic.

Asked about how October 7 and the aftermath have influenced his candidacy, Latimer said it was a factor but quickly redirected the conversation to flooding concerns in Westchester, which he said he hoped to address in a House bill.

Latimer entered the race in December, but he said that local leaders had been encouraging him to run for a year and that hed been in touch with AIPAC since the summer. He blames Bowman for making Israel a big factor in the race, both through his own actions and by invoking AIPAC as the reason why he has a primary.

Latimer would not directly answer when asked about Bowmans accusation that he is fine with Netanyahu staying in power, or about specifics on policy related to the conflict, while pointing out that he believes in the two-state solution that Netanyahu does not, and that he finds many of the prime ministers domestic policies disagreeable.

For every member to give their opinion as if they were the secretary of state  I think Biden should have done this, I heard about this, and I dont think he should do that  I dont think thats productive, Latimer said. You need to have a president who pursues a policy that includes the ability to both reward and punish and use those as part of a negotiating strategy that is not seen by the world until youve come to some agreement.

Running in his first race, Bowman also criticized his opponent for spending too much time talking about foreign policy at the expense of district issues. But in his interview last week, Bowman did not hesitate. He said he wanted to be clear that Israel has a right to exist, that it looks that way to me when asked whether he believes Israel has committed war crimes, and that Israels actions have increased antisemitism.

It hurts our fight against antisemitism, because Israel claims to be the state for all Jewish people and people who perceive it from the outside looking in say, What the hell is going on here? Israels bad, which means Jewish people are bad, Bowman said. Thats what we need to fight against.

Speaking to CNN on her drive home after leaving a gala at her synagogue in Scarsdale, longtime state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin said in her fairly liberal community, it was notable how many people lined up to meet Latimer, who is Catholic, likening it to a worshipping of a hero.

As for the race, I dont know if its a referendum on Israel, but I do know that the Jewish community  whether theyre Reform, Conservative, Orthodox or Reconstructionist  are unified about the importance of Israel to the Jewish community, Paulin said, and Jamaal has no understanding of that.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman speaks during a news conference calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, on November 13, 2023, in Washington, DC. - Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/File

Arguing about AIPACs influence

Latimer hasnt made any secret of the support hes getting from AIPAC. He spoke at the groups donor conference in Washington in January. He has an online portal through the group to raise money.

But AIPAC is far from the only group spending and activating in the district. The Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) has endorsed Latimer and is expecting to spend to boost him. A local group, Westchester Unites: Jewish Voters in Action, says it is spending six figures directly reaching out to thousands of Jewish voters and will amplify that with direct mail, digital ads, field organizers and grassroots events. The National Black Empowerment Action Fund is pledging six figures to mobilize Black voters against Bowman. AIPAC and DMFI are expected to be by far the biggest spenders.

Officials involved say much of their spending will be to attack Bowman for issues that have nothing to do with Israel, such as like his vote against the bipartisan infrastructure act  which some of the congressmans defenders argue is itself a measure of how unpopular support for Israel is.

AIPAC affiliated super PAC United Democracy Project spokesman Patrick Dorton would not specify how much money the group plans to spend in the race, though he noted its many large Democratic donors are interested in defeating the congressman.

Wednesday afternoon outside the Capitol, Bowman ran into Jeremy Ben-Ami, the executive director of J Street, the left-leaning pro-Israel group. They greeted each other with a friendly hug, despite the dropped endorsement.

A few minutes later, Ben-Ami downplayed any greater significance for the outcome.

The Republican donors who fund the AIPAC super PAC are really excited to drive a wedge into the Democratic Party over this issue, Ben-Ami told CNN. The majority of Democrats in the House, Democrats in the voting public, theyre aligned with J Street. And thats going to be the majority position in the Democratic Party.

Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former Democratic majority leader who is an ally of AIPAC, brushed aside the group targeting some fellow Democrats.

AIPAC, it does what it does, he said. But Im for our incumbents.

While not mentioning Bowman specifically or calling out any members by name, Hoyer said some of his colleagues rhetoric has given him pause.

I regret that there are members who really are in effect, I think, reflecting the views of Hamas, which are to kill Jews and eliminate Israel, Hoyer said.

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When Texas Gov. George W. Bush was running for president in 2000, one of the threads that tied his campaign together was the promise to "restore honor and dignity to the White House."

The feel-good line, which occasionally subbed "decency" for "dignity," was invoked repeatedly by the candidate, his father, who had been president; his brother who was then-governor of Florida; and his nephew who would later enter politics. It was intended as much as a compliment to George W. Bush as it was a none-too-subtle dig at the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that dominated headlines in the final three years of Bill Clinton's presidency.

By the time the 2000 presidential campaign was in full swing, Clinton had been accused of having an extramarital affair with a White House intern who was 27 years his junior. Then he lied about having the affair. Then he admitted he lied about having the affair. Then he was impeached for lying under oath about having the affair. And then he was acquitted in a Senate trial after only 55 senators voted to send Clinton packing, well short of the 67 votes needed to oust him.

Along the way, the public heard lurid details of the intern's stained blue dress and graphic descriptions of no fewer than seven clandestine sexual encounters between the president and his subordinate spelled out in the explicit report by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

President George W. Bush campaigned on "honor and dignity," but it remains to be seen whether such an approach will help in this year's presidential race.

And through it all, many Americans fretted over what their children were hearing each night on the news. CBS News in August 1998 aired a segment called "Explaining Monicagate to Kids" and quoted parents, and some children, about how uncomfortable they were with what was called "all-Monica-all-the-time programming," in reference to the intern.

"I'm embarrassed. I really don't think my children should know stuff like this," one mother said in the report. Another added, "Frankly, I don't let them watch the news."

More: 'Oh my god': Stormy Daniels testifies on spanking Trump, his gold tweezers, and silky PJs

All of this made the "honor and dignity" message from the Bush campaign against Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, all those years ago especially salient. As much as Bush was selling himself as a successful Texas governor and a "compassionate conservative," he was implicitly promising Americans that they need not worry that his presidency would come with a tawdry sideshow that must be shielded from the eyes of impressionable youths.

Last week's testimony from one-time adult film actor Stormy Daniels in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump might be conjuring up a sense of deja vu for some Americans old enough to remember the Clinton soap opera. The Trump jury heard salacious and even embarrassing details, which were later carried by all of the national news outlets, about Daniels' version of the 2006 encounter when she was in her late 20s and Trump was 60. It's important to note that Trump has denied he and Daniels had sexual relations.

But missing from this narrative is the "what about the children?!" angst that was a running subtext of the Clinton scandal. Perhaps because the "children" of the last years of the 20th century are the parents of the kids today and Clinton was not the only subject of a political sex scandal during their formative years, none of this surprises the current generation of voters.

Or maybe it's because the thrice-married Trump's reputation as a less-than-faithful husband was well-known long before he ran for office. Even the vulgar audio in the now-infamous "Access Hollywood" tape did not derail Trump's 2016 presidential run, though it did put the candidate on the defensive for a news cycle or two.

More: Monica Lewinsky overcame excruciating shame and pain. Now, shes a voice for anti-bullying.

Trump's four years in the White House were mercurial, to say the least, whether through some of his late-night social media posts or his private-remarks-made-public in which he disparaged Third World countries in profane terms and personally criticized some of his fellow heads of state.

Just as Bush promised a restoration of dignity if he were elected in 2000, so did Joe Biden  20 years later  in his presidential campaign against Trump. In fact, Biden sometimes used almost the exact phraseology as Bush and his family did. If the outcomes of both elections are any barometer, the message resonated with enough voters to make a difference.

It's probably a safe bet that Biden will again play the "honor and dignity" card against Trump as the 2024 campaign barrels toward November. But whether that carries the same heft as it has in the past remains uncertain. The bar for shocking our sensibilities seems much higher now than it was a just a quarter-century ago.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How sex, honor and dignity factor into presidential elections
(PORTLAND TRIBUNE)  A Black Portlander was one of the most heroic and iconic figures in World War II.

Robert Deiz overcame prejudice to become a Tuskegee Airman, a member of the famed all-Black US Air Force fighter squadron. He fought in Europe, achieving the remarkable feat of shooting down two German aircraft on consecutive days.

Perhaps even more remarkable, he also modeled for the famous Keep us flying! war bonds poster that capitalized on the squadrons unexpected and historic popularity to raise funds for the war effort.

Roberts brother Carl was also a Tuskegee Airman, although he never saw combat after a vision problem was discovered during training. But Carl was also a part of history after WWII as the husband of Mercedes Deiz, the first Black woman admitted to the Oregon State Bar and the first woman of color to become an Oregon judge.

Making history by fighting in World War II

As the Second World War got underway, two opposing, powerful forces crashed together in an historic conflict. These were national racial segregation and the urgent need for skilled, intelligent manpower. In the end, reason and common sense prevailed. Our nation availed itself of the talents of multi-racial, multi-national and multi-cultural men and women. But it did not come easily. In the war years leading up to President Harry Trumans integration of the American armed services on July 26, 1948. by Executive Order 9981, bigotry, ignorance and racism put up a heck of a fight.

Prior to the WWII, not a single Black aviator flew for the US military, even though many had already earned a civilian pilots license. Despite mounting public pressure to do so, it was only in 1939 when public funds were designated for such military training. And then it was only earmarked for private air instruction. Finally, in March, 1941 still some months prior to the United States entering World War II  an all-Black group was organized at Chanute Field, Illinois. It was the 99th Pursuit Squadron and was transferred to Tuskegee, Alabama. But it had no pilots to train.

Read more at PortlandTribune.com

The Portland Tribune and its parent company Pamplin Media Group are KOIN 6 News media partners

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad (KLSE:MRDIY) will pay a dividend of MYR0.01 on the 21st of June. The dividend yield is 1.8% based on this payment, which is a little bit low compared to the other companies in the industry.

View our latest analysis for Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad

Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings

While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. Prior to this announcement, Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This means that a large portion of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 36.1%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 22%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad's Dividend Has Lacked Consistency

The track record isn't the longest, but we are already seeing a bit of instability in the payments. The dividend has gone from an annual total of MYR0.0195 in 2020 to the most recent total annual payment of MYR0.032. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 13% a year over that time. Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad has grown distributions at a rapid rate despite cutting the dividend at least once in the past. Companies that cut once often cut again, so we would be cautious about buying this stock solely for the dividend income.

The Dividend Has Limited Growth Potential

Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad's earnings per share has shrunk at 80% a year over the past five years. A sharp decline in earnings per share is not great from from a dividend perspective. Even conservative payout ratios can come under pressure if earnings fall far enough. It's not all bad news though, as the earnings are predicted to rise over the next 12 months - we would just be a bit cautious until this becomes a long term trend.

Our Thoughts On Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad's Dividend

Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. In the past, the payments have been unstable, but over the short term the dividend could be reliable, with the company generating enough cash to cover it. We would be a touch cautious of relying on this stock primarily for the dividend income.

Story continues

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Mr D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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.
Potential VP pick joins Trump on flight to raucous Jersey Shore rally after he nixed another hopeful

Donald Trump struck deep into blue territory on Saturday as he rallied in Wildwood, New Jersey alongside the latest Republican to be featured in his Survivor-esque search for a running mate: Doug Burgum.

The former president and the governor of North Dakota spoke to thousands of fans in a state that will almost inevitably be won by the incumbent Democratic president, Joe Biden, in the fall. New Jersey has not been won by a Republican at the presidential level since 1988.

At the Trump rally, Burgum lavished compliments on his former primary rival, and urged undecided voters to back the presumptive Republican nominee after an estimated 80,000 supporters had gathered on the beach in front of the Jersey Shore resort towns ferris wheel.

You can help them make that choice, for your undecided friends, its very simple: Donald Trump means strength, Joe Biden means weakness. Donald Trump means law and order, Joe Biden is lawfare. Donald Trump creates jobs, Joe Bidens policies kill jobs, said Gov. Burgum, who had flown to the event with Mr Trump.

If youve got friends that like inflation, regulation, crime, wars, sham political trials and open borders, if you want more of that you can get four more years of Joe Biden.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum speaks at Donald Trumps campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey on Saturday 11 May (Getty Images)

Mr Burgum is the latest mid- to high-profile Republican to be whispered about as a possible contender for being Donald Trumps running mate.

His ascendancy in the field of possible choices for that position comes as Trump himself put an end to rumours that he was considering another Republican who, like Burgum, ran against him in 2024: Nikki Haley.

Ahead of the rally on Saturday, Mr Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, to nix a report that Nikki Haley was among the contenders to be his 2024 running mate.

Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well! he wrote.

Mr Burgum ended his own presidential run in December, before voting began weeks later. Mr Trump himself stoked speculation that Burgum would be his pick as he took the stage on Saturday.

You wont find anybody better than this gentleman in terms of his knowledge, said the former president. To Burgum, he said: Get ready for something, okay, just get ready.

The former presidents rally in New Jersey comes as he is spending more time in neighbouring New York, where his criminal trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels continues this week.

In Wildwood on Saturday, the Trump rally was raucous, and at times turned nasty.

Mr Trump derided President Biden as a total moron, and at one point led the crowd in a chant of s***! in a callback to the words, everything [Democrats] touch turns into...

He also took aim at Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney leading his criminal prosecution in New York, labeling him Fat Alvin.

Trump just told North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to "get ready" for "something" pic.twitter.com/xiKFmfPBLz  johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) May 11, 2024

Saturdays event was by far the largest campaign rally the former president has hosted so far in the 2024 cycle, according to his campaign team.

A spokesperson for the city of Wildwood also told the Associated Press that she estimated between 80,000-100,000 attendees in total. Mr Trumps ability to pull a crowd this size in a blue state like New Jersey represents a warning shot across the bow of the Biden campaign.

Another guest at the Trump rally was New Jersey Democrat-turned-Republican congressman, Jeff Van Drew.

Mr Van Drew played up his exit from the Democratic Party to rallygoers, telling them that the party no longer represented the values it did in decades past.

I know Democrats, lets face it, he said. That Democratic Party does not represent the Democratic Party of our parents.
President Biden addresses Israel-Hamas War during campaign event in the Puget Sound

President Joe Biden addressed the Israel-Hamas War as he finished his campaign events in the Puget Sound.

The president wrapped up his last fundraising event in Medina Saturday afternoon after he had kicked off his trip in downtown Seattle Friday.

President Bidens first event was held at the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seattle where pro-Palestine supporters lined the streets with many calling for a ceasefire.

During his campaign reception Saturday afternoon, the President reportedly attended the home of a former Microsoft CEO on Lake Washington where he shared remarks on the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Before I begin, let me answer a question related to the hostages. I keep getting asked by the press and all the other folks out there. You know, 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, the president added.

I guess I shouldnt get into all this about Israel, he added.

Following his campaign event, KIRO 7 News saw the presidential motorcade travel to SeaTac International Airport.

#BREAKING: President Joe Biden is leaving a campaign reception in Medina, WA and is scheduled to fly out of SeaTac this afternoon. @KIRO7Seattle pic.twitter.com/SFnvCj16ci  Louie Tran (@louie_tran) May 11, 2024

Families gathered at the intersection of Northeast 24th Street and 92nd Avenue Northeast in Medina as the presidents motorcade, surrounded by police officers, passed through.

Very surreal that we have the president in a residential area. Its pretty crazy actually. I cant fathom it, said Hodam Brylle, a neighbor.

It was amazing. I have never seen this, said Rakesh Garg, a neighbor.

Gargs daughter said, I cannot believe the president just casually drove past my bedroom window. That is crazy.

President Joe Biden departed SeaTac International Airport around 2 p.m. to travel to Delaware.

A spokesperson for SeaTac International Airport said the airfield was on freeze for about 26 minutes when the president arrived on Air Force One, meaning no vehicle or plane in the airfield was moving.

Officials said the presidents departure did not significantly impact passengers flights.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN)  Pro-Palestine protesters gathered at UNC Saturday afternoon hours before graduation.

CBS 17s Amalia Roy said people began to gather at 11 a.m. Saturday. Around 12:15 p.m., tents began to appear. Our crew saw just under 100 people at the protest.

(Amalia Roy/CBS 17)

(Amalia Roy/CBS 17)

(Amalia Roy/CBS 17)

(Amalia Roy/CBS 17)

On Saturday, by 3:10 p.m., crews began cleaning up the paint. Some of the protesters left the area.

For two weeks, protesters have gathered on campus at Polk Place to protest the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas. At least 36 people were detained and 30 were cited for trespassing.

36 protesters detained at UNCs Polk Place as police clear out encampment

Following the protests, UNC announced changes to graduation guidelines. Graduates must present their UNC One Card to enter Kenan Stadium.

UNC Chapel Hill changes graduation guidelines amid protests, arrests

Red handprints were seen on the South Building with photos of Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts.

On this monumental [and] historic day, our Chancellor has shown his true colors, a poster read. Rather than support the student body, he supports GENOCIDE.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Pro-Palestine protests have continued at multiple universities this weekend, with students attempting to send a message during their commencement ceremonies.

Student at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill protested outside campus buildings, splattering red paint on the steps of one, the News and Observer reported.

Today is UNCs graduation commencement and students have established an encampment at the famous bell tower, where many graduates will want to take their graduation photos, National Students for Justice in Palestine posted online.

At the end of the chancellors commencement address, students moved up the center aisle carrying two Palestinian flags. They were met with boos and people chanting USA! The people were ushered away by police, the outlet reported.

Students demonstrating at the North Carolina university clashed last week, when counter protesters held up an American flag on campus while activists threw items at them after attempting to replace it with a Palestinian flag.

The scene resonated with people across the country, and a GoFundMe was set up to throw the fraternity men a Rager. It raised over $500,000.

In Wisconsin, a handful of students quietly protested the war. Roughly 20 students stood and turned their backs during University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin gave her address, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

Other students wore messages including There are no universities in Gaza and Free Palestine. A group of students carrying a Palestinian flag were escorted by police out of the arena.

In Virginia, about 100 graduates at Virginia Commonwealth University walked out of their ceremony to protest an address given by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. They were protesting the ongoing war and Youngkins ideologies.

The commencement protests follow weeks of demonstrations at more than 400 universities across the country. From the Ivy Leagues to small colleges, students are demanding that their schools divest from Israeli companies or companies that have ties with Israel.

More than 2,000 arrests have been made, as universities grapple with how to balance free speech and disruptions on campus.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In progressive Argentina, the LGBTQ+ community says President Milei has turned back the clock

Police stand guard outside the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism, to prevent workers from entering after they were laid off in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. During his four months in office, President Javier Mile has closed the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, banned the governments use of gender-inclusive language and shuttered the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)  When Luana Salva got her first formal job after years of prostitution, she was ecstatic.

A quota law in Argentina that promoted the inclusion of transgender people in the work force  unprecedented in Latin America expect in neighboring Uruguay  pulled her from the capital's street corners into the Foreign Ministry last year.

Yet just months after Salva got her first paycheck, right-wing President Javier Milei entered office and began slashing public spending as part of his state overhaul to solve Argentina's worst economic crisis in two decades. Abruptly fired in a wave of government layoffs, Salva said her world began to unravel.

The only option we have left is prostitution ... and I dont see myself standing on a corner, getting cold, enduring violence, Salva, 43, said. This government is unaware of all that has been built to make us feel included.

Salva's sudden reversal of fortunes reflects the political whiplash being felt across Argentina. Past left-leaning presidents who enacted some of the most socially liberal policies on the continent have given way to a self-proclaimed  anarcho-capitalist  whose fiery appraisals of social justice and efforts to dismantle diversity and equity programs have made him into a global far-right icon.

The only thing this radical feminist agenda has achieved is greater state intervention to hinder economic process, Milei said in a speech met with enthusiastic applause at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year.

Few in Argentina are more enraged by Milei's anti-woke agenda than LGBTQ+ activists, who worry his government is rolling back their hard-won gains. Since drawing attention as a brash TV personality, Milei has lambasted feminist and human rights movements as a "cult of a gender ideology.

Unfortunately, we are going backward, said Alba Rueda, a trans woman activist and diversity adviser in the former center-left government of President Alberto Fernandez, who made Argentina the first country in the region to allow nonbinary people to make X the gender on their national identity documents.

What we have achieved is being discredited," Rueda said.

After taking office in December, Milei wasted no time jumping into Argentina's culture wars. He shut down the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, banned the governments use of gender-inclusive language and closed the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism.

In an announcement timed for International Womens Day on March 8, Milei renamed the Womens Hall in the presidential palace to Hall of Heroes. To the delight of his conservative fans  and the outrage of tens of thousands of women's rights protesters outside his residence  he had portraits of historical female leaders in the room taken down and replaced with those featuring Argentinas founding fathers and soldiers.

Milei has also scrapped a decree calling for gender equality in companies and civil society groups and ended gender-focused training programs. He has repeatedly railed against abortion  or, as he calls it, murder aggravated by the familial bond." A lawmaker from his party has presented Congress with legislation demanding the repeal of Argentinas breakthrough legalization of abortion in 2020.

It's a far cry from the past years when Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage and a few years later recognized choosing one's own gender identity as a human right. In 2021, the Fernandez administration passed its employment quota law, requiring the state to reserve 1% of all jobs for transgender, transexual or nonbinary people who would otherwise struggle to find formal work.

Before Milei became president, efforts to fulfill the quota were just gaining traction, with 955 transgender people on the public payroll  far below the 5,551 positions allocated to them in compliance with the law. The fate of the legislation is now unclear.

The quota does not make much sense, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said. Each position will be occupied by the best, most capable person, be it a man, a woman, a transvestite or anything else.

Some 105 transgender people have lost their civil service jobs in the last three months, according to the union representing state workers.

Its a small drop in the ocean of 15,000 state workers who have been fired as Milei races against the odds to push the state budget into surplus by the years end.

But transgender people who benefited from the law insist each layoff has a ripple effect on Argentinas gender and sexual minorities who remain vulnerable to hate crimes and face widespread discrimination in the labor market. In 2016, 70% of trans women reported making a living from sex work. In 2022, after the law was passed, that figure fell to 56%, according to a study released last year by Buenos Aires government officials.

The quota, for me, meant the possibility of changing my life, Salva said.

Milei's libertarian administration says the layoffs are part of its austerity program and not targeted at LGBTQ+ people. Milei has also devalued Argentina's currency, slashed subsidies, eliminated price controls and closed other government ministries unrelated to gender and sexual identity.

But those in the LGBTQ+ community insist the president's populist shock doctrine disproportionately impacts them. In his much-memed Davos speech, Milei slammed womens ministries and international (feminist) organizations for employing bureaucrats who do not contribute anything to society.

There is a focus here, said Clarisa Gambera, a gender specialist at one of Argentinas main labor unions. Many of these people being affected worked in gender offices of public departments that were dismantled.

LGBTQ+ activists have fought back the way the government's many other political opponents have  on the streets.

We obtained our rights thanks to the many warriors who gave up their lives for this cause, Ariel Heredia, a recently fired state worker who identifies as nonbinary, said at a protest earlier this year in Buenos Aires. After being laid off, Heredia, 36, lost health insurance he needed to access anti-HIV medication.

In his hunt for find work, Heredia says he'll dress as a cisgender man, hiding an identity he struggled for years to accept.

Its a contradiction for me, Heredia said. But I have to adapt.
Catalan Socialist Party's leader and candidate for Catalan regional president Salvador Illa gives a press conference upon his arrival at the PSC headquarters during Catalonia's regional election. Lorena Sopena/EUROPA PRESS/dpa

Catalonia's separatist parties look set to maintain their majority in the regional parliament, according to projections from Spanish state TV RTVE.

Forecasts from late on Sunday showed the pro-independence parties are led this time by the liberal-conservative Together for Catalonia (Junts) party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, who lives in exile.

Although the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) led by top candidate Salvador Illa came in first, with 37 to 40 seats, it is likely to have missed out on an absolute majority of 68 lawmakers.

Catalan Socialist Party's leader and candidate for Catalan regional president Salvador Illa gives a press conference upon his arrival at the PSC headquarters during Catalonia's regional election. Lorena Sopena/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
Catalan Socialist Party's leader and candidate for Catalan regional president Salvador Illa gives a press conference upon his arrival at the PSC headquarters during Catalonia's regional election. Lorena Sopena/EUROPA PRESS/dpa

According to projections from votes counted, the separatist parties have lost their parliamentary majority in the parliamentary elections in the Spanish region of Catalonia.

After counting around 90% of the votes, the parties only won 62 of parliament's 135 seats, according to the projections.

The big winner of Sunday's election was the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC), the regional offshoot of the national Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which gained nine seats and was by far the strongest force in parliament.

Forecasts based on exit polls, which were published immediately after the polling stations closed, had predicted that the separatists would win a majority.

According to the projections by Spanish TV station RTVE, the Socialists with their leading candidate Salvador Illa were able to improve their lead from 33 seats to 41.

The separatist former regional leader Carles Puigdemont and his Together for Catalonia (Junts) party won 36 seats, four more than in the previous election in 2021, while the previous, also separatist regional president Pere Aragones and his Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) party dropped from 33 seats to just 20.

Spain's largest opposition party, the conservative People's Party (PP), which traditionally has a difficult time in Catalonia, improved significantly by 11 seats to 14, while the right-wing populist Vox maintained its 11 seats.

The left-wing alternative alliance Commons Unite (Comuns-Sumar), which governs together with the Socialists in Madrid, won six seats, or two fewer than last time, the left-wing separatist Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) dropped to four seats - a loss of five - and the new, far-right separatist Catalan Alliance (Alianca Catalana) won two seats in the parliament in Barcelona.

Catalan Socialist Party's leader and candidate for Catalan regional president Salvador Illa gives a press conference upon his arrival at the PSC headquarters during Catalonia's regional election. Lorena Sopena/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
The right to property in our English legal tradition goes back before the Magna Carta of 1215 in the age of feudalism. The famous Article 39 of the Magna Carta states as relevant here: No free man shall be  disseised  unless by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. John Locke wrote in his Second Treatise (1689): The great and chief end therefore, of Mens uniting into commonwealths, putting themselves under Government, is the Preservation of their Property.

In our Constitution, the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and 14th amendments speak of life, liberty and property, and the Fifth Amendments Takings Clause states: nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. The right to property is perhaps our oldest right and has been upheld from early times in our law.

That right has been vindicated again in two recent unanimous Supreme Court decisions: Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, California (April 12) and Devillier v. Texas (April 16).

In Sheetz, the property owner attempted to obtain a building permit to construct a small, prefabricated home on his land. The county had a General Plan, a legislative enactment that required the developer of land to pay a traffic impact fee as a condition of receiving a building permit. The amount of the fee was determined by a rate schedule, not by the cost specifically attributable to the property owners project.

Sheetzs fee was determined to be $23,420, based on the General Plans rate schedule, not on any actual impact on traffic by this property development.

The key precedents were: Nollan v. California Coastal Commn (1987) and Dolan v. City of Tigard (1994), known collectively as the Nollan/Dolan test. This test required the County to make an individualized determination that the fee was necessary to offset traffic congestion attributable to his specific development.

The lower state courts held that the Nollan/Dolan test did not apply here to the General Plan because it was a legislative enactment, not the product of administrative discretion. The federal Supreme Court disagreed and held that the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment applies to all governmental action, whether legislative or administrative.

The Nollan/Dolan test is twofold: 1) the permit condition must have an essential nexus to the governments land-use interest, 2) it must have a rough proportionality to the developments impact on the land-use interest. The purpose of the Nollan/Dolan test is to prevent extortion by the government, by placing a price on a permit with no connection to a legitimate governmental interest.

The court concluded: This test applies regardless of whether the condition required the landowner to relinquish property or requires her to pay a monetary exaction instead of relinquishing the property. The court here prevents the government from imposing unconstitutional conditions on land-use permits, thus preserving the integrity of property.

In Devillier v. Texas, the court also upheld the property right. Governmental action caused floods on the property owners land and would be expected to do so in the future. The property owner wanted just compensation for a taking. The court held that the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment did not need to be self-executing; the state law here did provide a cause of action for a taking. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution requires that states provide a cause of action for unconstitutional violations by the state. This should be done on the basis of good faith. The court said: As Texas explained at oral argument, its state-law inverse-condemnation (a taking after-the-fact) cause of action provides a vehicle for takings claims based on both the Texas Constitution and the Takings Clause.

These cases uphold the right to own property and that this right will be protected by the Constitution. This right goes back to our earliest law. It is, perhaps, our oldest right. It is the foundation for individualism in our society and, therefore, is a basis for our democracy. With all the arguments over equality, equity, freedom of speech and the right to protest, the property right provides a stability to our society. It also provides a goal for achievement and, as the Declaration of Independence says, the pursuit of happiness.

James W. Pfister, J.D. University of Toledo, Ph.D. University of Michigan (political science), retired after 46 years in the Political Science Department at Eastern Michigan University. He lives at Devils Lake and can be reached at jpfister@emich.edu.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: James Pfister: Property, our basic right
Activists from "Stop Tesla" initiative have built tree houses in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg plant. According to the police, more than 1,000 activists marched from Fangschleuse station to the Tesla factory. Patrick Pleul/dpa

Further protest action against the Tesla's expansion of its giant electric car factory near Berlin is possible in the coming days despite the end of recent demonstrations, several activist groups warned on Sunday.

The alliance Tesla den Hahn abdrehen ("Cut off Tesla's water" - in reference to the company's huge water usage) said it will attend Thursday's local council meeting in Grunheide on the growth plans for the US company's Gigafactory.

If the council votes in favour of significantly expanding the site, contrary to a public consultation, the allied protest group Disrupt Tesla "will be back," their spokeswoman Lucia Mende said.

On Saturday, more than 1,000 environmental activists staged a march against the factory, following clashes and arrests the previous day.

A supporting forest camp was to be dismantled on Sunday as agreed, but a protest at a nearby railway station will continue, said Caro Weber, a spokeswoman for a third group called Stop Tesla. The groups said they would keep their options open for further actions.

Around 12,000 people work at the plant in Grunheide, which is partly located in a water protection area and has been the focus of environmental protests since February.

The latest demonstrations against the site's expansion began on Wednesday and were set to end on Sunday.

Following the public consultation in Grunheide, in which a majority voted against the expansion, the municipality and Tesla signalled that a smaller forest area would be cleared.

Activists from "Stop Tesla" initiative have built tree houses in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg plant. According to the police, more than 1,000 activists marched from Fangschleuse station to the Tesla factory. Patrick Pleul/dpa

An activist from the "Stop Tesla" initiative sits in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg plant on a bench with the inscription "We are Friedrich! Who are you?". According to the police, more than 1,000 activists marched from Fangschleuse station to the Tesla factory. Patrick Pleul/dpa
N-able, Inc. (NYSE:NABL) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 10, 2024

N-able, Inc. isnt one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the N-able First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute during a presentation portion of the call. There'll be an opportunity for question and answer at the end. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to hand the conference call over to our host, Griffin Gyr, Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead.

Griffin Gyr: Thanks, operator, and welcome everyone to N-able's first quarter 2024 earnings call. With me today are John Pagliuca, N-able's President and CEO, and Tim O'Brien, EVP and CFO. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the line for a question and answer session. This call is being simultaneously webcast on our Investor Relations website at investors.nable.com. There you can also find our earnings press release, which is intended to supplement our prepared remarks during today's call. Certain statements made during this call are for looking statements, including those concerning our financial outlook, our market opportunities, and the impact of the global economic environment on our business. These statements are based on currently available information and assumptions, and we undertake no duty to update this information except as required by law.

These statements are also subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in today's earnings release and our filings with the SEC. Additional information concerning these statements and the risks and uncertainties associated with them is highlighted in today's earnings release and in our filings with the SEC. The copies are available from the SEC or on our Investor Relations website. Furthermore, we will discuss various non-GAAP financial measures on today's call. Unless otherwise specified, when we refer to financial measures, we will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of certain GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures discussed on today's call is available in our earnings press release on our Investor Relations website.

And now, I will turn the call over to John.

John Pagliuca: Thanks Griffin. Today, I will discuss our strong first quarter performance, share observations and takeaways from Empower, our annual customer conference, and provide an update on the key 2024 company objectives we outlined in our previous call. Let's start with our first quarter performance. We delivered robust results amid a steady macroeconomic backdrop. Revenue was $113.7 million growing approximately 14% year-over-year on a reported and constant currency basis. An adjusted EBITDA was $39.6 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 35%. Once again, we exceeded the high end of our top and bottom line guidance. These results establish two critical points. First, we believe this shows that our product strategy is hitting the mark.

Over the past 18 months, we have strategically expanded the depth and breadth of our product portfolio, driving our monthly per device opportunity to over $30. First quarter results show that these expanded options and capabilities resonate with our customers. Cove Data Protection, where we have made significant investments to deepen our capabilities was our fastest grower. The security product group, where we added new SKUs and considerably expanded our breadth, followed as our second fastest grower. And lastly, our IT monitoring and management platform saw steady demand and continues to serve as the primary entryway to N-able. Growing the depth and breadth of our product portfolio is key to our strategy. Why? Well, small and medium enterprises are becoming increasingly digital and the technology landscape is getting more complex.

MSPs are relying on a more extensive set of advanced software tools to keep pace. Broad-based demand across our growing software stack gives us confidence that we're meeting these market needs. Second, we are delivering this innovation profitably, simultaneously growing our bottom line and our product portfolio. And we believe this quarter is proof of our model's capability to deliver customer value in a profitable manner. Switching gears, let's now discuss notable takeaways from our annual customer conference, Empower. With hundreds of MSPs, vendors, distributors, and industry leaders and attendance, Empower is an opportunity for the MSP community to share best practices and an unparalleled forum for us to get direct insight and learn from our customers and industry peers.

One resounding takeaway from the event is that MSPs are optimistic about their prospects. MSPs told us that while elements of SME spend remain measured, they feel industry tailwinds continue to blow in their favor. These discussions reinforce our belief in the economic resiliency of our customer base and the vital nature of our data protection, security, and IT management software solutions. Analysts echo the durability of the MSP industry. With Canalys forecasting total managed service revenue to grow by 12% in 2024. This collective sentiment gives us a continued confidence in our strategy as we invest across our product set and scale our operations to capture the attractive industry TAM. Another consistent theme we heard was that managing the cloud is an enormous opportunity and a daunting challenge.

Small and medium enterprises are moving operations through the cloud while maintaining on-premise capabilities. MSPs express excitement over this trend because it means the pie is growing. The cloud is another vector MSPs can manage and monetize. However, technicians must have the necessary purpose-built software tools and expertise to manage hybrid IT environments. This customer feedback validates the bet we placed by developing cloud commander. Our cloud management solution empowers MSPs to manage cloud workloads, cementing them as a trusted modern IT provider. At the same time, we maintain the ability for our partners to operate within on-premise environments. This dual approach gives them the confidence to capitalize on the future of the cloud while meeting their customers what they are in their digital journey.

We serve both on-premises and cloud needs. MSPs also clearly spoke about the ongoing changes in the security space. Both threat levels and regulatory and compliance requirements are rising and the SME is squarely in the crosshairs. The question is no longer, am I safe? The question is now, am I safe and am I compliant? This has a massive implication for both MSPs and SME operations. We eagerly discussed with and educated MSPs about why we believe adding N-able, managed detection and response to our already broad security stack, unique positions N-able as the answer to this urgent question, giving them layers of software and human services available in a single motion. All said, our dialogue at the event gave us confidence in our product development strategy in the mission-critical security center.

A final update from Empower was the progression of the N-able Ecoverse. The Ecoverse is our ongoing transformation to an open ecosystem with integrations extending across the broad universe of technician workflows. Over the long term, the Ecoverse aims to make every single action in IT technician workflow available via trusted APIs. This will help TAM the inefficiency of tool sprawl for MSPs, driving more efficient use of both the N-able tech stack and their other software solutions. The strategic rationale is simple. MSPs want to efficiently deliver a broad range of IT services to their SME customers. The Ecoverse positions us to meet this need. And while we're in the early stages of this journey, we believe the potential of our Ecoverse vision is substantial.

With network effects driving customer value, we believe the Ecoverse can establish the N-able software platform as the control hub for MSPs everywhere. And that it will drive N-able as a long-term MSP market share consolidator. We have made recent progress on this journey. Powerful new integrations with leading PSA and MSP automation vendors create immediate customer value. These partnerships significantly streamline MSP technicians' workflows, allowing them to ticket and bill more efficiently, connect applications, and operate complex IT environments better. We look forward to further advancing our Ecoverse vision and providing updates along the way. Reflecting on the many takeaways from Empower, we continue to have confidence in the MSP market and N-able's positioning for short and long-term success.

Let's now discuss key quarterly highlights and updates on the three 2024 focus areas. As a reminder, our immediate focus is on the following objectives. First, empowering MSPs with leading security and data protection solutions that give themselves and their SME customers a piece of mind they deserve. Second, driving rapid innovation into RMM platforms, enabling MSPs to better manage hybrid digital environments at scale. And third, doubling down our customer engagement model and delivering a differentiated level of service to the MSP community. Looking for us at our customer engagement model, we delivered exceptional progress along several dimensions. We leaned in and our in-market presence posted 30 events across multiple continents. This in-person interaction is core to our DNA.

A technician remotely monitoring and managing a server in a secure data center.

We also launched our MSP horizons research, helping MSPs across the spectrum assess market trends and the best practices to drive their businesses forward. Our efforts to give customers improved contract flexibility and pricing predictability are seeing traction as customers adopt long-term contracts at a solid pace. And as a testament to these customer engagement efforts, we were recognized as the premier five-star rating in the 2024 CRN Partner Program Guide and a Gold Stevia Award for Best Customer Service Team. These are welcome acknowledgments of our deeply held belief that our MSP success is our success. We also continue to execute on our initiatives to drive innovation in our platforms. We bolstered a powerful patch engine and made meaningful improvements to the platform user experience.

These efforts advance our strategy of delivering features that solve MSP use cases, all within an improved technician experience. Past investments in the platform are also varying through. We continue to hear strong positive feedback about our new analytics feature and new customer acquisition on our flagship and central platform has increased in the past two quarters. We were excited to continue to invest in and further develop our powerful manager platform. We also made considerable progress on our initiative to give our MSPs the peace of mind they deserve with our security and data protection solutions. On the data protection front, the cove team continues to deliver world-class execution. Highlights in the quarter include the introduction of recovery to VMware, the development of fortified copies, and increased restore accuracy and speed through the use of AI.

These technical advancements solve real world problems for our partners. As cove gains traction among larger MSPs and internal IT departments that often utilize VMware, we believe the ability for cove to directly restore copies into a VMware environment broadens our appeal across the market. Our fortified copies functionality places data copies and locations inaccessible from Cove's management console, protecting data from a threat actor or malicious insider. And the integration of new AI restore techniques into cove drives significant time savings in core IT technician workflows. This effectively lowers our customer's cost of ownership while improving the experience. The value creation is borne by our results. Cove led our growth in the quarter is moving up third-party rankings at industry publications such as G2 and is taking market share.

On the security front, our business resilience strategy is resonating. We provide layers of security that allow our partners to increase resiliency across their businesses and their customers' businesses. This approach is driving a steady drumbeat of demand across our security suite. Our managed detection and response solution is also generating interest across the spectrum. We are seeing greenfield demand at the low end and ripouts at the high end with MDR also leading to multi-SKU deals. A rip and replace of a well-known competitor illustrates these dynamics well. A current cove customer was dissatisfied with their existing platform provider and started a dialogue with us centered on their MDR needs. Impressed by our MDR offering, they also evaluated our N-central platform and ultimately they signed an over six-figure ARR deal composed of MDR, EDR and N-central.

Our 2024 plan calls for ambitious progress and building on the great results we delivered in Q1, we believe we are on track to achieve the initiatives we laid out at the beginning of the year. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Tim to discuss our financial results and outlook. Then I'll circle back to some closing remarks. Tim?

Tim O'Brien: Thank you John, and thank you all for joining us today. We delivered another strong quarter again exceeding our guidance on the top and bottom lines. There are encouraging indicators that our expanded product portfolio is resonating with customers and we continue to innovate while delivering robust profitability. For our first quarter result, total revenue was $113.7 million, representing approximately 14% year-over-year growth on a reported and constant currency basis. Subscription revenue was $111.5 million, also representing approximately 14% year-over-year growth on a reported and constant currency basis. Other revenue, which consists primarily of revenue from the sale of maintenance services associated with the historical sales of perpetual licenses and revenue from professional services, was $2.2 million, declining approximately 6% year-over-year.

We ended the quarter with 2,187 partners that contribute $50,000 or more of ARR, which is up approximately 13% year-over-year. Partners with over $50,000 of ARR now represent approximately 56% of our total ARR up from approximately 52% a year ago. Dollar-based net revenue retention, which is calculated on a trailing 12-month basis, was approximately 111% or 110% on a constant currency basis. As a reminder, the impact of our pricing and packaging changes in 2023 will affect net revenue retention starting in Q2 this year. Turning to profit and margins, note that unless otherwise stated, all references to profit measures and expenses are calculated on a non-GAAP basis and exclude the items outlined in the GAAP and non-GAAP reconciliation provided in today's press release.

First quarter gross margin was 84.7% compared to 84.6% in the same period in 2023. First quarter adjusted EBITDA with $39.6 million, up approximately 21% year-over-year, representing approximately 35% adjusted EBITDA margin. Unlevered free cash flow was $7.3 million in the first quarter. As a reminder, due to the timing of cash outlays throughout the year, Q1 is generally our lowest free cash flow quarter. CapEx, inclusive of $1.7 million of capitalized software development costs, was $5.1 million or 4.5% of revenue. Non-GAAP earnings per share was $0.11 in the quarter based on $187 million weighted average diluted shares. We ended the quarter with approximately $139 million of cash and an outstanding loan principle balance of approximately $341 million, representing net leverage of approximately 1.3 times.

Approximately 46% of our revenue was outside of North America in the quarter. Before turning to our financial outlook, I will give commentary on our first quarter results. First quarter revenue was above the high end of our guidance range. This outperformance was attributable to strong demand led by Cove Data Protection and success with our long-term contract initiatives. Turning to our financial outlook, our guidance accounts for the following elements. First, we are assuming FX rates of 1.07 for the euro and 1.24 for the pound for the remainder of 2024. Along with updates to other currencies to more closely reflect the current rate environment. These updated rates drive approximately $800,000 of negative revenue impact for the remainder of 2024 relative to our FX assumptions during our February call.

Second, our guidance accounts for the negative impact from the larger than normal 2023 pricing and packaging changes. As our pricing and packaging changes are effective annually starting in April, the second quarter is when this impact will start to be realized. Third, while we have previously touched on slower device growth due to the macro environment and some price sensitivity following our pricing changes in 2023, several indicators across our business and market give us the confidence to raise the midpoint of our constant currency revenue and adjusted EBITDA full year guidance. With that in mind, for the second quarter of 2024, we expect total revenue in the range of $116.5 to $117 million, representing approximately 10% year-over-year growth or approximately 10% to 11% on a constant currency basis.

We expect second quarter adjusted EBITDA in the range of $41 to $41.5 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 35%. For the full year 2024, we now expect total revenue of $462 to $465 million, representing approximately 10% year-over-year growth or approximately 10% to 11% on a constant currency basis. We are raising our adjusted EBITDA outlook and now expect full year adjusted EBITDA of $162 million to $165 million, up approximately 14% euro per year at the midpoint and representing an approximately 35% adjusted EBITDA margin. We reiterate that we expect CapEx, which includes capitalized software development costs, will be approximately 5% of total revenue for 2024. We also expect adjusted EBITDA conversion to unlevered free cash flow to be approximately 67% for the full year.

We expect total weighted average diluted shares outstanding of approximately $187 million to $188 million for the second quarter and $188 million to $189 million for the full year. Finally, we expect our non-GAAP tax rates to be approximately 26% in the second quarter and for the full year. Now, I will turn it over to John for closing remarks.

John Pagliuca: Thank you, Tim. It was a strong start to the year. We delivered strong performance and advanced important initiatives across the business. I would like to thank our 1,600 N-able employees for their ongoing dedication to serving the approximately 25,000 MSPs we partner with globally with a focused operating plan, a clear long-term vision, and a resilient market we are excited for the rest of the year. And with that, operator, we'll open the line for questions.

See also

15 Best Oil Stocks to Buy According to Analysts and

11 Best Dividend Paying Debt Free Stocks to Buy.

To continue reading the Q&A session, please click here.
Vladimir Putin has proposed that Andrei Belousov should be appointed as Russias new defence minister, replacing Sergei Shoigu.

Source: Federation Council of the Russian Federation; Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti

Details: The Federation Council (the upper chamber of the Russian parliament) has received a list of candidates proposed by Putin to head up a number of federal ministries and agencies.

Putin has proposed that Andrei Belousov, formerly the first deputy head of the Russian government, should be appointed Minister of Defence of Russia.

Sergei Shoigu has held this office since 2012.

At the same time, RIA Novosti is reporting that Putin has appointed Shoigu as Secretary of Russias Security Council and has dismissed the previous Secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, "in connection with his transfer to another position".

The Russian ruler's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin had decided that the Russian Defence Ministry should be headed by a civilian because it "should be open to innovation and advanced ideas".

At the same time, Shoigu, according to Peskov, will oversee the work of Russias Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation to integrate the economy of the security bloc into the country's economy.

Peskov also said that Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov would continue his work: "no changes there are expected so far".

The acting heads of Russias other security agencies  the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Foreign Intelligence Service, Federal Security Service (FSB) and the National Guard  will retain their positions.

Note: Andrei Belousov, 65, was Russias Minister of Economic Development in 2012-13 and an assistant to the President in 2013-2020. He has been the First Deputy Head of the Russian Government since January 2020.

As a senior official and member of Putins inner circle, Belousov has been subject to personal sanctions introduced by Ukraine since 2022 due to Russias full-scale invasion. He is also sanctioned by the EU for calling upon Russian oligarchs to continue cooperating with sanctioned Russian banks and supporting the occupation of Crimea, and is on the US sanctions list against Russias financial sector. Belousov has been added to sanctions lists in Japan, Canada, the UK and Australia.

Background:

Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, has dismissed Viktor Gulevich, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, on age grounds.

On 8 February, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Valerii Zaluzhnyi as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, replacing him with Oleksandr Syrskyi.

This article has been updated since publication.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed replacing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with former vice prime minister Andrei Belousov, according to an official post by the Federation Council, Russias upper house of parliament, on Telegram.

Shoigu was appointed to lead the Kremlins security council, Russian state media reported, citing spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

The announcement comes days after Putin began his fifth term as president.

The shakeup also comes as Russia launched a new major offensive Friday in Ukraines Kharkiv region, forcing Ukrainian troops to reposition and defend against a new front. Russia continues to put intense pressure on Ukrainian forces across the frontline, making critical advances in the Donetsk region after a monthslong delay of new U.S. military aid to Kyiv.

Shoigus reassignment comes after his deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested and is under investigation for taking a large bribe, according to Russian state media.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In a surprise shake-up to his cabinet, Vladimir Putin has sacked his defense minister Sergei Shoigu in favor of a civilian economist with no military experience, according to the Kremlin.

The 68-year-old Shoigu was relieved of the position he has held since 2012 on Sunday, moved over to become secretary of Russias Security Council. He will also oversee Russias Military-Industrial Commission, a Kremlin spokesperson said.

In his stead, Putin has appointed Andrei Belousov, a 65-year-old former deputy prime minister whose impressive resume as an economic adviser seems to be a signal the president is looking to reassess spending as Russias war against Ukraine drags on.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a press call on Sunday that Belousov had been selected because of the need for change, according to CNN.

In an oblique reference to the war in Ukraine, Peskov explained that well-known geopolitical circumstances had inflated the security budget to levels not seen since the Cold War.

Today on the battlefield, the winner is the one who is more open to innovation, Peskov said. Therefore, it is natural that at the current stage, the president decided that the Russian Ministry of Defense should be headed by a civilian.

Whats more, the move allows Putin to keep Shoigu on the side, while bringing in someone who may be able to deal with the impact of corruption across the Russian Ministry of Defense, Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence colonel and NATO planner, told Politico.

Shoigus reassignment meant the ousting of the former secretary of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, who was not immediately named to a new position. Peskov told Russian state media late Sunday that a role for him would be announced in the next few days.

One of Russias longest-serving officials, Shoigu was previously the countrys emergency situations minister from 1991 to 2012. His tenure as head of defense has been rocked by setbacks in the years since the Feb. 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as hes struggled to modernize Russias military and deal with allegations of widespread corruption occurring on his watch.

Last year, a public feud with Yevgeny Prigozhin escalated when the mercenary leader of the Wagner unit launched an armed uprising and called for his arrest. The mutiny was eventually put down, but not without significant loss of face for Shoigu. (Prigozhin died in a jet crash north of Moscow under unclear circumstances two months later.)

Less than a month ago, one of Shoigus 12 deputy ministers was arrested on a bribery charge, further jeopardizing Shoigus political future. The minister, Timur Ivanov, has denied wrongdoing.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Quiet life is over for young men of Ukraine ahead of tougher conscription law

Under the new laws, military recruiters will have more power to find and force men into the army - EFREM LUKATSKY/AP

The quiet life is over, Ukraines Ministry of Defence has warned young men, as it introduces a tougher conscription law next week.

Dmitry Lazutkin, the departments spokesman, said that after the new mobilisation law is introduced on May 18 nearly all Ukrainian men will be drafted into the army.

This situation, when some people are fighting at the front lines while others are living their quiet lives, is obviously coming to an end, he told Espresso TV, a Ukrainian television station.

The country has rushed through legal reforms to give military recruiters more power to find and force men into the army while closing loopholes used to dodge service.

Kyiv has faced a major troop and ammunition shortage over the past six months, which experts say has allowed Russia to push Ukrainian forces back across the front line.

The new laws will lower the mobilisation age of men to 25 from 27 and include giving draft officers more powers to punish refuseniks, including blocking bank accounts.

With such an enemy as Russia, the whole country needs to mobilise, said Mr Lazutkin.

The new laws also take a leaf out of the Kremlins playbook by allowing convicts to serve in the Ukrainian army for the first time.

In an interview with the BBC this week, Denis Maliuksa, Ukraines justice minister, said that up to 20,000 convicts could be mobilised.

Of course, there is a parallel, he said when asked about a comparison to Russias deployment of convicts in its army. You should not deceive yourself but it is still a matter of a difference in approaches.

Russia has mobilised tens of thousands of convicts into its army, promising them a pardon if they survive a six-month tour on the front line

The policy has been criticised in Russia because many of the murderers and rapists mobilised into the army have returned to re-offend and terrorise communities.

Mr Maliuksa said that only convicts who volunteer for war would be allowed to fight in the Ukrainian army and those imprisoned for violent crimes would not be eligible.

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Racist Frat Boy Taunts Black Woman, The Unthinkable Happens to a Black Teenager, Florida Cops Kill a Black Airman, Russell Simmons Defends Diddy and More

Photo: Stacey J. Spiehler (AP)

Have you seen the video of nearly 200 young white students at the University of Mississippi surrounding and shouting at a group of more than two dozen pro-Palestinian protestors last week? - Noah A. McGee Read More

Photo: Family Handout

Some incidents pull at the heartstrings of even the hardest people. Just look at this example involving 14-year-old Black boy and true scholar Daniel Anjorin. - Noah A. McGee Read More

Photo: U.S. Air Force (AP)

Florida police shot and killed a Black U.S. Air Force member Friday (May 3). The Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office said in a news release Friday that the officer reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun. - Kalyn Womack Read More

Photo: CBS Philadelphia

Police brutality cases have become so common, you wouldve let the brutal killing of Shamari Taylor fly right under your nose. Oh wait...prosecutors say the cops behind his killing werent cops at all. - Kalyn Womack Read More

Screenshot: Social media screen grab.

By now, most people have either seen the disgusting video or heard about the racist incident last Thursday (May 2) at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). - Nigel Roberts Read More

Screenshot: CTV News Toronto

A security guard at Drakes mansion was shot outside of his home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada early Tuesday morning.

According to CTV News Toronto, he was injured in the incident and taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The shooting allegedly occurred overnight and happened outside the gates of Drakes Bridle Path home, known as The Embassy. - Noah A. McGee Read More

Photo: Wikicommons

The officers seen on video dogpiling on top of Irvo Otieno, a Black man who died during intake at a psychiatric facility, are now free of legal consequences. - Kalyn Womack Read More

Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for The h.wood Group // Bryan Steffy/WireImage (Getty Images)

On Monday, Russell Simmons posted a lengthy video on social media in which he defended Diddy and urged that they start to uplift the controversial music mogul. This comes amid claims accusing him of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and rape. - Noah A. McGee Read More

Screenshot: Jesus Dwelling Place Church

A Pittsburgh pastor looked down the barrel of a gun Sunday and heard the sound of the trigger being pulled. By His grace, he lived to see another day in the land of the living. - Kalyn Womack Read More

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 6: New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a press conference to announce new subway safety measures at NYCTA Rail Control Center in New York City. - Photo: Adam Gray (Getty Images)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is trying to dig herself out of a massive ditch after making a controversial comment about Black children in the largest city in the state she governs. - Angela Johnson Read More

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HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral)  Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol Chief Gloria Chavez and another Border Patrol official are under investigation following an attempt to collaborate with a Mexican tequila maker, NBC News reported.

The two leaders were seen partying in Jalisco, Mexico with distiller Francisco Javier Gonzalez of the Tequila Casa de los Gonzalez, his familys distillery complex, an NBC report stated. Photos of the trio began to circulate on social media in February.

According to NBC, a relationship between distiller Gonzalez, Chavez and Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens began when Border Patrol discussed making a Border Patrol-branded tequila for its 100th anniversary. The Border Patrols centennial celebration will take place later this month in El Paso, Texas, without the anticipated tequila.

From Left: Jason Owens and Gloria Chavez (Photos from AP News)

The collaboration never came to fruition due to questions raised about whether the officials involved divulged their contact with a foreign national  a requirement for those who receive top security clearances, and whether they accepted anything that could be a violation of ethical rules, NBC stated in its report.

An internal investigation of the Border Patrols part in this tequila visit is being conducted by the Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility.

ValleyCentral reached out to CBP for comment and received the following statement from a CBP spokesperson:

CBP has confidence in our senior leaders and holds them to the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. Consistent with our commitment to accountability, we thoroughly investigate all allegations and take appropriate action to address any issues identified throughout the course of investigations. CBP will continue to reinforce our commitment to the agencys standards at all levels.

According to an NBC report, the relationship between the three dates back to July 2023 when Gonzalez hosted a party for CBP leaders in Laredo. It was there that the idea for a Border Patrol-branded tequila was allegedly born.

Gonzalez is the grandson of the founder of Don Julio tequila, a major international brand, and his family remains prominent in the industry, the report stated.

NBC News reported that a spokesperson for CBP did not say whether Owens and Chavez disclosed their contact with Gonzalez, or how they paid for their travel to Mexico.

In a statement, a spokesperson for CBP stated, The Border Patrol Centennial week poses unique ethical considerations, as a number of entities including non-profit organizations, private corporations, elected officials, and others are observing the occasion at a variety of public and private events scheduled over the centennial week. CBP leadership, including the Office of Chief Counsel, is working closely with event organizers within the agency to ensure all official planned events meet the highest ethical standards. This has included providing ethics advice as well as proactive briefings to senior CBP personnel who may be invited to other privately run Centennial related events.

The centennial event is still a go for May 25, according to the USBP website. The Border Patrol-branded tequila will not be on the menu.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

Validus Senior Living Management, the Tampa-based parent company of Inspired Living at Ocoee, was acquired by Distinctive Living, a Freehold, New Jersey-based operator and developer of active adult, assisted-living, independent living and memory care communities throughout the country.

The companies began to explore this acquisition in 2023 and the transaction closed April 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Company executives were not immediately available for comment.

Read: Man gets boat mural painted on fence city officials made him build to hide vessel

This acquisition will further expand Distinctive Livings footprint in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana and enhance its operational framework nationwide.

Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journals website.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




Two WWE executives have left the company.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider reports that WWE Vice President of International Events and General Manager of Emerging Markets Michael Levin exited recently. He had been with the company for over seven years. Levin had worked out of WWEs London office, and Johnson reports that his position was phased out as part of the process of merging WWE and UFC under TKO.

Levin joined the company in 2016 and initially served as Vice President of International before he was named VP of International Events in 2019. He was then promoted to GM Emerging Markets and VP, International Live Events in July 2020.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful then confirmed Levins departure and reported that Steve Rubin had departed WWE. He had been the Senior Director, TV Event Relations, and he had been with the company for 26 years.

Fightful Select confirmed that Steve Rubin is gone from WWE. Rubin was the Senior Director, TV Event Relations at WWE. He'd been with the company for a full 26 years, starting out as a production assistant, and working his way up through the company.  Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) May 11, 2024

These departures come after Chief Operating Officer Brad Blum resigned from the company earlier in May.

RELATED: Becky Lynchs WWE Contract Set To Expire Very Soon

The post Report: Two Executives Depart WWE appeared first on Wrestlezone.
This image provided by Thomas J. Nanos shows LVFD, DART, and North Windham Volunteer Fire Department members working to bring the second horse out of the swamp in Lebanon, Conn., Saturday, May 11, 2024. Two horses stuck deep in mud for hours were pulled out by more than a dozen rescuers. (Thomas J. Nanos via AP)

LEBANON, Conn. (AP)  Two horses stuck deep in mud for hours in Connecticut were pulled out by more than a dozen rescuers Saturday, emerging messy and tired, but safe.

A trio of horses were walking from a pasture to a barn though swampy woods in Lebanon, Connecticut, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Hartford when they became mired in the muck. Workers were able to walk one horse out, but suction trapped the two, according to a Facebook posting by Stirrup Fun Stables Rescue, Inc.

The more you try to get yourself out  and you can't  you kind of get yourself deeper in," Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jay Schall said Sunday. "And thats basically what happened to two of them. They were just really stuck.

Firefighters who responded to the call Saturday afternoon found the horses partially on their sides with their legs buried in mud, Schall said.

Dozens of rescuers worked to clear a path and to position sleds under the horses so they could be pulled out. The horses were free by Saturday evening.

Both horses had been warmed up enough to stand and we are happy to report both got up without issue and were happily eating some fresh hay, the fire department posted on Facebook.
North Carolina lawmakers spent nearly a decade working to have the Rev. Billy Graham to be memorialized in the U.S. Capitol.

On Thursday, a statue of Graham  who died in 2018 at age 99  will be unveiled as part of the Capitols National Statuary Hall Collection.

This makes Graham one of the few private citizens to hold three of the highest honors from Congress: a Congressional Gold Medal, to have laid in honor at the Capitol and to have a statue commissioned for the Statuary Hall collection.

This is a great honor and my father would be humbled and grateful, said Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse, in a news release. At the same time, he would not want the attention on himself but on Gods Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Replacing Aycock

Every state is afforded the opportunity to honor two notable, deceased people from that state, in the U.S. Capitol as part of the Statuary Hall Collection. The statues are kept in five locations around the Capitol: Statuary Hall, the Rotunda, the Crypt, the Hall of Columns and the Capitol Visitor Center.

Tourists look at a box hiding the soon-to-be unveiled statue of the Rev. Billy Graham in Statuary Hall, in the Capitol, on May 11, 2024.

The men and women honored range from former President George Washington to everyones favorite neighbor, Mister Rogers. From celebrities to explorers, from civil rights leaders to presidents, theyre each a part of the collection.

North Carolina commissioned statues of two former governors: Charles Aycock and Zebulon Vance.

But after reading The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics by former N&O columnist Rob Christensen, Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican from Lincoln County, said he knew one of those men needed to go.

(The book) goes into the details of really an era of deeply sordid politics  just some of the worst, most despicable acts of humanity in the Reconstruction era, McHenry said. And then it goes into the 1898 Red Shirt campaign and the threats of violence. And the mastermind of that was Aycock.

A statue of former North Carolina Gov. Charles Aycock at the U.S. Capitol. Photo taken Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Aycock, a Democrat, served as North Carolinas 50th governor beginning in 1901. But he rose to power stifling the Black vote, and his constant cries for white supremacy are blamed in official reports for causing the Wilmington Massacre, an insurrection that killed dozens of Black people and overthrew the Wilmington government, which included both Black and white members.

The News & Observers former editor Josephus Daniels also played a large role in the Wilmington Massacre, and he and Aycock met to plan how he could help advance Aycocks agenda.

Why does he deserve a statue in the U.S. Capitol? McHenry asked.

Who gets a statue?

McHenry said he started thinking about who would be better as a North Carolinian.

He ended up in a discussion, around 2012, with two then-staffers of Majority Leader Eric Cantor  Kyle Nevins, of Chapel Hill, and Neil Bradley  about who should replace Aycock. Both said Graham.

Graham was a Baptist minister and an internationally known evangelist. He counseled foreign leaders and 12 sitting presidents, beginning with Harry Truman. Graham is said to have preached to around 215 million people worldwide.

Montreat, Grahams home, falls in McHenrys district. He decided to make calls to the state legislature to get the ball rolling on Graham as Aycocks replacement, a switch that could only be made once Graham died.

In 2013, North Carolina legislators named Graham the states Favorite Son in a unanimous vote.

In 2015, former Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law a bill that said a statue of Graham should be commissioned to represent North Carolina in the Capitol, saying There have been many great North Carolinians but few have impacted the world more than Billy Graham.

Backlash to choice of Graham

Graham has not been immune to controversy.

In 2002 and 2009, recordings of Graham and former President Richard Nixon were released. In the audio, Graham can be heard saying that Jews control American media and that Nixon could change that if he were reelected. The second recording took aim at Jewish reporters.

In 2002, Graham apologized for the comments, saying they dont reflect his views and he deeply regretted making the comments. Graham was a longtime supporter of Israel. In 2009, a Graham spokesperson said in the second recording that Graham was speaking about reporters pretending to be Jews.

His views on feminism and homosexuality have also caused consternation.

But it was actually Grahams faith that led several readers to email McClatchy, worried that choosing Graham for the statue alienated North Carolinians who practiced other religions.

According to Pew Research Center, 77% of North Carolinians identify as Christians, 3% identify as other faiths, 5% identify either as atheist or agnostic, 15% said they dont identify as any religion in particular.

Yes, Billy Graham is an evangelist, McHenry said, but he is the best known North Carolinian in the history of the state. He didnt identify with any party or partisanship and I would point you to his words that his pursuit was to carry the word of Christ and to expose Christ to the world.

And I think the way he lived was the finest example of ethics and morality, whether youre a Christian or not, McHenry added.

Graham stayed politically neutral when he spoke, but he was a registered Democrat. He has been credited with helping the cause of civil rights.





McHenry added that Grahams fairness, love and kindness transcends the mere question of faith.

Replacing Vance?

Being one of the original 13 colonies, North Carolina gets the honor of having one of its statues located in the Capitols crypt. Currently, thats Aycock. No, bodies are not buried in the Crypt, but Congress hoped to make it the final resting place of Washington. He chose instead to be buried at his home, Mount Vernon, in Alexandria, Virginia.

McHenry said Aycocks statue will be returned to North Carolina, where lawmakers will decide its future.

Statues of both Aycock and Vance already stand across from one another in Raleighs Union Square, on the state Capitol grounds.

Vance was a popular Democrat, who owned slaves, defended North Carolina as a member of the Confederacy in the Civil War, supported white supremacy and used racism as a regular part of his speech.

A statue of former Gov. Zebulon Vance in the Capitols Statuary Hall.

After the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minnesota, there was a push around the state and throughout the country to take down statues that honored racist figures, including Vance.

And while that worked in Asheville, he remains in the U.S. Capitol with no current plans to replace him.

I dont see anybody in our current history that exceeds his leadership, McHenry said. He was in the Senate for 30 years. His story is less sordid and not perfect, but less sorted sordid than that of Aycock, in my view.

Thursdays ceremony

McHenry, along with Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, worked to expedite the process of getting Graham placed in the Capitol after hitting several delays.

Through his lifetime of faithfully preaching the Gospel, Rev. Billy Graham changed the world, Budd told McClatchy, in a written statement. It has been my honor to help remember the legacy of this historic North Carolinian in the U.S. Capitol forever.

Tillis agreed, in a written statement calling Graham Americas pastor who dedicated his life to preaching the Gospel and who inspired millions of people around the world.

He was a proud North Carolinian whose service bettered our country and the world, and Im proud to have worked with the North Carolina delegation to ensure his legacy will represent our great state as one of two statues representing North Carolina in the U.S. Capitol, Tillis said.

The unveiling will happen during a private ceremony attended by Grahams family, House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of Congress. Three-time Grammy winner Michael W. Smith is set to perform.

McHenry said he is bringing Nevins, Bradley and his former chief of staff, Parker Poling, as his guests.

Charlotte artist Chas Fagan created the 7-foot statue of Graham that shows him gesturing toward an open Bible. Inscribed on the pedestal will be two Bible verses: John 3:16 and John 14:6, both offering central Christian beliefs on being saved.

Fagan, who is self-taught, also designed the statue of former President Ronald Reagan in the Rotunda.

Carolina Bronze Sculpture, a foundry located in Seagrove, cast the statue in bronze, and a quarry in Rowan County provided the Salisbury granite for the base.
A hate-fueled revolutionary manifesto that links Columbia Universitys pro-terror protests to heralded anti-colonial movements is circulating at the school, bolstering claims of outside agitators there.

The six-page National Liberation Struggles proclamation was found left behind in a lab class at the embattled Ivy League institution, according to a Jewish student who received a copy of the missive.

A National Liberation Struggles manifesto has been circulated among students at Columbia University. Obtained by the NY Post

This manifesto associating Jews with all the worlds ills would be an amusing parody if it werent fueling the deadly aim of destroying the Jewish state and returning Jews everywhere to a dispossessed, defenseless people available for abuse and scapegoating as the mood arises, said Rory Lancman, senior counsel at the Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law, a Columbia Law School grad and a former New York City councilman.

The document strengthens claims by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and others that outside agitators have influenced and even infiltrated groups of pro-terror protesters at the Upper Manhattan school and other college campuses.

An anti-Israel mob launched an illegal takeover of an academic building at Columbia earlier this month, forcing cops in riot gear to storm the site to roust and arrest them.

The students of Columbia are organizing their power to demand the university divest from all companies profiting off the Israel occupation of Palestine, to end all academic affiliations with Israel, and to end Columbias complicity with the Zionist project, the manifesto starts out.

The document links the schools anti-Israel protests to other anti-colonial movements from around the world. Matthew McDermott

Protesters at Columbia occupied the schools Hamilton Hall on April 29, 2024. Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images

The missive emphasizes the goal to expand students minds beyond the university and join the larger struggle for the liberation of all the oppressed people everywhere.

How is the student movement engaged in the larger anti-imperialist and internationalist movement in the U.S. and the world the document says.

The communist manifesto only inflames antisemitism, Lancman said.

Anti-Israel protesters hanging a banner from Hamilton Hall. J.C. Rice

The anti-Israel protests at Columbia and elsewhere are part of the global antisemitism movement, not merely ideologically but logistically and operationally, he told The Post.

The US and Israel and The West are painted as oppressors in the manifesto, while rights-restrictive Cuba and Vietnam are revolutionary models to emulate.

Hard-line, freedom-denying China and North Korea get a pass.

Mayor Adams and other have claimed that outside agitators have influence the protests at Columbia and other colleges in the city. James Keivom

Liberation struggles also are touted for blacks in the US and the downtrodden in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Russias invasion of Ukraine and the oppressed Ukranians quest for freedom doesnt make the liberation cut in the pamphlet.

The people of Palestine, the students on this campus, and oppressed people everywhere teaches us that we can fight for another way of life, to struggle for a new world to be born, the document says.

The US even gets blamed for the COVID-19 outbreak.

The neglect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd and rising anti-Black violence, and the unconditional support for Israels genocide in Gaza shows us that, at every turn, at every crisis, the U.S. and other western countries will alway put their interests first, the document says.

Theres an odd reference to North Korea, considered the harshest communist regime in the world.

We can see that the workers and students in the U.S. have more in common with the people of Palestine, Sudan, Korea and India than with the elite of Washington, New York, London and Tel Aviv, the document says.

The manifesto applauds the spread of communism in Vietnam and Cuba  backed at the time by China and the former Soviet Union  while excoriating the US.

New York State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox said the manifesto is proof that the communists and the anti-American hard left are organizing and exploiting the anti-Israel campus protests.

The manifestos stated goal is for students to join join the larger struggle for the liberation of all the oppressed people everywhere. James Keivom

These are the Marxist-Leninists who are the agitators stoking the fires at Columbia and other campuses. Im not surprised. Theyve done this throughout history, Cox said.

They can have an impact on gullible students, he said. They are not American. They are anti-American.

A Columbia University rep declined comment.
HOUSTON  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s running mate launched her campaign trail debut in Texas  but for most of the event, Nicole Shanahan was literally out of the spotlight.

Despite being the marquee guest for a criminal justice reform panel discussion at the LOV3 nightclub, she and her husband sat in a booth next to the DJs setup, off stage and out of frame of the cameras. When she did take the stage, she spoke for less than 15 minutes before taking audience questions.

What Im realizing now is this campaign is so much bigger than anything I could have imagined, Shanahan told the crowd of about 40 people that included campaign volunteers.

The tech entrepreneur and former Democratic Party donor has been dogged with criticisms that her main asset to the independent presidential campaign is her personal wealth. Since being named on the ticket in late March, she has limited her public exposure to friendly podcast interviews, virtual events and social media posts.

Shanahans first in-person, solo campaign stop is unlikely to persuade skeptics.

The event, organized by Angela Stanton King, a Kennedy campaign consultant who worked for Donald Trumps campaign last cycle, had minimal production and fanfare.

Unlike Kennedys campaign events, this panel skipped the video trailer that usually proceeds Kennedys walk out on stage as well as the typical security presence from Gavin de Becker & Associates staff, who flank Kennedy and screen attendees. After the event, Shanahan did not stay for a selfie line, instead she was whisked away by a white SUV.

We are so honored to have our VP here in attendance and listening, said Stanton King, the event's emcee and a consultant for the Kennedy campaign.

Stanton King billed the panel event, which included a child support reform activist and her former co-star on a BET reality show, as the first in a criminal justice reform-focused tour for the Kennedy campaign.

Shanahans remarks were light on policy, but included admiration for Stanton Kings anti-abortion views.

Shanahan described an earlier private conversation during her remarks, saying she saw a "gold light" in Stanton King's eye while talking about why youre a pro-lifer."

"And I realized there was nothing you could say that I would disagree with because it was coming from your protection for the mothers and children in your community, Shanahan said.

Stanton King runs a nonprofit in Georgia that supports women who chose not to get abortions and said she is advising the Kennedy campaign on abortion policy, according to multiple posts on her social media account.



Both Shanahan and Kennedy have issued ambitious statements on abortion, with Kennedy expressing support at times for an abortion ban and for abortion to be legal until full term. The Kennedy campaign walked both statements back.

On criminal justice, the subject of the event, Shanahan mentioned donating money to the campaign of a progressive district attorney and learning about restorative justice.

But then I realized it goes even deeper. I was learning how to heal myself. I was learning how to heal my daughter, she said. I was understanding what human health and spirit needs, and so I just realized what everybody needs is access to land, access to clean food, access to clean water, access to opportunity.

Criminal justice reform is part of the stated mission of Shanahan's nonprofit, Bia-Echo. It has distributed $11.6 million in grants for this purpose, according to financial disclosures filed to the IRS.

Volunteers also used the event to gather signatures to get Kennedy on the ballot in the Lone Star State before Mondays ballot access deadline. The campaign needed to gather more than 100,000 signatures from registered voters who did not participate in either a Democratic or Republican primary. The campaign is expected to turn in more than the required amount, according to Richard Winger, whose Ballot Access News site tracks third-party ballot access.

Kennedy is poised to put forth the strongest third-party challenge in decades, thanks in part to his surname. Shanahans largest applause line didn't come from her talking about her own perspective or background, but instead when she mentioned Kennedys family legacy.

Bobby Kennedy is finishing a story of what was robbed from his father and his uncle and thats what this is all about, she said to applause. His father and uncle were murdered for taking a stand. They were both shot in the head. They were silenced.

Its not going to be easy, she continued. Were up against so much shit right now.

Peder Schaefer contributed to this report.
A crane soars above the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park in far East El Paso Aug 3, 2012. The park is an outstanding place for bird-watching, especially during the migratory seasons of birds that pass through the El Paso area.

With this weeks City Council vote to rezone the area around the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park to allow Jobe Materials to operate a permanent concrete plant on the land, I searched the archives for information on the park.

In 1995, when the city was planning for the development of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, it was hoped that the park would be as popular as the nearby Bosque del Apache National Refuge in New Mexico.

An independent study showed that between August 1993 and July 1994, 90,788 people visited Bosque del Apache, near the towns of Socorro and San Antonio, New Mexico.

Those visitors spent $1.6 million on lodging, $1 million on purchases other than gasoline and meals, $500,00 on meals and $250,000 on gas. The average visitor contributed $25 to $37 to the economy and stayed 1 to 8 days in the area.

A black necked Stilt searched the water at the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park for food May 7, 2000.

Rio Bosque wetlands may help economy

Sept. 11, 1995, El Paso Herald-Post

On Aug. 29, the plans for Rio Bosque wetland refuge took another step forward when the City Council authorized Mayor Larry Francis to accept money from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for planning and designing the park.

Bill Potter, city director of parks and recreation, said the planning and designing is at least 75 percent complete already. He said that theres no final timetable yet, but that once everything is approved, the refuge could be built in as little as 90 days.

The site encompasses 372 acres in the county about 10 miles southeast of El Paso, along the Rio Grande between the Roberto R. Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant and Socorro.

Potter said the refuge would be especially significant because it would be one of few  maybe even the only one  in such an urban setting. Its an exciting prospect, not just for the tourism and the border groups, but also as a place for El Pasoans and our schoolchildren, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, et cetera to observe nature, he said.

Once waterfowl become established in the protected area, the rest of the natural food chain would follow, Potter said. For example, foxes could live in the area. And, he said, the refuge would be expected to draw not only many types of ducks, but also almost all other types of North American waterfowl

The mission is to provide a refuge, of course, and currently that area is being used for partying, four-wheeling, illegal hunting, et cetera, Potter said, so were going to have to have to be especially diligent about making sure all of that is kept out.

April 8, 1997: Socorro City Rep. Gilbert "Tito" Lujan and his son Justin made their way beneath the sign at the entrance to the Rio Bosque Wetland Park.

Waterfowl park receives funding

Nov. 20, 1996, El Paso Times

UTEP President Diana Natalicio and El Paso Mayor Larry Francis signed an agreement for the universitys Center for Environmental Resource Management to develop and manage the Rio Bosque Wetland Park as a public wildlife refuge for waterfowl.

Construction of the 372-acre wetland is scheduled to begin in February and will be financed by donations and in-kind services provided by the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission and Ducks Unlimited.

Groundbreaking at the refuge occurred April 7, 1997. By Oct. 1999 UTEPs Center for Environmental Management was offering guided walking tours of the park.

A Jan. 14, 2001, announcement in the Times reported that Morgan Inc., an El Paso engineering and environmental company, was given approval to proceed in preparing a development plan for the city of El Paso and UTEP on the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. The plan was to be used to develop the wetlands for tourism and educational programs.

By Feb. 2005, the list of mammals in the park stood at 18 and the bird list 206.

City bolsters support of Rio Bosque

In Jan. 2008, City Council voted to renew the original 30-year contract that allowed UTEP to manage the park. The new 30-year contract allowed for as much as $10,000 from the city toward maintenance and utilities at the park. The original 1996 agreement said that the city would not be responsible for contributing any funds for the park.

April 13, 2008: John Spraul, right, manager of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park in far East El Paso looked out along the West end of the park as a US Border Patrol vehicle passed along a border levee road. A proposed 15 to 18-foot high border fence would be built between Sproul and the Border Patrol vehicle.

Conservationists worry about border fence

Nov. 8, 2008, El Paso Times

Conservationists are trying to draw attention to what they expect will be significant damage to the preserve that will come with construction of a 15-foot, steel-mesh border fence in the area.

In September, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by El Paso County, the city of El Paso, environmental groups and others.

Department of Homeland Security officials assured park officials that theyll include 4-inch by 30-inch cutouts every 1,000 feet to allow wildlife access to the park.

Heather Rivera holds Houdini, a Harris hawk from the El Paso Zoo, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov 1, 2012 at the zoo for a new sculpture. The stainless-steel sculpture, by artist Heath Satow, is a public art project sponsored by the citys Museum and Cultural Affairs Department. It is 21 feet high and 10 feet wide.

Sculpture of Harris hawk part of public art

At the time this story was written, the Harris hawk sculpture was planned for the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. The sculpture was dedicated at the El Paso Zoo in Nov. 2012.

Dec 27, 2011, El Paso Times

A stainless-steel sculpture of a Harris hawk, part of the 2012 Public Art Plan for the city of El Paso was being created by California artist Heath Satow. City officials estimated the sculpture would cost $170,000.

Harris Hawks have been frequent visitors to the park since restoration efforts started.

Rio Bosque park to get water all year round

Nov. 28, 2012, El Paso Times

City Council approved a plan to supply the park with year-round water. Previously the wetlands received irrigation water only after the summer growing season ended.

The resolution transferred the park land to the Public Service Board, allowing it to send water from the Robert Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant throughout the summer.

The year-round water was expected to create an explosion of plant growth to support a variety of animals, including birds that winter in the area.

May 2, 2015: John Sproul, manager of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, center, is joined by other dignitaries as they turn a valve to release water from the Robert R. Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant through a new pipeline into the wetlands park.

Water begins to flow to Rio Bosque park

May 2, 2015, El Paso Times

With the turn of a giant valve, thousands of gallons of water began flowing into the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.

Officials said that a flow of 4.3 million gallons of water a day will be available to the park from May to September.

A cement plant to the north of Rio del Bosque is photographed using a drone on May 6, 2024.

El Paso City Council agrees to permanent concrete plant at Rio Bosque

May 9, 2024, El Paso Times

Rezoning the land around the Rio Bosque from Ranch & Farm to Light Manufacturing means Jobe Materials, which has been operating a temporary plant on the site for the last year, can make its operation there permanent. Additionally, where the temporary plant was solely there to provide concrete for the Bustamante Water Treatment Plant project, the change in zoning means the Jobe Materials site can now do business in the private sector as well.

Additionally, El Paso Water and Jobe Materials have agreed to advance a handful of conservation efforts around the plant, including a row of trees between the concrete plant and the park, an easement to introduce more water into the area, and the reintroduction of more native plants.

But opponents of the plan, which included conservationists, scientists and activists, said that allowing Jobe Materials' concrete batch plant to take up permanent residence around the wetlands park would detract from the natural beauty of the area and funnel more air and noise pollution into a city already blanketed in both.

Trish Long may be reached at tlong@elpasotimes.com or 915-546-6179.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Plans for Rio Bosque wetland refuge took a step forward in 1995: Trish Long
Rishi Sunak is staging yet another relaunch of his premiership with a general election on the horizon, promising bold ideas to create a more secure future for you and your family.

In a desperate pitch to voters after this months local election drubbing, the prime minister will pledge to restore peoples confidence and pride in our country.

And he will stress that more will change in the next five years than in the last thirty, with the next few years to be among the most dangerous the country has ever witnessed, adding he felt a profound sense of urgency.

Rishi Sunak will say more will change in the next five years than in the last thirty (PA Wire)

In what Downing Street billed as a major speech in central London, the PM will say: Our country stands at a crossroads.

Over the next few years, from our democracy to our economy to our society  to the hardest questions of war and peace  almost every aspect of our lives is going to change.

How we act in the face of these changes  not only to keep people safe and secure but to realise the opportunities too  will determine whether or not Britain will succeed in the years to come.

And this is the choice facing the country.

The policy-light speech will be an attempt to draw a dividing line with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is on course to take the keys to Downing Street later this year.

Mr Sunak will seek to paint Labour as having old ideas, old thinking and nothing positive to say, No10 sources suggested. And he will promise the Conservatives are ready to face oncoming challenges and embrace the opportunities they present.

Lord Cameron said Rishi Sunak is absolutely right to wait and hold a general election this autumn (PA Wire)

In the speech, Mr Sunak will say: I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore peoples confidence and pride in our country.

I feel a profound sense of urgency. Because more will change in the next five years than in the last thirty.

Im convinced that the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet most transformational our country has ever known.

The PM is expected to hold a general election in October or November and faces an uphill battle, with Labour consistently 20 points ahead in the polls.

He attempted last week to win over disgruntled Tory MPs after a stunning set of local election defeats, including of the incumbent West Midlands mayor Andy Street, who lost to Labours Richard Parker.

The PM told nervous backbenchers that his economic plan is working and that the party has it all to play for.

He was buoyed on Friday by official figures showing the economy grew by 0.6 per cent over the first quarter, ending a technical recession recorded in the final half of last year.

Rishi Sunaks government was shaken by the shock defection of Natalie Elphicke on Wednesday (Getty Images)

And on Monday he will attempt to win over voters, touting his leadership in areas such as security. The prime minister will vow to safeguard the UK against threats of war, a global rise in immigration and "those seeking to undermine our shared values and identities", according to Downing Street.

Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Sunday argued it would be "absolutely right" for the general election to be held in the second half of the year to give voters time to see "the economic plan is working".

Talking up the Conservatives chances, Lord Cameron told Sky News: "I think youve got a very clear choice opening up, and thats what happens as you get to the end of a parliament. It stops being a referendum on the Government every day and it starts being a choice between two teams."

The PMs latest attempt at a relaunch comes after a devastating week in which he was rocked by the defection of right-wing Tory MP Natalie Elphicke.

She crossed the floor of the House of Commons with a swipe at Mr Sunaks tired and chaotic government and accused him of failing to deliver on his promise to stop the boats, adding that Labour would bring a much better future for our country.

Reacting to the prime ministers speech tomorrow, Labours shadow chancellor Pat McFadden said the Conservatives cant fix the countrys problems because they are the problem.

He added: Nothing the Prime Minister says will change the fact that over the past fourteen years the Conservatives have brought costly chaos to the country, with this being the only Parliament in living memory where peoples standard of living will be lower at the end of it than the beginning.
Hamas fires a large number of rockets towards Israel. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip has reportedly hit a residential building in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip has reportedly hit a residential building in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

Three people were injured in the overnight attack on the city about 10 kilometres north of Gaza, according to Israeli media reports on Sunday.

Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, which carried out the October 7 terrorist assaults on southern Israeli communities that sparked the devastating war in Gaza, has recently increased its attacks on Israeli towns and villages.

The Israeli Kerem Shalom border crossing was also targeted again on Saturday, according to the Israeli army. Militants fired four missiles at the crossing, which is used to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

One was intercepted by Israel's missile defence system, while the others hit uninhabited areas.

Israel is preparing for an increase in attacks on its territory as the military penetrates deeper into the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The offensive into the city has been heavily criticized internationally, including by Israel's allies, but the Israeli leadership sees it as necessary to achieve its war aim of completely eliminating Hamas.
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Low-budget cinema maestro Roger Corman, who cranked out hundreds of outrageous films over six decades and helped launch the careers of acclaimed directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron and Ron Howard, died on Thursday at age 98, family members said.

Corman, a producer and director hailed as the "king of B movies," died at his home in Santa Monica, California, his wife and daughters said in an post on his Instagram account late on Saturday without giving the cause of death.

"It is with profound sadness, and boundless gratitude for his extraordinary life, that we remember our beloved husband and father, Roger Corman," his wife Julie and daughters Catherine and Mary, said in the post.

"His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age," they wrote.

Corman was given an honorary lifetime Academy Award in November 2009 for his "rich engendering of films and filmmakers."

"Roger, for everything you have done for cinema, the academy thanks you, Hollywood thanks you, independent filmmaking thanks you," Academy Award-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino told Corman at his Oscar ceremony. "But, most importantly, for all the weird, cool, crazy moments you've put on screen, the movie lovers of planet Earth thank you."

Corman's work - he produced more than 300 films and directed about 50 - was filled with those weird, cool and crazy moments. The movies were shot swiftly on the cheap and only a handful lost money.

They covered genres including sci-fi, horror, biker films, rebellious teen fare, Edgar Allan Poe tales and more. Their titles were not exactly subtle - "Attack of the Crab Monsters" (1957), "The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent" (1957), "The Brain Eaters" (1958), "Teenage Cave Man" (1958), "A Bucket of Blood" (1959), "Creature from the Haunted Sea" (1961), "Bloody Mama" (1970), "Gas-s-s-s" (1970), "Galaxy of Terror" (1981) and "Piranhaconda" (2012).

Past age 90, he was still prolific, producing films with titles such as "Cobragator" and "Death Race 2050."

"I believe to be successful over the long run, unless you're a Federico Fellini or an Ingmar Bergman or a true genius in filmmaking, you have to understand that you're working in both an art and a business," Corman told a pop culture website in 2010.

He gave early career breaks to future stars including Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock, Talia Shire, William Shatner, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

But he was best known for nurturing directors. As a frugal producer, Corman hired promising young filmmakers who could work on a shoestring budget, launching their careers.

Before "Raging Bull," Scorsese directed Corman's "Boxcar Bertha" (1972). Before "The Godfather," Coppola directed "Dementia 13" (1963) for Corman. Jonathan Demme of "The Silence of the Lambs" fame directed Corman's "Fighting Mad" (1976). Howard directed "Grand Theft Auto" (1977) for Corman before "A Beautiful Mind." All four men went on to best director Oscars.

Also, Peter Bogdanovich directed Corman's "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" (1968) before making "The Last Picture Show," and Cameron was art director for Corman's "Battle Beyond the Stars" (1980) before "Titanic."

Sometimes his proteges thanked Corman by giving him cameo roles, such as the FBI director in "The Silence of the Lambs" and a congressman in "Apollo 13."

'I PROMISE YOU'

At Corman's 2009 Oscar ceremony, Howard fondly recalled getting a shot to make his directorial debut with "Grand Theft Auto" at a time when he was viewed as a lightweight TV sitcom actor. Howard said he complained to Corman about not getting sufficient resources.

Corman did not cough up more money, Howard said, but told him: "I promise you this: If you continue to do a good job for me on this picture, you'll never have to work for me again."

No one would argue that the movies Corman produced were subtle or nuanced. Many were complete schlock, filled with crazy effects, bizarre plots, bare breasts, ridiculous monsters or women behind bars. But some had artistic merit.

He directed "The Little Shop of Horrors" (1960), filming it in just two days and one night. It featured a young Nicholson, who had impressed Corman in an acting class, and an icky plot about a lonely flower shop worker who creates a carnivorous plant that craves human flesh.

He also made several horror films in the 1960s starring Vincent Price inspired by Edgar Allan Poe stories, including "House of Usher" (1960), "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1961) and "The Masque of the Red Death" (1964).

Corman stopped directing in 1971 and focused on producing. He directed just one more film, 1990's "Frankenstein Unbound."

In contrast to his trademark low-budget stuff, Corman also dabbled in international arthouse cinema, serving as the U.S. distributor of films by fabled directors Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Francois Truffaut and more.

Corman was born on April 5, 1926, in Detroit. He graduated from Stanford University in 1947 with an engineering degree, but quit his first job as an engineer after three days and got work at the 20th Century Fox film studio as a messenger.

After a detour studying modern English literature at the University of Oxford, he returned to the United States intent upon making his mark in the film industry. The name of Corman's 1990 autobiography revealed his guiding philosophy: "How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime."

(Reporting by Michael Martina and Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott and Nick Zieminski)
Down between 19% and 28% from their all-time highs, dividend growth stocks Unilever (NYSE: UL), The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY), and Lamb Weston (NYSE: LW) currently trade near once-in-a-decade valuations.

These magnificent stocks have five-year betas well below 1, making these discounted prices even more alluring for investors. Betas measure a company's share price volatility compared to the broader market. Low betas of less than 1 often belong to reliable, steady-Eddie operators fit to anchor any investor's portfolio.

This combination of low share price volatility and steady dividend growth at a decade-low valuation makes these three stocks promising once-in-a-decade opportunities. Here's how they could reward investors handsomely over the coming years.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Unilever

Consumer goods juggernaut Unilever owns more than 400 brands sold in more than 190 countries. Thanks to powerful labels such as Dove soap, Axe body spray, Tresemme shampoo and conditioner, Vaseline, and Ben & Jerry's, roughly 3.4 billion people use its products daily.

Despite this global reach and widespread customer adoption, there are two critical reasons for investors to remain excited about the company's long-term prospects -- especially with the behemoth trading nearly 20% below its all-time high share price.

First, Unilever generates 59% of its sales from emerging markets. Since it's expanding its presence in high-growth-potential countries like India, Brazil, China, and Indonesia, the company's growth story should have plenty of chapters left. It increased 2023 sales by 15% in Latin America and 7% in Asia Pacific and Africa. Unilever is well-positioned to see strong growth as the middle class continues expanding globally.

Second, the company recently announced the upcoming separation of the smallest and least profitable unit, its ice cream operations. The ice cream unit weighs on the company's cash-generating potential, as the cold storage supply chain infrastructure needed is capital-intensive and dissimilar from the rest of Unilever's operations.

Best yet for investors, even after the company's share price rose 8% following its first-quarter results in April, its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 19 and dividend yield of 3.6% remain more attractive than the S&P 500 index's 25 and 1.4% averages.

2. The Hershey Company

With its share price down 29% over the last year, confectioner Hershey continues to battle against an array of issues, such as:

Cocoa prices more than tripling since 2023.

Capital expenditures (capex) soaring to all-time highs as the company implements a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

The threat of GLP-1 obesity drugs and their effect on snacking.

YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson's (Mr. Beast) entrance into the industry with quickly growing Feastables chocolates.

Story continues

Despite these potentially crippling circumstances, Hershey has maintained a robust 17% net profit and free cash flow (FCF) margin.

HSY Profit Margin Chart

Furthermore, the company's KitKat, Hershey's, and Reese's brands ranked first among Gen Z snackers, according to a study from Segmanta, highlighting sustained popularity across generations.

With this unwavering popularity and profitability -- while operating in a recession-resilient industry -- Hershey makes for an intriguing turnaround candidate as cocoa prices and the company's capex revert to "normal" levels.

Best yet, trading at just 21 times earnings and with a 2.5% dividend yield, Hershey trades at a discount to the broader market and its own 10-year averages. Thanks to this discount, Hershey's brand power, and its longer-term rebound potential, the company looks like an excellent holding, which is why I'm excited to add it to my daughter's portfolio.

3. Lamb Weston

While the frozen potato industry may not elicit thoughts of turmoil, Lamb Weston's share price drop of 21% year to date shows otherwise. Like our other steady-Eddie investment idea, Hershey, Lamb Weston has embarked on a mission to deploy a new ERP system.

However, this has not been a smooth process for the frozen potato juggernaut. During the company's third-quarter earnings call, management estimated that the ERP transition caused sales volume to decline by 8% due to negative impacts on order fulfillment rates.

Making matters worse, increased capex used to boost manufacturing capacity in the Netherlands, Argentina, and China has temporarily caused Lamb Weston's free cash flow (FCF) to turn negative. While this short-term pain is tough to stomach, management estimates it will be able to grow international sales from 15% of sales in 2022 to 34% in 2024 -- all while giving it valuable exposure to higher-growth markets.

With a decade-low price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 1.9, Lamb Weston could be a steal at today's discount once capex normalizes and its growth investments start to pay dividends.

LW PS Ratio Chart

If the company can return to the average FCF margin of 11% it saw between 2016 and 2022, it would trade at just 17 times FCF.

If you plug this into a reverse discounted cash flow model, Lamb Weston would only need to deliver 5% growth to match the market's average performance of 10% annually. With global potato demand expected to grow by 3% annually over the long term and Lamb Weston poised for international growth, I think it could easily exceed this 5% growth rate and beat the market.

This outperformance potential, paired with the company's growing dividend that yields 1.5% and only uses 15% of net income, makes for an excellent once-in-a-decade opportunity.

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A Once-in-a-Decade Opportunity: 3 Magnificent Dividend Stocks Down Between 19% and 28% to Buy Now and Hold Forever was originally published by The Motley Fool
Russian forces struck 10 communities in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast in 21 separate attacks throughout the day, the regional administration reported on May 11. At least 93 explosions were reported in Sumy Oblast over the past 24 hours.

A missile attack against the outskirts of the northeastern city of Sumy killed a woman aged around 37 earlier in the day, the regional military administration reported. The strike was aimed against local infrastructure, officials said without providing further details on the target or the consequences.

Apart from the regional capital, the communities of Khotin, Yunakivka, Myropillia, Bilopillia, Krasnopillia, Velyka Pysarivka, Esman, Shalyhyne, and Seredyna-Buda were targeted.

Throughout the day, Russia assailed the border communities with mortar, artillery, and drone attacks. At least two communities saw mines dropped onto their territories on May 11.

Local authorities didn't provide any information on the damage to civilian property.

Sumy Oblast borders Russia's Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts. Russian attacks against the region have become increasingly destructive in recent months, killing and injuring civilians.

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.
Russia attacked 106 infrastructure facilities in nine regions in Ukraine over the last day, the Defense Ministry's Military Media Center reported on May 12.



Various weapons were used in the attacks and 107 settlements were targeted. Thousands of households in seven oblasts are suffering power outages due to Russian attacks, the Energy Ministry reported.



In the last 24 hours, 1,146 customers in Kharkiv Oblast lost power, alongside 4,600 households in Donetsk Oblast, 2,418 households in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, 450 in Mykolaiv Oblast, 510 in Sumy Oblast, 25,800 in Kherson Oblast, and 1,500 customers in Chernihiv Oblast.



While some settlements have been reconnected as of May 12, thousands still face blackouts. The situation is worse in Donetsk Oblast where 47,700 customers are disconnected from the power grid.



Russia also launched a mass attack on energy infrastructure on May 8 in central and western regions of Ukraine, the fifth attack against Ukraine's power network since the start of the year.



At least two hydroelectric power plants were forcibly decommissioned as a result of the attack.



Ukraine's state-owned energy operator Ukrenergo warned on May 10 that the country was facing a "significant shortage of electricity."



Ukraine received an emergency electricity supply from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, the Energy Ministry reported on May 11.



Kyiv city officials began reducing evening street lighting, Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, announced on May 9.



Ukraine's state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, imposed power supply restrictions on industry and business between 6 p.m. and midnight.



The limitations will not impact power supplies to household consumers in Kyiv.



Popko encouraged Kyiv residents to save money and reduce energy usage between the hours of 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. as these are "the most important load hours for the power system."

Read also: Opinion: Russias energy infrastructure attacks are depopulating Ukraine

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
An overnight drone attack caused a brief fire at an oil refinery in Russia's Volgograd region, Governor Andrey Bocharov reported on Telegram.

"The fire was extinguished. There were no casualties, Bocharov said on May 12. Several Telegram channels posted photos and video of the attack with flames ascending into the night sky above what appeared to be an industrial structure with a prominent chimney.

Volgograd Oblast is located in the southwestern part of Russia, and borders several other regions, including Astrakhan, Saratov, and Rostov oblasts.

In recent months, drone attacks targeting energy facilities within Russia's borders have increased in its frequency. According to Kyiv officials, these attacks are carried out to undermine Russia's military operations and retaliate against Moscow's strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

On May 10, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) confirmed it was behind the attack on the oil refinery in Russia's Kaluga Oblast.

Kaluga Oblast Governor Vladyslav Shapsha claimed earlier in the day that a falling drone caused a fire in the Dzerzhinsky district overnight.

The governor did not specify the facility being attacked, but locals reported the fire at the Pervyy Zavod plant, the largest petrochemical enterprise in Kaluga Oblast, according to the Russian Telegram channel Mash.

A day before, a long-range drone operated by Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) attacked an oil refinery, Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, in Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent. For the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine attacked facilities in Bashkortostan, some 1,500 kilometers from the country's border, according to the source.

Read also: Ukrainian drones hit one Russian oil refinery after another

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Russian attack on Vovchansk: two men rescued and woman's body retrieved from rubble  video

The aftermath of Russian attack on Vovchansk. Photo: Ukraine's State Emergency Service

Emergency workers rescued two men from the rubble left behind by a Russian strike in Vovchansk on the morning of 12 May. A woman was also killed in the attack.

Source: Ukraine's State Emergency Service (SES); Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration (OMA)

Details: It is noted that dozens of private and multi-storey residential buildings had been destroyed and severely damaged in the Russian bombardment involving guided aerial bombs.

Kharkiv OMA said this occurred in the town of Vovchansk.

A family of four was trapped under the rubble of one of the houses and needed help.

The owner of the house managed to get out from under the rubble on his own before the emergency services arrived.

Emergency workers rescued two men from the rubble and transported them to a medical vehicle.

A woman, aged around 74, has died under the rubble of the building.

In addition, a man, 50, was killed in the town on the morning of 12 May due to a Russian strike.

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Russian forces attack over 100 Ukrainian infrastructure facilities over past 24 hours

Russian forces attacked 106 infrastructure facilities in nine Ukrainian oblasts on 11 May.

Source: Military Media Center under Ukraine's Defence Ministry

Details: The Russians used various types of weapons, including mortars, artillery, tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems, air defence missile systems, strategic and tactical missile systems, UAVs, and tactical aircraft.

A total of 107 settlements and 106 infrastructure facilities have been hit.

Russian strikes have caused fatalities and casualties among civilians.

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Russia seeking to blame Ukraine after apartment building collapses in Belgorod (UPDATED)

A part of a 10-story apartment building collapsed in Russia's Belgorod on May 12, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Gladkov claimed without evidence that a building in the Kharkovskaya Gora district was hit by a Ukrainian projectile during an air raid alert in the oblast.

Later in the day, Reuters reported, citing its sources in Russia, that at least seven people were killed.

Russian air defenses allegedly shot down six Tochka-U missiles and six rockets over Belgorod Oblast, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ministry claimed that the residential building was "damaged" by a Tochka-U missile fragment.

Local officials did not report on casualties, while Russian state-run media claimed at least 20 were injured, citing response services.

There is a risk of further collapse of the building, the Kremlin-controlled news agency TASS wrote. Footage shared on Russian Telegram-channels soon after showed a section of the roof collapsed.

Ukrainian officials did not comment on the claims. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports.

Claims of rocket or drone attacks against Belgorod Oblast, which borders Ukraine's Sumy, Kharkiv, and Luhansk oblasts, have become a common occurrence in recent months.

Russia often uses Belgorod Oblast as a launching ground for cross-border missile strikes against Ukraine. Russian troops repeatedly attack residential buildings across Ukraine, killing and injuring dozens of civilians, including children.

Read also: 5 children killed in single attack: We should never forget what Russia did

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo News

The number of Americans who said they were more sympathetic to Israel than to the Palestinians fell steadily as the war in Gaza dragged on. But now, one year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, it has ticked up again.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War report that the Russians are pursuing several goals with their offensive in Kharkiv Oblast: to draw Ukrainian forces away from other areas, to advance within range of artillery fire on Kharkiv, to create a "buffer zone" to protect Belgorod, and to limit Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in the region.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)

Details: The ISW's analysis indicates that Russian troops are conducting relatively limited offensive operations along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the north of Kharkiv Oblast and continue to make tactically significant gains in presumably less defensible areas.

However, the analysts point out that the reported number of Russian units involved in these limited operations, as well as the grouping of Russian troops deployed along the border in northeastern Ukraine, indicates that Russian forces are not currently conducting a large-scale operation to surround or capture the city of Kharkiv.

ISW estimates that Russian troops have advanced to at least the outskirts of Ohirtseve and Hatyshche.

Nazar Voloshyn, spokesperson for the Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group, said that Russian troops were trying to advance in areas that were already disputed grey zones, indicating that Ukrainian forces are not holding strong positions in many small border towns.

Russian troops are likely to face more intense resistance as they attempt to advance south of the border and into larger border towns such as Lyptsi and Vovchansk. However, Kharkiv's proximity to the border increases the significance of the limited tactical advantages of Russian forces, as the Russians do not need to advance much further to start threatening Kharkiv with regular shelling.

Russian troops reportedly launched offensive operations along the Russia-Ukraine border in northern Kharkiv Oblast before they had completed bringing the Northern Group of Forces to its planned final strength and have so far deployed only a limited number of combat units to conduct offensive operations in the area.

The ISW reported that Russian offensive operations in the north of Kharkiv Oblast were likely intended to distract Ukrainian forces from other parts of the front, allowing the Russians to advance to the city of Kharkiv within reach of artillery fire.

Russian troops are maintaining the momentum of their offensive operations along the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line near Chasiv Yar and west of Avdiivka, and the Russian military command is likely hoping that operations in the north of Kharkiv Oblast may force the Ukrainian military command to devote resources to the defence of the north of Kharkiv that it might otherwise have devoted to defending these areas.

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and the Russian military command may be assessing the risks, prospects and timing of offensive operations in the northern Kharkiv Oblast on the assumption that Ukraine cannot and will not be able to liberate the territories seized by the Russian troops.

The limited nature of Russian offensive operations in the northern part of Kharkiv Oblast suggests that the resumption of US security assistance has not changed Putin's calculations or that he launched the "Kharkiv operation" without reassessing his assumptions about Ukraine's capabilities in light of the resumption of assistance.

In addition, the Russians believe they can make gradual, slow advances across a wide swathe of territory in the north and northeast of Kharkiv Oblast over a long period of time without achieving relatively quick operationally significant gains, but in a way that would disadvantage any future Ukrainian counteroffensive in the region.

"It is imperative for Ukrainian forces to disrupt any such Russian calculations as soon as possible through both limited and large-scale counteroffensive operations that liberate Russian-occupied territory as soon as conditions permit," the analysts say.

ISW has consistently emphasised that Ukrainian troops must seize the offensive initiative as soon as possible.

The direction of Russian offensive operations near the border suggests that Russia may be trying to create a "buffer zone" to protect the city of Belgorod, as recently stated by Russian and Ukrainian officials.

To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 11 May:

Russian forces are conducting relatively limited offensive operations along the Russian-Ukrainian border in northern Kharkiv Oblast and continued to make tactically significant gains in likely less defended areas. The reported sizes of the Russian elements committed to these limited operations and of the Russian force grouping deployed along the border in northeastern Ukraine indicate that Russian forces are not pursuing a large-scale operation to envelop, encircle, or seize Kharkiv City at this time.

Russian forces reportedly launched offensive operations along the Russian-Ukrainian border in northern Kharkiv Oblast before they had completed bringing the Northern Grouping of Forces up to its reported planned end strength and have so far only committed a limited amount of combat power to offensive operations in the area.

ISW continues to assess that the Russian offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast likely aim to draw Ukrainian forces from other sectors of the front while allowing Russian forces to advance to within tube artillery range of Kharkiv City.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military command may be evaluating the risks, prospects, and timeline of offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast based on the assumption that Ukraine cannot and will not be able to liberate territory seized by Russian forces. Putin's and the Russian military command's calculus about the threat of Ukrainian territorial gains is likely shaping Russia's overall operational approach to seizing territory in Ukraine.

The limited Russian offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast suggest that the resumption of US security assistance has not changed Putin's calculus or that he launched the Kharkiv effort without reassessing the operation's fundamental assumptions about Ukrainian capabilities in light of the resumption of aid.

The directions of Russian offensive operations in the international border area suggest that Russia may be attempting to create a "buffer zone" to protect Belgorod City, as Russian and Ukrainian officials have recently stated.

Russian forces appear to be attempting to quickly isolate the battlespace east of the Siverskyi Donets River and seize Vovchansk, a direction of advance that Russian forces may believe could threaten the Ukrainian grouping defending in the Kupiansk direction.

Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) Head Denis Pushilin reiterated a series of Kremlin narratives intended to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attempted to flatter Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military during an interview in honour of the 10th anniversary of the DNR's founding, likely in an attempt to curry favour in the Kremlin.

Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted successful drone strikes against a Russian oil refinery in Volgograd Oblast on the night of 10 to 11 May.

Russian forces recently made confirmed advances in northern Kharkiv Oblast; near Svatove, Chasiv Yar, Avdiivka, and Donetsk City; in western Zaporizhia Oblast; and in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast.

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Viewing insider transactions for Gemfields Group Limited's (JSE:GML ) over the last year, we see that insiders were net buyers. This means that a larger number of shares were purchased by insiders in relation to shares sold.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

View our latest analysis for Gemfields Group

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Gemfields Group

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Non-Independent & Non-Executive Director Patrick Sacco bought R38m worth of shares at a price of R3.15 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of R2.80. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when an insider has purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. Patrick Sacco was the only individual insider to buy during the last year.

You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Gemfields Group is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 4.8% of Gemfields Group shares, worth about R158m, according to our data. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Gemfields Group Insiders?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Gemfields Group insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Gemfields Group.

Story continues

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.
DeepState analysts have noted that Russian troops have seized six more settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.

Source: DeepState

Details: DeepState wrote that the Russians have advanced in Krasnohorivka and near Volodymyrivka, as well as near occupied Strilecha, Pylne, Krasne, Borysivka, Ohirtseve, and Pletenivka.

The analysts confirmed the Russian advance in Ivanivske and the surrounding area.

Background:

On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there.

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.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an address on 12 May. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reported that heavy fighting continues in a large swathe of border territory in Kharkiv Oblast as the Russians attempt to gain a foothold in several villages there.

Source: Zelenskyys evening address

Quote: "Throughout the day, I have heard reports by the Commander-in-Chief, [Defence] Intelligence, and the Interior Minister. The main focus is Kharkiv Oblast. Defensive fighting is ongoing, as well as heavy fighting on a large section of our border line.

There are villages that have turned from a grey zone into combat zones, and the occupiers are trying to gain a foothold in some of them and to use others to advance further

The situation is very difficult on the outskirts of Vovchansk; the city is under constant Russian fire, and our forces are conducting counterattacks there and helping the locals."

Details: Zelenskyy stressed that everyone in Ukraines Security and Defence Forces must be as efficient as possible right now.

"In a war, everything depends on what you are capable of, what you are able to do, whether you are able to resist attacks and hold your positions so that everyone can do the same. What matters most is our persistence and Ukrainian results on the battlefield," he added.

The president noted that the situation around Donetsk is "no less intense".

Quote: "In fact, the idea behind the strikes on Kharkiv Oblast is to make us spread our forces thin and to undermine the moral and motivational basis of Ukrainians ability to defend ourselves. Despite everything, the situation on the Pokrovsk front is the most difficult. Over the past day alone, 30 combat clashes have occurred on the Pokrovsk front. The situation is also tough on the Lyman, Vremivka, Kramatorsk and Kupiansk fronts."

Background:

On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry said that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast.

DeepState analysts said that as of 12 May, Russian troops have seized six more settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on 12 May that the Ukrainian army was aware of Russias plans and was responding effectively to Russian operations, but said the situation in Kharkiv Oblast was "getting more complicated".

Ukraines Defence Intelligence has said that it was aware of the timeline for Russian forces offensive in the north of Kharkiv Oblast and has urged Russian soldiers to surrender.

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(FOX40.COM)  The Sacramento Fire Department recently battled a transformer fire that exploded and ignited power lines.

At around 3:54 p.m. on Saturday, fire crews arrived at the 1000 block of North B Street for a fire that quickly escalated to live power lines down on the ground, making the situation very difficult to combat. No injuries were reported and unknown on the cause.

NWS uses recent rise in temperatures to remind Northern California residents of water safety

The Sacramento Fire Department posted a video of the incident. The video shows power line cords catching fire, disconnecting from telephone lines, and exploding on the pavement.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is unknown.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) doubled down Sunday on his opposition to further U.S. aid to Israel, suggesting Americans do not want to be complicit in the starvation of children in Gaza.

Look, every Republican, as I understand it, wants to give huge amounts of money to Israel, Sanders said during an interview on Meet the Press, NBC Newss Sunday show. My guess is that many Republicans want Israel to go into Rafah, despite the incredible humanitarian destruction that will cause, and there are Democrats who also feel that way.

But this is what I will tell you.  That is not what the American people feel. Poll after poll suggests that the American people want an immediate cease-fire. They want massive humanitarian aid to get in, he continued. The people of our country do not want to be complicit in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has repeatedly called for a stop to U.S. aid to Israel amid the civilian death toll and depleting humanitarian resources in Gaza, where than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamass Oct. 7 attacks.

Polls have varied in their indications of Americans sentiment over the war. In a poll last month, nearly one-third of Americans said Israel has gone too far in Gaza, while another poll released in recent weeks found an overwhelming majority of Americans support Israel in its war against Hamas.

About 1,200 people were killed in Israel on Oct. 7, while about 250 others were taken hostage by Hamas and brought to Gaza.

The war between Israel and Hamas has raged on for more than seven months and has prompted a severe depletion of food, water, medicine and other resources amid the violence. World Food Program (WFP) Director Cindy McCain said earlier this month that there is a full-blown famine in northern Gaza.

According to a WFP report released in March, about 1.1 million in Gaza have completely exhausted their food supplies and are facing catastrophic hunger and starvation.

Congress last month passed a massive foreign aid package that included $26 billion for Israel and global humanitarian aid, including for Gaza. Sanders voted against the package, pointing to the 8.9 billion in unfettered military aid to allow Israel to wage an unprecedented assault against the Palestinian people.

But the reality is, as I think any objective observer knows, Israel has broken international law. It has broken American law. And in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid, Sanders said Sunday.

Look, the facts are quite clear. Hamas is a terrible, disgusting terrorist organization that began this war. But what Israel has done over the last seven months is not just gone to war against Hamas  it has gone to war against the entire Palestinian people, he continued.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Members of Sarasota Countys legislative delegation participated at a Sarasota Tiger Bay Club forum in 2022. Pictured form left: State Sen. Joe Gruters, State Rep. Tommy Gregory, State Rep. Fiona McFarland, State Rep. Will Robinson, and former State Sen. Lisa Carlton, who served as moderator

The Sarasota Democratic Party blasted the nonpartisan political organization Sarasota Tiger Bay Club for "unfair treatment and favoritism" and recommended that Democratic candidates boycott its events.

Sarasota County Democratic Party Chairman Daniel Kuether accused the organization of excluding Democrats from forums, and representing the interests of Republicans. He also complained of a Tiger Bay board member who is running for a public hospital board seat also facilitating a candidate panel.

"It's plain and straightforward: Sarasota Tiger Bay is not following the policies and guidelines laid out on its website," Kuether said in a statement this week.

Tiger Bay's website says the group is "political but nonpartisan" and does not endorse candidates.

"However, the club certainly subjects candidates on its panels to no-holds-barred question and answer sessions by moderators and Tiger members," according to its website.

The website also says that the organization, which has long cultivated a reputation for fostering will always have more than one candidate on a panel, no matter the subject. However, Sarasota Democrats accused Tiger Bay of excluding their candidates from events and refusing to accommodate their schedules.

Tiger Bay board member Kevin Cooper, who was criticized in the Democrats' statement, called Kuether's allegations "unhinged and really disappointing." He said Tiger Bay schedules forums with candidates directly, not through the party apparatus.

"This feels like a scapegoat to failed leadership inside the local Democratic Party," Cooper said.

Sarasota County Democratic Party Chairman Daniel Kuether, speaking at a candidate event in 2022 when he was a candidate for the Sarasota County Commission.

But Democrats said the local party has "repeatedly asked Sarasota Tiger Bay to reschedule events, to include all candidates, and to provide community members from all sides of the political aisle."

"These latest infringements are extremely concerning and unacceptable no matter where you sit on the political spectrum."

Until their concerns are addressed, Sarasota County Democrats recommended that "Democratic candidates not participate in Sarasota Tiger Bay panels and that Democrats refrain from attending Tiger Bay events."

The statement singled out for criticism Sarasota attorney Morgan Bentley, Tiger Bay's Program Committee co-chair, who represents the Republican Club of South Sarasota County in a lawsuit against the America First Southwest Florida Caucus, and Board Member Cooper, a vice president at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium who is running for a seat on the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Board.

North Port resident Mary Flynn ONeill, a candidate for At-Large Seat 3 on the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board.

Kuether claimed that Bentley said in a phone call he wanted to "expose" Mary Flynn O'Neill  the sister of far right Mike Flynn  as an extremist candidate for the hospital board before the primary election.

Bentley was incredulous at Kuether's statement and denied that Tiger Bay intentionally did not platform Democrats.

"This is a weird way to ask for a party chair. To just pick a fight  why are you picking a fight with a group that's trying to give your candidates more exposure? That's kind of crazy," Bentley told the Herald-Tribune.

Tiger Bay has just begun scheduling events for the 2024 election, including forums for the board that oversees the Sarasota Memorial Public Health System, the Sarasota County School Board, and both the city and county commissions.

Bentley said the group tried to "work around" the schedules of candidates who could not make specific dates. He also denied he told Kuether he wanted to "expose" Flynn O'Neill. Instead, Bentley said he wanted to platform the "full slate" of hospital board candidates who were part of an "interesting political movement."

Flynn O'Neill is part of a group of candidates vying to join the nine-member public hospital board with rhetoric that includes COVID-19 conspiracy theories and right-wing talking points.

"I think many people in the public are curious about what the heck is going on. So why wouldn't we want them on a panel?" Bentley said.

Contact Sarasota Herald-Tribune Local Government Reporter Christian Casale at ccasale@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @vanityhack.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Democrats call for boycott of Tiger Bay election events
A 28-year-old Scales Mound, Ill., resident was taken into custody Saturday after a standoff with law enforcement, a news release says.

(jodaviess.org/sheriff)

Shortly after 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jo Daviess County Deputies learned that Jesse J. Jones, a wanted felon, was at an address on West Blackjack Road in rural Hanover, Ill., the release says.

Deputies surrounded a building at the address and attempted to call people out. One person left the building and deputies learned that Jones still was inside.

Numerous law enforcement and K9 unit announcements were made but Jones refused to leave, the release says.

According to the release, the Northwest Illinois Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) was called to the scene to assist in taking Jones into custody. Galena EMS and Elizabeth EMS were put on standby for precautionary reasons.

Once the CIRT team was on scene, more law enforcement, a K-9 unit, and chemical munitions announcements were made. Jones again refused to comply with lawful commands, the release says.

Chemical munitions were deployed into the building but Jones again refused to exit. A Jo Daviess County K9 was then deployed into the building to locate Jones, according to the release.

The CIRT team entered the building and found Jones inside a locked vehicle, the release says. The CIRT team made entry into the locked vehicle and took Jones into custody.

Jones was transported to the Jo Daviess County Jail and held on Jo Daviess County and Grant County, Wisconsin, arrest warrants.

This incident remains under investigation by the Jo Daviess County Sheriffs Office.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.
In the postmidnight darkness of March 26, as their ship lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the crew of the cargo ship Dali could only imagine the scope of the catastrophe unfolding.

I understand several of them ran forward looking for survivors, said Barbara Shipley, the mid-Atlantic representative for a global federation that represents seafarers.

Soon, they and the rest of the world would learn that there were construction workers repairing potholes on the bridge that collapsed almost immediately upon the ships impact. While police were able to clear traffic from the bridge, they ran out of time before the construction workers could be alerted; six men were killed.

Aboard the Dali, the crew felt helpless and sorrowful, said Shipley, of the International Transport Workers Federation. When I spoke to the crew, they expressed sadness for the loss of life, she said.

Shipley joined representatives of two Singapore-based unions to visit the Dali on April 24. The Dali sails under the Singapore flag.

They and others who have spoke with the Dali crew, say the crew has been distressed, particularly since their cellphones were confiscated by the FBI on April 15 as part of one of multiple investigations into the bridge collapse.

Stranded in the Patapsco River, they are in the midst what has been a massive rescue, recovery and salvage operations, surrounded by cranes, barges and other vessels. When their phones were taken, they lost, at least temporarily, family photos to look at, contact numbers that they hadnt memorized and the ability to do such things as banking online, say those who represent and advocate for such crews.

While some crew members are coping, morale has understandably dipped, according to a statement from the Singapore Maritime Officers Union and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen that The Baltimore Sun received ahead of a public release planned for Monday.

The crew members fear theyll be criminalized over the incident, two Singapore-based unions said.

Salvage crews are expected to set off controlled explosives Sunday evening to break apart a massive piece of the Key Bridge that landed on the Dali, allowing them to remove the wreckage and eventually refloat the ship and return it to the Port of Baltimore.

Shipley said it took a moment or two when she approached the vessel to take in the damage.

It was overwhelming to see the devastation so closely and remembering that lives were lost, Shipley said in an interview Sunday with The Baltimore Sun.

The ITF is an umbrella group whose nearly 700 affiliates are based in about 150 countries and include the Singapore unions.

Shipley and the Singapore-based representatives were joined on in their statement by other unions that similarly advocate for seafarers and other transportation workers.

Saying the crew cooperated fully with an ongoing FBI investigation of the bridge collapse, the unions are calling for the return of the members cell phones, which agents confiscated last month after boarding the Dali.

However long the investigation takes, the crews rights and welfare should not be infringed upon during its course, said David Heindel, president of the Seafarers International Union. We call on the authorities to be mindful that seafarers utilize mobile devices to conduct personal business for bill payments and more importantly, transfer money to their home country to sustain families.

Additionally, the unions are asking for officials to arrange for shore leave for the crew once the ship returns to port, as their visas expired while theyve been stranded. The unions also want crew members to receive expedited travel back home once theyre no longer needed for the investigation.

They need some time off for their mental health and to refresh their minds, Shipley said.

Synergy Marine, the Dalis management company, has a mental health program that reached out to both the crew and their families, the unions said in their statement.

The crew members have been one of our top priorities, said Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for Synergy. This is a difficult time for them, too.

Wilson said crew members have received visits from their embassies, those of India and Sri Lanka, as well as from seafarer assistance groups that have brought clergy aboard.

The crew has had to remain on board throughout, even though the ship has been immobilized, he said, and members have been assisting the salvage operation.

Its still a very complicated piece of equipment that needs to be maintained, Wilson said. No one knows the ship better than the crew.

The seamens unions said the crew has been treated well by the company and agencies that have responded to the incident.

We commend the U.S. Coast Guard and ground personnel for their empathy towards the crew, who have been cooperative throughout this ordeal, their statement said.

In addition to the FBI, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident and has interviewed the crew on board the Dali.

Gwee Guo Duan, assistant general secretary of the officers union, said in an email to The Sun that when in Baltimore, his group also visited Key Bridge Unified Command. Thats the multiagency effort directing operations to remove the bridge debris and the Dali and reopen the port to marine traffic.

I do hope we can do something tangible for the seafarers to ensure they are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, he said. Its crucial to acknowledge that our seafarers play a vital role in moving the world, with 80% of cargo transportation being reliant on them.

The statement included several officials of unions from around the world, calling for the return of the crew members phones and decrying what Mary Liew, general secretary of the officers union called a growing concern over the criminalization of seafarers based solely on their position on board a vessel during an incident.

Access to communications, especially with loved ones and family members, are essential for their well-being, said Kam Soon Huat, president of the seamens organization.

The unions are the latest to express concern about the welfare of the crew, who are mostly from India.

The New York-based Seamens Church Institute said it was contacted by its shipping industry partners shortly after March 26 to provide support to the crew and received clearance within a week to board the vessel.

The group has a network of chaplains who are specially trained in critical incident stress management, according to its website.

The church institutes executive director, the Rev. Mark Nestlehutt, said has sent personnel to respond to crises the world over, making sure seafarers welfare is not being overlooked.

After spending a day on board the Dali, the group returned with chaplains who speak several Indian languages and has also advocated for the return of the the crews phones.

Local assistance groups the Baltimore International Seafarers Center and the Apostleship of the Sea have also been looking out for the stranded crew, and say they will continue to do so after the Dali returns to the port.

_____
Oversea-Chinese Banking (SGX:O39) First Quarter 2024 Results

Key Financial Results

Revenue: S$3.46b (up 6.7% from 1Q 2023).

Net income: S$1.98b (up 5.5% from 1Q 2023).

Profit margin: 57% (in line with 1Q 2023).

EPS: S$0.44.

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

Oversea-Chinese Banking Revenues and Earnings Beat Expectations

Revenue exceeded analyst estimates by 5.9%. Earnings per share (EPS) also surpassed analyst estimates significantly.

Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 3.7% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 8.3% growth forecast for the Banks industry in Asia.

Performance of the market in Singapore.

The company's shares are down 1.1% from a week ago.

Risk Analysis

Before we wrap up, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Oversea-Chinese Banking that you should be aware of.

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.
Republican U.S. House candidates, from left to right, Alex Balazs, Cara Mund and Rick Becker participate in Republican primary debate hosted by BEK TV on May 11, 2024. Candidates Julie Fedorchak and Sharlet Mohr did not attend the debate. (Screenshot/BEK TV livestream)

Three of the five Republican candidates for North Dakotas at-large U.S. House seat focused more on issues than personal attacks Saturday during the second NDGOP primary debate.

NDGOP-endorsed candidate Alex Balazs, former lawmaker Rick Becker and former Miss America Cara Mund answered questions from the moderators over 90 minutes and each took an opportunity to express disappointment that Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak failed to attend the debate.

At the start of the debate, hosted by BEK TV, Dale Wetzel, one of the debate moderators, said all five candidates were invited to participate.

Julie Fedorchak says she is otherwise scheduled, Wetzel said. Sharlet Mohr texted this morning to say that she was ill and could not take part.

Sean Cleary, campaign manager for Fedrochak, said her son graduated high school this year and his graduation party was this weekend. He added Fedorchak participated in the first debate and plans to attend two future debates before the primary election, if all the details can be worked out.

Weve been really busy talking to voters and had a booked schedule, Cleary said. I think there is going to be plenty of time for contrast between the candidates.

During the debate, Balazs and Becker discussed eliminating or revamping the countrys entitlement programs, such as Social Security, to address the nations debt concerns, while Mund vowed to protect benefits that people have been paying into their whole lives.

This is not a hand out from the government, Mund said. North Dakotans rely heavily on Social Security, on Medicare and veterans benefits and as a fiscal conservative, I will not cut these, but I will provide solutions.

The 30-year-old Mund said she was not opposed to raising the income cap on Social Security payments for higher-earning individuals to bring more revenue into the fund so it will be there when she retires.

Balazs said hes not going to cut Social Security, but also suggested later in the debate that cutting entitlements would be required to get the country into a better financial position.

Youre going to have to look at it as a whole and teach people what it means to cut entitlements because there are pieces of entitlements that are going away, Balazs said.

Becker called Social Security a government Ponzi scheme.

This is effectively a Ponzi scheme, Becker said. To not touch it is not a solution  I think the key is, we dont touch the benefits for the people that are relying on them right now, or in the very near future, but we must touch it.

Becker suggested increasing the age appropriate for withdrawal from age 67 to 68 and increasing the income cap would be temporary solutions for the funds solvency, but, ultimately, said he wants to convert the fund into a 401k-style system.

What we need to do is get a hold of our spending so we can put money in and convert it over from this Ponzi scheme into a private, 401k model, Becker said. We cant be afraid to say, we will reform this, because its our responsibility.

When asked how they would approach immigration at the southern border and the possibility of deportations, each candidate said they support changes at the southern border to ensure it is more secure and Balazs said everyone in the country illegally must be deported.

Yeah, were sending them all home, Balazs said. You cant start in this country as an illegal and then pretend like youre going to become a citizen and assimilate.

He added that most asylum claims taking place at the border are not valid claims and changes could be made to the work-visa program to allow immigrants more flexibility in moving between jobs on a job site.

Becker called the situation at the southern border an invasion, and said the country needs a secure border and stronger vetting of immigrants to ensure terrorists arent gaining admission.

If we can improve the flow of vetted immigrants, who are here for merit-based reasons, for opportunity, I think thats fantastic, Becker said. Adding, legal immigrants have been the backbone of the country for 200 years.

Mund said Republicans shouldve favored the bi-partisan foreign aid and border security bill, crafted by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., because it wouldve provided funding to help address the issue instead of just using it as a campaign talking point.

This is something that Republicans were able to bring forward under a Democratic president and we have to stop making the border a political statement, she said. I really think it was a missed opportunity on behalf of the party  to not work with the Democrats, who are technically getting a lot of heat for supporting this, because, to me, our safety, our communities (are) not a political statement and we need to secure the border and we need to secure it now.

During closing statements, Balazs, a military veteran, said he feels like hes the most experienced candidate in the field to do the best job for North Dakotans.

In this moment, today, with the challenges that are ahead of us, I think Im the right person to represent you in Washington and I want your vote, Balazs said. He added, as Memorial Day approaches, North Dakotans should take some time to share their familial stories about the military and support military service more than one weekend a year.

In her closing, Mund, an attorney, said shes labeled a one-issue candidate for her pro-choice views but abortion was never brought up.

In North Dakota, we have some of the strictest health care bans for women, Mund said. If we are a party of limited government, I want you out there to know that I joined this race because I am a proud Republican who thinks the government should not be in those spaces.

She lamented that there is no clinic currently operating in the state that performs abortion procedures.

When women in our state have to go through this procedure, it is not a choice of theirs, she said. Its because they either have an unviable pregnancy, its because their health is at-risk, and I want people to come to North Dakota and be empowered to know that they have a choice in how their lives are lived.

Becker, a plastic surgeon, thanked the two other candidates for sharing the debate stage, but highlighted Fedorchaks notable absence from the event.

For the candidate who chose not to be here, I think she has sent the viewers a message, loud and clear, Becker said. Im running because I believe America is in a very tough spot. We got here by sending people to Congress who did not have our backs, who buckled under pressure, who did not have the principles, or at least, did not have the spine to stand up for those principles.

He said wouldnt ever compromise his conservative principles and identifies as an America-first candidate.

I will be proud to represent you in the halls of Congress, he said.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken denies that US has double standards over Israels war conduct

Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the Biden administrations judgement on Israels military conduct as his department faced criticism this week for its assessment of war crime allegations.

A state department report, published on Friday, indicated that US officials believe Israel has, in some cases, violated international humanitarian laws regarding the treatment of civilians in Gaza.

However the report, issued in response to a directive from President Joe Biden, stopped short of directly finding Israel in violation of its weapons-trading agreement with Washington - allowing the administration some leeway around charges that US law is being violated.

Mr Blinken faced tough rounds of questioning over the report on Sundays political shows on 12 May.

Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, in February. The region is facing acute hunger and is on the brink of famine as the Israeli siege continues (AP)

He was asked by Kristen Welker on NBCs Meet the Press whether the US is applying a lighter standard to Israels government than it would to another US ally or trading partner.

Mr Secretary, is the US trying to avoid holding Israel accountable for its actions? she asked.

No. We dont have double standards, Mr Blinked replied. We treat Israel, one of our closest allies and partners, just as we would treat any other country, including in assessing something like international humanitarian law, and its compliance with that law.

Mr Blinken went on to say that the report concluded it was reasonable to assess that Israel had violated international humanitarian laws in some instances.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Israel on 1 May, 2024 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Such laws govern the conduct of war for all countries, such as forbidding the intentional targeting of civilians or the practice of prohibiting deliveries of food, water or medical assistance to civilian populations.

On CBS Face the Nation, the secretary said assessments of Israels conduct would be ongoing in the weeks ahead as Israels government appears to be preparing for an all-out assault on Rafah, a major civilian centre where more than a million refugees have fled from fighting in northern Gaza.

The Biden administration has come out strongly against such an operation, which the White House has repeatedly stressed it does not believe can be undertaken with adequate consideration for civilians caught in the crossfire.

President Biden echoed that concern in a CNN interview this past week. He indicated that his administration would hold up some further weapons shipments if the Israeli military began a full-scale assault on the city.

I made it clear that if they go into RafahI'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal ... with that problem, the president said.

Asked if the U.S. is pausing any weapons shipments to Israel apart from 3,500 so-called dumb bombs, @SecBlinken says The answer to that is no, but adds that if Israel invades Rafah, there's certain systems that we're not going to besupplying for that operation. pic.twitter.com/yLQHpkG0lQ  Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 12, 2024

The Biden administration has already held up one shipment of weapons to Israel but Mr Blinken made clear on Sunday that transfers of precision arms were still ongoing.

So are you following the delivery of any weapons beyond these 3500 bombs? Are you pausing, for example, precision munitions as some Republicans have claimed? Margaret Brennan asked on CBS.

The answer to that is no, Blinken said. At present, the only thing that we've delayed and are holding back are these high-payload bombs.

He went on to confirm Israels assessment that more Palestinian civilians have died than members of Hamas in the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza.

A growing number of Democrats are calling for the president to stop all weapons transfers to Israel as the death toll in Gaza mounts, and the conflict looks to be on the brink of entering a new, bloodier stage with a possible prolonged siege of Rafah on the horizon.

One of those Democrats is Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with them. On Sunday, he said that the US should not send a single nickel to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government going forward.

The reality is, I think any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law. It has broken American law, and in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in US military aid, Senator Sanders told NBC.

Another was Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen, one of the most vocal lawmakers calling for the US to apply the Leahy law to Israel - which prohibits transfers of US weapons to countries found to be committing war crimes.

On Sunday, he told CBS:"I fear that we have set...a very low standard for what's acceptable. And I think that will come back to haunt us."
James Ramos cant help but tell stories.

An Arizona-based young adult author, Ramos, who uses they/them pronouns, publishes stories for youth who feel out-of-place or underrepresented. They write for their dorky younger self, who ached to fit in, creating scenarios they never had the chance to experience in high school.

Ramos has three published works currently on the market: That Girl, Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Story (2015), The Wrong Kind of Weird (2023), and Daniel, Deconstructed (2024), the latter two being their most recent releases. All three distinctly highlight Ramos journey with authorship and personal identity.

The Wrong Kind of Weird involves nerdy high school senior Cameron Carson as he navigates young love and mixed emotions when a summer fling with queen bee Karla Ortega drags him into senior year, along with Mackenzie Briggs, who is unapologetically herself. Carson is faced with a battle between his head and his heart  between fitting in and finding himself.

Daniel, Deconstructed follows Daniel Sanchez, a high schooler with autism, as he navigates matchmaking his soccer star best friend, Mona Sinclair, and nonbinary new student Gabe Mendes. During this endeavor, Sanchez navigates the complexities of high school romance while learning to cope with his autism.

Through these stories, Ramos tries to reach out to young adults who need a helping hand or a safe space.

Growing up a writer

Ramos grew up in Minnesota in a very conservative religious household, where the arts were seen as trivial and impractical. Since writing was not seen as a useful pastime, they learned to hone their craft in secret, starting their writing journey as early as 8 years old.

At one point, Ramoss mom found all of their story-filled notebooks, stacks of them.

She took them all out to the grill in our backyard and burned them, and I had to watch, Ramos told The Arizona Republic. This pushed them to give up on storytelling for a short period. During that time, Ramos began to believe that their writing wasnt worth the strife it brought into their life.

But eventually, the words came calling. I realized I cant stop telling stories, Im just compelled to, they said. Thats when I kind of knew that this is something that is very important to me so Im just going to pursue it.

It took time, but eventually, Ramos was able to publish their first book in 2015.

Today, having made Arizona their current home, they spend their time at Valley bookstores, like Changing Hands in Tempe, find joy at different comic conventions cosplaying their favorite superhero, Spider-Man, and find purpose in speaking with teens and young adults about the meaning behind the beloved characters that make their novels come to life.

Inspiration and emulation

Ramos reading and writing journey started with the book their sister carried in her purse at all times, Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice.

I fell in love with it, Ramos said, referring to both Austens storytelling and character-building abilities.

I try to capture some of that in my books, they said of the 19th-century authors wit. Like Austen, Ramos tries to have the characters make minute observations and judgments that can provide a new perspective to a situation that would have been mundane otherwise. Ramos places characters in familiar settings to readers but tries to give the situation a different spin, they said.

Author James Ramos poses for a portrait at Burton Barr Central Library on March 17, 2024, in Phoenix.

With pretty much everything, I think, What would Jane Austen do? How would she write these characters? Ramos said.

The complexity of Frank Herberts Dune series also appealed to them and has helped them to strengthen and take risks with their writing.

I try to remind myself not to be afraid to have a bunch of characters because that just gives you more room to play and more to bounce off of.

When writing characters, Ramos tries to keep their function in mind, considering what roles are being filled and how important they are to the overall narrative.

Ramos takes the intricacy and attention to detail that they came to love and appreciate in Austen and Herberts work and tries to apply it to their contemporary writing, offering them unique pathways to investigate identity in young adult literature.

For Ramos, creating these stories involves so much more than just writing, becoming enthralled in the characters' lives and journeys and finding it difficult to let go of them as projects come to an end.

Author James Ramos poses for a portrait at Burton Barr Central Library on March 17, 2024, in Phoenix.

Their first book, a Pride and Prejudice retelling titled That Girl, Darcy, had Ramos grieving characters once the book was published and the project complete. When it was over, I got super depressed because it was like saying goodbye to people I had spent so much time with, so I was really sad for a couple of months, they said.

But it became a learning experience.

As their career progressed and they began working with a team, the writing process was far more involved and required them to spend more time with the characters. As their work on The Wrong Kind of Weird was wrapping up, Ramos felt ready to move on and tackle Daniel, Deconstructed."

Knowing what writing project comes next makes it easier to break with the characters, they said, describing the dynamic between writer and characters similar to a friendship.

'Being a teenager is a lot'

For Ramos, their writing reflects different eras of their life and their personal connection with identity.

I think the themes are what have evolved with me, Ramos said. The Wrong Kind of Weird was about embracing who you are and owning your weirdness, and then Daniel, Deconstructed is a similar theme, but its a little bit different because its about being autistic.

The young adult authors exploration of their own identity  being neurodivergent and non-binary  has allowed them to connect with younger audiences, they said, recalling a recent trip to Baltimore where they spoke with both high school and middle schoolers.

Ramos said they appreciated the bluntness of the young audiences, noting that after they told the seventh-grade crowd they were non-binary, the audience clapped.

Ive never been applauded for, like, coming out, they said. It gave me a lot of faith in the younger generations, theyre doing alright.

Author James Ramos poses for a portrait at Burton Barr Central Library on March 17, 2024, in Phoenix.

As Ramos recalled their young adulthood, a singular motif became overwhelmingly clear: being a teenager is a lot. There is a seemingly endless parade of firsts and larger-than-life emotions, which is why they feel that youth representation in literature is crucial.

Young readers are important, especially teens and middle-grade. I think its really important that they have literature where they feel seen and represented, they said. The books that I read when I was that age, they still stick with me now.

Industry and community

It took Ramos ten years to find an agent as they launched their career in writing. Now, they work with an agent, a publisher and a team of editors.

The publishing company they work with, Inkyard Press, shares the same determination as Ramos: produce stories that are diverse and inclusive.

"For young adult readers, tales of identity can help to offer hope and understanding as they discover who they are, and by reading a diverse array of stories, they can begin to understand how they fit into the world," Inkyard publisher Loriana Sacilotto said.

Its been so gratifying to see the enthusiasm from booksellers, librarians, and readers for Jamess novels as an important new inclusive voice in YA," Sacilotto said.

More prevalent than Ramos' team of editors, however, is their community.

I think I owe a lot of my journey and what has happened to the people that Ive met because theyve allowed me to be myself, they said.

Ramos said they have found understanding in people who are like them, who are openly, unabashedly nerdy. Their support system is primarily cosplayers and authors, they said.

Finding themselves has been a process. When they were younger, Ramos tried to be someone they were not. They suppressed the nerd in them to try to fit in and be well-liked.

As they continue to embark on their journey of authorship, Ramos has fully embraced their person  dorkiness and all.

Reach reporter Abigail Beck at abeck@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: James Ramos grew up a nerdy teen. Now they write stories about them
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) offered a baffling comparison of Israels war on Gaza to the U.S. decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan during World War II, telling Israel to do whatever you have to do to finish the military campaign.

Speaking to NBCs Kristin Welker on Meet the Press Sunday morning, Graham made the argument that Israel would be justified in slaughtering civilians in Gaza by likening the situation to the U.S.s war with Japan eight decades ago. He suggested Israel would be right to flatten the Gaza striphome to 2.2 million Palestinians, half of whom are childrensimply because the U.S. did it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the 1940s.

So when we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki, with nuclear weapons, Graham began.

The senator continued to call the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the right decision by the U.S. That decision ended the war with Japan, but killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians between the initial blasts and the deadly radiation that followed.

Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they cant afford to lose, and work with them to minimize casualties, Graham insisted.

It was unclear how he believed the U.S. and Israel could work to minimize casualties, since bombs tend not to discriminate between civilians and militants upon detonation.

Grahams comments were so extreme that even Welker was taken aback, unsuccessfully attempting to interject as the senator talked over her.

Can I say this? Graham continued. Why is it okay for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Why is it okay for us to do that? I thought it was okay.

Lindsey Graham Says Theres No Limit to Gaza Deaths That Would Make Him Question Israel

Of course, the presumption that the U.S. was justified in nuking Japan to end World War II has been contested by historians and other critics for decades. Those bombs also decimated nearly all of Hiroshimas and Nagasakis medical infrastructures, making it nearly impossible to deliver aid to the injured and dying, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Grahams comments came as Israel appears poised to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, which the U.N. and the Biden administration have warned would be catastrophic for the 1.4 million people sheltering there. On Sunday, as Graham went on national television to suggest incinerating Gaza, the U.N. secretary general pleaded once more to prevent the area from spiraling into all-out devastation.

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Donald Trump is entering the home stretch of his vice presidential selection process.

The Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee next week.

Trump has a lot of factors to weigh in his decision.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to name is running mate in less than a week, ending his vice presidential selection process.

According to multiple reports, Trump has likely narrowed his focus to the shortlist of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. In the end, only Trump knows what will happen.

It's quite possible the former president could turn to someone else on the much larger list of names he once viewed as potential vice presidents.

Trump told Fox News on Monday that President Joe Biden's disastrous debate has factored in slightly into his decision, given the small possibility that Biden could drop out.

Even if he wins in November, Trump will reenter office as a lame duck. It means his apprentice will have the inside track to replace him in 2028  a fundamentally different reality than the one he faced in 2016.

So, with that in mind, here's Business Insider's final vice presidential power ranking.

Here's where things stand:

Sen. JD Vance, a Ohio Republican, could end up becoming one of the youngest vice presidents in modern memory. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

1. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio (Previously 2)

Vance has been one of the biggest risers since our initial rankings almost two months ago. It's not hard to see why.

The 39-year-old has pivoted far beyond his "Never Trumper" past. He's now as close to Trump's base as any elected official. He's also reportedly close to Donald Trump Jr. Vance was also the first of Trump's possible vice presidential picks to go to Manhattan to show his support during the former president's historic criminal trial.

Vance hasn't been afraid to push Trump's worldview in a chamber that, unlike the House, is more likely to defy the former president. It's been an extraordinary rise since the Ohioian was sworn in just last year.

His selection would underline the expectation Trump would ensure his second administration is filled with loyalists. But Vance would likely do little to help Trump expand his appeal.

As a former venture capitalist, Vance has ties to the more conservative Silicon Valley leaders who could help buck up Trump's fundraising. Like many on this list, Vance has questioned the results of the 2020 election. He's gone even further recently by suggesting that former Vice President Mike Pence has overplayed the extent to which his life was under threat during the Capitol riot.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota Ethan Miller/Getty Images

2. Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota (Previously 4)

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum spent his brief 2024 run paying supporters to donate to his campaign. His campaign's biggest moment was arguably when he injured his leg before a primary debate.

Despite that inauspicious moment and a forgettable primary effort, he's receiving serious consideration. Burgum's newness to the national scene remains his biggest obstacle.

Burgum has gained some key allies while under Trump's reported consideration. The Wall Street Journal Editorial board, often considered the voice of the GOP's establishment, is behind him. So, too, is Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank veteran. Other Wall Street types are also intrigued by his possibility.

Then again, Trump tried a Midwestern governor straight out of central casting who was not supposed to outshine him. Unlike Pence, Burgum blazed a path in business before getting into politics. The North Dakotan sold his software company to Microsoft for over $1 billion in 2001. As CNBC pointed out, Burgum could write a massive check to Trump's campaign.

Former President Donald Trump campaigned for Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a former 2016 GOP arrival, ahead of the 2022 midterms. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

3. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida (Previously 3)

Florida, man. If Rubio represented any other state, he would be atop our list. That's because the biggest hurdle for Rubio isn't likely anything in his past. Instead, he faces very real concerns about residing in the same state as Trump.

As Politifact explained, the Constitution has been interpreted not to allow electors from the same state to vote for a president and vice president who also reside in that state. That means a Trump-Rubio ticket could lose out on Florida's 30 electoral votes, even if they won the state. According to the Bulwark, Rubio would be willing to move, but he might have to make up his mind soon.

Rubio would be the most obvious choice for a Trump pick poised to help the GOP hold the White House in 2028. After all, the Floridian was once proclaimed the future of the Republican Party.

He is not a MAGA-whisper like Vance, but the Floridian found ways other ways work with his former 2016 primary rival while in office. Rubio has also shown he'll shift his views, most notably he was one of the main architects of the bipartisan, sweeping 2013 immigration legislation that would have offered undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

Like many 2016 foes, Rubio is also on record hammering Trump  including his cringey mocking of the future president's hand size (Rubio later apologized for that).

Former President Donald Trump smiles behind Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who endorsed Trump after ending his own 2024 campaign. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

4. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina (Previously 1):

Scott has been on Trump's shortlist from the beginning. He also led the other two editions of our power rankings.

He doesn't have the constitutional questions that Rubio would face. He has been on the national stage longer than Burgum. He could also expand Trump's appeal with a historic candidacy.

Scott behaved like he wanted the job, but it doesn't seem like he made the final cut. In early June, Scott's allied political action committee would spend $14 million targeting voters of color. He has shown fundraising prowess that could be greatly appreciated down the stretch of the general election. It helps that Scott has a relationship with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who, according to CNBC, is pushing him to get picked.

The 58-year-old would also be a historic choice. He's already the first Black Republican elected from the South since Reconstruction. Some Trump aides have urged the former president to balance out his 2024 ticket by picking a person of color.

That all being said, we've talked up Scott before. And he dropped out before the Iowa caucuses.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York was the first member of House GOP leadership to endorse Trump. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

5. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York (Previously 5)

Stefanik has clearly staked her ground as a Trump ally. She was the first member of House leadership to have endorsed Trump for his 2024 run. She endeared herself to his political base for her defense of the president during his first impeachment trial. Stefanik garnered national attention recently for grilling college presidents over their handling of antisemitism. She was once more liberal than Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, but her rise in the GOP has coincided with a reinvention as a Trump-aligned Republican.

The New Yorker hails from a state that is never going to back Trump. But scores of studies show that the home-state boosts for vice presidents isn't all it's cracked up to be. Perhaps it's not surprising then that none of the top-tier names on Trump's list hail from a current swing state. Still, Stefanik's selection would be historic. She would be only the fourth woman to share a major party's ticket. Republicans, especially Trump, have struggled with suburban women, but it's not clear that tapping a woman would automatically cure that problem.

Biden may also delight in the selection of a House GOP leader. The president has repeatedly called attention to the drama that has gripped the lower chamber. Voters are likely to care more about the economy than Speaker Mike Johnson's job status, but the level of in-fighting in the GOP is so bad that multiple sitting lawmakers have quit their jobs early.

The rest of the pack

6. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas (Previously 7): Cotton's career is bookended by fights with The New York Times  mostly recently over his 2020 op-ed calling for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell riots in the wake of George Floyd's killing. The GOP senator was a loyal Trump ally, including defending the then-president's push to buy Greenland.

Unlike others on this list, Cotton notably did not vote against certifying the 2020 election. He was also harshly critical of one of Trump's biggest bipartisan achievements, the First Step Act, arguing that criminal justice reform failed to do enough to protect public safety.

7. Former HUD Secretary Ben Carson (Previously 6): Trump still has close feelings for his former Cabinet official. Carson also hails from the key state of Michigan. He's also still an avowed supporter of a national abortion ban, a topic Trump has tried everything in his power to avoid. Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney thinks Carson will be picked because unlike other vice presidential hopefuls, he doesn't covet the top job.

8. Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida (Previously 8): Like Rubio, Donalds gets docked for the potential home state conundrum. Donalds has risen rapidly in the eyes of many of his House GOP colleagues. He has close relationships with the House conservatives that forced former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's historic ouster and have frustrated Speaker Mike Johnson, but he hasn't participated in either effort to challenge the men directly.

9. Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia (Previously 10): Youngkin skipped out on a late 2024 run to focus on state legislative elections. The Republican was supposed to show how the GOP can talk about abortion in competitive areas. It didn't work out. Still, he has the personal wealth and connections to seriously help a Trump campaign. Plus, per CNBC, Rupert Murdoch likes him.

10. A wild card like Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas: Sanders would offer diversity to a ticket, something some Trump advisors said they wanted when this process started. She also cut a national profile for herself as White House press secretary.

11. Anyone else: Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are off our list, but either of them are less risky than someone who killed a dog.

12. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (Still last): Noem could have been a contender. But when your top Google results are about dog killing, it's safe to say your chances are pretty much over. The prediction markets seem to think so, too.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A military helicopter hovers over the French Quarter of New Orleans five days after the city was struck by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The relief response was the largest in the history of the National Guard to that time, with 60,000 troops from all 50 states deployed.

A military helicopter hovers over the French Quarter of New Orleans five days after the city was struck by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The relief response was the largest in the history of the National Guard to that time, with 60,000 troops from all 50 states deployed. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)

Nearly 20 years ago, in the chaotic days following Hurricane Katrina, I found myself embedded with a Missouri National Guard military police company. I was reporting for a daily newspaper in southwest Missouri  the Joplin Globe  and I say found myself because I was at the mercy of whatever state guard unit would have me as a correspondent.

The unit that gave me a seat in one of its Humvees for the long ride to Louisiana was the 1138th Military Police Company, headquartered at West Plains, Missouri. When we started out my media credentials were still being processed, and by the time I was officially embedded we were nearly to New Orleans. Eating and bunking with the company, I had plenty of time to talk with the soldiers, and what struck me was the seriousness with which they approached their mission.

Lately my thoughts have increasingly turned to my days embedded with the Missouri 1138th because of the power struggle between the Kansas Legislature and Gov. Laura Kelly over deploying the Kansas National Guard to Texas. The GOP-controlled Legislature has earmarked $15.7 million to send troops to support the Texas campaign against undocumented immigrants, while Kelly has no plans to do so.

Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed the provision in the budget bill to fund the deployment, but the Kansas House and Senate overrode that veto. But because the governor is the only state official with the actual authority to deploy the guard, Kelly has the last word, supermajorities or no.

During peacetime, Guard forces may be called up only by a states governor, through the adjutant generals office, to respond to local or statewide emergencies. In addition, the president can deploy the Guard on national and international missions, for both humanitarian and military objectives. When federalized, the Guard falls under the same chain of command as regular troops. The 1138th, for example, had supported combat missions in the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, to name two. In 1989, in Panama, it was the first Army National Guard unit activated since the Vietnam War.

My experience embedded with the 1138th in the aftermath of Katrina informs my belief that Kelly is doing the right thing for the right reasons. The Guard, famously composed of citizen soldiers who are our friends and neighbors, is at its best when it is helping Americans through natural disasters.

Katrina was among the deadliest natural disasters in American history, according to the National Hurricane Center, claiming about 1,400 lives. It was also the costliest, with damage estimates well over $100 billion. The hurricane struck the Gulf coast the morning of Aug. 29, 2005, and within days the largest ever National Guard mobilization followed. The 125 soldiers of the 1138th were among 50,000 Guard troops mobilized from every state and territory, including Kansas, in the two weeks following the storm. Since then, the National Guard has described the disaster response to Katrina as its finest hour. The mobilization was three times larger than any previous relief operation and resembled the Berlin Air Lift in logistics.

There were many failures with Katrina, both before and after the storm, as detailed in a 2006 congressional report. The flooding that came after the levees broke was a predictable outcome that city, state, and federal authorities ignored until it was too late. But the response of the National Guard, although perceived as slow by some, resulted in thousands of rescues.

The Guard saved lives.

It wasnt so much the storm that devastated New Orleans, because the hurricane had weakened from a Category 5 to a Category 3 by the time it engulfed the city, but a failure of civil engineering. The levees that protected the city from flooding failed, and within 24 hours about 80% of the city was under water. The citys infrastructure also collapsed, including power and communications, and police abuses ranged from dereliction of duty to killing evacuees attempting to cross a bridge to safety.

A Humvee splashes through floodwaters in the central business district of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.

It would take years for the full and horrific story of Katrina to be told. All that members of the 1138th knew on their way south was that they were heading into a challenging and potentially dangerous situation and their mission was to help people. The company represented a cross-section of Missouri, from rural kids from the Ozarks to young Black men from the St. Louis area. At first they regarded my presence with skeptical amusement, then they tolerated me, and eventually they spoke to me freely.

The companys supply sergeant was worried about having chainsaws in case the unit had to open up roofs to save evacuees. Others had been listening to reports of widespread looting in the city and were concerned about being sent into what seemed a lawless situation. Those reports, we now know, were misleading and made the crisis worse by stoking fear and suspicion. It became difficult, in the minds of some, to tell evacuees clutching their possessions from thieves with their loot.

Much of the conversation at night, among groups of these citizen soldiers, was about what they would do if ordered to fire on American citizens who were looting. The company had already been briefed on rules of engagement and were told to expect to be issued live ammo. What followed was a grassroots debate, among hillbillies and urbanites, Black and white, laborers and professionals, that centered on ethics. How could one justify the use of lethal force for a property crime, especially if that television set was being traded for food in a community where all safety nets had collapsed? The consensus among the discussions I heard was that if ordered to shoot looters, they would refuse.

Of course, it did not come to that. Just before arriving in New Orleans the company received orders to play a supporting role in nearby Kenner, Louisiana. I did make it into the city, by hitching rides on other National Guard vehicles. I saw the worst of the flooding and much human suffering. A few days later, I was at a command center waiting for a Humvee ride to Baton Rouge, where I would file my stories. There was a big-screen television hooked up to a satellite feed that had CNN playing and as I stood there and watched coverage of the relief efforts, somebody smoking a cigar came up behind me and asked where I was from.

It was Lt. General Russel L. Honore, the commander of Joint Task Force Katrina. Honore, who later became famous for his advice Dont get stuck on stupid, was in charge of the entire military relief effort. He asked me what Id seen and I told him. Then he asked me how I had gotten around, and I told him I had hitched rides, and that seemed to please him. Thats the way its done, he said. Then he was called away.

In his 2021 book, Honore elaborated on his catchphrase by providing principles that guide his leadership. They include, Are we doing the right thing  or are we choosing the easier wrong over the harder right? Also, is the decision based on some partisanship ideal, religious belief, or demagoguery?

While I cant speak for Honore on what he would think of the current situation, an application of his principles with respect to deploying the Kansas National Guard to Texas suggests that doing so would be an example of being stuck on stupid.

To send the men and women of the Kansas National Guard on a politically motivated, quasi-military mission to secure the southern border is to invite disaster. Injecting the Guard into such a charged political atmosphere on American soil is to invite another Kent State. It is also a step along the way to using the Guard to seize voting machines, as was contemplated by the Trump administration, or creating a Fort Sumter-like standoff between state and federal authorities that could be the spark for the next civil war. At the moment, we are in a kind of cold secession. More than a dozen Republican governors have already sent Guard troops to Eagle Pass, Texas, a small town on the Rio Grande that has emerged as the Checkpoint Charlie of the immigration war, razor wire and all.

What is happening at Eagle Pass is not a political stunt, nor are the actions by red state governors to send the National Guard there as support. It is a manifestation of a kind of democracy death wish by state supremacists to militarily challenge the federal government. These are the election (and reality) deniers who would trade democracy and the will of the majority for authoritarianism and oppression by the few  or the one. On womens reproductive rights, immigration, diversity, and gender and economic equality, the rallying cry of these provincial prefects is states rights, just as it was 164 years ago. Do not forgive them, for they know what they do.

Those justifying their embrace of authoritarianism as the future of government in the twenty-first century say that democracy is obsolete, writes Heather Cox Richardson in Democracy Awakening, her 2023 book. Some argue that popular government responds too slowly to the rapid pace of the modern world and that strong countries need a leader who can make fast decisions without trying to create a consensus among the people.

But the concept that human beings have the right to determine their own fates is as true today, Richardson says, as it was for the signing of the Declaration of Independence or FDRs New Deal. Self-determination was, and is, a radical idea. It is not claiming to be above the law, but to be of the law, with your rights judged as equal to others. This is what todays libertarians and MAGA maniacs just dont get, that you have a right to your constitutional freedoms, but not the right to trample on others.

Flood waters surround the Superdome in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

We have today a powerful phalanx of politicians who would deny us that right to choose for ourselves how to live  whether we are writing from a book-filled room on Constitution Street in Emporia, or wading to an unknown shore toward the promise of a better life, drawn by the lamp of liberty.

To deny the humanity in others is to deny the humanity in ourselves.

A sweeping statement, I know, and I can already hear the howls of my critics.

Fentanyl! Human trafficking! Gang violence! Foreign acquisition of farmland!

Yes, there are criminals among undocumented immigrants, but studies show they are less prone to crime than U.S. residents. Foreign purchase of land? Not a significant threat. And while immigration presents a considerable challenge in this era of political, cultural and climate-driven displacement, we must always remember that we are dealing with fellow human beings.

Who constitutes a human being has been the overwhelming question driving the American experiment. We have gotten it badly wrong at times, from counting Black people as three-fifths of a person to denying women the vote. The definition of who deserves the inalienable rights guaranteed us by the founders has always been what threatens to break us as a nation. Until recently, we moved in fits and starts toward a definition that is progressively more equal and inclusive. Yet, the current authoritarian impulses of a minority of Americans is threatening to undo us and plunge us back to the pre-Civil War days when your freedoms were largely defined not by the federal government, but by the state where you lived.

Again we have this idea that states can go their own way and define independently who is a human being in full, and deserving of the right to self-determination. Undocumented migrants, women seeking abortions, voting populations who have been gerrymandered into the margin  all of these are, for the purposes of state supremacists, not human beings. The will of the majority be damned.

Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy, Abraham Lincoln said in his first inaugural address, about a month before Southern troops fired the first shots of the Civil War on the federal garrison at Fort Sumter on May 12, 1861. A majority  is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or despotism.

Let us not invite calamity by putting the Kansas National Guard in the chaos of a cold secession movement that might become hot in an instant. Kelly must stand fast on her refusal. Our GOP lawmakers in Topeka are dabbling with a fire they do not understand.

Max McCoy is an award-winning author and journalist. Through its opinion section, the 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 Send the Kansas National Guard to Texas? Only if you despise democracy. appeared first on Kansas Reflector.
Seven killed in Ukraine missile attack on Belgorod

The collapsed part of a Russian block of flats in Belgorod, hit by a Ukrainian missile - Reuters

A Ukrainian missile has hit an apartment block in the Russian border city of Belgorod as cross-border attacks intensify.

At least seven people were killed and 17 injured, according to Russian officials, when at least 12 missiles rained down on the neighbourhood at around 11.40am local time.

Russian news agencies said others were still trapped under the rubble.

Footage showed a gaping hole in a large section of a 10-storey block after being hit by a missile, or fragments of a missile.

Part of the building then collapses, sending people rushing for cover as they are enveloped in a cloud of dust and debris.

Russian emergency services remove debris while searching for survivors - Reuters

Russia said that Ukraine used Tochka ballistic missiles, Adler and RM-70 Vampire multiple launch rocket systems in the attack.

Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged an apartment building in the city of Belgorod, the Russian defence ministry said.

However, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region, believes the apartment was levelled in a direct hit.

Mr Gladkov said that 62 apartments in three blocks had been damaged.

Ambulance teams are working at the scene of the emergency in full force, he said.

The gaping hole in the flats hit by a missile in Belgorod - AFP via Getty

The attack follows a raid by Russian infantry across the border north of Kharkiv, the first of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

On Sunday, more than 4,000 people were forced to flee from the area near Kharkiv since Russia launched its surprise offensive on Friday.

Ukrainian officials said civilians were being led to safety amid reports Russian troops just walked in to capture villages before fighting erupted.

In March, Vladimir Putin suggested that Moscow could try to establish a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory.

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Four police officers were injured during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin at the weekend, a police spokeswoman said on Sunday.

A total of 49 police officers were also deprived of their liberty during the demonstration on Saturday, she added, noting that 39 criminal proceedings against demonstrators were initiated.

At the rally in the districts of Neukolln and Kreuzberg, which was attended by around 1,500 people at its peak, participants repeatedly chanted pro-Palestinian slogans. Police said what they described as an anti-Semitic statement was also shouted loudly over a loudspeaker van.

When the rally ended in the evening, individual demonstrators threw bottles at police officers. The injured officers were able to remain on duty, the police reported.

Investigations are now under way into offences against the Freedom of Assembly Act, attempted release of detainees and assault on law enforcement officers.

Since the attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement on October 7, there have been repeated demonstrations in Berlin in connection with the Gaza war, several of which have involved altercations with police.
Sharks in Guadalupe River? What the city of New Braunfels has to say

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (KXAN)  The City Of New Braunfels addressed concerns Wednesday about the possibility of sharks in the Guadalupe River.

Despite recent social media posts warning tubers about a shark being caught in the Guadalupe River, there have been no reports of sharks in the relatively shallow freshwater of the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels, the city said.

According to a social media post from the city, the Guadalupe River is roughly 230 miles long, stretching from Kerr County to the Gulf of Mexico, with six hydroelectric dams along the river between New Braunfels and the coast.

Although it is technically possible for bull sharks to swim in freshwater, there are very likely no sharks in the rivers in New Braunfelsprobably the city joked.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
UPDATE: A 45-year-old man riding a bicycle was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in Fabens on Sunday afternoon, May 12, the El Paso County Sheriffs Office said.

The incident happened at about 1:30 p.m. at the intersection of North Fabens Road and Austin.

During the investigation, deputies learned that 45-year-old Jesus Vega of Fabens was riding his bicycle across the train tracks while the crossing gates were down. At the same time, the Amtrak train, with its passengers, was passing through and struck and killed Vega, the Sheriffs Office said.

There were no injuries reported among the staff or passengers on the train, the Sheriffs Office said.

Special Traffic Investigators and the Crime Scene Unit with the Sheriffs Office joined with the railroad police and an investigator with the Medical Examiners Office to look into the crash.

ORIGINAL STORY: EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  The El Paso County Sheriffs Office is investigating an incident involving a pedestrian and a train Sunday afternoon, May 12 in Fabens, Texas.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. deputies responded to a call regarding what they called a pedestrian vs. train incident at the intersection of Camp Street and Fabens Road.

The Sheriffs Office said Camp Street to Main Street will be closed off for the next couple of hours while they investigate.

Additionally, special investigators were called to the scene.

The Sheriffs Office did not specify if the pedestrian was hurt, if there were any transports or what led up to the incident.

This is a developing story and we will update once we learn more.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
Key Insights

Significant insider control over Dufu Technology Berhad implies vested interests in company growth

A total of 7 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership

Institutional ownership in Dufu Technology Berhad is 21%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Dufu Technology Corp. Berhad (KLSE:DUFU), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 35% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

So it follows, every decision made by insiders of Dufu Technology Berhad regarding the company's future would be crucial to them.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Dufu Technology Berhad.

Check out our latest analysis for Dufu Technology Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Dufu Technology Berhad?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Dufu Technology Berhad already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Dufu Technology Berhad, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Dufu Technology Berhad. Our data suggests that Hui-Ta Lee, who is also the company's Top Key Executive, holds the most number of shares at 23%. When an insider holds a sizeable amount of a company's stock, investors consider it as a positive sign because it suggests that insiders are willing to have their wealth tied up in the future of the company. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 9.6% and 5.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We also observed that the top 7 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Story continues

Insider Ownership Of Dufu Technology Berhad

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Dufu Technology Corp. Berhad. It has a market capitalization of just RM1.2b, and insiders have RM414m worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 34% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Dufu Technology Berhad. 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 11%, of the company's shares. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Dufu Technology Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Dufu Technology Berhad (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.
Compounding problems in jails

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn is right: Jails have become de facto mental health institutions. (May 9, 1A, Residents urge release of inmate with mental health issues) However, the blame must be distributed. It is time to hold our local social service authorities, department heads and elected officials accountable for mental health issues in jail.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that almost half of all incarcerated inmates have been diagnosed with mental illness. Many of these individuals have substance abuse issues, too. Many pre-arrest and community transition triage functions are used throughout the country. Tarrant Countys system is obviously not working.

Do people know and not care, or do they care and dont know?

- Leslie J. Smith, Grapevine

Wrong way to help the homeless

The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of criminalizing homelessness. Its understandable that many communities are overwhelmed and frustrated with the problems caused by the homeless. Unfortunately, leaders follow their old pattern  the quick fix of lock them up.

Where has that taken us? To crime, and the money drain and sociological failure of our prison system.

Prison is necessary to protect the public from violent offenders and career criminals. However, our limited resources must be spent wisely. In recent years, almost half of U.S. homicides are unsolved  a statistic that has worsened over time. Police should be finding and incarcerating murderers and other dangerous criminals instead of rounding up the homeless.

Rather than building more prisons, why not build housing? How is incarceration better than treating people with mental illness and addiction and raising people out of poverty?

- Sherry Robinson, Woodway

Help the people, not corporations

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons effort to stop income assistance shows how out of touch our leaders are. (May 5, 5C, Why is Paxton going after this anti-poverty pilot program?) Many Americans are struggling to survive. Is this how generations of Texas residents, veterans and the elderly are to be treated? Refusing to help those in need, restricting what women do with their bodies, sending armed guards after college students  Texas is going backward.

While billions go overseas for foreign aid and companies continue to hire from outside the state and country, Texans in need cant even receive much-needed help.

- Tawny Denton, The Woodlands

Park Hill belongs in history books

I loved Richard Selcers May 5 feature about Fort Worth history. (1C, University Place sprang up as isolated suburb near TCU) Next year, Park Hill will be 100 years old. We have lived here for 10 wonderful years, and we suggest its motto should be: Just rich enough.

- Chuck Noteboom, Fort Worth

Israel-Hamas deserves clarity

News organizations should not portray protests of the war in Gaza as a conflict between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli supporters. It is possible to oppose attacks on innocent civilians ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to feel deep sympathy for Jewish communities who suffered brutal attacks by Hamas.

If elections were held in Israel today, Netanyahu would almost certainly lose.

The U.S. government is in an almost impossible position, trying to defend the existence of an important ally while supporting the creation of a Palestinian state. If student protests make it clear that Netanyahus position is unsupportable, it might help efforts to end the war.

- Karen Myers, Fort Worth
With the shock of Oct. 7 still raw, profound sadness and anger grip Israel on its Memorial Day

Israeli soldiers and family members of fallen soldiers visit their graves on the eve of the country's annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of nationalistic attacks at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  Ruby Chens son, Itay, was killed in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. But unlike scores of other families of soldiers killed that day, Chen doesnt have a grave to visit because his sons remains are held captive in Gaza.

The absence of a final resting place is being felt acutely now, as Israel marks its Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, when cemeteries are brimming with relatives mourning over the graves of their loved ones.

Where are we supposed to go? Chen said. There is no burial site for us to go to.

Memorial Day is always a somber occasion in Israel, a country that has suffered through repeated war and conflict throughout its 76-year history. But Chens torment underscores how this year it has taken on a profound and raw sadness coupled with percolating anger over the failures of Oct. 7 and the war it sparked.

Families of the fallen, along with broad segments of the public, are demanding accountability from political and military leaders over the blunders that led to the deaths of hundreds in the deadliest attack in the countrys history.

Too many people were killed on that day because of a colossal misjudgment, said Chen, who for months thought his son was still alive after he was snatched into Gaza, before receiving confirmation earlier this year that he was dead. People who made the misjudgment need to pay, from the prime minister down.

Israel marks its Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of attacks beginning at sundown Sunday with an official ceremony and smaller events the following day at military cemeteries across the country. The solemnity is then abruptly interrupted by the fanfare of Independence Day, which begins Monday evening.

Grouping the two days together is intentionally meant to highlight the link between the costly wars Israel has fought and the establishment and survival of the state, a contrast that this year will be hard to reconcile at a time when Israel is actively engaged in warfare and Israelis feel more insecure than ever.

With the trauma of Oct. 7 looming large, each day is expected to feel dramatically different from previous years.

More than 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Oct. 7, when thousands of militants rampaged across southern Israeli military bases and sleepy communities on a Jewish holiday.

Roughly 1,200 people were killed that day, about a quarter of them soldiers, and another 250 were taken captive into Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. The attack sparked the war, now in its eighth month, which has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to local health officials.

The militants stormed past Israels vaunted defenses, bursting through a border fence, blinding surveillance cameras and battling the countrys first line of defense soldiers, many of whom were outnumbered. Itay Chen, an Israeli-American, was one of them.

Militants reached roughly 20 different locations in southern Israel, stretching into cities beyond the belt of farming communities that straddles Gaza. It took hours for the regions most powerful military to send reinforcements to the area and days for it to clear all the militants.

The attack shook Israel to its core. It shattered the broad trust the countrys Jewish population has long placed in the military, which has compulsory enlistment for most Jewish 18-year-olds.

Beyond the crisis of confidence in the military, the attack smashed Israelis faith in their government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose public support plummeted. Thousands of people take part in weekly protests demanding an early election so that a new leadership can take over.

Military and defense leaders have said they shoulder the blame for what transpired during the attack, and the country's head of military intelligence resigned as a result. But Netanyahu has stopped short of accepting responsibility, saying that he will answer tough questions after the war and even blaming his security chiefs last year in a late night post on X that he later deleted. His refusal to own up to his role has infuriated many.

But many Israelis have also lost patience with the protracted war, where soldiers continue to die and where thousands have been wounded.

The war's twin aims, of defeating Hamas' governing and military capabilities and freeing the hostages, haven't been accomplished, casting a shadow over events typically meant as a salute to the military's prowess, said Idit Shafran Gittleman, an expert on the military and Israeli society at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank. Tens of thousands of Israelis also remain displaced from the country's south and volatile north.

Since Oct. 7, Israelis have asked themselves how they will endure Memorial Day and Independence Day. And I dont think anyone has an answer, she said, adding that the one thing that might improve public sentiment is an election and a new government.

The anger that has surged is likely to boil over at the Memorial Day ceremonies, which take place at military cemeteries across the country. The ceremonies are typically seen as sacred, solemn and apolitical, even though they are attended by government ministers and lawmakers.

Some families have asked that the ministers refrain from joining, fearing a repeat of last year, when attendees at multiple ceremonies yelled at lawmakers who supported a divisive government plan to overhaul the judiciary.

This is an event that the failing leadership and the failing security apparatus led us to, Eyal Eshel, whose daughter, Roni, was killed at a base stormed by militants on Oct. 7 and who is leading the charge to prevent ministers from attending, told Israeli Channel 12. Respect the families request: Dont come. Regardless, ministers are still slated to fan out across cemeteries nationwide.

But other changes are being made to reflect the somber mood, especially for Independence Day. The official ceremony marking the start of celebrations will be scaled down and have no live audience. The traditional air force flyby has been canceled.

Israelis are wondering what the right way to celebrate is  and whether there is much to celebrate at all.

People have stopped believing that the country is able to defend us, said Tom Segev, an Israeli historian. The basic faith in the ability of the state to ensure a good future here has been undermined.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
'Shock, sadness, disbelief': One teen fatally shot, another injured at large party on Howard St. in Northborough early Sunday

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. addresses the media today about a 16-year-old from Bellingham who was shot & killed early Sunday at a party that several hundred in attendance. For the whole story go to @telegramdotcom pic.twitter.com/3zaqKKP2MW  Craig Semon (@CraigSemon) May 12, 2024

NORTHBOROUGH  A 16-year-old was shot and killed early Sunday at a party with several hundred in attendance, despite police telling the homeowner not to have the party and the homeowner reassuring police they would not hold the party just days before.

Approximately at 1 a.m. Sunday, pedestrians flagged a police officer to let them know that someone brandished a firearm at 333 Howard St., Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said during a press conference held noontime Sunday.

While police were assembling and preparing to enter the property, they heard multiple gunshots, Early said.

A 16-year-old was shot and killed early Sunday at a party with several hundred in attendance at 333 Howard St., Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said during a press conference held noontime Sunday.

It was a little after 1 a.m. when a Northborough Police officer was flagged down by a partygoer right on Howard Street indicating that a firearm was displayed in the house, Northborough Police Chief Brian T. Griffin said. That officer then called for assistance with other officers and as the officers were gathering down on this street to approach the property, that is when gunshots rung out.

Early and Griffin said police found a chaotic scene with approximately 300 people at the party.

Responding officers and firefighters rendered aid on a 16-year-old male shooting victim from Bellingham.

One Northborough Officer, Sgt. (Michael) Bisset, and State Police Trooper carried the victim to the bottom of the hill where there was a waiting ambulance, Early said. He was transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased. He was 16.

Early said another shooting victim  a 17-year-old male who was shot in the buttocks  was treated at Marlborough Hospital and released.

Two other people were treated at Marlborough Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Early said.

Our deceased is underage. There were underage people here, Early said. But the whole makeup of the party we dont know. Again, it was about 300 people.

A 16-year-old was shot and killed early Sunday at a party with several hundred in attendance around 1 a.m. Sunday at 333 Howard St., Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said during a press conference held noontime Sunday.

Three men were arrested on firearm related charges in connection to the events at the house. They are expected to be arraigned in Westborough District Court Monday, Early said.

According to the district attorney's office, the three defendants are Arnoldo Nogueira Filho, 19; Wallisom Texeira Da Silva, 20; and Pedro Desouza-Passos, 27.

Neither the victim nor the three men arrested are residents of Northborough, Early said. Northborough was named the safest community in Massachusetts earlier this year.

Early said there is an "airbed and breakfast property adjacent to the property where the owner lives.

The Bellingham School Superintendent was informed that a 16-year-old from the area was shot and killed, Early said. However, later Sunday, Bellingham police posted on social media that the victim was not a student in the town's public schools.

Bellingham MA Police

Griffin said there were more than 25 police officers at the scene and the Northborough Police Department was assisted by multiple surrounding police departments including Westborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Boylston, Berlin, Marlborough police departments, as well as the State Police.

Our thoughts go out to the victim and the victims family during this senseless act of violence, Griffin said. Its especially difficult being Mothers Day.

Early said Chief Griffin was in touch with the homeowners a few days before the incident about the police department not wanting them to host a party over the weekend.

Chief Griffin said the homeowner was present at the party this weekend.

Last month, we received information after the fact, that there was a large gathering, Chief Griffin said. We have spoken to the homeowner about that. And he indeed assured us that was the last of it. Obviously, that was not the case.

Laura, (who didn't want to provide her last name) is a nearby neighbor to 333 Howard St. where a 16-year-old was shot and killed early Sunday at a party with several hundred in attendance. She said she finds the whole situation frightening."

Laura, a nearby neighbor (who didnt want to give her last name), said she finds the whole situation frightening, adding that the neighborhood was quiet until the current tenants moved in.

Last year, she said neighbors had to call the police about a party there.

Usually it begins around 12:30 (at night) and you see 50-plus cars pulling in. It comes in increments, Laura said. So around 2-2:30 (a.m.), youll see hundreds or more cars streaming up there. And theyre doubled-parked all around that driveway.

Beth Rutman, who lives near 333 Howard St. where a 16-year-old was shot early Sunday at a party, said she woke up around 2 a.m. from all the commotion and is scared about activity at the home.

Beth Rutman, who lives a little bit further down, woke up around 2 a.m. from all the commotion. She too said she is scared.

It was, kind of, scary, Rutman said. (I felt) shock, sadness, disbelief. I have four small children. It just makes me nervous. Theyre out running around the neighborhood all the time.

Early did not give the name of the shooting victim, the three arrested or the homeowner. The stretch of road to the house where the party took place was closed off by police Sunday.

The investigation is ongoing. Chief Griffin said if anyone has information and/or video, to call the Northborough Police Department at (508) 393-1515.

Mothers Day Murder #Northborough. A 16-yr-old was fatally shot at a party at 333 Howard St. A 17-year-old also shot, suffered minor injuries. Three (ages 19, 19 & 27) arrested for firearm charges will be arraigned in Westborough. None of victims/suspects are from Northborough pic.twitter.com/Jlabh0iSQW  Craig Semon (@CraigSemon) May 12, 2024

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: One teen fatally shot, another injured at party in Northborough Sunday
Salvador Illa, candidate for the ruling PSC, says Catalonia is 'entering a new stage' - Eric Renom/LaPresse/Shutterstock

Spains Socialist party was poised to win Sundays election in the north-eastern region of Catalonia as voters turned away from the separatist parties that have long held power.

With 96 per cent of the vote counted, PSC was on course to win 28 per cent of the vote and 42 seats in the 135-member Catalan parliament.

Salvador Illa, the candidate for the winning Catalan socialists (PSC), said he believed that Catalonia was entering a new stage after what he calls 10 lost years of the so-called independence process, which has been consistently blocked by Spain.

The victory is a boost for Pedro Sanchez, Spanish prime minister and head of PSC, whose government has attempted to defuse tension in Catalonia by pardoning nine jailed separatist leaders and passing an amnesty law that will mean no one else will face punishment for their involvement in the referendum of 2017.

That year saw Catalonia issue a short-lived independence declaration. The movement fizzled out after the Spanish government imposed direct rule over the autonomous region and the nine leaders were handed lengthy jail sentences. Oriol Junqueras, Catalonias deputy government head at the time, received the longest of 13 years for sedition. They were all pardoned in 2021.

Mr Illas surge in the vote should bode well for Mr Sanchez and the socialists before a European parliament election next month.

But it is not clear whether Mr Illa, who was Spains health minister during the Covid-19 pandemic, will become president of Catalonia.

He would still need the support of other parties to gain a majority. The negotiations in Catalonia will be especially delicate for Mr Sanchez, whose national government has relied on support from Catalan separatists in the Spanish parliament.

More than 5.7 million voters in Catalonia were eligible to participate in the election on Sunday.

The PSCs result denied a victorious return to Catalonia for Carles Puigdemont, the leader of separatist party Junts who fled Catalonia in 2017 after declaring secession from Spain.

Junts, which formed in 2017, was set to finish second with around 21 per cent of the vote after Mr Puigdemont had led his campaign on French soil to avoid being arrested.

It was a bad night, too, for the current president of Catalonia, Pere Aragones, whose Left-wing separatist ERC party was on course to win just 14 per cent and 20 seats, down from 21 per cent and 33 seats in the previous regional ballot, held in 2021.

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South Carolina man was shot in the head and killed, coroner says

A South Carolina man was killed Thursday night in a shooting, according to the Aiken County Coroners Office.

William J. Collins, a 56-year-old Aiken resident, was shot in the head and died at the scene, Coroner Darryl Ables said in a news release.

No other injuries were reported.

The shooting happened at about 6:50 p.m. at a home in the 1400 block of Sparkleberry Lane, according to the release. Thats in Aiken, near the intersection of Whiskey Road and Powderhouse Road.

There was no word about a shooter or shooters, or anyone else involved in the gunfire. Information about a motive for the shooting was not available.

No arrests have been reported by the Aiken County Sheriffs Office, which is investigating the shooting along with the coroners office.

An autopsy will be performed in Newberry, Ables said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the department of public safety at 803-642-7620, CrimeStoppers at 888-CRIME-SC or submit an online tip.
Catalan Socialist Party's leader and candidate for Catalan regional president Salvador Illa gives a press conference upon his arrival at the PSC headquarters during Catalonia's regional election. Lorena Sopena/EUROPA PRESS/dpa

Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has hailed the victory of the regional offshoot of his national Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the parliamentary elections in the region of Catalonia.

According to projections from votes counted, the big winner of Sunday's election was the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC), while the separatist parties were projected to have lost their parliamentary majority in the regional parliament.

Sanchez congratulated PSC top candidate Salvador Illa "for this historic result achieved in Catalonia," in a message posted on social media platform X. "We socialists are once again the top force."

"Starting today, a new stage begins in Catalonia to improve the lives of citizens, expand rights and strengthen coexistence," Sanchez continued.

Catalan Socialist Party's leader and candidate for Catalan regional president Salvador Illa gives a press conference upon his arrival at the PSC headquarters during Catalonia's regional election. Lorena Sopena/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
(Bloomberg) -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs Socialist party is leading exit polls in a regional election in Catalonia in a vote that could complicate his ability to govern in Madrid.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Socialists led by Salvador Illa are set to win 37 to 40 seats, according to the exit poll published by TV3, the Catalan public TV broadcaster. The separatist group Junts is set to win 33 to 36 seats, while ERC, the leftist pro-independence party that currently governs the region, is set to get 24 to 27 seats.

The winner would need 68 seats to get an absolute majority in the parliament, meaning a round of negotiations to form a coalition will be likely.

A win by the Socialists would represent an endorsement of Sanchezs strategy in Catalonia of trying to tamp down the pro-separatist push by offering concessions, including amnesty for those involved in an illegal independence referendum in 2017.

But a strong showing by the Socialists could also spell trouble for Sanchezs government, which relies on both the main separatist groups to pass legislation. If a Socialist victory in Catalonia leads to either the Junts or the ERC pulling support for the Socialists in Madrid, it could cause legislative deadlock and potentially a new national election.

Even if the pro-independence bloc comes out ahead, it is far from certain that they will strike a deal given the animosity between Carles Puigdemont, the leader of the Junts, and ERC chief Pere Aragones. After the two parties formed a coalition in 2021, Junts stepped away from it, sending the region on a path to Sundays snap election.

A repeat vote may be a likely scenario, according to experts and party insiders. That wont be good for Catalonia, it wont solve any of the fundamental problems facing Spain or Sanchez, but it might keep him on the high wire for another few months at least.

Public transport was disrupted in part of Catalonia on Sunday due to problems in the regional train network, which is run by the central government. The two leading pro-independence parties demanded that voting hours be extended in case people failed to make it to the ballot boxes, but the national electoral board dismissed the requests, leaving it to local boards to decide.

Turnout was at 45.8% at 6 p.m., compared with 45.6% at the same time in the previous regional election in 2021, when restrictions were in place to address the effects of the Covid pandemic.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  This week on The Spectrum:

A central Ohio Republican up for re-election breaks with the more conservative wing of his party.

We were elected to do a job, Congressman Mike Carey (R-15th District) said. We came here to legislate and not just try to make the stunts on the floor.

Efforts to put Joe Biden on the Ohio ballot stall

But his opponent in November sees an opening to flip Ohios 15th Congressional district.

This district is very competitive, Democratic candidate Adam Miller said. And I think its going to be a challenge for my opponent.

Hear about the issues both candidates are focusing on as their campaigns begin heating up.

After years of pleas from Ohios retired teachers, Gov. Mike DeWine calls for an investigation into the State Teachers Retirement System.

I think the issue is, you know, goes to the governance of the board itself, DeWine said this week.

Hear who the governor is accusing of attempting a hostile takeover of the board and why advocates for retirees are skeptical.

State opens another investigation into STRS pension fund

Its like theyre looking at the democratic process by which we have elected people, Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association (ORTA) President Robin Rayfield said.

Republican strategist Mehek Cooke and Democratic strategist Derrick Clay join the roundtable to weigh in on the price tag for Ohios U.S. Senate race and the Ohioans in the running to be Donald Trumps vice-presidential pick.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Shares of Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) dropped 8% despite the company reporting solid first-quarter results and increasing its full-year guidance.

Let's look at the company's quarterly results, why the stock is falling, and whether this is a buying opportunity for long-term investors.

Reaccelerating growth

Palantir reported strong first-quarter results, with revenue growing 21% to $634 million. That marked its third consecutive quarter of accelerating revenue growth. Its revenue growth bottomed at 13% in the second quarter of 2023, before accelerating to 17% in Q3 and 20% in Q4 last year.

Commercial revenue jumped 27% to $299 million, led by a 40% surge in U.S. commercial revenue to $150 million. It said excluding strategic commercial contracts, commercial revenue was up 36% with U.S. commercial revenue increasing 68%.

The company added 41 net new customers in its U.S. commercial business, while it also said that it is seeing solid expansion within existing customers. Palantir credited its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) for the strong U.S. commercial growth, as well as its continued focus on "Bootcamps," which it uses to introduce AIP to new customers. It used an example of a large utility signing a seven-figure deal just days after completing a Bootcamp.

International commercial revenue, meanwhile, grew 16% to $149 million, but fell 3% sequentially. The company said it continues to see headwinds in Europe and that there was a revenue catch-up in Q4 that it didn't see in Q1.

AIP offers the biggest potential future growth driver for Palantir, so its rapid adoption among U.S. commercial customers is a big positive. The company has shown it not only has a strong product, but its go-to-market strategy with its Bootcamps is also working. However, the relatively modest growth coming out of Europe, which represents about 16% of its business, is a bit discouraging. Palantir discussed a weak macro backdrop in Europe, but its AI platform should seemingly be able to help reduce costs and this type of business shouldn't be as affected by macro weakness.

Image source: Getty Images

On the government side of the business, revenue grew 16% to $335 million. U.S. government revenue rose 12% from a year ago and was up 8% sequentially to $257 million. Palantir noted that it is the sole contractor on the Army's TITAN (Tactical Intelligence Targeting Node) program and that it expects to see more growth in its U.S. government business over the course of the year. International government revenue surged 33% year over year, but declined 9% sequentially to $79 million.

Palantir's U.S. government business is improving, but overall growth is still relatively modest. This can be a lumpy business; however, given the current geopolitical tensions, it is a bit disappointing the business is not growing more quickly.

Palantir raised its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $2.677 billion to $2.689 billion, above its prior revenue forecast for a range of $2.652 billion to $2.668 billion, It also revised its adjusted operating income forecast to a range of $868 million to $880 million from a range of $834 million to $850 million.

For the second quarter, it guided for revenue to come in between $649 million and $653 million and adjusted income from operations of between $209 million and $213 million.

Why the stock fell

One of the main reasons Palantir's stock sank despite its solid results is the stock's valuation. The stock currently trades at nearly 18x forward sales, which is a high multiple for a company only growing revenue in the 20% range, and it was over 20x ahead of earnings before the stock sold off. To justify this valuation, the company needed to see signs of growth accelerating even more than it is.

PLTR PS Ratio (Forward) Chart

While Palantir increased its full-year revenue guidance, the high end of its full-year forecast still only represents 21% growth compared to 2023 when it recorded revenue for $2.225 billion and analysts were generally looking for the company to raise its guidance even higher. The company beat the top end of its Q1 revenue guidance by about $18 million, but only raised the top end of its full-year guidance by around $21 million. So much of the guidance increase is just coming from its first-quarter revenue beat, without much expected follow through.

Meanwhile, the sequential declines in European commercial and international revenue growth is also a bit worrisome in light of the stock's valuation. And while its U.S. government business is improving, it's still its slowest-growing segment.

Is it time to buy the stock?

Palantir's stock has had a huge run over the past year, and much of that was on the expectation of much higher future revenue growth driven by AIP. While AIP has a lot of potential, it has not added enough to overall revenue growth at this point to justify Palantir's valuation.

Even with its recent sell-off, Palantir's valuation has not come down enough to justify trading at 18x forward sales. I'd need to see a lower stock price or signs that growth will return to over 30% before buying the stock.

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AUSTIN (Nexstar)  An effort to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana appeared on the ballot recently in another Texas community, and the results turned out differently than similar initiatives in other Texas cities.

On May 5, voters in Lubbock overwhelming rejected Proposition A by a margin of 30 percentage points  65% opposed the measure, while 35% supported it. If approved, it would have told police to stop arresting people for having less than four ounces of marijuana in most cases. The proposed reform drew loud opposition from local conservative leaders, like Texas Rep. Carl Tepper.

He explained why he believed the effort failed there, while six other Texas cities  Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos  already approved similar decriminalization measures.

Because Lubbock has common sense, Tepper said Thursday. People from Lubbock travel a lot. Were a great place to live, but our folks like to go out of town for vacation. Again, theyve been to Portland; theyve been to Denver; theyve been in New York City. They have some common sense. Those other communities made a horrible, terrible mistake.

Adam Hernandez with the group Lubbock Compact, which pushed for voters to approve Prop A, addressed whether he though the loss in Lubbock would affect the movement in Texas to bring about marijuana decriminalization reforms.

We just werent able to get that voter turnout high enough, but in a lot of cities, you may not have that same issue, Hernandez explained. So I dont think for the overall mission people should take this as sort of a bad sign if you will.

So far the idea of decriminalizing marijuana has gone nowhere the Republican-controlled Texas Capitol. Thats why groups like Ground Game Texas are pushing local ballot measures to send a message to lawmakers and activate voters.

Our big goals are basically two-part: democracy and social justice, said Mike Siegel, the political director of Ground Game Texas. You know in Lubbock, for example, we produced a report showing that the African American community represents about 30% of [marijuana] arrests, but only 8% of the population. So we know that theres racially discriminatory enforcement practices related to marijuana reform, but the other thing is we want to give people reason to vote. We find that theres a lot of cynicism about political parties and candidates and so when folks can go vote for an issue, thats more relatable to a lot of people and will give them a reason to go to the polls.

One change thats likely to come next year during the regular legislative session, though, is making it harder for cities to get these kinds of measures on a ballot. Tepper said hes already planning to introduce such a measure.

Were all looking at closing that loophole so that you can no longer introduce something into a municipal referendum that would in the end be counter to state law, Tepper said. Its hard to make an idea into law, but were going to be attempting to get that one through.

The Austin chapter of the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals (TAAP) held its annual symposium Thursday and Friday at the Austin Southpark Hotel. Various sessions and experts are gathering there to share the latest, best ways to shape addiction treatment.

Brittany Bass, the president of Austin TAAP, said conversations are happening about what could happen during next years regular session. She said Thursday shed like lawmakers to finally legalize fentanyl test strips, pointing to Austin police recently detecting fentanyl in marijuana after a deadly surge in local overdoses.

We really need access to things like fentanyl test strips so that as we see more marijuana come on the streets, people have access to make sure that theres not fentanyl in it, Bass said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton previously announced hes suing five of the cities where voters approved these marijuana decriminalization measures. Leaders with Ground Game Texas shared Thursday they would intervene in Austins case to defend the citys results.

Harker Heights is not facing this same legal scrutiny, though, because the City Council voted to repeal the ordinance approved by that communitys voters almost immediately after the election.

However, two other cities could be the next to join them in this wave of locally-driven reform. Advocacy groups are working to collect enough signatures for this to appear on ballots in both Dallas and Lockhart.

When it comes to Texas voters feelings about marijuana legalization, pollsters from the University of Texas and The Texas Politics Project have regularly asked people about this.

According to the December 2023 statewide poll, a plurality of voters (34%) said marijuana possession should be legal in medical purposes only. Meanwhile, 30% said having small amounts for any purpose should be legal. Full legalization of marijuana had the support of 19% of the respondents, while 17% said it should not be legal in any circumstance.

Cruz gets grief from Senators over push to pass bipartisan FAA bill

A show of bipartisanship in Washington helped Senators pass a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The $105-billion bill aims to improve customer service and safety for air travelers.

The deal came Thursday night, just hours before a deadline that could have led to the FAA furloughing thousands of workers. It still needs approval in the House.

One challenge to passing a major piece of legislation is the work to keep members from stalling the bill by adding amendments or making moves to block progress unless their own priorities are added. One Senator who played a key role in managing the progress for the FAA bill is someone who has a reputation for being the one who normally does the blocking: Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Cruz is the ranking member of the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science and Transportation. Cruz, along with Committee Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, took the lead in managing the bill, to make sure the package passed.

It really was building bipartisan compromise. And I have to say the way this this bill moved forward, I think is a model for how legislation should move forward, said Cruz in an interview with Nexstar.

Cruz elaborated on the process he and Cantwell followed to move the bill forward.

We solicited from our colleagues their priorities, and this bill incorporates amendments priorities for over 200 different amendments that came from other senators from Republicans from Democrats addressing needs and concerns they have in their states. That process was an extended negotiation as we worked through incorporating those amendments, Cruz said.

The measure passed 88  4 in the Senate. Cruz described it as an overwhelming bipartisan vote.

Cruz is not normally someone associated with bipartisanship. The Hill reported that some of his fellow senators gave him some ribbing as he worked to keep the bill on track. Basically, they found it funny, since Cruz is seen as usually the one blocking legislation.

Well, it is true that my colleagues have enjoyed giving me some grief the past couple of weeks, Cruz said. I sort of laughed, because when I was managing the bill, I did it on the Senate floor, from Mitch McConnells desk and and I was threatening to carve my name in the drawer if they if they kept at it, which which is an old tradition that you sign your desk when youre done serving, Cruz remembered.

Full interview with Sen. Ted Cruz

He pointed out that the FAA reauthorization is the largest bill that hes ever managed on the floor. Cruz said thats because hes only recently reached the level of seniority in the Senate that gives him the clout to manage a major bill.

But despite the perception, Cruz maintains that he has a track record of working to pass bipartisan legislation.

You ask if its something new? And I would say actually, no, it is not, Cruz said.

Still, Cruz quickly made a point to attack Democrats.

My job for 12 years has been to fight for 30 million Texans all across our state. And that entails a number of things. One thing it entails is fighting against bad policy. So if theyre policies that hurt Texas, whether they were coming from Barack Obama, or Chuck Schumer or Joe Biden, Ive been proud to lead the fight against them, Cruz said. He accused Democrats of pushing for open borders as well as job-killing regulations and attacking the energy industry in Texas.

Cruz said the FAA bill is something that is good for Texas. The legislation is expected to bring billions of dollars in investments in airports and infrastructure in the state, as well as much-needed safety improvements.

The FAA bill, it so happened, it is the 100th bill that I have authored and passed into law, Cruz said. Hes listed as a cosponsor of the bill, with Cantwell as the bills sponsor.

And so this has been something Ive been doing the entire time drafting legislation, getting bipartisan support for that legislation, passing it into law, Cruz said.

The emphasis on bipartisanship comes as Cruz faces an election challenge in November.

Congressman Colin Allred, a Dallas Democrat, is campaigning on his record of working across the political aisle to pass legislation. Hes also made a point of highlighting some of Cruzs more divisive work, like the Senators popular partisan podcast.

While Ted Cruz was recording podcasts, I was working to pass bipartisan bills to keep our communities safe and lower health care costs, Allred wrote in a recent post on social media.

The race between Cruz and Allred is expected to be competitive. Campaign finance reports show Allred outpacing the incumbent Senator in fundraising. But recent history may favor Cruz. Republicans have dominated statewide elections for decades. Allred is trying to become the first Texas Democrat to win a statewide election in 30 years.

Backroom Botox a wild west in Texas

She remembers feeling dizzy and then, what seemed like seconds later, bright lights.

I felt like I was in a dream, she said. Then waking up, I just saw everyone was  was panicking.

She had fainted, and an EMS report detailed she had a five-minute seizure and was vomiting.

Its not the result she expected from her decision, on a whim, to get Botox. She told KXAN she saw a social media post about a summer deal and drove from a nearby town to Dublin, a small city north of Austin, to get her first injection in the back room of a store.

Almost 3,700 people live in Dublin, the Irish Capital of Texas (KXAN Photos)

Its not illegal for someone to inject Botox  in fact, a KXAN investigation uncovered anyone in Texas can get certified to be an injector and practice anywhere. But because of what happened at the store, Dublin police are now investigating whether the injector was practicing medicine without a license  and hoping to shape the future of safety in the state.

We went specifically for a lip flip. So just Botox in my lips, said the woman, who wanted her privacy to be protected because Its such a small town everyone knows everyone everything gets spread pretty easily.

She recalled walking through a store towards the back room, a small space like a closet with a curtain for privacy. She described feeling fine after getting the injections in her bottom lip but said as soon as the injector started on the top one, she knew something was wrong.

Dublin EMS report states woman who got Botox in her lips had a seizure after several injections. (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)

The injector did ask our EMS staff, you know, What do I do to make sure this doesnt happen again? Well, the only way to make sure this doesnt happen again, is to, you know, ensure that your patient qualifies for the injection, Dublin Police Chief Cameron Ray said.

The town of almost 3,700 people has a police force of 10 sworn officers. The department has been investigating this case for months. Since the injector hasnt been charged with anything at this time, KXAN is not naming her or the store.

We will handle any charges that come to the person who did the injection, Ray explained.

Dublin Police Department is investigating and will take the case to the District Attorney's Office when it is complete. (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)

He added that theyll take the case to the District Attorneys office once their investigation is complete, pushing for accountability and, ultimately, oversight across the state.

The goal in this investigation is to spur change to the system, he said.

Botulinum toxin, commonly called Botox, can be used to treat medical or cosmetic concerns like facial wrinkles, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection said. The agency warned it can have adverse effects including botulism, which is a rare but serious illness caused by the toxin attacking the bodys nerves and causing blurred vision, difficulty breathing and muscle paralysis.

In Texas, Botox injectors must have someone licensed in medicine supervising them, like a physician assistant, an advanced practice registered nurse or a doctor serving as a medical director in case there are complications.

The injector in the Dublin case had completed training offered by Texas-based MySpaLive, according to the companys attorney. Police explained the companys medical director listed online back then was a pediatrician in Tyler  more than three hours away  who hasnt returned KXAN investigators repeated calls and emails.

When youre 190  200 miles away, how are you going to have direct oversight if complications arise out of that injection? Ray said.

Dublin's Police Chief Cameron Ray hopes this case shapes legislation which will provide oversight in an industry that largely operates unregulated. (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)

The companys attorney would not respond to questions about the specific case for privacy reasons but said in an email that MySpaLive does not provide any medical procedures and has developed an app to connect injectors with a licensed medical practitioner without having to go into an office. The attorney added that the practitioner can then supervise and authorize an injection.

Dublin police would only confirm medical staff was not at the shop the day of the emergency. Other steps that might have been taken are part of an ongoing investigation.

KXAN investigators made two trips to Dublin to talk to the injector about the medical emergency.

WATCH: For months, KXAN investigative reporter Arezow Doost and producer Dalton Huey worked to track down the Dublin Botox injector police say was involved in a medical emergency at her shop. Scroll for more video.

On the first trip in March, KXAN stopped by the store where police said she was doing the cosmetic procedures. The store owner showed KXAN four training certificates framed on a wall near where the injections take place. She said the injector was not there at the time. KXAN called, texted the injector and went by her home. She had agreed to meet with our team but then changed her mind.

framed certificates on shelf

My attorney that handles all my business said I am not interested in interviewing, she responded back in a text.

On the second trip to Dublin in April, KXAN went back to the store to try to talk to her one more time about the open investigation, but she didnt want to talk. KXAN was able to reach her attorney after several attempts, but he said they have no comment.

In Texas, there is not a state licensing board or regulatory agency that directly oversees the people, supervising physicians, and practices of those who operate in the medical spa industry and provide Botox injections.

KXAN found Texas is one of only four states in the U.S. that doesnt have a dedicated state agency with direct oversight that requires various degrees of licensing or registration for med spas.

Med Spa Licensing Laws by State

U.S. map showing each states licensing requirements to own and operate a medical spa. Hover over each state to see licensing details and the State agency that regulates the industry. (App users can interact with the map on kxan.com.) Source: Yocale research incorporating State Medical Boards and various market research resources. (KXAN Interactive/Dalton Huey)

As a result, the Texas Medical Board and local law enforcement agencies must rely on complaints or referrals to take action against individuals and physicians who are illegally or improperly running med spas.

KXAN asked the TMB about the current laws regarding Botox injectors, med spas, and physicians who serve as medical directors and ultimately delegate authority that allows others to provide Botox and non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

There could always be more done to protect patients, TMB stated, and further clarified that while it cannot lobby for or against a law change, it is aware of trending concerns and has been proactive in addressing complaints related to Botox parties and physician supervision/delegation in the med spa industry.

If a complaint is received, the agency will investigate the supervising physician (if one is involved) and those involved in such activity, it explained. If there is no physician involved, TMB does also have cease and desist authority against those involved in this type of activity.

In Texas, anyone can get trained to administer Botox as long as it's under the supervision of a medical professional. (KXAN Photo/Chris Nelson)

Additionally, law enforcement can pursue criminal charges for unlicensed practice of medicine, a third-degree felony offense in Texas.

Everybody says law enforcement is there to protect and serve. Well, I believe, in this instance, were doing that protection by holding those people accountable, Ray said. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be, you know, investigating what somebodys injecting in peoples lips.

When law enforcement, Texas Medical Board take action

Last month, the Houston Police Department arrested a man on three felony charges of practicing medicine without a license or permit causing harm, as well as a fourth charge of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.

According to court records, the man owned a med spa in the Houston area, and his title listed in court documents was Injector.

Court records state he intentionally and knowingly practiced without a medical license and caused harm to multiple patients after injecting an unknown substance into his clients.

KXAN found the same man was issued a cease and desist order by TMB in 2020.

The cease and desist states the man admitted to administering skin treatment injections including Botox for a period of several years and without proper physician involvement.

KXAN asked TMB how it ensures that a cease and desist order is followed.

In response, TMB stated: A cease and desist primarily serves as a notice to the public regarding the individual. This information is also referred to law enforcement. Continued violations of a cease and desist can impose civil penalties recoverable by the Office of the Attorney General.

TMB further clarified that local law enforcement and prosecutors would be the only authority to pursue criminal charges.

KXAN reviewed TMB disciplinary records since 2018 and found 63 actions taken against individuals and/or physicians specifically related to med spas and/or non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

A former physician in San Antonio who worked at the spa under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and used unsafe practices, such as giving injections without gloves, giving injections in bathrooms, recapping used needles, refilling used syringes for patient use, disposing of sharps in a trash can and leaving vitamins out in the open in patient care areas.

A Dallas man practicing medicine without a license who the board found performed injections on a patient who later was treated by a physician for infection as a result of those injections.

A Houston woman practicing medicine without a license who the board found promoted and performed nonsurgical cosmetic procedures, including facial injections, which resulted in injury to one patients nose/ face requiring a corrective procedure by a physician.

A physician disciplined for failing to adequately delegate and/or supervise for the treatment of two patients who suffered complications following procedures provided at a med spa where he served as supervising medical director.

Examples of situations that led to Texas Medical Board disciplinary action for individuals and/or physicians related to medical spas or the administration of non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Source: Texas Medical Board (KXAN Interactive/Dalton Huey)

Of those 63 actions, 55 were cease and desist orders issued against individuals for engaging in the unlicensed practice of medicine by providing non-surgical cosmetic procedures without proper physician or midlevel oversight.

63 cease and desist orders since 2018

The remaining eight actions taken by TMB were against licensed physicians for improper supervision or delegation of cosmetic procedures.

Each of the physicians received a public reprimand, were issued a monetary fine of $2,000-$10,000, and were required to complete various amounts of continuing medical training.

Over 75% of the TMBs actions were taken since 2021, further supporting the trending concerns TMB acknowledged related to Botox parties, and physician supervision/delegation in this industry.

Texas Medical Board Disciplinary Actions

Number of actions the Texas Medical Board took against individuals providing non-surgical cosmetic procedures and/or their practices associated with med spas in Texas from 2018 to March 2024. Source: Texas Medical Board. (KXAN Interactive/Dalton Huey)

From 2018 to 2022, TMB actions grew from three to a high of 15. As of March of this year, the TMB has already taken action against 11 individuals and/or physicians for their roles in providing non-cosmetic surgical procedures.

Lawmakers have heard of these investigations and concerns and tried to take action.

State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, plans on refiling oversight legislation this coming session. (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)

State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, filed legislation during the 2023 regular session which would have prohibited estheticians and cosmetologists from doing injections  including Botox  unless they are licensed in medicine or certified and have medical supervision. The bill stalled after passing the Senate, but he plans to re-file next session.

I think it is incumbent that we as a state, protect Texans and their health and safety and welfare when it comes to any sort of invasive procedure, he explained.

Schwertner, who is an orthopedic surgeon, explained the medical board can take disciplinary action against doctors authorizing injections. He added that current law has no oversight when it comes to estheticians or cosmetologists who fall under the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. His bill aimed to give that agency authority to discipline those professionals if needed.

Any individual that is involved in the care  in this case, the cosmetic care of an individual  is held accountable when something goes wrong, and that they should have had the proper level of education, experience and training, he said.

As Texas considers possibilities for oversight, warnings related to Botox are growing on a national level.

A recent outbreak of people experiencing harmful reactions after receiving injections of counterfeit or mishandled Botox has prompted investigations by the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and 11 state and local health departments.

states investigated by CDC

As of April 18, CDC has received reports of 22 individuals who from Nov. 4, 2023, to March 31, 2014, have experienced various symptoms of botulism:

various symptoms of botulism

Half of the 22 individuals required hospitalization, six of whom needed to be treated with botulism antitoxin due to concerns that the Botox could have spread beyond the injection site, the CDC stated.

All 22 of these individuals reportedly received Botox from unlicensed or untrained providers and/or in a non-healthcare setting, such as homes and spas, according to the CDC.

The Texas Department of State Health Services told KXAN there is currently one Texas case that meets CDCs outbreak definition. According to DSHS, this is still an ongoing investigation and the Texas individual was treated and has recovered.

MORE: U.S. health officials warn of counterfeit Botox injections

The FDA has also issued a black box warning for the medication used for Botox, which is the highest safety warning the agency requires. The warning is contained inside a box with a black border and provides a brief summary of the information that is critical for a prescriber to consider.

The effects of BOTOX and all botulinum toxin products may spread from the area of injection to produce symptoms consistent with botulinum toxin effects. FDA Black box warning for Botox

The FDA is also reviewing a petition by consumer group Public Citizen asking it to strengthen the risk warning language on all approved Botox products due to concerns of temporary paralysis, hospitalization and even death. The consumer group is pushing for the FDA to clarify that adverse effects could happen even at recommended dosages.

If someone is considering an injection of Botox, the CDC recommends that person always ask if the provider is licensed and trained to perform the injection and ask if the product is FDA-approved and acquired through a legitimate source.

If in doubt, dont get the injection, the CDC said.

Even some in the industry think injectors need more oversight. Its why Master Injectors exists, according to Chief Marketing Officer Mike Rocha. His Texas-based training company certifies injectors.

These individuals are going to take training somewhere. If they dont have a medical license, theyre going somewhere to get trained. We want them to train with us, because were going to teach them and train them properly and safely, Mike Rocha said.

KXAN investigators learned that several months after the medical emergency in Dublin, that injector was certified with Master Injectors. The company explained she had only had that certification for a few weeks before it learned about the police investigation and revoked her certifications.

Master Injectors allowed KXAN to attend a recent weekend training in San Antonio. It covered everything from having a clean treatment area, to how Botox should be stored, facial anatomy and where people can and cant inject. There were several tests throughout the day. Trainers who are registered nurses also walked around and worked closely with smaller groups to make sure safety measures were followed and understood.

A big reason that we wanted to start this training is that non-medical people can take it, so we wanted to make sure that they were trained properly in the anatomy, and the physiology and blood-borne pathogen training to make sure they had that background, explained Brenda Rocha, who is the chief nursing officer and oversees all the training.

















Images of Master Injectors esthetic and cosmetic injectors training (KXAN Photos)

Training can cost upwards of $2,500 and not everyone becomes certified after a weekend. On average, the company said about 15% of a training class doesnt get certified.

There have been people that  that I have turned away and said I do not feel comfortable and do not feel like you are safe for the public and we cannot certify you,' Brenda Rocha added.

Master Injectors said it not only has oversight from a Medical Director who is an anesthesiologist with esthetics training out of Dallas but also from owner Brenda Rocha who is a registered nurse.

Master Injectors also works with compliance company Aesthetic Business Consulting to make sure protocols are in place for itself and its clients, like nurses looking over medical charts daily, overseeing products purchased, and making sure people getting the injections are receiving a medical exam.

Were looking at all their procedures, protocols, trainings, all of those things, just, you know, going through it with a fine-tooth comb, just to make sure that its meeting industry standards, said Amber Bechthold, owner of the compliance company.

KXAN investigators reached out to associations for estheticians, cosmetologists and med spas to ask them about their training and oversight but there have been no responses.

My plea to the public is educate yourself, ask questions, dont assume that somebody in a white coat or in scrubs is actually knowledgeable about what it is theyre proposing to do to you,' said retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Patricia Aronin.

Aronin is with Texas 400, a grassroots group of doctors advocating for patient safety across the state, who describes the current industry as the wild west. The nonprofit said it will be watching closely next session as Schwertner refiles the oversight legislation.

She added that its tough to track the size of this problem because people dont always know how or where to file complaints and it can be embarrassing for some to share what happened. Complaints should be filed with the Texas Medical Board.

Data KXAN obtained shows 91 complaints have been filed with the medical board since 2019 for things like Botox and other cosmetic procedures. The agency said it has nine open investigations related to improper providing of nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.

Do you want to play Russian Roulette just because you dont want your face to have wrinkles? she said.

After her medical emergency last summer, the woman said she could hardly stand up or walk around on her own. (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)

The woman in Dublin who got the Botox said shes had no complications since the medical emergency. Shes sharing her experience to warn others.

I think its definitely important to have proper training for sure, especially with injections going into the face, she said. Its a very scary thing.  I feel like its not something to be messed with.

The injector in Dublin is still working. Police added that they are working to wrap up their investigation soon.

If were able to, you know, shine the spotlight on this problem, we can work with our lawmakers to provide the government oversight that is needed for the safety of our citizens, Ray said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
The Geerds served their community and their country.

Benjamin Geerds was born in Germany in 1866. He married Susan Bode in 1892. Together, they had three industrious sons: Gerrit, born in 1893, Henry, born in 1894, and Joseph, born in 1897.

Phillips Brooks and Henry Geerds in 1971.

By 1910, Benjamin Geerds worked at Steffens Brothers, a neighborhood grocery store at 286 E. 14th St. Gerrit worked at C.L. King and Company, a wooden fruit basket factory, and Henry worked at the Holland Shoe Company. By 1913, Gerrit had joined Benjamin at Steffens Brothers.

The Geerds lived at 288 W. 14th St.

Gerrit later left for Palo Alto, California, where he built homes for silent picture celebrities. By 1915, he'd returned to Holland, where he and Thomas Tasker started the Holland Ladder Company.

Then came World War I, in which Henry Geerds served as a first lieutenant. After the war, he helped establish a National Guard Unit in Holland and build the Holland Armory at 16 W. Ninth St.  all while serving as city treasurer.

Steve VanderVeen

In 1926, Gerrit Geerds left his general management role at the Holland Ladder Company to join Frank Bolhuis Lumber and Manufacturing, where he became a director of home planning, architecture and financing. Gerrit and his wife Sarah lived at 75 W. 18th St.

Holland Ladder stayed in the Geerds family. By 1927, Benjamin was president, Gerrit was vice president, and Joseph was secretary-treasurer and general manager. Joseph and his wife Nelle lived at 148 E. 21st St. Holland Ladder was then located at 175 E. 19th St.

But the Geerds had other business interests. In addition to being president of the Holland Ladder Company, Ben and his wife Bertha were proprietors of Geerds Shoes at 442 First (now Washington) Avenue (in Washington Square) (present-day Brew Merchant). They now lived at 217 W 16th Street, within walking distance of their store.

Geerds Shoe Store at 442 Washington Ave. in Holland.

Meanwhile, Henry Geerds had co-founded Geerds Electric and served as cashier of Holland City State Bank. He and his wife Jean lived at 187 W. 16th St.  close to Benjamin and Bertha.

By 1938, Henry and Jean had moved to 588 Central Ave. and Joseph and Nelle to 574 Lawndale Court. By this time, Henry was serving as secretary-treasurer of the Holland City (Bank) Depositors Corporation, allocating scarce dollars to depositors of the failed bank. (Geerds Electric seems also to have failed during the Great Depression.)

Then came World War II. Henry, then almost 50 years old, re-entered active duty and became a lieutenant colonel, leading soldiers  the very ones he'd trained at the Holland Armory  into the jungles of New Guinea, where they built roads. The mission was so dangerous the Japanese wounded Henry three times and most of his men died.

After the war, Henry not only helped form the Holland American Legion, but also two more businesses. One was Holland Hitch, which he purchased out of bankruptcy with Henry Ketel. (Ketel was the inventor of the pintel hook, a mechanism for securing and uncoupling of tractor-trailers.) Another was Holland Wire Products, a successor to Karr-Spring Air, a maker of bedsprings.

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By then, Joseph Geerds was the sole owner of Holland Ladder, which he moved to 430 W. 17th St.  the former site of the Essenburg Building and Lumber Company. (In 1947, Essenburg Lumber Company became DeLeeuw Lumber Company and moved to Lakewood Boulevard.) Sadly, Benjamin Geerds died and, with him, his shoe store.

In the 1960s, there was a new owner at Holland Ladder: Richard Cotter. In the 1970s, Henry Geerds son-in-law, William Beebe, became president of Holland Hitch. In 2006, Pamplona Capital, from the United Kingdom, purchased it.

In 2000, Green Bull Ladders of Louisville, Kentucky, purchased Holland Ladder, which continued its manufacturing and distribution of wooden ladders. In 2004, I interviewed Rick Kruid, then serving as Holland Ladders general manager, who told me of the risks of the business.

First, the cost of liability suits and protection accounted for 30% of sales. Second, the cost of lumber had driven up the price of Hollands wooden ladders. Plus, wooden ladders were losing favor with contractors: they were heavier than aluminum ones, and they bounced under loads.

Green Bull shuttered the local plant in 2005. In 2006, Bob Byars of Kings Cove Party Store purchased the building.

Information for this story comes from Robert Swierengas "Holland, Michigan" and Rapid Growth Media.

 Steve VanderVeen is a resident of Holland. You may reach him at skvveen@gmail.com. His book, "The Holland Area's First Entrepreneurs," is available at Readers World

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland History: The Geerds and Holland Ladder
Stitt vs. Treat: Inside the fight between the governor and the Senate pro tempore

Editor's Note: This is the first in a two-part series about the ongoing feud between Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat.

A couple of months ago, shortly after the 2024 legislative session began, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt made several political moves that, even now, could come back to haunt him.

Stitts actions werent about policy or economic development. They had nothing to do with education or public safety. This was a raw, bare-knuckle game of politics, played by the governor and directed at a one-time ally.

So far, the governor hasn't been successful  but he hasnt stopped either.

The fight for a new pro tempore

Just days after the second session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature convened, members of the Senates Republican Caucus began to plan for 2025. Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat would be leaving his leadership position at the end of the session, forced out by term limits. The 2024 session would be Treats last.

The 2024 session already was set to be difficult. Not only was the leadership in both houses of the Legislature exiting stage left, but 2024 is also an election year. Every member of the House of Representatives and half of the Oklahoma Senate would be up for reelection. On top of that, the country chooses a new president in November.

Election-year politics in Oklahoma has always been difficult.

Gov. Kevin Stitt, middle, is flanked by House Speaker Charles McCall, left, and Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat at the Feb. 27 signing ceremony for the grocery tax cut bill in the Blue Room at the Oklahoma Capitol.

The GOP caucus needed someone who could handle the job. And that decision had to be made early in the session, to give the Senates next leader time to prepare.

Treat would prove difficult to replace.

More: Gov. Stitt's pushback against the Senate is personal, leader Greg Treat says

A skilled politician, and an adviser in several election campaigns, Treat didnt mind a political fight. Smart, articulate and surrounded by a top-flight staff, he went toe-to-toe with opponents when necessary. At the same time, he remained approachable, didnt mind civil disagreements and, often, carved a centrist approach to public policy.

Greg Treat is skilled at governing, retired University of Oklahoma political scientist Keith Gaddie said. He understands the need for politics, but once the campaign is over, Greg Treat is all about governing.

Though Treats tenure as the Senates leader has been rocky at times, the Senate remained focused on conservative principles, and it was productive: passing legislation on school choice, a cut in the states portion of the grocery sales tax, restrictions on abortion  all issues that both Treat and Stitt have embraced.

A successor for Treat, who would be supported by most of the Senates caucus, would need a similar focus, and that person had to have some political savvy and, at the same time, had to be accessible.

Enter Ada Republican Greg McCortney.

Currently the Senates Majority Floor Leader, McCortney is a solid echo of Treat: intelligent, focused and stubborn. Like Treat, McCortney is easy to talk to, and like Treat hes a skilled politician. A former mayor, he has a deep understanding of Oklahoma politics. It also helped his case that he had Treats support.

More: Budget summit highlights divisions, priorities between Legislature and governor's office

By February a majority of the Senates GOP caucus was ready to embrace McCortney. And Treat was ready to help. He lobbied members and worked hard on McCortneys behalf.

McCortney also had support from several members of the Senates GOP caucus  but not everyone.

In fact, it wasnt long before McCortney became a target. And it was at that moment that the governor played his first card: a quiet, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort, leveraging the small group of senators opposed to McCortney and Treat.

Sen. Greg McCortney files April 3 during 2024 candidate filing at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City.

The governors goal was simple  shoot down McCortneys effort to become the next pro tempore.

Stitt, several sources told The Oklahoman, began phoning members of the GOP caucus and urging them to vote against McCortney.

He kept saying that Treat was a Republican in Name Only  a RINO, said one source, who asked not to be identified because he feared retribution. He was direct and to the point and wanted someone other than McCortney. He injected himself into the race.

Treat confirmed those claims.

Tension at the Capitol increased. On the afternoon that the Senates GOP caucus met to choose its next leader, Stitt pushed hard  against McCortney.

I dont think he thought he could influence me, so I didnt hear from him, Treat said. But a number of my colleagues came to me trying to figure out what to do because he was trying to wade in heavily against Senator McCortney. He really tried the heavy hand  to get people to support someone other than the person our caucus chose.

More: Stitt signs hundreds of bills Into law as budget negotiations continue

While Stitt has remained mostly silent about McCortneys choice as the Senates new leader, his spokesperson, Abegail Cave, told The Oklahoman the governor isnt actively campaigning against Senator McCortney, in a carefully worded email.

He has said send me someone I can work with,' Cave wrote. Regardless of who is elected as the pro tempore, Governor Stitt will continue to work on behalf of all four million Oklahomans.

Cave didnt respond to questions that asked if Stitt had campaigned previously against McCortney's selection as pro tempore or to questions about whether Stitt worked for McCortney's defeat because he was supported by Treat.

Others, however, were more public in their opposition to Treat and McCortney.

Broken Arrow Republican Sen. Nathan Dahm  who is also the head of the Oklahoma Republican Party  and the newly elected senator from Elgin, Dusty Deevers, both went after the Senates leadership on social media, questioning Treat and McCortneys Republican credentials.

The Stitt faction worked hard, but Treat, aware of what was going on, fought back. After a tense, all-morning meeting, the Senates 40-member strong Republican Caucus elected McCortney as its next pro tempore.

McCortney, located at ground zero of the political fight, took the high road.

I appreciate the members of the Senate Republican Caucus who voted for me, and even those who didnt, McCortney said. I want to continue to unite our party and work toward our common goals. While I know there will be challenges and difficulties ahead, we all want the same thing  what is best for all Oklahomans.

For his part, Treat praised McCortney after the caucus meeting and promised to help him succeed. "Ill continue to work closely with him to help him prepare for this role, Treat said in a media announcement after the Senates caucus meeting. I am forever grateful that former Pro Tem Mike Schulz set a great example and did that for me.

Round One in the battle of Treat versus Stitt went to Treat.

The Treat, Stitt clash began about 2020

The tension between the governor and the leader of the Oklahoma Senate goes back to 2020 when both men locked horns over two of the governors executive nominations: Gary Cox as commissioner of health and Brandt Vawter as the head of the Commissioners of the Land Office.

Just before the 2020 legislative session ended, the Senate voted "no" on the confirmations of Cox and Vawter. Treat, meeting with reporters, afterward said neither man was qualified for their posts.

The chief executive decided to hire someone for a position [who] was not statutorily qualified, and he did that with the Department of Health and also did that with the Commissioners of the Land Office, Treat said. And (the governor) did not even think to talk to legislative leaders, much less any legislator whatsoever.

The pair eventually would meet and talk, but even after that meeting, Treat said the governor still didnt get the Senates role in Oklahoma government.

We had a Festivus. We had an airing of grievances, Treat told the media outlet, NonDoc, referencing the fictional holiday from the television show "Seinfeld." I enjoyed my conversation with the governor. He and I philosophically see things a lot the same. (But) I have not appreciated some of the veto messages and some of the language about the Legislature. I wish we could have worked more closely this year, but we didnt.

Stitt tried to play down the debate, telling NonDoc that he wasnt being malicious.

What you have to understand is, everything is not malicious. There are so many appointments. I am so busy trying to move things forward, I dont stop to kind of think of some of the small things, Stitt said. I didnt think of that. I apologized to them. I said, Listen, Im sorry, Ill make it up next time. I didnt realize I was supposed to do that. Im a new governor.'

The executive branch is supposed to run those state agencies  and is doing a great job  and the Senate is supposed to confirm appointments to them, the governor said.

Thats their job. But it just feels a little bit like politics that youre not going to confirm some guy that has done a great job leading us through this during the middle of a pandemic, Stitt said. Lets confirm him for a year, lets do something to get me through this.

Over the next couple of years, the Legislature and Stitt would accomplish several goals in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the relationship between Stitt and Treat would remain strained. Treat and Stitt weren't the only Republicans to clash. Across the country infighting among Republican office holders has grown on both the state and national level.

And while the back-and-forth between Stitt and Treat seemed to die down for a while during COVID, it didn't completely go away.

Last year the tension resurfaced.

This year, it's boiled over.

Special session and a serious lack of communication

Last fall, Stitt called the Legislature into a special session. The goal, the governor said, was to cut taxes. Put the personal income tax on a path to zero, the governor said. And, while youre at it, reduce the states portion of the grocery sales tax.

Stitt has pushed for additional tax cuts throughout his tenure as governor. Last year he increased the pressure and, during the fall, called the special session. Treat and most of his Senate brethren werent thrilled.

The governor didnt consult us about his idea for a special session, the pro tempore said at the time. We didnt know until right before it happened.

After the Senate convened  and quickly adjourned  the session, Stitt paused and then just before the end of the year made another special session call  this one just before the beginning of the regular legislative session in February.

The governor pointed to the December meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Equalization as good news. He said there was enough growth in state revenue finance a quarter-percent cut in the personal income tax rate and fund a big cut in grocery taxes.

This time the eyerolling in the Legislature became visible frustration.

Treat said the Senate would wait to decide on tax cuts until it got the final, mid-February numbers from the Equalization Board.

Stitt pretty much ignored the Senate and gave executive branch agency heads their marching orders: Dont ask for budget increases. Request "flat budgets." Remember  I need a tax cut, he told them.

The governor said he doesnt want to make government bigger. He said tax cuts, once implemented, will bring in more taxpayers, which, in turn, will bring in more revenue. To sell his point, the governor used a collection of colorful charts and graphs. But although Stitt continued to talk about tax cuts, he didnt discuss them much with Treat.

During his State of the State address, Stitt stood in the well of the House of Representatives and repeated his tax cut message. He talked about conservative policies, suggested he would send troops to the Texas border and criticized some tribal nations.

He said little about the Legislature.

Treat said the governor didnt run the idea of either special session past the Legislatures Republican leadership before he issued his first call last year. While there had been rumors, Treats office only found out about the special session call just minutes before it happened.

As for the session in January, the governors office gave Senate leadership a one-day heads-up.

Neither was well received.

Consequently, both of the governors special sessions quickly became the equivalent of a bad Off-Broadway production  a short run, lackluster audience and no visible impact.

For his part, Treat was direct. In several meetings with the Capitol press corps, Treat said the governor never consulted with Senate leadership. Treat said he heard rumors, but, as with the January session, he knew little in advance.

Treats reluctance on big tax cuts wasnt because he opposed them. He said he supported reducing taxes. A fiscal conservative, Treat was on record in support of cutting taxes. But Treat is also pragmatic, and he said he wanted state government to have enough cash to pay its bills.

So, Treat drew a philosophical line in the red dirt. He said he wanted to wait to decide what to do on tax cuts until he saw the final revenue projects from the state Equalization Board.

Despite intense rhetoric from the governors office and a hard push from the House of Representatives, Treat didnt budge. Shortly after the Legislature convened in special session last fall, the Senate promptly adjourned.

Treat was unapologetic. He said the Senate would wait until mid-February when the Equalization Board released its final numbers. And so, the Senate did the same thing it had done last fall, the session opened, and the Senate said, thanks but no thanks and adjourned.

Even now, Treat continues to remain true to his word. So far, the Senate has yet to hear legislation that would reduce the personal income tax rate.

It was here, at this point, the relationship between the Senate and Stitt went off the rails.

Some governors are successful with the Legislature

In Oklahoma, the governor serves as the states chief executive. The governor is part of a three-pronged group that develops and signs off on the states budget. The governor also has appointive authority, can issue executive orders, can approve or veto legislation, can influence many boards and commissions and has a platform to push for legislation or policy.

On the political side, the governor also serves as the de facto head of his or her political party. In the past, Republican governors have campaigned for incumbent Republicans and those Republicans who are challenging Democrats.

For example, during the tenure of then-Gov. Frank Keating, Keating traveled across the state campaigning for Republican incumbents and for Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents.

Treat said Keatings success on the campaign trail generated a great deal of goodwill with Republicans in the Legislature, which paid off during the next session of the Legislature.

Frank Keating was the real model of leadership, Treat said. I worked for the House minority. If it werent for Frank Keating, we would not have taken the majority when we did. He was a workhorse in trying to help build the team and not tear down the team and not a purity test that you have to agree with me 100 percent of the time."

The resulting unity with Keating, Treat said, kept the House GOP in Keatings camp. None of his vetoes were ever overridden, Treat said. Because we had such a solid unity with the governor.

One of the unwritten rules  going back to even before the tenure of then-President Ronald Reagan was simple: Dont speak ill of a fellow Republican. That also meant that Republicans didnt try to defeat fellow incumbent Republicans in office.

Stitt, however, didnt follow those rules.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why Oklahoma's GOP governor and Senate leader are at odds
A man tipped over a portable toilet, trapping a mom and her 4-year-old daughter inside, following an argument, New Hampshire police reported.

The mother and child were unable to escape the port-a-potty until onlookers turned it upright in the incident on Wednesday, May 8, at Deerfield Park, Manchester police said in a May 10 news release.

Onlookers told officers the man and woman argued near the portable toilet before she went inside to assist her daughter, police said.

The man pushed the port-a-potty over from behind, police said. It landed on the door, trapping the mom and daughter inside. They were covered in feces and bodily fluids, police said.

The two were not hurt, police said. The man and woman did not know each other.

Officers arrested an 18-year-old Manchester man on charges of criminal mischief and criminal restraint, police said. He also threw something at an officer, resulting in a charge of assault on a police officer.

Manchester is about a 20-mile drive south from Concord.

Derryfield Park is a 76-acre park on the east side of Manchester. Its known for its trails, fields, and its new playground, according to the city.

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MANILA  New military sites designated under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the U.S. and the Philippines allowed forces during the bilateral Balikatan exercise to test their strategic effectiveness and to work on improvement projects there.

EDCA allows the U.S. to fund improvement and construction of infrastructure at existing Philippine military bases and other locations as well as to rotationally deploy U.S. troops. The agreement was signed in 2014 and established six sites originally. In 2023, it four more sites weee added to the list.

The mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and Philippines established the EDCA sites in order to support combined training, exercises and interoperability between the two militaries.

The Philippines retains sovereignty and control over EDCA sites, U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Oscar Franquez, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Manila, told Defense News. EDCA sites are not U.S. bases, and the U.S. does not maintain permanent forces or footprints in the Philippines.

The U.S. government has funded over $100 million in improvement projects to advance the modernization of the Philippines Armed Forces.

Three out of the four new EDCA sites were used for major events within the Balikatan exercise series, which began in late April and wrapped up on May 9.

Those three sites are locations strategic to the Philippines territorial defense. One is located on Balabac Island, south of Palawan Island. The island borders the southeast portion of the South China Sea, where the Philippines continues to defend its territory from Chinese aggression at places like the Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines marines operate aboard a shipwrecked World War II-era tank landing ship, the Sierra Madre.

The other site is at La-Lo airport in north central Luzon, a commercial airport being used during Balikatan for operations to project air assault missions into the northern islands within close proximity to Taiwan.

The use of new and existing enhanced defense cooperation agreement sites during Balikatan 24 enhanced combined training and interoperability between the U.S. and Armed Forces of the Philippines, allowing us to operate together more efficiently, U.S. Marine Capt. Colin Kennard, a spokesperson for the Combined Joint Information Bureau at Balikatan, told Defense News.

At La-Lo, U.S. Air Force C-130s delivered vital assets like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

CH-47F Chinooks and UH-60M Black Hawks could be seen regularly taking off and landing, conducting air assaults into the northern islands, such as Basco, where part of the U.S. Armys 1st Multidomain Task Force was situated for operations.

La-Lo also hosted a medical command post during the exercise.

Because of its proximity, La-lo allows us to more efficiently support training events that focus on coastal defense and maritime key terrain in the Batanes Islands, Kennard said. Basco is part of that island chain.

The final new site used during Balikatan was the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Northern Luzon.

The fourth new EDCA site, Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela  located in the central western portion of Luzon  was not used during Balikatan.

Of the original six EDCA designated sites, Fort Magsaysay served as a central basing location for Balikatan as it has in the past, particularly hosting the exercises jungle training.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Justin Farcassi, an engineer equipment mechanic with Marine Wing Support Squadron 174, Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, guides a Millennium Military Vehicle during a fly-away forward arming and refueling point operation in support of Exercise Balikatan 24 at Lal-lo Airport, Lal-lo, Cayayan, Philippines, April 27, 2024. (Photo by Cpl. Trent A. Henry/U.S. Marine Corps)

Training enhancements

Directly following Balikatan, during a second phase of the Salaknib exercise that kicked off in the weeks prior to Balikatan, the U.S. Army is bringing its Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Exportable, or JPMRC X, to Fort Magsaysay, which marks the the first time the most extensive iteration of the exportable version of the major training center is deployed west of the international date line.

The deployment of the JPMRC X to the Philippines will help enable, assist and allow the Philippine army to begin to establish their own training center in the vicinity of Fort Magsaysay, Gen. Charles Flynn, U.S. Army Pacific Command commander, said during a May 8 media roundtable.

Were helping them create that capability, he said, Where they choose to put it and how to build it is their own decision, but they turned to us for the expertise that we have and the JPMRC is a really concrete example of assistance that were giving them in and around their EDCA sites.

In Hawaii, the JPMRC is a combat training center rotation that validates an infantry brigade combat team and brings in multinational and joint partners in an immersive training environment to conduct fully instrumented, live, virtual, constructive support to achieve specific training objectives to validate the BCT. Each brigade spends about 12 months prior preparing and training with JPMRC being the culminating training exercise.

The Armys 25th Infantry Division is bringing the instrumentation systems, an exercise control group and an opposition force to the Philippines to conduct the JPMRC training during the second phase of Salaknib and will team up with the Philippines 7th Infantry Division for the event, Brig. Gen. David Zinn, 25th ID deputy commanding general, told Defense News in an interview at Fort Magsaysay.

Were very excited about it, Zinn said. Number one, its a proof of principle that we can do this. Number two, its a demonstration of the value of this to our partners who I hope, in the future, that they run this capability internally to understand the value of a brigade level training exercise with a dedicated opposition force.

The Army is also now engaged in improving range facilities at Fort Magsaysay, Flynn noted. That helps the Philippine army because now they have an improved range, but also helps us because when were over there for Balikatan and Salaknib, we have better range facilities to be able to operate on, Flynn said.

The Army will continue to help improve the EDCA sites over time, Flynn said. I think what has become more focused is that the Philippine military is now focused on territorial defense operations and that shift from counterinsurgency is in support of our allies and in support of our treaty allies. That defense matters, he added. We help defend terrain, we help defend people and ... we help them protect and defend their territorial integrity and national sovereignty.
Politicians in the US on Sunday stepped up their denunciation of Israel over its conduct in Gaza, with a leading Democratic senator accusing the key American ally of strategic and moral mistakes  and secretary of state, Antony Blinken, saying it was testing the boundaries of international law.

In an interview on CNNs State of the Union, the Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, warned that Hamas was likely to become stronger if Israel waged an all-out assault in Rafah.

I want Hamas gone, Murphy said. I dont want them to ever have the ability to hit Israel again. [But] I worry that the number of civilians that are dying are ultimately going to provide permanent recruiting material to Hamas, and it will be a threat for years to come.

We cannot have an invasion of Rafah that ends up in tens of thousands of additional civilians dying. That will be bad for Israel from a moral and strategic standpoint.

He continued: So I am certainly willing to call out Israel when I think that they have made strategic and moral mistakes in this war. We should [also] be calling out Hamas for the attacks that began this war, the way in which they have violated the rules of engagement, and the fact that the quickest route to end this war is for Hamas to surrender and protect the people of Gaza.

Murphys comments amounted to some of the strongest criticism yet by a centrist US politician against Israel, which the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday had now killed more than 35,000 people in strikes since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.

Stronger condemnation came from the Vermont Democratic senator Bernie Sanders, a member of the partys progressive wing.

Any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law  has broken American law  and in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in US military aid, he told NBCs Meet the Press, adding that Hamas was a terrible, disgusting terrorist organization that began this war.

Meanwhile, Blinkens commentary was considerably more measured. In an interview with CBSs Face the Nation, the Joe Biden White Houses top diplomat said it was reasonable to assess that in certain instances Israel acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian laws.

Blinkens comments on Sunday came after Biden threatened to stop supplying Israel with weapons if it invaded Rafah. That came as the White House said the US had stopped the transfer of 3,500 high-payload dumb bombs over concerns of the growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza.

Blinken stopped short of explicitly accusing Israel of violating international law as it pursued its offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. He said it was critical to note that Israel itself has accountability processes  and there were hundreds of active inquiries as well as criminal investigations into different incidents, showing Israel had the ability, means and the actions to self-correct.

It had been very difficult to determine, particularly in the midst of war, exactly what happened and to draw final conclusions from any one incident, he said, adding that the US was avoiding any firm assessment over a potential breach because Hamas hides behind as well as underneath civilian populations, in schools and hospitals.

The Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas later dismissed Blinkens reasonable to assess rhetoric as some magic talisman to help Democrats walk a political line within the party. He criticized the Biden administration as having imposed a de facto arms embargo on Israel.

The administrations national security policy, Cotton continued, sounds like a bunch of weaselly, mealy-mouthed politics.

The US last week released a 46-page unclassified report concluding that  despite American concerns  Israel had offered credible assurances that it was not violating US or intentional law.

That reports findings were starkly at odds with assessments by the UN and major international aid groups. The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs last week placed the Gaza strikes casualty toll at 34,844, with 7,797 (32%) being children and 4,959 (20%) being women.

Israel attacked Gaza in response to the 7 October attack that killed 1,100 mostly civilians while also taking hostages.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reacted defiantly, saying his countrys military would press on with its plan to go into Rafah.

On Sunday, Blinken reiterated that the US had made clear to the Israeli government that it would not support a major operation in Rafah, where 1.4 million people are sheltering, in the absence of a credible plan to protect civilians.

The secretary of state said that the US was not pausing the transfer of US weapons to Israel beyond the 3,500 bombs that had already been withheld.

Weve been clear that if Israel launches this major military operation into Rafah, there are certain systems were not going to be supporting and supplying for that operation, Blinken said.

But Blinken said the Biden administration had not ruled out supplying the high-payload munitions, including 1,800 bombs each weighing 2,000 pounds and 1,700 bombs each weighing 500lb. Were in an active conversation with Israel about that, he said. We have real concerns about the way they are used.

Murphy insisted Biden was being a good leader by withholding the earlier weapons.

The broad middle of the country wants to support Israels ability to destroy Hamas but is very concerned about the fact that there are so many kids dying  that for the last week theres been no humanitarian assistance getting into the country, he said.

He said Israel would be better served embracing Palestinian Authority leadership to build a transitional government structure inside Gaza, given the conclusion of intelligence agencies that it would be all but impossible to totally eradicate Hamas.

Theres going to continue to be a resistance movement to the state of Israel, and the question is, is it going to be weaker or stronger after 13,000 to 15,000 kids are killed inside Gaza? he said.

My argument is that right now the prospects are that they are just going to be stronger.

Blinken appeared to share those concerns, saying: There has to be a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we havent seen. And we have to see a plan for what happens after this conflict in Gaza is over, and we still havent seen that.
Dozens of students walked out on Jerry Seinfeld at Duke University on Sunday as he was about to deliver the commencement speech.

Videos, posted on social media, showed students leaving the stadium in North Carolina to protest Israels war in Gaza as Duke president Vincent Price introduced the comedian.

Some students could be heard booing as they waved Palestinian flags while others cheered: Jerry! Jerry!

Dozens of students walked out as Jerry Seinfeld delivered the commencement speech at Duke University on Sunday (AP)

Seinfeld has publicly supported Israel following the 7 October Hamas attack, and traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages families. He has been uncharacteristically vocal about his support during press calls for his new film, Unfrosted, The New York Times reported.

The comedian, who was receiving an honorary degree from Duke, largely stayed away from the issue at the centre of the protests during his speech. At one point, he mentioned his Jewish heritage which was met with applause from the crowd.

I grew up a Jewish boy from New York, he said. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian.

student walkout at Duke university commencement as Jerry Seinfelds speech is announced. his introduction by university president is being drowned out by free free Palestine chants  pic.twitter.com/oNLesaput3  the great clown snorman (@iamschvitzing) May 12, 2024

Outside Dukes stadium on the Durham campus, Gaza-supporting students chanted: Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.

Small pro-Palestinian protests popped up across the country this weekend as colleges and universities from North Carolina to California held commencement ceremonies.

At Dukes rival school, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, pro-Gaza demonstrators splattered red paint on the steps of a building hours ahead of the schools commencement ceremony and chanted on campus while students wearing light blue graduation gowns posed for photos, the News & Observer reported.

An estimated 100 students and family members left Virginia Commonwealth Universitys ceremony during Republican Governor Glenn Youngkins speech in a show of support for Palestinians, while others held signs signaling opposition to his policies on education, according to WRIC-TV.

Gov Youngkin, who received an honorary doctorate at commencement, did not appear to address the students who left the event.

The world needs your music, he said, during his speech. You, all of you, will be the symphony. Make it a masterpiece.

Virginia Commonwealth University students walk out of graduation as Republican governor speaks on Saturday (National Students for Justice in Palestine)

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a small group of demonstrators staged what appeared to be a silent protest during commencement at Camp Randall Stadium. A photo, posted by the Wisconsin State Journal, showed about six people walking through the rear of the stadium, with two carrying a Palestinian flag.

Marc Lovicott, a spokesperson for campus police, said the group, believed to be students because they were wearing caps and gowns, was kind of guided out but they left on their own. No arrests were made.

The demonstration came after pro-Palestinian protesters on that campus agreed on Friday to permanently dismantle their two-week-old encampment and not disrupt graduation ceremonies in return for the opportunity to connect with decision-makers who control university investments by 1 July. The university agreed to increase support for scholars and students affected by wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

At the University of Texas, Austin, a student held up a Palestinian flag during a commencement ceremony and refused to leave the stage briefly before being escorted off by security.

UC Berkeley Law School graduates wear T-shirts that read UC DIVEST as a form of protest during the UC Berkeley Law School commencement at the Greek Theater in Berkeley on Friday (ONLINE_YES)

And at the University of California, Berkeley, a small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators began waving flags and chanting during commencement and were escorted to the back of the stadium, where they were joined by others, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. There were no major counterprotests, but some attendees voiced frustration.

I feel like theyre ruining it for those of us who paid for tickets and came to show our pride for our graduates, said Annie Ramos, whose daughter is a student. Theres a time and a place, and this is not it.

Saturdays events were less dramatic than what happened on other campuses on Friday when police made dozens of arrests as pro-Gaza protest encampments were dismantled at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Those actions came hours after police tear-gassed demonstrators and took down a similar camp at the University of Arizona.

The Associated Press has recorded at least 75 instances since April 18 in which arrests were made at US campus protests. Nearly 2,900 people have been arrested at 57 colleges and universities.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Next generation brings hope

Modesto City Schools makes gains on chronic absenteeism. How its getting kids to class, (modbee.com, Oct. 23, 2023)

I am a retired teacher who has spent the last few years working as a substitute in Modesto. I recently had the pleasure (yes, pleasure) of filling in for a history teacher at Downey High School, working with three classes of seniors and two classes of juniors.

Like many of you, Ive seen countless videos on social media depicting out-of-control high school students acting out both vocally and physically against authority figures and fellow students in classrooms across the country. Let me assure you, that has not been my experience this school year.

Of course, Ive seen my share of disrespectful, troubled students, but they have been the exception  not the rule. My recent workday at Downey was a delight. The teacher I replaced for the day was clearly exceptionally well organized and it was abundantly clear that her students were used to her high expectations for academic performance, behavior, civility and respect for others.

Fear not, Modesto. Our future is in much better hands than you may have been led to believe!

Jack S Stalker

Modesto

Opinion

Willing to pay more for public services

Merced police disbanding key team due to staffing shortages, (mercedsunstar.com, Jan. 5, 2023)

Ive been noticing in the local news that Merced County and Atwater (my town) are both short of funding for things like safety, police, sheriffs deputies and fire station staffing. As a local citizen, I wouldnt mind being taxed more to pay for such things. And I bet a lot of local citizens could afford it as much as I can.

What kind of tax would that be? In my opinion, there ought to be an increase in the tax on the site value of land (not on buildings nor on other developments such as crops, but rather just on natural resources like land).

For things like safety and staffing of public offices here in this county, I would gladly pay more in taxes of any kind (if not a land tax, then maybe a sales tax). Maybe some other local citizens feel likewise. If so, I hope they will chime in, too!

John Lehman

Atwater

Constitutional crisis

Why havent blue states rushed to join Newsoms call for constitutional amendment on guns? (sacbee.com, April 21)

There is a call for a constitutional convention to amend  if not rewrite  our Constitution. It takes two-thirds of states to make the call to convene a convention (28 have taken the step, so only six more are needed). If Donald Trump is re-elected, you can bet the call will be made.

What might happen? On day one of his administration, Trump began work on his re-election campaign. Next time Trump will surely be looking for a way to avoid being termed-out, as the 22nd Amendment requires. He has openly admired Russian President Vladimir Putins lifetime tenure and would likely aspire to do the same. He might argue that its the people who are limited by not being able to vote for a beloved president.

That idea worked on the Supreme Court in Citizens v. FEC, which gave corporations a bigger say in our elections. Our saving grace  if we fail to act now  is that it takes three-fourths of states to ratify a change to the Constitution. No doubt, it would be a long and costly fight  a constitutional crisis that might cost us everything.

Harold Crumpley

Modesto

Keeping the peace

Assembly speaker commits to defending student safety amid campus protests. Is there a plan? (sacbee.com, May 3)

Student safety should always be a top priority, and protection of free speech is a valid argument for not interfering with protests. But once violence sets upon us, its time to act on it.

Education, especially with the help of financial aid, is a privilege. Those who are willing to risk that privilege deserve to have it revoked. You must always stand up for what you believe in, but not at the expense of other students safety or well-being.

A plan of action needs to be taken expeditiously. Those who are guilty must be held accountable for their actions. We must always strive for peace. Once that has been disturbed, it allows for a sequence of crime to happen  which we cannot have.

Vanessa Taylor

Tracy
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan maintained Sunday that President Bidens threat to withhold offensive weapons from Israel does not mean the U.S. intends to abandon the country.

Sullivan, speaking with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, warned of significant civilian casualties in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The interview comes days after Biden threatened to withhold offensive weapons from Israel if it launches a full-scale invasion of the city.

Well, first, because there is a million people  theres a million people there in very close quarters whove been pushed there, because of the military operations and other parts of Gaza, you would have really significant civilian casualties, Sullivan said in an interview released Sunday. And while Israel would also be able to kill some Hamas folks, many Hamas folks would melt away, because theyre terrorists. Theyre not really organized fights in the way that we think about a typical military in that context.

[Biden] doesnt want to see American weapons used in that kind of operation. Thats not to say that he is going to abandon Israel or cut them off from weapons. He was focused on a particular operation that he doesnt believe will succeed in defeating Hamas and that will cause grievous harm, he added.

Bidens warning about Rafah is facing blowback from some Republicans and Israeli leaders who contend moving into the city is necessary to eliminate Hamas forces there.

The White House for weeks has cautioned Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a full-scale incursion while the city is being used as a refuge by more than a million civilians.

Israel ordered new evacuations in the southern city over the weekend.

Biden has become increasingly critical of Israels wartime campaign and has upped pressure on Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to take more caution in preventing civilian deaths.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the conflict began in early October, when Hamas forces launched a surprise assault on Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

Nobody has been a stronger supporter of Israel than Joe Biden. He has sent an enormous amount of capability for Israel to take on Hamas, Sullivan said. Secondly, the president has made clear hes going to continue to make sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself. Full stop, for square that will happen.

And then third, the president has said that he has concerns about a full-scale military invasion of Rafah, a place where theres more than a million people sheltering with nowhere else to go, he continued.

In an interview with NBC Newss Meet the Press on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has not seen credible plans from Israel on preventing civilian deaths in Rafah.

We also havent seen a plan for what happens the day after this war in Gaza ends. Because right now, the trajectory that Israel is on is, even if it goes in and takes heavy action in Rafah, there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left, Blinken said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  On this To The Point, the Senate and the House are headed to the next phase of getting a budget done for 2024-2025 and it looks like it will be another spending package over $80 billion.

State Sen. Jon Bumstead, R-Newaygo, said Republicans have some issues with the budget even knowing they dont have the votes to stop it.

Well in the Senate relying on the pension fund and thats a concern for all of my caucus members. And the tax increase, raising that tax rate is not flying very well either so between the two thats how this governor wants to balance the budget and all of our caucus members are not on board with that, he said.

All that and more on this To The Point episode for the weekend of May 11.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
Suspects in thefts at Welcome to Rockville identified as illegal Colombian nationals

Body camera image shows Volusia Sheriff's deputies arresting a suspect in a wave of thefts at the Welcome To Rockville music fest on Friday.

Six Colombian nationals arrested Friday in a wave of wallet and cellphone thefts at the Welcome to Rockville music festival at Daytona International Speedway remained jailed without bail.

On Sunday, the Volusia Sheriff's Office said it had also made two additional arrests in the case Saturday night and those suspects have been charged with multiple grand theft charges. Deputies found 18 more stolen phones and several credit cards, the sheriff's office said.

The six arrested Friday were in the country illegally, according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office.

Four of the six theft suspects arrested Friday night were identified in court documents. Two women arrested remain unidentified.

Jessica Bovona-Pajar, 33, and Brenda Morros, 41, were each charged with 48 counts of grand theft of $750 but less than $5,000.

Brandon Paez Diaz, 31, was charged with eight counts of grand theft of $750 but less than $5,000 and German Cervantes, 33, was charged with one count of grand theft of $750 but less than $5,000.

The two women, listed as Jane Does, were each charged with eight counts of grand theft of $750 but less than $5,000.

More: Welcome to Rockville 2024 photos

According to a social media post, the sheriff's office stated that on Friday night law enforcement responded to dozens of reports of cellphones and wallets stolen from concertgoers.

Witnesses described the suspects as working in pairs with one reaching into victims' pockets, bags, or purses, stealing the contents, then handing them off to another suspect, the sheriff's office stated.

Deputies, undercover detectives, police and security staff identified and detained the six suspects. Some tried to run but were quickly apprehended, the Facebook post stated.

More than 50 cellphones were recovered from the suspects, who denied stealing them and denied knowing each other, deputies stated.

Detectives determined the majority of the suspects are Colombian nationals who entered the U.S. illegally, lived in Los Angeles, and recently moved to Miami, the sheriff's office stated.

The Department of Homeland Security was also notified of the Colombian nationals' arrests and their immigration status, the news release stated.

Welcome to Rockville Facebook page lights up about the thefts

RockVillians, a Welcome to Rockville fan page, had plenty of posts about the thefts

"So are we not gonna talk about the over 200 phones stolen? Cops arrested multiple people involved and are returning everyones phones to them, if you know someone who had their phone stolen tell them to have a friend call the phone! A detective will answer and get your phone back to you!"

"Police officer that we talked to said this is the biggest bust of stolen phones theyve ever had in Daytona, that theyre sure that there were more people involved than they have arrested so far."  Natalie Rousa

"Folks, I caught a dude doing this day 1 at Skillet . . . wearing normal clothes, but usually not fest clothes ( no bands or outfits, fest shirts, etc) they move laterally with no reasonable purpose ( not towards the stage or out of the area, just moving along bumping people. They almost always work in a pair or maybe 3 if one's the bag man. They usually work the edge of the pit and they will do a swipe along the outside of your pockets to feel an imprint. If you catch them? Its a simple hand slip in a mosh pit, totally normal."  LJ Toles

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Welcome to Rockville theft suspects identified as Colombian nationals
Russian troops continue their attacks in several sectors, but attempts to break through Ukraine's defenses have been halted, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on May 12.

The situation "is changing rapidly" in the Kupiansk, Siversk, Lyman, and Pokrovsk directions amid ongoing fighting, according to Syrskyi.

"The enemy has partial success in some areas, and in others, (Ukraine's) Defense Forces are pushing the enemy out and improving their tactical position," the general said.

Russia is also reportedly continuing its assault east of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast and has failed to regain lost positions near the village of Klishchiivka, located some five kilometers south of Russian-occupied Bakhmut.

Read also: Civilians flee Vovchansk under Russian bombardment as ground offensive on Kharkiv begins

Syrskyi described the situation in Kharkiv Oblast as "difficult" after Russia intensified its offensive operation in the region on May 10. Ukrainian troops are fighting in the border areas and "are doing everything to hold their defensive lines and positions," he said.

Ukraine's military said earlier that Moscow's troops had been contained in the "gray zone" border villages, while Russia alleged the capture of five settlements in Kharkiv Oblast: Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylne, and Strilecha.

"The units of the Defense Forces are engaged in fierce defensive battles, and the attempts of the Russian occupiers to break through our defense have been halted. Our intelligence, artillery, and unmanned aerial systems units are working," Syrskyi said.

"All necessary measures are being taken to strengthen the defense and decisions are being made promptly, including personnel."

Despite the difficult situation at the front line, the rotation of Ukrainian units to restore the combat capability of the brigades is underway, the commander-in-chief said.

Ukrainian troops engaged in 155 clashes with Russian army over the past day, Ukraine's General Staff reported.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Friday morning's tornadoes and heavy winds wreaked havoc on Tallahassee, but line crews got to work almost immediately after the storm cleared.

On Sunday, for example, a power pole popped out as easily as a toothpick, its dirt-crusted bottom wagging in the air within seconds of the digger derrick truck giving it a tug. Minutes later, another hundreds of pounds of wood was being wiggled back in to replace it.

Mike Crow, the City of Tallahassee's assistant general manager for power delivery, monitored the progress that morning. He said the biggest challenge in repairing the electric grid was navigating the debris-dumped terrain. It makes it hard, he said, to even get an assessment of what workers need to get started on a repair.

"It's something we haven't seen at this level in the past," Crow said. The damage around town reminded him of the ravages of 2018's Hurricane Michael in the rural counties west of Tallahassee. "This essentially looks like a Hurricane Michael but in an urban environment."

And there is a lot of work.

As of 2:30 p.m., more than 41,000 households were still without power, according to a city outage map. The Public Service Commission, though, put the City of Tallahassee number at less than 29,000 in a 11:55 a.m. report.

Crews are aiming to have 90% of customers' power restored by Sunday night. But Crow wasn't sure when full restoration would occur.

"Full restoration, from an electric utility standpoint, means we'll be fully restored to every customer who can receive power," said Crow, swatting away a swarm of gnats.

"We have a number of homes, businesses that have substantial damage to their own infrastructure and they can't receive that power until they make the repairs on their end. But as soon as they make repairs, we come right out."

Mike Crow, the City of Tallahassee's assistant general manager for power delivery, pointing out a damaged transformer on the morning of Sunday, May 12, 2024.

He stood near the entrance of Florida A&M University, surrounded by downed poles and pines. On that one-mile stretch of South Adams Street, workers had confirmed 23 broken poles. There were even more on intersecting streets.

"In order to get power up to this community, we've got to get this main circuit back on, then we can start working on the side roads," Crow said. "As far as our restoration efforts, it'll be ongoing. We're in a 24/7 posture and will remain that way."

The city has identified more than 150 damaged transformers. There are 337 confirmed broken poles across the network, too, but that number is expected to exceed 500.

More than 500 employees are around town making repairs, most of them mutual aid personnel from other communities who headed to Tallahassee within hours of the storm hitting, Crow said.

"We're extremely prepared for this," he said of the reinforcements that have effectively quadrupled their workforce. "We have a lot of material on hand. We've also reached out to additional mutual aid partners from a material stand-point."

City official addresses frustrations of powerless residents and about lagging outage map

Many are taking to social media to vent about the amount of time it's taking for their power to be restored.

"Nothing infuriates me more than when the house next door where nobody lives has power and I don't. For 2 days now," one poster on Reddit said.

Crow said to anyone who felt forgotten: "I completely understand, but I can assure you that you're not."

"You couldn't drive far without seeing one of our trucks actively working, and we're gonna be here until the end," he said. "So I encourage them to continue calling our customer ops center" at 850-891-4968 or 711 (TDD).

Some online have also noted the lagging numbers on the Tallahassee outage map. Crow explained the high influx of reports was making it take more time for the map to catch up. And due to the destruction, the city was having some issues with its communication equipment.

"It's taken some manpower hours to really clean that up, which those guys are working hard day and night, I may add, to do that," Crow said. "So that outage map will catch up but it is lagging."

More than a dozen power restoration trucks rumbled within sight, their raised buckets and workers outlined against the Florida Capitol farther north.

"Come through here tomorrow, and this will look a lot different," Crow said. "It's amazing that it took years to establish this infrastructure, and we'll rebuild it in a day."

But the fix won't be today for everyone.

"We're going into day three," he said. "I get it. I understand the point of frustration for some, but I want you to see we're actively working and also see just the number of resources that we have."

How to stay cool without power: Thousands without power 3 days after worst tornado strike in Leon County. What to know

Live updates on tornadoes: Storm updates: Jaw-dropping numbers behind worst tornado strike in Tallahassee history

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA TODAY Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee utilities shares updates on power restoration, outage map
Construction workers install the first steel beams at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D., on April 8, 2024. (Contributed | Chad Ziemendorf)

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora may be getting some federal help after lawmakers introduced a bill last month for funding and giving the library access to Roosevelts personal items.

All three members of North Dakotas congressional delegation and other bill sponsors introduced the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Act, which aims to give the librarys foundation a one-third fundraising match with federal dollars through the Department of Interior. It also allows access to Roosevelt artifacts that are currently being held by federal agencies.

Matt Briney, chief communications officer for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, said the librarys foundation has raised $224 million of its $333 million project fundraising goal, which will cover construction costs and the facilitys initial operating endowment.

Were excited about it and its bipartisan and bicameral, so I think thats a great sign, Briney said. We have enough funding and loans secured right now to complete the project, but there is still of course more fundraising to do.

The bill says federal funds cannot be used for maintenance or operational costs for the library.

With the approval of this legislation, Congress will help ensure that the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will be a beacon of inspiration, reminding us all of the values of conservation, leadership, and courage that define our national character, Theodore Ted Roosevelt V, the great-great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, said in a statement. My family and I are grateful to the congressional delegation for spearheading this effort.

Briney said the most important part of the bill is the ability for the foundation to negotiate with federal agencies for Roosevelt items from his life and presidency.

A lot of materials are being held within federal archives, and, the ability for us to have those on display, this bill just kind of makes that a lot easier for our curators, he said.

Briney added all of Roosevelts papers are being held at the Library of Congress and they are excited to secure some of them for display.

Were kind of in the early stages of knowing exactly what objects are going to be in each one of the galleries, but this opens up our ability to be able to look into what the government has, Briney said. It makes it easier to be able to have loans of those objects on display at our facility.

The concrete foundation of the library was poured last summer and the first steel beams of the structure were installed April 9, according to the librarys website.

Briney said by mid-May, visitors to Medora will be able to see a steel exoskeleton of the structure.

He added, at some point this summer, library officials plan to unveil graphic renderings for exhibit halls.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Act is a wise investment in our nations historical preservation, said North Dakota lawmakers Sen. John Hoeven, Sen. Kevin Cramer and Rep. Kelly Armstrong in a joint news release. It guarantees that future generations of Americans can access the rich history and enduring impact of Theodore Roosevelt.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library plans to open to the public on July 4, 2026, which will commemorate the countrys 250th birthday.

This article was originally produced by the North Dakota Monitor which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network, including the Daily Montanan, supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

The post Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library bill aims for federal cost-share, access to artifacts appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Dozens of blazes burning in Canada are sending smoke to the US. Several major fires have forced hundreds of evacuations

More than 100 blazes are burning across Canada Monday, with several major wildfires prompting evacuations for hundreds of residents and threatening to swallow up communities.

In the province of Manitoba, in eastern Canada, a massive fire had charred more than 86,000 acres by Monday evening and was less than a mile away from the community of Cranberry Portage, local authorities said. More than 500 residents there had been evacuated, according to Manitoba officials.

Ive been working in wildfires for 40 years, Ive never seen a fire move like this fire moved, Manitoba Wildfire Service Director Earl Simmons said in a Monday news conference.

In Western Canada, the Parker Lake Fire in northeastern British Columbia more than tripled in size over the weekend to 13,000 acres and is now on the doorstep of the small community of Fort Nelson. The blaze was less than 1.5 miles west of the town Monday morning, and gusty winds are expected to linger in the coming days and could bring the flames even closer.

The next 48 hours will be a challenging situation, said Bowinn Ma, BC minister of emergency management and climate readiness. We may begin to see volatile wildfire activity later this afternoon.

As of Monday morning, roughly 4,700 people were under evacuation orders, including in the town of Fort Nelson and Fort Nelson First Nation, Ma said. People across 80 other properties were also asked to evacuate, the official added.

Evacuation alerts are also in effect for parts of Alberta as wildfire MWF-017 burns about 10 miles southwest of the city of Fort McMurray  an area that was devastated by a wildfire in 2016. By Monday evening, that blaze had grown to more than 16,200 acres.

An evacuation alert was issued for residents in Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek, Gregoire Lake Estates, Fort McMurray 468 First Nation and Anzac, according to Alberta officials.

The blazes also prompted the Canadian National Railway Company to suspend services in some areas.

CN has suspended service on our network between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson in British Columbia and north of High Level, Alberta due to wildfire activity, spokeswoman Ashley Michnowski told CNN. We are working with impacted customers as our crews assess damages and identify any required repairs.

Warming climate helps fire conditions

Extremely dry conditions and winds gusting up to 25 mph are driving the fire Monday, but the seeds of fire activity were sown over the winter and in past years as the world continues to warm because of human-driven climate change.

This region has experienced multiple years of drought, with a below normal snowpack this past winter, said Ben Boghean, fire behavior specialist for the BC Wildfire Service. As a result of this, our forests in the Fort Nelson zone are very receptive to new fire ignitions and rapid rates of spread.

This handout picture courtesy of the Alberta Wildfire Service, taken May 11, 2024, shows smoke from wildfires burning southwest of the town of Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada. - Alberta Wildlife Service/AFP/Getty Images

Declining snow, increasing temperatures and worsening droughts are all hallmarks of climate change and are projected to keep driving larger and more intense fires across Canada, according to Environment Canada.

Last year was Canadas most devastating fire season on record, including in British Columbia, where fires burned through hundreds of homes and an area the size of Maryland, according to the BC Wildfire Service.

The Parker Lake Fire is not alone. There are more than 100 fires burning across Canada, 39 of which are considered out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Fire Centre.

Some of the blazes are so-called holdover fires also known colloquially as zombie fires, the smoldering remains of last seasons epic blazes, burning deep in the ground throughout the winter and reigniting when exposed to warmer temperatures in the spring.

Smoke rises Friday from mutual aid wildfire GCU007 in the Grande Prairie Forest Area near TeePee Creek, Alberta. - Alberta Wildfire/Handout/Reuters

In the past, the winter conditions are what put out a lot of holdover fires, Ma said. In this case, what weve seen is that due to higher temperatures and persistent drought through the last year, many of these holdover fires were not put out like they normally are.

Two zombie fires, the Patry Creek Fire and the Nogah Creek wildfire, are growing rapidly to the north and east of Fort Nelson and contributing to the evacuation orders.

Evacuation alerts are also in place for parts of Alberta as the MWF-017 wildfire burns out of control near Fort McMurray in the northeastern area of the province, officials said. The fire had burned about 16,000 acres as of Sunday morning.

Hazardous smoke creeps into the US

Smoke from the infernos has caused Environment Canada to issue a special air quality statement extending from British Columbia to Saskatchewan.

It has also caused smoke to waft down into the northern tier of the US for the first time this year, and for air quality alerts to be issued for Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Air quality reached unhealthy levels in all three states Monday, including Minneapolis-St. Paul, according to AirNow.gov.

On Monday afternoon, the Twin Cities had the eighth-worst air quality of 119 major cities tracked by IQAIR, a company tracking air quality worldwide.

Particulate matter levels this high can cause issues for sensitive groups or anyone spending prolonged time outdoors, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Wildfire smoke has been linked to increases in certain cancers and heart-related issues, among other ailments.

Just last year, smoke from Canadian wildfires made its way to parts of the United States and caused dangerous air conditions across the country. In 2023, 19 counties in 11 states had days with very unhealthy and hazardous air quality  given at least a code purple alert on the US Environmental Protection Agencys Air Quality Index.

Poor air quality conditions are expected to linger in the US through Monday, and likely longer in parts of Canada closer to the fires, including Alberta and British Columbia.

Canadian officials warned those at higher risk of experiencing health effects from wildfire smoke include people with lung disease such as asthma, people with heart disease, along with older adults, children, those who are pregnant and people who work outdoors. They also recommended those who spend time outdoors wear a mask to help reduce exposure to fine particles of smoke.

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Medical workers and servicemen treat a wounded Ukrainian service member, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region, Ukraine May 12, 2024. - REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy

Ukraine was last night rushing re-enforcements to the Russian border after a surprise attack saw at least nine villages captured.

The border villages near the second city of Kharkiv were under round the clock fire, Ukrainian official warned as desperate residents were evacuated under heavy shelling.

Alexander Syrsky, commander of Ukraines military, said that the situation had worsened significantly in the border area.

The situation is difficult but the Ukrainian defence forces are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions and inflict defeat on the enemy, he said.

Both sides said that they had rushed extra equipment, weapons and soldiers to the area, effectively marking the opening of a new front line in the war.

Valentyna reacts before leaving her home during evacuation to Kharkiv - Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

One Ukrainian soldier confirmed that the Russian attack had come as a surprise.

There was no first line of defence, he told the BBC. We saw it. The Russians just walked in.

Fighting on the front line has focussed on the Donbas region, around Chasiv Yar and Avdiivka and towards Kupiansk, and analysts were split over Russias ambitions with its attack from its Belgorod region towards Kharkiv on Friday.

Some argued that the attack was a diversionary tactic to pull Ukrainian forces away from the main Russian effort in Donbas but others said that Kharkiv may be a target.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said that the Russian forces did not appear to be large enough to capture the city, although they still posed a significant threat.

The proximity of Kharkiv City to the border magnifies the significance of limited Russian tactical gains, it said. Russian forces do not have to advance much further to begin threatening Kharkiv City with routine shelling.

Russian forces have enjoyed an advantage in soldier numbers and weapons over the past six months because of a delay in US military aid reaching Ukraine as well as Ukrainian army recruitment problems, and they have intensified their attacks before new US equipment arrives on the battlefield and a fresh mobilisation drive kicks in.

From May 18, new laws will give Ukrainian draft officers more power and the mobilisation age will drop to 25 from 27, which the Ukrainian ministry of defence said would give the army a boost.

This situation, when some people are fighting at the front lines while others are living their quiet lives, is obviously coming to an end, Dmitry Lazutkin, a Ukrainian ministry of defence spokesman, told a Ukrainian television station.

In Belgorod, a city in Russia 20 miles north of the border with Ukraine where fighting has focussed, an alleged Ukrainian missile hit a residential block yesterday.

Video showed a gaping hole in a 10-storey residential block and emergency workers clambering over rubble and gingerly picking through the remains of peoples apartments as they looked for survivors.

Russias emergency service said that at least 20 people had been injured in the alleged attack and seven people had been killed.

Ukraine-based analysts have said that the bomb may have been accidentally dropped on Belgorod by a Russian warplane aiming for towns in Ukraine.

05:00 PM BST

Todays live blog is now closed

Thats all for today, thanks for following along. Here is a summary of the day:

Russian forces pushed deeper into the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, claiming on Sunday that they have now captured nine villages. Kyiv said that the situation was complicated but that it was doing its best to hold its defensive positions. More than 4,000 people have evacuated over the weekend.

An apartment block partially collapsed in the Russian border city of Belgorod on Sunday, leaving at least five dead and 20 injured. Officials blamed Ukrainian shelling for the buildings destruction. The Kremin called it a barbaric attack. There was no comment from Kyiv.

Russia attacked 106 infrastructure facilities in nine regions in Ukraine over the past day, the Ukrainian defence ministry said on Sunday. Thousands of households across seven regions are suffering power outages due to the attacks, according to the energy ministry.

The quiet life is over, Ukraines Ministry of Defence has warned young men, as it introduces a tougher conscription law next week. Dmitry Lazutkin, the departments spokesman, said that after the new mobilisation law is introduced on May 18 nearly all Ukrainian men will be drafted into the army.

Vladimir Putin has taken personal control of the unit that organises Russian arms sales, two months after data showed that overseas deals have plummeted since he invaded Ukraine.

Several hundred thousand people protested peacefully in pouring rain on Saturday in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, against a Kremlin-inspired law that will undermine West-backed NGOs. Many of the protesters waved the EU flag and chanted slaves at police during the march, one of the biggest ever seen in Tbilisi.

04:45 PM BST

Five killed in alleged Ukrainian strike on Russian border city

Five bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a building hit by a Ukrainian strike in the Russian border city of Belgorod, officials said on Sunday.

The Russian defence ministry said a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit a residential district in the city after it was intercepted by air defences. It did not provide any evidence for the claim.

In total five bodies have been taken out of the rubble, Russias emergency situations ministry said on social media, after earlier reporting that four bodies had been found.

Emergency services were quoted by the TASS news agency as saying that 20 people were also injured.

Officials said rescue work had to be repeatedly interrupted because of air raid alerts.

04:44 PM BST

Pope Francis calls for peace as fighting in the northeast of Ukraine intensifies

I renew my appeal for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine. I assure the Holy See's availability to facilitate every effort in this regard, especially for those who are seriously injured or ill.  Pope Francis (@Pontifex) May 12, 2024

04:17 PM BST

Pictured: Kharkiv evacuations continue

Evacuees from the town of Vovchansk arrive at an evacuation point in Kharkiv region, on May 12, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP

04:13 PM BST

Artillery and air strikes increase around Kharkiv, all areas of the northern border being targeted

Air and artillery strikes have increased around Kharkiv throughout the day, the regional governor has said.

The occupiers continue shelling the civilian population. During this day, the number of massive artillery and airstrikes increased, Oleh Syniehubov posted on Telegram.

Vovchansk, Liptsi and all areas of the northern border are under enemy fire almost 24 hours a day. The situation is complicated. Today, information was received about two victims in Liptsy and Vovchansk - a 46-year-old woman and a 74-year-old man, he said.

The number of settlements where active hostilities are ongoing has increased. The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue the defense operation.

Around 500 people are still in Vovchansk, he said, which has become the focal point of the battle.

04:06 PM BST

Kremlin says Ukrainian strike on Belgorod barbaric

Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed by acting emergencies minister and Belgorod region governor about the barbaric missile attack of Ukraine on an apartment block in the city of Belgorod, the TASS news agency cited Dmitry Peskov, Putins spokesman, as saying on Sunday.

According to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor, at least two people were killed in the attack and there might be more people under the rubble.

Russian defence ministry said Ukraine attacked Belgorod with Tochka ballistic missiles and Adler and RM-70 Vampire (MLRS) multiple launch rocket systems.

Moscow has not yet provided any evidence that Ukraine was behind the attack and Kyiv has not commented.

04:03 PM BST

Russia seizes nine villages in deep advance into Ukraine

Russia captured nine villages in its surprise invasion of Ukraines northern border, the Kremlin said on Sunday.

Troops advanced into settlements on the border with Russias Belgorod region in an offensive that began on Friday.

The Russian defence ministry declared on Sunday that its forces had now taken Hatyshche, Krasne, Morokhovets and Oliinykove - all of which lie north of Ukraines heavily-bombarded second city of Kharkiv.

The ministry said the Russian forces had advanced deeply into the enemy defences.

Ukrainian officials on Saturday insisted that fighting was ongoing in villages on the border and Russias forces were being contained there.

Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers said that both sides were pouring equipment and soldiers into the area north of Kharkiv as fighting intensified.

03:37 PM BST

Pictured: the search and rescue operations in Belgorod

Participants of a search operation evacuate a woman following the collapse of a section of a multi-story apartment block, as the result of what local authorities called a Ukrainian missile strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the city of Belgorod, Russia, May 12, 2024. - Reuters

People remove debris while searching for survivors following the collapse of a section of a multi-story apartment block, as the result of what local authorities called a Ukrainian missile strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the city of Belgorod, Russia, May 12, 2024. - Reuters

03:32 PM BST

Russia attacked 106 infrastructure facilities in Ukraine in past day

Russia attacked 106 infrastructure facilities in nine regions in Ukraine over the last day, the Ukrainian defence ministry said on Sunday.

Thousands of households across seven regions are suffering power outages due to the attacks, according to the energy ministry.

In the past day, more than 1,100 customers in the Kharkiv region lost power, 4,600 in Donetsk, more than 2,400 in Zaporizhzhia, 450 in Mykolaiv, more than 500 in Sumy, 25,800 in Kherson and 1,500 in Chernihiv .

The situation is worse in Donetsk, the Kyiv Independent reported, where 47,700 customers are disconnected from the power grid.

03:00 PM BST

Quiet life is over for young men of Ukraine ahead of tougher conscription law

The quiet life is over, Ukraines Ministry of Defence has warned young men, as it introduces a tougher conscription law next week.

Dmitry Lazutkin, the departments spokesman, said that after the new mobilisation law is introduced on May 18 nearly all Ukrainian men will be drafted into the army.

This situation, when some people are fighting at the front lines while others are living their quiet lives, is obviously coming to an end, he told Espresso TV, a Ukrainian television station.

The country has rushed through legal reforms to give military recruiters more power to find and force men into the army while closing loopholes used to dodge service.

The new laws will lower the mobilisation age of men to 25 from 27 and include giving draft officers more powers to punish refuseniks, including blocking bank accounts.

With such an enemy as Russia, the whole country needs to mobilise, said Mr Lazutkin.

Read more here.

02:29 PM BST

Pictures emerge of wounded Ukrainian soldiers on Vovchansk frontline

The town of Vovchansk, with a prewar population of 17,000, has emerged as a focal point in the battle around Kharkiv since Friday.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Russian forces were in the outskirts of the town and approaching from three directions. A Russian tank was spotted along a major road leading to the town, Tymoshko said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that halting Russias offensive in the northeast was a priority, and that Kyivs troops were continuing counteroffensive operations in seven villages around the Kharkiv region.

Military paramedics treat a wounded Ukrainian service member, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region, Ukraine May 12, 2024. - REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy

02:22 PM BST

Russia recruiting far-Right extremists to launch attacks in the West

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 Maxim Elovik, the Russian defence attache to the UK, who is believed to be a GRU operative.

Read more from Sean Rayment here.

02:00 PM BST

Russias state owned energy companies report biggest annual loss in 25 years, MoD says

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine  12 May 2024.



Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/1NsPGy2eF6 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/tZ7aecIHlc  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) May 12, 2024

01:58 PM BST

Belgorod building roof collapsed as first responders searched the rubble

As Russian emergency services scoured the rubble for survivors, the roof collapsed and people ran for their lives, dust and rubble falling behind them, Reuters reported.

Russias defence ministry said the attack, which it is blaming on Ukraine and calling a a terrorist attack on residential areas, took place at 08:40 GMT and involved at least 12 missiles.

Russian news agencies said at least seven people had been killed and 17 injured, including two children. Others were still trapped under the rubble.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack.

01:14 PM BST

Kyiv Independent reporter in Vovchansk shows destruction, details pace of bombing

We were in Vovchansk yesterday. In under two hours in the town, 20 glide bombs were dropped around us. Most of them that we saw just flattened random civilian houses, killing and injuring people and animals.



Destruction for destruction's sake, truly what Russia is best at. pic.twitter.com/4ljHNYRnzZ  Francis Farrell (@francisjfarrell) May 12, 2024

12:53 PM BST

Ukrainian missile strikes Russian apartment building in Belgorod

A Ukrainian missile hit an apartment block inside Russia, the Kremlin said as cross-border attacks intensified.

Footage showed a large section of the 10-storey block in Bolgorod, which has been under Ukrainian attack for months, hit by a projectile and later collapsing.

At least seven people were killed and more than a dozen injured, Moscow claimed. The Telegraph could not immediately able to verify the Russian claims.

The Russian defence ministry said the building was hit with fragments of a Tochka-U that was intercepted by Russian air defences. Ukraine also used Vampire, Olkha missiles and rockets in the attack, the ministry said.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilian targets are extremely rare.

It came as Russian infantry units crossed the border just south of Belgorod, in the first raid of its kind since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

12:48 PM BST

Pictured: The aftermath in Belgorod

In this photo taken from video released by Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov's Telegram channel on Sunday, May 12, 2024 - Telegram

12:45 PM BST

Russian attempts to break through Ukrainian defences have failed, Ukraines commander in chief says

Russian troops are continuing their attacks in several areas, although attempts to break through Ukraines defenses have been halted, Ukraines Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Sunday.

The situation is changing rapidly in the Kupiansk, Siversk, Lyman, and Pokrovsk directions amid ongoing fighting, Syrskyi is quoted as saying in the Kyiv Independent.

The enemy has partial success in some areas, and in others, (Ukraines) Defense Forces are pushing the enemy out and improving their tactical position, the general said.

Meanwhile Russia offered competing claims, declaring that they captured another four villages in the Kharkiv region today.

12:20 PM BST

Czech president says not all occupied Ukrainian land can be retaken

Petr Pavel, the Czech president, has admitted that Ukraine will not win back territory lost to Russia since 2014.

In an interview with the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, he said that he could not see Ukraine returning to its 1991 borders.

The Kremlin illegally annexed parts of Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in 2022 and Crimea 2014.

It is unlikely that Ukraine will be able to regain all of its territory within its internationally recognised borders, at least in the foreseeable future, Mr Pavel said.

Pavel is a former Czech army general and has been a stalwart supporter of Ukraines fight against Russia.

Analysts have said that delays in US weapons and ammunition resupplies to frontline Ukrainian forces handed Russian forces a vital advantage over the past six months which has allowed it to push back Ukrainian soldiers. A Nato-backed Ukrainian counteroffensive failed to dislodge well-dug Russian positions last year.

11:43 AM BST

Putin takes personal control of oversea arms sales unit

Vladimir Putin has taken personal control of the unit that organises Russian arms sales, two months after data showed that overseas deals have plummeted since he invaded Ukraine, writes James Kilner.

The Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) has been under the control of the Russian Ministry of Defence since it was set up in 2004 but will now report directly to Putin.

Data released in March by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that Russian arms sales have fallen by more than 50% and that it now ranks behind France as the worlds third biggest arms exporter. The US is the worlds largest arms exporter.

Analysts have said that Western Arms sales had been an important cash earner for Russia but since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has prioritised sending kit to its armies in Ukraine rather than selling it abroad.

11:38 AM BST

Russia claims to have captured another four villages in Ukraines Kharkiv region

Russian troops seized another four villages - Hatyshche, Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove - in Kharkiv region in Ukraine, Russias defence ministry said.

Moscow said on Saturday it had captured five villages, while Kyiv said it was repulsing the attacks and battling for control of the settlements.

11:35 AM BST

Russian offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast likely aim to draw Ukrainian forces from other sectors of the front ISW assesses

NEW: Russian forces are conducting relatively limited offensive operations along the Russian-Ukrainian border in northern Kharkiv Oblast and continued to make tactically significant gains in likely less defended areas. (1/6) pic.twitter.com/D9x2yB5J92  Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) May 12, 2024

11:20 AM BST

Thousands march against Kremlin-inspired law in Georgia

Several hundred thousand people protested peacefully in pouring rain on Saturday in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, against a Kremlin-inspired law that will undermine West-backed NGOs, writes James Kilner.

Many of the protesters waved the EU flag and chanted slaves at police during the march, one of the biggest ever seen in Tbilisi.

Police have been accused of using excessive force to disburse protests but they didnt interfere with the march on Saturday.

Georgias pro-Russia Georgian Dream government says it needs to introduce the so-called foreign agents law to increase security but critics have said that it will be used to crush civil society.

This week, hooded men beat up several prominent opposition leaders. Posters were also plastered onto the doors of NGO offices, accusing their directors of being traitors.

11:18 AM BST

Ukraines military chief warns of difficult situation in Kharkiv region

Ukraines military chief said on Sunday his countrys forces were facing a difficult situation in fighting in the Kharkiv region, but that they were doing all they could to hold the line.

Units of the Defense Forces are fighting fierce defensive battles, the attempts of the Russian invaders to break through our defenses have been stopped, Syrskyi wrote on Telegram .

The situation is difficult, but the Defense Forces of Ukraine are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions, inflict damage on the enemy, he added.

10:47 AM BST

Fighting intensifies north of Kharkiv

Fighting has intensified in an area north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that has been the focus of a surprise cross-border assault from Russia since Friday morning, writes James Kilner.

Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers said that both sides were pouring equipment and soldiers into the area, roughly 25 miles from Kharkiv.

Videos published by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence showed emergency workers clearing rubble from destroyed houses in the town of Vovchansk and evacuating the mainly elderly residents. Reports said that the town, which had a pre-war population of 17,000 people, was now virtually empty.

Russian forces have claimed the capture of at least five border villages since Friday and on Sunday morning they said that they had secured more territory. This has been denied by Ukraine which has said that it is holding off the attack.

10:35 AM BST

Thwarting Russias offensive plans is the number one task right now, Zelesnky says

Today, the primary focus is on the front lines, in areas where the risks of Russian offensive actions are the highest.



Our defensive operations continue in the Kharkiv region, in the border villages of Strilecha, Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi, Hatyshche, and pic.twitter.com/xuOTt1JwSm  Volodymyr Zelenskyy /   (@ZelenskyyUa) May 11, 2024

10:19 AM BST

Russia says it downs six drones launched by Ukraine and two ballistic missiles

Russias defence ministry claimed this morning that its air defence systems destroyed six attack drones and two ballistic missiles that Ukraine launched overnight.

The two Soviet-era Tochka conventional ballistic missiles were downed over the Belgorod region, the ministry said.

Three drones were downed over the Bryansk region, two over Lipetsk and one was intercepted over the Vologorod region.

The defence ministry claims could not be independently verified.

10:10 AM BST

Residents fleeing the border describe constant incoming fire

The city is constantly under fire, Oleksiy Kharkivsky, a senior police officer from Vovchansk helping to coordinate the evacuations told AFP.

Everything in the city is being destroyed... You hear constant explosions, artillery, mortars. The enemy is hitting the city with everything they have, he said, speaking at an evacuation point in a village near Vovchansk.

He estimated that around 1,500 people had been evacuated or fled Vovchansk since Friday and said there had been 32 drone strikes on the town over the past 24 hours.

He said evacuation teams had come under fire many times.

One 61-year-old woman, Lyubov Nikolaieva, told AFP she had fled the border village of Lyptsi along with her 81-year-old mother.

There is constant incoming fire: those guided aerial bombs and mortar shells whistling overhead. It became very scary, she said.

Valentyna reacts before leaving her home during evacuation to Kharkiv, in Vovchansk, Ukraine, on Saturday, May 11, 2024. - AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

10:00 AM BST

Attacks on Kharkiv over the past day kill three and injure five

Russian troops attacked 27 settlements in the Kharkiv region over the past day, killing three people and injuring five, according to the local governor.

A massive attack on Vovchansk, a town three miles south of the Russian border, damaged dozens of houses on Saturday and killed a 51-year-old man, governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The injured, he said, included an 83-year-old woman and four men aged between 39 and 64.

A 38-year-old man was also wounded in Vovchansk in another attack overnight.

According to Ukraines state emergency service, dozens of houses and residential buildings were destroyed and damaged after morning airstrikes.

The service said that a family of four was trapped under the rubble and that first responders rescued two men while another one was able to get out on his own.. A 73-year-old woman was killed, Syniehubov said.

Russian forces also shelled the village of Hlyboke killing a 63-year-old man, the governor said.

09:40 AM BST

Ukraine-launched drone sparks fire at Russias Volgograd refinery, regional governor says

An overnight drone attack launched from Ukraine sparked a brief fire at an oil refinery in the Volgograd region in southern Russia, the regions governor said on Sunday.

The fire was extinguished. There were no casualties, Andrey Bocharov, the governor, said on the local administrations Telegram channel.

The Russian Telegram channel Baza, which is close to the security services, posted photos of flames rising into dark skies over what looked like an industrial building with a tall chimney.

The reports could not immediately be verified. There was no immediate comment from oil producer Lukoil, which owns the refinery, or from Kyiv.

09:28 AM BST

Good morning

Hello and welcome to the Telegraphs live blog on the war in Ukraine as Kyiv battles a surprise Russian offensive in Kharkiv. Follow along as we bring you all of the latest updates throughout the day.

First up this morning:

Russia has invaded Ukraine again, Lord Cameron warns

Russia has invaded Ukraine again, Lord Cameron warned, as troops crossed over the border to open a new front near the second city of Kharkiv.

Russias defence ministry said its troops had taken five border villages in the region, in what is believed to be the first time its forces had launched a cross-border attack since the invasion in 2022.

Ukrainian officials insisted that fighting was ongoing in those villages and Russias forces were being contained there.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron told Sky News: Its extremely dangerous. It only underlines that this a unjustified, illegal invasion by Putin into an independent sovereign country and he has now, as it were, invaded it again from the north of Kharkiv.

The local governor of the border region under attack on Sunday morning said that more than 4,000 people have fled over the weekend.

Ukrainian officials had warned for weeks that Moscow might try to attack its northeastern border regions, pressing its advantage as Ukraine struggles with delays in Western aid and manpower shortages.

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Its time for Kelly to consider the nuclear option to expand Medicaid | Opinion

Theres a pivotal scene in the movie Braveheart where William Wallace (Mel Gibson) explains to one of his lieutenants why hes riding out to meet with Scottish nobles to try get them to back the revolution, despite warnings that its probably a trap.

You know what happens if we dont take that chance?

What?

Nothing.

Welcome to Kansas Gov. Laura Kellys Braveheart moment for Medicaid expansion.

After years of legislative refusal to protect the health and well-being of working-poor Kansans, the time has come for Kelly to seriously consider defying the Legislature, inform the federal government shes accepting expanded Medicaid on behalf of the people of Kansas, and fight it out in court.

For William Wallace, the meeting with the nobles was a indeed a trap, and he was captured and executed. The risk-reward equation isnt quite as drastic for Kelly.

If she wins, more than 150,000 Kansans  almost 70,000 with no insurance at all  will get access to health care assistance, paid for almost entirely by the federal government.

If she loses, they wont get health care aid, which they arent getting now anyway.

But you know what happens if she doesnt take that chance?

Nothing.

The Legislature has adjourned for the year  its seventh year in a row  without a straight up or down vote on Medicaid expansion. There is nothing to indicate that this will ever change.

In the waning days of this years session, a last-ditch effort to pull Medicaid expansion out of the legislative committee where its been languishing was rejected by the state Senate, effectively killing it.

The vote was 18 in favor of debating expansion to 17 against, but due to Senate procedural rules, 24 of the 40 senators would have had to vote yes for it to proceed.

Its like this every year. Democrats try to bring the issue to the floor. Republican leadership finds a way to block it.

Its like a bad soap opera thats been recycling the same plotline for far too long.

Going it alone

The reputable Kansas Speaks survey by Fort Hays State University shows that about seven out of 10 Kansans support Medicaid expansion.

Theres also a significant number of Republican lawmakers who would support it, but fear that if they cross their leaders, House Speaker Dan Hawkins of Wichita and Senate President Ty Masterson of Andover, theyll be stripped of their assignments to key committees that matter at the Statehouse, to the detriment of their constituents, several have told me off the record.

It didnt have to be like this. It probably doesnt have to be like this.

If Kelly were to move forward on her own, she wouldnt be the first governor to do so.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker signs the Alaska Code of Military Justice into law during a ceremony in downtown Anchorage in 2016. Walker, an Independent, brought Medicaid expansion to his state via executive order nine years ago.

In gaming out the scenario, I spoke with former Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an Independent who brought Medicaid expansion to his state via executive order nine years ago.

It had been before the Legislature a number of times and they wouldnt put it to a vote, Walker said. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that we as Alaskans were paying taxes for something we were not receiving, No. 1.

And No. 2, health care should not be a partisan issue, at all. And No. 3, if you dont have your health, you cant work, you cant hunt, you cant feed yourself on subsistence . . . Your whole world comes to an end if you dont have your health.

He said he decided to go it solo after he got fed up with legislative leaders blocking a vote, which should be a familiar tune to anyone whos been watching Topeka over the years.

I gave the Legislature the option, as long as you put it to a vote in the House and Senate, I will honor what you do. Walker said. They didnt do that. I called a special session and I put one thing on the special session, which was Medicaid expansion, and they would still not put it to a vote. So I said, Fine, Ill do it myself, knowing full well that I was going to get sued, which I did, and we prevailed, which I knew we would.

Even though hes not governor anymore, No one has made any attempt to undo what Ive done, Walker said. Its harder to take something away from someone once they have it versus the other way around.

Also, despite dire warnings of runaway costs for the state, (sound familiar, Kansas?) that never happened either, he said.

Im pretty fiscally conservative and we saved hundreds of millions of dollars in our budget by having Medicaid expansion, because we were paying for health care for people who were incarcerated and for other folks who were under our care and obligation, that Medicaid would have covered, Walker said.

Theyre not the healthiest bunch, so if they needed a heart bypass or some such, we were paying for that  all this medical stuff that we werent paying after Medicaid expansion. To this day people will come up to me and say I like what you did, but how much money did Medicaid expansion cost us? I say, no, no, it didnt cost us, we saved money.

In testimony to the Kansas Legislature, Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter projected similar substantial savings for the jail he manages and jails across the state.

He cited cases in which only two inmates had required treatment exceeding $1.6 million. Medicaid paid most of that, but the county still was on the hook for more than $270,000.

If (Medicaid expansion) were to pass, the money spent on these two inmates would have a substantial impact on local taxpayers, Easter testified. The entire (county) bill of $271,434.05 would have been paid for by federal dollars . . . These medical costs will ultimately come from local tax dollars. (Medicaid expansion) would allow those tax dollars to come from the much larger national tax pool than from limited county property tax resources.

In Alaska, Medicaid expansion didnt just save money, it saved lives.

Walker tells of going out to dinner at a nice restaurant with live music: As I walked by the guy playing the piano, he said, Governor, I want to play a song for you. I said Great, why do you want to do that? He said You saved my life.

Turned out the musician had had a brain tumor, but no health coverage.

The doctors timed his surgery almost to the minute of when the Medicaid expansion came into effect, Walker said. I had a number of those kinds of experiences. Theres a real side to it as well, not just the economic side of it.

Several thousand leaflets mimicking hospital bills were dropped from the fifth-floor rotunda at the Kansas Statehouse in 2019 as part of a protest for Medicaid expansion

14 years and counting

Its now 14 years since Congress passed the Affordable Care Act and 10 years since the act was modified to offer expanded Medicaid, with the federal government picking up at least 90% of the tab.

Thats 14 years of unnecessary human suffering as uninsured Kansans either went without needed medical care or entered into ruinous debt trying to pay for it.

And we can lay that squarely at the feet of legislators who care more about pleasing Koch Industries political front groups than their constituents  that and the sad and ongoing legacy of former Gov. Sam Brownback, who blocked health care for the working poor every chance he got.

Because of Brownbacks cynical shenanigans, Kelly would face a higher degree of difficulty than Walker did in expanding Medicaid by executive order.

Unlike Walker, Kelly would have to overcome a state law that purports to make her or any future governor play Mother May I? with the Legislature before accepting expanded Medicaid.

Theres a history here.

When the federal government offered Medicaid expansion to the states, it was given as a governors option whether to accept it or not.

Brownback, facing what appeared to be a tough re-election fight, didnt have the guts to reject it on his own. So he feigned neutrality while his minions in the Legislature did the dirty work for him.

Together, they passed a law stating: Medicaid, shall not be expanded . . . unless the legislature expressly consents to, and approves of, the expansion of medicaid services by an act of the legislature.

That allowed Brownback to act like his hands were tied and he won re-election. He didnt have to show his own cards on expansion until 2017, when both houses of the Legislature did approve Medicaid expansion, and he vetoed it.

So much for letting the Legislature decide.

Former Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita was in the Legislature when it took power over Medicaid expansion and said the manipulation of the process was stunning.

I thought it was a big mistake to take it away from the governor, because the feds gave it to the governors to make the decision to expand, he said. The Legislature passed a law to say, Not in Kansas.

The law originally came through the door as a floor amendment to another Medicaid bill. About two years later, when the same statute came back before the Legislature, Ward proposed amending it to restore the governors authority.

House leadership ruled Wards amendment was not germane to the discussion, shutting it down even though it dealt with language that was in the bill that was under consideration.

I said how can it be that the amendment to take the governors power away is germane, but not to put it back? Ward said. (Former Republican Rep.) Blaine Finch was the chair and I never saw a more embarrassed or sheepish look. He looked at me like Jim, you know whats going on here. Its a political ruling and we are not going to discuss this.

Kansas House Speaker Daniel Hawkins greets Kansas Governor Laura Kelly before the State of the State address at the Kansas State Capitol on Jan. 10, 2024. Hawkins said if Kelly tries to expand Medicaid on her own, the Legislature will take her to court.

Taking it to court

After a Brownback speech at a recent meeting of the Wichita Pachyderm Club, I asked him what he thought would happen if Kelly tried to expand Medicaid on her own. He declined to comment.

I put the same question to House Speaker Hawkins after anti-expansion town hall meeting in Plainville sponsored by the Conservative Alliance of Rooks County, with dinner provided by the Koch front group Americans for Prosperity.

Hawkins said if Kelly tries to expand Medicaid on her own, the Legislature will take her to court.

That wouldnt be the worst thing.

I spoke to two lawyers with legislative experience, Ward and Rep. John Carmichael, also of Wichita.

Carmichael said the governor could argue that the federal action empowering governors to accept expanded Medicaid supersedes the state law making it the Legislatures option.

Kelly could also argue that the Legislature overstepped its authority under the separation of powers in the Kansas Constitution, by trying to bar any current and future governors from accepting expansion without legislative approval, he said.

Ward concurred that Kelly would have a better chance of getting Medicaid expansion through the courts than she does getting it through the Legislature. But he said it would be out of character.

For her to step out and color out of the lines that far? he said. You cant see many times where shes picked a fight with the Legislature and nowhere near that kind of fight. Its just not her personality.

But he noted shes term-limited out of office next year and would have little to lose by trying, other than stirring up a few Republican leaders and talk-radio talking heads who would accuse her of being the one trying to overstep separation of powers.

It would be a super great fight to have in your last two years, Ward said. I do think it would be a good way to make yourself relevant for your last two years, on a significant issue that affects a lot of Kansans.

He added that the tension and attention of a high-stakes Supreme Court case would likely turn Medicaid into an issue that would motivate voters, which it really isnt today, despite its widespread support in polls.

Even if she loses, it puts it out in the front as one of the big issues in the next governors race, he said. Theres no downside, other than it would consume the attention of everybody, which isnt bad.

There will probably never be a better time to try.

The American Rescue Plan Act offers bonus funding over the next two years for holdout states to adopt expanded Medicaid.

For Kansas, that would be $509 million over two years, equivalent to eight years of state matching funds for the program, according to the Kansas Health Institute.

And Kelly would have until January of 2025 to fight the Legislature in court.

The nuclear option

A major reason the Legislature wont move is that political groups backed by billionaire business interests are arrayed against Medicaid expansion, including the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, which Masterson serves as national chair.

The Cato Institute, Kansas Policy Institute and Americans for Prosperity have been instrumental in creating and amplifying Medicaid opponents chief talking point that would-be recipients are nothing more than able bodied slackers unwilling to work.

That is patently untrue.

According to the Kansas Health Institute, 151,898 Kansans, including 106,450 adults and 45,448 children would be newly eligible under expanded Medicaid. About 68,000 of those Kansans have no health coverage at all  others face ruinous rates on the open market.

Of the adults who would benefit, seven out of 10 are working, according to the KHI.

They have jobs that dont provide health benefits and they cant qualify for insurance subsidies because of a glitch in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2012. The decision upheld most of the Affordable Care Act, but left it to states to decide whether to expand Medicaid.

That created a donut hole in health care for people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and too little to get subsidized coverage through the insurance exchanges created by the ACA.

In an effort to accommodate Republican concerns, Kelly offered to add a work requirement as part of the expansion.

Of the 30% of potential enrollees who are not working, 38% have a child in the home, 19% have a disability and 16% are students, according to the KHI.

Forty other states have accepted expanded Medicaid to help people in those situations, and its well past time for Kansas to do the same.

Theyre all people and theyre all worth fighting for.

Fighting for them are dozens of poverty-relief organizations and practically the entire medical community of Kansas  especially rural hospitals that have been dying off one by one because the Legislature stubbornly refuses to accept the additional federal revenue.

Weve wasted 10 years on hearings, testimonials, round tables and town halls involving thousands of Kansas citizens. Persuasion hasnt worked. If anything, the people at the top in the Legislature are more entrenched now than ever.

Make no mistake about it  Kelly going it alone on Medicaid expansion would be a nuclear option.

Like most nuclear options, its messy, divisive and carries the potential for collateral damage and unforeseen consequences, so I dont suggest it lightly.

But were dealing with peoples lives here, and sometimes, pushing the red button is the only way to remove an immovable obstacle.

And these days, obstacles dont come any more immovable than the Kansas Legislature on Medicaid expansion.
PORTLAND, Tenn. (WKRN)  A young boy was discovered walking up and down a street in Portland by himself Sunday afternoon, sparking a search for his family.

At 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 12, the Portland Police Department posted on Facebook, saying officers responded to a report about an unattended child walking along Gibson Street.

 Have breaking come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts 

Authorities said the boy doesnt talk much, so they have been unable to determine his age, name, or home address. However, he reportedly appears to be roughly 2 or 3 years old.

In a comment posted just after 3:45 p.m., police said they canvassed the entire Gibson Street area, with the help of residents, but nobody knew where the boy lived.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Then, shortly before 5 p.m., officials announced the childs family had contacted law enforcement, and thanked everyone who helped the officers on scene.

No additional details have been released about the boys identity or the circumstances surrounding his discovery.

 Download the News 2 app to stay updated on the go.

 Sign up for WKRN email alerts to have breaking news sent to your inbox.

 Find todays top stories on WKRN.com for Nashville, TN and all of Middle Tennessee.

This is a developing story. WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
A high-ranking NYPD officer got an unfortunate taste of his own medicine on Saturday when he accidentally caught a face full of pepper spray while trying to break up a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the Manhattan Bridge.

Video posted to social media appeared to show Assistant Police Chief James McCarthy spraying the chemical irritant into his own face while his officers manhandled protesters on the bridge.

While the junior officers in helmets and other body armor got physical with the struggling protesters, McCarthy could be seen reaching for his pepper spray to try and neutralize them.

NYPD Pepper sprayed himself on the Manhattan bridge, trying to arrest people on the bridge. pic.twitter.com/ynHeOctzSY  Ali (@MerruX) May 11, 2024

Instead, he appeared to unleash a full stream of the irritant into his own face.

Later images and video from the scene showed McCarthy having his eyes flushed with the help of other officers, who braced him as he squinted and cringed from the burning substance. His red, irritated eyes could clearly be seen in the images.

Police were quoted by CBS News as saying someone pepper sprayed the assistant chief, although bystander video from the bridge appeared to show him spraying himself.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to The Daily Beasts requests for comment.

It was unclear whether McCarthy needed medical treatment or if he was escorted from the scene for injury.

More than 100 people were arrested from the Manhattan Bridge protest Saturday, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said on X.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Imagine an MBA ranking where future business school students have complete control over what they feel are the most important elements to them, plugging these metrics into the ranking to and giving the most weight to what they personally value. The good news is this user-friendly tool already exists  and has been available to students since 2016 on the University of Washingtons Foster School of Business website.

The last eight years have seen Fosters MBA Rankings Calculator become a popular tool for MBA students who want to hone in on a list of schools with the best job placement rate, best return on investment, and other important metrics  any of which can be challenging to extract from traditional rankings. With a recent refresh to the calculators design and underlying data, Fosters leadership hopes it will continue to grow in popularity as awareness grows, says Andrea Bowers, the Seattle B-schools director of marketing analytics who was instrumental in developing the calculator.

This ranking can help students save time by allowing them to do a sort of a more customized ranking so that when applicants are looking at schools that perform well on the metrics that they care about, they can dig in deeper, Bowers says. This is just a way for them to hone in on their best fit school and to help them launch their search with really good, quality data.

Read Poets&Quants previous coverage of the Foster MBA Calculator here and here.

A REDESIGN MAKES RANKING MORE TIMELY

Of course, traditional MBA rankings like those published by outlets like U.S. News & World Report, the Financial Times and others have their place, and carry a great deal of weight and influence on how schools are perceived in the crowded business school marketplace. But the Foster MBA Rankings Calculator seeks to carve out a different niche for itself in the marketplace, more of a customized approach to the ranking process  and so far it has been succeeding, says Bowers.

Since it launched back in 2016, the calculator has had more than 66,000 users, 59,000 of whom are unique users, with traffic coming from Google searches, promotion by Foster, as well as business school news sites like Poets&Quants and other B-school forums, says Bowers, who helped develop the calculator along with administrators and Fosters in-house marketing and design team.

Foster School of Business Andrea Bowers: Our biggest finding really is that low debt and return on investment are really, really important to prospective students.

Shes hoping the redesign of the ranking  the 2.0 version, so to speak, that includes fresh data and new, user-friendly features  will attract even more students to Fosters website in search of a school that feels to them like the best personal fit. She says traditional rankings are often put together without factoring in cost, debt, or ROI  metrics that Bowers has found are important to Foster users and are included in the updated Foster ranking tool.

Story continues

While there is a certain amount of interest in student selectivity and GMAT scores, the big question is how do graduating students fare? she says. Our biggest finding really is that low debt and return on investment are really, really important to prospective students.

The calculator, which resides prominently on Fosters main home page, has a clean design and intuitive interface, making it easy for users to experiment with the different metrics. It is optimized for mobile phone use, Bowers says. The Foster ranking system has a 100-point scale and draws from a variety of sources to obtain the data for its 10 ranking metrics, which are taken from Poets&Quants, The Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek and the U.S. Department of Education. Metrics included in the ranking include low average debt, student selectivity, networking and job placement rate, amongst others.

By working with MBA students, we are able to identify the metrics that were most important to them, and source them from actual rankings and publications so that they have a high level of legitimacy and credibility, as well as very strong accuracy, Bowers says.

CATCHY REDESIGN AND INTUITIVE FEATURES

The redesign includes features like draggable sliders that users can autoscale, with no point limit. Prospective students choose what weight they want to give to each of the ten metrics, and then with a simple click, they can generate their own unique ranking of the top 30 business. Users can click on that list and they will get a pop-up box that includes more details on the school.

Most people use the calculator an average of three times, gradually honing in on the formula that best reflects their individual needs and goals for an MBA program, Bowers says.

If one adjust the sliders to the maximum allowance for each of the metrics, they can generate a list of schools that perform the best on all 10 of the categories. In this approach, using the most recent data on the calculator, Harvard Business School takes the number one spot, followed by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of Michigans Ross School of Business, the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. The Foster School makes it onto the top 20 in this list, landing in the 18th spot on this list  one spot worse than it does in P&Qs 2024 MBA ranking, but nine places better than it achieved in the most recent U.S. News list.

CALCULATOR HELPS FOSTER ON ADMISSIONS FRONT

The ranking has, of course, helped Foster spread the word about its own MBA program and potentially attract more applicants. While the school  a public business school  may not have the name recognition of some of its more elite peers, it has more affordable tuition and a strong return on investment, Bowers says. The school uses the calculator at open house and outreach events for prospective students to show them that the school is invested in helping them find the school that is the right fit, Bowers says.

Its a message that has resonated strongly with the schools prospective students and given the school an edge in the competitive MBA market, she notes.

Knowing that affordability and ROI are really important to students helps us understand that we can still be competitive, even though we might not have as many large scholarships, Bowers says. Our students are getting a really great return on their investment and have very affordable debt levels, compared to many of the schools that offer larger scholarships up front.

NEW METRIC MAKES RANKING MORE RELEVANT FOR STUDENTS:

UW Foster School of Business Dean Frank Hodge: Students now have greater access to the information that matters the most to them.

One of the metrics that the school used to use in its calculator, Dean and Director Opinion, has now been replaced with one that more students find relevant to their MBA and career journey, says Foster Dean Frank Hodge in an email.

With the addition of this new metric, Hodge says, students now have greater access to the information that matters the most to them.

The calculator was developed in 2016 after then-Dean James Jiambalvo, now dean emeritus, read an article by Poets&Quants that detailed how a Columbia Business School dean would change the business schools rankings by focusing on different metrics and giving some more weight than others. That story inspired administrators at the time and Bowers to see if they could design their own ranking where potential applicants would have control over how the metrics were weighed based on what was most important to them.

Now, eight years later, the tool  a personal rankings formula  has become an indisputable success story and one valued by both potential students and deans at other business schools, said Frank Hodge.

While standard business school rankings provide valuable information about MBA programs, their methodologies dont always align with students priorities, Hodge says. The calculator empowers students to weigh inputs according to their goals  they can use it to create a personalized ranking that is tailored to their priorities.

DONT MISS: How Business School Deans Would Change the MBA Rankings and Financial Times 2024 MBA Ranking: 10 Biggest Surprises

The post Popular MBA Rankings Calculator Gets A 2024 Refresh appeared first on Poets&Quants.
A Tri-Cities high school senior will receive one of the nations highest honors for his tireless dedication toward academic excellence and community involvement.

The U.S. Department of Education this week named Southridge High School student Ashwin Joshi as a 2024 Presidential Scholar. He is one of just 161 students selected this year for the honor.

These Presidential Scholars are recognized for their accomplishments in academics, the arts, and career and technical education (CTE) fields, according to the DOE.

Ashwin is an amazing student and we are so proud of his many accomplishments, said Kennewick School District Superintendent Traci Pierce. To be named a Presidential Scholar is an incredible honor and Ashwin is so deserving of the recognition.

He has such a bright future and a heart for service. As a district, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to him for this well-deserved award, she continued.

Ashwin Joshi

Joshi is the student behind Ashwin Teen Financial Academy, a Tri-Cities nonprofit which offers free and essential financial education to teens around the world. Hes also the young mind behind a bill introduced in the Washington Legislature this year that would have mandated students receive a half-credit of financial education.

The Southridge seniors advocacy and hard work has been previously recognized by various educators and elected officials, including State Superintendent Chris Reykdal and State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti.

While most states had three scholars earn the recognition, Washington has five from across our diverse state  and we couldnt be prouder, Reykdal said in a statement.

Washingtons students have worked hard and their accomplishments in academics, leadership and service speak for themselves. I look forward to their success in the careers and pathways that they choose, he continued.

The other Washington students named Presidential Scholars this week include Lexi Molnar of Goldendale High School; Siddhartha Dylan Pant of Lakes High School; Jacob Scrupps of Odessa High School; and Kosha Upadhyay of Bellevue Senior High School.

The 161 high school seniors selected for the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Presidential Scholars represent the best of our nations schools and inspire hope in the bright future of this country, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. On behalf of President Biden, I am delighted to celebrate their accomplishments and encourage these scholars to continue to aim high, lift up others and embrace opportunities to lead.

About 3.7 million high school seniors are expected to graduate this year.

More than 5,700 of those students  or fewer than 1%  qualified to become a Presidential Scholar through high SAT or ACT scores, nomination from a chief state school officer for exceptional accomplishments in a CTE field, or through the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists.

Once selected as candidates, students submit school evaluations, transcripts, essays and a self-assessment for review. A review committee then evaluates each student application based on a cover essay as well as their academic achievements, personal character, leadership and service activities.

The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars gives the final say on which students will receive the designation.

Created in 1964, the U.S. Presidential Scholars program has honored more than 8,200 of the nations top-performing high school seniors.

Two students from each state  as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. families living abroad  are recognized each year as a Presidential Scholar, as well as an additional 15 at-large, 20 art students and 20 CTE students.

The 2024 Presidential Scholars will be recognized this summer at an online event.

As a Presidential Scholar designee, Joshi was also allowed to name a teacher he considered to be of important influence in his school community. He chose Southridge teacher Jannette Salisbury.

She and others will be recognized as Distinguished Teachers as part of the Presidential Scholars program.
Trial lesson in the first underground school of the city of Kharkiv. Photo: Ihor Terekhov

On Monday, 13 May, 620 children will start learning in the first underground school of the city of Kharkiv. Trial classes were already held there.

Source: Ihor Terekhov, the Mayor of Kharkiv

Details: Terekhov reported that at the moment, the admission of students for the next school year is being conducted.

He hopes that by September 2024 the city authorities will manage to build at least three underground schools in other city districts. The number of those willing to study full-time significantly exceeds the number of places available, the mayor says.

On the first school day, rescuers and psychologists from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine explained to the students the rules of mine safety and taught them to detect dangerous objects and territories.

The number of those willing to study full-time significantly exceeds the number of places available, the mayor says.

Photo: Ihor Terekhov

They also educated the children on the topic of fire safety.

Background:

The building of the first underground school in Ukraine in the city of Kharkiv was finished in April. The school in the city's Industrialnyi district was built according to the security requirements.

It has 20 classrooms and can host 900 students who will study in two shifts.

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Donald Trump speaks during the campaign rally in New Jersey on Saturday - Matt Rourke/AP

Donald Trump praised the late great Hannibal Lecter as a wonderful man at a rare campaign rally while complaining that the Biden administration was admitting migrants from insane asylums into the US.

During a 90-minute speech in front of an estimated 100,000 supporters in Wildwood, New Jersey  a record for a political rally in the state  the former president baffled his crowd by recalling the 1991 horror films.

He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner, he said.

But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations, the late great Hannibal Lecter. We have people who are being released into our country that we dont want in our country, and theyre coming in totally unchecked, totally unvetted.

Trump had previously been talking about pressure on the US border, saying other countries were bringing their people from insane asylums and mental institutions to the US under Joe Biden.

Tangents are not unusual in Mr Trumps unscripted campaign speeches which, to the delight of his supporters, veer between political rhetoric, insults and conspiracy theories.

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs - FlixPix/Alamy

His campaign speech on Saturday night  one of the few he has been able to give while on trial  also included a reference to wind farms damaging whales, a claim that has been largely debunked.

But his main targets were Fat Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, and Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over his hush money case in New York.

Fat Alvin, corrupt guy, Mr Trump told the raucous throng and Judge Merchan was highly conflicted.

Neither Mr Bragg nor Mr Merchan are covered by the sweeping gag order  banning attacks on witnesses, court officials and their families  put in place by the judge, which has already seen Mr Trump fined $9,000 (7,000) and warned further breaches could see him jailed.

Both men, Mr Trump said in a 90-minute speech sprinkled with obscenities, were doing Mr Bidens bidding.

A frustrated Mr Trump has had to scale back his campaigning because of the case, which has left him anchored in Manhattan four days a week. He did not hold back telling supporters he had been indicted on bull---t.

Donald Trump during the rally in New Jersey, on Saturday - JIM WATSON/AFP

The case, in which Mr Trump is accused of participating in a hush-money scheme to cover up alleged extramarital affairs, was a show trial, Mr Trump added.

Ive been indicted more than the great Alphonse Capone. Scarface. Al Capone was so mean that if you went to dinner with him and he didnt like you, youd be dead the next morning, he said.

I got indicted four times in a period of three seconds, he added.

Michael Cohen, Mr Trumps former fixer, is due to give evidence when the case resumes in Manhattan on Monday.

Mr Cohen is alleged to have orchestrated pay-offs to women who claimed to have had affairs with the former president, including $130,000 to former porn star Stormy Daniels who testified last week.

The former president, and Republican White House nominee, has denied the allegations of infidelity and pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records.

Mr Cohen was sentenced to three years in jail for assorted crimes including tax evasion, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations. He has since fallen out with Mr Trump, publishing books on his involvement.

Mr Cohen, who was allegedly reimbursed by Mr Trump for the payments, is seen as vital to the prosecution case. The defence will seek to undermine his credibility as a witness with an axe to grind.

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Eight months into Joe Biden's presidency, the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell, staged an event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that he promised would return Donald Trump to the White House. The three-day Cyber Symposium revolved around a mysterious cache of computer data that Lindell had surreptitiously acquired. In his telling, the data proved that Chinese hackers had manipulated American voting machines into securing Biden's victory.

"The election was stolen, and we're proving it right here, aren't we?" Lindell crowed to some 200 attendees on the first night, sweating through his suit. "President Trump is the rightful president, are you with me?"

One attendee, Bob Zeidman, who had voted for Trump twice, hoped this was true. A mild-mannered, 64-year-old Republican, Zeidman chafed at the former president's demagoguery. But he's more repelled by the Democrats, whom he believes have "gone so crazy with their wokeness and socialism." As an authority in software forensics  the art of digital problem-solving  Zeidman has been an expert witness in more than 260 court cases, including the 2021 Supreme Court battle between Oracle and Google and the fight between Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss twins. He wanted to see the evidence of vote rigging that Lindell claimed to have collected, and he was open to the possibility that a vast conspiracy, including Democrats using mail-in voting and ballot harvesting to fabricate votes, had stolen the election from Trump.

"There was fraud in the election because there's fraud in every human endeavor," Zeidman said. "How much fraud? I don't know." He had traveled to Sioux Falls intending to find out.

Lindell had purchased his prized data for some $1.5 million from a software developer named Dennis Montgomery. In the early 2000s, Montgomery had won millions of dollars in Pentagon contracts after he convinced the CIA that he had built software that could intercept terrorist messages concealed in Al Jazeera broadcasts. But it turned out to be a hoax: A top CIA official called Montgomery's software "imaginary voodoo" and "bullshit," and one of Montgomery's own lawyers called him a "con artist" and "a habitual liar engaged in fraud." But none of that bothered Lindell. He praised Montgomery as "one of the smartest people that has ever walked this Earth." And to prove his confidence in Montgomery's data, he announced a high-stakes wager: If anyone at the Cyber Symposium could demonstrate that the data did not show election meddling, he would award them $5 million. He called it the Prove Mike Wrong challenge.

Bob Zeidman has many obsessions, and one of them is poker. He lives in Las Vegas, where he competes in poker tournaments every week. He entered the Prove Mike Wrong challenge with low confidence he would win the exorbitant pot, estimating he had a 0.5% chance of disproving Lindell's "evidence." Still, as he later wrote in a lengthy LinkedIn post, he would have a "100% chance of being able to write about what would certainly be one of the most interesting and important conferences in recent history."

But as Zeidman analyzed the reams of data provided to him and the other cyber experts at the symposium, his confidence rose. When he converted the data into a Word document, he discovered it was filled with line after line of meaningless letters and numbers. It was as if somebody had typed in what they imagined computer code might look like. "I confirmed that it was perfectly formatted, legitimate gibberish," Zeidman said. "In other words, it was a real Word document filled with gibberish, not a document that Word didn't understand." Even more suspiciously, the data files were time-stamped to just a few days before the symposium, meaning they were likely created for the event, not collected from errant voting machines. The numbers purporting to demonstrate election fraud, Zeidman concluded, were themselves a fraud.

By the second day, Zeidman was certain he had disproved Lindell's claims. He filed a damning report and registered a copy online with the US Copyright Office as proof he had written it by the contest deadline. Then he called his wife from the hotel parking lot. "All I want to say," he told her, "is that you should start thinking about how you want to spend $5 million."

After returning home to Vegas, Zeidman waited to hear from Lindell's people about the award. Though he is already a multimillionaire, with several patents and businesses to his name, $5 million remained an exciting prospect. Antsy with nervous energy, he upped his poker playing. But as a Trump backer, he was puzzled by the obvious fraudulence of the data, which he laid out in his LinkedIn post: "Was someone sabotaging Mike's data? Or had Mike been bamboozled? Or was Mike the bamboozler?"

Several weeks later, Lindell's team finally got back to Zeidman: They were refusing to pay up. Zeidman, they argued, had failed to meet the requirements of the challenge, which stipulated that a winner must prove "to 100% certainty" that the data was not "related to the election."

Undeterred, Zeidman sued one of Trump's most vociferous advocates for contract violation. In February, after days of deliberation, an arbitration proceeding in Minnesota sided with Zeidman. He had indeed Proven Mike Wrong, and now Mike must pay.

Soon after the ruling, I arrived in Vegas to meet Zeidman. His handsome home sits in a gated community in Sumerlin, a residential area in the high desert. A "Stand With Israel" sign adorned his front yard. He and his artist wife, Carrie, collect modern art, which crowded the walls of their living room. Out back was a large pool. Recently, after Zeidman started swimming regularly, he became frustrated with trying to keep track of his laps, so he invented a counting instrument to do it for him. A newly patented prototype sat on the kitchen counter.

I was interested in what impact, if any, Zeidman's experience with Lindell had made on his politics. Lindell, for all his cartoonish bombast, has clearly been following a path of election denial forged by Trump. It is Trump, after all, who has made his case for voter fraud the centerpiece of his reelection campaign. The fabrications have been wildly successful at firing up his base: Recent polling suggests that nearly 70% of Trump's supporters believe that the 2020 election was "stolen" by the Democrats.

Zeidman, though sympathetic, is not fully on board. "What Lindell is doing is hurting America and hurting Republicans, because it's dividing us and it's wrong," he told me. "I've had a few other Republicans say to me, 'OK, but you don't have to broadcast this.' And I say, 'No, it's the truth. The truth has to be out there. We allegedly stand for the truth, OK? Not the relative truth, but the absolute truth.'"

"What Lindell is doing is hurting America and hurting Republicans, because it's dividing us and it's wrong," said Zeidman. Jared Bartman for BI

Zeidman requires constant stimulation. During meetings, he makes sure to sit by a door in case boredom forces him to flee. Whenever he's idle, he becomes "terribly depressed." To keep busy, he invents gizmos and software. He pens satirical political novels and computer-science textbooks and conservative op-eds on his Substack or for publications like the Cleveland Jewish News. He adores movies, though plot holes ruffle him. His favorite film is "Memento," because "it all connects together." He speaks regularly at engineering conferences and attends political ones.

Since young adulthood, Zeidman has "leaned conservative." But it was not until the presidency of George W. Bush that he started going to political events and closely following party politics. He describes himself as a "rare species": a Republican Jew. American support for Israel is one of his chief concerns. He remains a great fan of Bush.

He has always found Trump distasteful: "He's a really nasty guy." Yet he understands Trump's appeal as a totem of conservative grievance, much of which he shares: left-wing media bias, high taxes, political correctness. He pinpoints the genesis of Trump's rise to Mitt Romney's loss to Barack Obama in 2012.

"The Democratic Party attacked Romney so strongly on moral issues when this man was an outstanding moral leader," he said. "I think that pissed off so many people that they said, 'OK, whoever we put in office is going to be trashed, so let's find a guy who trashes back.' And that was Trump."

Another guy who trashes back is Mike Lindell. After numerous failed ventures  a bar, a food truck, a carpet-cleaning business  the Minnesota native found wild success with his company MyPillow, which he claims hit revenues of $300 million in 2018. His zany infomercials, signature mustache, and Midwestern whimsy became a TV staple across the country. (Zeidman himself is a happy customer; he enjoys the pillow's "slumber-inducing qualities.") Even more impressive, Lindell prevailed after overcoming a severe crack addiction, as recounted in his memoir "What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO." In recovery, he became a committed evangelical Christian. Trump, he believes, was "chosen by God" to be president.

In his transactional way, Trump has returned the compliment. Following his victory in 2016, he invited Lindell to meet him in Trump Tower. Since then, the two have appeared together at the White House and at campaign events. In March, during a rally in Wisconsin, Trump praised him as "the great, legendary Mike Lindell." Lara Trump, Trump's daughter-in-law and the new cochair of the Republican National Committee, hawks MyPillow products on her podcast, "The Right View."

But no amount of praise can make up for the losses Lindell, now 62, has endured for his favorite president. In a defamation suit brought by the voting-machine firm Dominion Voting Systems, Lindell and MyPillow were found liable for a staggering $1.3 billion in damages, which far exceeds his net worth. Lindell's lawyers have since quit, because, they say, he has not paid them. Another defamation case brought by the voting-machine firm Smartmatic is ongoing. Recently, Lindell claimed he had just $10,000 left to his name.

When I spoke to Lindell, he balked when I asked if he regrets his decision to wage a one-man crusade against electronic voting machines. "Do I regret spending $40 million trying to save our country to get rid of these computers?" he boomed. "No!" He repeatedly disparaged Zeidman as "not a cyber expert," which is patently untrue. "It was all contrived," he said of Zeidman's report. "Whatever their plan is, whoever he's working with  it's disgusting what he's trying to do."

"Do I regret spending $40 million trying to save our country to get rid of these computers?" Lindell boomed. "No!" Jared Bartman for BI

Under deposition in the arbitration proceedings over his refusal to pay Zeidman, Lindell was a tornado of evasion and contradiction. He claimed, confusingly, that the 23 gigabytes of data he bragged about at the Cyber Symposium were not actually intended to prove election interference; they were only "related," in some unspecified fashion, to the 2020 election. Moreover, he said, he could not make public the parts of the data trove that do prove election interference for reasons of "national security." With a Trumpian redirect, Lindell assured Zeidman's lawyer, Brian Glasser, that he had far more shocking evidence in hand  but he was being blocked from releasing it by a "government gag order" issued by a judge in Nevada.

"It's the same data we're talking about as it relates to the Cyber Symposium?" Glasser pressed.

"No," Lindell said. "I think it goes a lot deeper than that." The explosive evidence, he implied, would prove that Zeidman was wrong: The election was stolen. "Dennis Montgomery has a lot more than just that data," Lindell insisted.

Later, Zeidman's lawyers tracked down the case Lindell was referring to. Nobody, it turned out, was preventing Lindell from releasing any data. The so-called "gag order" was issued in 2007 as part of a contract dispute between Montgomery and eTreppid Technologies (the company Montgomery ran that had defrauded the government), relating to government contracts and related "trade secrets." Lindell had filed a motion to remove the order, arguing that he somehow needed to release the data to defend himself in his unrelated defamation cases. The court denied his request, saying the order didn't apply to him. "Lindell provides nothing more than speculation," the court wrote, "that he will somehow be precluded from presenting this information because of the protective order in this litigation." In December 2022, Lindell said he would release the data within 60 days. He never did so.

Zeidman pities Lindell for what he sees as his sincere conspiratorial convictions. "Some people believe the world's out to get them because they think they are doing everything rationally but the world is not acting rationally in response, when really it's the other way around," he said. "I think that's the way Lindell is. He's angry because he doesn't understand why people don't believe him. In his mind, people irrationally hate him for telling the truth."

In Vegas, Zeidman drove me to The Venetian for lunch, where he had a poker tournament later that afternoon. On the way, he gestured toward the Trump International Hotel, towering over Sin City like a giant golden Zippo. Long before Trump ran for office, Zeidman had followed his business ventures with bewilderment.

"He would run his businesses into the ground yet somehow make a windfall profit and get investors to invest in his next project," he said. "I'm thinking, don't they look at the records and see that people have gotten burned by him? Why would they invest in his next project? How can he talk them into that?"

Yet for all his problems with Trump, Zeidman sees the incumbent as no less deceitful. "Biden is the Democrats' version of Trump," he said. "He's a liar. He's uncouth. He says stupid things and insults people." This equivalency struck me as an exaggeration of Lindellian proportions. But Zeidman stood by it.

In all likelihood, he said, he'll be voting for Trump come November. "I don't want to vote for Trump because he's scary, but I can't vote for Biden," he said. "For me, the decision is: Biden's policies have made America weaker and Trump's policies made it stronger."

On the way to The Venetian, Zeidman stopped by his bank to retrieve cash for the tournament buy-in ("This one is $800, which is relatively cheap"). He was already strategizing. "The way to win a poker tournament is to survive until later in the tournament," he explained. "It doesn't really matter how many chips you have, because later in the tournament, the blinds  the minimum bets  are so big that one hand can flip everything."

At the casino, hundreds of players sat silently at small tables in a windowless poker room. The exchange of chips crackled through the stale air like the snapping shrimp of coral reefs. Zeidman competed until 2 a.m. The next day, he came in 10th out of 330 players, earning a $1,000 profit.

"I was happy," he told me. "But the big money is really at the top."

It is unlikely that Zeidman will see his $5 million from Lindell. Lindell is appealing the binding arbitration ruling in federal court. In March, his lawyers subpoenaed records of Lindell's financial assets, but Lindell's new lawyer has been slow to respond. Zeidman suspects that Lindell will try to transfer his assets out of his company, Lindell Management, which, legally speaking, is the offending party in their dispute. When we spoke, Lindell wanted to make that distinction clear. "This isn't against me," he said. "This was against Lindell Management, a management company that managed that event and other events. You know that, right?"

Still, Zeidman is glad to have Proven Mike Wrong. He had played his part in disseminating an important truth. "I think most Republicans don't believe Lindell now, and maybe I had a part in that," he told me. Then he added: "But they still believe the election was stolen through ballot harvesting"  allowing political campaigns to collect and submit absentee ballots on behalf of voters  "and things like that."

I asked the obvious follow-up: Does Zeidman believe this improbable claim, which numerous studies, scholars, legislatures, and judges have thoroughly disproven?

He isn't sure. "I have no idea if things would have been different if we didn't have all the ballot harvesting and mail-in ballots," he said. "I just don't know."

An inveterate engineer, Zeidman avoids too much speculation. He prefers the hard certainty of numbers: differentiating complex code, investigating algorithms, analyzing technical patents. These are the skills he used to debunk Lindell's data. What Zeidman is sure about, and what worries him most, isn't election interference. It is the perilous state of the country that those elections, as he sees it, have produced: woke lunacy, border instability, unrestrained crime, and rising antisemitism. Trump, he concedes, is no paragon of order. But if the former president can mend all of that, then perhaps he is the only logical choice. A guy like Bob Zeidman looks at America and wonders: Where did all the rational people go?

Brent Crane is a reporter based in San Diego. His work can be found at www.brent-crane.com and @bcamcrane on X.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump vowed to issue an executive order targeting offshore wind development if he wins a second term as president, making his most explicit threat yet toward the growing industry.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The presumptive Republican nominee derided offshore wind projects as lethal for birds and whales during his oceanfront rally Saturday in Wildwood, New Jersey, and committed to take action.

We are going to make sure that that ends on day one, he said. Im going to write it out in an executive order.

While Trump has made no secret of his animus to wind power, he had adopted a mostly hands-off posture during his first term in the White House. The remarks in New Jersey suggest he may take a more aggressive stance if given a second.

Read more: Wind Farmers Brace for Trumps Next Salvo as He Visits NJ Shore

While Trump wasnt specific, a president could issue an executive order directing a fresh study of the impact of offshore wind and halting the permitting of new projects in the meantime. President Joe Biden used a similar approach to order a moratorium on offshore oil leasing during his first week in the White House.

Developers say offshore wind is set to deliver big economic dividends  and potentially $25 billion in annual output  throughout the US, as it drives demand for specialty steel, new ships and other equipment. The same day Trump was speaking in New Jersey, a new American-built boat to service US offshore wind farms was christened in New Orleans.

Read more: First US-Built Boat Servicing Offshore Wind Is Ready to Launch

Trumps accusations Saturday included that offshore wind farms kill the whales because of ocean floor surveys done to plan construction. Nobody even knows what it is, he said, but I think in 20 years one whale washed up on shore, and then where they have these things, they come up all the time, dead.

While there has been an uptick in humpback whale deaths since 2016  including the endangered North Atlantic right whale  US scientists say many of the fatalities can be attributed to boat strikes or entanglements. There is no evidence linking offshore wind development to whale deaths, though government scientists have raised concerns about the consequences of greater noise, more vessel traffic and habitat changes tied to the industry.

Read More: The $100 Billion Offshore Wind Industry Has a Whale Problem

Offshore wind advocates say Trump would be better off embracing a new source of American-made energy.

The fundamental value proposition of offshore wind remains clear: Safe, reliable, large-scale renewable energy production, good-paying union jobs, and significant public health and economic benefits, said Paulina OConnor, executive director of the New Jersey Offshore Wind Alliance. By capitalizing on this emerging American industry, we remain in prime position to maximize the benefits of offshore wind for decades to come through US-based jobs, manufacturing and investment.

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2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Is anything more discouraging than the scarcity of effective leaders in America today? The chaos on elite college campuses is an object lesson in ineffective and weak leadership. Contrast the actions and words of officials at Ivey League universities with the words of Steve Orlando, spokesman for the University of Florida: This is not complicated. The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children  they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they will face consequences. This is leadership.

Students who break the rules should be expelled, not counseled, or suspended. They should be expelled. Non-students protesting on college campuses should be arrested for trespassing and receive serious consequences for violent behavior or the destruction of property as the Jan. 6 rioters appropriately received. If these students were predominantly white kids protesting in support of white supremacy, there is no doubt they would be expelled or worse as they should.

Foreign students should be expelled, their visas suspended, and they should be deported immediately. This is simple. Leaders do not need committees or councils to evolve and evaluate decisions. They take proper actions promptly in the normal course of their work.

Suggesting these students and others are simply expressing their right to free speech is not leadership. Free speech is civil discourse in available and approved venues. It is not the illegal confiscation of public spaces and destruction of public property.

What are the attributes of good or even great leaders. Here is my list:

Courage. Effective leaders are courageous. They are willing to take chances. Doing and saying what is expected is not leadership. It is bureaucratic appeasement. Collaboration. Good leaders seek and consider the advice of others, especially those experienced in the matters under consideration. Confidence. To be effective, leaders must act decisively. Confidence encourages consensus. Compassion. Leaders show compassion for those impacted by their decisions and actions knowing what they do or fail to do impacts the lives of others in differing ways. Communication. Leaders say what they mean and mean what they say. They are concise and clear. They use words that convey understandable messages, and they follow through on their communications.

Are leaders at elite universities acting courageously? Do they quickly collaborate with law enforcement officials as radicals take over their campuses? Are they confident in their actions? Do they show compassion for students who have been attacked by campus thugs in hateful words and violent actions? Have they been considerate to the interests of the majority of the students on their campuses? Do they speak clearly and confidently on behalf of civility and order?

The answer to all these questions is no. This is simple. These universities should fire these ineffective leaders immediately and put people in charge who understand that universities are not daycares.

Michael K. McMahan is a resident of Gaston County.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: YOUR TURN: Universities are not daycares
Two arrested at Lake Eola Pro-Palestine protest, according to police

The Orlando Police Department said two people were arrested during a protest at Lake Eola Park on Saturday and are now facing charges related to battery on a law enforcement officer.

Approximately 1,200 participants attended what has been described as a pro-Palestine rally at Lake Eola Park, according to OPD.

While most demonstrated peacefully, we did make 2 arrests of individuals who will be charged with battery on a law enforcement officer. Officers also deployed a handheld chemical agent at a group that became disruptive. No injuries were reported, OPD said in a statement.

Read: Six suspects arrested for pickpocketing at Welcome to Rockville, deputies say

The identities of those arrested were not immediately released.

OPD said theyll continue to monitor other demonstrations reported around the city.

Read: A much quiter night, with a possible sight of the Aurora

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Troubled regional lender New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) is trying to show investors that it is getting a better handle on the risks embedded in its massive loan book.

One option: Shift some of those risks to private equity firms or Wall Street money managers.

"We are right at the doorstep of deciding whether we're going to move forward" on such an arrangement, Joseph Otting, NYCB CEO, told analysts earlier this month.

The potential transaction for NYCB is whats known as a credit risk transfer  and its quickly becoming one of the hottest ways for banks to alleviate their regulatory burdens, protect against future losses, and navigate through a challenging period for the industry.

These transfers also highlight the rising importance of private equity firms, hedge funds, and other giant asset-management firms as they push deeper into the world of private credit.

A trader works at the post where New York Community Bancorp stock is traded on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid) (REUTERS / Reuters)

The CRTs are structured like insurance policies: A bank issues credit-linked notes to an outside investor that amount to a portion of that lenders loan portfolio  in exchange for cash.

The big benefit to the bank is that it is protected against future losses and no longer has to hold capital against the assets. The benefit to the investor is that it collects regular interest payments from the bank.

It's banks buying an insurance policy on a basket of loans, Josh Siegel, CEO of StoneCastle Partners, told Yahoo Finance.

The cost of these deals for banks rises depending on the riskiness of the loans, and thus most banks are choosing to seek insurance against some of their better assets.

That also helps explain why these deals are so attractive to private equity, hedge funds, and asset management firms, including BlackRock (BLK), Blackstone (BX), Apollo (APO), Ares (ARES), and KKR (KKR).

"We've been doing this with a variety of banks who are highly creditworthy," Blackstone COO Jon Gray told analysts during a recent earnings call.

It helps banks with their regulatory and balance sheet pressures, "and were able to generate favorable returns," he added, calling the arrangement "a win-win."

These deals  which also are known as synthetic risk transfers or capital relief trades  have been around for a while, especially in Europe, where banks have grown accustomed to aggressive capital requirements from their regulators.

The Blackstone Group headquarters in New York City. (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo) (Reuters / Reuters)

Last year investors put up roughly $25 billion in capital across $300 billion of bank loan portfolios worldwide, a 25% increase from 2022, according to Structured Credit Investor. The bulk of those trades occurred in Europe.

Story continues

They have been less common in the US until now, beyond some government-sponsored entities such as Fannie Mae, which turned to these deals following the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

But the demand for them is on the rise in the US as regulators prepare a new set of regulations known as the "Basel 3 endgame," which will likely require banks to hold even more capital to provide greater buffers against future losses.

Regulators are trying to finalize those rules this year following pushback from banks.

The volume of these credit risk transfers is expected to grow by 20% this year, according to Mark Fontanilla, a fixed-income strategist who has created an index measuring the transactions.

"We are seeing this trend spread from Europe to the US," KKR co-CEO Scott Nuttall said during the firms recent earnings call.

'We need to approach it with great caution'

Some of the recent deals in the US ranged from small banks to some of the biggest in the country.

Merchants Bank of Indiana issued $158 million in credit-linked notes on $1.1 billion of nursing and senior housing loans, and regional banks US Bancorp (USB) and Huntington (HBAN) each transferred hundreds of millions of dollars worth of risk on auto loans.

Huntington  which is based in Columbus, Ohio  said the transaction cost an estimated $23 million in fees and other expenses and freed up about $2.4 billion in capital.

Some industry giants have also taken advantage. Morgan Stanley (MS) purchased $250 million worth of protection on some of its loans, while JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has issued credit-linked notes on its auto loans since 2021.

Wells Fargo (WFC) is also weighing such a deal, according to Bloomberg.

Regulators thus far dont sound overly concerned about these arrangements. The Fed last year broadened the criteria for how banks can use credit-linked notes to mitigate risk.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael Hsu, testifies on Capitol Hill last year. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein) (REUTERS / Reuters)

Months later, its top banking regulator, Michael Barr, told Congress, "We have approved them on a case-by-case basis."

"We're going to wait and see how those instruments perform," said Barr, the Feds vice chair for supervision. "If they perform as intended, then they might be more generally available," he added.

During that same hearing, other regulators offered some caution.

"I think there is considerable uncertainty and we need to approach it with great caution and attention," said FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu agreed, saying, "They do require heightened attention, especially when risk transfer is thought of as risk elimination, which it is not."

"Ive never heard of a regulator complaining," Siegel of StoneCastle Partners told Yahoo Finance. "They know it's a bit of a game but it's a game they know is legal because they wrote the rules."

There are still industry observers who say these deals show some resemblance to the credit default swaps that created so many problems during the 2008 financial crisis.

"It gives us shivers," said banking analyst Glenn Schorr during a recent Blackstone earnings call. "It reminds us about 16 years ago."

Warren Kornfeld, a senior vice president for Moodys Ratings who monitors these deals, said "there are similarities" but "the difference, hopefully, is the risk of the underlying asset."

David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance.

Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Two inmates dead, others injured after operational error led to gang-related disturbance at Oklahoma prison

Two inmates are dead and several others are injured after a group disturbance at a privately run prison in southern Oklahoma, according to prison authorities.

The incident took place at Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility on Friday and is being investigated by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, according to a statement from Kay Thompson, the departments chief of public relations.

Thompson said in an email to CNN on Saturday the incident took place after an operational error allowed the disturbance to happen. She said the disturbance was related to security threat groups, which Thompson said was another term for gangs.

As a result, the facility is locked down and all visitations are canceled through the weekend.

A spokesperson for The GEO Group, a security company that operates prisons and detention facilities under contract with governments, told CNN the deaths and injuries resulted from an inmate-on-inmate assault.

Thompson did not name the two patients who died in the statement. In addition to the two deaths, two inmates were seriously injured. One was taken to the hospital by med flight and the other by vehicle. Many others were treated at the facility with minor injuries, but the exact number is unknown, according to Thompson. One officer also sustained minor injuries, according to The GEO Group.

When asked what operational error referred to, Thompson told CNN, It is still under investigation as to the cause. We will release that information once the investigation is closed.

Although LCRF is a privately-run prison, our Operations team is working closely with the GEO Group to understand how this occurred and what corrective actions need to be taken, Thompson said.

The GEO Group said, 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.

Lawton is located about 86 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility facility has operated since 1998, according to The GEO Group, and has capacity for 2,682 inmates.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
METRO EAST, Ill.  Landmarks Illinois, a nonprofit focused on historic preservation, has named two Metro East sites among the most endangered historic places in the state.

A new list of Illinois most endangered historic places was released earlier this week, calling attention to 10 culturally and architecturally significant sites across the state in need of stronger preservation efforts.

Landmarks Illinois highlighted two sites in the Metro East: The former Collinsville Township High School in Collinsville and the former Lincoln School in East St. Louis.

For the former Collinsville Township High School, historians say it welcomed generations of students from 1908 to 1982. The building has had various uses, but has sit empty for several years.

Landmarks Illinois says the current owner has plans to develop the building into affordable housing and has identified funding and tax incentives to make that happen. The plan, however, has been met with opposition from local officials and the school has sat vacant in the waiting process.

Where the cicada broods are emerging in the US

For the former Lincoln School, historians say it was built in 1886 as a school for Black students. The building has survived several rounds of demolition to nearby properties of its same age, though has sat vacant for quite some time.

Landmarks Illinois says despite its historical impact and proximity to the citys historic district, the school is at risk of demolition without a new use and proper investment.

Other places to make the list include schools, churches, theaters and courthouses, ranging in location from the Chicagoland to Central Illinois.

This years Most Endangered sites are not only incredibly important places in their communities, but many are large-scale buildings that sit prominently in highly visible areas near city centers, in historic districts, or on state-owned land. Their neglect is seen and felt, said Bonnie McDonald, President & CEO of Landmarks Illinois.

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Despite their current condition, these places tell important stories from our past  stories that should not be erased due to insufficient investment or general disregard for our collective histories. Landmarks Illinois stands ready and willing to help our partners find preservation resources and solutions for these threatened places, which are opportunities for sustainable reuse, job creation and providing spaces needed in their communities.

Some sites that have made Landmarks Illinos most endangered list in the past have eventually been demolished while others have been saved and improved.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.
A historic school for Black students in East St. Louis and a former Collinsville school building, which has seen its redevelopment plans stall, have been named among the most threatened historic sites in the state.

Landmarks Illinois, a historic preservation nonprofit, released its 2024 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois Wednesday, including sites in Madison and St. Clair counties. The former Collinsville Township High School and the former Lincoln School in East St. Louis appeared on the list.

This years Most Endangered sites are not only incredibly important places in their communities, but many are large-scale buildings that sit prominently in highly visible areas near city centers, in historic districts or on state-owned land. Their neglect is seen and felt, Bonnie McDonald, president & CEO of Landmarks Illinois, said in part in a May 7 release. Despite their current condition, these places tell important stories from our past  stories that should not be erased due to insufficient investment or general disregard for our collective histories.

Landmarks Illinois has announced the 2024 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. The list calls attention to culturally and architecturally significant sites across the state that face growing threats of disinvestment and demolition.

Learn more: https://t.co/5PALTfJowh pic.twitter.com/1TV3TKKlBK  Landmarks Illinois (@landmarksill) May 7, 2024

Each year, the organization opens the process for nominations, ultimately selecting a handful of sites or structures that hold community significance, are in urgent need of attention and for which there are potential solutions for saving them, Quinn Adamowski, regional advocacy manager with Landmarks Illinois, told the BND.

What were looking for is to make sure that theres strong local interest and support at a local level, that the community really truly values the building for historic purposes, cultural reasons, he said.

Both the Lincoln School and the former Collinsville Township High School meet that bill, he said, and were nominated in past years before making the 2024 endangered list.

2024 Metro-east endangered historic sites

The Lincoln School, located at 240 N. 6th St. in East St. Louis, was built in 1886 specifically for area Black students to attend. According to county tax records, it is a tax-exempt property owned by Ministers United Against Human Suffering, a not-for-profit corporation with a Swansea mailing address.

The school was constructed following community pressure to further education for Black students, led by John Robinson, a formerly enslaved American Civil War veteran, Landmarks Illinois reports. The structure was used for educational purposes until 1975 and eventually purchased by the not-for-profit in 1999.

The Lincoln School in East St. Louis, seen in this undated photo, sites on N. 6th St. It is on Landmarks Illinois 2024 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois list.

Adamowski said while the building has been vacant for sometime, Landmarks believes it is structurally sound and there is a groundswell of support to find new purpose for the school building.

In its highlight of the Lincoln School, Landmark Illinois writes the building presents an opportunity for civic and community use.

With East St. Louis downtown historic district a block away, the former Lincoln School stands as a prime location for use as a museum and heritage site to tell stories from the past, like that of John Robinson and residents involvement in the 1917 race riots, the profile reads.

This inside of the Lincoln School in East St. Louis is seen in this undated photo. The school opened in 1886 to offer educational opportunities to the areas Black students.

Among the stakeholders looking to preserve the areas first school for Black students are the Emma L. Wilson King Foundation and the East St. Louis Historical Society.

The old Collinsville Township High School building, at 1203 Vandalia St., also made this years most endangered list. The structure, originally constructed in 1908, has seen several renovations over the decades and was used as a vocational center until 1982, Landmarks Illinois reports.

The current owner, Celadon-Collinsville GP LLC, has proposed a redevelopment of the property into affordable housing, Landmarks reports.

The former Collinsville Township High School, seen in this undated photo, was constructed in 1908 and served as a school building until 1971.

Despite the owners adaptive reuse plan, local government officials are opposed to developing affordable housing in this area of Collinsville and will not approve the plan, Landmarks Illinois wrote in its profile of the site. It therefore continues to sit vacant and deteriorating in the middle of town as no other feasible reuse options have materialized.

Adamowski said the building, located in a residential area, is a prime site for the redevelopment, but the project needs government buy in to move forward.

Its not a matter of lack of resources, which oftentimes is the case with so many properties, its a difference of opinion, I guess, or a lack of understanding of affordable housing, he said.

Other endangered historic sites in Illinois

Landmarks included one southwest Illinois site on its 2023 list of endangered places, the town of Brooklyn.

Brooklyn, Illinois, is the oldest  and one of the last remaining  majority-Black incorporated towns in the country. It is threatened by a declining population, high unemployment rate and limited economy, the organization said in its 2023 press release.

Brooklyn officials and volunteers are taking part in a community mapping project this year, Adamowski said, and several other prior endangered historic sites have seen revitalization efforts since they were featured on the list. Those include Hotel Belleville, which appeared on the list in 2014 and has been redeveloped into affordable apartments.

As for the other historic sites being highlighted this year, they include:

Bishop Hill Colony Church, a circa 1848 building erected by Swedish immigrants, located in Henry County. It is also a state historic site.

Buel House State Historic Site in Pope County includes the 1840 Alexander Buel House.

Shawneetown Bank State Historic Site in Gallatin County, known as the oldest bank building in Illinois, makes a repeat appearance on the most endangered list.

Libby, McNeill and Libby Building, in Cook County, once served as a canning and bottling facility and a top canned food producer. It closed in 1968.

Portage Theater in Cook County has been an important cultural institution for the local community, Landmarks Illinois writes, but it closed in 2018.

Sears Administration Building is the former headquarters of retail giant Sears, Roebuck and Co. This Chicago landmark was constructed between 1905 and 1919, but has been empty and on the market for some time.

Decatur Masonic Temple, located in Macon County, has served as a community site since its 1929 construction.

Johnson County Courthouse served as the oldest continually operating courthouse in the state before its closure last year, Landmarks Illinois writes. The building has been vacant since late last year and has suffered roof damage.

Do you have a question about history in the metro-east for our service journalism team? Wed like to hear from you. Fill out our Metro-east Matters form below.
WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said two people were arrested in connection to a Southwest robbery.

Police said that on May 10 at about 2:50 p.m., officers responded to a robbery that was happening at the 400 block of LEnfant Plaza.

Fatal motorcycle crash in Fairfax County

The victim said that four suspects approached him, and one of the suspects pulled out a gun and asked for his things.

The victim gave the suspects his things and the suspects left.

Police arrested and charged a 16-year-old boy of Northeast, and a 15-year-old boy of Northwest with Armed Robbery.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
A convicted felon who was locked up in a U.S. prison for money-laundering is pulling the strings behind a sweeping Kremlin influence operation with ties to Russian intelligence, The Daily Beast has learned.

Mira Teradaa 36-year-old Russian national who has also gone by the name Oksana Vovkwas arrested at Helsinki Airport in late 2018, two years after she was implicated in a cocaine-smuggling operation that stretched from Texas to Virginia.

She later pled guilty to money-laundering charges in connection to the drug scheme, and spent more than two years in prisonan experience she later claimed had opened her eyes to the brutality of the American judicial system, the inhumanity of American prisons and the complete indifference of the so-called liberal American society.

But her story doesnt stop there: upon her release and return to Russia in 2021, Terada announced that she had made the decision to head the Foundation for Battling Injustice (FBR), a non-profit established by the infamous boss of Russias Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. She didnt reveal who had offered her the position, if anyone.

Prigozhinwho earned the nickname Putins chef for his catering company, which served the Kremlinwas notorious for his army of private mercenary soldiers. His side gig, however, encompassed running Russian influence operations through organizations like FBR and the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a troll farm that has interfered in U.S. presidential elections.

Putins Gangster Reign of Chaos Finally Catches Up to Him

After Prigozhin fell from Vladimir Putins good graces, he died in a plane crash last year, in what appeared to be a Kremlin-ordered assassination. Now, Teradaapparently eager to fill the vacuumhas thrust herself into the spotlight, building her own influence empire from the remnants left behind by the mercenary boss.

The blonde ex-convict appears to have milked her felony sentence, capitalizing on her experience in a U.S. prison to run a network of pro-Kremlin propagandists claiming to be advocates for human rights and press freedom.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Russian private security company Wagner, in an unspecified location in Africa on Aug. 21, 2023. Wagner Account/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

I saw the nightmares of the US prison hell, which are diligently hushed up by the world media: torture, bullying of prisoners, the sadism of the jailers and the cold ruthlessness of the American penitentiary system, she said in a blog post detailing her future ambitions. I am full of strength and determination to announce that I accept the post of the head and official representative of the Foundation to Battle Injustice.

In January, Terada convened a group of journalists from around the globe to discuss plans for a new organization allegedly dedicated to helping journalists. She called it the Brics Journalists Association, and spoke to her guests for 40 minutes about the groups mission: to provide assistance to journalists from BRICS (the organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates) as well as reporters from other countries who need help and support.

Teradas operations at both FBR and the new Brics association feature a series of prongs and networks of connected pro-Kremlin individuals, some of whom have previously tried to interfere in American politics, according to U.S. officials. At the heart of the scheme is the distribution of articles that push pro-Kremlin narratives and anti-Western diatribes, which are parroted and recirculated by an array of Russian disinformation platforms.

The Daily Beast did not receive responses to comment requests sent to Terada, her former counsel, the FBR, and the Russian embassy for this story. The State Department and the federal attorneys who brought U.S. cases against Terada did not respond by time of publication.

Patrick Warren, Associate Professor in the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson Universitywho has been studying Russian disinformationtold The Daily Beast that Terada appears to be trying to take up where Prigozhin left off.

This is essentially the Russian successor organization to Prigozhins influence empire, Warren told The Daily Beast.

Just this week, when the Ukrainian government announced that it had thwarted a Russian-directed plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, Teradas network hunkered down on the narrative that Moscow was not responsible.

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky inspects new fortifications for Ukrainian servicemen, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 19, 2024. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters

As expected, Moscow is accused of being behind the attempted attack, but there is no evidence that the Russians participated in the conspiracy. On the other hand, the West seems quite interested in eliminating Zelensky, one writer said in a piece published at the infobrics.org website.

The post was re-published on multiple Russian disinformation sites that appear to be tied to Teradas network. One site that featured the post has links to the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), according to the State Department. The post was also circulated on a platform connected to Russias Federal Security Service (FSB), according to the agency.

Mysterious Fraudsters Are Exploiting the Plot to Kill Zelensky

A source familiar with the matter, who spoke with The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity, said there are signs that staffers and resources that were previously tied to Prigozhins IRAthe troll farm notorious for its interference in U.S. politics and the U.S. presidential election in 2016are now working in Teradas extended network of Russian shills.

The person familiar and their team have made their assessment with moderate confidence.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials are hunting for Teradas associates. Teradas organization, the FBR, has coordinated activities in the past with a mysterious Russian citizen named Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, who has been working with the FSB since at least mid-2018, according to U.S. officials. In 2021, Ionov sought to discuss with the FBR the feasibility of supporting a specific candidate in a 2022 gubernatorial election in the United States.

Ionov has also launched an organization that has received funding from a trust created by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. He worked on Prigozhins Project Lakhta, which focused on spreading disinformation online, including through troll farms and fake online personas, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, which has sanctioned him. Terada has called the accusations against Ionov far-fetched.

Large Amounts of Cocaine

In her January launch of the Brics Journalists Association, Terada spoke softly and melodically. A video of the virtual conference showed her wearing a whimsical outfit made of white dentelle and mesh. The cream-colored wall in the background made it look as though Terada was surrounded by a glowing halo.

While Terada appears to be seizing the limelight now, her past remains murky.

Terada previously lived in Houston, Texas and owned a Texas-based company called STYLISH TRAVELER, LLC, which was believed to launder the drug proceeds, according to court records. U.S. authorities first began looking into Terada in early 2016 as part of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation.

In one incident in November of 2016, she was found in a vehicle that had been used for transporting cocaine, which was hidden in the engine compartment of the car. Terada and another alleged co-conspirator had traveled by car from Houston all the way to Vienna, Virginia, with the cocaine ostensibly concealed.

She was charged with money-laundering and one felony count of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, according to court records obtained by The Daily Beast. Investigators alleged that Terada had worked as part of an organization alongside her ex-husband known to illegally smuggle large amounts of cocaine from the Houston, Texas area for redistribution within the Washington, D.C. region, the affidavit in her case states. Her ex-husband had provided and received kilos of cocaine for years as part of the operation, according to court records.

Her ex-husband, who did not immediately respond to a comment request from The Daily Beast, has a lengthy criminal rap sheet. It includes felony convictions for voluntary manslaughter while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and two convictions for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, according to the Department of Justice.

Teradas 2018 detainment and extradition from Finland came after U.S. authorities had issued an Interpol warrant for her arrest. The Russian citizen had been on her way from St. Petersburg to Spain when she was caught, according to Sputnik. After her extradition to the United States in June of 2019, Terada was held in the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia.

Teradaor Vovk, as she was known back thenmade a partial guilty plea to conspiracy to commit money-laundering. The court dismissed her other charge, and sentenced her to 30 months in prison.

A memorial for Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, and Dmitry Utkin, the group commander, in Moscow, Russia August 29, 2023. Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Doing Time

After returning to Russia in 2021, Terada claimed through her organizationthe FBRthat the charges against her were trumped up, despite the fact that she had pleaded guilty to money-laundering.

Teradas claim to fameand apparent effort to build credibility as the head of an organization ostensibly focused on human rightsis about manufacturing a counterweight to the Wests focus on human rights violations in Russia, said Darren Linvill, who is tracking Teradas organization alongside Warren.

You know how in the West, we have all kinds of foundations that explore human rights, Linvill told The Daily Beast. If you want to create a multipolar world, and your country is guilty of a long list of human rights violations, you might need to start your own foundation that explores human rights violationsbut, you know, only the human rights violations that everybody else is committing.

The FBR, for its part, doesnt appear to post anything about human rights violations in Russia. It is, however, full of posts and articles on racism and police brutality in the United States, protests in European countries, and anti-NATO and Ukraine perspectivesincluding one recent piece that claims that western intelligence agencies are behind the largest terrorist attacks of this century.

Its clear to experts like Linvill, however, that FBR is just a front organization.

They put out a bunch of reports that not very many people ever talk about, Linvill told The Daily Beast. Its just there to look good.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Terminal at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, the closest of three large international airports to, Washington, D.C. (Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress)

Quality Journalism for Critical Times

WASHINGTON  After hours of uncertainty Thursday, the U.S. Senate struck a deal to reauthorize several Federal Aviation Authority programs for the next five years, though Maryland and Virginia senators were vehemently opposed and lawmakers hoping to attach unrelated provisions lost out.

The bill heads to the House next week for final approval. Lawmakers from the lower chamber left Wednesday after approving a one-week extension for the FAA programs that expired Friday night. The Senate also passed the extension.

The late night vote, 88-4, drew resistance from the Democratic senators representing Maryland and Virginia. They held up speedier passage of the bill over objections to a provision that would allow more flights in and out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just over the Virginia border from Washington, D.C.

In a joint statement after the vote, Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia said the Senate abdicated its responsibility to protect the safety of the 25 million people who annually fly through Reagan airport, known as DCA.

The airport, a favorite for lawmakers as its closest to the Capitol, is limited by federal regulation on the number of slots, or flights that can take off and land per day.

Just weeks after two aircraft nearly crashed into one another at DCA, this body refused to take up our commonsense amendment to remove a dangerous provision that would have crammed more flights onto the busiest runway in America, the statement from Kaine and Warner continued, referring to an April 18 near-miss when two planes cleared to take off came within 400 feet of crashing.

The Virginia senators, as well as Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, held out for hours Thursday as they negotiated a vote for an amendment to strike or tighten a provision that would increase slots at DCA to five more landings and five more take-offs.

Over 200 member priorities

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed to bring what the senators described as a compromise amendment to the floor Thursday evening. The amendment proposed giving the final say on slots to the Transportation secretary after considering delays and safety.

But GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, one of the bills managers, objected, saying that the bill already contains over 200 member priorities.

Cruz, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, managed the bill with the committees chair, Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington.

Cruz is a proponent of increasing slots at DCA, particularly for a direct flight from San Antonio.

Others support the increase as well: Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia had originally proposed adding 28 new slots per day. That idea was scrapped and replaced with Cruzs amendment to allow five new daily flights in and out.

On the floor Thursday evening, Cruz pushed back on the safety argument, saying that the FAA experts have recently clarified that this near miss (on April 18) had absolutely nothing to do with traffic on the runway. He also blamed opposition on a lobbying effort from United Airlines, which operates a massive hub at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and wants to thwart competition.

Cruz said the final bill addresses safety issues by ensuring we have sufficient air traffic controllers to monitor the traffic and protect safety.

Late Thursday night after the bills passage, Cantwell took the floor to praise provisions that she said expand the aviation workforce, enhance pilot training and protect consumers.

Among its many provisions, the roughly 1,000-page legislation:

Directs the FAA to increase air traffic controller hiring targets;

Raises the commercial pilot retirement age to 67 from 65;

Prohibits mask-wearing and COVID-19 vaccine policies for passengers or employees;

Directs the FAA to update drone testing and operating rules;

Requires the Department of Transportation to create a seating policy to allow children to sit next to parents or guardians at no extra charge; and

Requires airlines to automatically refund customers after three hours of delay for domestic flights and after six hours for international flights.

These statutory rights are a big win for consumers, Cantwell said.

Last flight out of the airport

Many lawmakers view the FAA reauthorization bill as the last major vehicle to which they can attach their priorities before November elections and the close of the 118th Congress.

That opportunity disappeared Thursday when the legislations managers decided against allowing non-germane amendments to ride on the bill.

Among the proposals lawmakers were eyeing as additions was Oregon Democrat Ron Wydens bipartisan tax bill that would expand the child tax credit and revive corporate tax breaks. Another included Sen. Josh Hawleys Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, which would reauthorize a fund for victims of U.S. radiation testing exposure. The fund expires June 7.

Hawley said Thursday afternoon that he wouldnt object to the FAA bill, even if RECA wasnt added on.

I have no desire to tank the FAA reauthorization, Hawley, a Missouri Republican, told reporters outside the Senate chamber. I think we should have a reasonable process around it. But, if were not going to, were not going to.

At least we got automatic refunds for consumers out of this deal, which was good, Hawley added, referring to his amendment with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts that senators agreed to Tuesday.

Jacob Fischler contributed to this report.

The post U.S. Senate in FAA bill adds flights at Washington National, bucking local opponents appeared first on Florida Phoenix.
U.S. special ops leaders in NC learning from war in Ukraine; Green Beret candidates currently in warfare test across state

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. (AP/WNCN)  Forced to do more with less and learning from the war in Ukraine, U.S. special operations commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting their overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next five years.

The conflicting pressures are forcing a broader restructuring of the commando teams, which are often deployed for high-risk counterterrorism missions and other sensitive operations around the world. The changes under consideration are being influenced by Russias invasion of Ukraine, including lessons.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which bears the brunt of the personnel cuts, is eyeing plans to increase the size of its Green Beret teams  usually about 12 members  to bring in people with more specialized and technical abilities.

U.S. Special Forces are currently involved in the 50th year of a candidate test exercise across North Carolina  called Robin Sage  until May 23. The operation is a life-like test for would-be Green Berets spread in 26 North Carolina counties, including Wake, Cumberland, Harnett, Moore, and Hoke counties.

One option for teams in the future would be the addition of computer software experts who could reprogram drones or other technical equipment on the fly.

A rare look inside Robin Sage  the warfare test across NC for U.S. Special Forces candidates

But similar changes could ripple across all the military services.

A 12-person detachment might be upgunned, said Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. He said an Air Force pilot, Navy ship driver, cryptologist or cyber expert may be needed as battlefields become more challenging and high tech.

A soldier from the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Liberty in North Carolina checks a compass while completing a land navigation course during Robin Sage near Hoffman, N.C., May 7, 2019. (Ken Kassens/U.S. Army via AP)

He said in an interview that the U.S. is taking a lot of lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, including by special operations forces working in the country. The U.S. has no troops on the ground there.

50 years of Robin Sage: Warfare test for U.S. Special Forces across NC  mountains to coast

The bulk of the cuts stem from the Armys decision to reduce the size of its force by about 24,000 and restructure its troops as the U.S. shifts from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to focus more on large-scale combat operations. The Army also has struggled to meet recruitment goals and had to reduce the overall size of its force.

Army Special Operations Command, which Fenton said is absorbing about 4,000 cuts ordered over the past year and a half, is looking at bringing in people with high-tech skills.

I think one of the questions is how much can you teach a Green Beret versus some of these specialties are extremely technical, said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the command at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. You can teach a person about how to use a drone. But then to say, I want to have a software engineer program that drone, thats something different.

The cuts to Army special operations forces have triggered some congressional opposition, including during recent Capitol Hill hearings where lawmakers noted the impact at Fort Liberty. Fenton also spoke bluntly at the hearings about the growing demand for special operations forces.

He said U.S. regional commanders around the world consistently want more and that cutting the forces means well be able to meet less of what they demand. And I think we owe the secretary of defense our assessment as we go forward.

FILE  The new Fort Liberty sign is displayed outside the base on Friday, June 2, 2023 in Fort Liberty, N.C. U.S. special operations commanders are having to do more with less and theyre learning from the war in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker, File)

For years, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of special operations forces and support staff grew, particularly since they were often spread out in small, remote bases where they needed additional security and other logistical help. Now, Pentagon leaders say the numbers can shrink a bit.

Fenton said a cut of about 2,000 personnel in special operations was ordered by the department about a year and a half ago, including about 750 in the Army. That was followed this year by a cut of 3,000 in Army special operations. The cuts are to be spread out across five years.

So the real Army reduction in totality is almost 4,000, and the remaining 1,000 will come from the joint force, SEALs, Marine raiders, other Army units, said Fenton.

For Roberson, the question is where to cut his Army troops. Cuts have a way of crystallizing your focus and your view of, okay, whats important to me? Whats the future? What do I really need to have, he said in an interview in his Fort Liberty office.

He and other Army leaders said a significant percentage of the special forces cuts are in slots that are already open so would not affect existing personnel. Roberson estimated that at least 30% of the cuts are in those open jobs.

For other reductions, he said he is looking for redundancies, including among trainers and instructors. Army leaders have also said that psychological operations and civil affairs, both part of the Army command, are facing cuts.

At the end of 20 years of war, its always a good time to look back and say, OK, what did I have when this started? What did I learn? What did I do, what was important to me? Roberson said.

And even if all teams are not boosted in size, he said the Army needs to be able to quickly augment them with specialists. In some cases a mission might need just a couple technical support members, and other times could need six or seven, he said.

More broadly, as his forces absorb the cuts, their training must also be changed or increased to include more technology, robotics or sensors and signals intelligence information, Roberson added. Right now, he said, his troops are experimenting with the various options at the National Training Center in California and out in the field in Iraq and Syria.

Adaptability is the key, he said, and we have to figure out how were going to make the most of this.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS17.com.
Less than a week into their encampment at UC Davis, pro-Palestine protesters have experienced resistance from counterprotesters during late night and early morning encounters, a spokesperson told The Sacramento Bee on Sunday.

Some of these people are known to people in this encampment, said UC Davis law student Stanford McConnehey, as the same people who have been surveilling, harassing, haranguing at protests and educational events and things like that in an attempt to intimidate people. So their viewpoints are very clear.

The encampment in the quad outside of the UC Davis Memorial Union began May 6 and experienced multiple confrontations with counterprotesters, McConnehey said, including a man walking into the encampment and punching a member of the encampments security after protesters crowded around him.

Thats assault, McConnehey said, noting the encampment did not call police or attempt to press charges.

Other agitators, McConnehey said, included men who are not students using flashlights and bullhorns in late hours to wake up those sleeping in tents in the encampment. They were using racial epithets and disparaging language, McConnehey said.

Our security folks essentially ran them off. They started blowing their whistles, people got out of their tents and rallied to that side of where everything was happening, McConnehey said.

McConnehey said there were three incidents that happened overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, and Wednesday-Thursday, and then at approximately 5 a.m. Friday. He said campus police responded to two of the incidents, and crime logs show one incident labeled allegation of assault based on religious beliefs dated 10:59 p.m. May 6. UC Davis police did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the incidents as of Sunday afternoon.

Pro-Israel counterprotesters say others to blame

The Davis Oct. 7 Coalition, a counterprotest group, pushed back on McConneheys allegations Sunday. The coalition is a group of students and Davis residents who support Israels right to defend itself against Hamas and have made appearances outside the encampment.

A member of the group, Jonathan Groveman, said that the coalition had filed a report Friday with UC Davis Police after he said some of its members were threatened by people around the protest space. While the group did not file an assault or hate crime report, Groveman said some of the protesters were recorded on video chanting River to the Sea  a rallying cry for those who want Palestinian control of Israel  and have made other actions the group feels are antisemitic.

Theyre putting our faces, names and addresses on their website, he said of the protesters. So when theyre saying we were saying racial epithets, thats almost a call to action.

Groveman, a U.S. military veteran, said he decided to participate in the counterprotests to bring attention to the eight American hostages who remain held by Hamas. In all, 45 Americans were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 offensive that sparked the war in Gaza.

He said that the coalition has used peaceful means to counter the encampment, including using blow horns and other noisemakers around 5 a.m. Friday to wake up the protesters. He said the group does not condone violence.

Groveman said he believed some of the agitators near the encampment over the past week, including two men his group identified Friday for police, werent students or faculty and were not supporters of either side.

We went there for the specific purpose that we were hearing from Jewish students that they were getting followed home ... and were followed to work by people they saw when they were outside the encampment that they did not recognize from campus, Groveman said. And there was a general worry that people were inside the encampment that should not have been there.

Groveman said he had heard of the fight that broke out at the encampment, but stressed it was not a member of the pro-Israel coalition.

We dont know who that was, he said. We as a group are there because there is not a two-way dialogue.

The pro-Palestinian encampment has roughly doubled in size since it began last week and stopped taking in new people with the Whole Earn Festival happening nearby on campus.

We didnt want people who are drunk, partying or whatever and who just wanted to come pitch a tent, McConnehey said. Were here for a very specific reason: to keep our eyes on Palestine, to be raising our voices about the ongoing genocide.

The ongoing war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians living in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 killing more than 1,200 Israelis in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Encampment leads to popular festival being moved

UC Davis Whole Earth Festival typically takes place in the quad where the encampment was set up. But it was moved to nearby Russell Fields a few blocks north after speaking to leaders of the campus protest.

The free festival, which began in 1969, is run by students and attracts 30,000 people over Mothers Day Weekend, according to the festivals website. Its designed to highlight activism, wellness and environment sustainability.

There was no animosity among the event planners and the protesters despite the festival having roughly a weeks notice to relocate after the start of the encampment.

We spoke to them prior to moving just to kind of get a temperature check on how things were going with them, said festival co-director Emma Mele. They said they werent planning on moving, which is so OK and makes so much sense. Just logistically, we (said) we dont want to intrude on space. And theres so many fields everywhere and maybe we can make it work and did make it work. So everything is super normal and good.

The top logistical issue, Mele said, was accounting for the 90-plus degree temperatures over the weekend given the new location didnt offer as much shade as the quad, which has large trees. It led to at least one tent with misters being set up to help keep patrons cool. Mele also said some food vendors backed out of the festival because of the lack of greywater available at the new location.

Mele said there have been reports for pro-Israel protesters at the event, but said everything had remained peaceful.

Given the nature of the campus right now and the conflict, I think youre going to see that anywhere, she said. So yes, we have seen many different things here. Buy everybody can do as they please. Were a public space.

The Bees Daniel Hunt contributed to this story.
The UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron spoke about Russian assault actions in Kharkiv Oblast.

Source: Cameron in an interview with Sky News, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The diplomat said this is an "extremely dangerous" moment, which only "underlines that this is an unjustified, illegal invasion by Putin into an independent, sovereign country."

Quote: "And he's now, as it were, invaded it again from the north of Kharkiv. We must do everything we can to help the Ukrainians," he said.

With this in mind, he emphasised the importance of London giving a 3 billion annual aid package to Kyiv.

"We're encouraging others to do the same. And, crucially, the work we've done to encourage the Americans to come forward with their package. I mean, it's sad that it's taken long to come, but it will make a difference," Cameron added. Asked if the American support package was late, the Foreign Minister conceded that it would have been preferable if it had arrived sooner.

"We all need to do more, that is what the UK is doing, we're leading once again. First to do tanks, first to do anti-tank weapons, first to do long-range artillery," Cameron said.

Earlier, the White House stated that the US anticipates Russian forces to continue pushing as part of their latest offensive attempt in the north of Kharkiv, but it does not anticipate "major breakthroughs".

On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry reported that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast.

Ukraines Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi asserted that the Ukrainian army is aware of the Russians plans and responds flexibly to all their operations, but described the situation in the Kharkiv Oblast as "significantly aggravated".

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Of the expenses that eat the most of your income, housing costs are typically among the biggest.

Check Out: The 50 Happiest States in America and How Much It Costs to Live There

Learn More: Owe Money to the IRS? Most People Dont Realize They Should Do This One Thing

While its no secret that home prices have increased steeply in the past few years, the cost to rent in America is also becoming more challenging. According to a National Association of Realtors report, rent was still on the rise in March 2024.

In some cities, the price of rent has become so expensive as to be unaffordable for the average American. For example, in many California cities, which dominate this list, the average price of a 1-bedroom rental is double or more the cost of the national average, which is $1,226.

If you think rent is high where you live, check out the cost to rent in these 25 cities.

DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images

San Jose, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,429

Average 2 bedroom rent : $2,882

Average rent overall: $2,792

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Geraoma / Wikimedia Commons

Contra Costa, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,693

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,261

Average rent overall: $2,797

For You: Heres How Much the Definition of Rich Has Changed in Every State

MattGush / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Chino Hills, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,396

Average 2 bedroom rent : $2,611

Average rent overall: $2,835

RolfAasa / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Thousand Oaks, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,396

Average 2 bedroom rent : $2,611

Average rent overall: $2,835

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Daly City, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,535

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,121

Average rent overall: $2,847

Andrei Stanescu / Getty Images/iStockphoto

San Bruno, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,447

Average 2 bedroom rent : $2,968

Average rent overall: $2,867

Read More: A $150K Income Is Lower Middle Class In These High-Cost Cities

zorazhuang / iStock/Getty Images

South San Francisco

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,369

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,105

Average rent overall: $2,873

DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,645

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,204

Average rent overall: $2,913

Sandra Foyt / Shutterstock.com

Mission Viejo, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,336

Average 2 bedroom rent : $2,810

Average rent overall: $2,915

Sandra Foyt / Shutterstock.com

Aliso Viejo, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,557

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,019

Average rent overall: $2,925

Find Out: Why A Billionaire Bought a Bunch of Homes In Duluth, Minnesota

Beto Chagas / Shutterstock.com

Emeryville, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,846

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,436

Average rent overall: $2,937

SpVVK / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Mountain View, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,699

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,282

Average rent overall: $2,944

Story continues

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Milpitas, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,661

Average 2 bedroom rent : $2,949

Average rent overall: $2,952

Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Irvine, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,511

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,079

Average rent overall: $2,959

Try This: 8 Places Where Houses Are Suddenly Major Bargains

Shutterstock.com

Sammamish, Washington

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,389

Average 2 bedroom rent : $2,638

Average rent overall: $2,972

Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com

Santa Clara, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,740

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,140

Average rent overall: $3,014

Hank Shiffman / Shutterstock.com

Redwood City, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,693

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,411

Average rent overall: $3,035

Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com

Sunnyvale, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,758

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,236

Average rent overall: $3,048

Be Aware: In Less Than a Decade, You Wont Be Able To Afford Homes in These ZIP Codes

ESB Professional / Shutterstock.com

Laguna Niguel, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,688

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,051

Average rent overall: $3,094

yhelfman / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dublin, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,681

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,104

Average rent overall: $3,130

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Lake Forest, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,697

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,221

Average rent overall: $3,140

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San Mateo, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,815

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,526

Average rent overall: $3,178

Learn Next: Heres When To Buy a New House, According to Kevin OLeary

Shutterstock.com

Newport Beach, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,677

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,324

Average rent overall: $3,210

Ed-Ni-Photo / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Calabasas, California

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,899

Average 2 bedroom rent : $3,189

Average rent overall: $3,252

Shutterstock.com

Hoboken, New Jersey

Average 1 bedroom rent : $2,931

Average 2 bedroom rent : $4,034

Average rent overall: $3,451

Andrew Lisa contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: To find the most unaffordable cities to rent in, GOBankingRates first used ApartmentList data to find (1) average 2022 1-bedroom rents. GOBankingRates then used (2) Sperlings Best to find cities overall cost of living index. Next, For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed average rental costs for cities across the country to find the places with the highest rental costs. Using the average rental costs, as sourced from ApartmentList data from April 2024, the average overall rental cost, the average 1 bedroom rental cost, and the average 2 bedroom rental costs were found for each city. The top 25 most expensive cities were kept to find the most expensive cities for rent. For each city the livability index was included as supplemental information. All data was collected on and is up-to-date as-of May 2, 2024.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Rent Prices: The 25 Most Unaffordable Cities in America
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed confidence that Ukrainian troops are capable of effectively holding the contact line in their country's east.

Source: Blinken in an interview with CBS News, commenting on Russian offensives in Kharkiv Oblast; European Pravda

Details: He said that there was no doubt that the months-long delay in approving additional funding and sending weapons to Ukraine from the US "had a cost".

Quote: "So we're doing everything we can to rush this assistance out there. Europeans are doing the same. Look, I'm convinced that Ukraine can effectively hold the line in the east."

Details: The US secretary of state also expressed confidence that Kyiv is able to continue to press the advantages it achieved in the Black Sea, "feeding the world" as it did before Russia's large-scale invasion, and "hold Russian forces at risk, including in Crimea to make it more difficult for them to continue this aggression."

Quote: "We've been providing the systems to do that, but it's a challenging moment. We are not going anywhere, and neither are more than some 50 countries that are supporting Ukraine. That will continue and if Putin thinks he can outlast Ukraine, outlast its supporters, he's wrong."

Background:

Earlier, the White House said that Russian forces would continue to advance in their new offensive in the northern Kharkiv region, but did not expect "major breakthroughs".

On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry said that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on 12 May that the Ukrainian army was aware of Russias plans and was responding effectively to Russian operations, but said the situation in Kharkiv Oblast was "getting more complicated".

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Thousands of residents of the eastern Ukrainian border region of Kharkiv are being evacuated to safety amid Russia's current offensive operations there.

Around 4,000 people had already left the area in the last two days, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram on Sunday.

Many of them were able to stay with friends and relatives, while accommodation was being provided for others, he said. Syniehubov also published photos of people who had gathered at assembly points with luggage and some with pets.

More than two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine is experiencing acute difficulties in defending itself. This is partly due to the recent delays in supplies of US military equipment and ammunition.

Russian troops launched an offensive in the border region towards Kharkiv in the early hours of Friday, prompting fears of a campaign to seize Ukraine's second largest city.

Russia's Defence Ministry says several Ukrainian border villages near the town of Vovchansk were captured. On Sunday, Moscow said that four further villages were taken.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has described the situation there as "difficult."

"This week, the situation in the Kharkiv region has significantly worsened," Syrskyi wrote on Telegram on Sunday. "There are ongoing battles in the border areas along the state border with the Russian Federation."

While admitting that the situation is "difficult" and that Russian attackers had achieved "partial successes" in some areas, he said, "Ukrainian defence forces are doing everything they can to hold defensive lines and positions."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has repeatedly called for more international help in the defence of his country, recently declared that stopping the Russian offensive in Kharkiv was now "objective number one."

Just across the border in the Russian region of Belgorod, a multi-storey residential building was severely damaged in an attack, Russia's Defence Ministry announced on Sunday. At least six people were killed in the attack, it said.

The ministry said that the building had been hit by falling debris from a Ukrainian Tochka U missile. This could not be independently verified at first.

The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said at least 19 people were injured. Initial reports that there were also fatalities were not confirmed.

Photos of one destroyed vertical section of a much larger block of flats were published on social networks. According to media reports, people may still be trapped under the rubble. A missile alert had been triggered earlier in the day in the region.

There was initially no official reaction from the Ukrainian side. However, some Ukrainian media have cast doubt on the Russian account. The Ukrinform agency, citing an expert, wrote that the destruction visible in the photos suggested that the building could have been deliberately blown up by Russia to provoke and justify its own attacks.

A fire also broke out at an oil refinery in southern Russia following a drone attack, an official said on Sunday.

The night-time raid in the Volgograd region was repelled by the Russian air defences, Governor Andrey Botsharov wrote on Telegram.

However, the falling drone detonated and caused a fire on the refinery site, which has since been extinguished. There were no casualties, the governor said.

Moscow has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for more than two years. To disrupt Russia's infrastructure and reduce its war revenues, the Ukrainians have in turn repeatedly targeted oil refineries hundreds of kilometres deep inside the country.

Firefighters extinguish a house after a Russian missile attack on Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine. -/Ukrinform/dpa
A 10-story residential building in Belgorod, Russia, was struck overnight by a Ukrainian missile, a local governor said.

The number of those who died has increased to 15 people, according to an update from the Emergency Situations Ministry on Sunday.

"The Belgorod city and the Belgorod district came under a massive attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said in a post on Telegram.

PHOTO: A view shows the scene following the collapse of a section of a multi-story apartment block collapse, in Belgorod, Russia, May 12, 2024. (Stringer/Reuters)

The Ukrainian Tochka-U missile that struck the building was among several that Ukraine launched overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement. It was unclear if the missile struck the building as a target or if the damage was caused by fragments of a downed missile, the ministry said.

Search-and-rescue workers initially recovered the bodies of 11 people from the rubble of the apartment building, according to Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.

PHOTO: This photograph shows a view of an apartment building which partially collapsed after being damaged by Ukrainian strike in Belgorod on May 12, 2024. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian military officials did not immediately comment on the claims, which could not immediately be verified.

A central portion of the apartment building in Kharkovskaya Gora appeared in photos to have been completely destroyed, with the remaining building standing on either side of a gap.

ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

Ukraine strikes Russian apartment building killing 15 people, officials say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Ukraine's consumer demands on 11 May were met by domestic generation, commercial imports, and emergency help from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia's power grids.

Source: press service for Ukraines Ministry of Energy

Details: The overall volume of emergency supplies was less than 3% of daily electrical use, according to the report.

On Sunday 12 May, Ukraine requested an emergency supply of electricity from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, which has been carried out.

Ukraine will on Sunday also provide emergency assistance at Polands request and receive surplus electricity from that country's energy system.

Given the considerable damage to the power grid, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy recommends that users restrict their use of energy-intensive equipment during peak hours (particularly from 17:00 to 22:00).

The industry should assess manufacturing procedures to lessen the stress on the power system while also using imports as much as possible to avoid interruptions and strengthen the power system's reliability.

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Smoke rises after a Russian military strike in the town of Lyman

Smoke rises after a Russian military strike in the town of Lyman

By Vitalii Hnidyi

NEAR VOVCHANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) -Russian forces attacking Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region were engaged in fighting on the outskirts of the border town of Vovchansk, Kyiv's troops said on Sunday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described heavy fighting there and in the east.

Moscow troops entered into the Kharkiv region on Friday, opening a northeastern front in the 27-month war that has long been waged in the south and east. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, is 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border.

Soldiers returning from a combat mission in the area said the fighting had reached the edges of Vovchansk, a town around 4 km from the border and 45 km from Kharkiv city, describing helping some troops break out of Russian encirclement.

"The town is ours. They (the Russians) are biting on the outskirts, but we are biting back. And we will bite for every metre," said a Ukrainian soldier.

"Our boys got surrounded. We helped them. They got out and set up a defensive line along the street, inflicting considerable losses to enemy infantry."

In a post-midnight report, Ukraine's General Staff said Russian forces had achieved "tactical success" with 14 of 22 attempted advances in the area still proceeding.

Fighting was raging around Vovchansk, it said, with Russian forces "deploying significant forces for its attack on the town". But it said Russian troops were "taking no account of their own losses", with at least 100 reported dead.

The Russian military says it has seized control of at least nine border villages in the Kharkiv region. Kyiv says it is repelling the attacks and battling to control the settlements.

Several Russian media outlets, including Mash and Readovka, reported that Moscow's troops had entered Vovchansk.

The main thrusts of Russia's attack were aimed at Vovchansk and the town of Lyptsi around 7.5 km from the border and some 20 km (12 miles) from the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian military spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said.

Tamaz Gambarashvili, head of Vovchansk's military administration, told Reuters the town remained under Ukrainian control after its soldiers turned back small groups of Russians.

Russian drones, he said, were "constantly above Vovchansk".

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said Russian forces were "intensifying their shelling of Vovchansk". Nearly 6,000 residents had been evacuated from the area, he said.

VOLUNTEERS READY RESIDENTS FOR EVACUATION

Volunteers in flak jackets and helmets raced through village neighbourhoods, pleading with residents in damaged homes to pack up a handful of possessions and leave for evacuation points.

Evacuee Kostiantyn Tymchenko said fighting was raging 500 metres from his house, with Russian troops on the opposite bank of the Vovcha River.

"Ukrainian tanks roll in, shoot and roll out. On the other side there is shouting all the time," he told Reuters.

Despite the constant explosions nearby, some elderly residents were reluctant to go. Others were sluggish in preparing, despite urging from volunteers.

One man was brought in to an evacuation point with torn-off fingers, an incident medics said occurred after Russian forces shot him as he was leaving his house. As medics attended to his wounds, the man said "What did I do to deserve this?'"

Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said "defensive battles" had engulfed a string of Kharkiv region villages.

Fighting, he said, was "no less acute" in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine is on the defensive after months of slowed supplies of U.S. munitions. Russia's forces hold a significant advantage in manpower and munitions.

In 2022, soon after the start of their full-scale invasion, Russian forces reached the suburbs of the city of Kharkiv before being driven back to the border.

Kyiv says months of delays by the U.S. Congress before voting through the aid package last month have cost them on the battlefield. It now hopes significant quantities of the approved assistance will arrive quickly to bolster the defence effort.

On the other side of the border in the Belgorod region a whole section of a Russian apartment block collapsed, killing at least 13 people, after it was struck by a missile launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said.

Kyiv did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by Vitalii Hnydyi and Max HunderWriting by Ron PopeskiEditing by Jan Harvey, Frances Kerry, Tom Balmforth and Diane Craft)
Key developments on May 11,12:

Putin proposes firing Shoigu, appointing new defense minister

Zelensky says Russian troops try to "gain a foothold" in Kharkiv Oblast; heavy fighting ongoing

Russia's breakthrough attempt halted, situation in several sectors' changing rapidly,' Syrskyi says

Russia attacks 106 infrastructure facilities in Ukraine in one day

Media: Ukrainian drones attack military targets in 3 Russian oblasts overnight

Russia seeking to blame Ukraine after apartment building collapses in Belgorod, reportedly killing at least 7

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on May 12 proposed firing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and nominated Andrei Belousov to replace him, according to the Telegram channel of the Federation Council, the Russian parliament's upper house.

Putin appointed Shoigu as the secretary of Russia's security council, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Shoigu is replacing Nikolai Patrushev, who has been the council's secretary since 2008.

Shoigu has faced criticism from Russia's pro-war hawks for mishandling the war effort in Ukraine. However, it is not clear if his dismissal is a demotion since the position of the security council's secretary is considered to be among the most powerful in the country.

Meanwhile, Belousov is known as a supporter of boosting military spending and mobilizing Russia's economy for the war effort. Peskov said that Belousov's task is "to integrate the military-industrial complex into the country's economy."

Peskov also said that Putin had decided to appoint a civilian as defense minister since the "ministry should be open to innovation and progressive ideas."

Belousov was Russia's economy minister in 2012-2013, an aide to Putin in 2013-2020, and first deputy prime minister in 2020-2024.

Read also: Ukrainian drones hit one Russian oil refinery after another

Heavy fighting ongoing in Kharkiv, Donetsk oblasts

Russian troops are trying to "gain a foothold" in some villages in Kharkiv Oblast, and heavy fighting is ongoing in the region, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on May 12.

His statement comes as Russia launched a new offensive operation targeting Kharkiv Oblast on May 10.

Zelensky said the situation is "extremely difficult" on the outskirts of Vovchansk, a city in Kharkiv Oblast close to the Russian border.

"The city is under constant Russian fire, and our military is carrying out counterattacks, helping local residents," Zelensky said.

Earlier in the day, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian attempts to break through Ukraine's defenses have been halted, even though Russian troops continue their attacks in several sectors.

According to him, the situation "is changing rapidly" in the directions of Kupiansk, Siversk, Lyman, and Pokrovsk amid ongoing fighting.

"The enemy has partial success in some areas, and in others, (Ukraine's) Defense Forces are pushing the enemy out and improving their tactical position," the general said.

The general also described the situation in Kharkiv Oblast as "difficult," saying that Ukrainian troops are fighting in the border areas and "are doing everything to hold their defensive lines and positions."

Ukraine's military said earlier that Russian troops had been contained in the "gray zone" border villages, while Russia alleged the capture of five settlements in Kharkiv Oblast: Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylne, and Strilecha.

"The units of the Defense Forces are engaged in fierce defensive battles, and the attempts of the Russian occupiers to break through our defense have been halted. Our intelligence, artillery, and unmanned aerial systems units are working," Syrskyi said.

"All necessary measures are being taken to strengthen the defense, and decisions are being made promptly, including personnel."

Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 12 that civilians continue to be evacuated from northern Kharkiv Oblast as massive artillery and air strikes increase in the region.

According to the State Emergency Service, over 4,500 people had been evacuated from the border settlements of Kharkiv Oblast as of 5 p.m. on May 12. Around 500 people remain in the city of Vovchansk, said Syniehubov.

Apart from Kharkiv Oblast, Russia is also continuing its assault east of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast and has failed to regain lost positions near the village of Klishchiivka, located some five kilometers south of Russian-occupied Bakhmut, according to Syrskyi.

Zelensky also reported that the situation in Donetsk Oblast is "no less intense" than in Kharkiv Oblast, adding that "the idea behind the attacks in Kharkiv Oblast is to spread our forces thin and undermine the Ukrainians' morale."

"Our warriors are adequately retaliating against the occupiers and doing everything possible, and often impossible, to deter Russian assaults," Zelensky said.

Read also: Russia intensifies attacks on Kharkiv, draining Ukraines air defense and civilian morale

Russia attacks 106 infrastructure facilities in Ukraine in one day

Russia attacked 106 infrastructure facilities in nine regions in Ukraine over the last day, the Defense Ministry's Military Media Center reported on May 12.

Various weapons were used in the attacks, and 107 settlements were targeted. Thousands of households in seven oblasts are suffering power outages due to Russian attacks, the Energy Ministry reported.

In the last 24 hours, 1,146 customers in Kharkiv Oblast lost power, alongside 4,600 households in Donetsk Oblast, 2,418 households in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, 450 in Mykolaiv Oblast, 510 in Sumy Oblast, 25,800 in Kherson Oblast, and 1,500 customers in Chernihiv Oblast.

While some settlements have been reconnected as of May 12, thousands still face blackouts. The situation is worse in Donetsk Oblast, where 47,700 customers are disconnected from the power grid.

Russia also launched a mass attack on energy infrastructure on May 8 in central and western regions of Ukraine, the fifth attack against Ukraine's power network since the start of the year.

At least two hydroelectric power plants were forcibly decommissioned as a result of the attack.

Read also: The road from death to life: Medics evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers amid intensified fighting (Photo)

Media: Ukrainian drones attack military targets in 3 Russian oblasts overnight

Drones operated by Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) attacked military targets in Russia's Volgograd, Lipetsk, and Kaluga oblasts overnight on May 12, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing its unnamed source in HUR.

One target was an oil refinery in Volgograd, where a fire was reported by local Russian authorities, according to the media outlet.

The Kaluganefteprodukt oil depot and the Novolipetsk metallurgical plant were also reportedly struck by drones.

"These military targets were hit by Ukrainian-made drones. The work will be continued," the source told Ukrainska Pravda. The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.

Drone attacks targeting energy facilities within Russia's borders have increased in frequency in recent months.

Read also: Ukraine pins hopes on international pressure to conduct all-for-all prisoner exchange

Apartment building collapses in Belgorod, reportedly killing 12. Russia seeks to blame Ukraine

A part of a 10-story apartment building collapsed in Russia's Belgorod on May 12, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. He claimed without evidence that a Ukrainian projectile hit the building during an air raid alert in the oblast.

Later in the day, the Russian state-controlled RIA Novosti news site reported that 12 people were killed there.

Russian air defenses allegedly shot down six Tochka-U missiles and six rockets over Belgorod Oblast, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ministry claimed that the residential building was "damaged" by a Tochka-U missile fragment.

Local officials did not report on casualties, while Russian state-run media claimed at least 20 were injured, citing response services.

There is a risk of further collapse of the building, the Kremlin-controlled news agency TASS wrote. Footage shared on Russian Telegram channels soon after showed a section of the roof collapsed.

Ukrainian officials did not comment on the claims. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports.

Read also: One night with Ukrainian drone hunters near Russia

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi asserted that the Ukrainian army is aware of the Russians plans and responds flexibly to all their operations, but described the situation in the Kharkiv Oblast as "significantly aggravated".

Source: Syrskyi on Telegram

Quote: "We are aware of the enemy's plans and can respond flexibly to all of his actions. To reinforce the defence, all required measures are implemented, and decisions, including personnel ones, are made quickly.

This week, the situation in Kharkiv Oblast deteriorated substantially. Currently, there are continuing battles along the state's border with Russia.

The situation is challenging, but the Defence Forces are doing everything possible to maintain defensive lines and positions, resulting in defeat for the adversary."

Details: According to Syrskyi, fierce clashes continue on the Kupiansk, Siversk, Lyman, and Pokrovsk fronts, and the situation is changing extremely quickly.

On the Kramatorsk front, the Russians do not cease their attempts to conquer Chasiv Yar and instead continue offensive operations east of there. They are attempting to regain lost ground near Klishchiivka, but failing.

In addition, the Commander-in-Chief stated that the rotation of units for the remainder of the personnel, as well as the restoration of brigade combat capacity, are still underway.

Background:

On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there.

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.

DeepState analysts have noted that Russian troops seized six more settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.

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Ukraine's Defence Intelligence says they knew of Russias plans to advance in Kharkiv Oblast

Ukraines Defence Intelligence has said that it was aware of the timeline for Russian forces offensive in the north of Kharkiv Oblast and has urged Russian soldiers to surrender.

Source: Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Ukraines Defence Intelligence, on Ukraines national 24/7 newscast

Quote: "We can say that enemy operations were in line with the timeline we were aware of and which Defence Intelligence informed all the relevant authorities, leadership, and commanders about, as was its duty."

Details: Yusov said that special Defence Intelligence units are currently fighting on the Kharkiv front alongside Ukraines Defence Forces.

He also said that Russian forces are suffering substantial losses on this front and urged Russian soldiers to surrender.

Yusov explained that Russia has deployed soldiers from the Moscow and St Petersburg military districts to conduct the offensive on the Kharkiv front.

He reported that a "decision was made to open an additional camp for Russian military prisoners in Ukraine".

Background:

On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there.

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.

DeepState analysts said that as of 12 May, Russian troops have seized six more settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on 12 May that the Ukrainian army was aware of Russias plans and was responding effectively to Russian operations, but said the situation in Kharkiv Oblast was "getting more complicated".

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Ukraine's Defence Minister on vacancies most popular with job-seekers at military recruitment centres

Vacancies for drivers, mechanics or drone operators are in greatest demand at military recruitment centres that have opened across Ukraine this year.

Source: Ukraines Defence Minister Rustem Umierov in an interview posted on the Ministry of Defences YouTube channel

Quote from Umierov: "As of today, vacancies for drivers, mechanics or drone operators  more civilian-leaning jobs  are in great demand."

Details: Umierov said that around 20 military recruitment centres have already opened across Ukraine.

"Six months ago we looked at what vacancies we had available to give people options. HR and human capital firms are working alongside now to oversee this process in the most professional manner," Umierov said.

In addition to attending a recruitment centre in person, job-seekers can apply for jobs with the military online.

Background:

The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine said in March that it expects to open 27 recruitment centres in administrative centres of Ukrainian oblasts and other major Ukrainian cities in the first six months of 2024.

On 2 May, a new recruitment centre opened in the city of Mukachevo, Zakarpattia Oblast, the westernmost oblast of Ukraine. It became the 20th such centre in Ukraine.

On 7 May, a new military recruitment centre opened at Kyivs Central (Tsentralnyi) Railway Station; residents of any Ukrainian city, town or village can apply for a job with the Ukrainian army there.

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Silverlake Axis Ltd. (SGX:5CP) shareholders will doubtless be very grateful to see the share price up 37% in the last month. But if you look at the last five years the returns have not been good. You would have done a lot better buying an index fund, since the stock has dropped 44% in that half decade.

On a more encouraging note the company has added S$101m to its market cap in just the last 7 days, so let's see if we can determine what's driven the five-year loss for shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for Silverlake Axis

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Looking back five years, both Silverlake Axis' share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 2.7% per year. Readers should note that the share price has fallen faster than the EPS, at a rate of 11% per year, over the period. This implies that the market is more cautious about the business these days.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Silverlake Axis, it has a TSR of -37% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

Silverlake Axis shareholders are down 10% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 3.4%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 7% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. Before forming an opinion on Silverlake Axis you might want to consider these 3 valuation metrics.

Story continues

But note: Silverlake Axis may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Singaporean exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
BELGRADE (Reuters) -Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska arrived in Belgrade on Sunday, the first visit by a top Ukrainian dignitary to Serbia since Russia's invasion in 2022 and a signal of the Balkan country's swing away from Moscow, its traditional ally.

Flanked by her Serbian counterpart Tamara Vucic and Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, also on his first visit to Belgrade, Zelenska toured the city and its medieval Kalemegdan fortress, the Tanjug news agency reported.

She also attended the signing of an agreement on cooperation between universities in Belgrade and Kyiv, the report said.

Pro-Russian sentiment runs high in Serbia on the back of traditional historical, religious, political and military ties.

Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic is trying to strike a balance between country's candidacy for membership of the European Union and ties with Russia and China, a major trade partner and investor.

The new government in Belgrade includes Aleksandar Vulin, a pro-Russian deputy prime minister and ex-intelligence chief who is under U.S. sanctions and Nenad Popovic, a minister without a portfolio, also a Russia supporter who has also faced U.S. sanctions.

Serbia has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations and other international forums, but has so far refused to join international sanctions against the Kremlin.

Vucic has met Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy three times since 2022 during international forums abroad, most recently at a regional meeting in Tirana in February.

Since 2022, Serbia has accepted thousands of Ukrainian refugees, sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and pledged help in de-mining the country and in its post-war rebuilding effort.

Last year, a leaked classified Pentagon document said Serbia had agreed to supply arms and ammunition to Kyiv or had sent them to Ukraine.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Jan Harvey)
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke via phone with his newly appointed Portuguese counterpart, Paulo Rangel.

Source: Kuleba on Twitter (X), as reported by European Pravda

Details: Ukraine's Foreign Minister congratulated his colleague on his new appointment and discussed with him bilateral issues as well as the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

Quote: "I appreciate Minister Rangels willingness to resolutely support Ukraine on its way to EU membership," Kuleba added.

I spoke with @PauloRangel_pt to congratulate him on his appointment as Portugal's Foreign Minister, discuss our bilateral agenda, and @ZelenskyyUa's Peace Formula implementation. I appreciate Minister Rangels willingness to resolutely support Ukraine on its way to EU membership.  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 12, 2024

Ukraine recently held another round of negotiations with Portugal to conclude a bilateral security agreement in accordance with the G7 joint declaration.

On 24 April, Ukraine and Portugal's representatives began working on a draft bilateral security agreement and agreed on a schedule for further negotiations.

Earlier, Rangel stated that the current Portuguese administration, led by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, supports Ukraine's accession to the EU.

The new minority government in Portugal, led by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, took the oath of office on 2 April.

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Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) drones have attacked military targets in Volgograd, Kaluga and Lipetsk Oblasts in Russia on the night of 11-12 May.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda source in DIU

Details: As a result of the Ukrainian intelligence operation, Kaluganefteprodukt, Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant and Volgograd Oil Refinery were attacked.

Quote: "These military targets were hit using Ukrainian-made UAVs. The work will continue."

""  ...    pic.twitter.com/PTfqW5Kzoc     (@ukrpravda_news) May 12, 2024

Background: Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) drones attacked the Volgograd oil refinery in Russia on the night of 10-11 May. The control cable for the air coolers and the chimney of the refinery's furnace was damaged

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Ukrainians with residence and work permits will be allowed to stay in Germany, Scholz says

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Ukrainians with residence and work permits will be able to stay in Germany.

Source: European Pravda; Scholz during a speech at an event organised by the RND newspaper group, as reported by Deutsche Welle, a German international broadcaster and media outlet

Details: "The legal situation is such that residence here is not questioned. Employment also leads to security of residence," the chancellor said.

Scholz also urged Ukrainians in Germany to find employment.

"We hope that those who have come from Ukraine will start working as soon as they can. It is worth mentioning that many are already doing so, but there are still several hundred thousand urgently needed in the labour market," he added.

Background:

Earlier, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte dismissed claims that her country would help send Ukrainian men of conscription age back to Ukraine.

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, stressed that Ukraine will not forcibly bring military-age Ukrainian men back from other countries.

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Lee Roberts failure





The writer is a UNC French professor.

History shows when university administrators bring in police, peaceful campus protests become violent and antagonisms escalate. On April 30, when interim Chancellor Lee Roberts unleashed police on UNC protesters, he revealed his indifference to this history.

Its ironic that Roberts was placed on our campus as part of a plan to end the one-sided indoctrination the UNC System Board of Governors imagines a Chapel Hill education to be. He didnt even try to understand the view of stateless persons and their allies, or their wish to temporarily see the flag of Palestine fly over campus.

By shaking hands with the fraternity brothers guarding the American flag, while flanked by police inflicting bodily injury on students, Roberts displayed his obstinate refusal to engage with the other side. He added insult by approving the suspension of student protesters. In what already looks like a defining moment of his chancellorship, he demonstrated the type of indoctrination he was supposedly hired to remedy.

Hassan Melehy, Chapel Hill

Kudos, chancellor

Kudos to the UNC-Chapel Hill interim chancellor and his decisive action to protect our state university from invasion by those with the misconception that freedom of speech means you can disrupt the business of education and take down our American flag. Intimidation of others can never be tolerated.

The erroneous thinking of the liberal faculty that they can withhold grades is unconscionable.

How quickly we forget that freedom is not free and how blessed by God we are.

Janice Putnam, Chapel Hill

Young protesters

Adults aged 18 to 22 can obtain top secret security clearance, get married, and choose their own religious beliefs. They can serve on a capital murder jury and help determine whether a defendant lives or dies. Yet somehow, when these same adults enroll in college, we stop believing they can think independently. As students, they are infantilized  accused of speaking out about important issues because its popular, as if protest were merely a fad, or because they were brainwashed into a particular point of view by outsiders, as if they had made no effort to learn about the issues themselves. How is it that we trust them with the full and profound responsibilities of adulthood while believing they have so little judgment?

Debbie Carraway, Raleigh

Lesson plans

Regarding GOP lawmakers want to make NC public school teachers post all lesson plans online, (May 3):

As a retired public schools educator, I can understand why the GOP wants to get its hands on public school teachers lesson plans. There are private schools and home schools that would love to have this tedious part of the education process done for them. But, in fairness to hardworking public school employees, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If public school educators are required to post lesson plans, then the same should be required for every teacher who educates children in our state, whether at a private, religious, charter or home school. It would be interesting for parents to be able to evaluate the differences in the quality of plans submitted.

Carolyn Davis, Raleigh

NC surplus

Ive let N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, Speaker Tim Moore, Gov. Cooper and others know what I think they should do with that $1.4 billion budget surplus. They should allocate that surplus revenue to teachers, especially those with masters degrees.

Jack Williams, Cary

New abortion laws

Forced pregnancy is not saving lives, it is imperiling them.

Where are the laws that go along with lowering the abortion rate? Where are the free condoms, birth control pills, IUDs and other forms of birth control?

Due to overturning Roe v Wade, 24 states have restrictions that are causing some OB-GYN doctors to flee due to the pressure of huge fines and possible jail time. We must work to improve healthcare for women. This is America, the most envied country in the world  until the reversal of Roe v Wade.

Barbara Weber, Durham
Under the Dome: What Josh Stein and Mark Robinson say about SHALOM Act on antisemitism

Welcome to your governors race edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. Im Dawn Vaughan, Capitol bureau chief at The News & Observer.

An antisemitism bill took center stage at the General Assembly this past week, as the House passed the SHALOM Act with significant bipartisan support. It also drew attention to the governors race because of past social media comments from the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, as my politics team colleagues Avi Bajpai and Kyle Ingram noted in their coverage of the legislation.

The Democratic nominee, Attorney General Josh Stein, if he wins the general election, would be North Carolinas first Jewish governor.

Stein applauded the bill, which may soon be taken up by the Senate, in a statement his campaign sent me.

Attorney General Stein applauds the legislatures efforts to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish people from acts of hate and violence, said campaign spokesperson Kate Frauenfelder.

She also brought up Steins opponent.

While Josh is confronting hate crimes across North Carolina as Attorney General, Mark Robinson refuses to apologize for denying the Holocaust and spreading dangerous, antisemitic conspiracy theories, Frauenfelder said.

Soon after the attack on Israel by Hamas in October, Robinson used his authority as acting governor while Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper was out of the country to issue a proclamation in solidarity with Israel. He announced it at a news conference where reporters, including me, asked him about his previous antisemitic comments on social media.

Robinson said in October that he has never been antisemitic and did not apologize for Facebook posts including one in 2017 in which he wrote: I am so sick of seeing and hearing people STILL talk about Nazis and Hitler and how evil and manipulative they were. NEWS FLASH PEOPLE, THE NAZIS (National Socialist) ARE GONE! We did away with them, and then continued talking about Communism.

Another Facebook post in 2018 from Robinson said: The center and leftist leaning Weimar Republic put heavy gun ownership restrictions on German citizens long before the Nazis took power. This foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash. Repeating that hogwash makes the conservative argument against the current attempts by liberal Marxist to push Unconstitutional gun control measures in this Nation look FOOLISH.

Robinson said in October that there have been some Facebook posts that were poorly worded on my part, did not convey my real sentiments, and I have addressed those issues and moved on from those issues.

This past week, Robinson said in a statement that he wholeheartedly supported the SHALOM Act, which adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of antisemitism as 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.

Robinson said amid the recent surge in antisemitism, the bill demonstrates proactive measures in tackling this worrying trend.

Stein campaigns during Teacher Appreciation Week

Stein was in Western North Carolina this week and met with several educators, including Teacher of the Year Heather Smith of Waynesville Middle School in Haywood County.

Stein shared photos of the visits on social media, saying, I couldnt be more grateful to our public school educators for everything they do to prepare our children for the future.

As governor, Stein has said he would work to reinstate extra pay for teachers with masters degrees and supports additional raises.

New podcast on Monday

Dont forget to follow our Under the Dome tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. Our new episode posts Monday morning. Im joined by Avi Bajpai and Korie Dean as we talk more about the SHALOM Act, legislation about masks and how all of that connects to the recent pro-Palestinian protests at UNC-Chapel Hill.

You can sign up to receive the Under the Dome newsletter at newsobserver.com/newsletters. Want your friends to get our email, too? Forward them this newsletter so they can sign up here.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  University of Nevada, Las Vegas students walked the stage at the Thomas and Mack Center for their spring commencement ceremony Saturday.

The occasion marked a 7% increase with more than 3,700 Rebels graduating this semester, according to university staff.

The graduates come from 44 states and 50 countries.

However, the majority are locals including 23-year-old Christian Shelton, who was one of six honored as outstanding graduates.

He sang the national anthem and told 8 News Now that it was everything I could have asked for.

Shelton earned a Bachelors in music, with a concentration in vocal performance. After an opera program in Germany, he plans to return to UNLV for his masters degree.

Shelton reflected on the resiliency he and his classmates showed as they went through the pandemic and a campus shooting during his education.

How the last four years have been quite treacherous and us as a graduating class have seen the spectrum of everything, we just have stayed so close and positive the whole time, Shelton said.

During the ceremony, the crowd got to their feet in an outpouring of love and applause for the memory of Emilee France Barker, who passed away in a February car crash in Utah.

She pursued a dual degree in dance and production.

She was one of the greatest dancers on the stage, and I am so proud of her and the accomplishments she made, Chris Barker, her husband, said.

He and Emilees mother, Christine France, walked the stage in her honor, held up a photo of her and accepted her diploma.

Chris Barker and Christine France walking the stage in Emilee France Barkers honor and held up a photo of her and accepted her diploma. (KLAS)

She found a family at UNLV in the dance department, and theyve been wonderful, said France.

Nursing graduate Amanda Hill said she is hopeful for the future, and shared she is looking for local hospital jobs preferably with children or in the emergency room.

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to honor my family and the people that supported me by helping out other people. The nursing instructors, clinicals, everything was just amazing, she said

Since 1964, UNLV has awarded 176,442 degrees.

Share your graduates photo with 8 News Now. Some of the photos will be shown during newscasts. You can email a photo to: pix@8newsnow.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Singapore Post (SGX:S08) Full Year 2024 Results

Key Financial Results

Revenue: S$1.69b (down 9.9% from FY 2023).

Net income: S$78.3m (up 461% from FY 2023).

Profit margin: 4.6% (up from 0.7% in FY 2023).

EPS: S$0.03 (up from S$0.006 in FY 2023).

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

Singapore Post EPS Beats Expectations

Revenue was in line with analyst estimates. Earnings per share (EPS) surpassed analyst estimates by 76%.

Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 9.3% p.a. on average during the next 2 years, compared to a 9.0% growth forecast for the Logistics industry in Asia.

Performance of the market in Singapore.

The company's shares are up 6.9% from a week ago.

Risk Analysis

We should say that we've discovered 1 warning sign for Singapore Post that you should be aware of before investing here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
The US Army says it wants to recruit more psychological warfare 'nerds'

The US Army says it wants to recruit more psychological warfare 'nerds'

Psychological warfare, or PsyOps, aims to influence public opinion and wage the war of words.

PsyOps missions range from leaflet drops to deceiving the enemy and shaping opinion on foreign soil.

The US Army, struggling to fill the ranks of its PsyOps units, released a haunting recruitment video.

In late 2021, the Army Special Operations Command leaders and special forces recruiters had a problem: they needed more enlistees for their Psychological Operations groups.

Experts in persuasion and influence, psychological warfare, or PsyOp, soldiers don't often fit the stereotypical mold of an Army recruit. These individuals tend to live and think outside the norm, and recruitment must meet them via non-traditional means.

In May 2022, recruiters released their first eerie recruitment video: "Ghost in the machine: Psywar." Last week, they released their second: "Ghost in the machine 2."

"Ghosts in the Machine 2" takes the viewer on a journey of introspection. Quotes, both spoken and on screen, music, images and ideas are layered on top of one another to create tension and draw the viewer in.

While the first video focuses on psychological warfare and the shadows, "Ghosts in the Machine 2" emphasizes that words and ideas can be powerful weapons.

The final scene in the second video displays the text "See you at Selection" and provides viewers with the web address of the US Army Special Operations Recruiting website (GoArmySOF.com).

"We're all nerds for sure"

The videos are designed to garner curiosity from the specific type of recruit that they're looking for.

"We're all nerds for sure," the Army major who created the ad and a member of the 8th Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, told the Associated Press. "But we're all nerds in different ways."

Usually, those who are drawn to the job are "planners," he said. "They're writers, they're great thinkers. They're idea people."

He said they are often creative  artists and illustrators  but others are tech experts who can bring ideas to life in online messaging.

Trying to make PsyOps understood by potential enlistees

In March, a report found that due to "burnout" issues among psyop soldiers, units were unable to fight both China and Russia in the information war.

But part of the recruitment issue is that people who could be good candidates don't fully understand what PsyOps is or what it involves.

This image from video released by the US Army, shows a frame from a haunting new video, released i May 2024, in the latest effort by the Army to lure soldiers to some of its more secretive units. US Army via Getty

The video aims to recruit future PsyOps soldiers and show applicants what their jobs will entail.

" 'Ghost in the Machine' tells you what psychological operations is, and shows you it, without telling you in words," Lt. Col. Steve Crowe, commander of the Special Forces Recruiting Battalion, told AP.

"You watch the video, and you're like, OK, this is how I'll influence and change behavior."

Recruiters told AP that about six months after the first video was released, 51% of soldiers who applied for the PsyOps mission and got into the assessment and selection course said the video had a medium to high influence on their decision to try out for the job.

The US has been using PsyOps for years

One of the most renowned psychological operations occurred during World War II. The US Ghost Army deceived the Germans using inflatable tanks, radio deception, disguises, and impersonations.

This photo provided by the Ghost Army Legacy Project shows inflatable tanks in March, 1945. National Archives/Ghost Army Legacy Project via AP

In what was known as Operation Viersen, they deployed inflatables, sound trucks, and fake headquarters to divert German forces from the actual crossing point of the Rhine River.

PsyOps soldiers have more recently advised Ukrainian troops in their attempts to counter Russian disinformation campaigns since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

After the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukrainian forces used a variety of tactics to convince Russian soldiers to surrender. Leaflets and social media posts told Russian troops how and where they could give themselves up.

Read the original article on Business Insider
US commander appeared to suggest UK special forces were operating in Ukraine

A US commander appeared to suggest UK special forces were operating in Ukraine.

Gen. Bryan Fenton said the US was "taking a lot of lessons" from UK special forces in Ukraine.

The UK Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the report.

A US commander appeared to suggest UK special forces were operating in Ukraine.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Gen. Bryan Fenton, the commander of the US Special Operations Command, spoke about plans to restructure Green Beret teams based on lessons from British special forces in Ukraine.

"A 12-person detachment might be up-gunned," Fenton said, explaining that as warfare became more high-tech, there might be a need for teams to have a cyber expert, an Air Force pilot, or a cryptologist, for example.

He said the ideas had come from "lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, mostly through the eyes of our UK special-operations partners, who not only have done that in their formations, but they've also learned very quickly that they needed other elements of their joint force."

Fenton said British commandos had required Royal Air Force pilots' advice on drone operations and needed navy personnel "to help them understand, more than a SOF teammate could, the way a ship in the Black Sea navigates," referring to special-operations forces.

Military personnel rarely acknowledge the activities of special-forces soldiers, either their own or those of their allies.

In a statement to Business Insider, a UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "It is the long-standing policy of successive governments not to comment on UK Special Forces."

Fenton's comments confirmed something of an open secret about the covert presence of Western troops in Ukraine.

A British SAS sniper. UK MoD

Ukrainian commanders told The Times of London as long ago as April 2022 that special forces were in there to train local recruits on British-supplied NLAW anti-tank missiles.

One senior European defense official told the Financial Times in February, "Everyone knows there are Western special forces in Ukraine  they've just not acknowledged it officially."

The presence of covert troops was noted in the so-called Pentagon Leaks of 2023.

Per the BBC, classified documents said the UK had 50 troops, Latvia had 17, France 15, and the Netherlands had a single soldier.

(A US Air National Guardsman, Jack Teixeira, was charged with leaking the documents and accepted a 16-year prison sentence.)

A more recent leak, from Germany, said that some British troops were in Ukraine supporting the use of weapons there.

A UK official later acknowledged that, but didn't give any detail about what part of the military they were from.

French President Emmanuel Macron has meanwhile floated the idea of Western troops being officially sent to Ukraine.

Speaking to The Economist at the end of April, Macron said: "I'm not ruling anything out because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out," referring to Putin.

"We have undoubtedly been too hesitant by defining the limits of our action to someone who no longer has any and who is the aggressor," he added.

Macron said he'd consider sending troops "if the Russians were to break through the front lines" and "if there were a Ukrainian requestwhich is not the case today."

Russia had previously issued stark warnings in response to some of Macron's claims, saying troops sent to Ukraine would meet the same fate as Napoleon's army, which lost more than 300,000 men when it invaded Russia in 1812.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this week, Dmitry Medvedev, a former president of Russia, also threatened that Russia would use nuclear weapons against Western states if NATO sent troops to Ukraine.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former US Marine pilot arrested in Australia worked with Chinese hacker, lawyer says

Former U.S. Marines Corp pilot Daniel Duggan poses for a picture in this undated handout picture

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -A former U.S. Marine pilot, fighting extradition from Australia on U.S. charges of training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers, unknowingly worked with a Chinese hacker, his lawyer said.

Daniel Duggan, 55, a naturalised Australian citizen, also feared requests by Western intelligence agencies for sensitive information were putting his family at risk, the lawyer said in a legal filing seen by Reuters.

The lawyer's filing supports Reuters reporting linking Duggan to convicted Chinese defence hacker Su Bin.

Duggan denies allegations that he broke U.S. arms control laws. He has been in an Australian maximum security prison since his 2022 arrest after returning from six years working in Beijing.

U.S. authorities found correspondence with Duggan on electronic devices seized from Su Bin, Duggan's lawyer Bernard Collaery said in the March submission to Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, who will decide whether to surrender Duggan to the U.S. after a magistrate hears Duggan's extradition case.

The case will be heard in a Sydney court this month, two years after his arrest in rural Australia at a time when Britain was urging its former military pilots not to work for China.

Su Bin, arrested in Canada in 2014, pleaded guilty in 2016 to theft of U.S. military aircraft designs by hacking major U.S. defence contractors. He is listed among seven co-conspirators with Duggan in the extradition request.

Duggan knew Su Bin as an employment broker for Chinese state aviation company AVIC, lawyer Collaery wrote, and the hacking case was "totally unrelated to our client".

Although Su Bin "may have had improper connection to (Chinese) agents this was unknown to our client", Duggan's lawyer wrote.

'OVERT INTELLIGENCE CONTACT'

AVIC was blacklisted by the U.S. last year as a Chinese military-linked company.

Messages retrieved from Su Bin's electronic devices show he paid for Duggan's travel from Australia to Beijing in May 2012, according to extradition documents lodged by the United States with the Australian court.

Duggan asked Su Bin to help source Chinese aircraft parts for his Top Gun tourist flight business in Australia, Collaery wrote.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and U.S. Navy criminal investigators knew Duggan was training pilots for AVIC and met him in Australia's Tasmania state in December 2012 and February 2013, his lawyer wrote.

The U.S. Navy Criminal Investigation Service did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the meetings. ASIO said it was unable to comment as the matter was before the court.

"An ASIO officer suggested that while carrying on his legitimate business operations in China, Mr Duggan may be able to gather sensitive information," his lawyer wrote.

Duggan moved to China in 2013 and was barred from leaving the country in 2014, his lawyer said. Duggan's LinkedIn profile and aviation sources who knew him said he was working in China as an aviation consultant in 2013 and 2014.

He renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016 at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, backdated to 2012 on a certificate, after "overt intelligence contact by U.S. authorities that may have compromised his family safety", his lawyer wrote.

His lawyers oppose extradition, arguing there is no evidence the Chinese pilots he trained were military and that he became an Australian citizen in January 2012, before the alleged offences.

The United States government has argued Duggan did not lose his U.S. citizenship until 2016.

A secret inquiry by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security into ASIO's dealings with Duggan, after he lodged a complaint, found all allegations were unfounded, ASIO said previously.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard and Christopher Cushing)
The US has warned that a power vacuum in Gaza would be filled by Hamas again amid a resurgence of fighting between the terror group and the IDF.

Fighting broke out in the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya over the weekend, an area thought to have been cleared by Israel late last year.

It comes as Israeli sources warn that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, may have evaded Israeli authorities and fled to northern Gaza from the besieged city of Rafah.

The West has remained cautious about an Israeli attack on Rafah, the last remaining stronghold of Hamas and a city where Palestinians have fled to avoid fierce fighting elsewhere.

Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, told Israel yesterday it must have a clear plan to protect civilians if it attacks Rafah.

Antony Blinken,the US Secretary of State, later added that Israel needs to have a plan for post-war governance in Gaza, otherwise, he said, there will be a vacuum thats likely to be filled by chaos, anarchy and ultimately by Hamas again.

In an interview with CBS Meet the Nation, the top US diplomat said that while Israel might have some initial success in a potential military operation in Rafah, the high cost to civilians would not be worth it.

He added that without a plan for who will take over Gaza after Hamas is defeated, Israel will be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency because a lot of armed Hamas [fighters] will be left, no matter what they do in Rafah.

According to The Times of Israel, the Hamas leader is no longer in Rafah, having fled to the tunnels around Khan Younis before the IDF closed in on the area and took control of the Rafah Crossing last week.

Rafah has become a major focal point for Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, as he reiterates the aims to both bring back the remaining 132 hostages held by the terror group and eliminate Hamas in its entirety. As the last military stronghold of the group, Rafah remains a key strategic target.

Multiple commanders and figures from the Hamas leadership have so far been eliminated but Sinwar and his closest aides, including Mohammed Deif, the head of the groups military wing, and Sinwars brother, Mohammed, remain uncaught and are believed to be using the hostages as human shields, according to Israeli sources.

In spite of enduring over seven months of intense fighting, Hamas has continued to barrage Israel with rockets over the weekend, hitting a community childrens park in Beer Sheva on Friday and injuring three people when a rocket hit a home in southern Israel on Saturday.

As fears that many more members of Hamas are once again spreading across the north, Israel said on Saturday it had deployed forces to the city of Jabalya, north of Gaza City.

According to Haaretz, the IDF unofficially claimed that the absence of a clear diplomatic process in conjunction with the fighting and the lack of defined objectives are affecting the military achievements of the war, which has led to the deaths of over 30,000 in Gaza, according to Hamas figures.

Israel claims to have killed over 14,000 Hamas fighters.

Palestinian sources in Gaza told Haaretz that Hamas and other factions are trying to intensify the fighting in the northern part of the Strip and in Gaza City in particular through guerrilla tactics, undermining Israels efforts to drive the forces south and eliminate the last remaining battalions.

In addition to Jabalya, the IDF said on Sunday it is continuing to operate in the Zeitoun area in northern Gaza as Hamas spreads back to the strips north, regrouping months after the IDF claimed to have dismantled the Hamas presence there.

A statement said over the past day, IDF troops eliminated a number of terrorists in close-quarters combat in Zeitoun, in addition to air strikes targeting terrorist cells and terror infrastructure, which it says were dismantled.

US-led peace talks with Egypt and Qatar as mediators, have so far failed, leading to the longest Gaza war since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The US is offering Israel key intelligence to locate Hamass leaders hidden underground in a bid to prevent a full scale invasion of Rafah, it emerged on Sunday.

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US to probe further possible international law violations by Israel

The government of the United States said on Sunday it intends to conduct further investigations following the publication of a report on possible violations of international law by Israel.

"So we have a number of incidents that we continue to look at, to try to get the best possible assessment," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on US television on Sunday.

"Given the totality of what we've seen in terms of civilian suffering, in terms of children, women, men caught in this crossfire Hamas is making who've been killed or been injured, it's reasonable to assess that in a number of instances Israel has not acted in a manner that's consistent with international humanitarian law," Blinken said.

However, "this is an extraordinarily complex military environment," which is why it is not possible to make a final assessment, Blinken said.

Blinken was essentially echoing what the US State Department had previously conveyed in a report to the US Congress.

The report stated that the US government believes it is possible that Israel may have violated international humanitarian law with weapons provided by the US in the Gaza Strip.

Due to the situation in the war zone, it is difficult to assess individual incidents or make conclusive findings.

At the beginning of February, President Joe Biden demanded written assurances from foreign governments that military aid from the US does not violate international law. Critics complained that the US government was now shirking a clear judgement.

Blinken now emphasized that the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement is hiding behind civilians - for example in hospitals, schools, mosques or residential buildings.

"And that makes it very difficult to determine, particularly in the midst of war, exactly what happened and to draw any final conclusions from any one incident," Blinken said.

There is a difference between "stated intent" and "results," said Blinken, referring to Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip. "We need to pursue these investigations, just as Israel is doing itself."

Blinken made it clear that the US government continues to reject a major military operation in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. The US government is therefore withholding a delivery of so-called heavy bombs to Israel. This is the only delivery that is being withheld.

There is an "an ongoing conversation with Israel," said Blinken. The issue is the impact that the use of these weapons could have in densely populated areas such as Rafah.
The mother of an Israeli-American hostage being held in Gaza said Sunday that the United States has a stake in bringing about a deal that will lead to a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the release of the Oct. 7 hostages.

"I think what really gets lost in this is that America should not be considered sort of this neutral, you know, negotiator," Rachel Goldberg-Polin said on "Fox News Sunday." "America was also a victim on October 7th. Forty-five Americans were killed on October 7th. Twelve were taken into captivity and eight are still being held hostage."

Goldberg-Polin is the mother of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted from a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. In April, Hamas released a hostage video of her son, who was born in Berkeley, California.

The exact number is not 100 percent clear, but in addition to approximately 1,200 Israelis being killed by Hamas that day, more than 230 people were known to have been abducted from southern Israel. While some were released in prisoner exchanges (and at least three killed by friendly fire from Israeli forces), many hostages  Goldberg-Polin said 132  are still known to be in Gaza.



"I think that not most Americans even are aware that there are American innocent civilians being held against their will," she told host Benjamin Hall, adding that the group includes a range of nationalities and religions.

"There's a lot of people in that hostage cohort that we don't hear about when we hear a lot of noise about the hostages being held," Goldberg-Polin said. "You very rarely hear about the Muslim Arabs who are hostage. You very rarely hear about the Thai Buddhists who are held hostage. You very rarely hear about the Black Christian Africans who are being held hostage. There's Nepalese. There are Mexicans. There are Argentinians. There are Germans. And somehow there has been an attempt to make this group of people a monolithic, homogenous group."

The Oct. 7 attack led to an attack on Gaza by Israel that continues to this day and which has claimed an estimated 35,000 lives, including thousands of children. Recent ceasefire talks have failed to yield a deal, and Israel has ramped up an offensive in the densely populated city of Rafah, which is believed to be Hamas' last stronghold.

Goldberg-Polin said she wasn't sure could be done to stop the fighting.

"I think that we really have to be creative and insightful," she said, "and figure out a way forward. Both sides really have to figure out a way forward and calling for a timeout certainly will give some time for people to start to think straight again."

She added about the war: "There's so much suffering to go around  I mean, there is no competition here. There are hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza who are suffering, and there are also 132 innocent civilians in Gaza who were dragged there on October 7th who are suffering. I think people have trouble holding those two truths."
AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN)  The largest class of University of Texas students in a decade reached their grand achievement this week, despite concern that ceremonies could be called off like those at other universities where police have clashed with pro-Palestine demonstrators in recent weeks.

The concern follows the April 24 protest hosted by the schools Palestine Solidarity Committee when waves of law enforcement descended on the campus resulting in a violent confrontation between officers and demonstrators which ended in dozens of arrests.

Ceremonies began Thursday and continued through Saturday evening. Students who graduated Saturday morning could be seen snapping photos with family and friends near the iconic UT tower, the same site where the troubling conflict happened just two weeks ago, sparking debates over free speech and the right to protest on college campuses.

Jessica Joy was among the 10,800 graduates the university honored this week. She said the graduation itself was a memory shell cherish forever; but she was cautious going into her ceremony.

I definitely expected there to be some kind of commotion knowing how passionate our student body is and how passionate our class is, Joy said.

Reminders of the April 24 protest were around on the day of UTs main commencement ceremony at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium.

A mobile billboard from UT Alumns for Fairness toted support for UT President Jay Hartzells response to the protest by calling in DPS troopers, writing President Hartzell kept our campus safe and open for commencement. Thank you President Hartzell, Congrats to the Class of 2024.

Arturo Flores also graduated Saturday morning and said he was more nervous about walking the stage than about his ceremony being disrupted.

He said his freshman year started during the pandemic, making for an atypical start to his studies. However, the new grad said his college experience ended just as he always hoped it would.

Ive worked so hard for this and now Im here. So its just a fun time for me and my family, Flores said.

We asked the university if any special security measures were in place for Saturdays main commencement ceremony.

While we cannot comment on police tactics, the University routinely has extensive safety and security protocols in place for all large-scale events, including our main graduation ceremony inside Royal-Memorial Stadium. Security protocols for the DKR commencement are unchanged from previous years. We have always had disruption protocol, even if it has not been posted on a commencement webpage, a university spokesperson said in a statement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday over her remarks last week that most of the students participating in pro-Palestinian campus protests across the country are ignorant and ill-informed.

Clinton said Thursday that the students, who have taken over hundreds of college campuses in protest of the Israel-Hamas war, dont 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.

Van Hollen dismissed Clintons comments in a CBS Face the Nation appearance Sunday with Margaret Brennan.

I thought, Margaret, that Secretary Clintons comments, in that regard, were quite dismissive of students concerns about the awful humanitarian crisis and high civilian death toll in Gaza, he said.

The Maryland Democrat has been one of the more vocal skeptics of the Biden administrations response to the Israel-Hamas war in the Senate. He has urged the president to slow military aid shipments to Israel, citing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and pushed back on a State Department report that did not decisively say whether the Israeli military is committing war crimes in the war.

I believe that the great majority of the students are protesting, are following very closely whats happening in Gaza, he said, directly countering Clintons comments. They see whats a very high civilian death toll.

We can certainly revisit history and past negotiations, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the students  not all, and there are some, there are some very bad elements that are involved, as well as on the counterprotests side  but I believe that the students do understand whats happening in Gaza with respect to the civilian casualties, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Want to find profitable oil stocks? Pay attention to what Warren Buffett is buying. His holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, now owns several oil stocks. Two in particular are worth diving into now.

Buffett is betting big on this oil stock

As of last quarter, Berkshire Hathaway held around 250 million shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) worth roughly $14 billion. Given that Occidental has a market share of only $57 billion, Berkshire's stake translates into nearly 25% ownership of the entire company.

Occidental has many things going for it in today's operating environment. Analysts at Scotiabank recently upgraded the stock to sector outperform with a price target of $90 per share. With the current stock price hovering just above $60, that would represent nearly 50% in total upside.

What is it about Occidental that Berkshire and Scotiabank like so much? The company is certainly primed to benefit from a "higher-for-longer" pricing environment for oil. Its $12 billion purchase of Permian Basin oil producer CrownRock, for example, is expected to generate $1 billion in free cash flow in year one based on $70-per-barrel crude.

Oil prices today are closer to $80 per barrel, and given political instability across many key regions of the world, there's reason to believe prices will remain elevated for some time. Much of Occidental's production, including CrownRock's assets, is in high-decline areas. But high oil prices should keep these assets highly profitable.

Occidental isn't just an upstream energy producer. It also owns stakes in value-added businesses like chemicals and refineries. Over the next several years, the company expects to free up another $1 billion in annual free cash flow due to cost savings related to its midstream and downstream assets, plus reductions to its total debt levels.

Keep in mind that Berkshire has owned Occidental stock since the first quarter of 2022, meaning the company has already produced huge gains on its investment. Still, it has yet to wind down its position, suggesting someone at Berkshire -- maybe even Buffett himself -- still thinks there's plenty of upside to go.

^SPXTR Chart

Pay attention to this $19 billion bet

Berkshire is betting even more on Chevron (NYSE: CVX) stock than it is on Occidental. Its Chevron position is currently valued at nearly $19 billion. Berkshire has also owned its Chevron stake longer than its Occidental position, first purchasing shares back in 2020.

What makes Chevron worth a $19 billion investment? The biggest reason to love this company is for its operational excellence. All you need to do is plot Chevron's stock price against oil prices to get the picture. Over the past decade, oil prices have fallen by around 18%, yet Chevron stock has risen by nearly 100%.

Story continues

There's clearly something special about a company that can add significant shareholder value over a time period in which the price of its main product deteriorates.

CVX Total Return Level Chart

What exactly is Chevron doing so well? Its two main advantages come down to operational discipline and capital management. This year, for instance, its production profile is expected to grow by 4% to 7% thanks to rising productivity across both its Permian and Denver-Julesburg basin assets. Improved well performance is coming even as unit costs remain flat. This combination has helped Chevron's upstream earnings per barrel continually rise, from roughly $7 per barrel in 2019 to around $10 per barrel today.

Chevron's capital management, meanwhile, is exemplary, something Buffett no doubt admires. The company has demonstrated a strong ability to allocate shareholder capital, with impressive returns on capital employed that lead the oil majors. Management expects free cash flow to double from 2022 to 2027 all while repurchasing 3% to 6% of shares each year. As a bonus, the stock also delivers a 4% annual dividend.

Both Occidental and Chevron will face some operational challenges in the years to come. Occidental will be tasked with justifying its $12 billion acquisition of CrownRock, while Chevron is involved in its own takeover: a $53 billion all-stock deal for Hess.

But if oil prices remain where they are, both companies can be expected to do quite well. Occidental has more leveraged upside if oil prices head higher, while Chevron has proven its ability to deliver shareholder returns even if oil prices weaken, making both stocks a complementary fit for oil and gas investors.

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A 29-year-old man was arrested early Saturday morning in connection with the fatal shooting of another man at a Victorville motel, authorities said.

Terry Williams was taken into custody shortly after midnight, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department officials and booking records.

The Victorville man is accused of fatally shooting Jontae Marsh, of Victorville, shortly before 1:30 p.m. Friday following a fight between the two men at Motel 6, 16868 Stoddard Wells Rd., sheriff's officials said in a written statement.

Motel 6, 16868 Stoddard Wells Road in Victorville, as pictured in a Google Street View image.

When Victorville deputies arrived at the scene, they discovered Marsh had been shot and seriously wounded, sheriff's officials said. The 19-year-old man was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Multiple people were questioned by investigators at the scene.

"Through investigation, homicide detectives learned Marsh was involved in a physical altercation with suspect Terry Williams when Williams retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and shot Marsh," according to the statement.

Williams was being held without bail, records show. He was scheduled to appear for an arraignment hearing Tuesday in the Victorville branch of San Bernardino County Superior Court.

More: Man wounded in shooting at Victorville motel

Anyone with information was asked to contact the sheriff's Homicide Detail at (909) 890-4904. Tips may also be submitted anonymously to We-Tip at (800) 782-7463.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Man shot at Victorville motel dies from injuries, suspect jailed
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY)  Virginia Beach is honoring members of the U.S. armed forces during a formal ceremony for Memorial Day.

The ceremony takes places from 12-1 p.m. on Monday, May 27, at the Tidewater Veterans Memorial, across from the Virginia Beach Convention Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Its hosted by Virginia Beach Mayor Robert M. Bobby Dyer and the Mayors Committee for Veterans. The ceremony includes flyovers, 21-gun salute, reading of honored veterans named and remarks from guest speakers.

Individuals wanting to place a provided American flag around the base of the memorial to honor a relative or friend are encouraged to arrive prior to the start of the formal ceremony. Watch te livestream by clicking here.

Check with WAVY.com for more updates.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
(NewsNation)  A school board in rural Virginia voted to reinstate the names of Confederate generals for two schools four years after the names had been removed, making it the first district in the nation to reverse course after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

On Friday, the Shenandoah County school board voted 5-1 to rename Mountain View High School as Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary as Ashby Lee Elementary.

The reversal had been expected as many residents of the more than 90% white county said the previous school hastily changed the names of the Confederate generals and ignored popular sentiment and due process when the names were stripped in 2020, reported The New York 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, said Tom Streett, one the board members who voted for the reinstatement, the outlet reported.

Authors of George Floyd book told not to discuss systemic racism at event

Districts across the South removed Confederate names from schools in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. With this reversal, Shenandoah became the first to change course.

The district had initially voted to remove the names, saying that they were inappropriate in light of a recently passed resolution condemning racism.

A worker attaches a rope as they prepare to remove the statue of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson from its pedestal on July 1, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Shenandoah County, Virginias school board voted 5-1 early Friday, May 10, 2024, to rename Mountain View High School as Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary as Ashby Lee Elementary four years after the names had been removed. AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

While it is the first to restore Confederate-era names, the move appears to follow a larger trend of reversing course after the racial reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd.

School curriculums on Black history and slavery have been diluted and even removed in several states, and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have been pulled back on campuses and in businesses, among other moves.

Shenandoah County board member Gloria Carlineo said that opponents of the Confederate names should stop bringing racism and prejudice into everything because it detracts from true cases of racism.

Kyle Gutshall, who was the only board member to vote against reinstating the names, said he respects both sides of the debate but believed that a majority of residents in his district wanted to leave the Mountain View and Honey Run names in place.

Private donations will be used to pay for the name changes, according to the resolution.

Shenandoah County is a largely rural jurisdiction with a population of about 45,000, roughly 100 miles west of the nations capital.

What other buildings were renamed after 2020?

After the national racial reckoning in 2020, several schools, military bases and landmarks removed Confederate-era names, which are largely associated with slavery and racial inequality.

Since June 29, 2020, more than 35 Confederate-named schools have changed names, 24 of which were located in Texas or Virginia, according to Education Week.

In Richmond, Virginia, about 160 miles southeast of Shenandoah, several schools were renamed last year.

George Wythe High School, John B. Cary Elementary, Ginter Park Elementary and Binford Middle School were all renamed, WRIC reported.

Ole Miss students say racial slurs used at protest horrifically uncalled for

Virginias largest school system, Fairfax County Public Schools, removed the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from one of its high schools in 2020 in favor of the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, reported Education Week.

But around 190 schools in 19 states still bear the names of men with ties to the Confederacy.

The Army commission recommended new names for nine military bases commemorating Confederate officers, including the head of its army, the reputed Georgia chief of the Ku Klux Klan and the commander whose troops fired the first shots of the Civil War, reported Time.



At least 200 memorials named after Confederate-era figures have also been removed since 2020, including at least 73 Confederate monuments, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Vladimir Putin arrives for his inauguration ceremony as Russian president in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a surprise new defense minister, nominating civilian Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister who specializes in economics, for the job more than two years into the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said.

Putin wants Sergei Shoigu, defence minister since 2012 and a long-standing ally, to become the secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council, replacing incumbent Nikolai Patrushev, and to also have responsibilities for the military-industrial complex, the Kremlin announced on Sunday.

The changes, certain to be approved by parliamentarians, are the most significant Putin has made to the military command since sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 in what he called a special military operation.

The shake-up gives Shoigu a job that is technically regarded as senior to his defense ministry role, ensuring continuity and saving Shoigu's face. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia's General Staff and someone with a more hands-on role when it comes to directing the war, will remain in post.

Sergei Lavrov, the country's veteran foreign minister, will also stay in his job, the Kremlin said.

The appointment of Belousov, a civilian official known for his economic decision-making rather than battlefield knowledge, is the biggest surprise.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, told reporters that the change made sense because Russia was approaching a situation like the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when the military and law enforcement authorities accounted for 7.4% of state spending.

That, said Peskov, meant it was vital to ensure such spending aligned with the country's overall interests, which was why Putin now wanted a civilian with an economic background in the defence ministry job.

"The one who is more open to innovations is the one who will be victorious on the battlefield," Peskov said.

The change is also likely to be seen by an attempt by Putin to subject defense spending to greater scrutiny to ensure funds are effectively spent after a Shoigu ally and deputy defense minister was accused by state prosecutors of taking a bribe.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vladimir Putin proposes moving Russian defense chief in reshuffle
The Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis is caught in a legal endgame centered on a scandal that seems never to go away, the industrial-scale hacking practiced in the newsrooms of Rupert Murdochs British tabloids from the mid-1990s until it was exposed in 2011.

Lewis was never involved in the hacking. The legal action involves his alleged role in the frantic efforts of Murdoch and his top executives to purge all the records of the crime. He has so far refused to make any comment to counter the allegations.

But the pressure on him to respond is growing because the lawyers representing victims of the hacking have asked the presiding judge in London to admit into their lawsuit new witnesses testimonies gathered during the last year of discovery. The judge is expected to rule on this soon.

But the pressure is even greater than that: time is running out. The defending Murdoch entity, News Group Newspapers, NGN, faces the risk that if it cannot settle out of court the remaining 40 or so cases (more than 250 have been settled) the cases go to a trial in court in January 2025, in which case the claimants charges would be aired in public.

Both sides have effective coercive powers. The claimants have built a detailed narrative of widespread wrongdoing; NGN can afford to suppress that narrative with settlements so generous that they exceed anything that could be won after a trial, a tactic that was recently conceded to have worked in the case brought by Hugh Grant.

The most formidable claimant left is Prince Harry. How much longer he will play this game is in question. It has been a long-declared aim for him to see the architects of so much pain for him (and his brother and late mother) exposed in court. I understand that he may have already received an offer from NGN, but it is likely that he will go to the brink of timing before settling.

The strength of Harrys case is reflected in the application to update the lawsuit now being reviewed by the judge. The Daily Beast has reviewed the document giving the details of the application.

It should be made clear that, under English civil law, these allegations in the document are regarded as submissions to the judge, not evidence. That can be established only in open court, through evidence given under oath by witnesses, should the cases come to trial. Another caveat is that as convincing as the new charges may seem, in the absence of rebuttal by the NGN lawyers or public statements by those named, this is a one-sided account.

A spokesman for NGN, responding to previous reporting of the new allegations, said, The claimants have now sought to introduce accusations in the civil court against many current and former journalists, staff, and senior executives of News International in a scurrilous and cynical attack on their integrity.

Around sixty amendments are being requested; the judge may allow some and not others. For those that are allowed, NGN would have to amend their defense to plead to them. (That does not rule out the possibility that the submissions denied by the judge could nonetheless reappear as evidence in a courtroom.)

The document alleges that over several months in 2011, Will Lewis was a decisive force at the center of a cover-up involving the purging of incriminating emails, documents, and computer hard drives.

Lewis has thus far refused to comment on the hacking case beyond what he told the Post in a fall 2023 profile pegged to his joining the newspaper: I did whatever I could to preserve journalistic integrity. I took a view very early on that Im never going to talk about it. And its either right or wrong that Ive done that.

How Much Will It Cost to Keep Rupert Murdoch Off the Stand?

Lewis joined the Murdoch newspaper business in September 2010, as group general manager. On Jan. 26, 2011, the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Weeting, an investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, Murdochs best-selling Sunday tabloid.

Not only the police were involved. A group of members of parliament were beginning their own investigation. But there were no unannounced police raids on the newspaper offices and plant at Wapping in East London. The police and the politicians arranged visits in advance.

The two tabloids, the News of the World and the Sun, had cultivated a cozy relationship with the Metropolitan Police. Confidential briefings on criminal cases were leaked to the papers by corrupt police officers who were paid for them. Senior officers, on retirement, were hired for generous sums to write columns on crime and national security. Operation Weeting displayed no sense of urgency.

The new allegations suggest that Murdochs top executives moved quickly to take advantage of that tardiness and remove more than 30 million emails, computer hard drives, and documents before the investigators turned up:

Mr Lewis gave approval for the deletion of all emails from 2007 on 3 February 2011 (one week after the start of Operation Weeting) which deletions were completed on 8 February 2011, the day before NI [News International] met the MPs to discuss what data was available, and the Claimants contend that this was a deliberate plan by Mr Lewis to prevent the MPs from obtaining evidence of phone-hacking, other unlawful activity and the cover-up that took place in 2007. The Claimants rely on the fact that Mr Lewis withheld from the police the fact that millions of emails had been deleted since 14 January 2011, for 6 months.

Another part of the document describes an alleged scapegoating of an IT contractor, Darren Elmes, following a request from the MPs for a hard drive that contained an email chain they wanted to retrieve. The hard drive had disappeared and NGN executives suggested that Elmes was a disgruntled employee who had a motive to steal the hard drive.

As a result, according to the claim, Elmes home was raided and searched without result, and he was found innocent.

According to the claims statement, some emails were not deleted and were transferred to a laptop that became known as the extraction laptop where they were subject to further selective deletion. The document claims: Later, in July 2011, the hard drive was found, together with another laptop, during a search by the MPs in a floor safe hidden under a vanity unit in the annexe to Rebekah Brookss office.

These claims will not be tested in open court if the remaining litigants settle with NGN. The NGN lawyers have witness statements already made by the Murdoch executives cited, including Lewis, at a time when it seemed some of the cases would go to trial. Darren Elmes has also made a witness statement for the claimants.

A source with deep knowledge of the cases told me: The claim documents are not the actual documents underlying the allegations. The real danger for NGN comes when theres a trial because then the media can see it, the police can see it, the victims can see it.

Thats the evidence. People will have given evidence on oath. And then the judge could say, as he did in the cases involving the Daily Mirror, I find the News Group witnesses were lying.

Would criminal prosecutions follow?

If the police dont do anything, and there will be cause to do something, there could be a judicial review, or victims could bring private prosecutions. So there are ways of getting there.

In a statement made to Prospect magazine, in response to reporting last week by the former Guardian reporter Nick Davies, who first revealed the scale of the hacking, a spokesman for NGN said, These proceedings have now been going on for over 15 years and NGN is seeking to bring them to a close. Between 2011-2015 a large-scale police investigation resulted in the trials of many individuals in the criminal courts. Corporate liability was also investigated at length and, in 2015, the Crown Prosecution Service concluded that there was no evidence to support charges against the company.

In fact, NGN is arguing that the litigation has been going on so long that yet another round of new claims should not be allowed: The recent vacation of the January 2024 trial should not precipitate another cycle of extensive amendments and consequential amendments. They cite a statement made by a judge in 2018: Time before the trial is not an excuse for spending hundreds of thousands of pounds beefing up cases, dotting every i, crossing every t.

That argument was successfully countered by the litigants lawyers, who argued that the decisive time period should not be from when the alleged offenses were committed but from the point when they were discoveredin other words, if the cited actions were important but previously unknown they should be put on the record.

The latest claims reflect the fact that more than 200 journalists, executives, and private investigators have been deposed, filling in many of the gapsbut far from all of themin the search for truth.

Hacking was a viral worm that poisoned British journalism over a long period. It was incubated in a Murdoch newsroom where it quickly became contagious. It spread widely, corrupting editors who saw in it an irresistible source of scoops that violated the privacy of many hundreds of people, high and low. And it is part of the malignant legacy of Rupert Murdoch and a tabloid newsroom culture that he uniquely created and oversaw.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Ardee Napolitano

WAHAGNIES, France (Reuters) - Foamy slime bubbles onto Damien Desrochers hand as he lightly rubs one of the thousands of snails he keeps in an enclosure in his backyard.

The 28-year-old French artisan began using the gastropod fluid to make soap bars, which he sells in local markets, in December.

"It's all in the dexterity of how you tickle, Desrocher said as he extracted the slime, noting that the process does not kill the animals. I only touch it with my finger, you see it's not violent, it's simple."

A former air force computer technician, Desrocher decided to start farming snails in the northern French town of Wahagnies as a form of "returning to nature".

"Once you observe and see how snails behave, they're actually very endearing," he said. "It's really an animal that I love."

He has raised a total of 60,000 snails. As they enter their reproductive season, most are transferred to a larger site, while around 4,000 are kept in an enclosure at his home to harvest the slime.

A single snail will yield about 2 grams of slime, meaning he needs around 40 snails to produce 80 grams - enough to manufacture 15 100-gram soap bars.

We need quite a lot of snails," he said.

Although quite uncommon in Western cosmetics, snail mucus has become a more common ingredient elsewhere, including in Korean beauty products, noted for its anti-aging properties.

Desrocher said slime contained molecules of collagen and elastin, which have anti-aging and skin-healing properties. Snails also naturally use their slime to repair their shells if damaged, he said.

Desrocher said he aims to produce 3,000 snail slime soap bars in his first year of production.

(Reporting by Ardee Napolitano; Editing by Richard Lough and Alison Williams)
Update: Stanley has been located safely, according to an update from the Washington County, Virginia Sheriffs Office.

GLADE SPRING, Va. (WJHL)  The Washington County, Virginia Sheriffs Office is asking the public for help in locating a missing juvenile who was last seen in Glade Spring.

According to a release from the sheriffs office, Madison Stanley, 14, was last seen by a family member in the Washington Spring area of Glade Spring on May 10 at around 9:45 p.m.

The release said she was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt and sweatpants and carrying a backpack. Stanley has a nose piercing and pierced ears, according to the release.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Madison Stanley is urged to contact the Washington County, Va. Sheriffs Office at 276-676-6000.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
A few weeks ago, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology declared that the Pacific Ocean is no longer in an El Nino state and has returned to neutral. American scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been more hesitant, but they estimate that there is an 85% chance that the Pacific will enter a neutral state in the next two months and a 60% chance that a La Nina event will begin by August.

After an El Nino that was one of the three strongest in the last 40 years and that brought a wet winter to the U.S.  and California, in particular  this transition could mean a dramatic shift in weather as we enter the summer.

The progression from El Nino to La Nina, which is part of a broad system called the El Nino Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is the result of conditions in the tropical Pacific. During the neutral phase, which is or soon will be in effect, the so-called trade winds rush from east to west along the equator. These winds push warm surface water with them, bathing Indonesia and New Guinea in the balmy waters of the Pacific Warm Pool and forcing cold water to rise from the deep ocean along the coast of South America.

As an El Nino phase begins, these winds weaken, so that warm sea surface temperatures move east toward South America. This can cause climatic shifts across the globe: landslides in Peru, drought in Australia, fish die-offs in the eastern Pacific and more frequent atmospheric rivers in Southern California. These changing weather patterns also weaken the trade winds further, leading to more warm water off the coast of South America, which in turn weakens the winds, and so on.

So what prevents El Nino events from continuing to strengthen forever?

Well, it turns out you can think of the Pacific Ocean sort of like one enormous bathtub, and El Nino like a wave of warm water sloshing from one end of the bathtub to another. When that wave reaches the Ecuadorean coast, it bounces back, carrying the warm water back toward Asia and Oceania, which strengthens the trade winds, which push the warm water faster, until the wave reaches the other end of the bathtub  this is a La Nina phase, when the west Pacific is especially warm and the east Pacific especially cold  at which point the process repeats. This is the oscillation that gives ENSO its name, and it is why a strong La Nina event often follows a strong El Nino.

Read more: Why this years average California snowpack is no reason for celebration

This winters El Nino event had sea surface temperature anomalies of 3.6 degrees (2 degrees Celsius), which qualifies it for the unofficial status of very strong El Nino. As is typical, the warm waters of El Nino led to high global temperatures, but because of the unprecedented effects of climate change, these temperatures were anything but typical. In December, when El Nino was at its peak, global surface temperatures were 0.45 degrees (0.25 degrees Celsius) above the next hottest December on record.

This increase may not seem so unusual given the current era of ever-climbing temperatures, but when you consider that the difference between the coldest December on record (back in 1916) and the second-hottest (in 2016) is less than 3.6 degrees, it is far more shocking  so surprising that prominent climate scientists have begun to publicly wonder whether there are elements missing from our understanding of climate change.

Fortunately, the onset of neutral ENSO conditions, followed by the likely La Nina, should begin to bring global temperatures down, at least temporarily. This will be little consolation for the U.S., as the National Weather Service predicts above-average summer temperatures for virtually the entire country. Moreover, La Nina events are associated with drier conditions across the southwestern U.S. that could persist into next winter. While this years generous Sierra snowpack should insulate California from the effects of a scorching summer, the state is never more than one below-average winter from a drought.

Read more: Warmest April on record extends planet's hot streak to 11 months

There are also potential implications for the rest of the country  La Nina has been linked to higher hail and tornado activity in the Southeast and an increase in hurricanes in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. In fact, many experts are predicting a hyperactive hurricane season in the tropical Atlantic, with one forecast going as high as an unprecedented 33 named storms. On the flip side, however, there will probably be a slow hurricane season in the east Pacific, with little chance of a reprise of Hurricane Hilarys passage over Southern California last August.

Of course, all of these forecasts  that La Nina tends to cause dry conditions in Southern California, that this location will get more hurricanes while that region gets more hail, and even how strong an El Nino or La Nina event can become  are based on correlations and theories that researchers have rigorously developed using data from the last half century.

But given the recent rapidity of climate change, there are no guarantees that the trends of the past will continue to hold in the future. In situations such as these, climate scientists generally look to computer models to understand how phenomena such as ENSO might shift over time.

Unfortunately, many climate models have not yet developed the ability to predict ENSO accurately  its complexity and the fact that it requires the ocean and atmosphere to shift in tandem make it particularly challenging to represent. This means that as we move into a new era of accelerating climate change, the future of ENSO remains uncertain.

Ned Kleiner is a scientist and catastrophe modeler at Verisk. He has a doctorate in atmospheric science from Harvard.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)  On This Week in Louisiana Politics, get the latest debate on the governors proposed constitutional convention. The bill now heads to the Senate where its fate is less certain.

Gov. Jeff Landry signed legislation aimed at solving the insurance crisis in the state.

Later in the show, there are a lot of updates on the status of the controversial congressional map. Now multiple groups are headed to the United States Supreme Court. The state asked the Supreme Court for a stay, which can pause legal proceedings in the case.

Fred Childers sits down with Congressman Garret Graves to talk about funding being yanked for a veterans hospital.

Latest News

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to BRProud.com.
Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 10, 2024

Sun Life Financial Inc. isn't one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Sun Life Financial Q1 2024 Conference Call. My name is Galeen, and I will be your conference operator today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] The host of the call is David Garg, Senior Vice President, Capital Management and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. Garg.

David Garg: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Sun Life's earnings call for the first quarter of 2024. Our earnings release and the slides for today's call are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at sunlife.com. We will begin today's call with opening remarks from Kevin Strain, President and Chief Executive Officer. Following Kevin, Tim Deacon, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will present the financial results for the quarter. After the prepared remarks, we will move to the question-and-answer portion of the call. Other members of management are also available to answer your questions this morning. Turning to Slide 2. I draw your attention to the cautionary language regarding the use of forward-looking statements and non-IFRS financial measures, which form part of today's remarks.

As is noted in the slides, forward-looking statements may be rendered inaccurate by subsequent events. And with that, I'll now turn things over to Kevin.

Kevin Strain: Thanks, David, and good morning to everybody on the call. Turning to Slide 4, we continue to deliver on our Client Impact strategy during the first quarter as we build a leading asset management and insurance company. Underlying earnings results were mixed. Strong results in Asia and steady results in Canada and at MFS were offset by weaker performance in the US and at SLC. In Asia, individual protection underlying earnings grew 30%. Results were driven by strong sales in Hong Kong and International, and a strong overall result in India. In the US, we underperformed this quarter as morbidity gains moderated towards pre-COVID levels in our Health and Risk Solutions business driven by rising US healthcare utilization rates.

Our US dental business continued to experience negative impacts from the end of the Public Health Emergency driven by Medicaid member disenrollment and higher claims ratios on the remaining members. We are working with states to reprice our Medicaid business, with 25% repriced during the quarter at levels consistent with our profitability goals and most of the remaining 75% to be repriced by the end of this year. We expect dental results will return to levels of profitability, more consistent with our pricing targets and expect income levels for dental to be approximately $100 million for 2025. SLC management underlying earnings were impacted by seed mark-to-market losses. Overall, the alternatives business faces headwinds from higher interest rates, but we remain on track to achieve 2025 underlying earnings of $235 million.

We experienced strong growth in insurance sales, CSM and assets under management during the quarter. Individual protection sales were up nearly 50% year-over-year, largely driven by growth in Asia with strong individual protection sales in Hong Kong. Asia was also a leading driver of Sun Life's new business, CSM, which reached $347 million for the quarter, up 50% year-over-year and contributed to total company CSM surpassing $12 billion at the end of the quarter. We continue to see growth in our asset management businesses, with total company AUM reaching an all-time high of $1.47 trillion this quarter, up 8% year-over-year, reflecting the continued strength of our asset management capabilities and market appreciation. We ended the quarter in a strong capital position with a LICAT ratio of 148% at SLF.

We also announced a 4% increase to our common share dividend, and we'll continue to share buyback -- continued our share buyback program in the second quarter, demonstrating our commitment to deploying capital efficiently. Overall, we continue to benefit from our diversified mix of businesses, taking advantage of macro trends like the emergence of the middle class and growing GDP in Asia, the increased demand for health products in Canada and the US and the importance of having a broad set of global asset management capabilities from public equities and fixed income to alternatives to help meet client needs in a rapidly changing environment. Turning to Slide 5. This quarter, we delivered on key business initiatives to drive our Client Impact strategy forward.

In Canada, we made progress on several important initiatives. We've seen strong demand for the Canadian dental care plan with 1.7 million Canadians signing up by the end of April, and we are now successfully processing claims. This program allows us to play a critical role in improving oral health outcomes for Canadians, which we know impacts people's overall health. We also launched the diabetes care program as part of our online Lumino Health pharmacy app. This innovative signature solutions helps plan members reach their diabetes goals and where possible, reduce blood sugar levels and reduce medications. Our aim is to improve health outcomes for our clients and enhance the claims experience for our business. In the US, we are differentiating with the large employer group benefits market by offering health navigator powered by PinnacleCare.

This personal healthcare navigation and advisory service helps members get the medical diagnosis and access the right care for their specific needs. This service also improves health and productivity outcomes for employers. We're also leveraging our expertise on leads, absence management and return to work services to offer family leave insurance in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. We are the first major group benefits provider to offer family leave insurance in these states, broadening members access to paid leaves -- for paid leaves to care for loved ones and giving employers the option to provide a valuable benefit to their employees more easily. Our growth in Hong Kong reflects the strength of our quality distribution channels.

Hong Kong delivered strong individual protection sales this quarter driven by our broker relationships, our bancassurance partnership with Dah Sing Bank and the momentum with our agency teams. We're also realizing value from our strategic investments. India continues to be an important growth market for Sun Life Asia. We have thriving life and asset management business as part of our joint venture with Aditya Birla Group. This quarter, we sold 6.3% of our ownership interest in our asset management JV, unlocking a $98 million pretax gain and helping meet the 25% public ownership requirement of listed companies in Asia -- in India. Since the initial IPO in 2021, Sun Life has generated pretax gains of over $450 million, while still retaining 30.2% ownership of the listed entity.

In the US, our Health and Risk Solutions business is finding that Generative AI can securely summarize and organize lengthy and complex medical records for PinnacleCare clients. This solution is expected to reduce turnaround time from 14 days to one day, unlocking greater capacity to serve more clients. In our Sun Life Global Investments business, we're using a Generative AI chatbot that creates better client experience by providing faster responses to clients on questions for segregated fund topics. We're embracing our responsibility to create a more sustainable and brighter future. Sustainability is critical to our purpose, and we are focused on increasing financial security, fostering healthier lives and advancing sustainable investing. SLC management continue to invest in assets that generate a stable and attractive yield and generate a positive environmental impact.

This quarter, BGO completed Ontario's first all-electric net zero carbon industrial building owned by Sun Life, a milestone in our efforts to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in investments and operations by 2050. BGO was also awarded the 2024 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award for the 14th consecutive year. Also InfraRed Capital Partners, our infrastructure investment manager continues to invest in assets that are helping to build a sustainable future. InfraRed acquired a portfolio of two operating utility scale renewable energy assets in the US. In closing, we're confident in the resilience of our strategy driven by our diversified business mix, our people and culture, and our sustained commitment to delivering on our purpose, to help clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.

A financial advisor discussing retirement plans with an elderly couple in their home.

Now I'd like to welcome our new CFO, Tim Deacon, to his first earnings call. Tim joined Sun Life in April, and brings extensive experience in asset management, wealth, insurance, real estate and sustainability all areas that are critical to Sun Life. He's a great addition to our Sun Life executive team and has fit in so seamlessly that in many ways, it feels like he's been here for years. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Tim to detail our first quarter financials.

Tim Deacon: Thank you for that warm welcome, Kevin. Before I begin, I want to thank my Sun Life colleagues for all the support I've received over the last month since joining. I look forward to actively contributing to Sun Life's strategy, continued growth and value creation for our clients, employees, communities and investors. With that, let's begin on Slide 7, which provides an overview of our first quarter results. We delivered mixed results this quarter as underlying net income of $875 million and underlying earnings per share of $1.50 were modestly lower year-over-year by 2% and 1%, respectively, and relatively in line with the prior year when accounting for the sale of our UK business in the second quarter of last year.

Underlying return on equity was 16%. We remain confident in our ability to meet our medium-term ROE objective, supported by our attractive and diverse mix of businesses. Turning to our business performance. Wealth and asset management comprised 42% of Q1 underlying earnings and was down 1% from the prior year, as higher asset management-related fee earnings was offset by higher compensation-related expenses and mark-to-market losses on seed investments in SLC. Group Health & Protection businesses comprised 29% of underlying earnings and were down 8% year-over-year. Results reflect business growth that was more than offset by less favorable morbidity experience and lower dental results. Individual Protection earnings comprised 29% of underlying earnings and was down 4% last year, primarily driven by the sale of Sun Life UK.

New business CSM of $347 million was up 50% from the prior year, reflecting continued strong sales in Hong Kong. Reported net income for the quarter was $818 million. The $57 million difference between underlying and reported net income was driven by unfavorable market-related impacts and amortization of intangibles, partially offset by acquisition-related and other items. Market-related impacts were driven primarily by unfavorable real estate experience, partially offset by favorable interest and equity market impacts. Real estate experience reflects modestly negative total returns driven by holdings in the industrial sector and to a lesser extent, office in the current quarter versus our long-term expectations of approximately 2% per quarter.

While we continue to be cautious on real estate returns in the near term, we are long-term investors in real estate and on a 10-year basis, our actual returns have exceeded our long-term expectations. We continue to view real estate as a key component of our diversified investment portfolio. Our balance sheet and capital positions remain strong, with SLF LICAT ratio of 148%, which was lower by 1 percentage point from the prior quarter, primarily driven by strong organic capital generation that was more than offset by deployments, including our common share dividend and continued share buybacks and market impacts. Book value per share increased 2.5% quarter-over-quarter. Holdco cash remained strong at $1.5 billion, and we remained active on our share buyback program, repurchasing 2.4 million shares this quarter.

Our leverage ratio remains low at 21.1%. Now let's turn to our business group performance, starting on Slide 9 with MFS. MFS underlying net income of $189 million was in line with the prior year, as higher fee income from average net asset growth was offset by higher compensation-related expense, primarily related to the increase in the fair value of MFS shares. Reported net income of $180 million was down 10% year-over-year, driven by the fair value change in shares owned by MFS management. Pretax net operating margin of 37% was in line with prior year. AUM of $630 billion was up $31 billion from the prior quarter, driven by market appreciation, partially offset by net outflows of $8.6 billion. MFS long-term investment performance remains good with 97% of fund assets ranked in the top half of their respective Morningstar categories for 10-year performance.

Turning to Slide 10. Our SLC management generated underlying net income of $28 million, flat compared to prior year as fee-related earnings growth was offset by mark-to-market losses on seed investments. Fee-related earnings of $69 million was up 1% year-over-year on continued growth in fee-earning AUM. Reported net income of $42 million benefited from a gain on the early termination of a distribution agreement. Capital raising of $3.5 billion, primarily at BGO and Crescent remained resilient and was up $1.3 billion or 52% year-on-year. Total AUM of $226 billion was up $8 billion from the prior year, this includes $21 billion that is not yet earning fees. Once invested, these assets are expected to generate an annualized fee revenue of more than $188 million.

Turning to Slide 11. Canada, underlying net income of $310 million was modestly lower year-over-year as strong insurance business growth was more than offset by lower net investment results. Reported net income of $290 million included unfavorable market-related impacts. Wealth and asset management underlying earnings were down 4% year-over-year, driven by lower earnings on surplus. Group Health & Protection underlying earnings increased 20% year-over-year, reflecting business growth and improved disability experience. Individual Protection earnings were down 19% year-over-year, which included unfavorable mortality experience. It is worth noting that there is a mostly offsetting benefit to the CSM from this negative mortality that is not reflected in earnings.

Group Health & Protection sales were up 114% year-over-year on large -- higher large case sales, while Individual Protection Sales were lower by 4% due to lower par life sales. Turning to Slide 12. US underlying net income of $141 million, down 20% from the prior year, driven by less favorable morbidity experience and dental results. Reported net income of $71 million includes market-related impacts. In Group Health & Protection, our Group Benefits business benefited from strong revenue growth. This was more than offset by less favorable morbidity experience from a higher loss ratio in Health and Risk Solutions, which is now normalizing closer to pre-pandemic levels compared to prior year. Lower dental results were driven by the continued impacts of the Medicaid redetermination process following the end of the Public Health Emergency in the US last May, which decreased the number of planned members.

This contributed to an increase in the loss ratio as those leaving the plan generally had lower utilization than those remaining in the plan. US group sales of $142 million were down 43% year-over-year, driven by large case dental sales in the prior year. Individual protection results reflected credit losses in the quarter. Slide 13 outlines Asia's results for the quarter. Underlying net income of $177 million was up 27% year-on-year on a constant currency basis. Results benefited from strong business growth as well as favorable protection experience and higher earnings and surplus. Reported net income of $235 million included a gain related to the partial sale of our India asset management joint venture. We continue to see strong sales momentum, particularly in Hong Kong.

The strong sales results also drove new business CSM of $230 million in Asia, up 128% from the prior year. Over the past year, Asia has added almost $1 billion of CSM. Overall, while our Q1 results were mixed, we're pleased by the strong momentum in our Asia business, solid growth in expected insurance earnings across all business groups and the steady increase to total company CSM, which is a store of future profits. We expect to generate earnings growth in line with our medium-term financial objectives underpinned by our strong fundamentals, capital position and continued focus on execution. Finally, turning to Slide 14. We're pleased to announce that we are hosting an Investor Day on November 13, 2024, at our 1 York Street office in Toronto.

This will be an opportunity to update investors on our strategic priorities and our progress against our strategic pillars. We look forward to seeing you at this event. With that, I will now turn the call over to David for Q&A.

David Garg: Thank you, Tim. To help ensure that all of our participants have an opportunity to ask questions this morning, please limit yourself to one or two questions and then requeue with any additional questions. I will now ask the operator to poll the participants.

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Our global adversaries  China, Russia, Iran and its proxies  must be marvelling at their good fortune as President Joe Biden effectively endorses a terrorist veto over Israels right to self-defence.

The Presidents unprecedented open threat to withhold arms deliveries to Israel if they go into Rafah, and a State Department public report on Israeli conduct of the war, are self-inflicted wounds to a vital alliance. Israel has not yet publicly responded, but it faces critical choices over whether to proceed militarily in Rafah, or back down. Neither option is attractive given the potential consequences.

Bidens stubbornness is wrong on many levels. First, close allies should always engage privately during wartime. Leaks undoubtedly occur, often intentionally, but preserving even minimal confidentiality is essential to later repairing damage done both at governmental and personal levels.

Piling on publicly in the middle of a war is imprudent, even juvenile, damaging the respect and trust allies must sustain during times of crisis and tension. The propaganda opportunities handed to hostile powers are immeasurable. And if Biden is prepared to cut loose one of Americas most valued partners, what does that foretell for those more-distant, less-favoured than Israel? How does Ukraine feel? Or Taiwan?

Second, Bidens motives are not so high-minded as he may have us believe. This is no profile in courage. Domestically, the President is faring poorly in polls against Donald Trump, and defections to minor-party candidates could sink his re-election chances. In swing-state primaries like Michigan, large numbers of Democrats voted uncommitted, posing significant risks if they stay home in November. White House staffers have flagellated themselves to regain key Democratic blocks but they have so far failed. Elizabeth Warren, asserting Israel may be liable for genocide in Gaza, exemplifies the problem.

Ironically, while politics dominates Bidens calculations, his gambit may backfire. Republicans uniformly rejected his approach, as did significant numbers of Democrats. Bidens threat reflects weakness, coming just weeks after his frantic efforts to pressure Israel not to retaliate strongly after Irans missile-and-drone attack.

The Presidents supporters invoke Ronald Reagans withholding weapons when Israel struck Palestinians in Lebanon, but the two scenarios are entirely distinct. The US-Israel relation at that time was moral and historical, not strategic, as it is today. Indeed, Reagan later forged the Washington-Jerusalem strategic ties. Biden repeatedly pledged ironclad support for Israel after October 7, but subsequently swerved dramatically from that position.

Finally, and most importantly, the substance of Bidens threat and the thoroughly unsatisfactory State Department report expose the administration as misguided and confused in ways that could haunt future US presidents.

Close-quarters combat in complex urban environments, let alone in Hamass extraordinary network of underground tunnels, is something Western militaries prefer to avoid. Not surprisingly, the States report is incoherent and contradictory, doubtless reflecting anti-Israel sentiment in many department bureaus, and schizophrenia within the Biden Administrations political ranks. The report lacks specificity, yet incomplete information is hard to assess without adequate context  which is why a fair and accurate reckoning would be most fruitful after the war, not while combat still rages.

The fact that civilians are present in combat areas requires that Israel, or any combatant, determine they are striking only military targets and that civilian casualties are no more than proportional to the importance of such targets. In Rafah, the IDF is seeking to eliminate Hamass highest command-and-control hierarchies and its remaining organised military units, all clearly legitimate objectives.

It is unacceptable that Israel may be prevented from achieving its legitimate self-defence goals because the terrorists are so barbaric as to sacrifice their own civilian population to save themselves. If that is what Biden means by saying he objects to Israel entering Rafah, then he is simply endorsing the terrorist veto. Yet it is Hamas that is morally culpable for Gazan civilian deaths, not Israel.

We do not know what will unfold next, but the decisive choice now lies with Israels war cabinet. Bidens ill-considered threat to cut the Jewish state loose will be at the centre of considerable debate. There is no debate, however, that Bidens ploy will come back to haunt him, America, and all the West.

John Bolton is a former US National Security Advisor

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In 2024, the number of anti-LGBTQIA+ bills put forward in the United States has far surpassed the number put forward in any previous year; five hundred and fifty pieces of legislation were proposed in less than three months. The laws range from drag bans to bathroom bills to healthcare restrictions. One hundred and thirty-seven of the bills are focused on denying or curtailing access to gender-affirming healthcare and my home state of West Virginia is carrying a disproportionately hefty load. Twenty-nine of these are West Virginia House and Senate bills.

It is not only the quantity of current legislation that is making me reflect at this moment, but also the fact that less than two weeks from now, I will be publishing a novel, "Shae," with a central character who is a young trans woman living in a slightly fictionalized version of my hometown. When I began writing "Shae" in 2017, I had no idea that by the time it was published, the gender-affirming healthcare that one of the main characters receives would be out of reach for real-life West Virginian youths. I now find myself looking around and asking how we got here and what we can do to fight back.

When I say we I mean everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community and our allies but I also mean it in a more specific way. I mean we as in LGBTQIA+ folks living in rural spaces. In 2015 I moved back to my hometown of Alderson, West Virginia. When I left in 2003, I was still in the closet. When I returned, I was not. I spent my first year back in West Virginia exploring how my little corner of Appalachia had changed for LGBTQIA+ youth. In 2019, I wrote an essay for Oxford American about Kris Arbuckle, a young trans man who had very recently graduated from the same high school I attended. All around me, I saw good reason for hope and optimism.

There was a queer film festival in the county seat, an LGBTQIA+ club at the high school, Arbuckle was living openly in my hometown, he had taken his girlfriend to prom and was supported by his teachers. And then there was the passage of a local ordinance that affirmed the rights of individuals to use the bathroom that best fit their own identity. Things all seemed to be moving in the right direction, perhaps a bit slowly, but they were moving, nonetheless. Nine years later, I called Arbuckle just as the West Virginia Senate began committee work on some of the most sweeping anti-trans bills to date and the House of Delegates in Tennessee, where Arbuckle now lives, introduced the Youth Health Protection Act which would criminalize all gender-affirming healthcare.

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When I get Arbuckle on the phone, he is giving his stepdaughter a bath and I can hear her chirpy voice in the background over the running water. He and his fiancee both work for a plumbing company, Kris is the office manager, and his fiancee works in the field. He says his life is good right now, but he misses West Virginia and sometimes doesnt feel safe in Knoxville.

We've gotten some comments, he says, referring to himself and his fiancee. We've gotten, you know, some stares, but we've also gotten a lot of support. Like this lady, after someone was kind of rude to us and, you know, she walked up and she was like, I really commend you all doing what you do and having the cool and the calm to deal with it instead of blowing up. Arbuckle is always ready to bend toward optimism, but I can hear the worry in his voice. In general, though, I feel less safe here than I did back home. I mean, there's so many more people in the queer community here but it seems like I was safer in a small rural town than I ever would be in a college town or city for that matter, which is insane to think. The thing of it is though, the more people there are the easier it is for the hateful people to say whatever they want to say and then hide. And I think that's the difference in a small town, people tend to be more honest and direct. Here, people take whatever they see on TV, or the internet, or whatever and then they see somebody out in a restaurant or bar and then they say hateful things without even thinking twice about it because they dont even think you are human, and theyll never see you again, so they dont have to deal with the consequences. But in small towns, you're not just a faceless nonperson, people know your family going way back. When someone knows you, it solidifies more that you're a human. And that sounds ridiculous, right, but its basic.

I ask Arbuckle about his thoughts on how things have shifted culturally and legislatively since we last spoke and he agrees that things seemed much more optimistic back in 2015. There was so much hope, he says, but now, people in the company I work for get worried for me. But I don't think these new laws even have anything to do with the community in question anymore. Like, I think we're just being used as a distraction for something more and that's the unfortunate part that people are getting attacked for the government to distract, to do something shady behind whatever smokescreen they wanna use. And as I've gotten older the more it just seems like a ploy and it goes through these cycles every few years and you pick a marginalized group to pick on and they just exploit people's fears and biases to create a smoke screen. They act like these bills are to protect children, but they dont care about children they just know that will get people riled up.

Kris is not the first person to notice that the focus on children really motivates constituents on the far right. In June of 2023, Michael Barbaro interviewed Adam Nagourney about how trans kids became a rallying cry for the G.O.P. and Nagourney traced the kid-focused rhetoric back to Anita Bryant and Save Our Children. This is nothing new, Nagourney said. The idea of conservatives who oppose gay rights, speaking generally, framing the issue around children has been going on at least since the 1970s. And Barbaro responded, Youre saying this approach by conservatives of focusing on kids worked early on in fighting gay rights. So it stands to reason that it would work against trans rights.

Nagourney also links the new onslaught of anti-trans legislation to the (relatively) new visibility of trans folks in America and the political shift after the legalization of gay marriage, you start seeing these same organizations that had been lobbying for gay marriage turn their attention to laws that would protect trans people [] And at the same time, were seeing more changes culturally in society in terms of transgender visibility.

Caitlyn Jenners Vanity Fair cover shot was released on June 1, 2015. On June 26th, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage and legalized it in all fifty states. Activists on the left were not the only ones linking trans rights and the Courts decision. The Right was ready to pivot as well.

To anyone with knowledge of LGBTQIA+ communities, Jenners photoshoot was not a shock. Queer and trans folks have, of course, lived in the United States for hundreds of years, even in rural places. In southern West Virginia, there is documentation of trans men living in Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties as early as 1868. It is the publicity that is new. As Helen Lewis Lindsley said, Of course, sex has been all things in all periodsBut on the whole, the farm enjoyed sex more, respected it more, and discussed it lessSex was like groceriesmost of the people stored their supplies at home. But the keep it at home attitude manifests in isolation. Even if mainstream publicity, like Jenners photoshoot, has at least partially led to this new legislation, Lindsleys discuss it less attitude is certainly not the solution.

Sometimes I wish I had more of Kriss natural optimism. It might be two steps forward and three steps back but, hey, when you look at it overall for a long enough time, its progress, he says. And hes not wrong. But I also cant help but think about historical periods like Weimar Germany and how progress for queer communities can revert so drastically. Maybe Kriss observations about small towns are what we should be focused on, how we can make a real impact in a place where people know us. Maybe we need to focus more on local elections, local network building, and affirmation through art and documentation. We  queer and trans rural Americans  are here and we have been here, and we will always be here.
Where the US spends the most on foreign aid

Where the US spends the most on foreign aid

Debates over U.S. aid to Israel and Ukraine have dominated Washington this year, raising questions about U.S. economic and military support to various allies and whether the nation spends too much support abroad.

Opposition within the GOP to foreign aid has been building, with Republicans arguing the U.S. needs to spend more on border security.

The debate is likely to color this years presidential race, and the reelection of former President Trump and his America First campaign could raise questions about funding for some partners.

Heres a look at where the U.S. has spent the most on foreign aid this year and why.

All figures come from State Department spending in fiscal 2023, with the addition of foreign aid appropriations for Israel and Ukraine last month.

Ukraine

$78.3 billion

Congress allocated $61 billion for Ukraine in a foreign aid package signed late last month, following months of political fighting over whether to continue backing the country against a Russian invasion.

The funding nearly doubles what the U.S. has invested in Ukraine since its war began in early 2022, bringing the spending total on the conflict to about $137 billion between military and economic aid, according to the Kiel Institute.

Nearly all the military spending in the new aid package will be spent on domestic arms manufacturers, resupplying stockpiles sent to Ukraine to fight Russia. It also includes about $8 billion for economic development and recovery in the country.

The spending deal has split the GOP House majority and nearly led to the ouster of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and two other GOP members cited the aid package as the last straw in filing a motion to vacate the Speakership. Johnson survived the vote with the support of Democrats.

The Russia-Ukraine war has dragged on for months, with Ukrainian leaders complaining of dwindling supplies as American arms shipments from a December 2022 aid package ran out.

For months, while MAGA Republicans were blocking aid, Ukraines been running out of artillery shells and ammunition, President Biden said when he signed the new aid package last month. Meanwhile, Putins friends are keeping him well supplied.

The new $61 billion expenditure is on top of about $17 billion allocated in 2022 that was spent last year.

Israel

$21.6 billion

Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II. The country has accepted more than $300 billion since 1946, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, with more than $220 billion of the figure in military aid.

Long considered the U.S.s closest ally in the Middle East, Congress has allocated between $3 billion to $4 billion per year to Israel consistently since the 1970s for its defense. Nearly all of the sum is provided through a State Department program allowing Israel to purchase U.S.-manufactured arms and munitions for no cost.

That trend was bucked late last month, as the long-awaited foreign aid package included about $15 billion in military aid for Israel amid its war with Hamas in Gaza. The package is the largest single-year allocation of aid for Israel in at least 50 years, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

We will always make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and the terrorists it supports, Biden said when he signed the aid package.

Biden withheld an arms shipment to Israel last week, part of a pressure campaign urging Israel to not invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

And he said the U.S. will halt future arms shipments if Israel enters the city, which Israeli leaders said Thursday it will likely do with or without U.S. backing.

Jordan

$3.2 billion

Jordan is the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, according to a State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) tracker of spending. About half of the funds allocated for the country in 2023 were for military aid.

That spending has already come in handy in the Israel-Hamas war, as Jordan joined the United States in defending Israel against a wave of Iranian drone and missile strikes last month. The unprecedented attack on Israel was completely shut down by the combined defenses of the three countries.

Jordan also assisted the U.S. in airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza amid the conflict in March.

Egypt

$2.9 billion

Foreign spending in Egypt has come under additional scrutiny in the last year after the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).

Menendez, who stepped down as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee during the investigation, is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands in bribes from interests in Egypt.

After the indictment, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who became foreign relations chair when Menendez stepped down, held back $235 million bound for Egypt, criticizing the countrys record on human rights and press freedom.

Congress has been clear, through the law, that the government of Egypts record on a range of critical human rights issues, good governance, and the rule of law must improve if our bilateral relationship is to be sustained, Cardin said in October.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the equivalent House committee, made a similar request weeks earlier.

The controversy comes as Egypt plays a central role in the Israel-Hamas war. Egyptian diplomats have acted as intermediaries between Israel, the U.S. and Hamas, and Cairo played host to cease-fire negotiations last week.

Ethiopia

$2.0 billion

Allocations to Ethiopia are nearly entirely humanitarian aid, as regions of the country struggle with a deep famine and civil unrest. The northern region of Tigray fell into an ethnic conflict in 2022, with rebel and government forces facing off as thousands starved.

USAID resumed food aid to the region in December, five months after it took the extraordinary step of halting its nationwide program over a massive corruption scheme by local officials.

The rare combination of droughts, conflict and other factors disrupting food supplies has made Ethiopia one of the largest recipients of U.S. humanitarian aid. About one-sixth of Ethiopians received food aid before discovery of the food theft early last year.

Nigeria

$1.5 billion

Nigeria foreign aid spending is focused on health care and food access. The U.S. spent about a quarter billion dollars on stemming the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country in 2023, according to USAID, as well as another $130 million on other health needs.

The country also has areas where food is in critical need, sparking another quarter billion in spending for food access and other expenditures filed by the State Department under emergency response.

Most of the support is funneled through nongovernment organizations and charities operating in the country.

Somalia

$1.3 billion

Almost the entirety of funds allocated for Somalia are under emergency designation for food access as the country continues to struggle after decades of civil unrest.

About $700 million of the expenditures are in partnership with the United Nations, which has had a constant presence in the country for decades amid a brewing civil war with breakaway Somaliland.

Just more than $100 million is set to fund U.N. peacekeeping missions in the country.

Kenya

$1.1 billion

In Kenya, U.S. humanitarian assistance is spread between health, food access and economic development.

The largest expenditure is in partnership with the World Food Program in the region, while the government also invested significant sums into fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS and supporting local agriculture.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Where the US spends the most on foreign aid

(The Hill)  Debates over U.S. aid to Israel and Ukraine have dominated Washington this year, raising questions about U.S. economic and military support to various allies and whether the nation spends too much support abroad.

Opposition within the GOP to foreign aid has been building, with Republicans arguing the U.S. needs to spend more on border security.

The debate is likely to color this years presidential race, and the reelection of former President Trump and his America First campaign could raise questions about funding for some partners.

Heres a look at where the U.S. has spent the most on foreign aid this year and why.

All figures come from State Department spending in fiscal 2023, with the addition of foreign aid appropriations for Israel and Ukraine last month.

Ukraine

$78.3 billion

Congress allocated $61 billion for Ukraine in a foreign aid package signed late last month, following months of political fighting over whether to continue backing the country against a Russian invasion.

The funding nearly doubles what the U.S. has invested in Ukraine since its war began in early 2022, bringing the spending total on the conflict to about $137 billion between military and economic aid, according to the Kiel Institute.

Nearly all the military spending in the new aid package will be spent on domestic arms manufacturers, resupplying stockpiles sent to Ukraine to fight Russia. It also includes about $8 billion for economic development and recovery in the country.

The spending deal has split the GOP House majority and nearly led to the ouster of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and two other GOP members cited the aid package as the last straw in filing a motion to vacate the Speakership. Johnson survived the vote with the support of Democrats.

The Russia-Ukraine war has dragged on for months, with Ukrainian leaders complaining of dwindling supplies as American arms shipments from a December 2022 aid package ran out.

For months, while MAGA Republicans were blocking aid, Ukraines been running out of artillery shells and ammunition, Biden said when he signed the new aid package last month. Meanwhile, Putins friends are keeping him well supplied.

The new $61 billion expenditure is on top of about $17 billion allocated in 2022 that was spent last year.

Israel

$21.6 billion

Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II. The country has accepted more than $300 billion since 1946, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, with more than $220 billion of the figure in military aid.

Long considered the U.S.s closest ally in the Middle East, Congress has allocated between $3 billion to $4 billion per year to Israel consistently since the 1970s for its defense. Nearly all of the sum is provided through a State Department program allowing Israel to purchase U.S.-manufactured arms and munitions for no cost.

That trend was bucked late last month, as the long-awaited foreign aid package included about $15 billion in military aid for Israel amid its war with Hamas in Gaza. The package is the largest single-year allocation of aid for Israel in at least 50 years, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

We will always make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and the terrorists it supports, Biden said when he signed the aid package.

President Biden withheld an arms shipment to Israel last week, part of a pressure campaign urging Israel not to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Biden said the U.S. will halt future arms shipments if Israel enters the city, which Israeli leaders said Thursday it will likely do with or without U.S. backing.

Jordan

$3.2 billion

Jordan is the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, according to a State Department and USAID tracker of spending. About half of the funds allocated for the country in 2023 were for military aid.

That spending has already come in handy in the Israel-Hamas war, as Jordan joined the United States in defending Israel against a wave of Iranian drone and missile strikes last month. The unprecedented attack on Israel was completely shut down by the combined defenses of the three countries.

Jordan also assisted the U.S. in airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza amid the conflict in March.

Egypt

$2.9 billion

Foreign spending in Egypt has come under additional scrutiny in the last year after the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).

Menendez, who stepped down as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee during the investigation, is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands in bribes from interests in Egypt.

After the indictment, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who became foreign relations chair when Menendez stepped down, held back $235 million bound for Egypt, criticizing the countrys dogged record on human rights and press freedom.

Congress has been clear, through the law, that the government of Egypts record on a range of critical human rights issues, good governance, and the rule of law must improve if our bilateral relationship is to be sustained, Cardin said in October.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the equivalent House committee, made a similar request weeks earlier.

The controversy comes as Egypt plays a central role in the Israel-Hamas war. Egyptian diplomats have acted as intermediaries between Israel, the U.S. and Hamas, and Cairo played host to cease-fire negotiations last week.

Ethiopia

$2.0 billion

Allocations to Ethiopia are nearly entirely humanitarian aid, as regions of the country struggle with a deep famine and civil unrest. The northern region of Tigray fell into an ethnic conflict in 2022, with rebel and government forces facing off as thousands starved.

USAID resumed food aid to the region in December, five months after it took the extraordinary step of halting its nationwide program over a massive corruption scheme by local officials.

The rare combination of droughts, conflict and other factors disrupting food supplies has made Ethiopia one of the largest recipients of U.S. humanitarian aid. About one-sixth of Ethiopians received food aid before discovery of the food theft early last year.

Nigeria

$1.5 billion

Nigeria foreign aid spending is focused on health care and food access. The U.S. spent about a quarter billion dollars on stemming the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country in 2023, according to USAID, as well as another $130 million on other health needs.

The country also has areas where food is in critical need, sparking another quarter billion in spending for food access and other expenditures filed by the State Department under emergency response.

Most of the support is funneled through non-government organizations and charities operating in the country.

Somalia

$1.3 billion

Almost the entirety of funds allocated for Somalia are under emergency designation for food access as the country continues to struggle after decades of civil unrest.

About $700 million of the expenditures are in partnership with the United Nations, which has had a constant presence in the country for decades amid a brewing civil war with breakaway Somaliland.

Just more than $100 million is set to fund U.N. peacekeeping missions in the country.

Kenya

$1.1 billion

In Kenya, U.S. humanitarian assistance is spread between health, food access and economic development.

The largest expenditure is in partnership with the World Food Program in the region, while the government also invested significant sums into fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS and supporting local agriculture.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Despite chronic fatigue, Tetiana is full of resolve and determination to continue fighting until Ukraines victory. Photo: Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Tetiana is an operator of an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system and serves in the Kherson Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade. She has two children, both university students, and her husband is an artillery gunner. Tetiana has been decorated with two awards For Courage, 3rd Degree and 2nd Degree.

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shared Tetianas story on Facebook.

Tetiana has served in the anti-aircraft missile forces for over 20 years: she decided to join the military after her husband did. Over the course of the years, Tetiana has served in many different units and held many different positions. She says that when she joined the army, she had no idea she would stay for so long.

"I saw previous years of service as a familiar routine; yearly training events at shooting ranges were truly the most memorable part of every year for everyone in the anti-aircraft missile forces. But the beginning of the full-scale war has changed everything.

On 24 February 2022, we shot down our first Russian missile in Odesa Oblast. We havent stopped since: anti-aircraft battles, shooting down air targets, changing positions, deploying and retracting equipment, combat duties" Tetiana says.

Her duty while operating an S-300 system is to detect and track Russian air targets. Her division has intercepted and destroyed more than 140 of them.

Tetiana says that an S-300 is not a very modern or automated missile system. How effective it is depends directly on the people operating it: from how well each of them is trained, to how well they all work together as a team.

"Im just a small cog in the air defence machine, but I feel enormous personal responsibility. My goal is to detect the target as quickly as possible, because otherwise we might lose it in a matter of seconds," Tetiana explains.

Mothers Day is not at the forefront of her mind today. As in many previous years, she is at work, while her kids are studying and her husband is on a work trip.

"Id like to be able to spend a bit more time with my kids, with my family But, after all, its for them that were trying to protect our homes from enemy missiles and for them that we stubbornly continue to fight the enemy forces!" Tetiana says.

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May 11 (UPI) -- Officials in western Canada ordered the evacuation Saturday of thousands of residents in response to a wildfire that's grown to about 4,200 acres in size.

The British Columbia government issued the order for the town of Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson First Nation in the northeast part of the province. About 3,600 people live in the affected area.

Officials have also issued evacuation orders in neighboring Alberta province, the BBC reported.

The Parker Lake Fire was first reported Friday evening and has since grown to be within about 2 miles of Fort Nelson. The British Columbia Wildfire Service said the blaze was out of control and was expected to spread beyond its current perimeter.

Rob Fraser, mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, said high winds caused a tree to fall on a power line, causing the fire.

"And then by the time our firefighters were able to get down there, the wind had whipped this up into a fire that they weren't able to handle with the apparatus that we had," he told CBC News.

Fort Nelson First Nation Chief Charleen Gale said most residents of the community were cooperating with the evacuation order. She warned of a possible blackout because officials were blocking the transfer of natural gas, which most people in the area use for electricity.

Officials instructed Fort Nelson residents to travel 4 hours south to Fort St. John. Jessica Harrison, a representative for Fort St. John Emergency Support Services, told the CBC the town had enough hotel accommodations to support the evacuees.

"We're here at the ready to receive our neighbors," she said. "We're looking forward to welcoming them, even though it's a stressful situation."
Woman Who Stabbed Longtime Friend Nearly 500 Times Sentenced to 55 Years in Prison

Kailie A. Brackett denied killing Kim Neptune in April 2022 in a statement during her sentencing, and said the late woman's killer or killers could still be at large

Washington County Jail Kailie A. Brackett

A Maine woman has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for stabbing her longtime friend nearly 500 times.

Kailie A. Brackett was found guilty of the April 2022 murder of 43-year-old Kim Neptune in December 2023, per the Portland Press Herald. On Friday, May 10, Brackett was sentenced to 55 years in prison for her role in the crime, the Associated Press reported.

Brackett, 39, said in a statement at her sentencing that she wasn't responsible for Neptune's death and that the woman's killer or killers could still be at large, the AP reported.

Authorities found Neptune dead in her Maine home with 484 stab wounds on her body, which was wrapped in a blanket, after the victim's brother called police officers on the Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point reservation in Washington County.

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A man named Donnell Dana was initially also charged and tried for Neptune's murder, but a mistrial was declared in his case in December 2023 due to a deadlocked jury.

Dana later pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of "hindering apprehension or prosecution for disposing of evidence related to Bracketts murder charge," per the AP.

The Portland Press Herald reported that Brackett and Dana share a child, and that Dana had lived with Neptune before 2021.



"Were relieved that justice was served. And then tomorrow and the next day and then so on, were going to start looking at different things of healing together as a community, as one, Passamaquoddy Councilmember Adam Newell told CBS affiliate WABI 5 after Brackett's sentencing.



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Women who start menopause before 40 more likely to die young, study finds

Women who start the menopause before the age of 40 are more likely to die young, new research suggests.

Most women experience menopause between the ages of 45 and 55.

But around one in 100 go through menopause before the age of 40, which is known as premature menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency (POI).

Scientists said women can lower the risk associated with early menopause with hormone therapy, however.

The long-term Finnish study is the largest conducted on the association between premature menopause and mortality.

Findings highlight importance of check-ups

Researchers say their findings highlight the importance of regular medical check-ups and appropriate hormone therapy use in those affected.

Previous research has shown that women who go through the menopause early are at greater risk of long-term health problems such as heart disease.

Scientists say the cause of POI is largely unknown, but can be brought on spontaneously or by some medical treatments such as chemotherapy or by surgically removing the ovaries.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the most common treatment, but the majority of women who go through premature menopause do not take those drugs in accordance with recommendations.

For the new study, researchers from the University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital examined more than 5,800 women who were diagnosed with spontaneous or surgical premature ovarian insufficiency in Finland between 1988 and 2017.

They compared those women with almost 23,000 others who did not go through POI.

Risk halved by six months of HRT

They found that women with spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency were more than twice as likely to die of any cause or of heart disease, and more than four times as likely to die of cancer.

But the risk of any cause and cancer mortality roughly halved in women who used HRT for more than six months.

Women who went through premature menopause as a result of surgery did not have any added risk of dying young.

Previous studies have also shown that women with premature menopause have a higher risk of early death, but that association had never been studied in women on such a large scale before and followed for up to 30 years.

Hilla Haapakoski, the study leader, said: To our knowledge, this is the largest study performed on the linkage between premature ovarian insufficiency and mortality risk.

Our study is one of the first to explore both surgical and spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency in womens all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality, and examine whether HRT for over six months may reduce mortality risk.

Our findings suggest specific attention should be paid to the health of women with spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency to decrease excess mortality.

Health dangers not well recognised

The researchers now plan to assess whether women with premature menopause are more likely to have other illnesses or conditions, such as cancer or heart disease, and whether long-term use of HRT affects those conditions.

Ms Haapakoski, a PhD student at the University of Oulu, said: Various health risks of women with premature ovarian insufficiency have not been well recognised and the use of HRT is often neglected.

She added: We hope to improve the health of these women by increasing awareness of the risks among healthcare professionals and the women themselves.

The findings are due to be presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Stockholm, Sweden, on Sunday.

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In the worst of Americas Jim Crow era, Black intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois found inspiration and hope in national parks

In his collection of essays and poems published in 1920 titled Darkwater, W.E.B. Du Bois wrote about his poignant encounter with the beauty of the Grand Canyon, the stupendous chasm in Arizona.

As he stood at the canyons rim, the towering intellectual and civil rights activist described the sight that spread before his eyes. The Grand Canyons grandeur is too serene  its beauty too divine! Du Bois wrote. Behold this mauve and purple mocking of time and space! See yonder peak! No human foot has trod it. Into that blue shadow, only the eye of God has looked.

But Du Bois experience undermined a widely held assumption that was reinforced by early conservationists like Theodore Roosevelt  that only white people could appreciate the landscapes of national parks. For Roosevelt and his progressive allies, saving nature was connected to saving the white race.

My research on the history of national parks shows that these racial assumptions and federal policies contributed to making the parks unwelcome places for Black nature enthusiasts such as Du Bois.

Du Bois traveled to national parks anyway, and he understood that most other Black people were unable to follow because of the cost and discrimination found at every turn. It still bothered Du Bois, however, that Black people were unable to experience a joy similar to what he found at what would later become Acadia National Park in Maine.

Why do not those who are scarred in the worlds battle and hurt by its hardness travel to these places of beauty and drown themselves in the utter joy of life? Du Bois asked.

The progressive politics of racial purity

President Theodore Roosevelt has been recognized as a wilderness warrior for his unprecedented protection of lands and wildlife. But his conservation record was tied to the belief of white racial superiority that was embodied in eugenics, the racist pseudoscience of the early 20th century that tried to determine who was fit or unfit to have children.

In this undated photograph taken between 1939 and 1950, the history of racial segregation at the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia is revealed. National Park Service

One initiative of the Roosevelt administration was the creation of the National Conservation Commission on June 8, 1908. Though Congress eliminated the commissions budget after six months, its task was to take an inventory of all the nations natural resources and make recommendations on how best to protect them.

Gifford Pinchot, the presidents most trusted environmental adviser, served as the commissions executive chairman and compiled its final report in February 1909.

It offered 10 far-reaching recommendations on topics as diverse as public health to labor regulation and the elimination of poverty and crime. The 10th recommendation advocated for eugenics, or hygiene for future generations that connected federal conservation to white supremacy.

Pinchots report called for the forced sterilization of degenerates generally  namely, most immigrants, Black and Indigenous people, poor whites and people with disabilities. It also sought to increase the breeding of what they believed to be racially superior races, such as white Anglo Saxons and people of Scandinavian heritage.

President Theodore Roosevelt, left, and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot aboard a steamship on the Mississippi River, in October 1907. Getty Images

The problem of the conservation of our natural resources is therefore not a series of independent problems, but a coherent, all-embracing whole, the report concluded. If our nation cares to make any provision for its grandchildren and its grandchildrens grandchildren, this provision must include conservation in all its branches  but above all, the conservation of the racial stock itself.

Another of Roosevelts close associates took an even more pointed approach to white supremacy and conservation.

Madison Grant had worked with Roosevelt since the 1890s and was an avid conservationist. He was also the author of an influential book on eugenics, The Passing of the Great Race, a racist tome arguing the superiority of what he called the Nordic race.

New agency, same philosophy

The election in 1912 of President Woodrow Wilson saw the implementation of discriminatory policies.

According to historian Eric S. Yellin, Wilsons administration was loaded with white supremacists who effectively enacted harsh anti-Black policies in the federal government.

In 1913, for instance, Wilson ordered the federal workforce to be racially segregated, first at the U.S. Post Office, where most Black federal employees worked, and then at the Treasury Department, which had the second-largest number of Black workers.

The Wilson administration also created the National Park Service, the federal agency in charge of managing and interpreting the countrys national parks, when Wilson signed the Organic Act in 1916.

Not surprisingly, this new park service had the same racial policies of the Wilson administration and abided by local laws on racial segregation. That meant Black nature enthusiasts would continue to be prohibited in national parks in most of the former Confederate South.

My research has shown that the National Park Service catered exclusively to the expectations and needs of white visitors and it had very few Black employees or visitors. The policies included racially segregated dining rooms, picnic grounds and restrooms. Maps and signs in some parks directed Black visitors away from whites and to designated Black sections of the parks.

The official policy didnt end until 1945, when U.S. Interior Secretary Harold Ickes outlawed segregation at national parks. But local segregation remained in practice in most Southern states for decades and still excluded Black visitors.

National parks as worth the struggle

Du Bois was willing to endure the racist laws that made traveling unpleasant for Black people seeking to find joy in natural beauty.

Did you ever see a Jim-Crow waiting-room? Du Bois wrote in Darkwater, referring to the system of laws and social customs that disenfranchised Black people.

Black intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois on Jan. 1, 1918. C M Battey/Getty Images

Usually there is no heat in winter and no air in summer. To buy a ticket is torture; you stand and stand and wait and wait until every white person at the other window is waited on, he explained. Then the tired agent yells across, because all the tickets and money are over there.

For Du Bois, the struggle was worth the experience of the Grand Canyon.

There can be nothing like it, Du Bois wrote. It is the earth and sky gone stark and raving mad It is human  some mighty drama unseen, unheard, is playing there its tragedies or mocking comedy, and the laugh of endless years is shrieking onward from peak to peak, unheard, unechoed, and unknown.

The sight of the Grand Canyon, Du Bois concluded, will live eternal in my soul.

The same view has had the same effect on generations of visitors  Black, white and of countless other backgrounds  ever since.

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: Thomas S. Bremer, Rhodes College

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Thomas S. Bremer has conducted historical research for the National Park Service as a consultant at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois.
jacoblund / iStock.com

When Akanksha Aurora, a Los Angeles-based writer and comedian, lost her full-time job out of the blue, she found herself in dire straits.

I felt absolutely down and out, Aurora said. It was really scary and [required] a huge lifestyle downgrade.

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Thankfully, things have gotten better since then. Aurora now has a new job that she likes much better. The problem is, it pays significantly less than her last role. The substantial pay cut necessitated quite a few other cuts in Auroras life.

Heres how Aurora downsized her financial life in order to make the most out of a much smaller income that she was used to. GOBankingRates also rounded up a few pointers from financial experts centered on what you can do if this happens to you.

I Temporarily Relocated to a Cheaper Country

Auroras entire family is in India, where the cost of living is significantly lower than in the U.S. After losing her job, Aurora returned to India for a couple months.

I took the severance check they gave me and rented a beach villa in Goa for two months, Aurora said. I saved a bunch of money and got a remote writing job for an audiobook company. Its a 1099 job, so there are no benefits, and it pays significantly less than my last job did. But I like the flexibility of working remote.

I Canceled My Subscriptions

Out of necessity, Aurora parted ways with her subscriptions.

I canceled everything, Aurora said. No makeup subscription box. No Netflix, no Hulu or anything else.

Find Out: How To Make Passive Income Just By Moving Money in These Ways

I Got on a Phone Plan With Friends

Rather than continuing to pay for her own phone line, Aurora teamed up with a friend to enroll in a phone plan together.

That brought my bill from $80 to $50, she said.

I Buy in Bulk With Friends From Costco

Aurora also collaborates with friends to stay on budget with grocery shopping. She went in on a Costco membership with a pal. They buy in bulk  including from the frozen aisle  and divide up the goods accordingly.

I Say No to Going Out  And Use My Free Time More Creatively

Due to her major pay cut, Aurora has to turn down invitations to many events  everything from happy hours to weddings  but this doesnt faze her as much as one might expect. Shes found arguably better ways to spend her valuable free time.

I only do what I love in a limited way, Aurora said. I find ways to be more creative. I have time back that I can pour into figuring out what I do want and maybe one day making more money than I was.

Story continues

I Get Budget-Friendly Recipes on TikTok

I spend a lot of time on TikTok looking at budget recipes, Aurora said. There a lot of poor people on there making really good food!

I Cut Back on Eating Meat

Meat isnt cheap, so one healthy and frugal move Aurora has made since living on a significantly lower salary is scaling back on meat consumption.

I Continue To Embrace Public Transit

Aurora has since returned to her home in Los Angeles, where having access to a car is, in the minds of many, considered crucial. But thats only if you dont have a savviness for public transportation.

I dont have a car, Aurora said, nodding to the money saved by foregoing this luxury and opting for public transportation instead. Never have.

I Prioritize My Mental Health, and Am Actually Happier Than When I Was Making More

Though Aurora lives less comfortably than she did before losing her previous job, and money is certainly more of a concern, she actually feels happier these days.

I am living on way less money now, but my mental health is so much better, Aurora said. It is nice to feel free in a certain way. I could work from India and am going to work from Mexico City next month.

If This Happens to You, Budget for Your New, Lower Income

Aurora made the right move in immediately budgeting for a lower income as soon as hers dropped; its what financial experts recommend.

When you create a budget that factors in your new, lower income, this helps you identify areas where you might be spending excessively, and [you] can identify quick, easy and less painful cuts, said Jeff Mandel, CEO of Credit & Debt. This exercise and process is healthy and should be done at least annually.

Distinguish Wants From Needs

You may have already been savvy about separating wants from needs when you were budgeting for your previous salary, but when your income takes a hit, you need to really home in on this, as Aurora did  for example, she canceled her subscription services to save money.

Needs are items such as essential food, housing and transportation, Mandel said. Wants can include things like cable TV, streaming services, going out to eat, new clothes and vacation expenses.

This Sucks, but It Isnt the End of the World

Experiencing a huge pay cut can be, to put it frankly, a major bummer. But keep things in perspective. There are, as Aurora has laid out, ways to make a lower income work for you.

[A pay cut] isnt the end of the world, said Mandel. Hopefully, your pay reduction is only a temporary change that forces you to eliminate the areas where youre overspending and implement more financially savvy and disciplined habits going forward. So, once your income increases again, you are actually able to save more money.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I Took a Huge Pay Cut: Heres How I Survived
Graduates at Valparaiso University Saturday were encouraged to go forward, take what they have learned, and use their precious time to lead purposeful, fulfilled lives.

Class of 2024, time is indeed the most valuable commodity, U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, said.

Young delivered the commencement address at the ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business Saturday morning and went on to deliver the address for the afternoon graduates from the College of Engineering and the College of Nursing and Health Professionals.

We are suffering from a bout of national procrastination. Petty distractions prevent us from addressing challenges to our security, our economy, our union. Challenges that we all share responsibility for solving, Young said, adding too often people are aggrieved, easily offended, and increasingly cynical. Collectively, that robs people of self-determination and discourages self-reflection while sowing dysfunction.

But as importantly, they squander time, precious time, precious time. We have so little of it in our lives and so much work before us. Break the spell of these trends. You have it within your power. Focus on the essential. Your time here at Valparaiso University will not be defined by this difficult period. Instead, it will be defined by what you do next and that can be enriched by lessons you have learned from this experience, Young said.

Young said he knows for many graduating Saturday the college experience was unconventional, beginning in a global pandemic and ending in a time of division and unrest.

Your generations college experience was unusual, Young said, adding students faced classes on Zoom, chapel service on YouTube, social distancing and social media  both of which keep people apart.

He said students have barely had a chance to be college students before they must go off in a world seemingly chaos. Throughout history, terrible crises have sent civilizations spiraling or ushered in eras or renewal, Young said.

As a society, it seems we have yet to make our choice. Each of you can make your own choice, Young said.

He encouraged graduates to find grace for others and themselves, and recognize what is trivial and let it pass.

Giving your time and energy to your friends and community will bring lasting fulfillment to your lives, I assure you. Insults on Instagram will soon be forgotten, Young said.

He urged graduates to take their education and ability to think critically and lead lives of purpose and meaning each day.

When they draw to an end each of you draws your last breath, you will have made a difference and that will last, Young said.

Graduate Jaylen Jaishawn Jude shared the story of his journey to Valparaiso University and one of the fundamental beliefs that have shaped his journey as a speaker during the first ceremony.

Never judge a person by where they stand because you dont know how far they have come, Jude said.

Im Jaylen Jude, a kid from Gary, Indiana, and my path to Valparaiso University has been far from conventional. Growing up, I faced challenges many cannot fathom, Jude said. He thanked his mother for the sacrifices she made in raising him and two siblings alone without a support system. He attended VU on a Lilly Endowment full-ride scholarship.

Its easy for people to judge us based on our current circumstances. Do they truly understand the struggles, sacrifices and sleepless nights? Graduates, never forget your journey. It is the essence of your strength, Jude said.

Nearly 600 students received undergraduate degrees and another 250 received graduate degrees over the course of the two ceremonies.

Chris Gatlin of Chicago earned his bachelors degree in computer science with a minor in social work and math.

I like problem-solving. Its challenging and has a good career outlook, Gatlin said. He is hoping to land a position in data analytics. Gatlin, who came to VU as a high school graduate, said he is excited to graduate on stage.

It was a lot of hard work. I doubted myself along the way but I made it here. Im happy and proud of myself, Gatlin said.

Fatima Garcia-Cardenas of Portage proudly wore a sash indicating she was the first in her family to graduate college.

A lot of everything was new to me. I didnt have anyone (in my family) to guide me, Garcia-Cadenas said, adding she was fortunate to rely on a family friend to help her navigate. She earned a bachelors degree in international relations.

Its exciting. I have a new chapter ahead of me, she said.

Diego Orozco of Valparaiso was continuing his education, earning a masters in business administration. Diego said he came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2003 to pursue graduate education and earned a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. He has been working for a medical device maker and has been in management for the past five or six years.

My management skills are directly from my peers. I lacked formal education. I learned the good and the bad. I wanted to get a more formal education and understand the big picture of how corporate America works in a global space, Orozco said.

cnapoleon@chicagotribune.com
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference with Slovak President Zuzana Caputova at the Mariinsky Palace in Kiev. Ukraine Presidency/Ukrainian Pre/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Russia's offensive near the city of Kharkiv is spreading out the front of the war in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, pointing to a development that means more parts of the country facing combat.

"There are villages that have turned from a 'grey zone' into a combat zone, and the occupiers are trying to gain a foothold in some of them or simply use them to advance further," Zelensky said, describing the situation in his daily video message on Sunday evening.

With this offensive, the Russian military is trying to stretch the Ukrainian forces to their limits, he added.

Above all, the situation around the town of Vovchansk is "extremely difficult," Zelensky said. Vovchansk, which originally had just under 19,000 inhabitants according to official figures, is now home to just under 500, who are still holding as it comes under constant fire.

Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were mounting counter-attacks and engaging in fierce resistance. "Our task is obvious - we must inflict as many losses as possible on the occupying forces," he said.

At the same time, Zelensky warned the Ukrainian population against unnecessary panic. "Russian ground operations are always sustained by information operations," he said. "The occupier feeds on lies and the resulting fear."

He therefore advised citizens "not to be led by emotions, not to chase the headline, to check every report and look for information, not emotions or rumours, and to trust the Ukrainian defence forces."
Russia's offensive near the city of Kharkiv is spreading out the front of the war in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, pointing to a development that means more parts of the country are facing combat.

"There are villages that have turned from a 'grey zone' into a combat zone, and the occupiers are trying to gain a foothold in some of them or simply use them to advance further," Zelensky said, describing the situation in his daily video message on Sunday evening.

With this offensive, the Russian military is trying to stretch the Ukrainian forces to their limits, he added.

Above all, the situation around the town of Vovchansk is "extremely difficult," Zelensky said. Vovchansk, which originally had just under 19,000 inhabitants according to official figures, is now home to just under 500, who are still holding as it comes under constant fire.

Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were mounting counter-attacks and engaging in fierce resistance. "Our task is obvious - we must inflict as many losses as possible on the occupying forces," he said.

At the same time, Zelensky warned the Ukrainian population against unnecessary panic. "Russian ground operations are always sustained by information operations," he said. "The occupier feeds on lies and the resulting fear."

He therefore advised citizens "not to be led by emotions, not to chase the headline, to check every report and look for information, not emotions or rumours, and to trust the Ukrainian defence forces."

Thousands of residents of the eastern Ukrainian border region of Kharkiv are being evacuated to safety. Around 4,000 people had already left the area in the last two days, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram on Sunday.

Many of them were able to stay with friends and relatives, while accommodation was being provided for others, he said. Syniehubov also published photos of people who had gathered at assembly points with luggage and some with pets.

More than two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine is struggling in its self-defence. This is partly due to the recent delays in supplies of US military equipment and ammunition.

Russian troops launched an offensive in the border region towards Kharkiv in the early hours of Friday, prompting fears of a campaign to seize Ukraine's second largest city.

Russia's Defence Ministry says several Ukrainian border villages near the town of Vovchansk were captured. On Sunday, Moscow said that four further villages were taken.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has described the situation there as "difficult."

"This week, the situation in the Kharkiv region has significantly worsened," Syrskyi wrote on Telegram on Sunday. "There are ongoing battles in the border areas along the state border with the Russian Federation."

While admitting that the situation is "difficult" and that Russian attackers had achieved "partial successes" in some areas, he said, "Ukrainian defence forces are doing everything they can to hold defensive lines and positions."

Just across the border in the Russian region of Belgorod, a multi-storey residential building was severely damaged in an attack, Russia's Defence Ministry announced on Sunday. At least six people were killed in the attack, it said.

The ministry said that the building had been hit by falling debris from a Ukrainian Tochka U missile. This could not be independently verified at first.

The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said at least 19 people were injured. Initial reports that there were also fatalities were not confirmed.

Photos of one destroyed vertical section of a much larger block of flats were published on social networks. According to media reports, people may still be trapped under the rubble. A missile alert had been triggered earlier in the day in the region.

A fire also broke out at an oil refinery in southern Russia following a drone attack, an official said on Sunday.

The night-time raid in the Volgograd region was repelled by the Russian air defences, Governor Andrey Botsharov wrote on Telegram.

However, the falling drone detonated and caused a fire on the refinery site, which has since been extinguished. There were no casualties, the governor said.

To disrupt Russia's infrastructure and reduce its war revenues, the Ukrainians have repeatedly targeted oil refineries hundreds of kilometres deep inside the country.

Firefighters extinguish a house after a Russian missile attack on Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine. -/Ukrinform/dpa
Russian troops are trying to "gain a foothold" in some villages in Kharkiv Oblast, and heavy fighting is ongoing in the region, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on May 12.

His statement comes as Russia launched a new offensive operation targeting Kharkiv Oblast on May 10.

Zelensky said the situation is "extremely difficult" on the outskirts of Vovchansk, a city in Kharkiv Oblast close to the Russian border.

"The city is under constant Russian fire, and our military is carrying out counterattacks, helping local residents," Zelensky said.

Earlier in the day, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi described the situation in Kharkiv Oblast as "difficult," saying that Ukrainian troops are fighting in the border areas and "are doing everything to hold their defensive lines and positions."

"Our task is obvious  we need to inflict as many losses as possible on the occupiers," said Zelensky.

He also reported that the situation in Donetsk Oblast is "no less intense," adding that "the idea behind the attacks in Kharkiv Oblast is to spread our forces thin and undermine the Ukrainians' morale."

According to Zelensky, the most difficult situation is in the direction of the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast.

Apart from that, the situation remains difficult in the Lyman, Vremivka, Kramatorsk, and Kupiansk directions, the president said.

"Our warriors are adequately retaliating against the occupiers and doing everything possible, and often impossible, to deter Russian assaults," Zelensky said.

Russian forces failed to take Kharkiv in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion in 2022 despite the fact the city lies less than 30 kilometers from the Russian border.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia launches new offensive targeting Kharkiv Oblast

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges fellow Ukrainians not to fall to emotions and rumours and to trust the Defence Forces of Ukraine,as the Russian side uses the fear and anxiety of Ukrainian civilians for its own purposes.

Source: the President's evening address

Quote: "Russian PSYOPs (Psychological-informational operations  ed.) are always the energy for Russian ground operations. The occupier feeds on lies and the fear that follows the lies. Defensive battles are never easy. And they always become more difficult when the enemy manages to use fear.

So now it is safer not to be led by emotions, not to chase the headline, to double-check every news report, to look for information, not emotions or rumours, and to trust the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Our warriors know what to do. And we are working with our partners, including our domestic Ukrainian arms production facilities, to ensure that our warriors have what they need to act."

Details: Zelenskyy did not specify what kind of "psychological-informational operations" he was referring to.

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In a shift for Washington tech lobbying, companies and investors from across the industry have been pouring tens of millions of dollars into an all-hands effort to block strict safety rules on advanced artificial intelligence and get lawmakers to worry about China instead  and so far, they seem to be winning over once-skeptical members of Congress.

The success of the pro-tech, anti-China AI push, fueled by several new arrivals on the lobbying scene, marks a change from months in which the AI debate was dominated by well-funded philanthropies warning about the long-term dangers of the technology.

The new influence web is pushing the argument that AI is less an existential danger than a crucial business opportunity, and arguing that strict safety rules would hand Americas AI edge to China. It has already caused key lawmakers to back off some of theirmore worried rhetoric about the technology.

What we dont want to have happen is have [advanced AI] development occur outside of the United States, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), one of four lawmakers in Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumers AI working group, told POLITICO. So were not going to try to restrict development here.



The effort, a loosely coordinated campaign led by tech giants IBM and Meta, includes wealthy new players in the AI lobbying space such as top chipmaker Nvidia, as well as smaller AI startups, the influential venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and libertarian billionaire Charles Koch.

Their lobbyists are hoping to influence a pivotal moment in Washington AI policy. In the Senate, Schumer is drafting an AI legislative framework and promising to offer it in a few weeks. And the Biden administration is now making key decisions about how to enforce its sweeping AI executive order.

Until recently, the AI regulation debate was dominated by experts and executives warning policymakers about cataclysmic risks  like the potential for new AI models to develop deadly bioweapons, or even become sentient and exterminate humanity  and demanding strict rules on the most advanced models.

They were the biggest and loudest voices out there, said chief IBM lobbyist Christopher Padilla. They were scaring a lot of people.

Now IBMs lobbyists have mobilized, along with their counterparts at Meta, Nvidia, Andreessen Horowitz and elsewhere. They want Washington to reject strict safety rules and to back open-source AI models, which scare some safety advocates because key elements of their source code are publicly available.

The full-court press is having an impact. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), another senator in Schumers bipartisan AI group, told POLITICO that many in Congress have abandoned their once-fearful tone about the technologys rapid development.

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I think the more people learn about some of these [AI] models, the more comfortable they are that the steps our government has already taken are by-and-large appropriate steps, Young told POLITICO.

He said many of his Senate colleagues are now imbued with a certain humility they may not have had going into the conversation, and said hes personally apprehensive about constraining innovation.

Last year, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) declared himself freaked out by cutting-edge AI systems, also known as frontier models, and called for regulation to ward off several scary scenarios. Today, Lieu co-chairs the House AI Task Force and says hes unconvinced by claims that Congress must crack down on advanced AI.

If you just say, Were scared of frontier models  okay, maybe we should be scared, Lieu told POLITICO. But I would need something beyond that to do legislation. I would need to know what is the threat or the harm that were trying to stop.

With no new federal AI laws passed and Congress still unclear on its priorities, the Washington lobbying landscape has become a war of almost philosophical arguments backed by significant money  one side warning that AI poses existential risks to humanity, and the other cautioning against rules that slow or block its transformational benefits to society and national security.

Each side is backed by major corporations. Microsoft and OpenAI, in particular, have advocated for tight safety restrictions and licensing requirements that could favor companies with the most powerful A.I. models  arguments boosted by a sprawling network backed by a handful of tech billionaires.

The voices of the worriers largely dominated early Senate hearings and White House meetings on AI, and their concerns were strongly reflected in an October executive order requiring regular safety reports on very powerful A.I. models.

Other companies, like Meta and IBM, which rely on open-source AI models rather than the closed-source framework pursued by OpenAI, Google and others, are pushing for a more open-ended approach with fewer rules  a view that has powerful allies among venture capitalists and self-styled futurist thinkers.

The fight over AI safety has prompted a number of powerful newcomers to descend on Washington  including Nvidia, the worlds third-largest company by market valuation and the leading designer of AI chips.

Nvidia didnt hire its first Washington lobbyist until late 2022. But according to two people familiar with its lobbying, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations, the company is now urging Washington to avoid placing devices on AI chips that would let the government track or control their use.

The two people said Nvidia lobbyists are badmouthing a recent proposal by the Center for a New American Security think tank to require on-chip governance mechanisms, arguing it would undermine security by creating backdoors into sensitive systems that could be exploited by cybercriminals or geopolitical rivals like China.

An Nvidia spokesperson would not directly confirm that the company is lobbying against on-chip governance plans. But the spokesperson said that while such systems are still many years away, they must protect security, confidentiality, and privacy and not introduce backdoors and other system vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit.

Yacine Jernite, the machine learning and society lead at AI startup HuggingFace, calls fear about AI-induced catastrophes science fiction and a huge distraction. HuggingFace hired its first lobbyist last year, and Jernite says he saw Washington start to shift on the topic soon after.

When it makes it to regulators, when it makes it to people actually writing the laws  especially the staffers, but even the members of Congress  this seems to not be as taken as seriously as it was, I think, at the very beginning, Jernite said.



Venture-capitalist firm Andreeseen Horowitz is spending its first-ever lobbying dollars in Washington, pouring more than $1 million since the start of 2023 into advocacy for open-source AI and a hands-off approach to cryptocurrency. In an April podcast, firm leaders Marc Andreeseen and Ben Horowitz said persistent advocacy has caused Congress to grow cynical about warnings that AI will cause major destruction.

This is a winnable war on behalf of startups and open source, and freedom and competition, Andreeseen said. Im worried, but Im feeling much better about it than I was nine months ago.

New organizations are also springing up in Washington to promote laissez-faire approaches to AI. They include the Abundance Institute, a libertarian tech-policy nonprofit backed by Koch dollars and what Neil Chilson, the groups head of AI policy, called donations from Silicon Valley and Austin types.

There is a waking up in Silicon Valley, Chilson said. They didnt really think it was important to talk to DC. And I think thats different now.

The new entrants are bolstered by longtime lobbying muscle.

Last December, IBM linked up with Meta to form the AI Alliance, a consortium created to head off new licensing requirements and prevent rules against open-source AI. Padilla said half of IBMs roughly 20 lobbyists are working full-time to oppose AI licensing or closed-source mandates. The company has spent more than $4 million in Washington since the AI debate took off in mid-2023.

Meta has also sunk significant lobbying resources into the open-source fight. The social media giant spent more than $17 million lobbying Washington since mid-2023, including on open-source and AI safety proposals. The company also tapped five new firms to lobby on AI last year. Meta spokespeople declined to comment on their strategy.

IBM and Meta lag behind Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in developing cutting-edge AI systems. That gives them a financial interest in promoting open source, which is seen as the best way to catch up.

Were not trying to hide the commercial interest, Padilla said. Were just saying, Hey, let us all compete. Dont have a government licensing regime that restricts competition.

Some ideas advanced by IBMs foes continue to find a receptive audience. In April, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and three other senators unveiled a proposal that would establish an AI oversight body to license advanced models.

I know the tech industry would like nothing, but thats not an option, Romney told reporters, when asked whether lobbyists had pushed back on his plans.

But many tech lobbyists say Romneys support for tough AI safety rules is increasingly an outlier in Congress. Padilla said IBM lobbyists have simply outmaneuvered the AI safety lobby, which has fewer ties in the nations capital and less familiarity with how Washington works.

After months of conversations with IBM and its allies, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), chair of the House AI Task Force, says more lawmakers are now openly questioning whether advanced AI models are really that dangerous.

In an April interview, Obernolte called it the wrong path for Washington to require licenses for frontier AI. And he said skepticism of that approach seems to be spreading.

I think the people I serve with are much more realistic now about the fact that AI  I mean, it has very consequential negative impacts, potentially, but those do not include an army of evil robots rising up to take over the world, said Obernolte.
Floods in Brazil spark conspiracy theories over the cause, including toxic jet vapor trails and antennas in Alaska

Floods in Brazil spark conspiracy theories over the cause, including toxic jet vapor trails and antennas in Alaska

Floods in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul have sparked a number of online conspiracy theories.

Some say the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program has caused the extreme weather.

Scientists have dismissed such theories.

The state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil has been facing heavy rains since last week, with 143 people confirmed to have lost their lives in the resulting floods so far, the local civil defense agency has said.

Eduardo Leite, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, described the weather on X as "unprecedented" in the state's history, adding that it would need "a kind of 'Marshall Plan' to be rebuilt."

The state is prone to periods of severe rain and droughts due to its position at a meeting point of tropical and polar climates.

Brazil's National Institute of Meteorology has said the current extreme conditions have likely been influenced by El Nino  the warming of sea surface temperature.

Nevertheless, a number of bizarre online conspiracy theories have cropped up over what's behind it.

Floods in Porto Alegre. Jefferson Bernardes/Getty Images

"What's happening in Rio Grande do Sul is definitely not natural," one user wrote on X. "Let's open our eyes!"

The user said they believed that the cause of the heavy rains was HAARP, the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, a North American scientific project that uses antennas to study a part of the Earth's upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere.

The program has long faced unfounded rumors that it was designed to control the weather, with former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez even claiming it caused the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Some now claim that the rains in Brazil have been caused by toxic jet vapor trails, or "chemtrails," spread by the government and then activated by HAARP antennas in Alaska to alter the weather, AFP reported.

Vapor trails are condensation trails that occur when water vapor produced by jet fuel combustion turns into ice crystals at high altitudes where the air is cooler. The trails pose no risk to public health, per the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Este e o ceu em Alegrete RS.

Esta geometria das nuvens, nesta escala, e antecedendo as chuvas, e probabilisticamente impossivel ser natural.

Esta sendo fabricada com frequencias na ionosfera.

Estao usando o HAARP no RS. pic.twitter.com/Gc4PiOiPv1  Frederico Athia (@AthiaFrederico) May 9, 2024

Carlos Nobre, who heads Brazil's National Institute of Science and Technology for Climate Change (INCT), told AFP that scientists believed climate change had certainly played a key role in Rio Grande do Sul's weather crisis.

"The warmer atmosphere can store much more water vapor, fueling more frequent and intense episodes of rainfall that lead to disasters like this," he said, while also dismissing the HAARP theory.

"There's no way an instrument in the ionosphere could make weather events more extreme," he said.

It comes after recent heavy flooding in Dubai.

Dubai's media office said in April that the city experienced the heaviest downpour in the United Arab Emirates since records began.

Once again, social media was abuzz with claims about geoengineering  the idea that technologies could be used to alter the weather  with some suggesting that cloud seeding, where clouds are manipulated to produce more rain, had led to the heavy rainfall in the city.

But scientists said the storms behind the floods in the city were likely made worse by the climate crisis, adding that the El Nino pattern also helped intensify the weather.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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, 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 the road and he died after the car burst into flames after hitting the tree, according to the lawsuit filed by Nora Bass in Colorado state court on May 3, 2024. A passenger was able to escape, it said. (Colorado State Patrol via AP)

DENVER (AP)  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.

The Associated Press sent an email to Tesla's communications department seeking comment 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.

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.
Suzano S.A. (NYSE:SUZ) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 10, 2024

Suzano S.A. isnt one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for holding and welcome to Suzanos Conference Call to discuss the results for the First Quarter of 2024. We would like to inform that all participants will be in a listen-only mode during the presentation that will be addressed by the CEO, Mr. Walter Schalka and other executive officers. This call will be presented in English with simultaneous translation to Portuguese. To change the audio, you can press the globe icon on the lower right side of your Zoom screen and then choose to enter the Portuguese Room. After that, you can select mute original audio. Before proceeding, please be aware that any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Suzanos management and non-information currently available to the company.

They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they relate to future events and therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. You should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors could also affect the future results of Suzano and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now, Ill turn the conference over to Mr. Walter Schalka. Please, you may begin your presentation.

Walter Schalka: Good morning, evening. Its a great pleasure to have with you to be part of the first quarter results 2024 of Suzano. I would like just to mention to you that we have almost everyone from the [ph] with us today and will be available for a Q&A session after our presentation. It's a great pleasure to announce the results of the first quarter. Once again, we had a very good operational performance with volumes and pulp side with 2.4 million tons. We have been improving volumes on the paper side as well and on the consumer goods. We had R$4.6 billion on EBITDA on this quarter. I would like just to mention to you and reinforce the point that we are continually looking-forward to our competitiveness. It's very important to mention our operational cash cost.

That was R$812 per ton, a very good performance and very close to the performance of the fourth quarter last year. Just to reinforce our positioning on our robust balance sheet with $6.3 billion in cash plus revolving position. With a net debt, there is $11.9 billion and we are reaching the peak of our leverage with three and a half times net debt over EBITDA. We are going to present Cerrado. Aires is going to present in a few minutes to you and we have been approaching the end of Cerrado with less disbursement on the future. Now, I'm going to pass to Fabio that is going to talk a little bit about packaging and paper market.

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Fabio Oliveira: Thank you, Walter. Good morning, everyone. Let's turn to the next page on the presentation. In the first quarter of 2024, we have faced different market conditions in our domestic and international markets. Outside Brazil, we have seen demand starting to rebound if inventory replenishment builds up after the strong destocking process through most of 2023. While on the domestic market, demand started the year slower than expected. Demand for printing and writing papers in Brazil shrunk 20% in the two first months of 2024 when compared to the same period of the previous years. With the impact of the postponement of federal and state governments book programs and customers' inventory adjustments led by slower economic activity at the beginning of the year.

Apart from the read expected structural reduction uncoated paper demand for the promotional segment. Regarding paper board, demand in Brazil has been impacted by slowdown in consumer spending, which coupled with previous inventory adjustments resulted in a 6% demand reduction in the two first months of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023 according to EBAS available data. Suzano total volumes in Q1 were 3% higher than Q1 2023, driven by higher export volumes. Compared to the last quarter, our total sales reduced 20% due to the usual sales seasonality between such quarters. The average net price during the quarter was flattish quarter-over-quarter. We have delivered higher prices quarter-over-quarter in the domestic market due to price increases in our uncoated and cut-size product lines.

In international markets, our prices were slightly lower quarter-over-quarter due to product and regional mix. Looking at EBITDA, the 19% decrease quarter-over-quarter was driven by lower sales volume. When compared on a year-over-year basis, the 35% decrease in EBITDA was mostly led by lower prices in the external markets. Our EBITDA per ton was slightly better on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Looking ahead to the coming quarters, we expect healthier demand levels as inventory buildup continues in mature markets. In the domestic markets, we expect the [indiscernible] cycle to support demand in the coated segment, a recovery in the uncoated market segment, as well as improving paper board demand for packaging. The improvement in demand, combined with current market expectations for pulp, energy and wood prices, is expected to sustain current price levels on the domestic market.

While, in international markets, apart from the rapidly evolving scenario, we generally expect price levels to increase, as several major international players have already announced price increases for the coming months. Despite the mounting cost pressures, the impact is not uniformly distributed across all players and regions. Looking ahead, we expect a flattish cash cost performance in our paper and packaging business throughout 2024, backed by our strong structural competitiveness. Now, I will turn over to Leo, who will be presenting our pulp business results.

Leonardo Grimaldi: Thanks, Fabio, and good morning, everyone. Let's please move to the next slide of our presentation to see our pulp business unit results. I would like to begin by sharing with you some facts related to this first quarter. Demand for hardwood pulp was positively surprised, has positively surprised our expectations throughout the period, both in China, where the rhythm of paper production continued quite healthy, actually growing 6% to Q1 compared to Q1 '23 as per SEI, and with no pressure on paper producers' inventories, as well as in Europe, which has recovered significantly from the value seen in the first half of '23, and where our customers kept revising their forecasts up and up. On the supply side of the pulp fundamentals, we have noticed several disruptions, coming from impacts of permanent closures announced previously, added to several new and unexpected events, such as strikes, wars, and climate-related events, as well as the idling of some mills, reducing the availability of pulp in the whole system.

Demand from our customers and the push for order intake has exceeded our capability to serve all their requests, and we had to limit and cap order intake during all months of Q1. Despite our efforts to reestablish our inventories in Europe and in North America during the quarter, optimum inventory levels were still not achieved, and we forecast that this situation will still take some months to level out and for inventories to be physically repositioned and available in European and North American terminals. As I had mentioned in our previous earnings calls, our inventory levels across the systems were too low and unsustainable in the end of 2023, and during Q1 we had to start reestablishing a better operational condition. Regions and customers who are served by Suzano directly out of Brazil, like Middle East, Africa, Asia, including China, are still running with significant shipment and invoicing delays, with no improvement during the quarter, and indeed even more challenging, now reaching more than 70 days of backlog at the end of this period.

Aerial view of a large paper mill, steam billowing from its many smokestacks.

Coming now to the graphs on the slide, our first quarter sales were limited by inventory replenishment, as I have mentioned before. Our average export prices increased to $624 per ton, capturing only partially our price increases, due to the high backlog levels as I have also mentioned previously. Our price increase announcements during the quarter were all fully implemented in their respective markets. Our EBITDA totaled R$3.9 billion, with an improvement compared to Q4 due to higher prices despite lower volumes. Now looking forward, I would like to highlight the following points. Rolling forecasts coming from our customers in Europe and Americas keep improving, and we still see challenges to serve all the pulp demand in the short term. It will take time to reposition our inventories accordingly.

Effects of strikes and mill failures in Europe have unexpectedly generated additional pulp demand for Suzano, and our current inventory levels do not allow us to tackle absolutely any unplanned pulp demand. We expect S&D dynamics in Europe to remain quite tight during the second quarter. In China, we know that the leading paper producers are taking advantage of their financial strength to lower paper producers' and the lower paper producers' margins in general in the market to push for market share gains, consequently squeezing smaller paper producers. Smaller paper producers' low operating rates, as recently reported, are being compensated by higher operating rates from larger paper producers. As in China, downstream paper demand continues healthy, also supported by our customers' macro sentiment in general, we do not expect major changes to paper production rhythm, and indeed, this paper production rhythm has been quite solid during this year.

Demand for our pulp came again over our expectations in April, and as we speak, we are still capping order intake and refraining from offering to spot markets as an effort to recover timely shipment to our customers. As we speak, we are completely oversold. In addition to tailwind demand perspectives, our constructive view for the short term is being even more benefited from disruptions on supply chain, the supply side of the equation, for which we are not sensing any significant improvement soon, a reason why we feel this positive price momentum should continue. News keeps coming, and you all have read yesterday that a new permanent closure was announced. With that said, I would now like to invite Aires to address with you the cash cost performance of the quarter.

Aires Galhardo: Thank you, Leo. Good morning, everyone. We are in slide seven. The cash production costs performed in line with company's operational plan, presenting stability compared with the previous quarter. In addition to the benefits from the drop in the price of diesel and caustic soda, which is the main chemical in the cash cost composition, we operate on a smaller average distance from forest to mill, and had better performance in harvesting activities, further reducing the cost of wood. These positive factors were offset by no recurring events in some mills, which negatively impact input consumption and fixed costs in the quarter. In the end of comparison, we see a clear benefit of the better operational performance on wood and inputs in the last quarter, in addition to the reduction observed in the commodity price in the period.

Looking ahead, we continue to see stability in the cash production costs throughout the year, although with a small variation between upcoming quarters. Moving to the next slide, we are focused on the final sprint of the Cerrado project, which has already reached 94% physical completion and 87% of physical execution by April. The project's CapEx guidance for 2024 is maintained at R$4.6 billion, with more than half having already been disbursement by April, therefore reducing cash flow consumption in the remaining eight months of the year. On the next page, we would like to reinforce the company's vision of the expected ramp-up curve of the new plant to be completed in nine months. Such performance means a production volume of 900,000 tons and sales volume of 700,000 tons in 2024.

In the first 12 months after the startup, we expect to produce 2 million tons of pulp in the new mill. Marcelo, the floor is yours.

Marcelo Bacci: Thank you, Aires. As Aires has just mentioned, we are at the end of an investment cycle that is paving the way for us for further deleveraging in the coming months. So, I'd like to start on slide nine to give you a recap on what happened with our net debt in the last 12 months. Despite the fact that we invested $2.8 billion in the period, our net debt just went up from $10.9 to $11.9 billion in the period because of a very strong operational cash flow and also because of our very consistent derivative policy or hedging policy. So that led the net debt to EBITDA ratio to the level of 3.5 times at this point, which is most likely the peak for this cycle of investment. We expect this number to start improving in the coming quarters.

In terms of liquidity and amortization schedule, we have a very comfortable position with a significant amount of liquidity, $3.9 billion of cash, plus standby facilities and undrawn facilities that will be drawn in the coming months with a very low level of maturities in the coming years. That will lead us to a very comfortable position when it comes to average term and also average cost of our debt. With that, I will turn back to Walter for his closing remarks.

Walter Schalka: Now we are going for a Q&A session. Please, we are available right now to answer your questions.

Operator: We will now begin the Q&A section for investors and analysts. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Daniel Sasson with Itau BBA.

See also

15 Best Oil Stocks to Buy According to Analysts and

50 Most Glamorous Cities in the World.

To continue reading the Q&A session, please click here.
Every year on May 12th, the globe celebrates International Nurses Day, which recognizes nurses' vital contributions to healthcare and society as a whole. This day is especially significant in 2024, as the world community continues to deal with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Date and Theme:

International Nurses Day is observed on May 12 each year; this year, it falls on a Sunday, and it will be shared with International Mother's Day in 2024. Dr. Pamela Cipriano, president of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), has announced the topic for International Nurses Day 2024: "Our Nurses, Our Future, The Economic Power of Care".

History:

International Nurses Day began in 1965 when the International Council of Nurses (ICN) established the day to recognise nurses and their efforts. The official date of May 12th was chosen to coincide with the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who is widely considered the pioneer of modern nursing. Since then, International Nurses Day has been observed annually, gaining in importance and involvement with each passing year.

Significance:

International Nurses Day is significant because it allows the entire community to express gratitude and appreciation for the dedication, compassion, and professionalism of nurses. Nurses are at the vanguard of healthcare delivery, offering critical services in a variety of locations, including hospitals, clinics, communities, and homes. Their diligent efforts are frequently overlooked, therefore International Nurses Day is an important opportunity to highlight their achievements and commemorate their critical role in advancing global health and well-being.

Celebrations:

International Nurses Day is celebrated in healthcare institutions, communities, and internet venues all around the world. These celebrations may include special events, ceremonies, seminars, and awards ceremonies to recognise nurses' accomplishments. Furthermore, social media initiatives and awareness-raising efforts assist in raising public knowledge about the value of nursing and inspire support for the profession.

As the globe faces ongoing healthcare issues such as pandemics, ageing populations, and growing health concerns, nurses' roles become even more important. International Nurses Day is a reminder of nurses' tenacity, professionalism, and commitment to providing high-quality care to individuals and communities around the world. It also allows for reflection on the difficulties that the nursing profession faces, as well as advocacy for policies and investments that benefit nurses and strengthen healthcare systems.

Finally, International Nurses Day celebrates, honours, and recognises nurses' extraordinary contributions to healthcare and society. It is time to thank them for their unfailing dedication, compassion, and professionalism, and to reiterate our commitment to supporting and empowering nurses as they continue to lead and define the future of healthcare.
Bihar STET Exam 2024 Admit Card: The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has officiallyannounced the release of the admit cards for the Bihar STET 2024 examination. All the students who have registered for the Secondary Teacher Eligibility Test (STET) 2024 can now check and download their admit cards on the board's official website - secondary.biharboardonline.com.

Check Exam Schedule Here

During the Bihar STET 2024 examination, two papers will be conducted. Paper 1 will be held from May 18 to May 29, 2024, while Paper 2 will be held from June 11 to June 20, 2024.

Dummy Admit Cards Released Earlier

Before the real showdown, candidates were given the opportunity to verify their dummy admit cards and rectify any errors. These dummy admit cards were available in different phases. For the first four phases, they were available from January 12 to February 21, 2024, and for the fifth phase, they were available from March 4 to March 8, 2024.

How to Download Bihar STET 2024 Admit Card?

Step 1 - Check the official website of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) secondary.biharboardonline.com.

Step 2 - Click on the link that is provided on the homepage. Tap on "Click here to download admit card for Secondary Teacher Eligibility Test (STET - 2024)."

Step 3 - Enter your application number and date of birth on the download page.

Step 4 - Your Bihar STET admit card PDF will appear on your screen. Please download.

Step 5 - Keep a printed copy of your admit card with you ahead of the day of the exam.
Utility stocks have turned into leaders recently, gaining more than 4% over the past five days to close out their best week of the year.

The S&P 500 Utilities ETF (XLU) is up more than 12% year to date in a reversal from last year when investors soured on the sector due to expensive projects and high interest rates.

The prospects of lower rates later this year and increased long-term demand for electricity from artificial intelligence has made the defensive part of the market look attractive, according to Wall Street analysts.

"The excitement surrounding AI has left many investors searching for the next big thing after meteoric rallies in names like Nvidia (NVDA) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI)," said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, in a recent note.

Energy consumption is expected to dramatically increase amid a boom in data center growth.

Additionally, a re-shoring of manufacturing, which requires more power for battery plants and chipmaking factories, and the proliferation of charging stations for electric vehicles are expected to drive a surge in energy demand.

"Power demand [in the US] for the first time in 15 years is actually growing," Neil Kalton, senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo, told Yahoo Finance.

Constellation Energy (CEG)

Constellation Energy is the largest owner of nuclear plants in the US. The Baltimore-based company has been a beneficiary of the government's push to transition to green energies and growing power demand from data centers.

Constellation shares are up more than 85% year to date as the company forecasts base earnings to grow by at least 10% annually through the decade.

"It is absolutely a growth stock and has attracted growth investors," said Well Fargo's Kalton.

The analyst highlights that Constellation produces power at roughly $25 per megawatt hour, while the government's Inflation Reduction Act allows for a selling price floor of $45 per megawatt hour, providing a minimum of $20 margin per megawatt hour.

"There is no limit to the profits they can make," said Kalton.

Wall Street is also bullish on the possibility of Big Tech building large-scale data centers with Constellation at their nuclear sites.

"The appeal of non-regulated nuclear, which is what Constellation owns, is that you could build a data center on the land at site and just directly hook into the data power plant there and take power," said Kalton.

During the company's earnings call CEO Joseph Dominguez highlighted the massive amount of energy hyperscalers will require.

Story continues

"We're going to need data centers that are of size and dimension from a megawatt standpoint that is far beyond what currently exists out there in the market," said Dominguez.

"The data economy and Constellation's nuclear energy go together like peanut butter and jelly. And as such, we're in advanced conversations with multiple clients, large, well-known companies that you all know, about powering their needs," he added.

Constellation has been operating as a standalone energy provider since 2022 after a spin-off from utility giant Exelon (EXC). The company has been buying back shares and recently upped its dividend ahead of its earnings due on Thursday.

The stock has eight Buy, five Hold, and zero Sell analyst recommendations.

Constellation Energy operates the nation's largest fleet of nuclear power plants, including Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant on the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, Maryland. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (Baltimore Sun via Getty Images)

NextEra Energy (NEE)

The $147-billion-market-cap company is one of the largest electric power generators in the country. While NextEra owns a regulated utility in Florida, investors are more interested in its non-regulated part of the business, NextEra Energy Resources, which involves developing renewable energy in the US.

"The demand for renewables over the next five to 10 years is set to explode," said Kalton.

NextEra foresees annual earnings growth of 6% to 8% through 2026.

The company's CEO highlighted the boom in data center power needs and the onshoring of manufacturing capabilities to the US as reasons for the surge in demand.

"The re-domestication of industry in the US supported by public policy will drive the need for more electricity," CEO John Ketchum told analysts in April.

The stock is up about 20% year to date. The stock has 17 Buy, five Hold, and one Sell analyst recommendations.

Southern Company (SO)

Among the regulated utilities, Southern Company is one of the best performers inside the Utility sector year to date, with shares up more than 10%.

The company has benefited from data centers looking to build in the Georgia area, which represents higher electricity usage.

Last year Southern's subsidiary Georgia Power debuted the first nuclear reactor plant built from scratch in decades. Currently four nuclear units are in operation.

The Atlanta-based energy provider recently posted first quarter earnings per share 14% higher than the same period last year. Sales to data centers were up over 12% for the quarter compared to the same period in 2024.

"This is what making history looks like. These are the first new nuclear units built from the ground up here in the United States in over 30 years and we are proud to be the company that saw it through," Southern's CEO Chris Womack said during the company's latest earnings call.

Southern shares are up 9% year to date. The stock has 11 Buy, seven Hold, and three Sell analyst recommendations.

Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.
A video of Congress leader and party's Baharampur Lok Sabha candidate Adhir Rajnjan Chowdhury has gone viral on social media in which he was allegedly heard saying that the Congress attacks Adani-Ambani as they don't fund the party. Chowdhury also allegedly claimed that if the businessmen would send money to Congress, the party and its leaders wouldn't speak against them. However, Zee News has not verified the video.

The video has since then gone viral on social media with the BJP using it to corner the Congress party. "Real extortion model of Congress and INDI. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Congress speaks against Adani-Ambani in Parliament because they don't send money to the party and if they would send, we (Congress) won't speak," said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya termed it political extortion. "The acts of Congresss Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury are nothing less than political extortion. In his recent interview, he unmasks Congress and says that they will stop attacking Adani-Ambani the moment they give money to the Congress. Of the two, Rahul Gandhi has already stopped attacking one. This is equivalent to the acts of TMCs Mahua Moitra, who allegedly took money and expensive gifts from a Dubai-based businessman to attack Indian businesses in the Parliament," said Malviya.

Asli Hafta Vasooli Model of Congress & INDI



               ,      - Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury



We shout against Adani Ambani because they dont send sacks of money

If they send we wont pic.twitter.com/iwTLxFFFXY  Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) May 12, 2024

Adhir Chowdhury's alleged remark came days after Narendra Modi questioned Congress leaders' silence on Adani-Ambani. Modi questioned how many tempo full of currency notes were received by the Congress that they have gone silent against these businessmen. To this, Rahul Gandhi had responded by saying that the Centre should order an immediate probe into the matter. Rahul also accused Modi of being busy counting the currency notes received from these businessmen in the last 10 years.

Rahul Gandhi has been a vocal critic of the Adani-Ambani and has accused the Central government of favouring the two businessmen.
New Delhi: Suspended Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani reappeared after 20 days of going incommunicado as his nomination for the Surat Lok Sabha seat was rejected due to discrepancies leading to a BJP candidate winning unopposed from the constituency. Kumbhani claimed that the grand old party had betrayed him first in 2017, according to PTI.

The Surat leader said he was silent earlier as he respects the partys state president, Shaktisinh Gohil, and the party's Rajkot Lok Sabha candidate, Paresh Dhanani.

Talking with the reporters, Kumbhani said, "Leaders in Congress are calling me a traitor. But when my ticket for the Kamrej Assembly seat in Surat was abruptly cancelled during the 2017 assembly elections, it was the Congress which betrayed me first, not me."

He added that he did not want to do this, but the party's five self-proclaimed leaders in Surat were angry because they neither allowed others to work nor did they themselves do anything. This upset my followers, office workers, and employees. "These leaders expressed disapproval when I used to campaign with AAP leaders here, even though AAP and Congress are members of the INDIA alliance," Kumbhani asserted.

When asked if the sudden shift in Lok Sabha elections was supposed to be revenge on the Congress party, Kumbhani refrained from giving a giving a direct reply.

Earlier, he had held the office of Congress corporator in the Surat Municipal Corporation. In 2022, he fought the assembly polls in Kamrej but lost to a BJP candidate.

On April 21, Kumbhani faced rejection of his nomination form when his three proposers stated to the district returning officer that they had not signed the document. After which, the replacement candidate for Congress, Suresh Padsala, also had his nomination form rejected, effectively removing the party from the Lok Sabha competition.

On April 22, Mukesh Dalal of the BJP was declared the winner in Surat, unopposed, as all other contenders, including one from the BSP, withdrew their nominations. AAP had previous arrangements with the Congress, so they opted out too.

Kumbhani had been unreachable since April 22. The Congress suspended him, holding him responsible for the rejection of the nomination form and alleging his involvement in collaboration with the BJP.

The Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat were conducted in one phase on May 7.
Five of the most wanted terrorists from the Khalistani Tiger Force are currently scattered across five different countries, actively plotting a major conspiracy against India. What's alarming is the revelation that the threads of this conspiracy lead back to the Patiala Central Jail in Punjab. Acting on intelligence inputs, the Home Ministry has mandated the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to delve into the matter. Subsequently, the NIA has initiated an investigation in compliance with the Home Ministry's directive.

According to reports, Baljeet Singh, also known as Baljeet Maur, resides in the UAE, Gurjant Singh in Australia, Prince Chauhan in Canada, Aman Poorewal in America, and Bilal Mansher in Pakistanthese individuals stand as the primary architects of this sinister plot. All five suspects are affiliated with the illicit organization, Khalistani Tiger Force (KTF). Their ties extend to Khalistani terrorist Kamaljeet Sharma, presently incarcerated in Patiala Central Jail, Punjab.

Kamaljeet Sharma, a Khalistani terrorist, is actively engaged in recruiting inmates within the jail premises for the KTF, with the aim of orchestrating terrorist activities. NIA has already filed chargesheets against Kamaljeet in three separate cases. These terrorists have been diligently working to fortify the Khalistani network in Punjab, engaging in activities such as arms and drug smuggling, extorting funds for terrorist endeavors, and perpetuating a climate of fear through targeted assassinations.

Intelligence reports indicate that this network shares links with the notorious Bambiha gang, which is instrumental in financing and arming new recruits for the Khalistani Tiger Force within Punjab. Funds amassed through extortion were being funneled out of the country via the Hawala network, subsequently utilized to fuel terrorist incidents within India.
Kerala Lottery Results Sunday 12-05-2024 Live: The Kerala lottery "AKSHAYA AK-651" Result, on behalf of the Kerala government, will be announced today, May 12, 2024, at Gorky Bhavan Near Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala State Lotteries department, which releases the lottery in 12 series (subject to change), will draw the result. Each week, 108 lakh tickets are made available for purchase, and the series may vary. The first-place winner stands to receive a substantial 70 Lakh Rupees as the bumper prize. For those eagerly awaiting today's draw, the AKSHAYA AK-651 outcome for May 12, 2024, can be checked on this website. Stay tuned to ensure you don't miss the live results of Kerala Lottery AKSHAYA AK-651.

Kerala Lottery Result 12-05-2024 May: FULL LIST OF WINNING NUMBERS FOR AKSHAYA AK-651 LOTTERY

LUCKY NUMBER FOR 1ST PRIZE OF RS 70 LAKHS IS: AK 248577

LUCKY NUMBER FOR 2ND PRIZE OF RS 5 LAKHS IS: AH 940215

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 3RD PRIZE OF RS 1 Lakh ARE: AA 299630 AB 102459 AC 810796 AD 732723 AE 852866 AF 318509 AG 198302 AH 299651 AJ 481158 AK 199107 AL 337355 AM 158502

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR CONSOLATION PRIZE OF RS 8,000 ARE: To Be Announced

(For The Tickets Ending with The Following Numbers below)

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 4TH PRIZE OF RS 5,000 ARE: 0357 0621 1069 1567 1858 1922 2301 3193 4320 4378 4696 5799 5950 6958 7416 8002 8633 9046

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 5TH PRIZE OF RS 2,000 ARE: 3869 4384 4541 5355 5536 5631 6437

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 6TH PRIZE OF RS 1,000 ARE: 0010 0075 1335 1962 2010 2020 2166 2197 2852 2960 3272 3551 3898 4849 4996 5330 5537 5963 6140 6853 7682 8021 8215 8313 8936 9497

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 7TH PRIZE OF RS 500 ARE: 0012 0150 0337 0499 0530 0622 0941 0967 1053 1060 1131 1200 1229 1368 1524 1996 2287 2367 2497 2695 3002 3075 3116 3557 3679 3712 3728 3899 4095 4170 4197 4236 4298 4555 4979 5010 5115 5703 5755 5784 5867 5887 5895 6060 6173 6237 6301 6334 6415 6512 6568 6612 6617 6706 7421 7423 7690 7753 7866 8175 8467 8491 8495 8682 8720 8942 9443 9452 9573 9662 9749 9789

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 8TH PRIZE OF RS 100 ARE: 0039 0126 0165 0174 0269 0509 0600 0611 0679 0784 0867 0873 1025 1037 1203 1384 1398 1413 1434 1437 1477 1502 1512 1539 1763 2017 2223 2244 2263 2266 2473 2544 2563 2634 2863 2871 3149 3226 3244 3277 3290 3382 3466 3600 3767 3818 3982 3997 4246 4381 4435 4508 4533 4599 4772 4889 4990 5023 5076 5100 5155 5160 5174 5236 5374 5387 5423 5492 5514 5612 5629 5766 6090 6096 6256 6276 6400 6414 6464 6657 6690 6860 6883 7034 7044 7051 7183 7227 7239 7287 7380 7390 7446 7453 7459 7554 7567 7593 8003 8193 8270 8291 8439 8446 8496 8563 8564 8611 8675 8756 8922 9297 9450 9466 9571 9597 9604 9623 9671 9741 9742 9827 9892

KERALA LOTTERY RESULT 12-05-2024 May TODAY: AKSHAYA AK-651 LOTTERY PRIZE DETAILS

1st Prize: Rs 70 Lakhs

2nd Prize: Rs. 5 lakhs

3rd Prize: Rs. 1 Lakh

4th Prize: Rs. 5,000

5th Prize: Rs. 2,000

6th Prize: Rs. 1,000

7th Prize: Rs. 500

8th Prize: Rs. 100

Consolation Prize: Rs. 8,000

(NOTE: Lottery can be addictive and should be played responsibly. The data provided on this page is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as advice or encouragement. Zee News does not promote lottery in anyway.)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kolkata on Saturday night to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. Modi arrived here from Jharkhand, and after landing at the airport, he went by road to the Raj Bhavan amid tight security.The PM was welcomed at the Raj Bhavan by Governor CV Ananda Bose.

On Sunday, he will address election rallies in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, Panchla in Howrah, and Chinsurah and Pursura in Hooghly district.

BJP In West Bengal

PM Modi will hold a public meeting in support of BJP candidate Arjun Singh in Barrackpore in the North 24 Parganas district at 11:30 am. After that, the Prime Minister will address people in Hooghly in support of BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee at 1 pm. In Arambagh, PM Modi will campaign for BJP candidate Arup Kumar at 2:30 pm. The Prime Minister will hold a meeting in Howrah at 4 pm also.

This is Modi's second visit to the city this month. He reached Kolkata on May 2 and after spending the night in Raj Bhavan, he addressed rallies in Krishnanagar, Purba Bardhaman and Bolpur Lok Sabha constituencies the next day.

PM Modi's Last Visit Earlier on May 3, PM Modi addressed rallies in West Bengal's Krishnanagar, Purba Bardhaman and Bolpur Lok Sabha constituencies.

"TMC isn't even winning 15 seats in the country. Now tell me, can TMC form the government with just 15 seats?" PM Modi said while speaking at a rally at West Bengal's Krishnanagar on May 3. The Prime Minister said that it is also difficult for the Congress party to win more than 50 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. "...No matter how hard it tries, it is very difficult for the Congress to go past half-century, 50 seats. Can they form the government if they do not even win 50 seats?" PM Modi said.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024

Voting will take place for eight Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal in the fourth phase of voting to be held on May 13. The constituencies are Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur and Birbhum.

Lok Sabha Elections 2014, 2019

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for 2 seats. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4.

However, the BJP came up with a much-improved showing in the 2019 polls, winning 18 seats against the TMC's 22. The Congress's tally dropped to just 2 seats, while the Left scored a blank.
Kanpur: The Kanpur Lok Sabha seat is a battle of honor for the BJP. The BJP has placed its bets on a new face from Kanpur, Ramesh Awasthi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter to BJP candidate Ramesh Awasthi. In it, he has stated that you will come to the Parliament after winning. He assured that the people of Kanpur will certainly bless you. Ramesh Awasthi has also thanked the Prime Minister, referring to him as his guardian. The Prime Minister has mentioned various aspects in his two-page letter.

Voting in Kanpur is scheduled for the fourth phase. Prior to the voting, the Prime Ministers letter has boosted the BJPs prospects in Kanpur. It has also greatly bolstered the morale of the candidate Ramesh Awasthi. During his roadshow, the Prime Minister had explained to Ramesh Awasthi how to meet and communicate with the public. His video was widely shared on social media.

"You will receive abundant blessings from the people," - PM Modi In his letter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote that your entry into politics is an example of talent and positive thinking. You have been involved in public life as a journalist for the past three decades, raising awareness in society and the world. You are credited with organizing several historic social events in your constituency of Kanpur. I am confident that you will come to the Parliament with the full blessings of the people.

'The country is moving forward with new momentum' The Prime Minister further wrote that together we will strive to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the citizens. Energetic partners like you will strengthen me. Over the past decade, we have worked towards improving the quality of life for every segment of society. We have freed the country from the problems created by decades of poor governance by the Congress Party. The country is moving forward with a new pace
New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a notice to Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan on a petition raising objections to title of her book 'Pregnancy Bible', saying it has hurt sentiments of people.

Advocate Christopher Anthony told ANI that the High Court took cognisance of the petition and issued notice to Kareena Kapoor.

"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 July 1," he said.

Kareena, who is a mother of two children, had announced that she's writing a book about pregnancy on the birthday of her first child, Taimur, in 2020.

In 2021, taking to Instagram, Kareena spoke about her pregnancy experience while giving a glimpse of her book. "There were good days and bad days; some days I was raring to go to work and others where I struggled to get out of bed. This book is a very personal account of what I experienced both physically and emotionally through both my pregnancies," she wrote.

Kareena, who shares two sons with actor Saif Ali Khan, considers her book as her third child. "I can't believe that I actually agreed to write this book... but here it is. We all have our own unique experiences as expectant mothers, but there are some similarities and with this book, I'm sharing my experiences and learnings, and hope that in some way this will help you on your journey towards motherhood," she said.

"Carrying both my babies has been the most special time in my life, and I am excited to share the moments and memories with you," she shared.

UNICEF India recently announced Kareena as its new National Ambassador.

On the movie front, Kareena is currently basking in the success of 'Crew', in which she shared screen space with Kriti Sanon and Tabu. Helmed by Rajesh A Krishnan, 'Crew' revolves around the journey of three working women set against the backdrop of the aviation industry.
New Delhi: Manisha Koirala was recently seen in 'Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar' directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. She played the character of 'Mallikajaan' in the show The actress shared on her social media account about the challenges and experiences she encountered while filming a water fountain scene for the show. Talking about the note, she expresses gratitude, saying I could never have imagined that after cancer and turning 50, my life would flower into this other phase.

The actress posted a series of snapshots from the shoot and also opened up about the two reasons that have led her life to blossom in this new phase after battling cancer.

1. Heeramandi has been a significant milestone. As a 53-year-old actor who has bagged an important role in a high-profile web series, I am overjoyed that Im not stuck playing insignificant peripheral roles, thanks to OTT platforms and changing audience profiles. Finally, female actors, technicians, and other professionals have started getting the long overdue and well-deserved good quality of work and respect in a professional environment. I am fortunate to be a part of this evolving era.

2. Today, when I am receiving so many accolades, I cant help but remember the doubts and anxiety that plagued me when I was about to start shooting. Still recovering from the dreaded C, would my body be strong enough to deal with the intense shooting schedules, heavy costumes, and jewelry, and perform a role requiring so much nuance and effortless effort?

The fountain sequence proved the most physically challenging. It required me to be immersed in a water fountain for over 12 hours. That tested my resilience! Even though Sanjay had thoughtfully ensured that the water was warm and clean, over the hours, the water turned muddy, (because my team members, the Cinematographer, and the art directors team were getting into the water to work around the scene.) Every single pore in my body was soaked in that muddy water. Even though I was beyond exhaustion by the end of the shoot, I felt a deep happiness within my heart. My body had taken the stress and remained resilient. I knew I had passed a critical physical test.

Following up on the same she further added ,To you, who think your time has come and gone, whether its due to age, illness, or any setback, never give up! You never know what could be waiting for you around the bend!

Im deeply grateful for your love and generosity of spirit!

After the post went public, Preity Zinta also commented on the same, she said 'I love you Manisha I saw the show for you & you killed it You are such a powerhouse of talent & an even better human being. I will never forget how lovely, welcoming & generous you were to me in Dil Se Thanks to you I started my film journey on such a positive note. You never made me feel I was working with a superstar & nurtured me on the shoot - always smiling, accommodating & ready for rehearsal & suggestions. You will always be Hero on & off camera. More power to you always'.

The show is available for streaming on Netflix.
New Delhi: Mother's Day is the time to celebrate and cherish the special bond between mothers and their children. Like every other walk of life, Bollywood is a place where mothers play a crucial role behind the success of many stars. They not only nourish and nurture them but are their backbone in every situation. Momager is the term that's been created to perfectly describe the role of mother in the lives of Bollywood stars. This Mother's Day, let's celebrate the special relationship between mothers and their children, and appreciate the love and support that mothers provide unconditionally. Here, we highlight five actors who have openly expressed their love and admiration for their mothers.

Alia Bhatt:

Alia Bhatt is known for her versatile acting skills, but she is also known for her close bond with her mother, Soni Razdan. Alia has often spoken about how her mother has been her rock and her biggest supporter throughout her career.

Pooja Hegde:

Pooja Hegde, known for her roles in Hindi and Telugu films, shares a strong bond with her mother, Latha Hegde. Pooja has credited her mother for instilling in her a strong work ethic and for always encouraging her to pursue her dreams.

Priyanka Chopra:

Priyanka Chopra, a global icon, has always been vocal about her love for her mother, Madhu Chopra. Priyanka has often credited her mother for shaping her into the person she is today and for teaching her the value of hard work and perseverance.

Sara Ali Khan:

Sara Ali Khan, the daughter of actors Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, shares a close bond with her mother. Sara has often spoken about how her mother has been her role model and how she has always looked up to her for guidance and support.
New Delhi: The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a warning regarding Apple iTunes and Google Chrome for desktop users. The governments cyber security unit under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has highlighted vulnerabilities in these products that could potentially enable attackers to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system.

According to CERT, the vulnerability in Apple iTunes is caused by insufficient checks in a component known as CoreMedia. Hackers could exploit this by sending a specially crafted message. This vulnerability impacts users of Apple iTunes on Windows versions before 12.13.2. "A vulnerability has been reported in Apple iTunes which could be exploited by a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system," stated the CERT-In advisory. (Also Read: Google Doodle Celebrates Mother's Day 2024 With Heartwarming Tribute To Maternal Bond)

Remote Code Extension is a security vulnerability in Apple products which happens from inadequate checks in the CoreMedia component. Malicious attackers can send a specifically crafted request if this is exploited. In the same way, Google chrome also faces vulnerabilities in its Visuals and ANGLE components as well as in WebAudio due to use-after-free errors and heal buffer overflow. (Also Read: Elon Musk Bans Over 1.8 Lakh Accounts On X In India Between March 26 and April 25 Due To THIS Reason; Details Here)

To safeguard against this vulnerability, Apple iTunes users can follow this step:

CERT recommends updating to the latest iTunes version to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

- Update iTunes: Ensure your iTunes application is updated to the latest version. This can typically be done by navigating to the Help section within iTunes and selecting "Check for Updates."

Google Chrome vulnerability

CERT mentioned that the vulnerability identified under CVE-2024-4671 is currently being exploited in real-world situations. Users are strongly advised to promptly patch their vulnerable devices. The affected versions of Google Chrome for Desktop are versions before 124.0.6367.201/.202 for Windows and Mac and versions prior to 124.0.6367.201 for Linux.
Venture capitalist slams 'useless' Google employees  claims they're taking money away from retirement programs

Tech stocks have had a good run recently  but the people behind those increases may not be working as hard as youd think.

In fact, David Ulevitch thinks that most tech workers arent doing anything at all  and the venture capitalist at Andreessen Horowitz claims to know this from personal experience.

After Ulevitch sold his software security company for $635 million to Cisco, he stayed on at the company as senior vice president.

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He knows that people think these types of high-level white-collar jobs are really important, but, in reality, he said those employees dont do much  and its not just hurting the company, but its shareholders, too.

Those people aren't just being useless, Ulevitch told business writer Emily Sundberg in her newsletter. But they are also taking money away from the rest of the workforce's retirement programs.

Employees at the companies in your stock portfolios can have an effect on your 401(k) or IRA  but not exactly in the way that Ulevitch claimed.

Layoffs often increase shares

Ulevitch cited Google as a primary example of a company that isnt responsible with its money  or its workforce.

The company has spent billions and billions of dollars per year on projects that go nowhere for over a decade, he told Sundberg. All that money could have been returned to shareholders who have retirement accounts.

He added that he believes that half of Google workers do no real work. He also said that anyone who works in a company with more than 10,000 people knows that a bunch of people could be let go tomorrow and the company wouldnt really feel the difference. In fact, the layoffs could even improve the companys operations and bottom line.

Ulevitch isnt wrong in stating that labor cuts can help a companys bottom line. Layoffs are often a sign of difficult times in the sector, but not always.

NPR reported that the S&P 500 stocks hit all-time highs in January 2024  particularly for tech stocks, which underwent major layoffs at the same time.

Story continues

Microsoft, which USA Today reported laid off 1,900 people in January, saw its valuation hit more than $3 trillion during that same month.

Read more: This little-known investment strategy can save you thousands on your taxes

Better to have useless workers than unemployed ones

Ulevitch isnt the only venture capitalist who is concerned about the glut of workers in the tech world. Keith Rabois, an investor in Tesla and a former executive at PayPal, is also concerned about the increase of fake work in the tech industry.

There's nothing for these people to do, Business Insider quoted Rabois as saying during an event in 2023. What do these people actually do? They go to meetings.

The issue with this is that, if all these tech workers were laid off tomorrow, there would be an increase in unemployment. The venture capitalists forget that a high unemployment rate is significantly worse for the economy (and retirement portfolios) than a bunch of people who get regular steady paychecks, even if theyre doing fake work.

The last time the U.S. saw a high unemployment rate  14.7%  was in April 2020, at the height of the pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that same time, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) determined there was also a recession.

NBER said they assess whether a time period is considered a recession based on multiple factors, one of which is unemployment. This is because consumption is another part of this assessment. If people dont have jobs, they dont usually have disposable income to spend and help boost the economy.

If you watched your stock portfolio survive the pandemic recession or the Great Recession of 2008, you know that unemployment is bad news for your portfolio. But with the current 3.9% unemployment rate, more people can invest in the market and the economy.

As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Good Morning America in January 2023, when the unemployment rate was at 3.4%: You don't have a recession when you have 500,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years.

The best way to ensure that your 401(k) or IRA portfolio gives you the gains you need to retire comfortably is based on your own risk tolerance and a diversity of stocks, so that you dont fully depend on the tech stocks to get you through your golden years.

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

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

'It's not taxed at all': Warren Buffett shares the 'best investment' you can make when battling rising costs  take advantage today

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
New Delhi: On the occasion of Mothers Day, May 12 Google Doodle beautifully captures the essence of pure bond shared between a mother and her child. The iconic Google search engine logo has been transformed worldwide marking this special occasion observed every year on the second Sunday of May.

Today's Mother's day doodle showcases a heartwarming glimpse into the everyday life of a mother. The doodle depicts a touching scene where a mother is shown cherishing moments with her child which captures the essence of maternal love and care. (Also Read: Get Free Wi-Fi While Travelling In India; Check This Government Scheme, Benefits, Steps To Avail Facility)

Will the Google Doodle be visible in India today?

Mother's Day Google Doodle will not appear for people residing in India, or any other South Asian country. (Also Read: What Is 'iPhone Finger'? Is Your Smartphone Changing Your Body? Here's Everything You Need To Know)

Where is the Mother's Day doodle visible today?

The Mother's Day doodle is currently visible in numerous European countries, including Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Australia, and more.

What's the significance of Mothers Day?

Mothers Day is a meaningful occasion that captures the irreplaceable role of mothers and motherhood. It's a time to show love, gratitude, and acknowledgment for the endless care and love mothers give throughout their lives. This day holds significance in honouring and appreciating the sacrifices and constant support of mothers, celebrating the vital role of motherhood, and acknowledging the deep influence mothers have on their children's lives and society overall.

History of Mothers Day

The origins of Mother's Day can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman traditions with similar celebrations among Christians in England. However, to understand the significance of Mother's Day today we must look to the early 20th century. During this time, ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals honouring mother goddesses such as Rhea and Cybele usually in spring and emphasised themes of fertility and motherhood.

Christians also embraced the concept of honouring mothers, particularly through 'Mothering Sunday.' During these celebrations, people would return to their mother church , often the main cathedral in their area. This tradition went beyond attending church services and involved families gathering for prayers with children offering flowers and gifts to their mothers as a token of appreciation.
New Delhi: In the fast-paced realm of technology, smartphones changed how we talk and move. But are they changing our bodies too? Currently, a new term coined on the internet is termed -'iPhone finger', raising serious concerns.

The term 'iPhone finger' means a mark or dent on the little finger, probably from using smartphones a lot, especially iPhones. When people use their phone with one hand, they often use their little finger to hold it up."

This raised the eyebrows of Apple iPhone users when it was initially discussed on the podcast named "The TJ Show" where hosts highlighted what appeared to be a noticeable dent or divot on their pinky fingers, seemingly caused by their smartphone usage.

On the show, one of the hosts explained, Sometimes, the weight of the phone rests on your pinky finger as we hold our phones. This action creates an indentation that alters the appearance of your pinky finger"

How To Determine iPhone Finger?

The iPhone finger is also termed as "smartphone pinky". This means someone should compare both their little fingers and check if one looks noticeably different, especially with a big dent on their dominant hand, probably from holding their phones.

Meanwhile, health experts have dismissed it as a genuine medical condition despite issues raised by tech enthusiasts regarding the pinky indentation. According to the New York Post, Dr. Peter Evans, an orthopaedic surgeon with Cleveland Clinic, asserted that indents or gaps on little fingers do not indicate a problem.

On the other hand, Occupational therapist April Hibbeler and hand surgeon Dr. Michael Geary of Ortho Carolina also agreed with Dr Evans. In an explanation about the "musculoskeletal 'phenomenon,'" they said that there is no official diagnosis for "iPhone finger".

Constant Cellphone Use Can Cause Severe Problems

Dr. Evans said that some people who believe they have "smartphone pinky" might actually have an underlying condition. He also said that using cellphones all the time can lead to various joint problems. While some injury claims might be exaggerated, others are genuine and can cause serious, lasting harm.

Phone-Related Medical Conditions May Rise

An orthopaedic surgeon also cautioned that some of these health issues include clinodactyly, a genetic condition where the tip of the pinky bends toward the ring finger. Another concern is Dupuytrens contracture, where thick cords develop under the skin over time, drawing fingers towards the palm.

However, Dr. Evans stressed that smartphone use isn't linked to the latter condition. Still, he warned about a few phone-related medical issues that can occur.

Is iPhone Finger Serious Threat To Your Health?

Dr. Peter Evans, an orthopaedic surgeon with Cleveland Clinic, debunked the iPhone finger or smartphone pinky. In medical terms, he said smartphone elbow known as cubital tunnel syndrome - is quite real.

This usually happens to people who bend their elbow more than 90 degrees for a long time, often when texting. Feeling tingling or numbness in your pinky could also indicate the condition that causes nerve damage.

Furthermore, the doctor stated that smartphone users should worry about their "texting thumb" or neck. He said that thumb joints aren't made to text and swipe all day long. Dr. Peter Evans cautioned that excessive use can worsen existing conditions such as arthritis or lead to new issues in the thumb tendons.
Village Bank and Trust Financial (NASDAQ:VBFC) First Quarter 2024 Results

Key Financial Results

Revenue: US$7.85m (up 3.0% from 1Q 2023).

Net income: US$1.77m (up 15% from 1Q 2023).

Profit margin: 23% (up from 20% in 1Q 2023).

EPS: US$1.19 (up from US$1.04 in 1Q 2023).

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

Village Bank and Trust Financial's share price is broadly unchanged from a week ago.

Risk Analysis

It's still necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Village Bank and Trust Financial, 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.
Wawa, which has announced plans to open stores in Lexington, Nicholasville and Louisville, is making things official next month.

The popular Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain with a cult following for its hoagies, Sizzli breakfast sandwiches, coffee and clean bathrooms will break ground and start construction on its first two Kentucky stores on June 5. They gave no date on when the stores would open.

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The first two Kentucky stores will be at 3013 Lexington Rd. in Nicholasville, also known as U.S. 27, and in Louisville on Preston Crossing Blvd.

This is a true milestone in Wawas history as it will officially kick off our major expansion effort into the state, the company said in a save-the-date announcement to media.

As part of a three-state Community Partnership Tour across the Midwest, Wawa hosts a preview event to introduce itself to the community and share more details about its first wave of expansion plans at the Old courthouse in Lexington, Ky, September 26, 2023.

Wawa also plans to release an update on expansion plans, including details on the next sites to go under construction, confirmed sites and projected timing for openings, according to the announcement.

Where will Wawa store, gas station be in Lexington?

In October, Lexington city officials gave the green light to a Wawa for a new Anderson Communities development at 4075 Old Richmond Rd., across from Jacobson Park. So far thats the only Lexington location that has been identified. The property would have a convenience store and gas station on the Athens Boonesboro Road side as well as a restaurant. The plans call for 184 parking spaces and eight gas pumps.

Wawa has announced that it plans to open 40 stores across Kentucky as part of a 160-store expansion across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana in the next eight to 10 years.

Last September, at a press conference in Lexington that also included chances to sample Wawas famous hoagies, Wawa executives said they will invest more than $280 million in Kentucky and create more than 1,400 new jobs.

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New Kroger Marketplace grocery store planned for Lexingtons Northside near Publix

The fastest growing grocery chain in the country is coming to a Central Kentucky town
The Bayeux Tapestry, which dates from around 1077 and depicts the Battle of Hastings when William the Conqueror, the duke of Normandy, defeated English forces in southern England

When William the Conqueror was shaping his new kingdom in 1066, the plight of 5 million leaseholders a thousand years in the future wasnt even a distant consideration.

But fast forward to today, and property owners across the country are bearing the brunt of the Norman kings legacy.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove hopes to abolish what he described as Britains outdated feudal system, yet leasehold properties remain ingrained in the nations housing crisis.

Owning a leasehold means that you must pay ground rent and service charges to the freeholder  the ultimate owner of the building and land.

Leaseholders have faced rising charges  up 60pc in the space of just five years  which have come on top of spiralling mortgage and energy bills. One Telegraph reader who owns a two-bedroom flat in Southampton said his annual service charge had increased to 6,203.68 this year.

It is an increasing housing problem of today rooted in laws dating back hundreds of years.

Prior to one of William Is archers shooting Harold Godwinson in the eye at the Battle of Hastings, England was divided up between a mosaic of landowners.

This came to an abrupt end when William ascended the throne, as he hurriedly went about replacing the ruling class. Every inch of land was confiscated and the entire kingdom soon belonged to the new monarch.

He split most of the land to 170 of his loyal nobles and soldiers, while retaining overall ownership for the Crown. The barons (essentially owning the freehold on behalf of the King) pledged to pay the Crown and send men when time came for war. This agreement was called a fief in Latin, translating to fee in English.

The barons could then let their land to peasant farmers, sparking the dawn of the leasehold system.

Almost a millennium later and England and Wales are the only countries where leasehold is still widely used. The Government is trying to reform the laws at last  yet this could still be a long way down the road. In the meantime, buyers are now starting to avoid flats with big service charge overheads following an increase in awareness of leasehold law.

Writing in the Telegraph last month, former housing secretary Robert Jenrick MP said the system was archaic and had become a symbol of rip-off Britain where hidden bills lurk around every corner.

Today, leasehold stands not as a curiously British anomaly but as an affront to the distinctly British dream of owning a home and the peace of mind that comes with ownership, rather than the insecurity of renting or leasing, he wrote.

Story continues

Leasehold is primarily used for properties that share a single space or have shared services, such as blocks of flats. However, it is being increasingly used for new-build houses as landlords look to take advantage of the guaranteed income stream that ground rent can provide.

Pledged reforms aim to give leaseholders more rights to buy the freehold to their property or extend their lease, although leasehold tenancies on flats will not be banned.

However, MPs warned last month that the long-awaited Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will not come into force until 2026.

Landowners descending from William I

As well as forming the feudal system, the Normans continue to influence British land ownership in other ways.

Modern day landowners are still beneficiaries of Williams conquest, with a large number  including King Charles III  being descendants of the ruler and his trusty barons.

According to Kevin Cahills acclaimed book, Who Owns the World, 70pc of land is still owned by less than 1pc of the population, with just 0.3pc laying claim to two thirds of the country.

The majority of land is under the control of the elite, and much is therefore shielded from housebuilding.

According to the most recent figures, Britain is currently building around 210,000 new homes a year, against a backdrop of 672,000 annual net migration.

Having paved the way for the ruling class to grab their hands on most of Britains land, William I unknowingly set todays lack of housing stock into motion.

If Britain were to catch up with the EU average in terms of the number of housing units per 100,000 inhabitants, it would have to build 3.4 million additional homes in England alone.

In addition, the average British house has only two thirds of the floorspace of the average Dutch, German, Belgian or French 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.
Retired Lt Col. Joe Lewis was inspired to start the Colorado Springs-based nonprofit Angels of America's Fallen after losing friends in every 
Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts The Devils Advocate with Jon Caldara on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics.
Lisa LaBriola is a principal at Husch Blackwell Strategies and was a Senate Democrat staffer for close to a decade. She served as chief of staff to former Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman and former Senate President Leroy Garcia. Opinions expressed here are her own and do not reflect the opinions of any other organizations. Sage Naumann is a conservative commentator and strategist. He is vice president of communications at 76 Group and was previously the spokesman for the Colorado Senate Republicans. Follow him on Twitter @SageNaumann.
GREENSBORO  Amon Williams looked calm and collected as he stood in the entrance to the Coliseum Special Events Center waiting to be lined up with all the other soon-to-be N.C. A&T graduates.

He said he looked forward to earning his degree in mechanical engineering.

"It's been a long time coming," Williams admitted. "It's been a lot of hard work and dedication to get here to this moment. It's not easy. Everybody can't do it."

But Williams did. Now, he plans to move to Connecticut and work as a design engineer.

His was but one story among many Saturday morning. Everyone's path that led them to A&T was different. But their journeys invariably concluded here, at this moment, and with the same parting thought: I made it.

This chapter of life is over. Time to begin a new one.

Out in that adult place called The Real World.

In total, A&T awarded nearly 1,500 bachelor's degrees between the two undergraduate graduation ceremonies in the morning and afternoon.

While Williams was a picture of calm, Kenmyia Clayborn, who was earning her degree is kinesiology, was in disbelief. For her, graduating was "bittersweet." She said she would miss her college days and the culture and atmosphere of being an Aggie.

"I love A&T," Clayborn said. "It was good all four years."

Whatever emotions graduates were feeling before the ceremony were replaced with excitement once commencement began.

The ceremony started with a procession and as graduates entered the main floor of the Coliseum draped in Aggie blue caps and gowns with gold tassels, they were met with roaring applause from family and friends in the packed audience.

Broadcast journalist and talk show host Tamron Hall delivered a colorful commencement address touching on her professional experiences and even featuring quotes from rapper Kendrick Lamar. Her overall message to graduates centered around establishing themselves as they go out into the world.

"This is your time to show your brand," Hall said. "What is your brand? What do you stand on?"

Hall also urged graduates to set goals and work hard toward achieving them even when it gets difficult.

"Today when you leave here and they say what are you going to do next, tell them this is exactly the plan," Hall said. "Will it come true? Will it happen exactly as you desire? Probably not, but stand 10 toes down on your plan."

Following Hall's address, Harold L. Martin Sr., who is stepping down as chancellor after 15 years, was honored for his contributions to the university.

"Thank you for the most memorable 15 years of my career," said Martin upon accepting the Chancellor Emeritus award. "You have inspired me in remarkable ways."

The ceremony concluded with graduates moving their tassels from the right side of their caps to the left symbolizing their newfound alumni status. As the school song played, everyone sang in unison.

Malachi Hope, who earned his degree in information technology, said he was proud to be a graduate of a school like A&T that is an HBCU  a historic Black college and university.

"Being able to come from a place of my heritage I really honor that," Hope said. "To be able to go out to a professional field representing a great HBCU is a blessing."

Photos: North Carolina A&T holds graduation ceremonies
Oct 12, 2024 - Today Islamic Date in Finland is 10 Rabi Al-Akhar 1446. Islamic Date is also called Hijri Date or Today Arabic Date in the Muslim world that follows Moon phases as a lunar calendar. Check the exact Islamic date today in Finland with an accurate Hijri date updated daily.

Today Islamic date in Finland is calculated as per the lunar based calendar which consists of 12 Lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. A Muslim must know about the exact Islamic date today or chand ki date.

What is Islamic Date in Finland today?

Todays Islamic Date in Finland in Islamic Hijri calendar is 10 Rabi Al-Akhar 1446. The current Islamic year is 1445 AH.

Today Islamic date in Finland

Islamic Date Today  Islam is the second biggest religion in the world with around 1.8 billion followers. Muslim population is not present in the Muslim countries but they are also in significant numbers in other countries. Muslims follow Hijri calendar to celebrate Islamic events according to the Islamic month date. However, the Islamic date today in Finland is as per the Islamic calendar. Thats why the Muslim calendar usually gives just the overview of today Islamic date in Finland 2024 and other upcoming dates. On this page, you can easily confirm the Islamic date today in Finland or Hijri date in Finland.

You can utilize this page to plan your vacations according to the Islamic holidays 2024 such as Eid al Fitr, Eid Al Adha, Hajj, etc. You can find the Urdu date today along with the respective Georgian date. You can see the Islamic date today in Finland and also the dates of upcoming events.

This page is a perfect place for people who are interested in today Islamic date in Finland 2024. It is recommended that you should bookmark this page to keep updated about the Islamic date today in Finland 2024. Islamic months are as follow Muharram, Safar, Rabi ul Awal, Rabi Al-Akhir (Rabi' al-Thani), Jumada Al-Awwal (Jumada al-Ula), Jumada Al-Akhirah (Jumada l-Ukhra or Jumada al-Thani), Rajab, Shaban (Sha'ban), Ramadan (also spell as Ramazan, Ramzan, Ramadhan), Shawwal, Dhul-Qadah (Dhu al-Qi'dah or Zu al-Qa'dah) and Dhul-Hijjah (Dhu al-Hijjah or Zu al-Hijjah).

Today Arabic date for Oulu, Espoo, Helsinki, Lahti, Vantaa, Kuopio, Pori, Tampere, Turku, Jyvaeskylae and others cities are also available on this page.
SPRINGFIELD  A 23-year-old Springfield woman has been arrested and charged with making a false bomb threat that targeted two Illinois state buildings last month, the Illinois State Police announced Friday.

The ISP received a call on April 22 that a bomb had been placed in the Illinois Capitol building and in a Springfield public aid building. The states terrorism and intelligence center quickly cleared both buildings. Authorities tracked down the person who allegedly made the threats, Gabrielle Williams, through cellular information and conducting interviews, according to a statement from the ISP.

Williams was taken to the Sangamon County Detention Facility on Thursday and charged with making a false bomb threat, a Class 4 felony. She awaits a pretrial detention hearing.

The ISP said a Clear and Present Danger report has been filed for Williams that, if affirmed by the state police, would revoke or deny a firearm owners identification card or an application for one.

In the statement, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias thanked police and said, We take the security of the Capitol Complex and the safety of its employees, public officials, and visitors extremely seriously.
" " Russian Armed Forces approach the Perekop checkpoint connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland Feb. 24, after Russian President Vladamir Putin announced a "special military operation" be conducted in both the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Sergei Malgavko/TASS/via Getty Images

The first casualty of war, says historian Ronald Suny, is not just the truth. Often, he says, "it is what is left out."

Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full-scale attack on Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022, and many in the world are now getting a crash course in the complex and intertwined history of those two nations and their peoples.

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Much of what the public is hearing, though, is jarring to Suny. That's because some of it is incomplete, some of it is wrong, and some of it is obscured or refracted by the self-interest or the limited perspective of who is telling it.

Suny, a professor at the University of Michigan, responded to several popular historical assertions about the two nations.

Putin's view of Russo-Ukrainian history has been widely criticized in the West. What do you think motivates his version of the history?

Putin believes that Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians are one people, bound by shared history and culture. But he also is aware that they have become separate states recognized in international law and by Russian governments as well. At the same time, he questions the historical formation of the modern Ukrainian state, which he says was the tragic product of decisions by former Russian leaders Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev. He also questions the sovereignty and distinctive nation-ness of Ukraine. While he promotes national identity in Russia, he denigrates the growing sense of nation-ness in Ukraine.

" " Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Moscow on Feb. 22, 2022. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Putin indicates that Ukraine by its very nature ought to be friendly, not hostile to Russia. But he sees its current government as illegitimate, aggressively nationalist, and even fascist. The condition for peaceful relations between states, he repeatedly says, is that they do not threaten the security of other states. Yet, as is clear from the invasion, he presents the greatest threat to Ukraine.

Putin sees Ukraine as an existential threat to Russia, believing that if it enters NATO, offensive weaponry will be placed closer to the Russian border, as already is being done in Romania and Poland.

It's possible to interpret Putin's statements about the historical genesis of the Ukrainian state as self-serving history and a way of saying, "We created them, we can take them back." But I believe he may instead have been making a forceful appeal to Ukraine and the West to recognize the security interests of Russia and provide guarantees that there will be no further moves by NATO toward Russia and into Ukraine. Ironically, his recent actions have driven Ukrainians more tightly into the arms of the West.

The Western position is that the breakaway regions Putin recognized, Donetsk and Luhansk, are integral parts of Ukraine. Russia claims that the Donbass region, which includes these two provinces, is historically and rightfully part of Russia. What does history tell us?

During the Soviet period, these two provinces were officially part of Ukraine. When the USSR disintegrated, the former Soviet republic boundaries became, under international law, the legal boundaries of the post-Soviet states. Russia repeatedly recognized those borders, though reluctantly in the case of Crimea.

But when one raises the fraught question of what lands belong to what people, a whole can of worms is opened. The Donbass has historically been inhabited by Russians, Ukrainians, Jews and others. In Soviet and post-Soviet times the cities were largely Russian ethnically and linguistically, while the villages were Ukrainian. When in 2014 the Maidan revolution in Kyiv moved the country toward the West and Ukrainian nationalists threatened to limit the use of the Russian language in parts of Ukraine, rebels in the Donbas violently resisted the central government of Ukraine.

" " The War in Donbass region of eastern Ukraine has caused at least 10,000 deaths and 1.4 million people displaced from their homes since the start of the conflict in March 2014. Martin Trabalik/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

After months of fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebel forces in the Donbas in 2014, regular Russian forces moved in from Russia, and a war began that has lasted for the last eight years, with thousands killed and wounded.

Historical claims to land are always contested  think of Israelis and Palestinians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis  and they are countered by claims that the majority living on the land in the present takes precedence over historical claims from the past. Russia can claim Donbass with its own arguments based on ethnicity, but so can Ukrainians with arguments based on historical possession. Such arguments go nowhere and often lead, as can be seen today, to bloody conflict.

Why was Russia's recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics as independent such a pivotal event in the conflict?

When Putin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states, he seriously escalated the conflict, which turned out to be the prelude to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That invasion is a hard, harsh signal to the West that Russia will not back down and accept the further arming of and placing of weaponry in Ukraine, Poland and Romania. The Russian president has now led his country into a dangerous preventive war  a war based on the anxiety that sometime in the future his country will be attacked  the outcome of which is unpredictable.

A New York Times story on Putin's histories of Ukraine says "The newly created Soviet government under Lenin that drew so much of Mr. Putin's scorn on Monday would eventually crush the nascent independent Ukrainian state. During the Soviet era, the Ukrainian language was banished from schools and its culture was permitted to exist only as a cartoonish caricature of dancing Cossacks in puffy pants." Is this history of Soviet repression accurate?

Lenin's government won the 1918-1921 civil war in Ukraine and drove out foreign interventionists, thus consolidating and recognizing the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. But Putin is essentially correct that it was Lenin's policies that promoted Ukrainian statehood within the USSR, within a Soviet empire, officially granting it and other Soviet republics the constitutional right to secede from the Union without conditions. This right, Putin angrily asserts, was a landmine that eventually blew up the Soviet Union.

The Ukrainian language was never banned in the USSR and was taught in schools. In the 1920s, Ukrainian culture was actively promoted by the Leninist nationality policy.

But under Stalin, Ukrainian language and culture began to be powerfully undermined. This started in the early 1930s, when Ukrainian nationalists were repressed, the horrific "Death Famine" killed millions of Ukrainians, and Russification  which is the process of promoting Russian language and culture  accelerated in the republic.

Within the strict bounds of the Soviet system, Ukraine, like many other nationalities in the USSR, became a modern nation, conscious of its history, literate in its language, and even in puffy pants permitted to celebrate its ethnic culture. But the contradictory policies of the Soviets in Ukraine both promoted a Ukrainian cultural nation while restricting its freedoms, sovereignty and expressions of nationalism.

History is both a contested and a subversive social science. It is used and misused by governments and pundits and propagandists. But for historians it is also a way to find out what happened in the past and why. As a search for truth, it becomes subversive of convenient and comfortable but inaccurate views of where we came from and where we might be going.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. You can find the original article here. It has been updated to reflect the correct ethnic and linguistic character of the villages in the Donbas during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. They were Ukrainian."

Ronald Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan; Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago; and Senior Researcher at the National Research University  Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Our local politicians and civil servants have a new tool available that can increase our ability to raise healthy school kids, support local farmers, lower health care spending, and strengthen our local economy. Thanks to an upgrade in a set of federal regulations announced in April, we have some opportunities to improve what we feed our schoolkids. While not perfect, the new regulations can have us taking several baby steps.

As you have heard me say before, one out of every five of our K-12 school students are obese, resulting in an average life expectancy 14 years less than it would be if they were of healthy weight, and each will have around $1,000 more in annual health care costs. The challenge is figuring out what to do about this problem  which gets worse as the students become adults.

These new regulations offer a solution  they require that school lunches have fewer harmful ingredients, and more healthy ingredients. The schools have to begin to make changes in when school starts in Fall of 2025 and have to fully meet the new standards by 2027.

The first focus is food additives. Most people know that when you eat a peach, you like what you are eating because it is naturally sweet. One peach has about 13 grams of sugar in it. When you make a peach pie, you add around 2/3 of a cup of sugar to the whole pie, so when you slice your pie wedge, it has 25 grams of sugar. The extra 12 units are added sugar. Added sugar is usually bait to make us eat more of something that others make money selling.

The new school lunch regulations reduce the amount of allowed added sugar so that no more than 10% of the weekly calories served a child can be from added sugar.

Too much salt is another food additive that harms kids health. The new regulations say that the level has to go down to around 85% of todays levels. The new regulations also say 80% of the grains used in cooking and baking have to be whole grain-rich.

There are two other blessings in the new regulation. The first is that any school system in any state is now free to set their own nutritional standard higher than the standard in the federal Department of Agriculture regulations. There is some great evidence that this is a good investment. The research shows that in states that exceeded USDA standards, schoolkids obesity rate went down 12.3 percentage points compared with states that did not exceed USDA standards.

The second blessing is that your school system can become a stimulus to local economic growth by buying locally produced vegetables, fruit, meat or fish.

Back in 2010, researchers at the University of Minnesota Agriculture Extension Office took a look at the economic impact if school systems bought as much of the food they served their students as they could from local farmers. They found that sourcing their school food locally had a significant positive impact on the local economy.

The (skinny) bottom line here is that we have a win/win/win available to us if we can give the schools enough support to get them them through, and take full advantage of, this change.

We can reduce obesity, increase grades, increase life expectancy and boost the local economy.

Or we can continue to increase obesity, lower grades, shorten life expectancy, and buy school food from other nations rather than down the street.

This is not a Democrats vs. Republican issue. This is a chance to work together to take care of our kids and grandkids. If we work together, America wins.
The Carolina Core is undoubtedly North Carolinas new economic powerhouse. But were not stopping there. We have our sights set much higher.

With more than $20 billion of capital investment pouring into the Core over the last five years and record-breaking new job announcements for the state, the region is hot and getting hotter.

The Carolina Core consists of a 120-plus-mile swath of central North Carolina from west of Winston-Salem to Fayetteville. It includes Greensboro and High Point and extends near Charlotte and the Research Triangle, along the future Interstate 685.

In 2023, the Core was home to three of the five largest jobs announcements in the state. Importantly, these jobs are concentrated in innovative industries of the future, not legacy industries of the past. The region has diversified to a future-forward economy catalyzed by research, innovation and business partnerships generated by local colleges and universities.

Momentum in the Core

In 2018, the Piedmont Triad Partnership, our regional economic development organization, joined with business leaders and our local chamber partners to set what was a very ambitious goal: to add 50,000 new jobs to the region by 2038. Fast forward to today, and together we have surpassed that goal in just five years time.

Contributing to this transformational economic success were both major announcements to the tune of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, as well as smaller, but impactful, 100- to 200-job announcements.

The streak began in 2021 when Toyota Battery Manufacturing announced the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite as home to its massive EV and hybrid battery plant in the region. Since then, Toyotas investment in the Carolina Core continues to grow, ballooning to nearly $14 billion and 5,100 new jobs. In a matter of months, major announcements hit at each of the megasites along U.S. 421 in the region, including the announcements that Vietnamese car maker VinFast will produce both electric batteries and vehicles, Boom Supersonic will develop the next generation of supersonic passenger jets and chipmaker Wolfpeed will build the worlds largest silicon carbide materials plant, all right here in the Carolina Core.

Beyond those four game-changing projects, many other companies continue to prosper in the Carolina Core. Honda Aircraft Co., Caterpillar, Volvo Trucks, Thomas Built Buses, John Deere Kernersville, Siemens, Kontoor Brands and Hanesbrands are just a few of the big names in business that are pushing the innovation envelope in the region.

Harnessing the momentum

Now the region is moving from announcements to action. Facilities have broken ground and are well on their way to completion. Hiring is underway. Production is approaching.

But we dont want to stop there. How can we position the Carolina Core to be the economic powerhouse of the Southeastern United States, or better yet, the country?

Now that weve reached our goal of adding 50,000 new jobs, we must prepare the Carolina Core to meet our new goal of adding 100,000 new jobs to the region by 2038, all while facilitating the success of new and existing companies here in the region.

To get to this point took visionary leadership and unprecedented cooperation at the local, regional and state levels. It is going to take even more of this secret sauce to move us to where we want to be.

The Piedmont Triad Partnership, in coordination with leaders in business, economic development, education and government, will double down on aggressive regional strategies in three key areas: 1) talent attraction and workforce development, 2) business recruitment, and 3) infrastructure and product development.

Weve already made headway in many of these areas, including the launch of our national multi-channel talent attraction marketing campaign, More in the Core, to elevate awareness of the lifestyle offerings of this region. To date, the campaign is generating major engagement and has exceeded industry benchmarks.

Additionally, our regional approach to engaging and educating site-selection consultants across the country is paying dividends. This includes both outbound missions to visit consultants in major markets and hosting them here in the Carolina Core as we will do in a big way at the U.S. Open in Pinehurst in June.

Finally, our collective regional efforts to designate U.S. 421 as Future Interstate 685 are well underway. Thanks to support by our local, state and federal delegations, we have secured a Future Interstate designation for the portion of U.S. 421 from 1-85 to 1-95. Next, we are pursuing a second Future Interstate designation for the segment of U.S. 421 from Wilkesboro to I-40 in Winston-Salem. These efforts will further increase our regions economic competitiveness, while improving connectivity and commerce throughout the state.

While this is a good start, we know we must do more. Working with our partners, we will continue to fine-tune our approach to leverage this success for an even greater impact for future generations.

Now that weve hit the 50,000 announced new jobs mark, were not declaring mission accomplished. In fact, we are far from it. We look forward to working together with our community to chart the path for the next decades-long overnight success here in the Carolina Core.

Mike Fox is president and CEO of the Piedmont Triad Partnership.
SPRINGFIELD  Stateville Correctional Center could close as early as September under a plan laid out by Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration on Friday.

Top officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections testified in front of a key panel of state lawmakers. The 12 members on the General Assemblys Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability face a mid-June deadline to make a recommendation on the governors plan to close and rebuild a pair of prisons in central Illinois and in Chicagos south suburbs.

But no matter what the panel decides, the Pritzker administration can go ahead with its plans so long as money is built into the states next budget.

I want everybody to understand that (any) recommendation that comes from this commission here is advisory, COGFA Co-Chair Dave Koehler, a Democratic state senator from Peoria, said after an hour and a half of testimony on the matter in front of his panel Friday.

Yes sir, I do understand that, replied Mike Newman, the deputy director of AFSCME Council 31, the union that represents some 80,000 state workers  including most employees within the Department of Corrections.

Newman, along with several members of the panel, expressed strong reservations about Pritzkers plan to close Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill and Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.

The governor announced the plan in March, and late last month his administration provided more details on the plan, revealing Logan Correctional Center  one of only two womens prisons in Illinois  may be rebuilt on the grounds of Stateville, which would expand the states current operations into a multi-functional campus.

Local elected officials have joined organized labor in pushing back against the plan for Logan CC, citing economic impact on the rural area north of Springfield.

Asked about that pushback this week, Pritzker said state and local officials should focus more on attracting great new private sector jobs like those in the new Ferrero Rocher factory in Bloomington, where the governor traveled Tuesday for a ribbon cutting.

And I think that really is the future for most places across the state, to not rely upon a state-run facility thats a prison, he said. That cant be a great economic growth strategy for the area.

The governor announced the prison closure plan in March, 10 months after the administration received a report it had commissioned on the deferred maintenance of state prisons.

The report detailed deteriorating buildings, compromised water supplies, infestations and all manner of recommended repairs and upgrades  including to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The total price tag to fully address those deficiencies would cost an estimated $2.5 billion to fully address, according to the report by Atlanta-based CGL Companies, a consulting firm that specializes in buildings and maintenance.

The costly repairs needed to remedy all of the issues identified by the CGL report and the structural engineering survey still will not resolve the design deficiencies present in the 1920s structure, IDOC Acting Director Latoya Hughes said of Stateville during testimony to the panel Friday.

Hughes and her deputies did not dispute lawmakers assertions that the agency is aiming to close Stateville in September, though they did acknowledge the five-year timeline to fully phase out the dilapidated prisons could be in flux.

Logan Correctional Center, meanwhile, would be kept open as long as possible, Hughes said, in order to accommodate both current inmates and staff.

When inmates are moved out of their current facilities  whenever that might be  IDOC will have to spend nearly $7 million to place them elsewhere, according to a report the agency filed recently.

"We want to be clear that the department will not reclassify the security level of individuals in custody, Hughes told the panel Friday. Rather, we will look at their medical, mental health, programmatic and educational needs, along with their security level, to identify a proper placement for them in a facility that security designation.

AFSCME has pushed back on the plan since it was announced in March, and Friday was no different. Newman, the unions deputy director, repeatedly cast doubt on IDOCs internal estimates of both costs and jobs.

He threw cold water on the agencys assurances that current prison employees would be guaranteed job transfers with minimal disruption to their lives, citing the long distances some may need to drive to a new facility.

And even if there are vacancies at facilities like Sheridan or Pontiac, those are very likely too difficult a commute for Stateville employees, given especially that many are already traveling from Chicago and its suburbs, that most are frequently working overtime, which can make their workday as long as 16 hours, he said.

Koehler told both IDOC and AFSCME representatives that he would be seeking an extension for convening a pair of legally mandated community hearings on the closures.

Under state law, COGFA would be required to organize those hearings by June  a nearly impossible task, Koehler said, given the General Assemblys typical end-of-May adjournment for its spring legislative session.
Nebraskans will go to the polls Tuesday for the time under the states new voter ID rules.

So, if you havent already cast a mail-in ballot, you will have to bring a drivers license, a state ID or IDs with your name and photo issued by political subdivisions and colleges and universities to the polling place and present it to election workers to receive a ballot.

Its essential that voters recognize that they must present an ID to prevent the voter ID rules  which were frankly unnecessary in Nebraska where there has never been widespread voter fraud or questions about the handling and counting of ballots  from becoming voter-suppression measures.

And, when youre presenting the ID and getting the ballot, be nice to the poll workers, who are doing an invaluable civic duty  its sure not for the money  for their communities and democracy.

They dont deserve to be harassed, badgered or accused of some sort of malfeasance, which has happened in past elections. Rather, they should be thanked for their service.

As a rule, primaries have lower voter turnout than general elections. But a lack of contested races and the fact that ballot issues are decided in November indicate that Tuesdays election will be a low turnout affair, even compared to the in-the-pandemic 2020 primary.

Voters will be asked to choose nominees for both Nebraska U.S. Senate seats, a ballot rarity required when Sen. Ben Sasse left the Senate to become president of the University of Florida.

But there are no hotly contested races in either party for either of the seats, now held by Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, who was appointed to Sasses seat. Nor is Rep. Mike Flood facing significant opposition to get the GOP nomination for his reelection.

There is one contest that will receive some passing national interest  the vote in the Republican presidential primary. Trump has, for two months, been the presumptive GOP nominee.

But, Nicki Haley, the last of his opponents to drop out of the race, has nonetheless been receiving as much as 20% of the votes in primaries, an amount high enough to create discussion about the lack of support for Trump by GOP voters, even in the reliably red states, like Nebraska.

While the Republican totals for and against Trump will be noted, the meaningful votes will be cast in nonpartisan races where there are more than two candidates for Legislature, Board of Regents, State Board of Education, national resources district seats and in Waverly, where an $89.9 million school bond issue is being floated.

Ideally, those contests and a sense of civic duty should be enough to bring voters to the polls. Just dont forget your ID when youre going to vote.
BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Yang Tao, director-general of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Friday held a briefing to elaborate on China's position on United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 2758.

Yang said that for some time, the United States has been deliberately distorting and challenging UNGA Resolution 2758 adopted in 1971 on restoring the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations and expelling the Chiang Kai-shek group. It has been trumpeting the notion that Taiwan's status is undetermined, and advocating support for Taiwan's participation in U.N. conferences and activities.

Yang noted that recently, Mark Lambert along with other U.S. State Department officials blatantly asserted that UNGA Resolution 2758 "did not endorse, is not equivalent to and does not reflect a consensus for China's 'one-China principle,' has no bearing on countries' sovereign choices with respect to their relationships with Taiwan, does not preclude Taiwan's meaningful participation in the United Nations system and other multilateral forums, and did not constitute a U.N. institutional position on the ultimate political status of Taiwan."

Moreover, the United States claims that its one-China policy is different from China's one-China principle. All this is a U.S. attempt to invent a whole set of false narratives to mislead international public opinion and challenge the one-China consensus among the international community, Yang added.

"In view of this, we deem it necessary to comprehensively and systematically explain the origin and facts of Resolution 2758, so as to set the record straight. We believe a lie, even told a thousand times, will not become truth," Yang said.

First, the one-China principle is very clear, that is, there is but one China in the world, Taiwan is part of China, and the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, Yang said.

Yang noted that UNGA Resolution 2758 fully reflects and solemnly reaffirms the one-China principle. Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times. This is a historical fact; it is also the international consensus. The 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation clearly stipulated that Taiwan, a Chinese territory stolen by Japan, shall be restored to China. These documents with international legal effect formed an integral part of the post-WWII international order and also established the legal foundation of Taiwan's status as China's inalienable territory.

In 1949, the government of the People's Republic of China was established, replacing the government of the Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China. It was a change of government without changing China as a subject of international law. China's sovereignty and inherent territorial boundaries did not change. Rightfully, the government of the People's Republic of China fully enjoys and exercises China's sovereignty, including that over Taiwan. Due to continued civil war in China and the meddling of external forces, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have fallen into a special state of protracted political confrontation. However, China's sovereignty and territory have not been split and will never be split. Taiwan's status as part of China has not changed and will never change, Yang said.

Yang noted that on Oct. 25, 1971, the 26th session of the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 with an overwhelming majority. It states in black and white that the General Assembly "decides to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it." The Resolution resolved once and for all the question of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the United Nations as a political, legal and procedural issue. It made clear that there is only one China in the world and that Taiwan is a part of China, not a country. It also made clear that there is only one seat of China in the United Nations, and the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal representative, precluding "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan."

"If Taiwan's status is undetermined, and if China's representation does not include Taiwan, why expel the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek? Why, for more than 50 years, has Taiwan's economic output been counted as part of China's GDP when calculating China's scale of assessment in the United Nations and many other international organizations? Why does the United States turn a blind eye to such clear facts and simple logic?" Yang said.

Second, the U.N. system has always observed Resolution 2758 and upheld the one-China principle in dealing with Taiwan-related issues, Yang said.

Yang said that since the adoption of Resolution 2758, the U.N. and its specialized agencies, and also other intergovernmental international organizations have all adhered to it. They regard Taiwan as a province of China's and do not recognize the so-called international representation of the Taiwan authorities. The U.N. Office of Legal Affairs has issued legal opinions stating very clearly that "the United Nations considers 'Taiwan' for all purposes to be an integral part of the People's Republic of China," "the United Nations considers 'Taiwan' as a province of China with no separate status," "'authorities' in 'Taipei' are not considered to ... enjoy any form of governmental status," "use the term 'Taiwan, Province of China' when a reference to 'Taiwan' is required in United Nations Secretariat documents." For decades, the U.N. Secretary Generals and their spokespersons have made it clear when expressing their stance on Taiwan that the United Nations is guided by Resolution 2758 and adheres to the one-China principle.

As part of China's territory, Taiwan has no basis, reason or right to participate in the U.N. or any other international organizations where membership is exclusive to sovereign countries. Any issue concerning the Taiwan region's participation in the activities of international organizations must be handled on the basis of the one-China principle, as reaffirmed by Resolution 2758, Yang stressed.

The principle is again confirmed in May 1972 by Resolution 25.1 of the 25th World Health Assembly (WHA), which was adopted in accordance with UNGA Resolution 2758. Hence, whether and how Taiwan participates in the WHA can only be decided by the central government of China. The Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan refuse to accept the "1992 Consensus" that reflects the one-China principle, and are hellbent on the separatist stance of "Taiwan independence." As a result, the political foundation for Taiwan to participate in the WHA no longer exists. This position of the Chinese government has received wide support from the international community. The WHA has rejected deliberations of Taiwan-related proposals for many consecutive years, Yang said.

Third, the international community overwhelmingly abides by Resolution 2758, and fully and faithfully implements the one-China principle. Resolution 2758 is a decision made by the U.N. General Assembly and must be observed by all member states, Yang said.

Yang added that this is the requirement of the United Nations Charter, the written commitment made by all countries upon joining the U.N., and also an obligation that all U.N. member states must fulfill. The one-China principle is also the fundamental prerequisite and political foundation for China to establish and develop relations with all other countries. From the very first country that established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China to the 183rd country, namely Nauru, they have all made political commitment to adhering to the one-China principle, and included this commitment in political documents such as communiques and joint statements on the establishment of diplomatic relations with China. And they have all severed the so-called "diplomatic" relations with Taiwan. "This shows that the one-China principle is a universally recognized principle and represents people's sentiments and a global trend."

Yang said that as a signatory to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the United States is fully aware of the historical and legal facts that Taiwan belongs to China. Yet it openly challenges the post-WWII international order, as if it has "amnesia." As a founding member of the U.N. and a permanent member of the Security Council, the United States not only fails to take the lead in complying with a UNGA resolution, but repeatedly questions and misinterprets it, eroding the foundation of the U.N. and trampling on the principles of international law. It also attempts to mislead international public opinion with its own malicious distortions, and seeks to force its wrong stance upon the international community. Is this the so-called "rules-based international order" the United States has been preaching? Clearly, this is nothing but a hegemonic practice of applying international law in a selective way.

The world has not forgotten that during the discussions that led to UNGA Resolution 2758, the United States had teamed up with a few countries to try to create "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," and to push through a "dual representation" proposal against overwhelming opposition. Many countries had stepped forward, voicing their clear opposition and stressing that the proposal was "illegal and inconsistent with reality, justice and the principles of the U.N. Charter." In the end, the proposal failed to be put to a vote and was discarded. Today, the United States is once again acting against the trend of history and trying to overturn the consensus of the international community. It must understand that what it failed to accomplish more than 50 years ago will have even less chances to succeed today, Yang said.

Fourth, the United States must stop fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle, Yang said.

Once the biggest obstacle to the normalization of China-U.S. relations, the Taiwan question had been fully resolved with the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and there should be no difference between the understanding and policies of the two sides. In the communiques, the United States clearly states that "the United States of America recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the only legal government of China" and that "the government of the United States of America recognizes China's position that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China," Yang noted.

This is the political commitment of the United States, the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and above all, the original and true meaning of the one-China policy of the United States. However, the fact that China and the United States are still discussing the Taiwan question 45 years after the establishment of diplomatic relations is because the United States keeps violating the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and continues to interfere in China's internal affairs and obstruct China's reunification, Yang said.

The United States claims that it adheres to the one-China policy, but it has added the "Taiwan Relations Act" and "Six Assurances to Taiwan" as precondition and proviso. The latter two, concocted by the United States unilaterally, fundamentally violate the one-China principle and the consensus of the international community, and have never been recognized by China, Yang stressed.

Yang said that the United States claims that it maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan, but it has arranged meetings between U.S. and Taiwan officials, signed agreements with sovereign connotations and an official nature, and provided arms and ammunition to the Chinese territory. How is this unofficial ties? President Joe Biden has pledged that the United States does not support "Taiwan independence," "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," and does not seek to use Taiwan as a tool to contain China. Has the U.S. side honored its commitment?

China reminds the United States that any move to reverse the course of history is doomed to fail, any effort to play the "Taiwan card" will only backfire, and any attempt to "use Taiwan to contain China" will be a dead end, Yang said.

China warns the United States that with regard to UNGA Resolution 2758, the U.S. has only the obligation to strictly abide by it, but no right to arbitrarily distort it or any privilege to act as the U.S. sees fit, Yang said.

China urges the United States not to stand on the opposite side of the international community, not to stand on the opposite side of international justice, and not to stand on the opposite side of the basic norms of international relations, Yang said. 
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

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One of Australias top officials said the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is concerned about a completely broken migration system. Minister for Home Affairs Clare ONeil made the statement in an announcement about a new policy that affects international students.

ONeil said the Australian government will require students to have more than $19,000 in savings to qualify for a student visa. That is about $3,000 more than last year.

She said the larger bank accounts will ensure that international students can support themselves while studying. She said having more money will reduce targeting of students for exploitation. The Australian government is concerned that students come to study but spend too much time working in outside jobs.

ONeil also warned 34 education providers that they might be suspended for non-genuine or exploitative recruitment practices.

ONeil called these education organizations dodgy providers. Dodgy means false or operating without morals. She said the letters will help weed out the bottom feeders in the education business.

Some government officials are worried that the schools make false promises to students about how much they can work or the quality of their study programs.

ONeil also said the bad actors trash, or hurt, the opinions people have of good schools.

International education is a large part of Australias economy. During the 2022 to 2023 school year, foreign students added about $24 billion to the economy.

The increase in international students is starting to worry some Australian leaders. As of last September, Australia reported that immigration resulted in 548,000 more people in the country than the year before. The government is also blaming the fast rise in the cost of renting places to live on the increase in short-term visitors.

The government expects the new financial policy to cut the number of new migrants in half over two years.

Im Ashley Thompson.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by Reuters.

_______________________________________________

Words in This Story

ensure v. to make certain

exploit v. to take advantage of someone

genuine adj. real or true

recruitment n. the process of actively seeking out people to join a school, company, organization or the armed forces

weed out v. to eliminate bad things or people

bottom feeder adj. (figurative) someone to aims to profit from the problems of others

rent v. to pay money to the owner of some property (such as an apartment) for its use for a set period of time

We want to hear from you. Do you know anyone studying in Australia? What do they say about the large number of students from other countries?
The American space agency NASA is providing details about a railway system it plans to build on the surface of the moon.

The system aims to provide a robotic transport system to support future lunar activities of astronauts visiting the moon, NASA said in an online statement.

The railway would be part of NASAs Artemis program. It seeks to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. The agency has set a target landing date of September 2026 to place astronauts on the surface of the moon.

NASA has said it also plans to establish a long-term moon base where astronauts could do their own exploring and carry out science experiments. Agency officials have said the base could be built as soon as the 2030s. It could also serve as a possible launch site for future exploration of Mars.

Last month, NASA also announced new efforts to develop and test new vehicle models designed to explore the moon.

The lunar rail proposal is called the Flexible Levitation on a Track, or FLOAT. NASA said such a railway system will be critical to the daily operations on the moon.

The main purpose of FLOAT would be to provide transportation services in areas of the moon where astronauts are active, the space agency said. This will include carrying loads of lunar soil and other materials to different areas of the lunar surface.

NASA has said it plans to mine such soil, called regolith, for substances that could support astronaut activities on the moon. Regolith can contain materials like water or liquid forms of oxygen and hydrogen. Those elements could be used to support astronauts and their equipment during long stays on the moon.

The other main use of the proposed railway would be to transport larger loads of materials and equipment to and from the areas where spacecraft land.

The FLOAT system is already being developed by engineers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. It is based on magnetic levitation  a commonly used technology in high-speed rail development.

Drawings by NASA suggest the plans call for flat, magnetic panels, called robots, to float, or levitate, over a flat rail line, or track. The robots have no moving parts and are unpowered. They are pushed along the track by electromagnetic energy.

NASA said the simple design of the carrier robots should help them last a long time and require little ongoing care. The systems tracks can be placed directly on the lunar surface, avoiding the need to build a complex, permanent structure. They could also be moved around to change the transportation path.

A smaller version of the FLOAT system will permit robots to transport loads up to 30 kilograms at speeds of about 0.5 meters per second, the agency said. A larger system could also be built, to enable load transports involving up to 100,000 kilograms of regolith. Such a system could permit trips of multiple kilometers per day, NASA explained.

The agency is currently developing and testing different parts of the FLOAT system.

FLOAT is one in a series of NASA development projects that recently received additional financial assistance to keep running. The projects are part of a NASA program called Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC).

Each of the projects received up to $600,000 to continue working over the next two years to progress further. FLOAT and the other projects already passed NIACs first development phase and are entering the second.

If the efforts continue to show promise, they will be able to enter phase III, which provides additional funding and support from NASA. After that, the projects will be considered for a future space mission.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from NASA.

Quiz - NASA Details Plans for Railway System on the Moon Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

_____________________________________________

Words in This Story

electromagnetic  n. relating to the electrical and magnetic sources produced by an electric current

phase  n. a specific period in which something happens
The Biden administration plans to put limits on American-made artificial intelligence (AI) models, the Reuters news agency reports.

The aim is to restrict the technology that powers popular chatbots from countries such as China and Russia.

But China in the past year has built its own generative AI industry and has been urging its companies to avoid foreign technology.

So, how dependent is China now on U.S. AI models and how might new American policy on AI development affect China?

OpenAI and China

OpenAIs key AI services such as ChatGPT and the DALL-E image generator, or maker, have not been officially released in mainland China. An OpenAI spokesperson told Reuters last year that it was unable to do so in some countries due to local "conditions."

However, many companies and engineers have accessed OpenAIs services using special tools like virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide their network addresses.

As a result, many Chinese companies have been able to build software and programs on top of OpenAIs models. Chinese companies also often compare their own AI models against those of OpenAI.

OpenAI has shut down Chinese companies access to its service. Last December, OpenAI suspended the account of ByteDance, TikToks Chinese owner. The move came after technology website The Verge reported that ByteDance used OpenAIs technology to develop its own AI.

Access to OpenAIs AI models is also restricted in Hong Kong. Although OpenAIs services are unavailable there, Microsoft, an investor and a partner of OpenAI, has released Copilot to the public.

Copilot is a generative AI service built with OpenAIs latest technology. By partnering with Microsoft, companies in Hong Kong can also use OpenAIs AI models.

Open source

The United States governments plans are aimed at the export of closed source AI models. Closed source models involve software and training data that are not publicly available, sources told Reuters. Open source models would be beyond the restrictions of export controls.

However, China has been using many open source models developed in Western nations, such as Meta Platforms Llama series.

The Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence is a high-level research lab in China. In March, Chinese government media reported that the lab said the majority of Chinese AI models were built using Metas Llama models.

The lab told Chinas Premier Li Qiang at the time that China severely lacks autonomy in the area.

01.AI is one of the most well-known AI companies in China. Last November, it faced strong criticism after the discovery that the companys AI model Yi-34B was built on Metas Llama system.

That said, a large number of Chinese tech companies such as Baidu, Huawei, and iFlytek have been working to develop their own AI models.

Some of them claim that their models have become as capable as OpenAIs latest GPT4 model in several areas.

Self-sufficiency

Chinese authorities have been discussing the need for the country to develop its own controllable AI technology.

State-backed newspaper China Daily suggested in a post last February on Chinas Weibo site that ChatGPT could help the U.S. government spread disinformation.

China has also been quick to release rules on the use of generative AI. AI services must get government approval before being released to the public. As of January, China has approved over 40 AI models for public use but none of them were foreign AI models.

Im John Russell.

Josh Ye reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

______________________________________________________

Words in This Story

chatbot  n. a program that is designed to converse with humans

access  v. to be able to use something

address  n. a location where information is stored

autonomy  n. the state of existing separately from others
DoubleDragon Corp. is expected to exceed P100 billion in total equity for the first time in 2024.

The company is positioned to become one of the few companies in the Philippines with total equity at 12-digit level. It is also one of the few companies in the Philippines with credit rating PRS Aaa (Triple A) from Philippine Rating Services Corp.

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DoubleDragons string of titled investment properties strategically planted in prime locations spread out in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Overseas serves as its strong underlying solid foundation.

DoubleDragon despite being a relatively newer player in a highly competitive industry dominated by long established giants that came way many decades ahead, we are grateful for the grit and hard work of our team and support of all our stakeholders that enabled DoubleDragon to demonstrate that the business landscape of the Philippines is a playing field that allows entrepreneurs to thrive, inspiring more and more entrepreneurs to build more start-ups and push it forward to eventually become large entrenched players over time, said DoubleDragon chairman Edgar Sia II.

As an entrepreneur myself who started in the province, I firmly believe that a country that produces a continuous flow of new players that are able to grow and not just a handful of old players is vital for a robust and healthy economy that will contribute towards a First World Philippines, said Sia.

DoubleDragon organically developed a novel and unique business model and brand in Hotel101 that is highly portable and exportable to multiple continents. The upcoming Hotel101 Global listing in the US to further strengthen DoubleDragons balance sheet.

Its consolidated net income grew 23.25 percent year-on-year to P15.93 billion in 2023, with consolidated revenues at P24.74 billion.

Total Assets went up 15.59 percent year-on-year to P181.24 billion, while total equity grew 15.88 percent to P94.57 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023. Its debt-to-equity ratio stood at 0.64x.

DoubleDragon in less than 10 years has completed over 1.3 million square meters of diversified asset portfolio consisting of a chain of provincial community malls in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, office buildings in Metro Manila, hotels in the Philippines and overseas and warehouse complexes around the country.

It operates modern community malls in the countryside, as far as Cotabato City, Koronadal City, Dipolog City in Zamboanga Del Norte and Isulan Sultan Kudarat that further stimulates the local economy.

DoubleDragons nationwide portfolio of titled hard assets footprint is expected to fully mature by 2025.

It expects its Hotel101 subsidiary being an Asset-light business model to become one of the major homegrown brands and business model export to other countries that would generate a significant US dollar inflow to the Philippines.

Hotel101 is also seen to further elevate the globally renowned Filipino brand of hospitality to each of the country where Hotel101 eventually operates.
The Philippine government met with Dutch officials in the Hague on May 8, 2024 to discuss best practices for establishing the Clark National Food Hub.

DTI Undersecretary Mary Jean Pacheco together with Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, vice chairperson of the House Committee on Trade and Industry, and Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president Arrey Perez led the high-level meeting which highlights the governments commitment to food security.

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The goal is to ensure a more efficient supply chain that will make food accessible, available, and affordable for the Filipino. The best way to do that is to learn from the best, Pacheco said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the three-year Food Logistics Action Agenda presented by DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual in August 2023, which sought to revolutionize the food distribution network.

The establishment of the National Food Hub in Clark is an actualization of the plan.

Aligned with the Presidents goal of ensuring food security, this initiative will empower our farmers and the private sector, as well as strengthen our supply chain and logistics systems, said the DTI chief.

Establishing a National Food Hub holds immense potential benefits, from enhancing food security and stabilizing prices to promoting economic growth and fostering social stability. Rodriguez said during the discussion.

Perez said Clark is honored to pioneer such future-proofed food hub, following the vision of the President.

Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya received the delegation and commercial counsellor Magnolia Misolas-Ashley facilitated discussions with Dutch officials led by director-general for Foreign Economic Relations Michiel Sweers, deputy director Jules Gerzon and special agriculture envoy Frederik Vossenaar.

The Netherlandsas the worlds second largest exporter of agricultural and agriculture-related products, and consistently recognized as a premier logistics hotspot in Europe, consistently ranking high at the World Bank Logistics Performance Indexis an ideal partner for this endeavor, Malaya said.
A senior UN official expressed concern late Saturday at reports that heavy weapons were being used in fighting in the Sudanese city of El-Fashur.

Wounded civilians were being rushed to hospital and civilians were trying to flee the fighting in the Darfur region, said a statement from Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UNs humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.

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I am gravely concerned by the eruption of clashes in (El-Fashur) despite repeated calls to parties to the conflict to refrain from attacking the city, said Nkweta-Salami.

I reiterate  the violence threatens the lives of over 800,000 civilians who live in the city.

I am equally disturbed by reports of the use of heavy weaponry and attacks in highly populated areas in the city center and the outskirts of (El-Fashur), resulting in multiple casualties, she added.

The United States last month warned of a looming rebel military offensive on the city, a humanitarian hub that appears to be at the centre of a newly opening front in the countrys civil war.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has deployed BRP Teresa Magbanua, one of its largest patrol vessels, to keep a close eye on the reported illegal activities of China on Escoda Shoala sandbank located just 75 nautical miles from the coastline of Palawan.

In a news release on Sunday, Malacanang said this was done to intensify the Philippines vigilance in the area amid Chinas brazen attempt at creating artificial islands by destroying coral reefs in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

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According to PCG spokesman for WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela, two smaller patrol vesslesBRP Cabra and BRP Malabrigohave also been doing rotational deployment on the same area to help the government document Beijings alarming expansionist agenda.

Tarriela said that they have monitored a total of 34 Chinese Maritime Militia Vessels on Escoda Shoal with the Peoples Liberation Army Navy vessels and helicopters and four other China Coast Guard vessels.

What the PCG is extensively monitoring, Tarriela said, are the three Chinese Research vessels, including its mother boat that receive data and information from two small boats swarming around Escoda Shoal apparently conducting exploratory activities.

Tarriela said that they have already sent rigid hull inflatable boats to intercept, or at least get closer to the Chinese vessels.
Where cinema, culture, tradition, and engineering marvels converge



Panama, a country steeped in cultural heritage and natural beauty, recently hosted a week-long celebration that seamlessly blended the glitz of the International Film Festival of Panama, the rich traditions of the Embera Tribe, the vibrant Festival of Devils in Casco Viejo, and the awe-inspiring Panama Canal. This exciting trip shows how the country can blend different experiences to make amazing memories

The heart of the week-long adventure began in Panama City, where the International Film Festival of Panama happened under the direction of Karla Quintero. The legendary John Travolta graced the festival alongside critically acclaimed director Gregory Nava who is renowned for his masterpiece El Norte.

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The festivals program was an incredible curation of global cinema that highlighted underrepresented global stories. Classic masterpieces like Grease shared the spotlight with gems such as Italys Lo Capitano and Japans Monster, roping in audiences and sparking powerful discussions about storytelling, diverse cultural perspectives, and the power of cinema.

Querido Tropico grabbed the Su Mirada post-production award, while La Chica Destellante and Other Protests won the Development Award. The prestigious Copa Airlines Audience Award went to Bila Burba.

A series of special industry panels provided invaluable insights into the inner workings of the international film industry. Filmmakers, producers, and industry experts took part in essential discussions for a deeper understanding of cinema on a global scale. The festivals commitment to showcasing diverse voices and narratives contributed to the artistic exploration of Panama and beyond.

John Travolta graces the 12th International Film Festival of Panama

Amidst the cinematic celebrations, the Festival of Devils in the heart of Casco Viejo added a touch of mystique and tradition. This annual celebration, deeply rooted in historical and cultural significance, showcases Panamas diverse heritage.

The origins of the Festival of Devils can be traced back to the colonial era when African slaves infused their traditions with local customs. Today, participants wear elaborate devil masks and costumes, symbolizing a blend of spiritualism and theatricality. Drumbeats reverberate through the streets as dancers perform intricate routines, embodying the spirit of Diablo, ancestors and mythical creatures.

No visit to Panama is complete without experiencing the marvel of the Panama Canal. The canals locks and waterways connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, facilitating global trade and maritime navigation. With a quick ride from Casco Viejo, visitors can witness ships of all sizes passing through the locks, gaining a firsthand appreciation for this historical engineering wonder that has made a worldwide impact.

Another highlight was a nearby adventure into the heart of Panamas rainforests to visit one of the villages of the Embera Tribe. Visitors were taken on a journey alongside the river on a tranquil canoe ride and immersed themselves into the culture and traditions of a typical Embera village.

This community, deeply rooted in ancient traditions, welcomed travelers with warm hospitality and cheerful songs. The Embera tribal leader shared stories about their lasting traditions while sharing a freshly prepared meal of fish, plantains, and fruits wrapped in banana leaves. Accompanying the meal was a lively performance of their traditional music and dance.

Panama showed how well it can bring together movies, culture, festivals, and amazing engineering. The countrys welcoming spirit and unity were clear, from the fancy movie festival to sharing stories with the Embera Tribe. Whether enjoying the vibrant Festival of Devils or visiting the famous Panama Canal, it was all memorable.

The 12th IFF Panama ran from April 4 to 7. The Festival Devils took place in Casco Viejo on April 6.
If you had a hard time keeping up with last weeks news, dont worry, weve got you covered. Here are the top stories that captured readers interest.

Re-enactors in period dress stand in front of the Alamo Church after firing muskets during ceremony marking the 188th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo. Jessica Phelps/San Antonio Express News

The juiciest divorce in Texas is between historians, the traditionalists vs. those who want to tell a fuller Texas story. Click to read more about the dispute over Texas history.

AldoOs Ristorante Italiano is one of the Top 25 restaurants in San Antonio for 2024. Mike Sutter/Staff

This years refreshed playlist of San Antonios dynamic culinary scene includes seven new names and a new No. 1. Click to find out if your favorite restaurant made our coveted list.

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El Camino is a new San Antonio bar and food truck park opening today near the VFW on the River Walk. Chuck Blount /Staff

Everyone knows hair can make a statement, and one San Antonio business owners commentary on a specific style is raising a few eyebrows. Even after facing online criticism for a series of anti-Edgar posts, El Camino owner Ricky Ortiz doubled down on his stance. Click to read more about this hair-raising controversy.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, speaks during a hearing of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and his wife, Imelda, were arrested last week on charges that they pocketed $600,000 in bribes to promote the interests of the Republic of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank. They have asserted their innocence and are free on bail. Two political strategists close to Cuellar have agreed to plead guilty to conspiring with the South Texas congressman to launder more than $200,000 in bribes. The lawyer for one of them said he is helping federal prosecutors make their case against Cuellar and his wife, who at one point thought the aide was keeping bribe money for himself. Click to read more about the local steakhouse where prosecutors say Cuellars wife met with Azerbaijani oil officials.

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A shooting in East Bexar County left three children and two adults in critical condition. Ken Branca
In January this year, the Philippines and Vietnam agreed to boost cooperation between their coast guards and work to prevent incidents in disputed parts of the South China Sea amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the vital sealane.

The two, which have overlapping maritime claims in the sea, signed two memoranda of understanding.

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The first agreement covered maritime cooperation between the two nations coast guards and the second incident prevention in the South China Sea.

The maritime cooperation deal seeks to establish a comprehensive partnership between the two coast guards, which would cover capacity building, training, and personnel and ship exchanges.

The deal on incident prevention binds the two countries to enhance coordination on maritime issues bilaterally, within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and with other dialogue partners.

While these agreements indicate shared interests between the two in managing the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Hanoi is not expected to follow Manilas defiant stand against Chinese intimidation and bullying in its Exclusive Economic Zone in the West Philippine Sea.

Nevertheless, as neighboring countries, the Philippines and Vietnam should work more closely to push back against Chinas coercive activities in the South China Sea, according to a foreign analyst.

After all, our two countries are vulnerable to Chinas divide and rule tactic, according to a news report quoting Alex Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies based in Hawaii.

As smaller countries, the Philippines and Vietnam should work together to alleviate their asymmetry of power with China. They can share their experiences and best practices against coercive activities. As they share the same interest to counter coercive activities, they should cooperate against coercion, he said.

Why is this so? He explained: China is far more powerful than all of its neighbors in Southeast Asia. It is not only aware of this fact, it also tries to capitalize on the asymmetry of power it enjoys in relations with the neighbors.

As a result, China is the source of most of the coercive activities between regional countries. The coercion is played out in several domains from the maritime domain to the economic domain to the cognitive domain.

Given all this, the Philippines is on the right path in its efforts to muster support from friendly countries such as Vietnam in dealing with Chinas aggressive actions in the South China Sea and to protect our mutual interests in the Southeast Asian region.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon paid a special visit to Northgate Cyberzone in Filinvest City, Alabang during his diplomatic trip to the Philippines, to commend the successful establishment of office and business operations of one of Filinvest REITs tenants, Auckland-headquartered Building Engineering and Design Co. Philippines Limited Inc. (BEDC).

NZ Prime Minister Luxons visit highlights the thriving partnership between New Zealand and the Philippines, as well as the flourishing business environment facilitated by Filinvest REIT Corp. (FILRT).

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Northgate Cyberzone, located in Filinvest City, is an IT-BPO campus-style hub and a key center of productivity where majority of the 17 Grade A, sustainable office buildings under the FILRT portfolio are located including Filinvest Two, where BEDCs operations is located.

Filinvest Two is an Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) certified building and is also 100 percent powered by renewable energy.

BEDC made its significant move to Northgate Cyberzone in March 2023, securing 1,723.55 square meters of office space.

Since then, the company has grown from 40 to 400 employees.

BEDC is set to expand by acquiring an additional 1,723.55 square meters of office space, slated for completion by August 2024.

We are honored that the Hon. Christopher Luxon made time to visit BEDC at Northgate Cyberzone and we are deeply grateful for the trust BEDC has placed in FILRT. Their expansion plans reflect the confidence international investors have in the company as their partner in expanding their presence and operations in the Philippines, said FILRT president and chief executive officer Maricel Brion-Lirio.

Filinvest REIT Corp. (FILRT) is the countrys first sustainability-themed real estate investment trust (REIT) backed by Filinvest Land Inc.

Its commercial portfolio consists of 17 Grade A office buildings totaling over 300,000 square meters of gross leasable area.
Mozambique has been battling Islamic insurgents who attacked the northern town of Macomia, President Filipe Nyusi said.

Macomia is under attack since this morning. Fire exchange continues, Nyusi said in a televised address on Friday.

After 45 minutes of fighting, the Jihadists withdrew before attacking again, according to AFP and Reuters news agencies.

Macomia has a special significance to Mozambique thanks to its gas reserves, but its location in the Cabo Delgado province, where an Islamists insurgency has been brewing since 2017, makes it an easy prey of attacks.

The International Organization for Migration said in March that over 110,000 people had been displaced in the province since the end of last year.

Infighting in northern Mozambique has thwarted investments including a $20 billion gas project by Total Energies, which has been suspended since 2021.
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:

Barbara Nabulo cleans clothes at her home in Busamaga-Mutukula village in Mbale, Uganda, Thursday, April 25, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

Barbara Nabulo was one of three girls in her family. But when a sister died, her mother wailed at the funeral that she was left with just one and a half daughters.

The half was the ailing Nabulo, who at age 12 grasped her mother's meaning.

"I hated myself so much," Nabulo said recently, recalling the words that preceded a period of sickness that left her hospitalized and feeding through a tube.

The scene underscores the lifelong challenges for some people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Even Nabulo, despite her knowledge of how the disease weakens the body, spoke repeatedly of "the germ I was born with."

Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited disorders in which red blood cellsnormally roundbecome hard, sticky and crescent shaped. The misshapen cells clog the flow of blood, which can lead to infections, excruciating pain, organ damage and other complications.

The disease, which can stunt physical growth, is more common in malaria-prone regions, notably Africa and India, because carrying the sickle cell trait helps protect against severe malaria. Global estimates of how many people have the disease vary, but some researchers put the number between 6 million and 8 million, with more than 5 million living in sub-Saharan Africa.

Julian Abeso walks around sickle cell patients ward at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in Mbale, Uganda, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

The only cure for the pain sickle cell disease can cause is a bone marrow transplant or gene therapies like the one commercially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December. A 12-year-old boy last week became the first person to begin the therapy.

Those options are beyond the reach of most patients in this East African nation where sickle cell disease is not a public health priority despite the burden it places on communities. There isn't a national database of sickle cell patients. Funding for treatment often comes from donor organizations.

In a hilly part of eastern Uganda that's a sickle cell hot spot, the main referral hospital looks after hundreds of patients arriving from nearby villages to collect medication. Many receive doses of hydroxyurea, a drug that can reduce periods of severe pain and other complications, and researchers there are studying its effectiveness in Ugandan children.

Barbara Nabulo who lives with sickle cell disease jokes with her husband at Busamaga-Mutukula village in Mbale, Uganda, Thursday, April 25, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

Nabulo, now 37, is one of the hospital's patients. But she approaches others like her as a caregiver, too.

After dropping out in primary school, she has emerged in recent years as a counselor to fellow patients, speaking to them about her survival. Encouraged by hospital authorities, she makes weekly visits to the ward that has many children watched over by exhausted-looking parents.

Nabulo tells them she was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at two weeks old, but now she is the mother of three children, including twins.

Such a message gives hope to those who feel discouraged or worry that sickle cell disease is a death sentence, said Dr. Julian Abeso, head of pediatrics at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.

Some men have been known to divorce their wivesor neglect them in search of new partnerswhen they learn that their children have sickle cell disease. Frequent community deaths from disease complications reinforce perceptions of it as a scourge.

Barbara Nabulo talks to patients at the children's emergency ward at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, in Mbale, Uganda Friday, April 26, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

Nabulo and health workers urge openness and the testing of children for sickle cell as early as possible.

Abeso and Nabulo grew close after Nabulo lost her first baby hours after childbirth in 2015. She cried in the doctor's office as she spoke of her wish "to have a relative I can call mine, a descendant who can help me," Abeso recalled.

"At that time, people here were so negative about patients with sickle cell disease having children because the complications would be so many," the doctor said.

Nabulo's second attempt to have a child was difficult, with some time in intensive care. But her baby is now a 7-year-old boy who sometimes accompanies her to the hospital. The twin girls came last year.

Speaking outside the one-room home she shares with her husband and children, Nabulo said many people appreciate her work despite the countless indignities she faces, including unwanted stares from people in the streets who point to the woman with "a big head," one manifestation in her of the disease. Her brothers often behave as if they are ashamed of her, she said.

Barbara Nabulo picks her sickle cell prescription at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital pharmacy counter, in Mbale, Uganda Friday, April 26, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

Once, she heard of a girl in her neighborhood whose grandmother was making frequent trips to the clinic over an undiagnosed illness in the child. The grandmother was hesitant to have the girl tested for sickle cell when Nabulo first asked her. But tests later revealed the disease, and now the girl receives treatment.

"I go to Nabulo for help because I can't manage the illness affecting my grandchild," Kelemesiya Musuya said. "She can feel pain, and she starts crying, saying, 'It is here and it is rising and it is paining here and here.'"

Musuya sometimes seeks reassurance. "She would be asking me, 'Even you, when you are sick, does it hurt in the legs, in the chest, in the head?' I tell her that, yes, it's painful like that," Nabulo said.

Nabulo said she was glad that the girl, who is 11, still goes to school.

Sickle cell patient John Elugalt lies on a hospital bed inside the emergency room at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in Mbale, Uganda, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

A laboratory technician examines sickle cell blood samples, at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in Mbale, Uganda, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

Barbara Nabulo interacts with her parents at Kilombe village, in Mbale, Uganda, Friday, April. 26, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

Barbara Nabulo interacts with her father Michael Kiboya, at Kilombe village, in Mbale, Uganda, Thursday, April 25, 2024. There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

Julian Abeso looks at a sickle cell patient's x-ray image at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda Wednesday, April. 24, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

A nurse is assessing John Elugalt's condition inside the emergency room at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, in Mbale, Uganda, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda

The lack of formal education is hurtful for Nabulo, who struggles to write her name, and a source of shame for her parents, who repeatedly apologize for letting her drop out while her siblings studied. One brother is now a medical worker who operates a clinic in a town not far away from Nabulo's home

"I am very happy to see her," said her mother, Agatha Nambuya.

She recalled Nabulo's swelling head and limbs as a baby, and how "these children used to die so soon."

But now she knows of others with sickle cell disease who grew to become doctors or whatever they wanted to be. She expressed pride in Nabulo's work as a counselor and said her grandchildren make her feel happy.

"At that time," she said, recalling Nabulo as a child, "we didn't know."

 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Ronnie Agnew General Manager Ronnie Agnew, left, in the white jacket, and two of his siblings stand behind their dad and mom in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Ronnie Agnew/Ronnie Agnew)

My mother wanted better, and she got it.

It was Oct. 9, 1962. A 9-month-pregnant woman was carrying a child while she was in a Mississippi cotton field. She picked 300 pounds of cotton that day, fighting off early labor pains and fatigue from a strenuous job a pregnant woman  or anyone else for that matter  had no business doing.

The next day was worse. She was home alone, too sick to return to the fields that provided a meager living for her family. The labor pains were unrelenting. With everyone working in the fields, no one could hear her cries for help. Her only option was to find the strength to yell with the hope that someone, anyone, would hear her desperate pleas. She was lucky that day, if lucky, appropriately describes her private plight with pain. A neighbor who had returned to his home to retrieve supplies wandered by and mercifully ran to get her help.

She had been in labor for hours, all alone, fighting the pain just as she battled the stifling Mississippi sun each day, spending the day snatching cotton bolls, where the pounds stacked up and turned into bails. The neighbor might have saved my life that day. I was the baby in this story, and my mother was the hero left alone to deliver me. That is until her sisters, who had been accustomed to being by her side, also left the fields to come to her rescue.

The people in the community of homes not fit for habitation, the ones who made their living in the cotton fields, came to call me the baby born in the fields. I know my story and relive it each year because her recitation of it somehow binds me to my mothers memory and the excruciating circumstances under which I came into this world. I am sure, however, that my mom carried each of her children in the cotton fields for significant parts of her pregnancies.

While my mother pulled that cotton sack, she dreamed of a different life for her children. She used to talk about that. On this Mothers Day, I cannot be more grateful to have had a mother who sacrificed so much for me and my siblings. She gave her all, including her health. I would even say her life.

As time moved on, my mother was determined that her children would not suffer through the pain, both emotional and physical, that consumed her years. She prayed that we would do something special in this world despite systemic issues rooted in poverty that made much of her life hard. With just a grade school education, my mother was brilliant beyond her circumstances.

She helped my father get out of the cotton fields and pushed him toward manufacturing jobs for higher pay. We were far from rich, but the money was just enough to begin putting her dreams of a better life into action.

As more years passed, my mothers dreams had taken hold. Mary, the eldest, was the first of our generation to go to college. After my big sister, one after another would follow the path to higher education. A mothers prayers had been heard. But it came at a price.

As she labored through nine natural childbirths, with no prenatal care, the toll on her fragile body was too much. My mother developed a severe heart condition after delivering twins, the last of the children she would birth. For the first time in her life, she was hospitalized, but only after they were born. Doctors gave her two years to live.

They didnt know, however, the power of my mothers prayers. She told us that she prayed that God would allow her to see her children reach adulthood. The year that the twins turned 21, my mother passed away. She was 54.

This Mothers Day, there is certainly sadness. But there are too many good memories to allow myself to be overcome with grief. My mom was smart. She was funny. She was wise. She was a motivator. She was a fighter, who shrugged off what doctors told her and lived the best life available to her.

She reared educators, an IT specialist, a healthcare professional, a journalist, and a minister, taking her fractured education and pushing us higher. Its up to the world to determine whether we have made a difference. But this I know: My mother would be pleased.

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Ronnie Agnew is the general manager at NJ Advance Media.

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RAFAH, Gaza Strip  Israel ordered new evacuations Saturday in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to leave as it prepared to expand its military operation deeper into what is considered Gaza's last refuge, in defiance of growing pressure from close ally the United States and others.

As pro-Palestinian protests continued against the war, Israel's military also said it was moving into an area of devastated northern Gaza where it asserted the Hamas militant group regrouped after seven months of fighting.

Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, and top military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said dozens of militants were killed there as "targeted operations continued." The United Nations warned a full-scale Rafah invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian deaths.

Rafah borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, which already are affected. Israeli troops captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down. Egypt refused to coordinate with Israel on the delivery of aid though the crossing due to "the unacceptable Israeli escalation," the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel reported, citing an unnamed official.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he won't provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah. On Friday, his administration said there was "reasonable" evidence that Israel breached international law protecting civilians  Washington's strongest statement yet on the matter.

In response, Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told The Associated Press 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 Gaza's population  have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel's offensives elsewhere. The latest evacuations are forcing some to return north, where areas are devastated from previous attacks. Aid agencies estimate 110,000 left before Saturday's order that added 40,000.

"Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So we've decided to leave," Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari said as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings onto vehicles.

Many people have been displaced multiple times.

"The Israeli army does not have a safe area in Gaza. They target everything," said Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, displaced earlier from Gaza City.

There are few places left to go. Some Palestinians are being sent to what Israel calls humanitarian safe zones along the Muwasi coastal strip, which is already packed with about 450,000 people in squalid conditions.

Georgios Petropoulos, 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," he said.

The World Food Program said it would run out of food to distribute in southern Gaza by Saturday, Petropoulos said  as parts of Gaza face what the WFP chief called "full-blown famine."

Aid groups said fuel will be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations.

Heavy fighting was underway in northern Gaza, where Hagari said the air force was carrying out airstrikes.

Palestinians in Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas were told to leave for shelters in the west of Gaza City, warned 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. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed that day and militants took about 250 hostages. They still hold about 100 captives and the remains of more than 30.

Hamas said Saturday that hostage Nadav Popplewell died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike a month ago, but provided no evidence.

Israel's bombardment and ground offensives killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties, accusing it of embedding in densely populated residential areas.

Civil authorities in Gaza gave more details of mass graves that the Health Ministry announced earlier at Shifa hospital, the largest in northern Gaza and the target of an earlier Israeli offensive. Authorities said most of the 80 bodies were 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."

At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza in strikes that hit Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al-Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and an AP journalist who counted the bodies.

A round of cease-fire talks in Cairo ended earlier this past week without a breakthrough, after Israel rejected a deal that Hamas said it accepted.

Tens of thousands of people attended the latest anti-government protest in Israel on Saturday evening amid growing pressure on Netanyahu to make a deal.

"I think the (Rafah) operation is not meant for the hostages and not meant for killing the Hamas, it's meant for just for one thing, save the government," protester Kobi Itzhaki said.

Gaza war protests ignite on US college campuses
Manisha Koirala, who is receiving praises for her performance in 'Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar', penned a gratitude note and said that she "could never have imagined that after cancer and turning 50 that her life would flower into this other phase." Manisha took to Instagram and shared stills from the series 'Heeramandi' along with a long note. The note read, "Heeramandi has been a significant milestone. As a 53-year-old actor who has bagged an important role in a high-profile web series, I am overjoyed that I'm not stuck playing insignificant peripheral roles, thanks to OTT platforms and changing audience profiles. Finally, female actors, technicians, and other professionals have started getting the long overdue and well-deserved good quality of work and respect in a professional environment. I am fortunate to be a part of this evolving era." https://www.instagram.com/p/C62y9-loNKb/? Manisha recalled the doubts and anxiety that plagued her when she started shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial She added, "Today, when I am receiving so many accolades, I can't help but remember the doubts and anxiety that plagued me when I was about to start shooting. Still recovering from the dreaded C, would my body be strong enough to deal with the intense shooting schedules, heavy costumes, and jewelry, and perform a role requiring so much nuance and effortless effort?" She also shared the challenges faced during performing particular sequences. "The fountain sequence proved the most physically challenging. It required me to be immersed in a water fountain for over 12 hours. That tested my resilience! Even though Sanjay had thoughtfully ensured that the water was warm and clean, over the hours, the water turned muddy, (because my team members, the Cinematographer, and the art director's team were getting into the water to work around the scene.) Every single pore in my body was soaked in that muddy water. Even though I was beyond exhaustion by the end of the shoot, I felt a deep happiness within my heart. My body had taken the stress and remained resilient. I knew I had passed a critical physical test," Manisha continued. The actor concluded her post by expressing gratitude for all the love showered on her. She stated, "To you, who think your time has come and gone, whether it's due to age, illness or any setback, never give up! You never know what could be waiting for you around the bend! I'm deeply grateful for your love and generosity of spirit!#50andfabulous #heeramandionnetflix #netflix #grateful #hope." As soon as she uploaded the post, fans and industry members chimed in the comment section. Preity Zinta wrote, "I love you Manisha. I saw the show for you & you killed it. You are such a powerhouse of talent & an even better human being. I will never forget how lovely, welcoming & generous you were to me in Dil Se. Thanks to you I started my film journey on such a positive note. You never made me feel I was working with a superstar & nurtured me on the shoot - always smiling, accommodating & ready for rehearsal & suggestions. You will always be Hero on & off camera. More power to you always." Manish Malhotra commented, "You were Excellent." Manisha was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 and she underwent treatment in New York. Talking about Heeramanid, set against the backdrop of India's struggle for independence in the 1940s, the show explores the lives of courtesans and their patrons, delving into the cultural dynamics of Heera Mandi. It features Manisha Koirala, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, Taha Shah Badussha, Shekhar Suman, and Adhyayan Suman. 'Heeramandi' is streaming on Netflix. (ANI)
Actor Sunny Deol never misses a chance to flaunt his love for his parents. As it's Mother's Day today, the 'Gadar' star took to Instagram and dropped a heartwarming video with his mom Prakash Kaur. In the clip, both Sunny and his mom showcased their playful bond as they could be seen throwing snow at each other. https://www.instagram.com/p/C63LUZ_puAF/?hl=en "I love you Maa. #happymothersday," Sunny captioned the post. This adorable video of Sunny with his mother left everyone in awe. Reacting to the post, Sunny's younger brother Bobby commented, "Love you Maa." "Cutest video," a fan commented. Veteran star Dharmendra married Prakash Kaur in 1953 when he was yet to make his Bollywood debut. Apart from Sunny and Bobby, Dharmendra also has daughters Vijeta and Ajeita with his first wife. However, while working in films, Dharamendra's closeness with the famous actress Hema Malini started growing and in 1980 the two tied the knot. Dharmendra and Hema Malini have daughters Esha and Ahana together. Meanwhile, on the work front, Sunny Deol is currently busy shooting for 'Lahore 1947', which is directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. 'Lahore 1947', produced under Aamir Khan's banner, marks a significant collaboration between Sunny Deol and Aamir Khan's Productions. It also stars Preity Zinta, Karan Deol, Ali Fazal and Shabana Azmi. In the film, Sunny will share screen space with his son Karan Deol. On having Karan in the project, producer Aamir Khan said, "I am so happy that Karan Deol has tested so well for the extremely critical role of Javed. His natural innocence, his sincerity, and his honesty bring a lot to the table. Karan has really applied himself, worked hard, done workshops with ADISHAKTI, rehearsals with Raj, and is giving it his all. Javed is a great part, a very challenging part, and I am sure that with Raj Santoshi to direct him, Karan will nail it." Last year, Sunny and his Deol family witnessed a huge success. Dharmendra charmed audiences with his presence in Karan Johar's successful film 'Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani' while the triumph of 'Gadar 2' and the overwhelming response to 'Animal' mark a rejuvenation in the careers of Sunny and Bobby. "1960s se hum log limelight me hain, lekin kai sal hogaye, aise hi koshish kar rahe the (We have been in the limelight since the 60s but we have been trying for years) things were not working out." Speaking of the good times, Sunny said, "My son got married, then Gadar (2) was released, before that even dad's film got released (Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani) and we couldn't believe how we got so blessed," Sunny said on Kapil Sharma's Netflix show. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an attack on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar over his 'Pakistan has an atom bomb' remark and accused the party of "finding ways" of scaring the people, adding that 'yeh mare pade log, desh ke mann ko bhi maar rahe hain' (These dead people are also trying to kill the soul of the country). In an April 15 interview with 'Chill Pill' Aiyar, Aiyar said that Pakistan is a respected nation that also possesses an atom bomb so India must enter into a dialogue with them. Addressing a public meeting in Odisha's Kandhamal, PM Modi took a jibe at Pakistan's economy and said that while the "country had atom bombs," it was looking for someone to sell them but was unable to do so due to its "poor quality." "Time and again, Congress tries 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 Pakistan's bomb, but the condition of Pakistan is such that they don't know how to keep them and they are looking for a buyer to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy them as people know about the quality," the Prime Minister said. He also took a jab at Pakistan's economy, saying while the "country had atom bombs", it was looking for someone to sell them but was unable to do so due to their poor quality. He further asserted that the people of Jammu and Kashmir faced terrorism for 60 years because of Congress. "Due to this attitude of Congress, the people of Jammu and Kashmir faced terrorism for 60 years and the nation witnessed several terror attacks. Nation will never forget that they used to have meetings with terrorist organisations. They didn't dare to initiate an investigation against them after the 26/11 attack because they did not have the guts to take action against the terrorists involved in the attack. The people of the INDI alliance used to think that their vote bank would get affected," he said. PM Modi said that India has made up their mind that the NDA will cross 400 in the Lok Sabha elections. "India has made up their mind that the NDA will cross 400 (in Lok Sabha). The people of Congress must note that the country has now decided that on June 4, they won't get the seats that are needed to be the opposition, they will be limited below 50 seats," he said. The Prime Minister further asserted that in Odisha, the BJP will form a double-engine government in the state. "For the first time, there will be a double-engine govt in Odisha," he said. Aiyar further said there have been no efforts from India to reach out to Pakistan in the last ten years. "They are also a sovereign country (Pakistan). They are a respected nation. You can talk tough with them (Pakistan). But start the dialogue. You are walking with a gun which yielded you nothing. Tensions are escalating. And if a mad person comes there, what will happen to the nation? They have an atom bomb. We also possess the atomic bomb. But if a mad person detonates our bomb at Lahore station, so within eight seconds, eight moments, its radioactivity will reach Amritsar," Aiyar said. He added, "So you should prevent the use of atomic bombs. But, if you start a dialogue with them (Pakistan) and encourage them (by considering them as), then they should start thinking about their atomic bomb. But if you snub them, then a mad person will come and detonate the bomb. Then what will happen?" 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)
In a significant development that promises to alleviate the fuel shortage in Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Saha has extended his gratitude to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for the prompt dispatch of a fuel train to the state. The move comes after a severe fuel crisis prompted urgent actions from both state and central governments. Addressing the media, Chief Minister Saha detailed the communication from the Union Railway Minister's office, which informed him of the train en route to Tripura. "Today, I received a call from the Secretary of the Union Railway Minister with an update regarding the letter I had sent about the fuel crisis. The Minister directed his secretary to inform me that a fuel-carrying train is now heading towards our state. This indeed is a relief and we are grateful," CM Saha said. He added, "The double-engine government always works to solve problems," referring to the cooperative efforts of the state and central government. Further reinforcing his message of gratitude, Saha tweeted about the successful crossing of the first POL (Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants) rake through the landslide-affected site between Jatinga-Haranga, which had been disrupted since April 26. He noted, "Heartfelt thanks to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for swiftly addressing the issue. Big appreciation to the NFR (Northeast Frontier Railway) officials and workers for tirelessly restoring operations and to the people of Tripura for their cooperation. This rake will undoubtedly alleviate the fuel crisis in the state." The gesture by the Railway Ministry not only underscores the effective coordination between state and central governments but also highlights the critical role of the railway network in managing state-level crises. The arrival of the fuel train is expected to significantly stabilize the fuel supply and benefit the citizens of Tripura, easing the recent tensions caused by the shortage. (ANI)
Jamett Zamora, aunt of the slain 4-year-old girl, has created a GoFundMe to help the family. GoFundMe

The relatives of a 4-year-old girl who was killed in a shooting Thursday that left four others injured has created a GoFundMe to help the childs family.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the girl was killed by a gunshot to the head. More than 30 shots were fired at a Northeast Side duplex, leaving the home looking like Swiss cheese, the sheriff said. Two other children, ages 7 and 8, and two adults, 25 and 27, were also injured in the attack.

None of the victims have been identified by authorities.

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Jamett Zamora, who said she is the aunt of the slain 4-year-old girl, said her nieces life was taken so senselessly.

Some cowards decided to shoot up their home (and) killed her and her two brothers are fighting for their lives in the hospital. Her mother was shot as well and may not be able to walk again, Zamora wrote on the GoFundMe.

The fundraiser is asking for donations to help the family.

Please help. RIP my baby girl you will be truly missed, Zamora wrote.

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On Thursday, Bexar County deputies responded to a shooting around 7:40 p.m. in the 6700 block of Windsor Hollow Drive, where five people were found with gunshot wounds inside the Northeast Side duplex.

The 4-year-old girl was administered first aid by a neighbor shortly after the shooting but later died from her injuries.

As of Saturday afternoon, police were still looking for the two alleged shooters who were caught on video surveillance firing at least 30 rounds into the home from small AK-47s, known as Dracos.

Salazar said during a Friday news conference that an off-duty police officer may have found the Infiniti Q50 that the shooters fled in after the shooting.

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Investigators are currently in the process of obtaining a warrant for the vehicle. The sheriff's office had been searching for the vehicle since last week, when it was reported stolen from the Converse area.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Bexar County Sheriffs Office at (210) 335-6000.
In his second visit to West Bengal this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold four rallies in the state today to boost the campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party. PM Modi will hold a public meeting in support of BJP candidate Arjun Singh in Barrackpore in the North 24 Parganas district at 11:30 am. After that, the Prime Minister will address people in Hooghly in support of BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee at 1 pm. In Arambagh, PM Modi will campaign for BJP candidate Arup Kumar at 2:30 pm. The Prime Minister will hold a meeting in Howrah at 4 pm also. Earlier on May 3, PM Modi addressed rallies in West Bengal's Krishnanagar, Purba Bardhaman and Bolpur Lok Sabha constituencies. Voting will take place for eight Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal in the fourth phase of voting to be held on May 13. The constituencies are Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur and Birbhum. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) would not win even 15 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. "TMC isn't even winning 15 seats in the country. Now tell me, can TMC form the government with just 15 seats?" PM Modi said while speaking at a rally at West Bengal's Krishnanagar on May 3. The Prime Minister said that it is also difficult for the Congress party to win more than 50 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. "...No matter how hard it tries, it is very difficult for the Congress to go past half-century, 50 seats. Can they form the government if they do not even win 50 seats?" PM Modi said. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for 2 seats. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4. However, the BJP came up with a much-improved showing in the 2019 polls, winning 18 seats against the TMC's 22. The Congress's tally dropped to just 2 seats, while the Left scored a blank. (ANI)
Coming hard on Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over his remark on the Pulwama attack, Union Minister and BJP candidate from Amethi, Smriti Irani, said that only a Congress leader can question the valour of the Army. "Only a Congress leader can question the valour of the Army. What can you expect from Congress, which can give a ticket to such a person who dreams of disintegrating India. We cannot expect to hear about the tale of India's bravery from them. The Telangana CM should worry about his chair. He is just an ATM for the Gandhi family. The Gandhi family will soon make a new ATM in Telangana," Irani said. Revnath Reddy on Friday asked questions from the government over the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to reap "political benefits" from the Pulwama incident after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes at terror camps in Pakistan. He also raised questions over the air strikes. Further, continuing her attacks on Congress, Smriti Irani said, "Congress talked about counting the wealth of the people. Congress showed the way to take away half of the property of the citizens. Congress speaks of reversing the decision on the Ram Temple. All of these issues are national issues and not just the PM but every citizen has the right to have an opinion on them. If Mallikarjun Kharge thinks that aware voters and citizens should not take an interest in national politics, then maybe he thinks that everyone has thoughts like Rahul Gandhi." Speaking on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Amethi MP said Kejriwal is going back to jail before the declaration of the Lok Sabha results on June 4. "My analysis is that Arvind Kejriwal is going back to jail before that (June 4). The one who is out on bail in the liquor scam case should worry about how his life is going to be in life imprisonment," she said. Notably, the Supreme Court on Friday gave interim bail to the Aam Admi Party convenor till June 1. Irani also mentioned that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be holding a public meeting in Amethi on Sunday. "In Gauriganj, Amethi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath will address people. The people are excited to form the Modi government again. Tomorrow (May 12), we will hear from him (CM Adityanath) about how he will contribute to the development of Amethi in the next five years," Irani added. Amethi will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20. (ANI)
Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the country, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma hailed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and lashed out at the Congress party saying that they have cheated the public. "We will reach our target. '4 June, 400 par'... The environment is in our favour," said CM Sharma. Lauding the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "The people have trust in PM Modi. He has worked to boost development and border security and enhanced India's global image." The Chief Minister further launched a scathing attack against the Congress and said, "The Congress had cheated the public... 'Congress ke dimag ka diwaliapan ho gaya hai.' They don't know what they are saying... They can make agreements with anyone, they are only worried about one family, they are not concerned about the country." CM Sharma also stated that the Congress promoted naxalism and terrorism in the country. Exuding confidence, he expressed, "I visited Bengal. BJP's seats there will increase. It will increase in many states like Jharkhand, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh." Earlier on Saturday, Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma addressed 'Pravasi Rajasthani Sammelan' in support of South Mumbai Mahayuti Lok Sabha candidate Yamini Jadhav. He said, " You (people) are connected to the roots of Rajasthan. I am happy that you like to keep connected to these roots and spread the culture of that place all over the world. You all have come from Rajasthan many years ago...you have the blood of Maharana Pratap in your veins..." Notably, Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the Lower House of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20. (ANI)
Far from the madding crowd, Kalalaogang was once a desolate forest and barely there was any human presence. Contrary to its previous position, now the area is dotted with small bamboo-made huts and dormitory-like barracks. Construction works are going on in full swing. The area is set to house as many as 633 families who are among the 34,000 internally displaced Bru migrants being given permanent citizenship of Tripura. However, rain in the last few days has adversely impacted the construction work. Even as all the Bru families reached there, a substantial section of them had to return to the relief camps based out of the Kanchanpur subdivision in North Tripura district as the plot distribution process got delayed. However, a significant number of families are staying there to oversee the construction works and keep the communication channels open with the local administration. Some of the Bru migrants have set up shops on the main road connecting their settlement as a means of livelihood. Speaking exclusively to ANI, the secretary of the settlement working committee, Remkho Reang predicted that two to three months of additional time might be required for the plot distribution to end. "As per the records 633 families are supposed to get resettlement here. However, they had returned to the respective relief camps as the process may face delays because of the rain. The land leveling work is under progress in full swing but once the rains come the construction works are put on hold. We hope within the next two to three months the plot distribution among families will be completed," he told ANI. According to the Bru leader, the families had already received the first installment of Rs 50,000 for the construction of houses apart from Rs 4 lakh as fixed deposit certificates and Rs 5,000 monthly cash assistance as per the Rs 600 crore quadripartite agreement. "We have received 50,000 as the first instalment of the house construction. Once we start building the house, we shall get the remaining one lakh rupees in two instalments. The monthly cash assistance of Rs 5,000 is also started. In addition, the fixed deposit certificates are also delivered," he added. The Bru leader extended his sincere thanks to Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the initiatives undertaken to solve the problems of the internally displaced Bru migrants. It should be noted here that the IDP Brus took shelter in six relief camps of Tripura in the year 1997 after ethnic clashes broke out in neighbouring Mizoram. In 2020, the Government of Tripura, the Government of India, the Government of Mizoram, and Bru leaders signed the historic quadripartite agreement that came as a solution to the prolonged issue and Brus became eligible to be called citizens of Tripura. Tripura-settled Bru migrants on April 19 and 26 cast their mandates in the northeastern state for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls for the first time after they were permanently resettled. The refugees had fled violence in their native Mizoram 27 years ago. They had previously participated in the 2023 Assembly elections in Tripura. In the previous three Lok Sabha polls (2009, 2014 and 2019), the Bru migrants voted as voters of Mizoram. (ANI)
Jharkhand's Palamu is all set to witness a poll battle on May 13 between sitting MP Vishnu Dayal Ram, a BJP candidate and Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Mamta Bhuiyan. RJD has fielded Mamta Bhuiyan as a INDIA bloc candidate. The BJP has emerged as a dominant party with landmark victories in the past two elections. Vishnu Dayal Ram, a former Director General of Police, had won the Palamu seat - the only scheduled caste reserved constituency in the state. He was a 1973 batch IPS officer and had served as DGP of Jharkhand Police twice from July 1, 2005 to September 27, 2006 and from August 4, 2007 to January 13, 2010. He has earlier served as SP of Bhagalpur and SSP of Patna. After retirement, he joined Bharatiya Janata Party and won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Palamu. On his official website, Vishnu Dayal Ram boasts about the works done by him, which includes sanctioning of new railway line from Daltonganj to Gaya via Bhaya Rafiganj after meeting Railway Minister, starting the pending construction of NH-75 from Parwa to Gadhawa via Murismer after meeting the Secretary of Transport and Highways, raising the issue of declaring Palamu District as drought-hit under rule 377 during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, and others. Vishnu Dayal Ram won the seat by a margin of 4,77,606 votes against RJD's Ghuran Ram in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Vishnu Dayal Ram had secured 7,55,659 votes (62.5 per cent) while Ghuran Ram garnered 2,78,053 votes (23.0 per cent). In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP's Vishnu Dayal Ram had defeated Manoj Kumar of RJD. Vishnu Dayal Ram garnered 4,76,513 votes (48.8 per cent) while Manoj Kumar had secured 2,12,571 votes (21.8 per cent). On his candidature from Palamu constituency, Vishnu Dayal Ram had thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, "I want to thank PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President JP Nadda... There are 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand and BJP will win all 14 of them..." He had also stressed on the issue of development and had said, "We have asked for votes in the name of development, and will continue to ask for votes in the name of development." On the other hand, Mamta Bhuiyan while filing her nomination papers had termed development, migration, and unemployment as the key issues. She had said, "This time, RJD, and INDIA alliance with all the partners will create a new history. The key issue of Palamu is development. Another main issue is migration and unemployment and we will try to curb it." On May 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conducted a public rally in Palamu where he stepped up his attacks on Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and RJD and claimed that their aim is to snatch reservation from tribals, backward classes, and Dalits and give it to Muslims. He had further criticized Congress for neglecting the interests of Palamu and overlooking the tribals and backward classes of the district. "Congress and its supporters abandoned Palamu. Their leaders in Delhi might not even be aware of Palamu's location on the map. Most Dalits and Adivasis reside in districts like this. They insulted Palamu by labeling it as backward. I said this is unacceptable. People in so-called backward areas also harbor hopes and aspirations. Officials used to consider posting in such areas as a punishment," he had said. Palamu is one of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies and comprises six Assembly segments--Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chattarpur, Hussainabad, Garhwa, and Bhawanathpur. Palamu is an interesting Lok Sabha seat for the parties as the constituency boasts of some minerals like Iron ore, Bauxite, Lithium, Dolomite, and Coal as well as industries like Bihar Caustic and Chemicals Limited and Japla Cement Company. Elections will be held in Jharkhand in four phases: May 13, 20, 25, and June 1. On May 13, Khunti, Lohardaga, Palamu and Singhbhum will undergo the voting. In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 12 seats in Jharkhand, with the BJP securing 11. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress each secured one seat. (ANI)
Coming hard on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after he walked out of Tihar Jail post the Supreme Court decision to grant him interim bail till June 1, BJP leader and former Haryana minister Anil Vij said "neither he can use the Chief Minister's signature nor he can go to the Chief Minister's office." "The one who was arrested and who went to jail was Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. But bail has been granted, only to Arvind Kejriwal. The Chief Minister is still inside, because neither he can use the Chief Minister's signature nor he can go to the Chief Minister's office," the former Haryana minister told ANI. Meanwhile, CM Kejriwal will hold a meeting with the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs in the national capital on Sunday. This will be his first meeting with legislatures after he walked out of Tihar Jail. In a post on X, CM Arvind Kejriwal wrote, "11 am - MLA meeting 1 pm - press conference at party office, 4 pm - Road Show - New Delhi Lok Sabha - Moti Nagar 6 pm - Road Show - West Delhi Lok Sabha - Uttam Nagar. All of you have to come." Kejriwal was released from Delhi's Tihar Jail on May 10, 50 days after he was jailed on corruption charges linked to the alleged liquor policy scam and hours after the Supreme Court granted bail till June 1. Kejriwal has been granted interim bail, with the condition that he shall not visit the Office of the Chief Minister or the Delhi Secretariat. The ED arrested him on March 21, 2024. 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. Earlier in April this year, AAP MP Sanjay Singh was released on bail from Tihar jail following the top court's order. Singh was released after spending over six months in jail in connection with the excise policy case. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi will vote on May 25, the sixth of the seven-phase nationwide polling. (ANI)
Delhi BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva and Union Minister General VK Singh flagged off a bike rally in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here in National Capital. The rally organised by the Sikh community was led by party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa. This comes nearly two weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the National Capital and a day after the Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal attacked PM Modi, alleging, "He left no stone unturned to crush his party." All seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will vote on May 25. Aam Admi Party and Congress are jointly fighting the elections. As per the arrangement, AAP will be contesting 4 seats and Congress on 3. "The youth has taken out a bike rally to show support of the Sikh community for PM Narendra Modi (for Delhi Lok Sabha seats). He has made untiring efforts to strengthen our community, be it taking action against the 1984 riots accused, making the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, celebrating Veer Bal Diwas to remember the sacrifice of the four sons of Guru Gobind Singh, or rescuing the Sikh community from Afghanistan...," Sirsa told ANI amid the rally. He also lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "Arvind Kejriwal has been frustrated ever since he came out of jail and that is why he has been lying. He was not in jail in 2014 or 2019...," he said. Union Minister General VK Singh told ANI, "We have to give a message to the people of Delhi that Modi-led government should come to power for the third time and that the Sikhs are standing in support." CM Kejriwal will hold a meeting with the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs in the national capital on Sunday. This will be his first meeting with legislatures after he walked out of Tihar Jail. He was granted interim bail on Friday till June 1. 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. (ANI)
Rajahmundry braces for a three-way contest between Congress' Gidugu Rudra Raju, BJP's Daggubati Purandeswari and YSRCP's Guduri Srinivas during the 4th phase of the 2024 general elections i.e. May 13. The date of vote counting is June 4. Earlier in January, Rudraraju Gidugu stepped down from the post of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) Chief. In the 1999, 2004 and 2009 elections, Rudraraju played a significant part on behalf of the party. When YSR was the CM, he served as the Chairman of AP Medical Infrastructure Corporation. He also got elected to the Legislative Council of United AP. Within the party, he held the post of AICC Secretary and also discharged duties as incharge of Odisha. BJP candidate Purandeswari was made Andhra Pradesh unit president in the first week of July last year in place of Somu Veerraju who held that post since 2020. She joined the BJP in 2014 after resigning from the Congress. YSRCP's Guduri Srinivas is contesting for the first time from Rajahmundry Lok Sabha seat and is a political novice but a well-known pulmonologist in the city. The Rajahmundry constituency encompasses seven assembly segments namely Anaparthy, Rajanagaram, Rajahmundry City, Rajahmundry Rural, Kovvur, Nidadavole and Gopalapuram. In Lok Sabha elections 2019, YSRCP's Margani Bharat registered victory by securing 582024 votes. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate Maganti Roopa could reach the mark of 460390 votes making Margani Bharat win the elections with a vote margin of 121634 votes. It is noteworthy that the Rajahmundry Lok Sabha constituency is located on the eastern bank of the Godavari River. The city's population stood at 341,831 as per the 2011 census. The first general polls held in the constituency were won by the Praja Socialist Party. Over time, the Congress managed to make a stronghold over Rajahmundry and managed to register victory ten times but the rise of TDP marked a significant change in the political landscape. Notably, the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh will be held simultaneously on May 13. In the 2019 assembly elections, the YSRCP secured a thumping majority in Andhra with 151 seats, while the TDP's tally was reduced to just 23 seats. In the Lok Sabha elections the same year, the YSRCP raked in the lion's share of the poll sweepstakes, winning 22 seats, while the TDP could only bag three seats. (ANI)
Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Virendra Sachdeva held a door-to-door campaign in support of party candidate Harsh Malhotra from the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat on Sunday. The BJP leader campaigned in the East Delhi area for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in the national capital. Speaking about Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during the campaign, Virendra Sachdeva said, "He is out on bail with very few days left. He knows he will be back in jail on June 2. His disappointment is evident. Unfortunately, Delhi has got a CM who cannot sign any papers and who cannot visit the Secretariat." Meanwhile, Virendraa Sachdeva and Union Minister General VK Singh also flagged off a bike rally in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here in the national capital. The rally organised by the Sikh community was led by party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa. This comes nearly two weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the National Capital and a day after Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal attacked PM Modi, alleging, "He left no stone unturned to crush his party." All seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will vote on May 25. Aam Admi Party and Congress are jointly fighting the elections. As per the arrangement, AAP will be contesting 4 seats and Congress on 3. "The youth have taken out a bike rally to show support of the Sikh community for PM Narendra Modi (for Delhi Lok Sabha seats). He has made untiring efforts to strengthen our community, be it taking action against the 1984 riots accused, making the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, celebrating Veer Bal Diwas to remember the sacrifice of the four sons of Guru Gobind Singh, or rescuing the Sikh community from Afghanistan," Sirsa told ANI amid the rally He also lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "Arvind Kejriwal has been frustrated ever since he came out of jail and that is why he has been lying," he said. The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer said on Tuesday that 238 valid nominations have been accepted for the Lok Sabha polls due on May 25. The last date for withdrawal of candidature was May 9. "The nomination process for the upcoming Parliamentary Elections in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi was started on April 29 and ended on May 6," as per the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office. According to the press release, the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office has accepted 45 nominations for the North East Delhi constituency. In East Delhi, 31 valid nominations have been accepted. 29 valid nominations have been accepted for South Delhi. 39 valid nominations have been accepted for the Chandni Chowk seat. 29 nominations have been accepted for the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. 30 nominations have been accepted for the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat. 35 valid nominations have been accepted for the North West Delhi Lok Sabha set.Voting in Delhi will be held for 7 Lok Sabha seats. The seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the capital are New Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi, West Delhi, Chandni Chowk, North West and North East Delhi. As part of the seat-sharing arrangement, the Congress is contesting three seats while the AAP has fielded candidates from four constituencies in Delhi. The seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the capital are New Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi, West Delhi, Chandni Chowk, North West and North East Delhi.The Lok Sabha elections in Delhi will be held in a single phase on May 25. The counting of the votes will be done collectively across the nation on June 4. (ANI)
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, on the occasion of the opening of the portals of Shri Badrinath Dham, extended a warm welcome to all devotees embarking on the Char Dham Yatra. Emphasising the government's commitment to ensuring a hassle-free pilgrimage, CM Dhami stated on Sunday, "Our effort is that no one faces any problem in the journey, the journey should be done in an orderly manner." CM Dhami urged devotees to familiarise themselves with essential information such as journey rules, booking procedures, registration requirements, and weather forecasts before setting out for the Yatra. "Today the portals of Shri Badrinath Dham have opened; we welcome all the devotees. In the initial days, more people are reaching, and I request that they start the journey only after getting information about the rules of the journey, booking, registration, weather, and other important details. I will pray to God that everyone's wishes are fulfilled and the pilgrimage is successful," Dhami said. The portals or doors of Kedarnath Dham, one of the country's oldest and most sacred pilgrimage sites, were thrown open to devotees on Friday. He spoke while campaigning for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the country in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow on Sunday. Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership. He said that the three phases of voting have been completed and in the 3 phases, people have given their support to make Modi ji the Prime Minister again. Urging the voters to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Dhami said, "I request everyone to participate in this 'Maha Yagya' of democracy in the fourth phase also and to elect the Government of India, to make the country a developed India, to protect the borders of the country, for the welfare of the poor, for good governance, to make the country the third superpower, make your contribution to making PM Modi the Prime Minister..." Meanwhile, taking to social media platform X, Dhami wrote, "Under the able leadership of the respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, our country has established new records in every field in the last decade. I have full faith that the God-like people of Lucknow are going to realize the resolution of 'Abki Baar 400 Paar' by placing their stamp of trust on the historic work done in the country." Earlier on Saturday, Pushkar Singh Dhami received a grand welcome from workers and people during a roadshow organised in support of the BJP candidate in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich. Workers were seen showering flowers while chanting "Jai Shree Ram" and "Bharatiya Janata Party Zindabad" slogans. The Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh are being held in seven phases. Polling in the first three phases has already been completed. Polling for the remaining Lok Sabha seats will be held on May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. The counting of votes will be done on June 4. (ANI)
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In a show of community and spirit, Agartala hosted several blood donation events, witnessing substantial public involvement and support from local dignitaries.

Two notable camps highlighted the city's commitment to healthcare and humanitarian efforts.

Chief Minister Manik Saha, along with Minister Tinku Roy, attended a blood donation camp organised by the Prajapita Brahma Kumari Ishwariya Viswa Vidyalaya.

The event saw a robust turnout, with nearly 50 individuals donating blood. CM Saha spoke at the event and highlighted the importance of such initiatives, especially in times of emergency.

"The blood collected today could potentially save numerous lives in times of crisis," CM Saha remarked, underscoring the essential support provided by the state's network of 14 blood banks, including two privately run facilities.

Simultaneously, another meaningful event took place at the Shri Ram Thakur Seva Mandir in Banamalipur, organised in commemoration of the Tirodham Day of the esteemed 4th Mahant Maharaj Shreemad Bhavatosh Vandopadhyay.

The camp, attended by CM Saha and prominent journalist Subal Kumar De, attracted 25 voluntary donors.

This camp not only served the community's health needs but also paid homage to the spiritual leader's enduring legacy of selflessness and service.

Both events emphasised the significant impact of collective community actions in meeting crucial healthcare demands and strengthening communal bonds.

Minister Tinku Roy praised the donors' spirit, urging continued participation in such life-saving activities.

"The collective contribution of donors can bridge the gap between demand and supply during medical emergencies," he stated.

These blood donation camps exemplify Agartala's dedication to fostering a sense of solidarity and support within the community and resonating deeply with the teachings and values of the figures they honoured. (ANI)
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini highlighted the significance of the ongoing elections, calling it pivotal in shaping the direction and condition of the nation. Reflecting on the past decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, Saini on Saturday commended India's progress on the global stage. "This is not a small election. It's a very important one that will determine the direction and condition of the country. Over the past 10 years under Modi's leadership, India has forged a new path in the world. This election is crucial for us to continue progressing rapidly on the path of development," Saini said. "That's why we have elected Naveen Jindal with a significant majority to send him to Modi ji," he added. Saini highlighted the transformative changes in the region, across the state and country over the past 10 years. "I am pleased that when I came to Kurukshetra last time in 2019, I received abundant blessings and support from you all. In the last 10 years, we have witnessed a transformation in Kurukshetra and along with it, the state has also changed, and the entire country has changed under Narendra Modi's leadership," Saini said. In contrast, Saini criticised the Congress party's governance over the past several decades, stating that they failed to resolve general public problems. "Congress has ruled this country for 55-60 years, with people facing challenges but they (Congress) failed to resolve them. However, let me tell you that under our government, meaning Modi Ji's government, all the railway crossings that used to create bottlenecks have been transformed into underpasses or overpasses within these 10 years. Our government has worked to improve people's lives," Saini said. In Haryana, the Congress and the AAP will fight in alliance, with the Congress contesting nine Lok Sabha constituencies while one seat from Kurukshetra has been given to the AAP. Notably, Naveen Jindal represented the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency from 2004-2014 when he was in Congress. However, he lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party's Raj Kumar Saini in the 2014 national elections and was not fielded by the Congress in 2019. The former Congress leader Naveen Jindal had joined the ruling BJP recently. 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 counting of votes will be on June 4. (ANI)
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress, saying that the manifesto of the party is appealing because they do not intend to implement them. "Whenever elections approach, the manifesto of Congress is very appealing because they don't want to implement them," Bhajanlal Sharma told reporters here. He has been in the state for election campaigning. "On the other hand, the BJP under the leadership of PM Modi fulfilled all the promises made in 2014, and 2019 and the 'Sankalp Patra' launched in 2024 will also be fulfilled. In 90 days the government of Rajasthan has completed works that the Congress party was unable to do in 50-60 years," he added. Earlier in the day in Pune, he hailed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and lashed out at the Congress party saying that they have cheated the public. "We will reach our target. '4 June, 400 par'... The environment is in our favour," said CM Sharma. Lauding the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "The people have trust in PM Modi. He has worked to boost development and border security and enhanced India's global image."The Chief Minister further launched a scathing attack against the Congress and said, "The Congress had cheated the public... 'Congress ke dimag ka diwaliapan ho gaya hai.' They don't know what they are saying... They can make agreements with anyone, they are only worried about one family, they are not concerned about the country." CM Sharma also stated that the Congress promoted naxalism and terrorism in the country. Exuding confidence, he expressed, "I visited Bengal. BJP's seats there will increase. It will increase in many states like Jharkhand, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh." Earlier on Saturday, Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma addressed 'Pravasi Rajasthani Sammelan' in support of South Mumbai Mahayuti Lok Sabha candidate Yamini Jadhav. He said, " You (people) are connected to the roots of Rajasthan. I am happy that you like to keep connected to these roots and spread the culture of that place all over the world. You all have come from Rajasthan many years ago...you have the blood of Maharana Pratap in your veins..." Notably, Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the Lower House of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra were scheduled in five phases among which three phases April 19, April 26, and May 7- have been completed. The next phases are on May 13, and May 20. (ANI)
After fresh clashes broke between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party at Sandeshkhali, BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Basirhat Rekha Patra explained that BJP retaliated when TMC leader Dilip Malik came to the police station with his team, abused women and beat them up. "TMC goons went to the residence of the daughter of 'Andolankaari maa', Sagori Das. TMC goons picked her up and then also threatened her... Then they went to Jeliakhali and attacked the residence of our three members...When we came to the Police station. Dilip Malik came here with his team and then abused all the women here and beat them so we retaliated and hit them back. In this regard, they (TMC) have registered a complaint in the name of Dr Archana Majumdar and in my name, (Rekha Patra)," Rekha Patra said speaking to ANI on Sunday. TMC leader Sukumar Mahato, giving details about the incident, told ANI, "TMC was conducting a meeting regarding issues in the Khulna area. BJP came and started a fight; they thrashed our workers." "We have been able to hold a meeting to talk about the dignity of Sandeshkhali women. Women are protesting against the way BJP conspired against them. You have also seen how Dilip Mallik was attacked today. This is unacceptable. In politics, one party should help the other in their meetings and rallies. Instead of that, Dilip Mallik and other workers were beaten up. Around three-four thousand people assembled for the meeting..," Sukumar Mahato added. BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Basirhat Rekha Patra told ANI, " TMC goons went to the residence of the daughter of 'Andolankaari maa', Sagori Das. TMC goons picked her up and then also threatened her... Then they went to Jeliakhali and attacked the residence of our three members...When we came to the Police station. Dilip Malik came here with his team and then abused all the women here and beat them so we retaliated and hit them back. In this regard, they (TMC) have registered a complaint in the name of Dr Archana Majumdar and in my name, (Rekha Patra)." Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district started hitting the headlines in February this year when villagers, mostly women, came out on the streets against the ruling TMC and Shahjahan, accusing the strongman and his aides of perpetrating gross excesses and atrocities on them while also gobbling up their land. Multiple women on the island accused Shajahan and his aides of "land-grab and sexual assault" under coercion. The All India Trinamool Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India seeking criminal proceedings against National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma and BJP leaders including Piyali Das for "commission of serious offences of forgery, cheating, fraud, intimidation and criminal conspiracy upon innocent women of Sandeshkhali." On May 4, a video of a sting operation surfaced that has stirred up controversy in Sandeshkhali which was broadcast by a local television channel. In the alleged video, purportedly a BJP Mandal (booth) president named Gangadhar Koyal is heard saying that Sandeshkhali women, who weren't sexually assaulted, were projected as 'rape' victims at the behest of the LoP. Claiming that Suvendu 'helped' him get this done, the person in the video said that the former told him that the TMC's strongmen in the area wouldn't be arrested unless he is falsely implicated in a "rape case".However, the news channel that broke the alleged sting operation did not check the veracity of the clip. Shahjahan, the key Sandeshkhali accused, is currently behind bars in connection with the attack on a team of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) while it was in the process of raiding his residence in connection with the alleged ration scam. (ANI)
Begusarai, one of the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar which are set to go for polls on Monday, is considered to be a stronghold of the Bhumihar community. The dominance of Bhumihars in Begusarai is evident from the fact that a Bhumihar has been elected as MP nine times except in 2009 when JD(U)'s Monazir Hassan emerged victorious. Out of the total voters in Begusarai, about 19 per cent are upper-caste Bhumihars, followed by Muslims, who make up 15 per cent of the voters. Yadavs make up 12 per cent of the population and there are 7 per cent Kurmi voters. The 2024 candidates list for the Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency includes Abdhesh Kumar Roy of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Giriraj Singh of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Main parties contesting in Bihar include the NDA alliance, with BJP and JD(U) re-uniting and the Mahagathbandhan alliance which includes RJD and Congress among others. Earlier, Giriraj Singh expressed confidence in winning all 40 seats in Bihar. Speaking to reporters, the Minister said, "I am 200% confident that we will win 40 seats in Bihar. 200%. This tukde tukde, appeasement and Mughal mindset gang can never do the welfare of Bihar and the country. All 40/40 seats of the state will be in the name of PM Modi." Begusarai is known for its industries, including the Indian Oil Refinery, Hindustan Fertilizer Limited, and Thermal Power Station, all located in Barauni. The district also has hundreds of small industrial units in the private sector. Begusarai district of Bihar has a total population of 2,970,541 as per the Census 2011. Out of these 1,567,660 are males while 1,402,881 are females. In 2011 a total 589,667 families were residing in Begusarai district. The Average Sex Ratio in the Begusarai district is 895. The total literacy rate of Begusarai district is 63.87 per cent. In the 2019 polls, the BJP's Giriraj Singh won with 692,193 votes. CPI's Kanhaiya Kumar received 269,976 votes. RJDs Tanveer Hassan received 198,233 votes. In the 2014 polls, BJP's Bhola Singh won the Begusarai seat for the first time. He defeated RJD's Tanveer Hassan by a margin of 5% votes. Bhola Singh won with 428,227 votes, while RJD's Tanveer Hassan received 369,892 votes. Notably, polling in Bihar, which sends 40 members to the Lok Sabha, is being held across all seven phases. The counting of votes for all phases is scheduled for June 4. The voting on five seats in Bihar--Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, and Khagaria was conducted in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 7. (ANI)
In the Jalgaon Lok Sabha constituency, the transgender community is making waves with their demand for rights and reservations. This marginalized group has long been advocating for recognition and representation in various spheres of society. Despite progress in some areas, they continue to face discrimination and exclusion. The transgender community in the Jalgaon Lok Sabha constituency is asserting its rights and demanding representation through reservations in government and public sectors. With their voices growing louder, they are making it clear that they will throw their support behind candidates who pledge to address their concerns. For years, transgender individuals have faced societal stigma and discrimination, often struggling to access basic rights such as education, healthcare, and employment. Despite legal recognition in recent years, their integration into mainstream society remains a challenge. In response to these challenges, the transgender community in Jalgaon has mobilized, advocating for their rights and pushing for reservations to ensure their inclusion in decision-making processes. They argue that without proper representation, their needs and concerns will continue to be overlooked. Speaking on behalf of the community, activist leaders have emphasized the importance of political engagement, urging candidates to prioritize transgender rights and commit to implementing policies that promote inclusion and equality. They have warned that failure to address their demands will result in electoral consequences. One of the transgender Chand Tadvi said that they want the people of their community to be added to the government schemes. "We want reservations in government jobs. The people of our community should be involved in the government schemes. None of the candidates has approached us for votes or has promised to fulfil our demands. The one who will accept us will be accepted by us," Tadvi said. Another transgender Rakhi Suryavanshi said that she is a first-time voter and wants reservation in the job sector. "We are first-time voters. The transgender community have reservations in Karnataka and we want the same in Maharashtra too. This time 300-350 transgenders are going to vote. We want reservations for our people against the votes," Rakhi said. Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the Lower House of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh. In the fourth phase, polling will take place across 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. These Lok Sabha constituencies are Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, and Beed. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. (ANI)
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has handed over nation's wealth to a few selected hands, adding that the demonetisation scheme implemented in 2016 troubled a lot of small businesses and women in the country. Addressing a public meeting in Raebareli, Priyanka Gandhi said, "He (PM Modi) has handed over the nation's wealth to four to five people. He even implemented demonetisation, which caused a lot of trouble to small businesses and women. Your condition hasn't improved in these 10 years, but you are shown all the good things on news channels." Responding to PM Modi's "Mangalsutra" jibe, Priyanka Gandhi said, "We were in power for 55 years, did we snatch anything away from you? Indira Gandhi donated her jewellery during the 1962 war." Earlier today, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge appealed people to vote for Congress. In a post on X, Kharge said, "Caste census is necessary, Without equal sharing in Nyay, everyone's progress is incomplete. Vote for Congress." Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a public rally on April 21 charged Congress and said if Congress is voted to power, then they will conduct a wealth survey to seize the assets of people and take away their life-long savings. PM Modi said your mangalsutra will not be safe under Congress rule.While stressing the importance of 'Mangalsutra' (traditional Indian jewellery worn by married Indian women) for women, he said that no government has the power to snatch it away. "When they (Congress) were in government, they said that Muslims have the first right over India's resources. So, they will distribute this wealth (property and gold) among those having more children, among illegal immigrants...this urban Naxal thinking won't even spare your Mangalsutra," the PM said. The Congress alleged that PM Modi and the BJP have deliberately and repeatedly invoked religion, religious symbols and religious sentiments in its election campaign and the same is being done without any impunity. Raebareli constituency goes to the polls on May 20 in the fifth phase. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi won the constituency, bagging 5,34,918 votes. Her closest rival, Dinesh Pratap Singh, put up a formidable challenge, gathering 3,67,740 votes. Before Sonia, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had won Raebareli thrice. The constituency also elected Indira's husband and Congress leader Feroze Gandhi twice, in 1952 and 1957. Rahul Gandhi is a sitting MP in Kerala's Wayanad, where he is seeking a fresh term alongside Raebareli. Rahul represented Amethi from 2004 until 2019. He will face Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh of BJP in Raebareli. (ANI)
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary launched a scathing attack on former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, alleging that the RJD is opposed to reservation policies and the Constitution. Chaudhary, while addressing the media, questioned the credentials of Lalu's son and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, in addressing crucial political issues. "His father (Lalu Prasad Yadav) ruled for 34 years. Who is asking him (Tejashwi Yadav)? They (BJP leaders) are asking Lalu Ji. They are asking for the 20-25 percent of votes that Lalu Yadav has. Has he (Tejashwi Yadav) done any work yet? For 15 years, his father did not give a reservation to a single person in Bihar. Lalu Prasad is against reservation and the Constitution," Chaudhary said. Earlier Tejashwi Yadav took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ongoing roadshow in Patna and claimed that his (Tejashwi) party has held a job show while the PM is holding a roadshow .PM Modi will lead a roadshow in Patna on Sunday evening, followed by three election rallies elsewhere in Bihar, a day later. Speaking to ANI hours ahead of PM's roadshow, Yadav said, "He is doing a roadshow, whereas we have done a job show. I want to appeal to the Prime Minister: You have visited Bihar 8-10 times now, but you have not told people what you will do for Bihar in the next five years." Further, Yadav claimed that he gave a tough fight to the BJP leader as he did nearly 140 rallies, while the BJP has called in several top leaders and CMs to do election campaigns in the state. "Even though the Prime Minister is coming to Bihar, he has not fulfilled a single promise he made to the people of Bihar. He said he would give a special package, special attention, and special status to Bihar. What happened to these promises?... The Prime Minister is coming here, the Home Minister is coming here, Rajnath Singh is coming here, JP Nadda is coming here, Nitin Gadkari is coming here, CMs of various states are coming here, and everyone is being brought to Bihar to campaign for the BJP." "Whereas we stand alone. I have organised nearly 140 public meetings. This means I am alone,, overpowering everyone else. Prime Minister's road show plan was changed many times. He is going through places that are heavily populated BJP has been pushed out of villages," he added. The roadshow will commence at the Income Tax Office roundabout, situated a few hundred metres from the state BJP headquarters, and conclude at Udyog Bhavan in the vicinity of Gandhi Maidan, passing through crowded localities like Fraser Road, Exhibition Road, Kadam Kuan and Sahitya Sammelan. After the roadshow, the Prime Minister is scheduled to retire for the night at the Raj Bhavan and on the next morning, the PM will continue his poll campaign in Hajipur, Muzaffarpur and Saran. With 40 Lok Sabha constituencies, the fourth highest among all States and Union Territories, Bihar holds a crucial position in shaping Indian politics. On April 19, in the first phase, the polling was held in four constituencies: Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui and Nawada, with a 49.26 per cent voter turnout. In the second phase, the polling was held in five constituencies: Banka, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Kishanganj and Purnia, with a 59.45 per cent voter turnout on April 26. In the third phase of elections on May 7, Bihar's Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura and Khagaria went to polls and the state recorded 58.18 per cent voter turnout. The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), the opposition coalition in Bihar, including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left parties, recently announced that the RJD, its largest constituent, will contest 26 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats. As part of the NDA, the BJP and JD (U) will contest on 17 and 16 seats, respectively. In 2019, the BJP-led NDA swept the state by winning 39 out of 40 seats, while Congress won just one seat. RJD, a formidable force in the state, failed to open its account. (ANI)
The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee echoed the stance of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in rejecting the analogies given by Sam Pitroda to illustrate India's diversity. "The unacceptable and unfortunate analogies were however drawn by him on his personal capacity and has nothing to do with the Congress Party, as has been clearly communicated through appropriate party channels," the Nagaland Congress said. The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) attempts to politicise the issue despite this is regrettable and is an indicator of their utter desperation in the face of an impending electoral rout, the party said. It added that the BJP's hypocrisy and the irony of the situation is not lost on the nation considering the several instances in the recent past where BJP leaders have been involved in comparatively worse cases without any proportionate official censure from the party. Racially loaded statements from Union Minister Giriraj Singh in 2015, former BJP MP Tarun Vijay in 2017 and Santosh Ranjan Rai, the former national vice president of BJP's youth wing in 2021, are few of the cases in point, it said. "We reaffirm our utmost respect for the rich diversity of India and our unwavering commitment in upholding the interests of all sections of society, irrespective of colour or creed," the Nagaland Congress said. Earlier, speaking about how India is a shining example of democracy in the world, Sam Pitroda said that the people of the country have "survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together leaving a few fights here and there". Pitroda, in an interview with 'The Statesman', while reflecting upon the democracy in India said, "We have survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together, leaving aside few fights here and there. We could hold a country together as diverse as India, where people on the east look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arab, people on the North look like white and maybe people on the South look like Africans." Pitroda had earlier courted controversy when he had advocated an inheritance tax-like law in the country. However, the Congress had officially distanced itself from Pitroda's comments saying that they did not reflect the view of the party at all times. Now the Congress overseas Chairman has put the Congress in a soup with his latest comments. The Bharatiya Janata Party has hit back at Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda over his 'racist' remarks about how people in the South "look like Africans and those in the East look like Arabs and those in the East look like Chinese." Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was one of the first to react when he took to X and slammed Pitroda over his remarks and said, "Sam bhai, I am from the North East and I look like an Indian. We are a diverse country - we may look different but we are all one. Understand a little about our country!" BJP candidate from Thiruvananthapuram and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar termed Pitroda's remark as "Shameless". "This is how Rahul Gandhi has been taught to divide up and see India by his tutor and mentor -Sam Pitroda," he said. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya alleged that the statement by Pitroda is no different from what Churchill had said about Indians. "Congress has always been the OG-breaking India party. This commentary is no different from what Churchill had said about us. No wonder RG is the way he is after being mentored by him!" Surya said. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also joined in the criticism alleging that these were racist comments by a man who is the guru of Rahul Gandhi. "It is the words and thinking of Rahul Gandhi only because these days Rahul is also playing the politics of divide and rule to such an extent that first they divide on caste and language lines and now they are doing Indians Vs Indians. To make comments like Indians are like Chinese. Isn't this a racist comment? Isn't this insulting? Indians are looking like Africans. Isn't it the comment on the entire South people? By making these comments, it shows that Congress' "Mohabbat ki dukaan" actually has "Nafrat ka saaman". Unless Congress gives a complete explanation and sacks Sam Pitroda, this should be taken as the statement of the Congress," Poonawalla said. BJP candidate from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, Kangana Ranaut also took to X and said that Congress' whole ideology is about divide and rule. "Sam Pitroda is Rahul Gandhi's mentor. Listen to his racist & divisive jibes for Indians. Their whole ideology is about divide & rule. It's sickening to call fellow Indians Chinese and African. Shame on Congress!" Ranaut said.(ANI)
Continuing with its effort to provide relief material in aftermath of the devastating glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), warriors of Trishakti Corps distributed essential relief materials providing much-needed assistance to the affected communities of Naga and Rang Rang Village symbolising unwavering solidarity with the people in these remote villages.

The warriors of Trishakti Corps also conducted a medical camp providing necessary medical investigations, medicines and imparted invaluable insights on comprehensive health to the locals. This noble endeavour touched the lives of over 150 patients hailing from both villages.

Further, local youths were empowered through an enriching lecture and video demonstration on the Agniveer Scheme, nurturing their potential and fostering a brighter future for the generations to come.

The Indian Army's efforts exemplify the spirit of service and compassion, reinforcing the bond between the armed forces and the local populace. Operation Sadbhavana, with its focus on community development, has been pivotal in creating a positive impact on the lives of residents in the border villages.

The Indian Army reaffirmed its commitment to continuing such community-driven activities in the future, promoting harmony and solidarity in the border villages of Sikkim. (ANI)
San Antonio police looking for man accused of attacking two men with crowbar Saturday afternoon on the South Side. The alleged attacker had been released by police when officers believed he was the victim of a gunfire assault. mbbirdy/Getty Images

San Antonio police are looking for a 55-year-old man accused of attacking two men with a crowbar early Saturday afternoon on the South Side.

Police initially thought the wanted man was a victim of a gunfire assault, but later determined he first attacked the two men who shot at him, according to a preliminary police report.

Officers responded to a shooting in progress around 1:30 p.m. near Roosevelt and Kirkpatrick Avenue. When they arrived at the scene, officers were approached by a man who said two men came up to him and fired several gunshots at him for no known reason, according to the report.

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Police found several spent shell casings at the scene. The man did not appear to be injured, police said.

Officers located the two men near the scene and they were identified by the man as the shooters. The two men told police that the man had attacked them with a crowbar and it was in response to the attack that several gunshots were fired toward him, the police report says.

Once the investigation was complete, police determined the 55-year-old man attacked the two men and "the shooting was justified," the report says.

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Officers released the man, who they believed was a victim of an assault, before they determined that the shooters were the victims of a crowbar attack.
The Israel Defense Forces said that its troops have been operating in eastern Rafah and have "intensified" operational activity in the Zeitoun area in central Gaza, CNN reported. This comes after the Israeli military ordered the immediate evacuation of several more neighbourhoods in eastern Rafah as the Israeli military steps up its operations in the southern Gazan city. According to CNN, the military has also ordered residents and the displaced people in several neighbourhoods in northern Gaza to leave the area immediately and head toward "shelters" west of Gaza City. The IDF says dozens of gunmen have been killed and many weapons have been captured amid the ongoing raid in Zeitoun, Times of Israel reported In Rafah, troops killed several more Hamas gunmen in the eastern part of the city, as well as located several tunnels, the IDF says. According to the IDF, the aircraft struck "tens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military structures, launch posts, observation posts, terrorist operatives and additional terrorist infrastructure." As per the update from the local hospitals, at least 47 people were killed, including children, in Israeli airstrikes in northern and central Gaza Friday evening and overnight, as per CNN. IDF troops have also been operating "against Hamas terrorists and infrastructure in specific areas of eastern Rafah," the IDF said. "Over the past day, IDF troops eliminated numerous terrorists in close-quarters combat and dismantled terrorist infrastructure in the area." It added that IDF troops had also uncovered numerous underground tunnel shafts in the area adjacent to the Rafah crossing into Egypt. Following this, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that 28 people were killed as a result of Israeli military operations in the most recent 24 hours. The Ministry also stated that 69 people had been injured in the same period. Since the launch of the Israeli counter-offensive, 34,971 people have been killed in Gaza and 78,641 injured, the Ministry stated. The conflict in Gaza escalated after the October 7 attack by Hamas, where about 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, leading to casualties and the seizure of hostages. Israel has since, characterised its Gaza offensive as targeting Hamas' infrastructure with the goal of eliminating the entire terror group while making efforts to minimize civilian casualties. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended the valedictory ceremony of the Indian Foreign Service Officer Trainees of the 2023 batch and Bhutanese diplomats on Saturday here in the national capital. The EAM discussed the emerging landscape, its challenges and opportunities with the IFS Officer Trainees and wished them the best for their future. "Pleased to attend the valedictory ceremony of the Indian Foreign Service Officer Trainees of the 2023 batch and Bhutanese diplomats. From the Amrit Kaal generation, they will help shape India's journey to Viksit Bharat," Jaishankar posted on social media platform X. "Discussed the emerging landscape, its challenges and opportunities and changing practices with them. Welcome them to a life in diplomacy and wish them the best in times ahead," he added. https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1789302165129044312 Earlier in the day, Jaishankar also attended the launch of the Arbitration Bar of India at Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan in the national capital. He said that 'Arbitrate in India!' should be a natural accompaniment of 'Make in India', while adding that the Modi Government recognises the importance of high quality arbitration. "Glad to participate at the launch of the Arbitration Bar of India. 'Arbitrate in India!' should be a natural accompaniment of @makeinindia as our economy grows and the nation globalizes. The Modi Government recognizes the importance of high quality arbitration as it improves ease of doing business," the EAM stated on X. "#TeamMEA is doing its part. Confident that today's inauguration is one of the legal community's many contributions towards a Viksit Bharat," he added. https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1789303186219815317 During his address, he highlighted the positives of arbitration and said that arbitration fosters economic growth. "We all do know it as an efficient and equitable method of resolving disputes and providing a streamlined alternative for what can often be very intricate judicial processes. So whether it is in domestic or international arenas, arbitration certainly inspires confidence, it fosters economic growth, and it upholds the rule of law," Jaishankar said. "In a world where time is actually of essence and certainty is of paramount importance, arbitration is recognised as a cornerstone of modern dispute resolution. Now, this is particularly relevant for us to recognise in India at a time when rapid economic growth is taking place in a globalised environment. If we are to get full mileage from our 3D dividend--democracy, demographics, and demand--then high-quality arbitration is a notable factor in further attracting foreign direct investment," he added. (ANI)
At least one police officer was killed and 90 others were wounded after violent clashes erupted in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) during the ongoing protests and shutter down strike across the region, Dawn reported on Saturday. According to the report which cited Mirpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kamran Ali Sub-inspector Adnan Qureshi succumbed to a gunshot wound in the chest in the town of Islamgarh where he was deployed along with other police personnel to stop a rally for Muzaffarabad via Kotli and Poonch districts under the banner of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC). The JAAC, which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the region, has been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in PoJK, subsidised wheat flour and an end to the privileges of the elite class. On Wednesday-Thursday night, around 70 JAAC activists were arrested by police during raids at their residences and those of their relatives in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur divisions, triggering serious clashes in Dadyal on Thursday. The committee had subsequently announced a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike on Friday, a day ahead of its planned long march towards Muzaffarabad today. Amid a crippling strike on Friday, fierce clashes between police and protesters were witnessed in different areas of Muzaffarabad. Dawn reported that the authorities had placed mounds of earth on paths leading to Muzaffarabad, apart from making more arrests, to prevent people from heading towards the city. Witnesses said that Muzaffarabad division and Poonch division observed complete strikes. SSP Yasin Baig said at least one police officer and a young boy were injured as police resorted to teargas shelling and aerial firing in some neighbourhoods. Kotli SSP Mir Muhammad Abid said in a statement that at least 78 policemen were injured in the district in "attacks of miscreants under the guise of protest". The SSP said 59 policemen, including Deputy Superintendent of Police Ilyas Janjua, and two revenue department officials were injured in Rehaan Galli while another 19 policemen were injured in Sehnsa Baroiyan. A press release from the District Headquarters Hospital Kotli said apart from the 59 wounded policemen, nine injured protesters were also brought to for treatment. SSP Abid said some police officials were also reportedly injured in Doliya Jattan. JAAC spokesperson Hafeez Hamdani made it clear while talking to Dawn.com that the action committee had nothing to do with violence. "It seems that such elements have been purposely planted in the ranks of protesters to bring a bad name to a struggle that aims nothing but the legitimate rights of the people," he said. Addressing a press conference, PoJK Finance Minister Abdul Majid Khan said that the government had exercised "maximum restraint and is ready for talks to peacefully address all contentious issues. "Issues have to be resolved through dialogue and our doors are always open for negotiations. But the offer should not be misconstrued as a weakness of the government," he said. PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir termed the entire situation "inappropriate" and called on all actors to play their role in establishing peace. He said he had talked to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and alerted him about all the demands of the protesters. "He expressed concern and I request all PML-N officeholders to talk to the leaders of the action committee ... so this movement for their demands can remain peaceful," he said. Qadir also urged the PoJK government to open the door for negotiations. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regional secretary general Chaudhry Tariq Farooq said, "If the powerful and responsible circles in Pakistan have any concern about the people...they should pay immediate attention before it's too late." Former PoJK premier and senior PML-N leader Raja Farooq Haider urged the demonstrators to protest peacefully for the resolution of their demands and not take the law into their hands and damage government properties. He also offered his condolences for the sub-inspector's death and called for an end to the "lawlessness". (ANI)
Prompt action ensued as an emergency was declared, leading to the deployment of essential services, including fire brigade and ambulances, at Dubai Airport, ARY News reported.

Following a thorough examination by the flight crew, the aircraft was ultimately cleared for departure to Islamabad. The PIA spokesperson confirmed the in-flight smoke detection and the resulting delay in departure.

This incident occurred amidst the commencement of PIA's post-Hajj flight operations, which started on May 9 and will extend until June 10, 2024. The airline is facilitating direct flights to Jeddah and Madina from eight cities across Pakistan, including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta, Sialkot, and Sukkur, as reported by ARY News.

The spokesperson reiterated that PIA aims to serve approximately 34,000 pilgrims through 170 flights during this period, accommodating both government-sponsored and private pilgrims.

Notably, passengers commencing their journey from Karachi or Islamabad can benefit from Saudi immigration facilities at the airport, courtesy of the Road to Mecca Project.

Incidents of negligence are common with PIA, as a day ago, the staffers of a PIA flight bound for Skardu from Islamabad forgot to put the body of a six-year-old boy on the fight while his grieving parents embarked on their journey, unaware that their beloved son's body was left behind, Dawn reported.

The parents of the deceased child, overwhelmed by shock and disbelief, fainted upon learning that their son's remains had been inadvertently left behind at Islamabad's airport, a realisation that struck with devastating force upon their arrival at Skardu airport. (ANI)
The incident, captured on video by ARY News, occurred at Government Girls Primary School in Peshawar's Chugal Pura area while the teacher was conducting a lesson.

Following the impact, the teacher was promptly taken to a nearby private hospital by school staff, according to ARY News.

The sudden fall of the fan caused panic among the students, prompting them to scream and flee in distress.

SDO Education Shamim Akhtar remarked on the incident, noting that the school building, dating back to 1916, is in shambles.

"We have forwarded a report to the Education Department, but unfortunately, no action has been taken yet, leaving the children studying in hazardous conditions," she added, ARY News reported.

Earlier on May 10, an explosion occurred at a private girls' school in the North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Dawn reported while quoting police sources. The explosion was reported on night and was triggered by unidentified militants.

According to police sources, the militants first tortured the watchman of the school and later blew up two rooms of the building. There was, however, no injury or loss of life in the explosion, Dawn reported.

In May last year, two government schools for girls in Mirali (a town in Pakistan) witnessed similar attacks, with no casualties reported, as per Dawn.

Around 500 girls were enrolled in the two schools, Government Girls Middle School Noor Jannat and Government Girls Middle School Yunus Kot which were targeted by the attackers around midnight.

These schools were the only private girls' educational facilities in the area and had previously received multiple threat letters. (ANI)
British-Israeli hostage, Nadav Popplewell held by the Hamas militant group died following the October 7 attack on Israel died of wounds sustained in an Israeli air strike, Al Jazeera reported citing Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades on Saturday. This comes as the group's announcement on Saturday came just hours after the Palestinian group released an 11-second video showing Popplewell with a bruised eye. In the video republished on social media and cited by Israeli news outlets, a man is seen wearing a white T-shirt and he introduces himself as 51-year-old Nadav Popplewell from the Nirim kibbutz in southern Israel, Al Jazeera reported. Superimposed text in Arabic and Hebrew reads, "Time is running out. Your government is lying." Popplewell was taken captive in Nirim during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, according to Israel's Ynet news site. His mother was also taken as a captive but later released during the exchange of captives and prisoners by Hamas and Israel last year. Popplewell's brother was killed in the attack, Ynet reported. The video posted on Saturday on the Telegram channel of Hamas's armed wing is the third time in less than a month the group has released footage of captives held in Gaza. On April 27, Hamas released a video showing two captives alive - Keith Siegel and Omri Miran. Three days earlier it also broadcast another video showing captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive. The videos come amid growing domestic pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of the remaining captives. Reporting from Amman, Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, said this tactic of releasing videos of captives on a Saturday, when protests take place in Tel Aviv, is a way of pressurising the Israeli government. "This is what's been a drip-feed if you will from Hamas. Where, by releasing videos, at times showing hostages dead, they are trying to put pressure on the Israeli government," she said. "But this hasn't really changed the policies of [the Israeli] government." On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel released a statement calling on the Israeli government to strike a deal with Hamas in order to secure the release of captives. "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' group said in its statement, Al Jazeera reported. "We don't have a moment to spare! You must strive to implement a deal that will bring them all back today." Relatives of the captives also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not caring about those being held in Gaza and called on Netanyahu to resign. "If we continue down this path, we will lose not only the hostages but the country itself," Naama Weinberg, a cousin of one of the captives said at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon. "There is no victory and can be no victory without the return of the hostages." Despite the immense pressure, Netanyahu and his government have so far failed to strike a deal with Hamas. Some 1,139 people were killed on October 7 when Hamas and allied fighters attacked southern Israel, and 250 captives were also taken to the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials say 128 of them are still being held in the Palestinian territory, including 36 who are dead, Al Jazeera reported. Israel's seven-month military campaign in Gaza has so far killed at least 34,971 people and wounded 78,641 others. (ANI)
The agreement marks the fourth pact in Israel's strategic initiative, "Treat the Wheat," to secure emergency wheat supplies. In exchange, Israel will provide Romania with agricultural technology and knowledge.

"In this period of global uncertainty and severe geopolitical conflicts in our region, this agreement, born out of common interests, will allow Israel an additional import channel, especially in times of emergency," Dichter said.

The agreement with Romania follows similar accords with Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Morocco, all aimed at diversifying Israel's wheat import sources.

Israel's "Treat the Wheat" initiative was launched in the aftermath of global wheat shortages stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Israeli agriculture is facing staggering losses in production and manpower. Before October 7, Israel had 29,900 foreigners, mostly Thais, working in farms, orchards, greenhouses and packing plants. Israeli workers who might have filled the gaps have been called up for military reserve duty while Palestinian laborers are currently banned as security risks. The Israeli government is turning to India and other countries to address the labor shortfall.

During his visit, Dichter also met with his Romanian counterpart, Florin-Ionut Barbu, Romanian Jewish community leader Silviu Vexler and leaders of the Israel-Romania Chamber of Commerce. (ANI/TPS)
As the Rafah invasion continues to grow more intense, there are more developments taking place in ongoing operations in the area, with Israeli military tanks going deeper into the Jabalia refugee camp, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday. They, Israeli tanks, notably crossed Salah al-Din Street into the camp on early Sunday morning as the battle rages between Hamas terrorists and Israeli forces. During the earlier military incursion in the refugee camp, the residents had been moved to different places, and now, they are bound to leave again amid the ongoing offensive in Gaza. Numerous Palestinians have been compelled to evacuate various parts of Gaza, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Rafah. Initial responders from the Palestinian Civil Defence claimed they were unable to attend to numerous requests for assistance coming from both regions and Rafah, according to Al Jazeera. People in eastern Rafah were told to evacuate last week by Israel and head west to the packed tent camp known as the "humanitarian zone" of al-Mawasi. Meanwhile, Israel, over the past seven months, has time and again issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in the strip including critically ill patients from hospitals, often with unclear instructions. All residents of Gaza City and the north were given a 24-hour notice to leave the area south of Wadi Gaza by the Israeli army on October 13 last year Whereas, in December again, the residents of the Bureij refugee camp and other central Gaza localities were ordered to evacuate and relocate to Deir el-Balah by Israel. According to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, which is the primary relief organisation in Gaza, 300,000 people have left Rafah since the start of the operation, reported Al Jazeera. The majority are en route to Khan Younis, also known as al-Mawasi, a severely damaged adjacent city where 450,000 people currently reside in filthy conditions. Notably, Israel has repeatedly refused to agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza until Hamas gets defeated, even if all hostages are released, CNN reported. "The Hamas proposal was very far from Israel's core demands," Netanyahu said on Tuesday last week. Meanwhile, as Israel started its operation in Rafah despite concerns, it has ordered several more neighbourhoods in eastern Rafah to immediately evacuate as the military steps up its operations in the southern Gazan city. Rafah, the southern Gazan city is believed to be the last holdout for Hamas but it shelters more than 1 million displaced Palestinians. Some 1,139 people were killed on October 7 when Hamas and allied fighters attacked southern Israel, and 250 captives were also taken to the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials say 128 of them are still being held in the Palestinian territory, including 36 who are dead, according to Al Jazeera. Israel's seven-month military campaign in Gaza has so far killed at least 34,971 people and wounded 78,641 others. (ANI)
TOKYO, May 12 (News On Japan) - In an atypical family setup, a story unfolds around a little girl named Momo, her 'Mama', and 'Kaachan'. 'Mama', born a male, now lives as a woman, Toshimi Tani, aged 50. Tani, a film producer at Nippon Television, has experienced a versatile career trajectory.

Previously, she served as the bureau chief in Cairo, where she covered events of war and terrorism. These profound experiences cemented her resolve to live her life without regrets and embrace her true identity as a womana dream she harbored since childhood. Ten years ago, Tani married a woman and, following fertility treatments, welcomed their daughter, Momo. Although biologically a father, Tani has fully embraced the maternal role, navigating the unique challenges and joys of motherhood.

The tale of Tani's transformation and motherhood is an inspiring one, filled with memories, struggles, and milestones. From her childhood in Kobe, through her transformative years abroad, to her current life in Tokyo, Tani has continuously battled societal norms and personal dilemmas to forge a path that is truly her own. Today, she is not only a media professional but a beacon for the LGBTQ+ community, embodying the possibility that one can live authentically and lovingly in a world that often resists deviation from the norm.

This story, highlighted in a book meant for Momo, aims to provide a genuine account of a family that might look different but is built on the foundations of love, respect, and undeterred determination. It serves as a testament to the fact that being different is not only acceptable but can illuminate paths for others to follow.

Source: YOMIURI
Israeli forces are expanding military operations in and around Rafah, forcing an estimated 300,000 people to flee the city.

Israeli forces have warned civilians to evacuate Rafah ahead of a wider ground offensive, while the United Nations warns food supplies will run out as early as today.

"Our war is against Hamas and not the people of Gaza," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said in a video update on X.

Over the last few days alone, we were all reminded why our pursuit against Hamas is vital



Watch an operational update from IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari about the IDFs precise operation in Rafah: pic.twitter.com/OF0TTM9tmy  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 11, 2024

Fighting was continuing across Gaza on Sunday.

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in the northern Gaza Strip, the Associated Press reported.

"It was a very difficult night," said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, in Jabaliya. "This is madness."

Israel announced that a new field hospital was established and began operating in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

The Israel Defesne Forces claims it will be used to increase humanitarian aid efforts and ensure aid reaches the Gazan civilians that were relocated from eastern Rafah.

A new field hospital was established and began operating in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. This was done in coordination with @cogatonline to increase humanitarian aid efforts and ensure aid reaches the Gazan civilians that were relocated from eastern Rafah.



The pic.twitter.com/mIICqHdHqt  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 11, 2024

In Tel Aviv on Saturday, protesters clashed with police officers during a demonstration calling for a hostages deal with Hamas and against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Some Israelis are pushing for a ceasefire to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Israel invaded Gaza in response to a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,000 people dead and hundreds more dragged back into Gaza as hostages.
May 12 (News On Japan) - As the final battle approaches, All Might inspires his friends in the upcoming episode of "My Hero Academia."

Set in a world where nearly everyone has superpowers known as "Quirks," the story follows Izuku Midoriya, a kind-hearted and ambitious boy born without Quirks in a society that values them highly. Despite this, Midoriya dreams of becoming a hero.

His life changes when he meets his idol and the world's greatest hero, All Might, who shares his Quirk with Midoriya after recognizing his potential and determination. Midoriya then gains the opportunity to attend U.A. High School, a prestigious academy known for its excellent hero training program.

The series explores Midoriya's journey through the challenges of the rigorous training at U.A., his interactions and competitions with his diverse classmates, and his confrontations with the dark forces that threaten society. Alongside him are his classmates, each with unique abilities and aspirations: the fiery and determined Katsuki Bakugo, the talented and strategic Shoto Todoroki, and the kind and insightful Ochaco Uraraka, among others.

"My Hero Academia" is broadcasting on May 18th, Saturday evening at 5:30 PM.

Source: ytv animation 
TOKYO, May 13 (News On Japan) - Japan's beloved soul food, udon, is experiencing a new wave of innovation. In the fiercely competitive "udon battleground" of Tokyo, where renowned eateries from across Japan converge, a fresh movement is reshaping the traditional noodle scene. New udon creations are being churned out as part of a spirited battle for survival among these establishments.

Starting just a short walk from Aoyama-itchome Station in Tokyo, the evolving Tokyo udon scene is prominently featured in a restaurant nestled in the underground food district of a building right in front of the station. Here lies Iwaya Saki Udon, a staple for locals and a testament to the ongoing udon evolution.

For Daigo Ohu, a reporter hailing from Shikoku and a self-proclaimed udon aficionado, the restaurant's standard cold udon topped with a raw egg and dashi soy sauce is a soul-soothing favorite. "The real test of a noodle shop's mettle is in its udon," Ohu notes, savoring the noodles' perfect firmness and delicate throat feel. The dashi, sweetened slightly, wraps around the udon, softened by the egg, creating a gentle, enveloping taste.

The restaurant manager, Sato, shared insights into their meticulous noodle-making process. "Our noodles are made from carefully selected wheat, kneaded into dough, and then left to rest for two days to enhance the wheat's aroma," explained Sato. The noodles are then hand-pressed and machine-stretched to achieve the ideal thickness and length, ensuring a satisfying gulp.

What sets this Tokyo outlet apart is its unique offering of Hormone Udon, not available at the main branch in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. This dish features a generous amount of Wagyu beef offal, a rare find in traditional udon servings. "The umami seeps into your body, different from the usual plant-based broth, adding a savory complexity to the warm, chewy noodles," commented Ohu.

This evolution of Tokyo's udon is also witnessed in other districts such as Shinjuku, where the Uozen front station restaurant serves up a limited number of rich shellfish broth udon dishes each day. The broth, enhanced by two large clams, pairs magnificently with the noodles, making each bite a harmonious blend of flavors and textures.

In the residential area near Kami Station, another trendsetter in the evolving udon landscape is the Fujikawa shop, known for its Yoshida-style udon topped with cabbage and horse meat. "The robust flavor of the wheat becomes more pronounced with each chew, and the rich soy-based broth complements the firm noodles perfectly," Ohu describes the experience.

The evolving udon scene in Tokyo continues to surprise and delight, with innovative recipes that push the boundaries of traditional Japanese cuisine. As these establishments carve out their niches, they not only survive but thrive, proving that even the most classic dishes can be reinvented for modern palates.

Source: NEWS
FUKUOKA, May 13 (News On Japan) - Marijuana, long banned in Japan, now faces tighter restrictions after last year's law amendment prohibiting not only possession, but its use. Despite these laws, a quick internet search reveals numerous sale advertisements written in slang. Our investigation with the Health Bureau's Narcotics Control Department, colloquially known as "Matori," reveals the prevalent marijuana situation among Japan's youth.

At 1:45 PM, a raid in Fukuoka results in the arrest of a man in his 20s, exemplifying the drug's spread among local youth, often seen as an entry point to harsher substances. Our visit to the Kyushu bureau of narcotics control reveals the same investigative authority as the police, overwhelmed by keyword searches revealing extensive drug trade information.

Online, colorful emojis serve as codes -- broccoli icons represent marijuana, while names like Strawberry Cherry Pie may indicate specific strains. "Tegoshi," meaning hand-delivered trades, floods searches, indicating that face-to-face transactions are common in Fukuoka and nearby Hakata.

The rise of smartphones has made it easier for ordinary individuals, from students to housewives and office workers, to obtain drugs out of curiosity. Fukuoka Prefecture Police report that drug-related arrests have hit a record high this year, with 478 individuals detained, 80% of whom are under 30.

One recent case involved a man in his 40s, caught cultivating marijuana in an apartment rented separately from his residence. The smell leaked outside, indicating large-scale operations. From the raid, officers confiscated marijuana plants equivalent to two carloads.

In Fukuoka, despite a crackdown, marijuana continues to circulate in the shadows. One arrested individual was also found possessing methamphetamine, suggesting that marijuana acts as a gateway drug.

Meanwhile, products containing CBD, a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, are mixed into coffee and sweets, offered in cafes without falling under the Narcotics Control Law. "We serve vegan food with CBD. It attracts health-conscious customers," said a cafe owner, illustrating the legal consumption of such products.

Despite the crackdown, the allure of marijuana remains strong among the youth, possibly equated to tobacco in their minds. "It's not really a bad thing," is a growing sentiment among them, influenced by fashion and admired musicians who mention drugs.

Yuto, a user since he was 16, talks about his dependency: "People say it's not addictive, but it becomes a part of your life, and quitting is incredibly hard." After deciding to quit, he described the following month as hellish, having once spent up to 200,000 yen in a month on drugs.

Now 26, Yuto was arrested for violating the Narcotics Control Act and received a suspended sentence. Since then, he has severed ties with drugs, but the amended law, which now includes using marijuana, still faces skepticism from experts who doubt it will fully address the issue.

The amended law aims to curb the rampant spread, but experts believe that solving the problem in a complex society targeting exhausted youth may have its limits. The roots of marijuana continue to spread, presenting an ongoing challenge.

Source: NEWS
TOKYO, May 13 (News On Japan) - One month into their new roles, Japan's young professionals who joined companies in April are beginning to settle into their workplaces. We explored how these young individuals are contemplating their careers, uncovering insights that resonate not just with them but also with more seasoned professionals.

A job fair for university students graduating next spring was held Saturday, drawing attention to the employment choices of today's youth. Many seem to prefer flexible career paths over long-term commitments to a single company. "Honestly, the idea of staying with one company isn't very appealing to me," one participant shared, reflecting a growing trend toward job switching and freelancing.

According to a survey of this year's new employees, only 21.1% wish to stay with their current company until retirement, while 26.4% would switch jobs if the opportunity arises. This preference for job mobility is at its highest in 18 years. A 20-something respondent shared his career plan, which includes working for an event company, changing jobs by 28, marrying by 31, and considering freelance work by 45 after potentially taking care of aging parents.

Smartphones have made job searches more accessible, leading to a rise in applications from a diverse group of people, including students, housewives, and office workers. This ease of access has broadened the spectrum of potential job seekers.

In one notable case, a third-year employee who has already switched jobs twice envisions starting his own business rather than working for someone else. "It would be amazing to start my own company," he expressed, resonating with a friend who found the idea appealing.

In contrast, another young professional plans to take over his family's business in Gunma Prefecture. Despite a 90% drop in revenue due to the pandemic, his father managed to revive the business. "I plan to learn enough about management to surpass my father," he stated, planning to take over by 28 and aiming to strengthen his foundation in the business.

This blend of ambition and pragmatism among Japan's youth highlights their diverse aspirations and the evolving job market. As they navigate through their early careers, these young professionals are setting the stage for a dynamic workforce that embraces flexibility, entrepreneurship, and lifelong learning.

Source: NEWS
TOKYO, May 13 (News On Japan) - The former wife of a wealthy man known as the "Don Juan of Kishu," who was indicted for his murder three years ago, appeared in court for a different case on May 10. However, there has been no progress toward an initial trial for the murder of the wealthy businessman.

To understand why, we consulted a former prosecutor now practicing as a defense attorney.

Addressless in Court

After three years away from the public eye, the woman was questioned by the judge in court on May 10.

 What is your name? "Saki Sudo."

 What is your address? "I don't have one currently."

Sudo, aged 28, is the former wife of Kosuke Nozaki, who was 77 at the time of his death. She was arrested and charged with his murder.

Suspicious Death Three Months into Marriage

The incident occurred six years ago. Surrounded by the press, Sudo faced questions such as, "It's been a month since the incident, any thoughts?" and "Why have you returned today?"

Nozaki died suspiciously three months after marrying Sudo, despite their 55-year age gap. According to Nozaki's autobiography, they met a year before the incident when Nozaki fell at Haneda Airport, and Sudo kindly helped him up.

"I want to color your life pink. Will you be my last woman?" Nozaki reportedly proposed to her, and they married.

Declared a 'Playboy for Life' in His Autobiography

Nozaki, found dead in his bedroom, was known as a wealthy man. In 2016, when his home was featured in the media, his bag contained 2 million yen in cash, and his drawer held 15 million yen.

His autobiographies  "Don Juan of Kishu: The Man Who Lavished 3 Billion Yen on 4,000 Beauties" and "Don Juan of Kishu: Ambition Edition  Why I Can Stay Active for Life"  declare:

"The reason I earn money is primarily to date attractive women."

"I vow to remain active in business and love until I die."

"I have dated nearly 4,000 women, spending about 3 billion yen on them."

Sudo Remained Silent

After Nozaki's death, a significant amount of stimulant was found in his body. The police, noting no injection marks, suspected that someone might have administered the stimulant orally. In 2018, when asked by the press if Nozaki had used stimulants, or if she had ever seen him take them, Sudo remained silent.

Suspicious Death of a Beloved Dog

Before the incident, another suspicious death occurred  that of Nozaki's beloved dog, Eve. While no stimulants were detected, Eve died abnormally, struggling painfully just 18 days before Nozaki's death.

The arrest of Sudo in 2021 added a dramatic turn to this mystery-shrouded case.

Reasons for the Delay

On May 10, three years later, Sudo appeared in court for a different case, dressed entirely in black with long hair down to her waist.

Yet, the trial concerning the sensational case of Nozaki's death has not even started. We asked Masaki Kamei, a former Osaka district prosecutor, why:

"It's unusual that after three years, there's still no visibility on the commencement of the trial," Kamei said. "It could be due to the vast amount of evidence requested by the prosecution, time-consuming evidence disclosure procedures, changes in the defense team's strategy, or unexpected issues arising during preparation."

The reasons behind the delay continue to fuel speculation and interest in the enigmatic case of Kishu's Don Juan.

Source: NEWS
Somalia has asked the UN to terminate its mission in the war-stricken country as attacks by Al-Qaida-linked Shabab militants.

Somalia has sent a letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres expressing the governments wish to end the mission of the UN, which has been operating in the country since 1993.

The current mandate of the UN mission, known as UNSOM, expires on October 31.

The request to terminate the mission came at a context marked by the surge in attacks by Al-Shabab, prompting international support for the government.

The US announced plans to build up to five military bases for the Somali army, aiming to strengthen its capacity to combat threats posed by the extremist group.
A national dialogue in Mali- boycotted by the opposition- suggested that the current military rule should continue for more years and that military ruler Assimi Goita should bid when elections are held.

Goita came to power on the back of a coup in 2020 and has maintained a firm grip on state institutions since then, while promising to hold elections and restore constitutional order.

Goita has insisted that the dialogue had been entirely inclusive in line with his wish for all Malians to take part and express themselves freely.

Since April, Malis transitional government has suspended all political parties and associations across the country until further notice.

The suspension was in response to a call by more than 80 political parties and associations for a return to constitutional order by holding presidential elections as soon as possible.

Since the coup, Mali has sacked western troops and forged an alliance with Russia, whose Wagner militias are fighting together with the Malian army against Touareg rebels.

Bamakos ties soured with neighboring ECWAS countries that demand a return to constitutional order. Mali and military ruled neighbors, Burkina Faso and Niger, seek an alternative regional grouping.
Moroccos Royal Armed Forces (FAR) and the US Armed Forces will be jointly conducting, for the twentieth time, the African Lion 2024 from May 20 to 31 at Benguerir, Agadir, Tan-Tan, Akka and Tifnit, FAR General Staff announced in a statement.

Besides the FAR and the US Armed Forces, around 7,000 military personnel from some twenty countries, plus the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), will be taking part in these large-scale military maneuvers.

The African Lion 2024 exercise comprises a number of activities, including combined day and night tactical, land, sea and air exercises, a special forces exercise, airborne operations, as well as an operational planning exercise for executives of the Task Force staff, the statement added.

This twentieth edition also includes a cycle of academic training, organized in preparation for the exercise, training in the fight against weapons of mass destruction and a range of medical, surgical and social services provided for the population of the Akka region by a military field hospital.

The African Lion 2024 exercise, the largest exercise conducted in Africa, contributes to the reinforcement of operational, technical and procedural interoperability between the participating armies, and remains an unmissable event where military executives rub shoulders to exchange procedures and experiences, particularly in terms of combined joint training and education, the statement said.

This twentieth edition attests to the enduring nature of the cooperation between the Royal Armed Forces and the American Armed Forces, reflecting the strong long-standing ties between the two countries.
Drake's been having a terrible time the past couple weeks.





GOOD! Let's keep it going 

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At first they came for Drake and I said this is wonderful news



And then they came for him again and I said, more of this please!



Hell, even the fourth time I said whack him again, for good measure!

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Its a great time to be a drake hater

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Crybaby

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I was too lazy to make a post about it but there was also this incident. Some random guy getting arrested right outside his house. I bet his hoity toity neighbours are not impressed.





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meanwhile CBC is dropping TikToks about their investigation into Drakes security service, which turned out to be just his friend with a van. he is falling from grace even with Canadian media and we love to see it.

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"my friend with a van"

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When I think of a helicopter flying over a city, the first thing that comes to my mind is Sim City for the SNES and how I would always love to look for the helicopter once I got to the point where it started to fly above my top down city.

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when is FFA

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4pm cst. :)

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No rest for the wicked

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laughing in los angeleno

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Same lol

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lol are they expecting him to get raided

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That his house is equidistant between two highways probably just makes it extra easy.

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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

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CP24 is such a fucking conservative menace tv channel. It so desperately wants to be american. I am unfortunately team drake on this one

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Our neighborhood just had a helicopter spray over the houses for sponge moths and I couldn't believe how loud it was!



Oh well.

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When I was younger they were looking for a missing person and we had a helicopter right over our house for a good 30 minutes, it woke me up from deep sleep. People underestimate how loud these things are and how annoying it is when they circle over your house.

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how loud these things are and how annoying it is



more for drake yes please!!!!!!!

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A Minoooooor



All the worst for Drake tbh

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I haven't been able to keep up with the whole Drake/Kendrick Lamar saga. Can anyone recommend a good youtube video/article that summarizes the whole thing, possible with background information (cause I'm not into hiphop)?

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Right there with you, bb.

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BBL Drizzy is a bop.

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I love that we are all finally turning on him!

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President Joe Biden told a group of supporters on Saturday that Donald Trump is "clearly unhinged" since he "snapped" following his defeat in 2020.

He reportedly made the comment during a private fundraiser outside of Seattle.

"When he lost in 2020, something snapped in him," Biden said ,according to reporters in the room.

The fundraiser was held at the home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley, CNN reported.

It was one of several fundraisers the president held during a brief swing to the West Coast.

Biden raised millions of dollars in Silicon Valley on Friday, the Los Angeles Times.reported.

While Biden was out West, Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J., where thousands turned out in a Republican area of a state that generally votes Democratic in national elections.

Several polls show that Trump is leading in the election by a narrow margin, although some show the race tightening.

Trump has had to sharply curtail his campaign schedule to attend his Manhattan criminal trial for allegedly making hush-money payments to a former porn star to keep her quiet about a sexual relationship she claimed she had with him. Trump denies having sex with Stormy Daniels.
OPEC is preparing to replace the call on OPEC forecast of global demand for the cartels crude oil with call on OPEC+ crude in its closely-watched monthly oil market report, signaling that it remains committed to the broader OPEC+ alliance to manage supply to the market.

The change in forecasts of the amount of crude OPEC needs to produce for a balanced supply-demand picture on the market is expected to be published in the Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for May, scheduled to be released on May 14, sources close to the matter told Reuters this week.

Demand for crude from the producers that form part of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC)  as OPEC+ is officially known  has become more relevant to assessing market balances, according to one of the sources.

OPEC published for the first time an assessment of Demand for DoC crude in the April report, alongside the outlook on demand for OPEC crude. From May, it will no longer publish estimates of Demand for OPEC crude, per Reuters sources.

In April, OPEC said that Demand for DoC crude (i.e., crude from countries participating in the Declaration of Cooperation) is projected to stand at about 43.2 mb/d in 2024, which is around 0.9 mb/d higher than the estimated level for 2023. Related: Governments Deliver Blow To EV Darlings

Demand for OPEC+ crude in 2025 is expected to rise to about 44.0 million barrels per day (bpd), up by 800,000 bpd compared to the figure forecast for 2024.

Demand for OPEC crude is set to increase to about 28.5 million bpd this year, up by 1.2 million bpd compared to the estimated level for 2023. Demand for OPEC crude in 2025 is expected to reach about 29.0 million bpd, up by 400,000 bpd over the level expected for 2024.

The OPEC+ group, which includes OPEC members and 10 non-OPEC producers led by Russia, is now a more powerful force on the market and a key factor in global supply than OPEC was before the alliance was created at the end of 2016, to address the market and price slump of 2015-2016 following the glut in 2014.

OPEC+ holds a 41% share of global oil supply, compared to just 27% for OPEC only as of end-2023 when Angola left the OPEC cartel, per Reuters calculations.

Evidence of the sway OPEC+ now has over the market is the fact that analysts have started to speculate how the next OPEC+ meeting on June 1 will unfold. The alliance is currently withholding around 2.2 million bpd from the market by the end of the first half of this year, and is set to decide in early June how to proceed with the ongoing production cuts into the second half.

Goldman Sachs, for example, expects OPEC+ to stick to its production output reduction agreement at its next meeting, revising an earlier stance that the cartel may partially unwind the cuts.

While our interpretation of OPEC+ communication is that no final decision has been made, we now expect Saudi crude supply to remain flat at 9 mb/d (million barrels per day) in July (vs. 9.2 previously), Goldman said, as quoted by Reuters.

Goldman Sachs revision followed the publication of data showing that global oil inventories were higher than expected, suggesting the market is not as tight as OPEC would have liked it.

With Brent Crude prices falling since mid-April to the low $80s per barrel, the OPEC+ group could opt not to act on supply and refrain from boosting production from July, according to analysts.

Price weakness increases the likelihood that OPEC+ members will fully rollover their 2.2m b/d of additional voluntary cuts into the second half of the year, which risks overtightening the market later in 2024, assuming no downside surprises on the demand side, ING strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note on Thursday.

However, US elections at the end of the year could also possibly influence the choice OPEC+ members make, they added.

OPEC may have lost market share to non-OPEC+ supply, especially the United States, but the broader alliance in the OPEC+ group is strengthening its influence over oil market supply and oil prices.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists have developed microcapacitors with ultrahigh energy and power density, paving the way for on-chip energy storage in electronic devices. Many readers have seen the populations of capacitors installed to computer motherboards and other power-intensive silicon chip circuit boards.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, pave the way for advanced on-chip energy storage and power delivery in next-generation electronics.

In the ongoing quest to make electronic devices ever smaller and more energy efficient, researchers want to bring energy storage directly onto microchips, reducing the losses incurred when power is transported between various device components. To be effective, on-chip energy storage must be able to store a large amount of energy in a very small space and deliver it quickly when needed  requirements that cant be met with existing technologies.

Addressing this challenge, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley have achieved record-high energy and power densities in microcapacitors made with engineered thin films of hafnium oxide and zirconium oxide, using materials and fabrication techniques already widespread in chip manufacturing.

Microcapacitors made with engineered hafnium oxide/zirconium oxide films in 3D trench capacitor structures  the same structures used in modern microelectronics  achieve record-high energy storage and power density, paving the way for on-chip energy storage. Image Credit: Nirmaan Shanker/Suraj Cheema, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Click the press release link for a larger and more images.

Sayeef Salahuddin, the Berkeley Lab faculty senior scientist and UC Berkeley professor who led the project explained, Weve shown that its possible to store a lot of energy in microcapacitors made from engineered thin films, much more than what is possible with ordinary dielectrics. Whats more, were doing this with a material that can be processed directly on top of microprocessors.

This research is part of broader efforts at Berkeley Lab to develop new materials and techniques for smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient microelectronics.

Capacitors are one of the basic components of electrical circuits but they can also be used to store energy. Unlike batteries, which store energy through electrochemical reactions, capacitors store energy in an electric field established between two metallic plates separated by a dielectric material. Capacitors can be discharged very rapidly when needed, allowing them to deliver power quickly, and they do not degrade with repeated charge-discharge cycles, giving them much longer lifespans than batteries. However, capacitors generally have much lower energy densities than batteries, meaning they can store less energy per unit volume or weight, and that problem only gets worse when you try to shrink them down to microcapacitor size for on-chip energy storage.

At Lawrence Berkeley National Lab the researchers achieved their record-breaking microcapacitors by carefully engineering thin films of HfO2-ZrO2 to achieve a negative capacitance effect. Normally, layering one dielectric material on top of another results in an overall lower capacitance. However, if one of those layers is a negative capacitance material, then the overall capacitance actually increases. In earlier work, Salahuddin and colleagues demonstrated the use of negative capacitance materials to produce transistors that can be operated at substantially lower voltages than conventional MOSFET transistors. Here, they harnessed negative capacitance to produce capacitors capable of storing greater amounts of charge, and therefore energy.

The crystalline films are made from a mix of HfO2 and ZrO2 grown by atomic layer deposition, using standard materials and techniques from industrial chip fabrication. Depending on the ratio of the two components, the films can be ferroelectric, where the crystal structure has a built-in electric polarization, or antiferroelectric, where the structure can be nudged into a polar state by applying an electric field. When the composition is tuned just right, the electric field created by charging the capacitor balances the films at the tipping point between ferroelectric and antiferroelectric order, and this instability gives rise to the negative capacitance effect where the material can be very easily polarized by even a small electric field.

Suraj Cheema, a postdoc in Salahuddins group and one of the lead authors of the paper explained, That unit cell really wants to be polarized during the phase transition, which helps produce extra charge in response to an electric field. This phenomenon is one example of a negative capacitance effect but you can think of it as a way of capturing way more charge than you normally would have. Nirmaan Shanker, a graduate student in Salahuddins group, is also a co-lead author.

To scale up the energy storage capability of the films, the team needed to increase the film thickness without allowing it to relax out of the frustrated antiferroelectric-ferroelectric state. They found that by interspersing atomically thin layers of aluminum oxide after every few layers of HfO2-ZrO2, they could grow the films up to 100 nm thick while still retaining the desired properties.

Finally, working with collaborators at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the researchers integrated the films into three-dimensional microcapacitor structures, growing the precisely layered films in deep trenches cut into silicon with aspect ratios up to 100:1. These 3D trench capacitor structures are used in todays DRAM capacitors and can achieve much higher capacitance per unit footprint compared to planar capacitors, allowing greater miniaturization and design flexibility. The properties of the resulting devices are record-breaking: compared to the best electrostatic capacitors today, these microcapacitors have nine times higher energy density and 170 times higher power density (80 mJ-cm-2 and 300 kW-cm-2, respectively).

The energy and power density we got are much higher than we expected, Salahuddin noted. Weve been developing negative capacitance materials for many years, but these results were quite surprising.

These high-performance microcapacitors could help meet the growing demand for efficient, miniaturized energy storage in microdevices such as Internet-of-Things sensors, edge computing systems, and artificial intelligence processors. The researchers are now working on scaling up the technology and integrating it into full-size microchips, as well as pushing the fundamental materials science forward to improve the negative capacitance of these films even more.

Cheema added, With this technology, we can finally start to realize energy storage and power delivery seamlessly integrated on-chip in very small sizes. It can open up a new realm of energy technologies for microelectronics.

Parts of this work were performed at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science nanoscience user facility located at Berkeley Lab.

**

This is quite interesting as a development for more miniaturization. The idea that a chip could substitute for an entire circuit board is almost a revolution all by itself. One wonders would there be anything to see other than the connection facilities on the chip? There might only be a connection and a heat sink to be seen.

The technology will very likely see market uptake. For now, there are rows of folks soldering up circuit boards in assembly line fashion by the millions.

This means this tech will likely be better and cheaper coming to consumers soon. Then off to a landfill someday with much less toxic elements.

By Brian Westenhaus via New Energy and Fuel

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
LINCOLN  Federal attorneys will visit Nebraska this week to look into complaints that people with severe mental illness struggle to get the services they need to live and work in the community.

The visit is part of an ongoing probe by the U.S. Department of Justice, said Dianne DeLair, legal services director for Disability Rights Nebraska, an organization that protects and advocates for the rights of people with disabilities.

She said the department has been investigating whether Nebraska is complying with federal laws, such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, which require that people with disabilities be served in the most integrated setting.

During this trip, DeLair said, the team of attorneys will hold town hall meetings in four places across the state to hear from people who have had experience with the mental health system. That experience could be as a person with mental illness, a family member, a service provider or others.

The team is also seeking emails from people who can't make it to the meetings.

"This is a fact-finding event," DeLair said. "They are trying to get a sense of gaps in services."

During previous visits to Nebraska, she said, the team has gone to assisted living facilities and other places where people with severe mental illness often end up. Those places have been criticized in the past for substandard living conditions and for abuse, neglect and mismanagement.

In 2018, the death of a veteran at a troubled facility in Palmer, Nebraska, prompted the creation of a legislative oversight committee. The woman died following three days of uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea that was left untreated. That facility closed after state officials revoked its license.

But several remain open, including a Lincoln facility described that year by a volunteer advocate for a man with mental illness. The advocate told of finding filthy stairs that reeked of urine, a shared bathroom with a toilet black with grime, and a room that lacked window coverings, bedsheets, blankets or pillows.

DeLair described the facilities as "mini-institutions" where residents are isolated from the community and do not get the help needed to recover and live in more independent settings.

"These places are a symptom," she said. "It's institutional living but on a smaller scale in the community."

She said Nebraska, like many states, curtailed the use of state psychiatric hospitals for the care of people with severe mental illnesses but did not follow through with creating the services needed to help people transition to successful community living.

As a result, people end up in jails, homeless shelters and other inappropriate places. People with severe mental illnesses have also had struggles with law enforcement, including Zachary Bear Heels' fatal encounter with Omaha police in 2017. Bear Heels, who was experiencing a mental health crisis, died after being shocked with a stun gun.

The DOJ team did not respond to questions about the investigation, including how long it has been going on and when it may be concluded.

But a similar investigation in North Carolina concluded with a report finding that the state was not in compliance with the ADA, particularly because of its reliance on "adult care homes" for the care of people with severe mental illnesses.

The findings, issued in July 2011, included a warning that a lawsuit would follow if the state did not agree to comply voluntarily. North Carolina officials worked with the DOJ and reached a settlement agreement in 2012.
A worker has been rescued from the debris of a collapsed building in the South African city of George after being trapped for nearly five days.



Rescuers were able to make contact with the man and give him water after hearing someone inside the rubble.



Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said Saturday's rescue was the "miracle" they had been hoping for.



The partially built apartment block collapsed on Monday, killing at least 14 people and leaving 39 unaccounted for.



Eighty-one people were on the construction site when the building came down, the citys latest announcement said. Thirteen of those who were rescued are being treated in hospital.



South African channel News24 reported the rescued man was Gabriel Gambe, a 33-year-old tiler, who was seen being carried into a waiting ambulance.



Speaking from the site of the collapsed building, Mr Winde expressed his gratitude to the teams working tirelessly to rescue those who are trapped.



We never gave up hope and today I cannot express the extent of my relief and joy. Thank you to all the teams - you are true heroes.



Colin Deiner, the provinces head of disaster management, said Mr Gambe told them before he was pulled free that he had a weight on his legs.



"We are very concerned about that after such a long period of time so we have had two surgeons come in."



Saturday's rescue follows the freeing of 29-year-old Delvin Safels on Wednesday, who caught the public's attention after he sent heart-wrenching voice notes to his parents and girlfriend, telling them how much he loved them and expressing the fear that he would not come out alive.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Prosecutors are calling for a 40-year prison term for the man who attacked the husband of California Rep. Nancy Pelosi at their San Francisco home in 2022 as part of a plot to kidnap the lawmaker.

Federal prosecutors contended in a sentencing memo that the attack by David Wayne Depape, who was convicted of the crime in November, was an act of terrorism and that he should get more than the sentencing guidelines.

"The defendant planned a violent hostage-taking" of Nancy Pelosi, who was speaker of the House at the time, and "then nearly killed her husband. The defendant planned and unleashed violence and has stayed true to his belief that the actions were necessary," said the memorandum.

The memo emphazised that Depape has no remorse for the attack.

Paul Pelosi had been asleep seconds before the crime when Depape  then 42, of Richmond, California  entered his bedroom looking for Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time.

Minutes after Pelosi managed to make a 911 call, two police officers responding to the Pelosi residence witnessed Paul Pelosi and DePape struggling over a hammer, and DePape striking Pelosi in the head. The attack was capturred on police body cam.

BREAKING: The Paul Pelosi bodycam video has been released.



Here is the full video. pic.twitter.com/Z254Q8NGIM  Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 27, 2023

Officers immediately restrained and arrested Depape while Pelosi lay injured on the ground. Pelosi suffered two skull fractures that had to be repaired in emergency surgery, along with a wound to his arm and to his hand.

Officers discovered Depape was carrying a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and zip ties from the crime scene which investigators said he had planned to use to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and break her kneecaps if she lied to him during questioning about various political issues.
The Golden Stool of the Asante is the throne of the ruler of the Asante kingdom and the ultimate symbol of power in Asante society.



As legend has it, a high priest late in the seventeenth century made the stool to descend from the sky and land on the lap of Osei Tutu, the first Asante King.



Today, as the King of the Ashanti Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II celebrates his 25th Jubilee Akwasidae, the golden stool was seen publicly as a custom demand.



See pictures below

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Member of Parliament for Asutifi South in the Ahafo region Alhaji Collins Dauda has reportedly been arrested by Police in the Ahafo region for his alleged involvement in the disturbance which occurred at a registration Centre at Kukuom in the Asunafo South constituency on Saturday 11th May 2024.



Sources familiar with the development told Peacefmonline.com that the lawmakers "vehicle was used by the thugs" who invaded the registration Centre and "fired gunshots" leading to severe injury to at least one person.



Eyewitnesses say the MP was in the vehicle when the mayhem was being inflicted on the registration Centre



Mr Dauda is currently in Police custody, the source noted.



Read a statement from the police below



The Ghana Police Service has arrested the Member of Parliament for Asutifi South, Hon. Alhaji Collins Dauda, for his alleged involvement in the disturbances which occurred at Kukuom in the Ahafo Region during the ongoing Limited Voter Registration Exercise, on Saturday 11th May 2024.



One person sustained an injury and is currently receiving treatment at the hospital.



Police are in pursuit of other suspects in connection with the incident.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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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:

Aerial view after flooding caused by heavy rains in Mucum, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil.

New rains in waterlogged southern Brazil are expected to be heaviest between Sunday and Monday, authorities have warned, bringing fresh misery to victims of flooding that has killed 136 people so far.

State authorities warned late Saturday of the risk of further rising waters and landslides.

"We are still experiencing an emergency situation," Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said in a video on Instagram.

Heavy rains last week caused rivers in the agricultural state to overflow, leaving 806 injured and 125 missing in addition to those killed, the civil defense agency said.

"Many people see the rain and are traumatized. We've seen how scared people are," said Enio Posti, a firefighter in Porto Alegre, capital of stricken Rio Grande do Sul state.

Of the more than two million people affected by the flooding, more than 537,000 have been forced from their homes with 81,000 in shelters.

More than 92,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by the floods, according to the National Confederation of Municipalities.

UN experts and the Brazilian government blame climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon for the inundation.

US President Joe Biden said in a statement that he was "saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the flooding", adding that Washington was "working to provide necessary assistance" in coordination with Brazilian authorities.

Residents were told to stay away from flooded areas, with dangers including electrocution by downed power lines.

"I was soaked. They helped me and gave me clothes," 36-year-old Everton Machado told AFP after being rescued by boat while searching for his parents.

Volunteers take care of a horse at an animal shelter in the historic center in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on May 11, 2024.

Aid distribution

In the flooded streets of the Sao Joao neighborhood, volunteers and firefighters worked in heavy rain, bringing supplies to residents on jet skis and inflatable boats.

Volunteers were taking pets to shelters, with veterinarians treating those with medical needs.

Military and other security forces were also part of relief efforts. Almost two tons of food and supplies have been distributed by the federal government, in what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called "the largest movement of donations ever recorded in the history" of Brazil.

The federal government this week promised some $10 billion for reconstruction in Rio Grande do Sul, which is experiencing its worst ever climate disaster.

Water levels in the state's Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, home to 1.4 million people, reached historic levels this week.

On Saturday afternoon, they dropped to 4.57 meters (15 feet), the lowest level since May 3.

Despite the new rain, residents of Porto Alegre were trying to regain some normalcy, with some shops and restaurants opening.

But with water supplies still disrupted, tanker trucks delivering clean water were a common sight all over town.

Elsewhere, vacuum trucks were pumping muddy floodwater from the streets and buildings.

Brazil has been hit in recent months by historic floods, record-breaking forest fires, unprecedented heat waves and drought.

 2024 AFP
BRIGANTINE  The island has seen its fair share of businesses come and go, but the city and the local Chamber of Commerce are taking steps to try to bolster local merchants year-round.

Over the past decade, the city has worked with the Brigantine Chamber of Commerce to grow the islands local economy and help its small business owners succeed, Mayor Vince Sera said.

The city has invested more than $2.7 million in revamping its business district streetscapes, in addition to sponsoring/co-sponsoring events with the chamber to help attract businesses.

We knew that if the city committed to making substantial improvements and investments, that the business owners would do the same. We are now seeing many owners making big investments to improve and beautify their own businesses, said Sera. As a result of the efforts from both the city and the chamber, we are seeing a steady growth in the number of new businesses that have opened on the island over the last few years.

The city does not have a single way to track its businesses, said Ryan Hurst, the deputy city manager.

Our Chamber of Commerce plays a pivotal role in connecting businesses, advocating for their interests and promoting collaboration. Through networking events, educational workshops and advocacy initiatives, we strive to empower our members and facilitate their success. We maintain ongoing communication with local and state groups to champion business advocacy, actively participating in those pertinent discussions, said Maria Sacco Handle, president of the chamber.

The chamber has 168 members.

There seems to be an overall rejuvenation of the existing business in town. Many have updated their storefronts by adding awnings, landscaping, outdoor seating areas and more. Several businesses have grown so much over the last few years that they moved to a larger location or added additions, said Barbara Rote, the chambers secretary. For the first time in years, we have more business owners looking for rental space than available properties.

In the past few months, the island has seen several new stores open up, Rote said.

Some include Sandy Jacks Deli, which offers English and Irish specialty products; Brigantine Pet Supply; Ola Kai Functional Fitness, one of the islands two gyms; and The Teal Tail, which just had its grand reopening in April at its new 1001 W. Brigantine Ave. location.

Business has been amazing so far, said Andie Gay, the social media manager for Brigantine Pet Supply. Because we are such a new business, we dont quite know the challenges specific to operating a business in a beach town just yet. We hope that because of the population on the island and the communitys sense of supporting local businesses that we will see sustained support and business throughout the year, as well as a bump in the summer season.

Gay said her parents, Dawn and Andy Gay, were inspired to open a pet store in Brigantine because there wasnt a place on the island where people could buy pet food or supplies.

We are still seeing lots of new faces every day, which is super fun, but we also even have a few regulars already who we are so grateful for and have loved getting to know. We love to see our customers bringing their dogs into the store so we can meet them and watch them pick out toys and treats, Gay said.

Since Ola Kai opened last July, Christina Perry, the owner alongside her husband, Jimmy, said business has been great. The business has 85 full-time members, a number that is expected to increase during the summer.

We actually exceeded our goals for the first year, and now were gearing up for summer, said Perry. Growing up here on the island, where my dad had a business, its exciting to see the commercial side of the island really coming to life. With the islands summer and winter populations all growing, we thought it was a nice time to open a business, and that the island could handle two gyms.

Sera said the city has aggressively pursued grant money to help pay for investments and redevelopment in three of its main business districts  the Central Business District, the Lighthouse District and the area where the Acme Plaza is off Brigantine Boulevard.

The Central Business District was the first district to receive a $758,448 streetscape grant in 2015 for decorative lighting, crosswalks, planter boxes, benches, bike lanes and bike racks, Sera said. That work was completed in 2016.

The city then invested $814,000 in the area along West Brigantine Avenue between 31st and 34th streets, which was completed in 2022.

With $1.2 million in grant funding awarded by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to promote alternative transportation methods, the city is wrapping up its Lighthouse District streetscape project to beautify and encourage walkability in the area.

Weve made major investments in all of our business districts and have worked very closely with the Brigantine Chamber of Commerce to build our shoulder season, Sera said.

He also noted the Economic Development Committee, chaired by Councilman Mike Riordan, works hard to develop new and exciting ideas to boost the local economy.

We remain committed to fostering a business-friendly environment that encourages innovation, growth and sustainability, the chambers Sacco Handle said. Together, we are shaping Brigantines future as a vibrant hub of commerce and opportunity.

GALLERY: Business development in downtown Brigantine
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.
When we learned of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board's admonishments April 18 of five Pleasant Valley School District staff, a former board member and current board member, we immediately reached out to those individuals.

The state board had found that Pleasant Valley Superintendent Brian Strusz, staff members, School board president Nikhil Wagle and former member Tracey Rivera had discussed the school board campaign using district email addresses. The emails were used to show support for candidates, provide voter lists, discuss things such as nomination petitions and campaign yard signs.

State law prohibits the use of public resources, which can include email accounts, to campaign, and so these people violated Iowa law. The board considers them "minor violations."

The violations are concerning, so we wanted to hear what Strusz and others had to say in their defense. We were surprised to discover they didn't know of the violations because they hadn't been notified by the board. Not only that, but those being admonished had not seen the complaint nor had a chance to respond to it.

We appreciate former school board candidate Amy McCabes Feb. 2 complaint to the board, the board's investigation and decision. We believe those involved did violate Iowa law, and, under no circumstances should they be using public resources, such as district email, to forward particular candidates. The process of oversight worked as it should, except for communication.

In a statement to the Quad-City Times, the district said it had addressed the concerns through personnel procedures in December 2023.

Shouldn't those being investigated at least know they're being investigated? And shouldn't that investigation include responses from those being accused? We think so. In carrying out its important work, the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board dropped the ball on communications.

This isn't the first time we've come upon a state entity or representative failing to include the subject of an investigation in the communications loop.

In January, Davenport Interim City Administrator Mallory Merritt said she found out Iowa Auditor Rob Sand was investigating the city by seeing it on a local newscast. When the Quad-City Times reported on the investigation, the city was not ready with a response because it was still learning about the investigation.

We support Sand's probe into what happened with regard to nearly $2 million in payouts through separation agreements with former City Administrator Corri Speigel and two staff members. All three complained of sexual harassment. We've chided the city for initially not voting in public on those agreements and failing to make Spiegel's demand letter public.

The city has objected to Sand's subpoena for closed session minutes, which leads us to think the city is trying to hide something. We've been outspoken in our criticism and are rooting for Sand to get the closed session recordings in hopes of removing the shroud over what happened in Davenport City Hall.

Still, why wouldn't Sand reach out to city officials before announcing an investigation on television? Communication can lead to cooperation and presents the best hope for an effective investigation. Sand's failure to talk with city officials was a misstep.

The final example is from late March, when an Iowa House Government Oversight Committee took up the issue of transparency in Davenport city government.

The oversight hearing was requested by Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, who said he was frustrated Davenport city officials had not provided answers to the public about its handling of the separation agreements. Mohr is a champion of open government and introduced a bill this session to toughen penalties for violating open meetings laws. That bill is awaiting Gov. Reynolds' signature.

Rep. Brooke Boden, R-Indianola and the committee chair, brought in Quad-Cities residents Allen Diercks, David Ezra Sidran and attorney Mike Meloy to testify, along with Iowa Freedom of Information Council Director Randy Evans.

Both Diercks and Sidran are involved in lawsuits with the city, and Meloy is representing Diercks. The FOIA Council has successfully intervened in the city's case against Sidran.

Diercks sued the city in January, alleging the city broke the law in approving the separation agreements. A frequent records requester, Sidran was sued by the city, which is asking the court to determine whether a letter sent by Spiegel to the city council is a public record. The FOIA Council is arguing along with Sidran that the demand letter should be public.

These are all important perspectives to have when convening a hearing about the city of Davenport's transparency issues. Funny thing, though, the city was not invited to participate or make a presentation at the hearing.

Because the city is involved with pending lawsuits, Boden said it might be difficult to get city officials to testify. By our count, all those testifying are involved in lawsuits over these matters. The city deserved an invite. Perhaps officials would not be forthcoming, but how can the committee get answers about what happened in Davenport City Hall without talking to representatives from city hall? We believe the hearing was well-intentioned and puts these Davenport issues under a larger spotlight. Yet, we encourage state officials to be mindful of communication when providing intergovernmental oversight. Issues usually have many sides and require a variety of perspectives to find the truth.
Nearly one year ago, U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, a newcomer to the state, was a name unknown to Montanans. Since then, Sheehy has spent his time telling us what he wants us to believe  spinning tales of his rural upbringing, how he bootstrapped his company, and his life as a cowboy."

All of these are lies.

Sheehys tortured relationship with the truth became clear as soon as he started talking. On the campaign trail, he told farmers and ranchers he grew up in rural Minnesota. He actually grew up in a multimillion-dollar lake house 15 minutes from Minneapolis and near his elite private school in St. Paul.

Sheehy told us he bootstrapped his company from scratch. For most Montanans, that means building your business from the ground up, on your own. Sheehy must have a different interpretation, because he forgot to mention the half a million dollars he took from family members to create his company.

Now that business  which runs on our taxpayer dollars  is reporting $77 million in losses.

Quote For nearly a year, Sheehy has spun false tales in an effort to win over Montanans. Now we see him for who he really is.

Sheehy called himself a cowboy because he bought ranch land in 2020. But reporting revealed that he does not run the day-to-day operations of the ranch, instead using it for brand deals, magazine photo shoots, and luxury ranch vacation packages for rich tourists. How many Montanans do you know call themselves a rancher if they dont work the ranch themselves?

Sheehys false claims show no sign of stopping.

Sheehy told Montanans that he still has a bullet in his arm from his service in Afghanistan. But records from 2015 revealed that Sheehy accidentally shot himself in the arm in Glacier National Park. These records disclosed that a park ranger was dispatched to the Logan Pass parking lot after a park visitor reported a gunshot, then met Sheehy at the hospital where Sheehy explained the gun fired when it fell out of his vehicle.

After the 2015 incident was revealed, Sheehy claimed he lied to the park ranger about being shot in Glacier National Park to cover up a friendly fire incident he says happened in Afghanistan, and resulted in a bullet in his arm. But hes refused to provide the only documents that would prove what really happened: his hospital medical records from that day in 2015.

For nearly a year, Sheehy has spun false tales in an effort to win over Montanans. Now we see him for who he really is: A lying politician we cant trust. Over the next six months, Montanans will learn what else Sheehy is lying about.
An employee for Hylio builds out a drone on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Richmond. The company was started by a handful of UT Austin undergrads in 2017, and recently got an exemption from the FAA that will allow US farmers and ranchers to have three drones going at once with one pilot, meaning they're gearing up for a lot of growth. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

On a gray and muggy afternoon, several hundred handsome black cattle went about their business at the Wodagyu Ranch in Richmond, seemingly undisturbed by the beeps and buzzing overhead.

"They're certainly used to it," said Arthur Erickson, co-founder and CEO of agricultural drone company Hylio, which he and several friends began in a dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin about 10 years ago.

Co-founder Mike Oda grew up on the Fort Bend County ranch, Erickson explained, meaning that the company's co-founders always had a suitable place to tinker, ideate, manufacture and test their drones, which are used to apply herbicide, insecticide, fertilizers and other chemicals over farm and ranchland. Now they have grown to a company of about 75 people, with a foothold in the rapidly growing agricultural drone market.

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A drone flies as Hylio employees perform a quality control tests on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Richmond. The company was started by a handful of UT Austin undergrads in 2017, and recently got an exemption from the FAA that will allow US farmers and ranchers to have three drones going at once with one pilot, meaning they're gearing up for a lot of growth. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

AGRICULTURE: Houston-area farmers are facing more extreme weather. Here's how they're adjusting.

Erickson explained that when he began college in 2012, aerospace engineering students like himself were abuzz about drones and space, two sectors that were seeing rapid innovation and growth.

He was drawn to drones, seeing their potential practical uses, and soon found that several of his friends, also from the Houston area, had complementary skillsets. Oda, now the company's CFO, was majoring in finance at the McCombs School of Business; Nikhil Dixit, now CTO, was studying computer science; Nick Nawratil, COO, was also an aerospace engineering student.

All were able to put a few thousand dollars of their personal savings into the business, which officially launched in 2015, and soon began offering drone spraying services for $20 an acre to help finance operations. Hylio sold its first drone at a trade show in Indiana in 2018, Erickson said, to a farmer in his 60s or 70s who had never used a drone before but was convinced of its usefulness after a brief test flight.

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A drone flies as Hylio employees perform a quality control tests on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Richmond. The company was started by a handful of UT Austin undergrads in 2017, and recently got an exemption from the FAA that will allow US farmers and ranchers to have three drones going at once with one pilot, meaning they're gearing up for a lot of growth. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

The big advantage of using drones to apply chemicals, Erickson continued, is that it costs less than using a tractor or airplane. The equipment is cheaper to own and operate, to start, and carries little risk of the collateral damage that can undercut a farmer's yields and, by extension, profits.

"With tractors, you're restricted to just 2D work. You can only go on the ground. So you run over a lot of your crops, and you compact your soil," Erickson said. "Airplanes don't have the compaction issue, obviously. But they require really high insurance, and the vehicles themselves are really expensive. Also, they drift like crazy, and they have no way to push down that chemical."

It happens somewhat regularly, he explained, that chemicals dispersed by airplanes drift to adjacent land, killing a neighbor's cucumbers, perhaps, and leading to frustration or even lawsuits.

"The drones are really precise. They push the chemical down. They avoid the drift. They avoid the soil compaction. They're not trampling any crops," Erickson said. "They're cheaper."

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Arthur Erickson, CEO and one of the co-founders of Hylio, prepares to demonstrate one of the companies drones on their property on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Richmond. Hylio builds drones that that is used for agricultural purposes. The company was started by a handful of UT Austin undergrads in 2017, and recently got an exemption from the FAA that will allow US farmers and ranchers to have three drones going at once with one pilot. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

Hylio is currently selling about 40 drones a month, Erickson said, with packages including the drone, its controller and software starting at $20,000 for its most compact model, the AG-210, which has a 2.5-gallon tank and can cover about 15 acres in an hour. The company's largest model, the AG-272, has a capacity of 18 gallons and bills itself as "the biggest spray drone on the market."

The agricultural drone market is currently valued at $3.6 billion, according to Drone Industry Insights, a trade group. And by all accounts, it is poised for dramatic growth in the coming years.

Arthur Erickson, CEO and one of the co-founders of Hylio, prepares to demonstrate one of the companies drones on their property on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Richmond. Hylio builds drones that that is used for agricultural purposes. The company was started by a handful of UT Austin undergrads in 2017, and recently got an exemption from the FAA that will allow US farmers and ranchers to have three drones going at once with one pilot. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

Hylio, which is privately held, is poised to capture part of that. In February, the company received an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration, allowing up to three of its drones to be flown in concert by a single operator. It is the first company to receive that exemption, which raises the potential for greater efficiency in spraying large areas.

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In addition to that, the biggest player in the commercial drone space, the Chinese firm DJI, has come under scrutiny from lawmakers who consider it a security threat, which has spurred many American farmers and ranchers to look for alternative drone manufacturers.

Erickson, for his part, says Hylio is planning for fivefold growth over the next two years, if not sooner.
IN THE NEWS

Christiansburg multimillionaire gets prison time

James C. Jones Jr., a Christiansburg businessman who hid his $14.5 million fortune from tax collectors, was sentenced Tuesday to six and half years in prison.

A federal jury convicted Jones last November of corruptly obstructing the Internal Revenue Service, evading taxes and six counts of filing false tax returns from 2013 to 2018.

As the owner of Lifeline Ambulance Service Inc., Jones withheld taxes from the paychecks of employees of his business, keeping the money for himself rather than turning it over to the IRS.

When an investigation began in 2015, Jones concealed personal assets that included four luxury, beachfront apartments in the Caribbean island of Saint Martin and a classic car collection worth more than $2 million, according to evidence presented during a six-day trial.

Lifeline Ambulance Service is no longer in business. Jones, 62, was allowed to remain free on bond after Tuesdays hearing; he must report to prison when notified by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

PLANE CRASH: Virginia State Police said a plane flying from Manassas to South Carolina crashed in Fluvanna County on Sunday morning, killing the pilot and one passenger. Police identified the pilot as John W. Latham, 63, of Haymarket in Prince William County and the passenger as Niiben C.A. Ayivorh, 73, of Burke in Fairfax County.

Police said the Fluvanna Sheriffs Office received a 911 call at 8:54 a.m. from residents in the 200 block of Miles Jackson Road about a low-flying plane and explosion. Sheriffs deputies, Virginia State Police and Virginia Conservation Police responded to a densely wooded area off Miles Jackson Road and found the plane wreckage, which was on fire.

THEY SAID IT

It wasnt about the tents. It was about the behavior."

 Tim Longo, University of Virginia's associate vice president of safety and security and chief of police, during a virtual "town hall" Tuesday, which addressed concerns about anti-war protests and encampments on UVa's Grounds. On Saturday, police declared the protests an "unlawful assembly" and arrested 27 demonstrators who did not leave.

BY THE NUMBERS

$32.7M

Amount a Denver-based developer has paid to purchase a 1,211-acre stretch of rural land east of Ashland for a planned data center park. The development firm Tract bought the properties after winning the approval of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors for the project in March. The company plans a development of as many as 46 buildings and 862 employees. It said the taxable value of the land and improvements would reach nearly $4 billion within 14 years, while the value of the equipment on the site could eventually exceed $23 billion, according to Hanover planning records. That means tax revenue could eventually exceed $68 million a year.

ODDS AND ENDS

CHARLOTTESVILLE: A frequently convicted White supremacist who once dared adversaries to shoot him and launch a race war has pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from his participation in the torch-wielding mob that march across UVa Grounds in 2017. William Henry Fears IV of Pasadena, Texas, made his plea Tuesday in Albemarle County Circuit Court, where he received a one-year term, the longest of any of the men who have been charged for their involvement in the 2017 episode.

IN THE NEWS

Assembly budget leaders, Youngkin reach deal

General Assembly budget leaders and Gov. Glenn Youngkin have reached a compromise on the next two-year state budget that would use an additional $525 million in state revenues to pay for Democratic spending priorities  including raises of 3% each year for state employees and teachers  without raising taxes and crossing the Republican governor's red line for a potential veto.

House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian, D-Prince William, confirmed on Thursday afternoon that assembly budget negotiators had reached a deal with Youngkin that they hope to approve on Monday in a special session that would last one day instead of three.

Details were to be withheld from legislators and the public until Saturday morning, but Torian said the compromise gives the assembly the additional spending it had insisted on for K-12 public schools to begin addressing a systemic shortfall that the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission verified in a study last summer that shaped legislative elections last fall and budget priorities in the 60-day session that ended on March 9.

GUN IN PRESCHOOL: A loaded gun was found in the backpack of a 3-year-old student at Maymont Preschool on Monday, and a family member is charged with allowing access to firearms, police said.

No one at the school was injured, and Richmond police have the weapon.

A family member, Valentino Christian, 34, of Chesterfield County, was charged with a misdemeanor count of allowing access to firearms by children.

The school, at 1211 S. Allen Ave. in Richmond, serves about 500 preschool-age students.

From the Archives: The Virginia state Capitol building
Head-on highway crash sends six to hospital

Othon P. Blanco, Q.R.  A head-on collision Saturday night between a car and truck has left six injured. The accident was reported to emergency services around 9:00 p.m. outside the town of Sergio Butron Casas.

Municipal police were at the accident site with paramedics, military personnel and firemen. There, they located two private vehicles, a small cargo truck and car, glued together by twisted metal at their front ends down a highway embankment.

Both vehicles ended up off the highway and into shoulder brush. Firemen from Chetumal were part of the rescue team after responding paramedics located a trapped woman inside the car.

The highway embankment where the vehicles came to a rest posed a rescue challenge. Emergency personnel were at the scene for more than two-and-a-half hours trying to remove the six injured from the two involved vehicles.

The embankment posed a rescue challenge. Photo: May 11, 2024.

Six people from between the two vehicles were transferred to Chetumal hospital. An official cause of the accident was not provided.
Lopez Obrador pays work tour visit to southeast region

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador paid a weekend visit to the region to supervise ongoing projects. Over the weekend, Lopez Obrador visited two Mayan towns that are being restored.

One of those towns was Edzna in the state of Campeche, and the other, Ek Balam, in Yucatan. Both Mayan towns are in the process of restoration through the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza): Edzna and Ek Balam, he reported.

Lopez Obrador also traveled from Palenque to Cancun aboard the Maya Train from where he supervised the operation accompanied by members of the Legal and Expanded Cabinet.

He was also accompanied on the Tren Maya journey by the Governor of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama.

On Saturday, he hosted a meeting with Belize Prime Minister Juan Antonio Briceno.

On Friday we were in Edzna and Saturday in Ek Balam, two majestic Mayan cities that we are restoring. We took the tour on the Maya Train from Palenque to Cancun.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is seen here with Belize Prime Minister Juan Antonio Briceno. Photo: AMLO May 11, 2024.

We supervised its operation and concluded a bilateral meeting with Juan Antonio Briceno, Prime Minister of Belize, a neighboring country and brother people.

Lezama also participated in that meeting.

I accompanied our President Lopez Obrador in a bilateral meeting with Juan Antonio Briceno, Prime Minister of Belize, a neighboring country with whom we maintain a relationship of brotherhood and work.

We talk about tourism, infrastructure, energy, free zone, imports and more development options that boost economic and social activity on the border, Lezama reported.

Governor Mara Lezama is seen here with President Lopez Obrador leaving the Cancun Tren Maya station. Photo: Mara Lezama May 11, 2024.

She also said that the country of Belize has waived the $40 dollar entry fee into its country for Mexican citizens.

We inform you that the payment of fees of 40 dollars for the entry of Mexicans to this neighboring country has been eliminated, she posted.
BOONES MILL  The most visible scars from the Mountain Valley Pipeline are gone now from the pastoral property that Anne and Steve Bernard call home.

But the Bernards remain troubled by what they cant see.

Bottom line: Im scared to death of that pipe sitting out there, Steve Bernard said of the buried steel pipe, through which highly pressurized natural gas could soon begin flowing along a route that passes about 150 feet from the couples white frame house and adjacent art studio.

Fears of a pipe failure and fiery explosion, long held by the Bernards and other residents along the controversial projects 303-mile path, have intensified with a series of recent events.

On the morning of May 1, a section of the pipe on nearby Bent Mountain ruptured during hydrostatic testing, a process that entails running water at high pressure through the 42-inch diameter pipe to detect any leaks or flaws before it goes into service.

Nine days earlier, Mountain Valley sought permission from federal regulators to begin operations by June 1, a request that remains pending. Mountain Valley sought final approval for the project even as it worked to complete inspections and repairs required by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which last year expressed concerns about the pipes integrity.

And at the beginning of this year, Mountain Valley submitted a report to PHMSA that details the first round of testing. The report contains inadequate information about what criteria the company used in deciding which sections of the pipe needed repairs, according to the Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit watchdog group of the industry and its regulators.

The report, obtained by The Roanoke Times through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that tests run by Mountain Valley revealed about 70 indications, or signs of possible flaws with the pipe. The tests were conducted last October, November and December. Most of them were on sections of the pipeline in West Virginia.

Of the 70-some indications, further inspection found a need for about 15 cutouts, or the removal and replacement of part of the pipe. Other repairs included reapplying a protective coating on the pipes exterior.

Bill Caram, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, wrote in an April 11 letter to PHMSA that he hoped steps had been taken to determine how Mountain Valley decided which anomalies needed to be remediated or cut out, and which were determined to be acceptable.

If not, he wrote, that raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the consent order in keeping communities along the pipeline safe from leaks and failures. PHMSA had not responded to the letter by May 10, the Pipeline Safety Trust said.

It just gives me chills

For the Bernards, theres yet another concern.

In July 2018, not long after construction of Mountain Valley began, crews showed up on their property off Grassy Hill Road, a stretch of open land at the foot of Cahas Mountain.

Workers dug a trench, placed a section of pipe in it, and left without covering the pipe with dirt. The next day, the Bernards saw part of the pipe floating in water that had filled the trench in a low-lying pasture.

One end of the pipe remained welded to a section that had been buried. The other end emerged from the water at an angle.

For about a year, the pipe remained in suspended animation, rising and falling as much as 2 feet as the water level fluctuated. Eventually, crews returned to pump water from the trench, remove the pipe, reapply a coating designed to prevent corrosion, and bury it again, the Bernards say.

They wonder if that could have weakened the pipe.

Opponents of Mountain Valley say such incidents were not uncommon, as work was stalled repeatedly by lawsuits that successfully challenged government permits issued for a pipeline that starts in West Virginia and passes through the Virginia counties of Giles, Craig, Montgomery, Roanoke, Franklin and Pittsylvania.

The concern is that as sections of uninstalled pipe sat for years along the right-of-way or in storage yards, exposure to the elements weakened a protective coating designed to prevent corrosion of the steel once the pipe was buried.

In a consent order last October, PHMSA directed Mountain Valley to test the pipe, reapply the coating and make other repairs as needed to ensure that the public, property and the environment are protected from the potential risk.

At their home last week, the Benards talked about how peaceful life has become, after construction crews finally packed up and moved out. The noise, dust and distractions are gone. And grass is growing along the pipeline right-of-way, which for years had been marked by bare earth and broken ground.

Theyre done and gone, Steve Bernard said.

But as for the buried pipe, we know its there and its always on our minds that something might happen. And what that might be, it could be catastrophic.

It would be, Anne Bernard interjected. And it just gives me chills.

The pipe fails during tests

At the top of Bent Mountain, where the pipeline crosses under U.S. 221 and the Blue Ridge Parkway, the unsettling event happened at about 10 a.m. May 1.

A section of the pipe ruptured during pressure testing, releasing water that was being pumped through it to test for leaks or weaknesses before it begins to carry natural gas.

The failure quickly became the latest rallying cry of pipeline opponents, who for the past six years have raised concerns about environmental issues such as erosion caused by digging trenches for the pipe along steep mountain slopes and the pollution to be emitted by the natural gas it will transport to markets along the East Coast.

Mountain Valley says it was an isolated incident.

The breach happened when water was being pumped through the pipe at pressures higher than what will be used to transport natural gas, according to Todd Normane, senior vice president of Equitrans Midstream Corp., the lead partner in a joint venture of five energy companies building the pipeline, now estimated to cost $7.85 billion.

Mountain Valley assumed full accountability for the water release and any environmental disruption, Normane wrote in a letter posted Friday to the online docket of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the lead agency overseeing the project. Sediment-laden water that made its way to nearby streams dissipated within 24 hours, he said.

Since the incident, hydrotesting on additional sections of the pipe  including a replaced segment where the rupture occurred  has been performed successfully, Mountain Valley says.

The company is investigating what it says is the first such issue during pressure testing of about 269 miles of the pipelines route. No cause has been disclosed.

Pipeline Safety Trust, in a recent letter to FERC, wrote that the failure is disturbing, given the explosive risk of such a large-diameter, high pressure pipeline.

It is too early to tell if this is a sign of a larger problem on the pipeline or an isolated point of weakness, Erin Sutherland, a lawyer for the organization, wrote. However, Pipeline Safety Trust believes that FERC should be on notice about this failure.

A FERC spokeswoman declined to say whether the incident will be considered in the agencys decision on whether to grant Mountain Valleys request to begin operations. We cannot and do not project what the Commission will say or when the Commission will act on any matter before it, Mary ODriscoll wrote in an email.

The company has portrayed the incident as an example of how its inspections and tests are working to protect the environment and the public.

Spokeswoman Natalie Cox wrote in an email Friday: Mountain Valley is committed to the safe and responsible construction and operation of the MVP project and is moving forward, in coordination with appropriate state and federal agencies, to complete testing and satisfy all legal and regulatory requirements necessary for the project to enter service in the coming weeks.

A dearth of details

Since federal safety officials first raised concerns about the integrity of Mountain Valleys pipe last summer, few details about the tests required by PHMSA have been released to the public.

In November, the agency declined to share information with The Roanoke Times, suggesting the newspaper make an open records request. It took PHMSA nearly five months before it provided a 45-page report it had received from Mountain Valley. Portions of the document were redacted.

Some of the withheld records had been deemed confidential by Mountain Valley. A PHMSA official wrote in an April 3 letter to the newspaper that the company had been notified of the FOIA request and been given an opportunity to comment.

The companys first quarterly report, dated Jan. 3, documented the results of two types of tests: one performed by a whats called a caliper tool that runs along the inside of the buried pipe to check for dents and other weaknesses, the other a direct current voltage gradient survey that examines the pipe from ground level.

Most of the information contained in the report dealt with tests run last year, almost all of them in West Virginia. Asked for details about more recent inspections and repairs in Virginia, neither PHMSA nor Mountain Valley had offered any information by Friday.

The safety agency and the company also did not respond to e-mailed questions that sought reaction to Pipeline Safety Trusts concerns about the report, such as its failure to provide the criteria used for Mountain Valleys decisions.

As for what has been released  highly technical descriptions of about 70 indications of possible flaws with the pipe  pipeline opponents expressed both concern and a desire for more explanation.

Im alarmed by the number of indications, and would hope for more information in terms of public transparency about what they mean, how they were resolved and what PHMSA is doing about them, said Jessica Sims, Virginia field director of Appalachian Voices.

In a letter to FERC, Pipeline Safety Trust raised concerns about the dearth of data released to date.

Much distrust and apprehension about this project has arisen from the lack of transparency to the public, Sutherland wrote. FERC should not take MVPs word that it has reached full compliance with the consent agreement, and instead solicit direct and public input from PHMSA on the matter.

Caram, the head of the group, said it was difficult to compare the number of indications to those found with other pipelines. Thats because the consent order required Mountain Valley to conduct more testing than what is normally required.

We are grateful for those requirements, he said. I hate to think what could have happened without this remedial action.

After repeated requests, PHMSA officials agreed to attend a community meeting in March with residents of the Bent Mountain community. But no details about test results were provided, according to Roberta Bondurant of Preserve Bent Mountain.

We felt pretty jerked around by this agency, Bondurant said. It certainly raised concerns, and it didnt go a long way in building trust.

Our whole world was blown up

For the past 44 years, the Bernards have lived a tranquil life of being artists and enjoying the nature that surrounds them.

We had this Eden here for decades, Anne Bernard said We had this view. No neighbors. It was quiet. Then all of a sudden, this war of the worlds type situation happened. You can see the equipment coming in, its like some kind of dinosaur or alien creature coming in here and making a lot of noise and tearing stuff up.

All of a sudden our whole world was blown up.

With the commotion too close to ignore, they turned to their work as a way of coping. Steve drew a series of abstract pieces of construction workers, depicted as the pipers at the gate.

Anne painted a self-portrait of herself screaming in despair at what was happening around her.

I tell people I feel like a whipped dog, she said. For years, she hoped that strong opposition and legal action would stop Mountain Valley from intruding into her home.

Even after the company used its power of eminent domain to take the Bernards land, and after construction began, they watched closely as the project struggled with rising costs and delays. Then came a law passed by Congress last year, which found the project in the national interest and fast-tracked its completion.

I feel like my hope has been exhausted, after all these years, that anything is going to stop it, Anne said.

Just as the Bernards were beginning to accept that reality, news broke earlier this month of the ruptured pipeline not far from their home.

That makes it even scarier, she said. The more you know, the worse it is.
Correction May 12, 2024, 8:30 p.m.: Brooke Army Medical Center is located in San Antonio, Texas. The originally published version of this article incorrectly reported its location.

Investigators received an anonymous complaint last summer tipping them off that Carilion Clinics two largest hospitals were struggling with a months-long spike in surgical instruments with blemishes, stains, spots and debris.

Tainted surgical instruments were found on the front lines of care, including in trays awaiting use in heart procedures, and pulled before use. When surgeons had too few clean instruments to operate, patients waited.

While the health system showed that no blemished instrument ever touched a patient and few surgeries overall were delayed, inspectors working on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put a condition into effect known as immediate jeopardy.

The reason: a breakdown in infection control.

Inspectors own spot checks found instruments with contamination at Roanoke Memorial Hospital and the New River Valley Medical Center near Radford, inspection reports said.

Immediate jeopardy means theres a major problem present capable of causing patient injury or death. Authorities can withhold government reimbursement for care if its not fixed. It was the first citation of a Carilion hospital with the patient-jeopardy warning in at least 25 years, according to spokeswoman Hannah Curtis said.

Told it must act, Carilion implemented rapid solutions and later elaborate plans of correction, correcting its deficiencies. Medical regulators on Thursday gave the nonprofit health system the all-clear, according to correspondence released by the hospital.

Hospitals in Florida and Texas have also struggled with instrument cleaning, which an expert called a common challenge for hospitals.

A failure to properly clean, disinfect or sterilize reusable medical instruments and devices between uses can spread infection.

Carilion said that following the thousands of procedures taking place in its operating rooms each month, units that operate around-the-clock clean the used instruments multiple ways. Other staff including caregivers scrutinize the cleaned instruments and reject any that raise a concern. A doctor can reject a tray of many instruments over a single subpar tool.

Instrument-sanitation issues peaked in October 2023, when the cleaned-instrument rejection rate reached 2.35%, more than twice a standard of 1% recognized in the industry, Carilion said.

As result of an all-hands response, the rate stands at 0.4% today, the health system said.

Our patient safety processes worked, we identified and rejected instruments of concern prior to any procedure and no patients were harmed, Carilion CEO Nancy Agee said in a prepared release.

Agee acknowledged that employees received too little information back after reporting instrument problems, leaving the impression management wasnt listening or taking action. This situation taught us we could improve communication with frontline staff to keep them abreast of actions being taken, Agee said.

Those actions included the purchase of several million dollars worth of new instruments, improved plumbing and cleaning infrastructure and consultations with university experts and outside healthcare professionals. Carilion trained and retained staff, ran audits and changed protocols. Outside experts told Carilion that the blemishes found on the instruments were sterile and not a threat to patients, according to Agee.

The investigation at Carilion first became public through inspection reports released by the Virginia Department of Health. VDHs inspectors, called surveyors, work in collaboration with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure health care meets medical standards.

Acting on a complaint about Roanoke Memorial, inspectors visited the hospital unannounced on Sept. 20, 2023. The evening of the second day, inspectors declared immediate jeopardy.

The problem was recurrent issues with the proper decontamination and sterilization of surgical instruments since July 2023, a 58-page report said. The facility Governing Body failed to ensure oversight and immediate action was taken when the facility became aware of the concerns brought forward by staff.

This problem, a surveyor quoted staff member #24 as saying, has been going on for months; not just in (one OR) but in all of them. We have raised concerns multiple times and at one point we went through forty-three (43) trays to get an intact field.

Types of contamination documented included but were not limited to: hair, blood, bone, bioburden, holes in paper wrapping, trash (i.e. alcohol swab, sutures, cement) etc, the report said.

However, these were individual instances, Carilion said. The only recurring issue was blemishing.

Investigators attributed eight surgery delays and cancellations between Aug. 30 to Sept. 22 to instrument issues  a time period during which Carilion said more than 3,000 procedures occurred.

Patient #4 was delayed by eight days for getting a lower lung wedge resection for a biopsy, while patient #5 waited two days for a coronary artery bypass, the reports said. Patient #6 saw their bypass cancelled due to a lack of clean instrument pans and contamination issues. Family requests transfer to (out of state facility), the report said. Patient #9 had their lung procedure cancelled twice.

Several months later, Carilion turned a corner. The operating rooms experienced no cancellations over instrument issues in January and one in February, the report said.

After examining the Roanoke hospital, the surveyors went in October to Carilions Franklin Community Hospital in Rocky Mount, which passed its inspection, and onto to the New River Valley Medical Center, where they found instrument issues there as well. Authorities cited the New River hospital for placing its patients in immediate jeopardy. Carilion responded with fixes to the satisfaction of regulators, who lifted the declaration after several days.

A second anonymous complaint against Roanoke Memorial sent inspectors back to 1906 Belleview Ave. S.E. in November. Having been asked by management to report all instrument concerns, staff had filed hundreds of additional reports.

While viewing nine randomly picked surgical instrument trays that had been sterilized and deemed ready for use, surveyors observed each one to be contaminated, the November report said.

Among other findings, operating room staff complained that surgeons could over-ride their judgment that an instrument was tainted and use it anyway, putting staff and doctors at odds, the report said.

There was a new finding as well: Carilion had failed to monitor the effectiveness of the steps it had started in September, the report said.

Inspectors put the patient-jeopardy condition in effect again at RMH and asked Carilion for further corrective steps.

Carilions updated corrective action plan went farther than its first. Under it, Carilion would staff its operating rooms with a specially trained in-room expert who had final say over instrument usability matters, among other actions.

Satisfied, inspectors lifted the jeopardy condition, but continued to consider the hospital out of compliance pending a recheck at a later date. Notes of that review, which occurred April 16, run barely half a page and list no deficiencies.

Carilion maintained to investigators that no patient had a negative outcome. Not only did no unclean instrument touch, much less harm a patient, no instrument was ever verified as contaminated, the hospital said.

Dr. Anthony Baffoe-Bonnie, medical director of infection prevention and control at Carilion, said it would be tough to say precisely what happened and why to blemish the instrument supply. Experts believe the material is iron or copper deposits attributable to steam sterilization. In the absence of a clear cause, Carilion decided to perfect every instrument-handling step, he said.

Carilion plans to publish guidance it developed on the classification and management of instrument blemishes for use by other health care providers facing the issue. It said industry standards on the topic do not exist and are needed.

Unfortunatelyit is common for many hospitals to struggle with delivering quality instruments to the operating room, said James Davis, infection prevention control manager at ECRI, in an email. ECRI is a body of medical and scientific experts focused on patient safety and medical device evaluation based in Pennsylvania.

HCA North Florida Hospital in Gainesville, Fla., and Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, have recently made headlines over instrument reprocessing issues.

Carilion has maintained its standing with health care associations that provide education and support and with accrediting agencies. The leading group that affirms that hospitals perform to standards, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations, conducted a review on the heels of government investigators and did not identify any risk, Agee said. The American College of Surgeons gave a quality mark to Roanoke Memorial held by just 17 hospitals nationwide. The Leapfrog Group, another independent healthcare-evaluation body, gave a high score to Roanoke Memorials leadership for commitment to patient safety.
Houston rapper Bun B announces winners during an art bike event and bike giveaway Saturday, May 11, 2024, at MacGregor Park in Houston. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Children from Davila Elementary School walk on stage to accept an award from Houston rapper Bun B during an art bike event Saturday, May 11, 2024, at MacGregor Park in Houston. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Houston rapper Bun B looks at trophies to be awarded to children during an art bike event Saturday, May 11, 2024, at MacGregor Park in Houston. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Children check their tickets as Houston rapper Bun B announces a winner during a bike giveaway Saturday, May 11, 2024, at MacGregor Park in Houston. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Rapper, burger businessman and beloved Houston institution Bun B took the stage at the third annual Art Bike Parade and Festival at MacGregor Park and looked up at the sky.

Its not hot, he said. Its not raining  yet. You know Houston: We can get three seasons in one day.

But the rain held off Saturday, and the event pulled in a strong crowd of people and their customized bicycles on a pleasant mid-May day.

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The event also allowed the Houston Parks Board  which, with the Orange Show for Visionary Art and Houston Independent School District, presents the Art Bike Parade and Festival  to engage community members about the forthcoming $54 million renovation.

Between statements from Houston Parks Board president and CEO Beth White and HISD visual art coordinator Rickey Polidore Jr.  whose remarks were prefaced with a nod to UGKs Its Supposed to Bubble  Bun B presented several schools with prizes bearing names like You Call This School Spirit? and Repurpose With Purpose.

Mandarin Immersion Magnet School may have had the most enthusiastic response to its win for the You Call This School Spirit? award. Thats how you act when you win, Bun said.

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Prior to the awards, Bun told the Chronicle he was excited to be involved with the event, having visited MacGregor Park for decades.
For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries near the California-Oregon line. That development comes just days after the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed. Researchers determined that Chinook salmon began migrating Oct. 3 into previously inaccessible habitat. Dams were demolished as part of a national movement to let rivers return to their natural flow and to restore ecosystems for fish and other wildlife. The dam removal project was completed Oct. 2, marking a major victory for local tribes that fought for decades to free hundreds of miles of the Klamath.
SIOUX CITY  For Renae Merchant, this Mother's Day will be a bittersweet time.

Big changes are coming as Merchant's fraternal twin 17-year-old sons, Brayden and Tyler Cook, graduate from East High School on May 22 and then leave for U.S. Air Force basic training within weeks of each this summer.

"I am happy for them but also anxious for them to be on their own. I am excited for their futures and just so incredibly proud of both of them," Merchant said.

Brayden leaves for basic training in about a month.

Brayden and Tyler Cook Brayden and Tyler Cook (left to right) will graduate from East High School on May 22, The young men who will enter the U.S. Air Force after gr

Once he returns from basic training in late fall, he plans to work with the fire crew at the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City and then go to become a firefighter with the Sioux City Fire Department.

"I want to take care of people and i want to help people in any way I can. I want to make that my life's goal," Brayden said. "I think that firefighting is a great way for me to do that."

Tyler starts basic training on July 29. He will attend tech school and train in intelligence. He plans to begin his college career at Iowa State University in the fall of 2025 where he will major in criminal investigation.

Both Tyler and Brayden credit their mother with teaching them leadership skills, discipline and the importance of keeping their word.

"She is amazing honestly. She really taught us from a young age how to take care of ourselves and how not to have to depend on other people for everything." Tyler said.

"All those life skills she taught us from a very young age. She has always pushed me to excel in every single thing I have ever done."

Brayden and Tyler Cook Brayden and Tyler Cook surround their mother Renae Merchant of Sioux City.

Brayden said his mom is "probably the most wonderful woman I have ever met.

"She is a strong person. When I think of my mother, I think of the hardest working person I have ever seen."

Merchant is proud that her sons have big goals.

"My outlook has always been that I am not just raising kids. I am raising kids that are going to be adults some day," Merchant said.

"I am raising them to be strong independent thinkers and to work hard for what they want. I teach them that not everything you want comes easy and you have to put in the work."

Merchant also has an 18-year-old daughter named Kylie.

This will be the first year the twins will not be together on their birthday, July 6.

"It's definitely sad but at the same time, even though they are twins, I have always raised them to be individuals. I am happy for them that they are separating and going their own paths,m" Merchant said.

"The world has always referred to them as the twins or the boys and I am happy they are going to have new beginnings as individuals."
I recently published a book about caregiving that is, in part, a rigorously researched explanation of why I love motherhood, despite living in a country that gives parents so little support. One might imagine that constructing and then promoting my arguments as to why caring for others can be meaningful and emotionally enriching, even when its challenging, may have led me to feel comfortable saying I like being a mom in casual social settings. It hasnt. When I am with friends or acquaintances, or connecting with others online, the admission gets stuck in my throat, where it remains with all the other things that are better left unsaid.

Its a feeling that traces all the way back to the time when my first son was born. I became a mom in 2012, which I unscientifically suspect was right around the time negative messages about motherhood became more common than positive ones. Or at least it certainly felt like this, in the liberal, largely coastal circles I inhabited online and in real life. To voice any delight about my relationship with my son felt a mix of tone-deaf, out of style, and potentially alienating to others.

Over a decade into motherhood, I now see that there are concentric circles to my hesitation to voice positive feelings, layers of potential relational, political, and personal harm I would fear I would unleash if I came clean. I worry about making others who struggle with motherhood feel bad; I worry about undermining the fight to get mothers and other caregivers more systemic support; I worry about turning back the clock on feminism; and I worry about outing myself as sentimental, and therefore intellectually unserious and uncool. Making it all the harder is that this fear doesnt feel like a product of my tendency to second-guess things, but rather pretty realistic.

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The relational piece is the most immediate. When a close friend admits to me that she is struggling with motherhood, the feeling tends to come coated with a heavy dose of physical and emotional exhaustion, shame, maybe even regret. For so long, motherhood was locked up in easy metaphors of goodliness and saintliness. To deviate from this one-note portrayal and refuse to meet unrealistic expectations, to not want to be endlessly giving and enthusiastic about it, was, in this formula, to be a bad person. Ambivalence about either ones children, or about how motherhood changes the way one can experience the world, was not seen as a healthy part of a huge life undertaking, but a sign that one was not dedicated enough. Even though we have let go of these simplified and unrealistic definitions of a good mom, particularly in online discourse, those old-fashioned notions can still get under the skin for those having a hard time. To be in that state, and to hear that I am loving motherhooda matter of personal disposition as much as it is luck in having children with milder temperamentsmight, very understandably, only make things worse.

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On a more public level, I fear that me, or anyone, saying I like motherhood, even though it can be tough, has the potential to undermine political efforts to get necessary and overdue support for parents from the government and workplaces. In our current system, moms are suffering because they are moms, which makes managing a job or affording a (not terribly indulgent!) life pretty difficult. For those in the laptop class, they may have scheduling flexibility at work, but that tends to come with an expectation to always be available. Or, for those who work onsite, there is often little flexibility and, too often, very little advance notice of weekly schedules, giving moms a tight 24 hours to figure out caregiving support for the week. We lack universal paid leave, we lack universal and affordable child care and elder carea one-two punch for all those sandwich-generation parents out there. To say you are having a good time can feel like you are dismissing all the unnecessary suffering that moms experience in the United States because of a lack of societal support. Inversely, to complain about being emotionally spent has become a message of solidarity, a protest chant against everything that makes life so impossible for moms.

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Cutting deeper than the threat to pro-mom activism is the threat to feminism. So much of late-20th-century feminismthough, as I learned when researching my book, mostly white feminismwas about allowing women to have other identities outside of motherhood. To insist on motherhood as a path to meaning, purpose, let alone joy, can feel like I am doing the bidding of conservative forces in our culture, who dont just advocate for embracing motherhood, but a return to a patriarchal domestic structure in which Dad is on top. What Id like to do is see what embracing care could look like outside the patriarchy, to look inside the homes women like Betty Friedan encouraged us to escape, and see what is worth appreciating there. With the erosion of reproductive rights and the new popularity of tradwives on social media, pointing out all that is worth celebrating in motherhood can feel dangerous, for people with my politics. And yet, if we dont do it, what vision of feminism are we promoting for the next generation? Another one in which care is sidelined, marginalizedleft to underpaid working-class women, mostly women of color, while wealthier, mostly white women leave the home and do the big, important stuff? I dont want that eitherand yet, still, how to express this?

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This disquiet lingers even in solitude, particularly when I am reading smart writing by a smart woman in which motherhood is presented as something that limits or subtracts. Its not that I have a problem with them feeling that way, or writing about it. I dont expect anyone to feel the same as I do about this relationship or any of my other relationships, including my relationship with my parents or my husband. The problem isnt that I feel unseen, so much as I often detect an unspoken assessment that intelligence and motherhood are incompatible. Or, as is the case in many fictional portraits of maternal ambivalence, a feeling that being honest about ones desires and seeking them out cant happen in the context of caring for ones kids. To like motherhood makes me dumb and repressed, I temporarily conclude, cheeks on fire even though nobody is watching.

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Because, even when I believe loving motherhood makes me tragically unhip, or when I hesitate to discuss my experience with it with others, my affection for it never wavers. This is the point in the essay when I tell you why. I, like so many women, went into motherhood with a defensive posture. I had no ambivalence about becoming a mom, and am fortunate enough to have a pretty easy time connecting with my children. My big fear was not exactly the act of parenting itself, but how becoming a parent would stop me from living an otherwise interesting and meaningful life.

Related From Slate The Women Who Had Five or More Kids on Purpose Think They Know Something You Dont Read More

As it happened, my relationship with my kids has been as philosophically, spiritually, or intellectually vital as anything else Ive done, leading to the kind of realizations weve long wanted to seek elsewhere, away from the home, away from the family. Through them, Ive cultivated a healthy relationship with uncertainty, with attention, with feeling closer to the source of life, whatever it is, with all its wonder and fragilityall moments of revelation that came by way of a mix of stress, rupture, wholeness, and ease. If I had let motherhood stay small, confined to the sidelines, then those stressful moments would have felt like forces holding me back on my way to an interesting and meaningful life. But by letting motherhood become big, those challengesand yes, my kids annoy me sometimes, and yes, I appreciate working and other time I spend away from thembecame part of a larger narrative arc.

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I really do want to be able to say all this in the company of othersand not just in writing but during unscripted, person-to-person exchanges. While I am so glad moms feel liberated to talk about the hard parts of parenting, I worry that only talking about the hard parts make it so the experience of taking care of our children is kept small, devalued, something not worthy of our curiosity, nor our collective investment. I often long for a whole new language, a whole new vocabulary and even context for discussing motherhood, but I havent figured it out yet. Whereas once, we diminished motherhood by easy praise, we now often diminish it with easy complaint. Is there a way to think more expansively and holistically in our conversations about motherhood? To be open to the ways in which the good and the bad are not oppositional, but essential, inevitable parts of a rich, friction-filled experience we may not always like but can love and grow from? Im still working on it.
We get asked by friends and family where to buy coffee a lot. Its a tough question! Its easy to lose track of just how many incredible, fresh, vibrant coffees are out there. Every week, we ask our advertising roasting partners for coffee recommendations theyre most excited about. Heres this weeks collection of some of the most interesting whole bean coffee offerings available from talented roasters across the globe.

Amavida Coffee Roasters

CXFFEEBLACK

Equator Coffees

Greater Goods Coffee Co.

Joe Coffee Company

Madcap Coffee Company

Monogram Coffee

Night Swim Coffee

Olympia Coffee Roasters

Onyx Coffee Lab

Partners Coffee

PERC Coffee

Portland Coffee Roasters

Stumptown Coffee Roasters

Verve Coffee Roasters

Our coffee newsletter subscribers get this list each week, a few days before anyone elsecheck it out over at Substack.

Amavida Coffee Roasters : Honey Comsa This medium roast Honduran coffee from COMSA Cooperative has a mild, berry-like acidity and a full body. It features pronounced dried fruit notes in the aroma followed by prominent flavors of raisin, fig, and molasses. Certified Organic & Fair Trade Coffee.

Cxffeeblack : Fatherland Kenya, Lions Hill Farm, Tinderet Nandi County, Solai Coffee Junt, Washed Peaberry. My fathers first connection to coffee, my first connection to coffee. When my dad went to Africa while in college, Kenya changed his life. Years later, he introduced Kenyan coffee to our household. I didnt know it then, but this was the first clue that coffee, like me, was black. This cxffee is our latest from the all black supply chain, sourced by the Kuria family. They are a multi-generational African-owned Kenyan importing company bringing over coffee from their families and neighbors farms. We met the Kuria family at the second inaugural Color of Coffee Collective, and were so excited to be able to share the the first of our collaborative offerings with you.

Equator Coffees

Equator Coffees: Thailand Chaiprakarn Black Honey Single Origin EspressoOur third and final Thai coffee of the season just scored an incredible 90 point review by Coffee Review (April 2024)! This standout coffee was black honey-processed by coffee industry veteran Noi Duongdee from his own processing mill in Chaiprakarn, located in Thailands Chiang Mai growing region. Juicy and sweet with flavors of passionfruit, strawberry candy, and hazelnut, this coffee truly flourishes in espresso form.

Back to top.

Greater Goods Coffee Co. Greater Goods Roasting: Santa Gema Last year, we had the privilege of visiting some incredible farms in Nicaragua, including Santa Gema. At Santa Gema, Mario Vilchez produces a remarkable maracaturra coffee with flavor notes of cherry cordial, tea rose, and tamarind. Were proud to say that this coffee qualified for Nationals at the US Brewers Cup competition, a testament to its exceptional quality. Back to top.

Joe Coffee Company Joe Coffee: The Village  Currently, The Village comes from the Rubi sisters farm Finca Ruland 2, in Las Vegas, Honduras. Andrea and her sisters skill and diligence shine through this lot of washed and natural coffees. Expect a complex balance of layered acidity and structured sweetness. Beginning with notes of deep citrus and stone fruit, flavors arc towards ripe cherry as the coffee cools, leaving us with a final, soft note of spice and caramel. The Village is a celebration of women in coffee, composed of seasonally-rotating selections from valued relationships with female producers and cooperatives, aimed at highlighting and addressing this gender gap. According to strong research, investing in women increases the sustainability of coffee everywherewomen are more likely to reinvest their income back into their families, their coffee businesses, and their communities. And when access to decision-making and the global marketplace improves for women farmers, quality improves too. Back to top.

Madcap Coffee Company Madcap Coffee Company: Ejo HezaIndependently owned, the Kopakama Cooperative is made up of 1025 members, 400 of them women. In 2011, the board of Kopakama directors agreed to create a womens group, giving them two plots of land. With only 200 members at the time, they called themselves Ejo Heza, which translates to Bright Tomorrow in Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda.

This is our fifth year working with Ejo Heza. Today the farms reputation spans far and wide, and womens groups from other cooperatives now visit Ejo Heza to see how they are organized and study their techniques. We hope you can taste the immense effort their co-op puts into every pound of coffee. This year, enjoy notes of floral hibiscus, juicy plum, and brown sugar.

Monogram Coffee Monogram Coffee: Elida Estate Catuai Lamastus Family

Panama is now world famous for the gesha variety, producing some of the most delicious (and expensive) geshas in the world. Geshas popularity had a huge impact on speciality coffee by emphasizing the importance and impact of coffee variety. At the same time that there is an intense interest in variety, there is also a move to understand how processing can elucidate unique varietal characteristics in coffee varieties. Elida Estate is world famous for their gesha coffees, but they have not rested on their success and they are trying to improve every coffee they offerincluding coffees that are not gesha. They grow a large amount of Catuai on the farm and they have developed a process that brings the best out of the variety. They ferment the coffee cherry in oxygen-free tanks for 5 days and then dry it very slowly for up to 30 days, with the last part of the drying finished in a covered tent. This process reveals the power and structure of Catuai, with big aromas, intense fruit, and a heavy body. Back to top.
Elizabeth Sander is a Suburban Education Reporter at the Houston Chronicle covering ISDs, private and charter schools. She can be reached at elizabeth.sander@houstonchronicle.com.

Previously, Elizabeth was a Hearst fellow covering education, local politics and breaking news for the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/israeli-police-use-water-cannons-against-anti-government-protesters-in-tel-aviv-1118390968.html

Israeli Police Use Water Cannons Against Anti-Government Protesters in Tel Aviv

Israeli Police Use Water Cannons Against Anti-Government Protesters in Tel Aviv

Sputnik International

Israeli police have used water cannons and mounted officers to disperse an anti-government protest rally in Tel Aviv, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.

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Thousands of people gathered in central Tel Aviv in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry's building, calling for snap elections and a deal with Palestinian movement Hamas on the release of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. After the demonstration was over, hundreds of protesters moved towards Tel Aviv's main highway, intending to block traffic. Units of mounted police intercepted the crowd, although scattered groups of activists managed to break through the blockade. After that, the police used water cannons to stop them. As a result, clashes erupted between the protesters and the police. Several activists were arrested. This comes amid the ceasefire and hostage release talks stalling due to Hamas' reportedly demanding that Israel agree to a 12-week ceasefire in the Gaza Strip rather than six weeks. Israel is opposed to the offer because it would be difficult for the country to restart hostilities after such a long pause in the fighting, media reported. In addition, Israel launched a much-touted military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah earlier this week and took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt.On Friday, Israels war cabinet approved the expansion of the military operation.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240509/israeli-officials-claim-hamas-loves-biden-and-that-us-wants-tel-aviv-to-lose-amid-rafah-row-1118362863.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/borrell-urges-israel-to-ensure-safety-of-civilians-in-rafah-1118394054.html

Borrell Urges Israel to Ensure Safety of Civilians in Rafah

Borrell Urges Israel to Ensure Safety of Civilians in Rafah

Sputnik International

Israel should ensure the safety of civilians in the southern Gazan city of Rafah in accordance with international law, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday.

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At least 1.4 million Palestinians are currently in Rafah, many of whom fled there from Israeli shelling from other parts of the Gaza Strip.He also called on Israel to refrain from going ahead with a military operation in Rafah as "this would further exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis." 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. On Friday, Israeli media reported that Israel's military cabinet had approved expanding the ground operation in Rafah.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/david-cameron-nato-wont-shoot-down-russian-missiles-over-ukraine-1118399561.html

David Cameron: NATO Won't Shoot Down Russian Missiles Over Ukraine

David Cameron: NATO Won't Shoot Down Russian Missiles Over Ukraine

Sputnik International

Moscow earlier warned European leaders from intentionally stirring up tensions around the situation in Ukraine now that they know perfectly well that the Kiev regime is on the verge of total breakdown.

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British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has ruled out the possibility of NATO forces intercepting Russian missiles over Ukraine."But the one thing we have to try to avoid is NATO forces in conflict with Russian forces," Cameron stressed.At the same time, he argued that with NATO soldiers "not directly fighting off" Russian servicemen, any aid to Ukraine by the alliance is "acceptable."The British foreign secretary spoke after an array of German MPs backed the idea of NATO "cross-border" anti-aircraft units downing Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace, something they claimed could "relieve the burden on Ukrainian air defenses and allow them to protect the front line."Nico Lange, senior researcher at the Munich Security Conference, earlier insisted in a televised interview that NATO allies should use their "numerous" Patriot anti-aircraft systems to destroy "all Russian missiles and drones" over Ukraine from the territory of Poland.

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russia's ongoing offensive, western military aid to ukraine, david cameron's 'no' to the possibility of nato forces intercepting russian missiles over ukraine
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/employees-of-vatican-museums-file-collective-complaint-for-1st-time-in-history---reports-1118400747.html

Employees of Vatican Museums File Collective Complaint for 1st Time in History - Reports

Employees of Vatican Museums File Collective Complaint for 1st Time in History - Reports

Sputnik International

Staff at the Vatican museums have filed the first-ever collective complaint demanding better working conditions and threatened to go to court if their demands are not met, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday.

2024-05-12T17:49+0000

2024-05-12T17:49+0000

2024-05-12T17:49+0000

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"The Pope talks about rights, but here we are just commodities," the workers wrote in the complaint quoted by the newspaper. As many as 49 employees, including curators, a conservation officer and a bookstore worker, have signed the statement denouncing the Vatican City governor's office for impairment of their rights, the report read. The complaint states that workers are required to spend the entire day at home during sick leave, and some were sanctioned for visiting doctors, the report read. Workers are systematically required to work overtime for less than normal pay, and there are no benefits for forced downtime, the report added. Employees also claim that between 25,000 and 30,000 people pass through the museums daily, although the maximum number of visitors must be 24,000, the report read.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231217/vatican-court-sentences-cardinal-becciu-in-high-profile-corruption-case-1115639755.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/erdogan-confirms-his-intention-to-improve-relations-with-greece-1118392012.html

Erdogan Confirms His Intention to Improve Relations With Greece

Erdogan Confirms His Intention to Improve Relations With Greece

Sputnik International

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he intends to strengthen relations with Greece and raise the level of bilateral relations to a historically unprecedented level.

2024-05-12T04:26+0000

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At the same time, Erdogan noted that Ankara does not recognize the agreement on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction between Cyprus and Israel, since it was concluded "between the Greek administration in southern Cyprus and Israel, and the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriots - the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - which are an important element of the island, were ignored."The president also added that Turkiye's interests in exploitation of energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean should not be ignored. NATO allies Greece and Turkiye have been at odds for decades, with the risk of an armed conflict arising several times. The disputed issues include competing territorial claims in the eastern Mediterranean, in particular in the region of the Aegean Sea, the Greek-Turkish divide in Cyprus, and the delimitation of maritime boundaries. Turkiye has repeatedly accused Greece of deploying weapons on the Aegean Islands in violation of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting with Mitsotakis in Athens in early December 2023 that there are no issues between Turkiye and Greece that cannot be resolved. The Greek prime minister echoed these remarks, saying that Greece and Turkiye should live in peace, while disagreements should not immediately cause tensions.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240503/turkiye-expects-wests-attack-following-suspension-of-trade-with-israel---erdogan-1118245186.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/first-f-16-fighters-may-arrive-in-ukraine-within-weeks---reports-1118392174.html

First F-16 Fighters May Arrive in Ukraine Within Weeks - Reports

First F-16 Fighters May Arrive in Ukraine Within Weeks - Reports

Sputnik International

The first F-16 fighter jets are expected to be supplied to Ukraine in just a few weeks, UK newspaper The Standard reported, citing a high-ranking military source.

2024-05-12T04:47+0000

2024-05-12T04:47+0000

2024-05-12T04:47+0000

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The fighters should be delivered to Ukraine by June or July, the report said on Saturday, adding that the source did not specify from which countries these jets would arrive. The Netherlands and Denmark were among the first countries to agree to supply F-16s to Ukraine. The White House later confirmed that Kiev would receive the US-made jets from third countries once Ukrainian pilots complete the training to fly them. Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said the Hague planned to deliver the first batch of F-16s to Ukraine in 2024, although the ministry announced in early January that the delivery would be delayed by up to six months.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier said that Russia would start hunting down Ukrainian F-16s as soon as they begin arriving. He stressed that Russian air defense systems will need only about 20 days of work to destroy the first batch of these jets supplied to Kiev regime.Vladimir Putin had a conversation with Russian military pilots in March and stressed that F-16 would change nothing for Kiev.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240427/russian-air-defenses-one-of-the-most-robust-and-integrated-in-the-world--ex-us-air-force-officer-1118145221.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/half-of-americans-consider-ukraine-aid-spending-excessive---poll-1118399841.html

Half of US Citizens Consider Ukraine Aid Spending Excessive - Poll

Half of US Citizens Consider Ukraine Aid Spending Excessive - Poll

Sputnik International

Fifty percent of US citizens believe that Washington is spending excessive amounts of money on military and financial assistance to Ukraine, a recent poll conducted.

2024-05-12T15:12+0000

2024-05-12T15:12+0000

2024-05-12T17:09+0000

americas

ukraine

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The poll also showed that 26% of respondents think Washington is spending enough money on Ukraine and 11% said the US was not spending enough. In addition, 47% of respondents believe spending to support Israel is excessive, while 11% believe Washington could provide more aid to Israel, the poll showed. The poll was conducted from May 2-6 and surveyed 1,003 people. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. Western countries, including the US, have been providing massive military and financial aid to Kiev since the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin has consistently warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev, saying it would lead to further escalation of the conflict. In April 2022, Russia sent a diplomatic note to all NATO countries on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240506/us-senator-criticizes-uniparty-for-borrowing-money-to-finance-war-in-ukraine-1118277076.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/historical-revisionism-erasing-russias-lead-role-in-wwii-akin-to-holocaust-denial-1118391627.html

Historical Revisionism Erasing Russias Lead Role in WWII Akin to Holocaust Denial

Historical Revisionism Erasing Russias Lead Role in WWII Akin to Holocaust Denial

Sputnik International

Western leaders have been trying for decades to minimize or erase the contributions of the Soviet Army in World War II

2024-05-12T03:26+0000

2024-05-12T03:26+0000

2024-05-12T03:26+0000

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In recent years, there has been an attempt to minimize Russias contributions to the war effort against the Nazis, despite the long historical consensus that they did more to defeat the German army than any other country and sacrificed more to accomplish that, some 25 to 27 million Russians, than any other country.Worse yet, some have even gone as far as to equate the Soviets with the Nazis or even paint Nazism as an unfortunate response to the true danger: communism.There has also been a decades-long push to equate communism in the USSR with Nazism in Germany, writes Conor Gallagher in Naked Capitalism. While originally more of a fringe view, it started to go mainstream back in 2008 when the European Parliament adopted a resolution establishing August 23 as the European Day of Remembrance for the victims of Stalinism and Nazism. Also called Black Ribbon Day, the US in 2019 also adopted a resolution to observe the date.Also in 2019, Gallagher points out, the European Parliament adopted a resolution blaming the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact for the Second World War, implying that the Soviets were as responsible as the Nazis for the war.What the Soviet Union did was astronomical, and they paid a very tremendous cost. 27 million lives lost. And, the fact that there is an attempt to tamper with that narrative by Western leaders is really outrageous, analyst and journalist Caleb Maupin told Sputniks The Critical Hour.In February, former US President Donald Trump reminded Americans that it was the Russians who were primarily responsible for Adolf Hitlers defeat.Youre really up against a war machine in Russia. Russia, what [did] they do? They defeated Hitler, they defeated Napoleon. They are a war machine, Trump said, leading CNN commentator Jim Sciutto to call those historically factual remarks a favorite Putin talking point.Considering that Russian President Vladimir Putin is famously known for his ability to quickly recall historical facts, Sciutto might be right, but not in the way he is portraying. Those with the truth on their side often use historical facts as talking points.World War II was one of the most devastating wars in history, and the fact that America stood with Britain and France and the Soviet people and the Chinese people to defeat the menace of fascism, that is a very, very important moment in world history, and, seeing that narrative denigrated is outrageous, Maupin argued.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240509/russian-victory-day-fused-celebration-of-nazis-defeat-with-call-for-new-multipolar-world-order-1118362027.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240210/tucker-putin-history-lesson-was-necessary-to-show-americans-russian-us-friendship-was-possible-1116705398.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/israel-creates-new-hospital-in-central-part-of-gaza-strip---idf-1118391860.html

Israel Creates New Hospital in Central Part of Gaza Strip - IDF

Israel Creates New Hospital in Central Part of Gaza Strip - IDF

Sputnik International

Israel has established a new field hospital near the village of Deir al-Balah in the central part of the Gaza Strip to provide humanitarian assistance to residents of the enclave, the IDF said.

2024-05-12T04:13+0000

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"Today (Saturday), the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced the establishment of a new field hospital run by the International Medical Corps in the Gaza Strip in coordination with the IDF and COGAT. The field hospital was established in the area of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip and began operating in recent days," the IDF said on Telegram. The IDF added that this was the eighth field hospital opened by Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 7. About 150 medical workers from around the world are expected to work in the new hospital, the statement read. 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/20240510/bolivia-condemns-israel-for-blocking-its-humanitarian-aid-sent-to-gaza-strip-1118371290.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/retired-us-army-officer-foresees-limited-success-for-ambitious-nato-tank-project-1118396738.html

Retired US Army Officer Foresees Limited Success for Ambitious NATO Tank Project

Retired US Army Officer Foresees Limited Success for Ambitious NATO Tank Project

Sputnik International

Even if built, a German-French tank of the future will highly unlikely compete in the international market, Earl Rasmussen, a retired Lieutenant Colonel with over 20 years in the US Army, told Sputnik.

2024-05-12T10:58+0000

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2024-05-12T10:58+0000

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The planned project to develop a main battle tank for Germany and France will remain closed to other shareholders for now, the French branch of the KNDS arms consortium has announced.The French and German divisions of KNDS, as well as Rheinmetall and Thales, previously unveiled plans to set up a project company to work on the tank of the future, known as the main ground combat system. This was preceded by Berlin and Paris agreeing to jointly develop a sophisticated successor to the French Leclerc and German Leopard tanks."I think it's a very high-risk program," Earl Rasmussen, an international consultant and retired lieutenant colonel with over 20 years in the US Army, said in an interview with Sputnik.When asked whether the project will be able to compete in the international market, the analyst said he doesnt think so.He made it clear that creating the French-German tank of the future is not going to happen overnight and that "it will happen over a long time period."According to Rasmussen, both sides - as well as the EU and NATO - have yet to resolve "political issues between the countries" related to the implementation of the project."There's a lot of issues and challenges," including those pertaining to "the discussions that a French-German joint production facility is to be placed on Ukrainian territory - not a very good idea," the analyst concluded, referring to the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240315/merchants-of-death-rheinmetall-turns-massive-profit-from-ukraine-conflict-1117352392.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/russian-forces-liberate-four-villages-in-kharkov-region-1118397442.html

Russian Forces Liberate Four Villages in Kharkov Region

Russian Forces Liberate Four Villages in Kharkov Region

Sputnik International

Russia's Sever (lit. North) Group of Forces took control over four villages in the Kharkov region over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

2024-05-12T11:44+0000

2024-05-12T11:44+0000

2024-05-12T12:25+0000

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Russia's Sever (lit. North) Group of Forces took control over four villages in the Kharkov region over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.Russian forces also eliminated up to 100 Ukrainian solders and destroyed two tanks near the villages of Degtyarnoye, Vovchansk, and Kozachya Lopan in the Kharkov region, the ministry added.Furthermore, Ukrainian forces lost about 600 servicepeople and a US-made Abrams tank in the zone of responsibility of the Russian Zapad (West) and Tsentr (Center) groups of forces over the past 24 hours."Units of the Western grouping of forces took more advantageous positions and hit [Ukrainian] formations ... in the areas of [the city of] Makeyevka, [the villages of] Artemovka, Dibrova of the Lugansk People's Republic [LPR], [the villages of] Yampolovka and Torskoye of the Donetsk People's Republic [DPR], as well as the Olivovsky Yar gully. Repulsed four counterattacks ... in the areas of the villages of Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People's Republic and Synkovka in the Kharkov region," the ministry said.The Zapad group of forces eliminated up to 190 Ukrainian servicepeople, two armored fighting vehicles and four pickup trucks, as well as a US-made M777 howitzer, the ministry said. Kiev also lost an Msta-B howitzer, US-made M119 howitzer and a Grad multiple launch rocket system, the ministry added.The Tsentr group of forces improved its tactical situation and hit Ukrainian forces in the areas of the villages of Maiorsk, Yevgenyevka, Vodyanoye and Semyonovka of the DPR, the ministry noted. The grouping also repulsed 10 attacks of the Ukrainian forces in the areas of the DPR, the ministry said."The Ukrainian army lost up to 415 servicepeople, two tanks, including US-made Abrams, a US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, a US-made Kozak armored fighting vehicle, three vehicles, and a US-made Paladin 155-mm self-propelled artillery system," the ministry added.Russia's Yug (South) Group of Forces in turn have improved their position along the frontline, defeated Ukrainian troops and repelled two counterattacks."The units of the Yug Group of Forces have improved the position along the front line and also defeated manpower and equipment of the 93rd mechanized, 92nd assault, 56th motorized infantry brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces, 107th, 112th, 115th brigades of the territorial defense in the areas of Spornoye, Orekhovo-Vasylivka, Chasov Yar, Kleshcheyevka, Andreyevka and Kurdyumovka settlements of the Donetsk People's Republic," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the losses of Ukrainian armed forces "amounted to up to 620 servicemen."Russia's Vostok (East) Group of Forces also took more favorable positions and repulsed two attacks of the Ukrainian army, eliminating up to 125 servicepeople over the past 24 hours."The units of the Vostok Group of Forces took more favorable positions and hit the manpower and equipment of the 58th motorized infantry brigade of the Ukrainian army and the 128th territorial defense brigade in the areas of the villages of Volodymyrivka of the Donetsk People's Republic and Dorozhnyanka of the Zaporozhye region," the ministry said.The grouping also repulsed two counterattacks of the Ukrainian forces in the areas of the villages of Staromayorskoye and Urozhainoye, the ministry added.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/scott-ritter-predicts-how-ukraine-will-end-1118382169.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240504/another-one-bites-the-dust-watch-russian-artillery-destroy-m1-abrams-tank-1118256320.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240503/why-chasov-yars-fall-could-become-turning-point-in-ukraine-conflict-1118242585.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240504/us-aid-package-doing-next-to-nothing-in-ukraine-1118247582.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/us-may-halt-high-precision-munition-supplies-to-israel-amid-rafah-operation-1118399984.html

US May Halt High-Precision Munition Supplies to Israel Amid Rafah Operation

US May Halt High-Precision Munition Supplies to Israel Amid Rafah Operation

Sputnik International

The US has not stopped supplying Israel with high-precision weapons but is exploring such an option, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said in an interview with CBS.

2024-05-12T16:22+0000

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The US has not stopped supplying Israel with high-precision weapons but is exploring such an option, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said in an interview with CBS."The answer to thatthe answer is no," Blinken declared when asked by the host to clarify whether the US had paused the supply of any other weapons to Israel, including high-precision munitions, in addition to the 3,500 air bombs whose delivery suspension was previously confirmed by the Pentagon.Blinken emphasized that Washington expects Israel to provide a plan for the safety of civilians in Rafah, as well as "a plan for what happens after this conflict in Gaza is over." According to him, the US has not yet received either of them.Meanwhile, Blinken doubted that Israel could completely neutralize the threat from Hamas, even if the operation in Rafah is carried out. "Were seeing parts of Gaza that Israel has cleared of Hamas, where Hamas is coming back, including in the north, including in Khan Younis," Blinken noted, emphasizing that the operation in Rafah, which will likely be accompanied by "incredibly high cost to civilians," does not guarantee the destruction of the organization. At the same time, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, according to him, "will create a vacuum', which is likely "to be filled [] by Hamas again." "Weve been working for many, many weeks on developing credible plans for security, for governance, for rebuilding. We havent seen that come from Israel," stressed the US secretary of state.On May 8, President Joe Biden stated in an interview with CNN that the US would stop arms shipments to Israel in the event of a major military operation in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. On the same day, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained that Washington is reviewing some type of short-term military aid to Israel in connection with the situation around Rafah. His statements implied that, in particular, the supply of high-power bombs had been paused.On May 10, the White House clarified that the issue was a pause, not a cessation of projectile deliveries to Israel. As the State Department specified, although only one batch of munitions has been suspended, other military deliveries are being reviewed."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240509/us-specifically-paused-weapons-shipment-to-israel-including-2000-pound-bombs---ryder-1118368355.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/venezuelas-military-installs-temporary-bridge-to-access-disputed-essequibo-region-1118399042.html

Venezuela's Military Installs Temporary Bridge to Access Disputed Essequibo Region

Venezuela's Military Installs Temporary Bridge to Access Disputed Essequibo Region

Sputnik International

Venezuela's armed forces have built a temporary bridge over the Cuyuni River, which marks a border between the Venezuelan territory and the disputed region of Essequibo, Domingo Hernandez Larez, the strategic operational commander of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela, said on Sunday.

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He added that Venezuela would build schools, universities, medical centers in this territory.The oil- and mineral-rich Essequibo region has long been the subject of dispute between Venezuela and Guyana. Venezuela gained independence from Spain in 1845, with Essequibo recognized as part of its territory. However, in 1899, the United Kingdom filed and won an arbitration claim to recognize Essequibo as part of its then-Caribbean colony of British Guiana. Independent Guyana cited the 1899 Arbitral Award in its 2018 International Court of Justice suit against Venezuela to reassert its claim of sovereignty over the disputed territory. In December 2023, Venezuela held a referendum in which almost 96% of the population voted for incorporating the Essequibo region into the country. Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali said that Georgetown was considering Caracas' actions to incorporate Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory, as a threat to the country's national security.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/will-xi-pry-europe-from-us-1118391225.html

Will Xi Pry Europe From US?

Will Xi Pry Europe From US?

Sputnik International

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Europe this week as he promotes Beijing's vision for a multipolar world.

2024-05-12T00:59+0000

2024-05-12T00:59+0000

2024-05-12T00:59+0000

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The visit to Europe by Xi, his first in five years, was designed to increase its global reach and give Europe an alternative to a US-led foreign policy that has dominated the continent for decades. One could even say he is trying to pry Europe away from the United States, as the rising power of China and the waning power of the United States seem destined to remain on a collision course.The selection of the three countries Xi picked was intentional, partially because each of them has significant historic anniversaries with China, but more importantly, Xi likely sees a chance to make more inroads in each of them.Serbia was the easiest case for Xi to make inroads, Serbia and China have been growing their economic ties recently and when Xi arrived at the Presidential palace, he was greeted by crowds waving Chinese flags and chanting China, China, China.Xis trip coincided with the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia, and the Chinese president visited the site of the bombing, which killed three Chinese journalists.Serbia is still very resentful about NATO's bombing in 1999, and that's formed the bond with China because, of course, the Chinese embassy was destroyed during the NATO bombing, Szamuely explained. So that kind of creates this bond between China and Serbia as victims of NATO.Hungary, likewise, has a strong relationship with China and is quickly becoming Chinas entry point for the EU market. It was the 75th anniversary of Hungary and China opening relations, and both countries seemed eager to continue developing their economic ties.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has distanced his country from other EU members on several issues in recent years, including Ukraine. Last year, Orban held up an EU aid package to Ukraine for months, angering others in the bloc.Hungarys relationship with China may also allow Xi to circumvent EU tariffs on Chinese EVs, another issue sure to anger Brussels.During his visits, Xi and his counterparts pledged to continue growing their economic ties and said that a $2.1 billion high-speed rail project that will connect the capitals of Hungary and Serbia will move forward, largely financed with Chinese loans. Both Hungary and Serbia are participants in Chinas Belt and Road initiative.But it was Xis trip to France that could really change the geopolitical landscape if the two countries start to move closer. The two countries also shared an anniversary during Xis visit, it being 60 years since the two countries opened diplomatic relations. More importantly, France is still one of the most powerful countries in the EU and, along with Germany, tends to direct the unions policies. While in practice, France has been virtually tied to the United States foreign policy, French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed a desire to step out from Washingtons shadow.Despite Germany being the economic powerhouse of Europe and depending on Chinese markets, Xi did not think it would be worth his time to visit, Szamuely speculated. Germany is so subservient to the United States that it accepted blindly the destruction of its Nord Stream pipelines, by the United States, and its Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is rabidly anti-Chinese making any talks with the current administration in Germany pointless for Xi.Of course, Macron had his own goals in the meeting, hoping to get China to concede on some economic issues and to pressure Russia to end its military operations in Ukraine. According to reports, Macron failed in both of those goals. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was also there, but her presence didnt seem to sway Xi.Last month, Xi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reaffirming China's commitment to its no-limit friendship with Russia.I think this is going to create a major shift at least for France, Hungary and Serbia to draw closer to China, Asia-Pacific affairs expert Thomas W. Pauken II told Sputnik.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240510/xis-european-tour-china-offers-eu-way-out-of-economic-decline-1118378453.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240512/zelenskys-trademark-zakharova-denounces-western-backed-ukrainian-attacks-on-belgorod-1118397640.html

Zelensky's 'Trademark': Zakharova Denounces Western-Backed Ukrainian Attacks on Belgorod

Zelensky's 'Trademark': Zakharova Denounces Western-Backed Ukrainian Attacks on Belgorod

Sputnik International

Targeted shelling of civilians and civilian infrastructure has become a trademark of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with the support of Western countries, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

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Earlier in the day, Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian city of Belgorod with Tochka-U missiles and Olkha and Vampire multiple launch rocket systems, causing the partial collapse of a residential building. The attack is yet another "bloody link in the chain of crimes of the Kiev regime," she added.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/scott-ritter-predicts-how-ukraine-will-end-1118382169.html

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It was not reigning Hippodrome 3R driving champions Pascal Berube and Stephane Brosseau who stole the show last week on opening day at the Trois-Rivieres half-mile oval in Quebec. It was 'The Showman' himself, Jocelyn Gendron, who ended up in the limelight.

Gendron, who calls Becancour, Que. home these days, ended the afternoon at 3R with a driving double, along with fellow horsewoman Marie-Claude Auger, as those two now have the early lead in the driver standings.

When it came to the featured Preferred Pace last week, Gendron was in his glory as he drove Thedoginthefight to victory and the duo seeks to repeat that effort this Sunday, May 12 in the ninth race.

It was the first time I ever drove this horse, Gendron said of Thedoginthefight. I was very comfortable on him because he came from Rideau Carleton, was already racing, so he had the experience for Trois-Rivieres. And his trainer at Rideau, Guy Gagnon, said it was a horse for me. So, I was very comfortable in the sulky.

Thedoginthefight starts from post four for Gendron. While his race lines show that he is not a leaver at the start of the races, last week he showed true grit in coming first-over and grinding it out on the outside en route to a 2:02.3 triumph over the sloppy track by three-quarters of a length.

At the three-quarter-mile mark, I was in possession of a good horse and I was just waiting for the right time to go with him, explained Gendron. Im pretty good when driving on a sloppy track.

Coming first-over with Thedoginthefight from before the half-mile marker, Gendron guided his mount into second place on the outside by the three-quarters and then cut him loose at the top of the stretch.

I was very proud of this horse, added Gendron. He scored a great victory.

Thedoginthefight is the 5-2 morning line favourite. Born A Rebel goes from post three for driver Jessica Turenne and last week they cut the mile and just got beat by Thedoginthefight. They race as an entry with Celia Bayama (post seven) from the Jack Reid Stable.

Two newcomers to the race include Rideau Carleton invader, Beauty Is Blind (post eight), for driver Pascal Berube. The seven-year-old mare shows a win and two game second-place finishes in her last four starts. Mickeymaksomespeed (post nine) is a fan favourite at 3R for the Michel Allard Stable, and is making his first start of the 2024 race season with William Roy in the sulky.

'The Showman,' whose trademark swirling of his whip around his head when approaching the winners circle after a victory is a fan favourite, still has plenty of confidence in his driving ability.

I still feel confident in the sulky, explained Gendron. Even though I am moving into my 60s, I am still a dedicated competitor.

Hippodrome 3R has a 12-race card starting at 12 p.m. on Sunday. Each of the 12 races are full fields of eight or nine starters per race. For a free race program, visit hippodrome3r.ca. For Sunday's entries, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.

(Quebec Jockey Club)
Green Magic peeled off cover past the three-quarters and brushed wide through the sloppy lane to spring a 19-1 upset in Saturdays feature at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows, a $21,781 conditioned trot.

Up in class off a claim, Green Magic was sixth down the backside when he picked up the live first-over cover of Stay Close. When that one stalled, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. sent Green Magic wide and asked him for trot. The five-year-old Chapter Seven-Vandys Magic gelding exploded in the stretch and roared past the leader, Saint K, defeating him by a half length in 1:55.1 over a sloppy surface. Buck Nome rallied from last for show.

Kaylee Martin trains Green Magic and owns with Jodi Martin. The trotter has won three races in a row for three different connections and now has 13 victories lifetime from 50 starts with $95,972 earned.

Wrenn and Dave Palone each collected four wins on the 13-race card while trainer Ron Burke enjoyed a triple.

Family, friends, associates and admirers of the late Mickey Burke Sr. gathered in the The Meadows winner's circle after Saturdays 11th race to pay tribute to the patriarch of one of harness racings most successful families ever.



Burke Sr. passed away on Monday at the age of 87. Among his career highlights, he was named U. S. Trainer of the Year in 2006 and he became the first trainer to surpass $10 million USD in purses in a single season. Today, Burke Racing Stable, operated by Burke Sr.'s family, has continued and extended his success. Its topped the North American trainer statistics every year since 2005.

During the winner's circle ceremony, The Meadows played a video for its live and streaming audiences showing highlights of Burke Sr.s career.

Fittingly, Burke Racing Stable and partners Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Larry Karr and Phillip Collura won race 11 with South Point.

Live harness racing at The Meadows resumes Wednesday when the program features a $550.39 carryover in the Pick 5 (Race 9). First post is 12:45 p.m.

(With files from Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)
Trainer Darryl Laver was the star of the night on Saturday, May 11 at Hiawatha Horse Park with three winners on the 10-race card coming from his stable.

HP Musical Alarm ($2.80), who gave Laver his first win of the Hiawatha meet on opening night last Saturday, won again for the Petrolia, Ont. horseman with Scott Wray guiding the sophomore son of Alarm Detector to a 2:02.4 score by one length over the 'good' track in the third race. Laver and Wray teamed up for a subsequent victory with Ultra ($7.60) as the six-year-old Up The Credit mare won the very next race by four lengths in 1:57 flat. Cold Beer Calling ($12.30) completed Laver's training triple with Wray guiding the three-year-old Hes Watching gelding to a half-length victory in 1:59.2 ahead of the seventh race favourite.

Laver followed up a 2022 campaign in which his stable topped the $200,000 mark in purse earnings for the first time with a 2023 season just shy of that money mark but good for a career-high win count of 31. With nine of his wins coming at the Sarnia, Ont. oval, he tied for second in the local trainer standings last year.

With earnings already into six figures in 2024, his training triple on Saturday brought his win total to 17 so far this year and 172 lifetime.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hiawatha Horse Park.

(Standardbred Canada)
Youaremyrock has been solid as can be this season and on Saturday evening, May 11, the Mark Beckwith-trained four-year-old completed a sweep of the Doc Frank Memorial Pacing Series at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Youaremyrock joined the Beckwith barn in early April while riding a two-race win streak. The young Boston Red Rocks gelding rattled off consecutive wins upon coming to the Spa before heading into the Doc Frank Memorial Pace where he would wind up as a 1-5 favourite or less in each of the first three legs. Brett Beckwith sat behind Youaremyrock, who was went off at 2-5 while drawing post two for his try in the $41,370 final on Saturday.

Youaremyrock wasted little time moving out to the early lead in the series final and cruised unopposed through a first half that went in :57.3. Three-leg winner Bruces VO N Coke (Wally Hennessey) was tasked with coming first-over on the big favourite and fought gamely while challenging the leader in lap two. Youaremyrock proved to be just too tough and lengthened his win streak to eight on Saturday when he achieved a wire-to-wire 1:55.1 score to complete the series sweep. Bruces VO N Coke stayed hot as he finished a strong second to the favourite while longshot War Memorial (Mitch Cushing) had his best finish of the series when he finished third behind the bettors top two choices.

Youaremyrock is owned in partnership by his trainer and Rick Berks.

(Saratoga Casino Hotel)
Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent, 14, are using the Passport Journeys app that helps mothers and daughters have better relationships. The app was founded by Lacey Tezino, a Rice University program manager who turned to therapy to help her heal after her mother's death. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent, 14.. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent, 14 Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent, 14 Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent hold hands. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Syretta Avent and her daughter Noa Avent, 14 Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

By the time she was 22, Syretta Avent was married and craving motherhood.

She wanted things to be different than they were for her mother, a single parent with limited resources. She didnt want to worry about finances or being so tired she couldnt enjoy fun things with her kids like sporting events and traveling.

Therapy was never part of her plan, but she began considering it when her daughter, Noa, became a teenager.

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There were so many things I wanted to make right as a mother; things my mother couldnt do because she was a single parent, Avent said. I wanted to understand Noa better. I can be wrong as a mom, and I want to get it right.

Avent found a new app, called Passport Journeys, that pairs mothers and daughters with licensed therapists to strengthen their relationships and help them communicate better. She wanted to try it out. They didnt have any issues, Avent said, but she wanted to make certain they never would.

The app was founded by Lacey Tezino, a Rice University program manager who is married with three children. It costs about $220 a month and includes two virtual therapy sessions with journaling exercises, worksheets and bonding activities, such as road trips, walks in the park, virtual cooking classes and online workouts.

Mother-daughter relationships can be sticky as hell, but there is this beautiful willingness by many mothers to be proactive, Tezino said. Mothers are showing up with young daughters to set a better foundation. A lot of mothers want to get it right earlier. They dont want to wait for the trauma. They want to grow the intimacy.

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So far, 12 mother-daughter pairs are using the app. Tezino said shes growing the business slowly because you dont want to go too fast with mental health.

Even before the pandemic, there was a growing demand for online therapy, making mental health support convenient and, in some cases, more affordable. According to the National Institutes of Health, there are more than 10,000 mental health and wellness apps on the market.

Tezinos app is unique since it focuses solely on mothers and daughters. That relationship, she said, is often complicated. Some are the best of friends. Others are triggered by the slightest issue.

Tezino knows this more than anyone. She was 18 when she met her mother for the first time on Mothers Day 2005. Her mother gave her up for adoption to a man who owned a Montrose bar and raised her in his hometown of Vidor. He died of brain cancer when Tezino was 7, and his parents became her guardians.

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Tezino was in college when she contacted her mother for the first time and spent the next decade trying to make up for the years they missed. It was hard, and her mothers alcoholism and recovery made their relationship even more layered. She died in 2014 from cancer at age 53.

Therapy helped Tezino heal the deep sadness and loss she felt after her mothers death.

Lacey Tezino, the founder of Passport Journeys, a company with an app that helps mother-daughters bond and build better relationships, with her daughter, Ziggy, 4, in her glamping setup on Thursday, May 4, 2023 in Houston. Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Sharing a cry with my therapist made me feel closer to her, Tezino wrote in her 2023 memoir.

Ive heard many mothers and daughters say communication is their biggest issue, but thats at the surface. Once you get deeper, there are issues like being misunderstood, feelings of not being heard, and emotional unavailability. A lot of us are mad at our moms for things they have never talked about, she said.

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My relationship with my mother is far from perfect. We struggle sometimes to be heard, like were speaking two different languages. I have vowed to make it better with my daughter, but its not easy. Tezino is right, therapy helps.

Tezino hopes the app will help transform mother-daughter relationships so that future generations wont be burdened by broken bonds.

You dont just stumble into a good relationship. It takes intentional work, she said.

Avent and her daughter have had several therapy sessions together and individually. She said its helped her become more aware of the words and tone she uses with her daughter. Its also increased her compassion for her mother.

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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

This Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplane of Alaska Airlines lost a side panel during a flight on January 5, 2024.

The US Federal Aviation Administration, sharply criticized after the crashes of two Boeing planes in 2018 and 2019, is again being dragged into a maelstrom surrounding the major American aerospace manufacturer.

The dramatic mid-flight blowout on January 5 of a fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines plane precipitated the departures of a series of top Boeing officialsincluding CEO Dave Calhoun, who is set to step down at year's endand the reduced production of the 737 MAX.

But as Boeing faces multiple inquiries and audits in the United States and abroad, it has repeatedly assured critics that it is working "with full transparency and under the oversight" of FAA regulators.

And the FAA, which itself has seen four bosses come and go since August 2019, has been unable to evade a share of the responsibility.

"The FAA has to be held accountable as well," said Senator Richard Blumenthal, who heads a subcommittee investigating Boeing's safety practices.

After the panel incident in January, the agency dispatched a team to inspect Boeing factories, and gave the firm 90 days to provide an "action plan" to address several problem areas.

Self-reporting

"I think the FAA is doing the best that they can and that they have greatly improved their surveillance of Boeing" since the 2018 and 2019 crashes off Indonesia and in Ethiopia, which killed 346 people, said Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation consultant and former head of the agency's investigation division.

Whistleblowers take an oath before testifying to a US Senate committee investigating Boeing safety practices, on April 17, 2024.

"But they did fail to catch production problems," he said, noting that for decades the FAA relied on manufacturers themselves to "self-report problems."

The FAA, short on money and personnel, has long delegated the job of quality assurance to pre-approved employees of the airplane manufacturers.

That creates "a conflict of interest," said Hassan Shahidi, president of the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation.

"There needs to be a shift where the FAA has more direct responsibility for oversight," he said.

Like Guzzetti, he said he has seen some improvement but believes the FAA must dispatch more of its own inspectorsand not delegate so much regulatory authority to manufacturers.

"This is going to take some time and it will need vigilance," Shahidi added.

But the agency "is on the right track now," said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of the AeroDynamic Advisory consultancy.

"It's nothing that can't be corrected with additional oversight and resources," he said.

FAA administrator Mike Whitaker speaks in Washington on March 11, 2024.

'Record' funding

Those resources depend directly on the US Congress, and the Senate on Thursday approved a "record" amount of agency funding for the next five years.

"We need to show (the public) that we are asking for, implementing and holding accountable the FAA to a gold standard for safety," said Senator Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The "record" level of financing, Cantwell added, would allow the FAA to step up inspections.

It still needs House approval before President Joe Biden can sign it into law.

Industry shortages of qualified personnel, from mechanics to engineers, were made worse by the pandemic, affecting every stage of manufacturingfrom supply procurement to production and maintenance.

"It's difficult to recruit and retain good craftsmen, even for Boeing," Guzzetti said.

Families of victims of the March 10, 2019, crash of a Boeing 737 MAX airplane in Ethiopia hold up photos of the dead during a protest in Arlington, Virginia.

And the FAA has specifically struggled to fill its hiring needs because workers can find higher pay and better benefits in the private sector.

Investigations into the 2018 and 2019 Boeing crashes showed that the company knowingly concealed from the FAA problems in a software system linked to the accidents, whistleblower Joe Jacobsen told Blumenthal's committee in mid-April.

Jacobsen, who worked for the FAA for 25 years after 11 years with Boeing, said the agency had become "too captive to Boeing."

The FAA falls under the US Transportation Department, whose inspector general in June 2022 opened an audit into the agency's supervision of 737 and 787 production. A final report is expected this summer.

The inspector general's office already concluded in 2021 that "weaknesses in FAA's certification and delegation processes hindered its oversight of the 737 MAX 8."

 2024 AFP
Plans for Interstate 14 and Loop 214 around Bryan-College Station were among transportation topics a delegation from the B/CS Chamber of Commerce discussed with federal Texas lawmakers in Washington, D.C. last week.

The I-14 project will span from Odessa to Augusta, Georgia and would pass through B-CS. The project was authorized in 2015 by the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The FAST Act created the Central Texas Corridor, after yearslong efforts from local elected officials and business leaders of bringing an interstate through B-CS. This 125-mile Texas corridor stretches from Rogers in Bell County to Huntsville in Walker County.

Currently, the Texas Department of Transportations Bryan District is in the process of a three-year corridor feasibility study to determine if the corridor and route can meet interstate standards. A preferred route likely wont be decided on for at least seven years.

TxDOT officials say funding and a timeline for future phases of the I-14 and Loop 214 corridor have not been established yet. Thats something the Chamber delegation expressed concerns about to lawmakers this week.

Having personally been involved in the I-14 conversation and the Loop 214 conversation for many years, many of us expressed our concern that we fund I-214 sooner rather than later and ensure that TxDOT continues to make it a priority because its been authorized, but funding has not been allocated, said Phil Shackelford, the Chambers Legislative Affairs Committee co-chair.

The Chamber delegation was pleased to see local congressional leaders provide new language for I-14 that moved away from generally following U.S. 190 to naming communities that will be connected by the Interstate and adding Loop 214 around B-CS.

TxDOT has processes, so theyre working through the planning stages, but our delegation did share concerns that we will need the help of the entire Texas delegation and we will need the reputation and the effectiveness of our Congressman, Chairman Michael McCaul, who is capable of aiding us on many of these issues in addition to his work in foreign affairs that we all appreciate, Shackelford said.

Transportation and infrastructure thoughts beyond the I-14 and Loop 214 projects were shared by the delegation. Local leaders told federal lawmakers they support funding for transportation projects in Brazos County, establishing a new corridor for freight movement within the Texas Triangle, adding a second commercial airline carrier at Easterwood Airport, and obtaining grant funds to acquire electric busses for the Brazos Transit District and Texas A&M Transportation Services fleets.

I expect there will be meaningful announcements in the coming days, road projects and infrastructure projects that will move forward much because of our work with Chairman McCaul and his staff this week, Shackelford said.

A Chamber delegation has traveled to the nations capital for over 20 years to speak with lawmakers on local issues. This years group had 35 members, including Bryan Bobby Gutierrez and College Station Mayor John Nichols, members of each citys council and staff, county officials, A&M officials and other local business leaders.

When you come up there with that kind of unity, they will tell you that they really do listen. Its not an individual group that is pushing an individual agenda, said Glen Brewer, president of the B/CS Chamber of Commerce. This is an entire community that is up there to make our voices heard.

On Monday, the local delegation was hosted by McCaul in the Capitols Visitors Center where they heard from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), House majority leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), District 17 U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). On Tuesday, the delegation split into groups and met with Texas lawmakers.

Aside from transportation, the delegation shared thoughts on economic development and fiscal responsibility, healthcare, higher education and workforce training.

We dont want to rest on our successes, Brewer said. We want to thank everyone for their help with this and now we have to take the next step because its a multi-year process and we dont just do it for ourselves, we do it for the future of Bryan-College Station.
Graduate students, faculty and demonstrators march to protest in support of Palestine outside of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer A graduating senior waits for other students before they walk out of their commencement ceremony at the University of Texas at Austin at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer A graduating senior walks out of their commencement ceremony at the University of Texas at Austin at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduating seniors walk out of their commencement ceremony at the University of Texas at Austin at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduate students, faculty and demonstrators march to protest in support of Palestine outside of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduate students, faculty and demonstrators march to protest in support of Palestine outside of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Pro Israel protestors meet a group of Palestine supporters after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony in support of Palestine durinng the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduate students, faculty and demonstrators march to protest in support of Palestine outside of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduate students, faculty and demonstrators gather to protest in support of Palestine outside of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduate students, faculty and demonstrators march to protest in support of Palestine outside of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduating senior walks to his seat at the University of Texas Commencement ceremony at Austin at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer State Troopers at The University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduating seniors at their commencement ceremony at the University of Texas at Austin at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduating senior wears a graduation cap decorated with the Palestinian flag during the University of Texas Commencement ceremony at Austin at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduating seniors walk out of their commencement ceremony at the University of Texas at Austin at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduate Student Sam Law, 31, walks with his friend wearing a shirt in support of Palestine as the University of Texas at Austin celebrates the 141st class of graduating seniors at the campus-wide commencement ceremony, held this year at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Jules Lattimore, 22, holds a sign in support of Palestine as the University of Texas at Austin celebrates the 141st class of graduating seniors at the campus-wide commencement ceremony, held this year at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Pro-Israel protestors face off with a group of graduate students, faculty and demonstrators protesting in support of Palestine after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The University of Texas at Austin celebrates the 141st class of graduating seniors at the campuswide commencement ceremony, held this year at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Graduating senior, Jenna Homsi, 21, speaks to graduate students, faculty and demonstrators as they protest in support of Palestine outside of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium just after graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony during the University of Texas at Austin Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer UT Austin student Zackariyya Elghonimi, 18, stands in support of Palestine as the University of Texas at Austin celebrates the 141st class of graduating seniors at the campus-wide commencement ceremony, held this year at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Austin.  There are a lot of people making sacrifices for this cause, I want to do my part. Elghonimi said. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

A group of graduating seniors walked out of their commencement ceremony at the University of Texas at Austin at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday in Austin. They joined other graduate students, faculty members and demonstrators outside of the stadium to protest the ongoing war in Gaza, in support of Palestine. They were met by a small group of pro-Israel protesters who were quickly separated by a line of police officers.

A series of similar demonstrations at UT led to 136 arrests of protesters in late April amid final exams, part of a nationwide outpouring of dissent on college campuses after Hamas' Oct. 7 raid on southern Israel sparked an armed conflict with Israeli forces.

Saturday night, the pro-Palestine demonstrators marched to a lawn across the street from the stadium while parents and other people attending the graduation yelled  USA and  Go back to Gaza repeatedly to the group.

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The pro-Palestine group then held a vigil where students and professors spoke and made demands to the university.

What they said

Today is a day of celebrating academic life. I can't think of anything more tragic than to know that all the universities of Gaza have been bombed and are nonexistent," said Paul Shapiro, 70, a UT-Austin professor of astronomy and an elected representative of the College of Natural Sciences on the faculty council.

"I'm a Jew, so Im not just a professor, Im a Jewish professor. I am outraged that there has been a false equation between protesting against Israel and the war on Gaza and the occupation, and antisemitism. I know this is not antisemitism. I think it's particularly important that people who are like me, that are Jewish, identify in solidarity with this movement to be clear to our fellow faculty, citizens and students that it is not the same thing to be antisemitic and to be against the Israeli government and its war."

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Graduate student Jenna Homsi, 21, criticized UT's response to the protests, and the mass arrest of students.
A photo of the newly renovated patch of the Columbia Tap Trail Saturday May 11, 2024. Hana Ikramuddin

Community members and vendors gathered to celebrate the renovation of a section of the Columbia Tap Trail in Third Ward near Cuney Homes on Saturday.

The path has been open to the public for weeks, offering a new ramp up to the sidewalk to boost accessibility as neighbors on either side of the trail get to a nearby laundromat and corner store.

Renovating the pathway has been part of a larger plan to bring new amenities to the historic trail in Third Ward, like boosting light infrastructure, said David A. Northern Sr., president and CEO of the Houston Housing Authority. There are also plans to put benches in the renovated area.

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The Houston Housing Authority has been working alongside community members to renovate one patch of the 4-mile trail that connects Texas Southern University and Interstate 45 for more than a year, aimed at creating a walkable safe trail and while reducing criminal activity.

Built by enslaved Black people, the trail was once a nearly 50-mile rail line and one of the first built in Texas that carried sugar and cotton to Houston. It was later used to transport Black leased convicts to work in plantations. Tracks were removed by 1985 and the area became a dumping ground of old cars and trash, reported Chronicle news columnist Joy Sewing, leaving residents to clean the area. Decades later, the city paved a concrete trail over the area.

Solar powered lights have also been installed above the trail, alongside an accessibility ramp added to ease access to the elevated trail. The additions have been aimed at improving the lives of neighbors while reducing crime.

It was known by the residents as the gun range, said longtime resident Ed Pettitt. It was just not a safe environment, and yet during the day residents would have to cross all that.

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Community members have cleared out trash and bullet casings, cut down the overgrown brush, and coordinated clean-up effort with other residents to repair the lot over the last year and half. Pettitt said the community worked with Houston housing authorities to have set aside money to aid the process.

We had a series of armed robberies on the trail where cyclists were being stopped and their cellphones were being stolen, Pettitt said.

Pettitt said there is more work to be done. He hopes to put in a chess table and benches just off the trail in the neighborhood. He also said he hopes that the city will work to renovate other areas of the trail to make it easier for local pedestrians and cyclists to get around, including adding more lighting.

Before, for people to get across here to get to the laundromat on the other side, they literally had to build a makeshift bridge out of cinderblocks and two by fours, Pettitt said.
Sunday is the first of two days carrying both a severe thunderstorm and locally heavy rain threat, the National Weather Service says. National Weather Service

Even as flooding issues persist in Southeast Texas along the rain-swollen Trinity and Brazos rivers, the latest forecasts from the National Weather Service call for more rounds of heavy rainfall and the potential for severe storms this week, starting on Sunday.

The combination of a warm front moving northward through Houston and an inflow of moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico will lead to a surge in precipitable water, or the amount of rain that can be squeezed from the water vapor in a vertical column of air. Forecast models show the level of precipitable water easily exceeding 2 inches.

Between upper-level atmospheric disturbances and the warm front, numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected by midday Sunday.

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What effect Sundays rains will have on the flooded rivers in Southeast Texas obviously depends on where the heaviest rainfall occurs. But forecasters give the highest rain chances to the Texas counties near and north of Houston, ranging from 80% to 90% in the Brazos Valley/Piney Woods counties, 70% to 80% for counties near Interstate 10, and 50% to 60% for areas near the Gulf Coast.

There exists some uncertainty regarding the exact location of these storms, weather service meteorologist Cameron Self said in a forecast bulletin Saturday. But generally speaking, the best chance of heavy rainfall will be north of I-10.

The National Weather Service is looking at two windows this week for potentially heavy rainfall that could exacerbate flooding issues in Southeast Texas: Sunday into Monday and Wednesday into Thursday. National Weather Service

For Mothers Day, Houston has an 80% chance of thunderstorms that could produce a half-inch to nearly an inch of rain in the city, according to the weather service. If youre heading out to celebrate with Mom on Sunday, brace for easterly winds of 10 to 15 mph, including gusts as strong as 20 mph. The rain should help limit afternoon temperatures to a high of around 82 degrees.

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Meanwhile, in the suburbs, the weather service issued flood warnings Saturday for areas along riverbanks across Southeast Texas:

Trinity River near Crockett : At 8:45 a.m. Saturday, the river was staging at 43.9 feet above mean sea level. The river was expected to fall below flood stage, or 41 feet, early Wednesday. The river banks are considered full stage at 35 feet.

: At 8:45 a.m. Saturday, the river was staging at 43.9 feet above mean sea level. The river was expected to fall below flood stage, or 41 feet, early Wednesday. The river banks are considered full stage at 35 feet. Trinity River at Liberty : At 8:15 a.m. Saturday, the rivers stage was 30.7 feet, which is 3.3 feet above flood stage. The river was expected to fall to 30 feet Thursday morning. Banks are considered full at 21 feet.

: At 8:15 a.m. Saturday, the rivers stage was 30.7 feet, which is 3.3 feet above flood stage. The river was expected to fall to 30 feet Thursday morning. Banks are considered full at 21 feet. Trinity River near Moss Bluff : At 8:30 a.m. Saturday, the stage was 17 feet. The river was expected to fall to 14.9 feet, which is 2.7 feet above flood stage, Thursday morning. Bankfull stage is 9.2 feet.

: At 8:30 a.m. Saturday, the stage was 17 feet. The river was expected to fall to 14.9 feet, which is 2.7 feet above flood stage, Thursday morning. Bankfull stage is 9.2 feet. Trinity River at Riverside : At 8:30 a.m. Saturday, the stage was 137.8 feet. The river was expected to fall to 137 feet Thursday morning. Flood stage is 133.5 feet, just a half-foot above bankfull stage.

: At 8:30 a.m. Saturday, the stage was 137.8 feet. The river was expected to fall to 137 feet Thursday morning. Flood stage is 133.5 feet, just a half-foot above bankfull stage. Trinity River near Goodrich : At 7:45 a.m. Saturday, the stage was 38 feet. The river was expected to fall below flood stage, 36 feet, Sunday night and continue falling to 33.9 feet Thursday morning.

: At 7:45 a.m. Saturday, the stage was 38 feet. The river was expected to fall below flood stage, 36 feet, Sunday night and continue falling to 33.9 feet Thursday morning. Brazos River at U.S. 59, Sugar Land : At 8 a.m. Saturday, the river was staging was 67.3 feet. The river was expected to crest at 67.5

feet before falling below flood stage, 65.5 feet, early Tuesday. Its banks are considered full at 40 feet.

: At 8 a.m. Saturday, the river was staging was 67.3 feet. The river was expected to crest at 67.5 feet before falling below flood stage, 65.5 feet, early Tuesday. Its banks are considered full at 40 feet. Brazos River near Rosharon: At 8 a.m. Saturday, the rivers stage was 46.1 feet. The river was expected to crest at 46.8 feet Sunday afternoon before falling below flood stage, 43 feet, on Wednesday afternoon. Bankfull stage is 42 feet.

Forecasters said they are looking at two windows this week for potentially heavy rainfall that could exacerbate flooding issues in Southeast Texas: Sunday into Monday and Wednesday into Thursday.

(The Weather Prediction Center) highlights at least a portion of the area with a slight risk of excessive rainfall (threat level 2 of 4) for both Sunday and Monday, the weather services Self said. These same windows will also have to be watched for some thunderstorms becoming strong to severe.

Although the primary concern on Sunday will be heavy rainfall, he said, given the instability and (wind) shear parameters, we cannot rule out locally strong to severe thunderstorms that could deliver large hail and damaging winds.

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Sundays severe weather outlook calls for level 1 of 5 risk across Southeast Texas for scattered severe thunderstorms, which increases to a level 2 of 5 risk for scattered severe storms on Monday.

Houstons current forecast for Monday calls for a 70% chance of thunderstorms, mainly after 1 p.m. with balmy southerly winds pulling in moisture-rich air and helping push daytime temperatures into the upper 80s.

Showers and thunderstorms are likely on Monday. Heavy rainfall is possible and could result in flash flooding. This is especially true in areas of poor drainage and saturated soils. National Weather Service

Long-term forecast

Yanira Diaz stands in her muddy living room as she begins the clean up process of her flood-damaged home in the River Plantation neighborhood on May 6 in Conroe. Brett Coomer/Associated Press

Tuesdays forecast for Houston includes the return of sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures that flirt with the 90-degree mark.

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But after a mostly sunny and dry start to Wednesday, Houstons rain chances ramp up at night to 50%. Some of the thunderstorms that develop could produce heavy rainfall.

At this point, were at too far a range and models have too much spread to be too confident in specifics, weather service meteorologist Sean Luchs said in his long-range forecast. But the increase in moisture certainly points to another locally heavy rain threat emerging, though it looks like it would be the less significant one of the week?

Luchs conceded, thats starting to get a bit speculative, though.

Similarly speculative would be a severe threat so well have to watch and see how things play out in the days to come, he said.
MUSC Health Orangeburg announced the appointment of Carnell Cooper, M.D., as its new chief medical officer.

With a distinguished career marked by excellence, Cooper joins our team, bringing a wealth of leadership experience and invaluable expertise to his new role.

In this capacity, Cooper will oversee all medical staff and medical affairs for the MUSC Health Orangeburg facilities that provide Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties with critical services. These include the main hospitals Level III Trauma Center and Level II special care newborn nursery, Bamberg-Barnwell Emergency Medical Center and outpatient practices and clinics.

As a board-certified physician leader, he has a proven track record of directing and executing hospital-wide clinical excellence on key quality metrics. His strategic mindset and operational focus have led to remarkable achievements in areas such as mortality reduction and septic shock mortality and the decrease of hospital-acquired infections.

With extensive experience serving as chief medical officer at several major health care institutions, Cooper has spearheaded initiatives to improve patient care, physician engagement and operational efficiency. Notably, his leadership at HCA Virginias Reston Hospital Center earned the hospital numerous accolades, including the 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award by Healthgrades.

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Carnell Cooper to MUSC Health Orangeburg as our new chief medical officer," CEO Walter Bennett III said. Dr. Cooper's exceptional leadership and dedication to clinical excellence will play a crucial role in advancing our mission of providing high-quality health care services to Orangeburg and surrounding communities.

'Spring into Wellness': MUSC Health has big turnout for health fair The Spring into Wellness community health fair, held on Saturday, April 13, saw an overwhelming turnout of 219 attendees from Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties.

Cooper, originally from Dillon, describes himself as focused, driven and curious. He believes in the importance of being a lifetime learner and is dedicated to focusing on the processes needed to make the hospital function successfully and meet the needs of the communities it serves.

I am honored to join the team at MUSC Health Orangeburg and am committed to working closely with the physicians and advanced practice providers to address both their concerns and needs, Cooper said. My goal is to help our hospital and other facilities grow and improve, ultimately serving the community in the best possible ways.

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the states only comprehensive academic health system, with a unique mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care.
(TBTCO) - Thi truong bat ong san, nhat la can ho tai cua ngo khu Tay TP. Ho Chi Minh ang tro thanh tam iem thu hut su quan tam cua nhieu nha au tu va nguoi mua o. Suc hut chinh la do ha tang giao thong trong iem ngay cang uoc chu trong nang cap va mo rong. Qua o, thi truong nay khong chi gop phan thuc ay giao thuong va phat trien kinh te trong khu vuc ma con giup gia tang gia tri bat ong san.
AUSTIN, TEXAS - APRIL 30: Students listen during a pro-Palestine educational rally held on campus at the University of Texas at Austin on April 30, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Professors Pavithra Vasudevan and Karma R. Chavez gathered with students to process recent events and further learn about the history of Palestine in light of the recent campus uprisings occurring around the country. Protests against the war in Gaza continue sweeping across college campuses nationwide, with more than 40 schools participating. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Brandon Bell/Getty Images A pro-Palestinian protestor is arrested by Texas State Troopers at the University of Texas in Austin, on April 29, 2024. The protests against Israel's war with Hamas began at Columbia University earlier this month before spreading to campuses across the country. They have posed a major challenge to university administrators trying to balance campus commitments to free expression with complaints that the rallies have crossed a line. SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images

A plurality of Texans want the U.S. to balance support for Israel with the prevention of Palestinian civilian casualties, according to new polling data captured before large demonstrations began on college campuses across Texas and the country.

More than a third of Texans surveyed by the The Texas Politics Project online poll favor that approach  though voters are largely split over how the war in Gaza should be handled.

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The results come as police have clashed with hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of Texas at Austin in recent days, and as the Biden administrations response to the war takes center stage ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

A little over a fifth of Texans favored a response that primarily supports Israels military efforts, while about 14% preferred a response that primarily works to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties. Nearly a third thought the U.S. should not be involved in the conflict, and the rest did not have an opinion.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Israels war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, which is run by Hamas and doesnt distinguish between combatants and noncombatants but says around two-thirds of the dead are children and women. The war has driven around 80% of Gazas population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities, and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine.

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The majority of Texans approved of Israels response with about 32% strongly in favor and 23% somewhat in favor. Twenty-eight percent disapproved.

The poll was conducted between April 12 and April 22 among 1,200 registered voters, before pro-Palestinian demonstrations began at the University of Texas at Austin and other campuses across the state.

Over the last week, police have arrested dozens of demonstrators who assembled on UTs campus to call for the university to cut financial ties with Israel. Most, including current students, have been charged with criminal trespass. University leaders say protesters cannot be allowed to occupy the campus, as they have done at Columbia University in New York City. Some faculty have pushed back, saying university leadership abandoned its responsibility to protect students and their right to assemble by inviting law enforcement to respond.

While President Joe Bidens age of 81 was a top-of-mind concern for most voters, including Democrats, his response to the Israel-Hamas war was the No. 1 worry for 9% of voters.

Nearly half of Texans disapproved of Bidens handling of the war, but Republicans were much more dissatisfied than Democrats, with 72% disapproving of his performance. Only 21% within Bidens own party took issue with his job performance.

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Opinions on how Congress is handling the war also split somewhat down party lines. Most Democrats, or 58%, disapproved of the job they were doing, while nearly half of Republicans approved.

Voters across the aisle did not cite Israel or Gaza as a top concern when it came to Republican nominee Donald Trump. His legal issues were the biggest issue for most voters, followed by a tie between concerns about his personality, what he might say and a resistance to his agenda.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the party breakdown of dissatisfaction with Bidens handling of the war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
How you want this to go? You want me to kill you and your son, or you want me just kill you alone?

This was the question posed to 40-year-old Anna Ellis yesterday, when she was attacked by a man known to her at her home on Dibe Road, St James.

Ellis, who was stabbed multiple times, was able to speak with reporters yesterday afternoon while police were conducting a search for her 12-year-old son, who was kidnapped following the confrontation.
By Lee Gyu-lee

tvN's new melodrama series "The Midnight Romance in Hagwon"  a romance story between a teacher and a former student  is off to a good start, kicking off with a 5.2 percent viewership rating Saturday.

The new series follows a star Korean language lecturer, Seo Hye-jin (Jung Ryeo-won), who has been in the cutthroat private education field of the Daechi neighborhood in Gangnam for 14 years.

When she helped an underperforming student, Lee Joon-ho (Wi Ha-joon), boost his grade to get into a prestigious college, she became a legend in the field.

About 10 years later, Seo reunites with Lee when he quits his well-paying corporate job to teach at the academy he'd studied at, bringing unexpected changes to her ordinary life.

The first episode showed Seo working day and night to teach students, repeating the same pattern daily. When she sees Lee taking a qualification exam to teach at her academy, she tries to convince him not to give up his current work for the underappreciated teaching job.

The series is led by director Ahn Pan-seok, who is known for helming romance series like "Something in the Rain" (2018) and "One Spring Night" (2019).

Actor Jung Ryeo-won shared she felt destined to take part in the series.

"I wrote in my diary that I want to start filming in September and Director Ahn's name with it. I received this script in May and started shooting in September. I asked who the director was, and it was director Ahn. So I took the role without even reading the script. It felt like fate had aligned perfectly," she said during the press conference for the series in Guro District, Seoul, Thursday.

"On the last day of shooting, I decided it was the best work of my life. We had such a good work environment and I had so much fun on the set. When I got the script, I thought 'This could be the peak of my career,' and on the final day, I declared it as my personal best."

Jung said the series will offer a different type of melodrama, deviating from the typical structure of the genre.

"There's a certain equation to melodrama. But there's a button you should press, but instead of pressing it, (our series) goes on without doing so. You will see that there's this kind of love and melodramatic approach, making itself unique and distinguishable from other series. I feel confident in that aspect," she said.

"I think I had certain stereotypes towards melodrama and romance stories  But this series perfectly breaks away from those typical cliches or sequences. It made me realize that even in melodramatic works, you can see things differently."

Wi plays the role of a newly employed teacher who just went through a career change. The actor described his character as "confident and assertive, but at the same time, he can be cheeky and immature, like a child. He learns to grow as an adult with a deep charm through Hae-jin both love-wise and education-wise."

The actor said he felt comfortable with his co-star, Jung, from the first time they met.

"I'm introverted and quiet. So Jung may have expected me to be cheery, bright and friendly, but I'm quite the opposite. But I really enjoyed our first meeting. I was worried she might be urban, cold and distant but she was actually modest, kind and approachable," he said.

"It felt like she'd go along with any jokes I made, which made me feel comfortable around her right from the start."
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Todays campus protests over Israels war on Gaza are being compared with anti-Vietnam-War protests of the late 1960s and 70s. I suppose there is some comfort for current protesters in the historical precedence. Vietnam War demonstrators, vaguely conflated with, say, courageous civil rights workers of that time, have long been widely seen as having defended the moral high ground.

But there are crucial and instructive differences between the protests now and 50-plus years ago. One obvious difference is that the earlier struggle pitted students against the federal government prosecuting the war and university administrators more worried about maintaining business-as-usual than about the principles involved. (There were some conservative pro-war students but they didnt show up.)

In current campus protests its some students against not only government but other students.

Students are divided not just because there are both Jews and Palestinians and sympathizers on campus but because there are compelling stories, compelling logic on both sides.

By the late 60s the only stories, the only logic on the side of the war, the domino theory (the weapons of mass destruction of its day) and deliberate government lies, had been widely dismissed and the war was polling among most Americans as no longer in the national interest, as increasingly tragic and absurd.

Israels raining destruction on Gaza in order, as they justify it, to root out Hamas, seems if anything more vicious and indefensible than Americas war on Vietnam. But opposing Israel in Gaza is fundamentally different from opposing U.S. government in Vietnam.

Demands that the government end the war were the only logical response to an absurd and tragic war. Make love, not war was hard to argue with.

The slogans of the current anti-war movement are much less simple. Yes, end the war, get rid of Netanyahu. But the anti-war demand expressed in a slogan such as from the river to the sea is, as we have seen, more complicated and inherently controversial, even contradictory.

Taken literally, it does seem to call for the undoing of Zionism and the obliteration of Israel, which to a lot of ears, not only Jewish ears, sounds antisemitic and even genocidal. Theres an oft-heard argument that opposing Zionism is not the same as antisemitism. But it is anti-Israel, in rooting up the whole way Israel came into existence.

Calling for the undoing of Zionism and its results in the creation of the nation of Israel is no more logical or humane (or practical) than deciding to solve the problems of native Americans by sending Europeans back to Europe. Im not aware that anyone makes such a demand.

The other demand of pro-Palestinian protesters that universities and the U.S. divest from Israel, when U.S. military support has been crucial to the survival of Israel, is also, not so indirectly, a call for the end of Israel. (The more finally honed demand that the U.S. stop sending just weapons that will be used to kill children in Gaza seems easier said than done.)

The anti-Vietnam-War movement had a clear and logical goal. Vietnam, a swampy quagmire to fight in, had become a moral quagmire as well. The solution was to get out, which in 1975 we finally did, airlifting ourselves out of the morass, devil take the hindmost.

Todays student protesters have no such neat, clear solution, no such delivery imaginable. Almost everybody on both sides wants an end to the slaughter in Gaza. But student protesters, when it comes to the wider quagmire of the decades of struggle between Israel and the Palestinians, in demanding that Israel be disappeared by whatever means, are just part of the quagmire.

For todays pro-Palestinians there seems, beyond the ending the current war, no answer, no way out of the quagmire, other than, putting their passion and energy into coming up, at long last, with a viable, creative solution to what has come to seem almost an inherently insoluble problem of sharing that fraught territory.
Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Angel Compean did it all for love.

Love of family, love of school and love of community.

When Compean graduates from East Central High School on Wednesday, he will leave behind a legacy of advocacy not only for himself but for those around him.

Words cant really explain it, he said. I just dont like the way other people are being treated.

Along with his official leadership role on East Centrals Student Council, Compean was among the student voices heard at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year after Tulsa Public Schools accreditation was threatened by State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

Inspired by a teacher and disappointed by the rhetoric coming from multiple elected officials, Compean was the only speaker at a student-led town hall at the University of Tulsa who did not attend a magnet or charter school. On the morning the Oklahoma State Board of Education voted on the districts accreditation status, Compean led a student walk-out at East Central High School.

We walked out to teach them a lesson, he said. We skipped our lessons to teach them a lesson.

Those efforts have continued through the course of the school year through fliers and conversations with other East Central students about a host of topics, including the Second Amendment and the Texas-style immigration bill recently signed by Oklahomas governor.

Whether students agree with him or not, he has them talking, East Central Principal Gina Wilson said. Thats the powerful piece that Im not sure if he recognizes is whether they stand on the same side of the street or not, hes made them aware of whats happening that impacts them.

Wilson is not the only member of East Centrals faculty to notice Compeans efforts to speak out for his classmates and community.

He is a fearless leader and has worked to be the voice for many students who are too scared to speak out, said India Lewis, Compeans teacher for both Algebra I and geometry. He knows how to advocate for others and get his point across to people who would not usually listen to him.

Although he hasnt ruled out running for elected office in the future to further impact change on the world around him, Compean is setting his sights on a new challenge after he graduates Wednesday with the Seal of Biliteracy, an award bestowed upon students who demonstrate their fluency in at least two languages.

The first in his family to attend college, Compean has decided to stay close to home this fall in part to help his younger sibling and cousins navigate the application process when their turns come in a year or two.

Along with the occasional cameo appearance at East Central in support of his relatives, he will attend Tulsa Community College as part of Tulsa Achieves, a scholarship program specifically for Tulsa County high school graduates. Compean plans to transfer to the University of Tulsa or another Tulsa-area four-year institution after completing his associate degree as part of his goal to pursue a bachelors degree in marketing.

Nobody in my family has been through this, so its a little nerve-wracking, he said. But Im ready to handle whatever is coming.



The Tulsa World is where your story lives
By Lee Kyung-min

Hana Financial Group launched Hana Power-on Innovative Company Internship 2024, a job creation program for people with disabilities, women and young people, the group said Sunday.

The group added that its efforts to strengthen quantitative and qualitative support for job seekers will help 80 percent of the participants land jobs at 230 "social enterprises." These enterprises were established to address and solve unemployment issues and to seek profit while creating social value.

The group hosted an event Friday at its headquarters in Seoul to mark the program's launch.

Among the more than 100 attendees were Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, Vice Employment and Labor Minister Lee Sung-hee and the program participants.

This is the latest edition of the program launched in 2018.

Of the 230 interns who participated in Hana's program, 73.5 percent landed jobs that offer permanent contracts. The group said both their employers and employees were highly satisfied.

This year, Hana will shoulder three months' pay for the participating interns. It will provide an additional two months' pay to those who become full-time workers.

All interns will be given online education vouchers of 100,000 won ($72) every month for the duration of the program.

Women with multicultural backgrounds will receive an additional stipend of 300,000 won per month and 100,000 won per month for family members of small business owners.

Ham said the country can foster a sustainable future when young people and social enterprises come together.

"Sustainability will be underpinned by mutual growth of young people seeking jobs to prepare for the future and socially innovative firms," he said.

"Hana will take the lead to create a society that advances the dreams, happiness and future of everyone, as best encapsulated by our mantra  finance of everyone connected by Hana."
The administration of Hai Phong City in northern Vietnam and Ecovane Vietnam Co. Ltd. under South Koreas SK Group held a ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday for a hi-tech biodegradable materials plant project.

The ceremony was attended by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and many other senior government officials.

The facility will span an area of more than 32,000 square meters at Dinh Vu Industrial Park under Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone, located in Hai An District.

It carries an initial price tag of VND2.377 trillion (US$93.3 million) and the figure is expected to top VND11.8 trillion ($466 million) by 2030.

It is slated for commercial operations in September 2025.

The plant is set to annually produce around 70,000 metric tons of polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), a biodegradable co-polymer widely used as feedstock for general plastics, and 59,500 metric tons of polybutylene succinate (PBS).

This is the first project by SK Group, which engages in manufacturing secondary battery materials, semiconductor materials, and other eco-friendly materials, in Vietnam.

The launch of the project is also part of the outcome of a business trip by the northern Vietnamese citys Party chief Le Tien Chau to South Korea in mid-2023 for promoting investment.

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I've written at least ten versions of this rambling, rudderless rant, drifting from one memory to another.

Each foray has left me all teared up about the finest moments, pining for my local pals, overwhelmed by waves of nostalgia, or all three in unison.

Since leaving Vietnam 1.5 years ago and retaking an international perspective, the treasures I have always held so close to my heart are clearer and dearer.

Life in Vietnam is so transparent, real, raw, and authentic, with that layer of politically correct veneer we find in slicker countries noticeably absent.

Vietnamese people do not have time for fancy doublespeak and You have a nice day shtick.

The average person is too busy trying to eke out a living or hurrying to get ahead to fiddle with cheesy catchphrases and false pleasantries.

Compared to wealthier countries, Vietnam boasts a large contingent of entrepreneurs, and they leave a unique personal imprint on daily life.

The fruit vendors, motorbike taxi drivers, soup stall and rice shop owners all hustle every day or they make no money.

That volume of self-employment creates an environment with lots of moving parts all shooting off on different tangents, with the commotion and din that accompany it.

And that is how Vietnam with its little warts ends up at the top of the heap of all the countries I have lived in.

It's the people.

It seems nearly every Vietnamese person we bump into is some sort of a character  full of personality, informal, natural, open and transparent, and above all quick-witted.

I could choose any one of dozens of my regular haunts but lets start with the tap hoa (corner store) across the street from where I resided.

It's like entering a cave, dangerously dark inside due to poor lighting, a musty, moldy bouquet lingering, crap suspended from the ceiling banging me on the head every step I took, and products strewn all over the floor or haphazardly piled up and forgotten.

The marketing strategy is The more we can fit inside, more we can sell, with no thought of merchandising and display.

Customers have to ask for stuff because it's impossible to find anything except those strips of powdered laundry detergent packets that hang over the cash counter like holiday ornaments.

Customer requests are invariably followed by rat-like rummaging noises emanating from the darkness, then the boss emerges a bit worse for wear, clutching a vintage Maradona Boca Juniors card.

Well, not quite Maradona, but they have nearly everything that could not be procured in supermarkets.

If an urgently needed item is not in stock, such as an ingredient for a birthday cake needed that same day, the boss will hop on his bike and roar off to fetch it.

The owners are a couple, both of whom speak English very well  noteworthy since they must only use it on rare occasions due to a lack of foreigners in that scruffy neighborhood.

They've sent their three sons to medical school in Ho Chi Minh City (doesn't everyone these days?) so if they chose, they could easily retire and live in the lap of luxury, but they won't.

Making a contribution and staying active irrespective of one's wealth and age are built right into Vietnamese DNA.

Oh, how I miss that shop!

Speaking of corner stores, that term is a misnomer these days since most do not occupy a corner plot of land as they once did.

On my street there is another shop that not only occupies the corner, it's in the corner.

The neighborhoods main thoroughfare terminates at a narrow cross street forming a T-junction.

Two shops at right angles to each other face their respective streets leaving a small triangular gap in the corner shaped like a slice of your mom's cherry pie.

That gap narrows progressively from the street ending in a scary, dark vertex jammed with wrinkled old plastic bags.

God only knows what lurks beneath and behind those bags.

The squat (as I call it) is run by two grumpy old spinsters who have always treated me with great disdain and suspicion.

They have an arrogant, fat, old white and black cat perched on a crate in the middle of the action, thus blocking all movement at the entrance.

I would never have set foot in the place, but my hand was forced because over time I'd exhausted all the nearby culinary options and decided to make my own food.

I scrounged a table top propane gas cooker only to discover that the spinsters had cornered the local market on those little spray can-type cylinders that clip in and fire up the stove.

So every week I grit my teeth and bought their canisters, navigating around their glares and that cat.

Food shopping was a snap because all I needed to do was look down from my window and survey the morning's offerings from the local portable market lady.

She'd roll up at dawn on a rickety old motorbike, plastic bags dangling from both handle bars flush with produce, meat, and fish, plus of course her cleaver, teeny weeny kiddy stool, weigh scale, cutting board, mallet, and knives.

Id holler out my desires, careful not to request premium items needed by the elderly, less mobile residents.

Can I buy that ca loc? (snakehead fish) I also need the fixings for canh chua (sour soup) too!

The one and only time the flow of business was interrupted was when a new born baby had a red bum, possibly from diapers.

Mom marched that baby out to the alley and every woman dropped what they were doing to inspect it, offering advice on how best to treat that delicate little round red butt.

Even the market lady dropped her business-like tone to join in the diagnosis.

Despite all the ambience, neither the tap hoa, the wedge-shaped spinsters squat, nor the portable alley market takes first place as the most intriguing entrepreneurial venture in the neighborhood.

That honor is bestowed on a hovel a few streets over and down an alley.

Along the alley is a house with a large terrace jutting over a sloped incline leaving a space underneath big enough for a tiny shack fronting on the alley.

What originally caught my eye was a plastic bag full of scrumptious baguettes hanging on a nail outside the entrance.

The baguettes aren't the classic cylindrical shape, rather they're tapered at each end forming tear drop shapes and are slightly rounder at the middle point, more in the direction of a rugby or gridiron ball.

Inside the dilapidated lean-to there's always a hen party going on like there's no tomorrow.

I had to bend over to fit through the doorway, and once inside the focal point is a scruffy table displaying various cuts of pork, chicken, and beef, including gizzards, bones, feet, ears, and organs.

Technically, it's a business, but it's more of a meeting place given I always saw the same four women inside having an animated discussion.

As probably the only foreigner to ever cross the threshold and venture inside the hut, shack, or whatever we want to call it, I was an instant hit.

We immediately dispensed with the mandatory Vietnamese pleasantries:

Where are you from?

Do you live here?

Are you married?

Why aren't you married?

(The concept of being unmarried always irks Vietnamese women, who see each person as half of a couple.)

In addition to those divine baguettes, truth is there was precious little on offer, the best being the meats with wilted vegetables coming in a distant second.

There were dusty, skunky-looking jars of dua chua (pickled mustard greens) and do chua (radish and carrot) that look like they've been around for so long they'd scare off any potential buyer.

What is the common thread connecting these businesses?

They're all small businesses and they're run by riotous characters!

Even the spinsters would make anyone snicker, sitting around with sour looks on their faces running a business with nearly no customers.

Living overseas has many components  historic sites, fancy buildings and monuments, business, technology, fine arts, food, and architecture  but all those fade over time.

It's all about the colorful people whose paths cross ours, and Vietnam is my undisputed champion of unforgettable characters.
RIO DE JANEIRO -- The death toll from heavy rains in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state has climbed to 136, the local civil defense government body said on Saturday, up from 126 in the previous day, while another 125 people remain unaccounted for.

Storms and floods battering the South American country's southernmost state have also left around 537,000 displaced, according to the local civil defense body, a significant increase over the 340,000 reported a day earlier.

About 446 urban centers have been impacted, affecting the lives of more than 2.1 million people in a state whose population is about 10.9 million.

Weather forecaster Metsul has reported that after a short respite, rains coming down over the state on Friday have begun to fill rivers in what it called a "worrying" situation.

"Accumulated precipitation is occurring in the worst possible region given the current flood scenario, along the basins and in the sources of the main rivers that are still full," said the meteorological service in a public statement.

The state is at a geographical meeting point between tropical and polar atmospheres, which has created a weather pattern with periods of intense rains or drought.

Local scientists believe the pattern has been intensifying due to climate change.

View of a building partially destroyed after floods in Mucum, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil May 11, 2024. Photo: Reuters

A man helps cleaning a house partially destroyed after floods in Mucum, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil May 11, 2024. Photo: Reuters

View of a partially destroyed house after floods in Roca Sales, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil May 11, 2024. Photo: Reuters

People help to clean houses partially destroyed after floods in Mucum, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil May 11, 2024. Photo: Reuters

View of a cemetery destroyed after floods in Mucum, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil May 11, 2024. Photo: Reuters

A man helps cleaning a house partially destroyed after floods in Mucum, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil May 11, 2024. Photo: Reuters
The Dakrong Bridge in Quang Tri Province, north-central Vietnam, which connects Vietnams National Highway 9 with Laos and Thailand, is at high risk of collapse.

Vehicles are required to pass through the bridge at a maximum speed of five kilometers per hour and keep a minimum distance of 175 meters from one another.

The Road Management Area II, the operator of the bridge, said on Saturday that it had dispatched officials to the bridge to regulate traffic around the clock.

Warning signs have been erected at the two sides of the bridge.

The bridge is part of the backbone Ho Chi Minh Road but is at high risk of collapse. Photo: Hoang Tao / Tuoi Tre

According to the bridge manager, the bridge has deteriorated and is on the verge of collapse.

Many cracks which are 0.1-0.2 millimeters wide have appeared on the surface of the fourth span of the bridge.

Each time trucks traverse the bridge, the spans resonate with intense vibrations, causing noticeable elongation in the outermost stay cable located south of the bridge, resulting in a rupture of the protective pipe surrounding the cable joint.

The situation will worsen quickly, according to the Road Management Area II.

A booth is erected to control vehicles crossing the bridge. Photo: Hoang Tao / Tuoi Tre

Local authorities explained that the volume of traffic on the bridge has surged.

From August to December last year, more than 12,650 vehicles traveled through the La Lay International Border Gate to cross the Dakrong Bridge, with many of them exceeding its weight limit, according to the Quang Tri Department of Transport.

The provincial Traffic Safety Board and police have been tasked with checking vehicles seeking to pass through the bridge and handling violators.

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As the sun set and cooled down the scorching weather in Ho Chi Minh City, more and more people flocked to Le Van Tam Park on Saturday to enjoy the festive vibes of the Taste of Australia 2024.

Although the event officially kicked off at 6:00 pm the same day, it had seen people visiting dozens of booths featuring food, drinks, and games since they opened in the morning.

This year marks the first time Taste of Australia has opened to the public in Ho Chi Minh City, giving locals and visitors alike the opportunity to experience some of Australias finest food, beverage, and cultural offerings.

Meat skewers and sausages are grilled at a booth at the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

In previous years, the event was held at restaurants to promote Australian produce, but according to Australian Deputy Consul General Ciaran Chestnutt, the objective behind Taste of Australia is really about promoting Australian produce and beverages to the Vietnamese public.

In his remarks at the opening ceremony, vice-chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Van Dung emphasized the meaning of this years event as it was organized after Vietnam and Australia lifted their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in March.

Vice-chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Dung makes remarks at the opening ceremony of the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

For years, Taste of Australia has served as a link connecting the people of the two countries through cultural and business exchanges, and as a demonstration of the close relationship between Vietnam and Australia, Dung said.

The dishes that we had today -- which were made of ingredients coming from the two lands thousands of kilometers apart and from the culinary philosophies of both Eastern and Western cultures -- or the performances by Vietnamese students from Australian international schools in the city brought interesting experiences of the interaction between our two cultures.

The vice-chairman also revealed that Ho Chi MinH City would organize a series of trade, investment, tourism, and cultural exchange events in Australia next week.

One of the highlights of the two-day Taste of Australia was Tommy Pham's cooking demonstration of Australian steak and mashed potato on Saturday.

Pham rose to fame from the MasterChef Australia competition in which he won the hearts of the jury with his Vietnamese cooking.

I think high-quality Australian ingredients are perfect for Vietnamese food, and help elevate the Vietnamese food to another level, the Vietnamese-Australian chef who is Taste of Australia 2024's ambassador said on stage.

It's interesting to see Vietnamese dishes cooked with Australian ingredients today, for example today we had pho ga (chicken pho) cooked with Australian chicken.

A booth sells chicken pho cooked with Australian chicken at the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

Besides his performance on the steak, Pham also offered a zero-waste cooking demonstration in which he showed spectators how to use the best of leftover herbs and potato skin from mashed potato.

Vietnamese-Australian chef Tommy Pham instructs visitors how to cook potato skin at the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

Demonstrating a firm commitment to sustainability, the organizers of Taste of Australia 2024 ensured that the venue was equipped with trash sorting and water refill stations.

We didn't want to do an event where we finished up and the park was full of rubbish, Deputy Consul General Chestnutt said.

Taste of Australia 2024 wraps up at 8:00 pm on Sunday.

Vietnamese-Australian chef Tommy Pham instructs visitors how to use leftover herbs to make herb butter for later use instead of letting them go off in the fridge before throwing them away, at the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

Children watch a performance of the First Nations dance group Tribal Experiences from Queensland at the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

Australian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Sarah Hooper makes remarks at the opening ceremony of the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

A visitor is pictured getting her face painted at a booth at the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

Visitors play ball at the Taste of Australia 2024 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, May 11, 2024. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

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Vietnam has been nominated for many accolades at the 31st World Travel Awards, the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) said on Saturday.

The voting period for the 31st World Travel Awards for the Asia and Oceania region will last until July 23 at www.worldtravelawards.com.

Vietnam is among the nominations for Asias Leading Beach Destination, Asia's Leading Culture Destination, Asia's Leading Destination, Asia's Leading Heritage Destination, Asia's Leading Natural Destination, and Asia's Leading Youth Travel Destination in 2024.

The VNAT made it to the list of nominations for Asias Leading Tourism Board.

Meanwhile, the Departments of Tourism in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are candidates for Asias Leading City Tourist Board.

The Department of Tourism in Quang Nam Province in the central region is on the shortlist for Asias Leading Regional City Tourist Board.

Hanoi is nominated for the Asia's Leading City Break Destination and Asia's Leading City Destination categories. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre

Ho Chi Minh City has its name on the list of nominations for the award of Asia's Leading Business Travel Destination, while Hanoi was nominated for two categories: Asia's Leading City Break Destination and Asia's Leading City Destination.

Hoi An City in Quang Nam Province and Hue City in Thua Thien-Hue Province, also in the central region, are candidates for the Asia's Leading Culture City Destination title, and Ha Giang and Ha Nam Provinces in northern Vietnam for the award of Asia's Leading Emerging Tourism Destination.

Ha Nam was also named as a nomination for the Asia's Leading Regional Cultural Destination title.

Moreover, Da Nang City in the central region and Ho Chi Minh City were nominated for Asia's Festival and Event Destination, while Phu Quoc Island off southern Kien Giang Province is among the nominations for Asia's Leading Luxury Island Destination.

Da Nang City in the central region and Ho Chi Minh City were shortlisted for the award of Asia's Festival and Event Destination. Photo: Doan Cuong / Tuoi Tre

Moc Chau District in Son La Province was listed as a finalist in the category of Asia's Leading Regional Natural Destination.

Vietnam also receives nominations for many other accolades in the aviation, hotel, and travel categories.

The World Travel Awards was launched in 1993 to acknowledge excellence in the aviation, travel, and tourism industries.

Last year, Vietnam was honored in 45 categories at the World Travel Awards, including Asia's Leading Destination and Asia's Leading Natural Destination.

Hoi An City in Quang Nam Province and Hue City in Thua Thien-Hue Province, both in the central region, are candidates for the Asia's Leading Culture City Destination title. Photo: Doan Cuong / Tuoi Tre

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Screen Producers Australia has raised concerns that the Australia-US free trade agreemeny is being weaponised to constrict the Federal Government introducing comprehensive local content quotas on streaming platforms.

An Interim Report of the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee Inquiry into Australias National Cultural Policy recommended the government prioritise the introduction of its legislative reforms for local content requirements for streaming services.

But the detail is yet to be confirmed by government despite an announced start date of 1 July 2024.

As SPA told the Senate Committee last month, while were waiting, conditions for Australian screen businesses and consequently their workforce are deteriorating due to a noticeable freezing in commissioning, which is creating a lot of anxiety and uncertainty. Theres a growing sense of crisis in the local industry without this reform being in place, said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.

We are deeply concerned that US-based streaming businesses are exerting political pressure on the Australian government by weaponising the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement behind the scenes. The heavy involvement of DFAT in this policy development, which was confirmed in the Senate hearing on 16 April 2024, and a media report in The Australian newspaper in February points to the AUSFTA as one of the likely causes of the delay.

Independent legal advice sought by SPA and provided to the Government has found no legal obstacle to regulation due to the AUSFTA, irrespective of the model adopted. In the same Senate hearing, the Office of the Arts confirmed that the policy has been the subject of legal advice from DFAT on the issue of the FTA.

Australians should be alarmed at claims that the Australia-US free trade agreement could now be being deployed to attempt to constrict the Australian Government from introducing laws to ensure audiences have access to Australian stories on powerful digital streaming platforms like Disney+, Netflix, and Prime Video as was promised in the National Cultural Policy Revive, said Deaner.

The Australian Government must continue to and always act in the best interests of Australian audiences and our industry and bring forward robust legislation as a matter of urgency.

Amended.
Production has commenced in Sydney on Irish-Australian co-production Mix Tape, a new series starring Teresa Palmer (The Clearing, The Fall Guy) and British actor Jim Sturgess (Across The Universe, Cloud Atlas).

The Binge / Foxtel drama will be filmed across Sydney and Ireland.

Ben Lawson (Bombshell, Designated Survivor) returns to Australia for his first major role in an local television drama in many years. He is joined for the Australian portion of the shoot by Julia Savage (The Clearing, Blaze), Jacqueline McKenzie (Force of Nature: The Dry 2, Savage River) and Chika Ikogwe (Heartbreak High, Land of the Bad), with more cast to be announced as the production moves to Ireland.

Alison Hurbert-Burns, Commissioner and Executive Producer said: Mix Tape is a compelling series, rich in emotion that will transport you back in time through the power of music. Aquarius Films and Subotica have secured outstanding cast led by Teresa and Jim, who along with some of the finest creatives will deliver a story we cant wait for our audiences to see.

Aquarius Films Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford, and Suboticas Aoife OSullivan and Tristan Orpen Lynch, said: From the moment we read Jane Sandersons novel we all knew that we just had to adapt this gorgeous grown-up love story for the screen. Mix Tape asks the age-old question What if you had a second chance with your first love? and walks us back down memory lane to revisit the innocence of teenage passions  against a banging soundtrack! Were thrilled to be partnering with Binge / Foxtel to bring this project to audiences and couldnt be more excited about the fantastic cast weve assembled.

Adapted from the popular and critically acclaimed novel by Jane Sanderson, Mix Tape will take viewers back in time to that intoxicating feeling of first love. The series is a classic all-encompassing romance set to a banging nostalgic soundtrack.

Moving between their teenage romance in Sheffield, England in 1989 and the modern-day reality of their adult relationships, Daniel (Jim Sturgess) and Alison (Teresa Palmer), now living on opposite sides of the world, reconnect through a song from their shared past and explore their burning curiosity to understand if this is the love, and life, they were meant to have.

Production credit: Mix Tape is a Subotica and Aquarius Films production in association with Boat Rocker for the Foxtel Group. The series is written by Jo Spain and will be directed by Australian director Lucy Gaffy. The series will be produced by Angie Fielder & Polly Staniford for Aquarius Films and Aoife OSullivan and Tristan Orpen Lynch for Subotica. Alison Hurbert-Burns, Lana Greenhalgh and Clare Mirabello serve as executive producers alongside David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg, Nick Nantell, and Erik Pack for Boat Rocker. Major production investment from the Foxtel Group in association with Screen Australia and Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland. Financed with support from the Finnish Impact Film Fund and Screen NSWs Made in NSW Fund. Boat Rocker will oversee global distribution for Mix Tape.
Switzerlands Nemo has won the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with their song The Code.

Nemo drew 591 points to take out the glass trophy in Malmo.

Thank you so much I hope this contest can live up to its promise for peace and dignity for every person, an elated Nemo said.

Croatia drew second place with 547 points and in third place was Ukraine on 453 points.

Australias own Silia Kapsis turned on an energetic, sexy performance with her song Liar for Cyprus while the Australian jurys Douze Points delivered by Danny Estrin went to Ireland.

Alas, the televoting awarded United Kingdoms Olly Alexander 0 points.

The Final also included a performance by 2023 winner Loreeen, a reunion by Swedens Alcazar and a special tribute to ABBA winning 50 years earlier, with a special cross to the ABBA: Voyage show followed by a performance of Waterloo by former winners Charlotte Perrelli, Carola and Conchita Wurst.

But controversy is never far from Eurovision with The Netherlands Joost Klein disqualified.

The Dutch artist Joost Klein will not be competing in the Grand Final of this years Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU said in a statement.

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.

Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS also issued a statement:

SBS commentators Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey, who were inside the arena, also reported that many audience members had turned their backs as Israels delegate delivered her countrys jury votes. Minutes later, EBU boss Martin Osterdahl was back on screen to deliver Netherlands votes after the Dutch delegates refused to take part. He looked visibly uncomfortable as he was again met with a chorus of boos.

If you missed the Grand Final performance Live on SBS this morning, tune into the prime time broadcast tonight at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand, with commentary team, music buff Myf Warhurst & comedian Joel Creasey, and backstage correspondent, global superstar Courtney Act.

This post updates.

Source: wiwibloggs, news.com.au
South Korea's spy agency said Sunday it is looking into suspicions that North Korean weapons made in the 1970s have been supplied to Russia for its war in Ukraine amid deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

The remark by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) came in response to a recent report by a local media outlet that 122 mm artillery shells manufactured in the North in the 1970s appeared to be among weapons that Russia used in its ongoing war against Kyiv.

"The NIS is analyzing the relevant circumstance in detail and also continues to track overall military cooperation between North Korea and Russia," the spy agency said.

Photos released by a Ukrainian photographer last year showed that Korean letters, including the word "-122," were found inscribed on rocket shells. Experts said they were likely 122 mm multiple rocket launcher shells.

South Korea's Defense Minister Shin Won-sik has also estimated the North to have shipped around 6,700 containers to Russia since a summit between their leaders in September, which are enough to accommodate approximately 3 million rounds of 152 mm artillery shells or 500,000 rounds of 122 mm artillery shells.

The NIS also said it is closely monitoring the possibility of illicit shipment of missile parts to North Korea amid concerns it may be procuring such parts to develop new weapons.

North Korea said Saturday it will deploy a new 240mm multiple rocket launcher to its military starting this year, a day after leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a test-firing of controllable shells for "the technically updated version" of the 240mm multiple rocket launcher system, according to state media. (Yonhap)
LONDON (Reuters) - Stopping British arms sales to Israel if it launches a ground assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip would strengthen Hamas, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Sunday.

Israel ordered Palestinians to evacuate more of the southern city on Saturday in an indication it was pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack, despite U.S. President Joe Biden's threat to withhold the supply of some weapons if it did so.

Cameron said he did not support an operation in Rafah in the absence of a plan to protect hundreds of thousands of civilians sheltering in the southern border city.

However, Britain was in a "completely different position" to the United States in terms of providing arms to Israel, he said, noting that the less than 1% of Israel's weapons that came from Britain were already controlled by a strict licensing system.

"We could, if we chose to, make a sort of political message and say we are going to take that political step," he told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.

"The last time I was urged to do that (...), just a few days later there was a brutal attack by Iran on Israel, including 140 cruise missiles," he added.

Cameron said the "better answer" would be for Hamas, which controls Gaza, to accept a hostage deal.

"Just to simply announce today we're going to change our whole approach to arms exports rather than go through our careful process, it would strengthen Hamas, it would make a hostage deal less likely, I don't think it would be the right approach," he said.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military response in Gaza has killed close to 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Pilgrims attend the event marking the anniversary of the reported appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, at the Catholic shrine of Fatima

Pilgrims attend the event marking the anniversary of the reported appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, at the Catholic shrine of Fatima

By Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira

FATIMA, Portugal (Reuters) - As wars rage in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere, tens of thousands of faithful prayed for peace on Sunday at Portugal's Fatima shrine, one of Catholicism's most famous sanctuaries.

The annual event, which brings together pilgrims from countries such as India, Canada, Brazil and Ivory Coast, marks the first of three reported visions of the Virgin Mary, also known as Our Lady, more than 100 years ago.

"War leads nowhere," said 67-year-old Maria do Carmo as she waited patiently for the candlelight procession to start, the highlight of the evening. "We are also here to ask Our Lady to put an end to wars."

The Roman Catholic Church teaches the Virgin Mary appeared to three Portuguese children in 1917 in Fatima, which was then an impoverished farming village. It believes she gave the children three messages, the so-called secrets of Fatima.

Pope Francis made two of the shepherd children saints in 2017.

For Jim Grimes, a 68-year-old from the United States, the event was his first time at the Fatima shrine and he also took the opportunity to reflect on the world's conflicts.

"We have to start talking to each other, we have to start being tolerant of each other," he said. "It's the way to change the world."

The Israel-Gaza war has killed over 35,000 people in Hamas-run Gaza, according to health authorities there. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 taken hostage on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched the attack that started the war, according Israeli tallies. The Israeli bombardment has laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis.

Some pilgrims also brought Ukrainian flags in a show of support following Russia's invasion in February 2022, which has killed tens of thousands and driven millions from their homes.

"Nobody likes wars...but the fact is that they happen," said pilgrim David Garcia, 42, as he sat next to his wife and two children. "We must be united because the world needs our prayer."

(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira in Fatima; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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Mass Murderer, Genocidaire: Colombian President About Israeli PM Netanyahu

In a strongly worded condemnation of Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, Colombian President Gustavo Petro Sunday called Benjamin Netanyahu a mass murder and genocidaire.

Sunday May 12, 2024 1:41 PM , ummid.com News Network

Bogota: In a strongly worded condemnation of Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, Colombian President Gustavo Petro Sunday called Benjamin Netanyahu a mass murder and genocidaire.

Taking to social media platform X, originally launched as Twitter, Petro said Netanyahu will go down in the history as a genocidaire and mass murderer, and not as a hero.

Mr Netanyahu, you will go down in history as a genocidaire. Dropping bombs on thousands of innocent children, women and elderly people does not make you a hero, Petro wrote in Spanish.

Petro compares Netanyahu with Nazis

Petro also compared Netanyahu with the Nazis who killed millions of Jews in Europe, asserting that a genocide is a genocide regardless of the religion of those killed.

You remain alongside those who killed millions of Jews in Europe. A genocide is a genocide no matter if he has religion or not. Try to at least stop the massacre, he wrote.

Petros social media post was in response to Netanyahu who accused him of being  antisemitic .

Israel will not be lectured by an antisemitic supporter of Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that massacred, raped, mutilated and burned alive 1,200 innocent people on October 7. Shame on you President Petro! Netanyahu wrote.

Netanyahu is repeatedly accusing Palestinian Resistance Fighters of rape and sexual assault even though international independent observers have found no evidence to support the Zionist claims .

Senor Netanyahu, pasara usted a la historia como un genocida. Lanzar bombas sobre miles de ninos y ninas, mujeres y ancianos inocentes no lo hace a usted un heroe. Queda usted al lado de quienes mataron millones de judios en Europa.



Un genocida es un genocida no importa si tiene https://t.co/clSfIuykaU  Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) May 12, 2024

A group of media experts in the United States have even asked The New York Times to review its report relating to the fabricated claims of sexual assault by the Resistance fighters.

Israeli Occupation of Palestine

Hamas and other Palestinian Resistance Fighters are in war against Israel to free their lands under the Zionist occupation since more than 70 years.

Tired of the Zionist expansion on the occupied Palestinian land, atrocities by the Israeli Occupation Forces and continued provocation by the illegal settlers, the Resistance Fighters stormed the occupied territories by land, see and air on Oct 7, 2023 .

In the operation named Al Aqsa Flood, some 1,100 people were killed whereas the Resistance Fighters also took hostage around 250 to press their demands, and free thousands of Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails.

As many as 110 hostages were released in November last in exchange of the Palestinian prisoners. Around 130 hostages are still in the custody of the resistance fighters.

Latest updates from Gaza

Following the Operation Al Aqsa Storm, Israeli Occupation Fighters intensified their war against the Palestinians and have killed close to 35,000 civilians, wounded around 80,000  majority of them women and children, since Oct 7, 2023.

Because of the round the clock Israeli bombing on Gaza Strip around 1.4 million Palestinians have moved to Rafah where they are starving due to the Zionist blockade.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have now announced to invade Rafah  the move opposed by the United Nations and International Court of Justice (ICJ) besides others.

As Israeli forces carpet-bombed Jabalia in Northern Gaza Sunday, killing and wounding several Palestinians, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire.

A ceasefire will only be the start, he said in a video address to an international donors conference in Kuwait, adding, It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war.





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HIROSHIMA  Vietjet has launched the direct route linking Ha Noi, Viet Nam's capital city with the captivating city of Hiroshima in Japan.

The new service marks the airline's eighth route between the two countries and the only direct air link between the two cities, significantly reducing travel time while providing a seamless travel experience between the two destinations, Vietjet said in a statement.

Speaking at the launching ceremony on Sunday, the Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture Yuzaki Hidehiko said:" Hiroshima Prefecture has close ties with Viet Nam, as many companies have advanced into the Vietnamese market and many Vietnamese people live in the prefecture.

"We are looking forward to the start of direct flights between Viet Nam and our prefecture, fostering further exchanges in business, tourism, and various other fields," he said.

President and Representative Director of Hiroshima International Airport, Yasuhiro Nakamura, said that Vietjet's debut flight today marks the first new international service to be launched at Hiroshima Airport post-pandemic.

"We extend appreciation for this milestone as it is a significant step in enhancing Hiroshima Airport's international network," the director said.

For his part, Vietjet's Vice President Nguyen uc Thinh said Vietjet currently operates 116 flights weekly between major Vietnamese cities and Japan's top destinations, including Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, and now Hiroshima.

He added that his airline is committed to further expanding the connectivity between Viet Nam and Japan, providing more travel options for citizens and tourists of both nations and across the regions.

The Ha Noi-Hiroshima route operates twice weekly return flights on Thursdays and Sundays with around four hours and 30 minutes per leg.

To celebrate the new route, Vietjet offers budget-friendly tickets starting from just zero dollars each way at www.vietjetair.com and the Vietjet Air mobile app

The promotional tickets (exclusive of taxes and fees) are applied to all Vietjets international routes. They are up for grabs every Friday, with the travel time to December 31, 2024 (exclusive of public holidays).  VNS
HA NOI  The State Securities Commission (SSC) has recently issued numerous penalties against businesses for non-compliance with information disclosure requirements.

The authority imposed an administrative penalty on Saigon Glory Co Ltd, with headquarters on District 1, HCM City.

The company has been fined VN92.5 million (US$3634) for failing to disclose required information as mandated by the law.

Specifically, Saigon Glory did not provide information to the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) regarding its semi-annual financial report for 2023, the fulfillment of commitments related to the 2023 bond issuance and the utilisation of funds from the audited 2023 bond release.

It also failed to submit timely periodic information disclosures to HNX for the many 2021 financial documents.

Saigon Glory, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bitexco Group, previously issued 10 separate bond lots worth VN10 trillion to nearly 4,000 bondholders for The Spirit of Saigon project.

In October 2022, despite announcing its intention to repurchase all the bonds before maturity, Saigon Glory did not buy back any batches ahead of schedule, following the arrest of Van Thinh Phat Group's leadership.

This February, the company negotiated with bondholders and reached an agreement to extend the maturity period to 1 - 2 years.

Recently, the SSC imposed an administrative penalty on Binh Duong General Printing JSC, located in Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province.

It was fined VN60 million for untimely information disclosure on the SSC's platform and HNX's electronic portal. The documents include the audited 2022 separate financial report and the 2022 annual report.

Additionaly, the company was fined VN15 million for failing to appoint a company administrator.

Similarly, the Inspectorate of the SSC has recently imposed an administrative penalty on Sovico Group JSC, located in Hoan Kiem District, Ha Noi.

The company has been fined VN92.5 million for the violation of not disclosing required information as mandated by the law.

Sovico failed to disclose information to HNX regarding the 2022 and semi-annual 2023 periodic reports on the utilisation of funds from bond issuance for audited outstanding bonds.

It also did not timely disclose the 2021 and 2022 financial reports, the semi-annual 2022 financial report, the utilisation of funds from the 2020 bond issuance and the implementation of commitments to bondholders in 2022.  VNS
QUANG NINH  An event themed Viet Nam - EU joining hands for a clean environment took place in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh, on May 12.

The event was held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Quang Ninh provincial Peoples Committee, the EU Delegation to Viet Nam, and Sun Group.

In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang emphasised that the protection of the marine environment is facing numerous challenges such as pollution risks posed by untreated waste and wastewater, as well as peoples limited awareness of the issue.

She said to address these challenges, aside from efforts by the entire political system, the MoFA has actively promoted cooperation with other countries and international organisations in terms of environmental protection and climate change response.

The EU and its member nations have significantly contributed to environmental protection and climate change response worldwide, she went on, noting that they have actively assisted Viet Nam in this regard through cooperation projects on climate change response, biodiversity conservation, forest protection, and waste treatment, among others.

The Viet Nam - EU Day in Ha Long, initiated by the MoFA, aimed to help raise businesses and peoples awareness of responsible behaviour towards the environment and the natural ecosystem, thereby helping prevent the pollution and degradation of the marine environment.

It was also meant to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation between Quang Ninh and the EU Delegation, as well as the embassies of the EU countries, contributing to the flourishing Viet Nam - EU comprehensive partnership and cooperation, according to Hang.

The official added that Viet Nam wishes to continue receiving the effective cooperation and assistance from the EU and its members in promoting the awareness and capacity of protecting the environment and recovering soil, forest and marine ecosystems.

For his part, Ambassador and head of the EU Delegation to Viet Nam Julien Guerrier highlighted the events importance to Viet Nams efforts towards green and sustainable development.

Speaking highly of Viet Nams commitments to building a green and circular economy and achieving net zero emissions by 2050, he affirmed that the EU will always stand side by side and support the country to carry out the initiatives on climate change response and environmental protection so as to help fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals.

After the opening ceremony, nearly 200 delegates engaged in the collection of waste along Bai Chay beach and on Ha Long Bay. They were also joined by a large number of local residents and tourists.  VNS
GENEVA  Viet Nam had a very successful dialogue on its fourth-cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) National Report with the participation of a large number of United Nations member countries on May 7-10, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs o Hung Viet said, adding that the country brought to the session four important messages.

Talking to Vietnam News Agency reporters in Geneva after the national report was adopted by the UN Human Rights Councils UPR Working Group on May 10, Viet said that the first message was the affirmation of the importance of peace, national independence, and the right of national self-determination to development efforts and promotion of human rights.

Secondly, Viet Nam wants to emphasise that there is no single correct model in the field of ensuring and promoting human rights, as each country, depending on its circumstances, conditions, and level of socio-economic development, will be able to choose its own path.

The third message was that with its consistent policy on protecting and promoting human rights, Viet Nam has very seriously implemented the UPR recommendations that it accepted in the previous cycle and achieved numerous positive results, especially in perfecting the legal system and ensuring human rights in practice, thus bringing very practical results to its people.

The fourth was that despite facing many difficulties and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the participation of the entire political system, the engagement, companionship, and consensus of the people, Viet Nam has overcome difficulties, protected people's health and lives, boosted socio-economic recovery and development, and improved people's lives, said Viet.

Assessing 320 recommendations that Viet Nam received from 133 countries during the dialogue, the official stated that most of them have positive contents and Viet Nam can accept them. But some need to be considered further in terms of compatibility with Viet Nam's laws, policies, resources and enforcement capabilities.

As for the recommendations which are not really appropriate and based on inaccurate information about ensuring freedom of speech, press and assembly, Viet Nam will continue to hold dialogue and provide information to those countries so that they better understand the actual situation in Viet Nam, he said.

Viet Nam will carefully study the recommendations and announce the countrys stance on them before the 57th session of the UNHRC.

In the time ahead, the Foreign Ministry and ministries and agencies in the working group for UPR of Viet Nam will review, assess and make recommendations to the Prime Minister regarding the countrys position about the recommendations, which will be announce ahead of the 57th session of the UNHRC slated for October this year, added the deputy minister.  VNS
CAN THO  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed the Ministry of Education and Training, as well as various departments, sectors and localities, to conduct a comprehensive review and enhance appropriate mechanisms and policies to create a supportive environment and legal framework for students to embark on their entrepreneurial endeavours.

He made this directive during the opening ceremony of the sixth National Student Entrepreneurship Festival in the southern city of Can Tho on Sunday. The event was jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and Training, the HCM Communist Youth Union Central Committee and the Can Tho City People's Committee.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, PM Chinh emphasised that entrepreneurship and innovation are crucial drivers and resources for sustainable development of every nation. Entrepreneurship requires passion, determination, perseverance and the courage to overcome obstacles and challenges to strive for success.

He said the National Student Entrepreneurship Festival, held annually since 2018, has become an intellectual playground where valuable ideas and scientific research are developed to foster the entrepreneurial aspirations of young people. It also provides a conducive environment to support students in shaping and realising their entrepreneurial ideas and projects.

After six years of implementation, the Governments project on supporting student entrepreneurship by 2025 has achieved significant results, attracting over 3,000 start-up projects from students, involving more than 20,000 people.

By the end of 2023, there were 110 co-working spaces for startups in universities, with over 120 universities incorporating entrepreneurship and innovation as mandatory or selective courses. Ten training facilities have allocated funds to support student entrepreneurship.

The Network of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centres at universities and colleges have been established.

The Prime Minister expressed pride in many Vietnamese students who have achieved high academic and scientific research results domestically and internationally and have been recruited by major technology companies worldwide such as Facebook, Space X, Google, and Quora.

He also highlighted some limitations, notably the limited and fragmented startup ecosystem, and the gap compared to other countries in the region and the world. The implementation of support policies for student entrepreneurship has been slow and incubation and start-up activities in higher education institutions have not yet been deeply explored. The infrastructure and laboratory facilities are insufficient, and there is a shortage of counselling and support staff for start-ups.

PM Chinh required further enhancing of links between universities, colleges and research centres equipped with modern facilities, which would help students research and create sample products and foster connections between different fields through the support of faculty members, lecturers and coordinators.

He also emphasised the connection between student entrepreneurship support centres in universities and vocational education institutions with local entrepreneurship centres and the connections between localities and universities to enhance project development and better address practical local issues.

The Government leader highlighted the need to foster a spirit of innovation and creativity in the education sector. He said it is crucial to establish entrepreneurship and innovation support centres in higher education institutions and vocational education facilities. There should be proposals to establish start-up project exchange platforms for students with enterprises.

Encouraging businesses and agencies to use products developed from startup projects and coordinating with educational institutions to provide career counselling, employment guidance, and startup support was paramount, he said. Shared experiential and creative startup spaces, actively involving students and lecturers in entrepreneurial activities to promote the commercialisation of research products are necessary.

PM Chinh noted the proactive allocation of resources for early establishment and improvement of the startup ecosystem, funds for science and technology development in higher education institutions, and expert and advisory networks.

He directed the investment in building standardised laboratories. Students should be provided with information on startup support policies, experiential activities and career orientation, he added.

The annual festival, part of the project to support pupils and students in launching their startups, will include various activities such as exhibitions on startups, forums and conferences on supporting start-ups in high schools, and the final round of a start-up contest for students.  VNS
By Kwak Yeon-soo

South Korea's spy agency has asked the country's internet censorship body to block access to a North Korean propaganda song, citing national security concerns.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) requested the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) Saturday to block access to a song praising North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for being a "friendly father."

The song was released on April 17 to celebrate the opening of a new 10,000-home development in Pyongyang.

The song has gone viral on social media like YouTube and TikTok. Its music video features North Korean soldiers, workers and students dancing and giving thumbs up to a man held up as the father of the nation.

An NIS official said the video should be banned as it violates Article 44-7 (Prohibition on Circulation of Unlawful Information) of the Information and Communications Network Act.

Under the act, no one can circulate information with content displaying activity prohibited by the National Security Act through an information and communications network.

If the KCSC decides to block access, the video will not be available in Korea.

North Korea's propaganda outlets have been using various social media platforms to propagandize its regime.

Last year, the standards commission blocked several North Korean propaganda YouTube channels, including the Sally Parks SongA Channel, Olivia Natasha-YuMi Space DPRK daily and New DPRK channels upon the NIS's request.
Tran Khanh An

To preserve traditional bamboo and rattan weaving craft, Thai ethnic people in Ngoc Chien Commune, Muong La District, of the northwestern province of Son La have established the Bamboo and Rattan Wickerwork Preservation Club.

The bamboo and rattan wickerwork is not only exquisite, durable, and eco-friendly, but they also represent the cultural essence of the Thai people here and offer tourism potential.

Nobody knows the exact beginnings of rattan and bamboo weaving craft; all that is known is that traditional weaving practices have been preserved and passed down through the generations of Thai people in Ngoc Chien, Tong Thi Len, a member of the club, said.

Every day, Len weaves bamboo and rattan backpacks for working in the forest, most of which are often sold to Mong ethnic people in the commune. She can weave a backpack a day and sell it for VN150,000 (US$6).

As a 65-year-old woman, I am not strong enough to do farming. Bamboo weaving has allowed me to increase my income, bringing in between VN3-4 million a month, without having to depend on my children and grandchildren, Len said.

The income from the weaving craft also improves the livelihoods of 64 member households of the club.

The bamboo and rattan wicker items with different designs and shapes range from household items, including rattan trays and storage baskets, to furniture such as sofas, shelves, tables, chairs and stools.

Customers from both inside and outside the province order the durable and diversified designed products.

The annual income of all member households combined is from VN1.8 to 2 billion, Lo Van Khoan, 64, the president of the club, said.

Preservation challenge

However, young people in Ngoc Chien Commune today have gradually lost interest in wickerwork, and are reluctant to take up the ancient craft  they see it as something from which they are unable to make ends meet, and the preserve of the elderly only.

All the members in the club are elders from the village, older than 50. Practising and preserving bamboo and rattan craft is not something that the younger generation engages in, Khoan said.

The younger Thai natives of the commune frequently opt to work in industrial parks in provinces or pursue higher education with the promise of a brighter future and higher income. They, however, take part in the commune's tourism-related activities.

As Ngoc Chien becomes an attractive destination, the local authorities have worked out a plan to make the rattan and bamboo weaving craft of the Thai a unique tourism product.

Ngoc Chien Commune is focusing on building tourism on its distinctive cultural values to enhance tourism-dependent communities' livelihood sustainably and drive economic growth, said Bui Tien Sy, the Secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Ngoc Chien Commune.

The commune aims to establish a bamboo and rattan wickerwork cooperative with 200 to 300 households participating. We plan to invest in technology and machinery to improve the quality, design, and competitiveness of Ngoc Chien wickerwork. The commune also aims to build up a community cultural house in Luoi Village so that tourists can try their hand at making bamboo and rattan products. At the same time, the locals can sell their wares to tourists, bringing in extra income for them."

Sy said he hopes the more income the locals receive from handicrafts, the more young Thai will participate in preserving and promoting this ancient craft. VNS
by Nguyen My Ha

On this day, May 12, 1954, President Ho Chi Minh wrote a public letter to the army telling everyone who participated in the greatest campaign that had just ended in victory: "The government and I have decided to award you all with the badge Soldier of ien Bien Phu."

The badge is not just a memorabilia of a long battle of a barefooted army defeating a fully equipped, financially resourceful French armed forces, it is the spirit of a united nation backed by the people who never ceased to believe in the final and ultimate win. It's part of the generational spirit that still keeps inspiring the youth of today.

Seventy years have passed, but those who survived that war, and several more after that, today maintain that fire in their eyes despite ailing health or restricted mobility.

The ien Bien Soldier Badge was an idea of General Vo Nguyen Giap in the second phase of the campaign, to bear the spirit of this military campaign and to encourage and raise the morale of our soldiers.

A two-man team was given the task of creating the badge: artist Mai Van Hien, born in the southern province of Tien Giang, a student at the Indochina School of Fine Arts, and self-taught painter Nguyen Bich, a Ha Noi native.

The assignment was that the badge should include images of the mountains and forests, with the image of a soldier wearing the signature bamboo wicker hat with camouflage leaves inserted around the hat in an advancing position. It also had to include an image of the artillery and anti-aircraft guns used during the battle. The badge should also depict the "Determine to Fight, Determine to Win" flag of the Vietnam People's Army.

The artists worked together on this special assignment, which they solemnly took on with all their hearts and minds. Many ideas were brainstormed, and many sketches were done. Finally, 10 designs of the badge were completed in pencil and one final was approved, and Nguyen Bich finalised it, with an iron pen dipped in ink. It was passed by the Campaign Headquarters and the ien Bien Phu Badge became what we see today.

The soldiers' spirit to overcome insurmountable challenges on the battlefront, put the army, and the name of the country on the world map. But behind the sacrifices were the lives of the wives, the parents, and children of the fallen soldiers who never returned home.

The younger generation today try their best to put themselves in the shoes of their forefathers by trying to push the rice cart in line during parades like their ancestors did, known as the dan cong hoa tuyen, literally translated as "fireline volunteer labourers".

But every victory badge has its reverse side. The lost lives of these soldiers were dedicated to the greater cause of the country, but their loved ones suffered a great loss that could never be compensated.

On May 7, 2024, a heavy downpour shed much-awaited rain on ien Bien City, after a week-long drought and heat wave. All soldiers and people taking part in the victory parade had to work in the scorching heat of above 40 degrees Celsius.

During the rain, the military units stood intact, even the ien Bien child, held up by a soldier stood firm and didn't show any sign of fear or worry. People say, the uneven battle even moved God to tears. The downpour symbolically became one of tears for those who fell and now rest forever in ien Bien's lands.

The three cemeteries in ien Bien Phu these days received endless lines of people paying tribute to the war martyrs who perished in the final 56-day long battle. Among them were relatives and families of those who died.

On national television, an elderly woman in her 70s went searching for her father's grave. She made this trip, hoping to find traces of her father's remains. But she collapsed in front of a grave bearing the words "Martyr whose name not yet found".

She said she only remembers meeting her father when she was five years old when he came home on his leave, he patted her head and let her sit on his lap. It was the last time she saw him.

The woman, now in her late 70s and a proud mother and grandmother, said her and her sister's hearts stopped when thinking about the loss of her father when she was such a young girl.

She recalled that when she was still under 10, her mother remarried, and she got to live with her paternal grandmother. Many times when she cried missing her father, Grandma would hug her saying, "My dear, it is not only you that is missing your dad, I miss my son, too."

For each fallen soldier, you can multiply the sense of loss exponentially. The void they left in the hearts of their families is vast. Those wounds never heal.

Remembering ien Bien Phu, many eloquent speeches were made by the Vietnamese government and military leaders in recent days. But the sacrifices the families have borne forever stayed personal. As the engravings on a great number of unknown soldiers tombs in ien Bien Phu put it, "We haven't tracked down your name, but your feat is forever remembered." VNS
WATERLOO  The Board of Education is set to approve contract agreements for Waterloo Community Schools teachers and support professionals.

The board meets at 5 p.m. Monday at the Education Service Center, 1516 Washington St.

The proposed two-year agreement for the Waterloo Education Association, which represents teachers and counselors, would increase base wages.

In the 2024-25 school year, staff would receive a $425, or 3%, base wage increase, as well as step movement and longevity for all eligible employees. In the year after that, there would be a $480 base wage increase, or 3%, and step movement and longevity.

The employee handbook could also be updated. Before the 2026-27 negotiations, the salary schedule, steps, lanes and longevity may be reviewed.

A proposed agreement will also be considered for the Waterloo Education Support Personnel, which represents paraeducators and secretaries. In the 2024-25 school year, there would be a 48 cent per hour increase to all base wages, a 3.02% increase. The contract would be reopened in 2025-26 and 2026-27 for base wages.

In addition, the board will consider adopting two new textbook curricula for district high schools.

Health courses would switch to Comprehensive Health Skills for High Schools from Goodheart-Wilcox Publishing at a cost of $38,626. The licenses would be good for six years at a cost of $6,438 per year.

Another six-year online textbook will be considered for district career, college and citizenship courses. School to Career, 12th Edition, also from Goodheart-Wilcox Publishing, would cost $82,432, or a rate of $17,739 per year.

Also coming before the board for approval is IXL Learning, a diagnostic tool to track learning gaps, at a cost of $90,000.

The program will be used by 5,000 students in grades six through 12 for math and English Language Arts. The tool helps teachers with creating personalized instruction to help get students up to speed. IXL was piloted this year and the district saw gains in achievement.

Due to summer break, there will be only one school board meeting in each of the months of May, June and July.

Which common college majors have the highest earning potential? Which common college majors have the highest earning potential? What are the most common degrees? Who earns the most? Which common college majors have the highest earning potential?
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Nearly 101,000 pounds of food was collected during this year's Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

The Food Bank of Northern Nevada says donations are still expected to come in this week, but as now it has collected 100,904 pounds.

"The Food Bank of Northern Nevada would like to thank the entire community including all of the donors, volunteers and Letter Carriers that helped make this year's Stamp Out Hunger so successful... Thank you for your donations and your hard work. We are excited to get this food into the community to be sorted."

The annual food drive is hosted by the National Association of Letter Carriers, and Stamp Out Hunger is the largest single-day food drive in the country.

The Food Bank of Northern Nevada says one in ten northern Nevadans face hunger.

If you missed the food drive you can still donate to the food bank.

Although all non-perishable items are accepted, some suggestions include:

Canned Meats

Canned Fish

Peanut Butter

Macaroni & Cheese and Pasta Meals

Powdered Milk

Baby Formula, Baby Food

Complete Meals-Stews, Chili, Ravioli, Hearty Soups, etc.

Canned Fruits, Juice and Vegetables

Dry Cereal

Oatmeal

Rice

Pasta

Address:

The Food Bank of Northern Nevada

Donald W. Reynolds Regional Food Distribution Center

550 Italy Drive

McCarran, NV 89434

Phone: (775) 331-3663

You can also make a monetary donation by clicking on this line.
By Kim Hyun-bin

Lord Mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy found himself immersed in a journey of historical discovery during his week-long visit to Korea, which started May 6. Last year, an invitation arrived "out of the blue," inviting McCarthy to attend an international conference. The itinerary encompassed a deeper historical exploration of Korea and Cork dating back to the Korean War.

"Our engagement is very much about learning more, especially about the Irish involvement in the Korean War in the 1950s," he said during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, May 8.

During the 1950-53 Korean War, an estimated 6,000 Irish soldiers served as part of the United Nations forces. They were part of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade, which included troops from Canada, India and other Commonwealth nations. Additionally, some Irish soldiers from Northern Ireland served in the British Armed Forces during the conflict.

The exploration took the mayor to significant sites, including the War Memorial of Korea and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where he expressed surprise at discovering Cork's connections to Korea, Emotions ran high as McCarthy encountered the Irish memorial stone at the war memorial, underscoring the significance of Ireland's contribution.

"Sometimes in Ireland, we don't know how far people went, or sometimes we don't remember, celebrate, or commemorate the impact of Irish people and how they helped other countries right across the world," he said.

During his visit, discussions unfolded about potential partnerships between Cork and Korea, particularly in the realm of commemoration and historical exchange. McCarthy also highlighted plans for a partnership agreement between Jeongeup Museum in North Jeolla Province and Cork Public Museum, aimed at exchanging details on similarities between the Irish War of Independence and the Donghak Peasant Revolution, which was a significant uprising that occurred in Korea during the late 19th century.

The Irish War of Independence, also referred to as the Anglo-Irish War, occurred from 1919 to 1921 in Ireland. It involved Irish republicans fighting for independence from British rule.

"The Peasant Revolution emerged in the eighteen nineties, which probably reflects a similar perspective in Ireland where the revolution (Irish War of Independence) began to grow," he said.

Reflecting on the historical ties between the two nations, McCarthy emphasized the importance of not merely acknowledging them but also actively leveraging them for mutual benefit.

"There's historical links, but no one's really overly moved them," he said. "We need to sit down and strategize."

McCarthy sees an opportunity to further strengthen cultural ties between Korea and Cork with very strong educational institutions and a vibrant cultural scene."

"At this moment in time, the focus is on cultural exchange," he said, emphasizing the importance of sharing methodologies of commemoration and historical research.

The mayor highlighted the significant role that education plays in fostering international connections, noting Cork's two universities actively seeking to attract students from abroad, including Korea.

"We are lucky to have two universities, and I know they are eager to welcome students from Korea to Ireland," he said. "There is massive potential to do more in Korea and Ireland. But there needs to be a strategic document drawn up to outline what we can do."

McCarthy, who views second cities as hubs of agility and innovation, stressed Cork's capacity to contribute significantly to bilateral relations, claiming second cities have a lot to offer with ecosystems that can move quicker.

The interview concluded with McCarthy expressing excitement about attending a conference in Korea and meeting with members of the Irish community there. "It's been a great adventure so far," McCarthy said. "These projects are really important for promoting peaceful exchange and fostering mutual understanding."
Oscar Gutierrez, the local restaurant stalwart who opened Bandito Burrito Co. in Huntsville in 1990, has passed away.

He was 74.

Gutierrez died in his sleep Saturday morning from complications from diabetes, his daughter Rachel told AL.com. Gutierrez had had four children with his wife Deborah: Rebecca Gutierrez Mills, Rachel Gutierrez, Heather Gutierrez, and Nathan Gutierrez.

Located at 3017 Governors Drive SW in Huntsville, the restaurant offers classic plates and original family recipes with a large beer selection, margaritas and other favorites that have kept it a mainstay in North Alabama.

Friends of Gutierrez and fans of his long-beloved restaurant took to social media to share condolences for a man they called icon and legend of the North Alabama area who served the community with not only great food but a place where artists felt welcome to work and explore their creativity by performing at his business.

Rest in peace Oscar Gutierrez you created an entire culture on governors drive, Jason Pauls wrote on Facebook. You will be missed but your legacy will live on.

He was a great man, Pauls told AL.com.

David Hewitt of Huntsville said he tried to have dinner at Bandito Burrito this weekend and didnt know why the restaurant had suddenly closed until he checked online to discover we have lost the incomparable father of lost children, purveyor of cool and Huntsville legend.

RIP Oscar Gutierrez, you always brightened any visit I had to your establishment when I was able to see you, Hewitt posted online. I have been a regular for 28 years, you were always so cool to me and my college friends back in the day. Your spirit will live on in all the people you have had a positive impact on around here.

A customer also left a bouquet of flowers on the colorful bench outside the restaurant to honor Gutierrez. Written in black marker on the clear plastic wrapping is Love you. Miss You, with a heart drawn underneath.

READ: The story behind a mysteriously named and beloved Huntsville burrito

A bouquet of flowers rests on the colorful bench outside Bandito Burrito Co. in Huntsville to honor owner Oscar Gutierrez, who recently passed away. (Matt Wake / AL.com)Matt Wake

For decades, Gutierrez would regularly hold court at the big circular table right next the cash register. He liked to sit here to can keep an eye out the front windows and also step up if the cashier needed help.

AL.coms Matt Wake wrote in 2016: If Gutierrez wouldve been born a few hundred years earlier he wouldve made a great pirate. Hes a goateed rascal. On a recent Tuesday afternoon at Bandito, hes wearing a pink button-up shirt with wayfarer sunglasses hanging from the third button down. Hes sipping a Miller High Life. There is literally no telling what will come out of Gutierrezs mouth at any moment. I had one lady say something about the Juan Beeg Deener,' Gutierrez says. Hes referring to a popular Bandito combo meal that includes an enchilada, chile relleno, tamale, beans and rice. She said, Well thats not very nice for the Mexican people. Well Im Mexican so shut up! I dont care. Thats why I like having my own place. I make my own rules.

Bandito customers frequently greeted the owner as they came in. He would reply with a mischievous grin, a fluttering wave and a spirited hell-o.

Bandito Burrito owner Oscar Gutierrez. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com)Matt Wake

Gutierrez opened Bandito in October of 1990 with $15,000 and some pots and pans he brought from his home. He took out a second-mortgage to get the restaurant going. Bandito is housed in a small space, previously home to a Churchs Fried Chicken, which had been boarded up for a few years. The earth-tone booths in Banditos dining room today date back to the buildings Churchs era.

Early on, the Bandito staff consisted of just Gutierrez, his three teenage daughters, Rebecca, Rachel and Heather, and a couple non-family employees. (He also had a son, Nathan, since deceased.) Had all my kids working for free, Oscar said. I owe them the world. Rachel Gutierrez was 16 at the time Bandito opened. She took customers orders, wiped tables, swept, made hot sauce and whatever else was needed.

Oscar said Banditos now iconic punk-rock vibe was a result of his kids, some of whom were into punk music. That was when you didnt see very much pink hair and tattoos and stuff, he told AL.com. Well one of my daughters had pink hair. We need to find somebody to work. Well, what about so and so? Theyve got tattoos and stuff. I dont care. I just need somebody to work. You can get those people that look all nice and neat to show up on time, but theyre not good workers.

If you let people be who they are they feel so much better and theyll work so much harder.

Banditos business gradually built up over time, now still serving many of its original customers. Their children who have grown up to be regulars as well.

Gutierrez grew up in San Bernardino, Calif., where he said during his time there were probably more taco places than hamburger places. He learned how to cook at age 14 after his father got him a job at a fried chicken joint called Lucky Wishbone.

Later in his teens in San Bernardino, he met a young woman named Deborah, and the two began dating. As Deborahs father was retiring from the Air Force, their family considered moving to either Seattle or Huntsville. They chose the latter. And Gutierrez moved to Huntsville, too. I followed a girl - you know how that goes, he said in 2016. I couldve ended up in Seattle. Oscar and Deborah eventually wed.

Gutierrez arrived in Huntsville on July 27, 1969. Soon after, he got a job cooking at El Palacio, the Memorial Parkway eatery believed to have been the first Mexican restaurant in Huntsville. In the early-70s he joined the Air Force but received a medical discharge after being diagnosed with bleeding ulcers, he said in a previous AL.com interview. By the mid-1970s, he had started his own Mexican place, called El Chico, in Rogersville.

Gutierrez opened a second restaurant, which he called Los Amigos, in Athens. That one didnt pan out for nothing. Throughout the years hed periodically return to El Palacio to work, and at one point he managed the place, he said.

Shortly after Bandito opened, Huntsville realtor Jim Parker gave it a shot.

I came in here and there was hardly anyone in here and I sat down and had some of the best food I ever had, Parker, also a successful songwriter, told AL.com in 2016. I was raised in Amarillo. And Ive always loved Mexican food. Ninety percent of what happened here early in the business was Oscar. His food was outstanding. But his personality was so inviting it was just a great thing to come in here. He would remember your name and what you ordered. We hit up a big friendship.

When its crowded in here you can sit down at any table, Parker said. You can ask somebody, You mind if I sit here? No. Because its a community feeling. And Oscars responsible for that.

Bandito has long been a magnet for musicians, both as customers and employees. Helen Faulkner, a drummer in local bands, worked there for years and said in 2016 that Gutierrez and his business were artist-friendly.

Its easy to work here if youre a touring musician or you have shows, Faulkner said, because Oscars very understanding if you need off work to go do that. And you can always come back and work here even if youve been gone awhile. Even people that have worked here like 20 years ago and havent been here for like five years can always go, Hey can I pick up a shift? Thats just how this place is.

Bandito employees dont just work together they party together. And that included Oscar, who often accompanied his staff to go sing karaoke at local watering hole Moody Mondays. The Bandito owners karaoke jams included Joe Cockers version of With a Little Help From My Friends, with a couple of employees joining in on background vocals. Thats our closer, Oscar said in 2016. We bring the house down with that.

On Sunday, Jeff Cotten shared a story on Facebook about when he moved from New Orleans to Huntsville in 1999, when he knew very few people in town. I only knew that the locals told me I had to try some burrito made with green beans, he wrote, referring to Banditos Green Bean, a burrito filled with beans, cheese and green sauce. I walked into an empty restaurant and sat down, lonely.

Oscar Gutierrez came out from the back and asked me why the long face. I told him I was home sick, and that I was originally from near New Orleans. He told me to sit tight and not go anywhere. About 20 minutes later he came out with a plate full of beignets he fried up in the back. Ive shared this story a hundred times. I hope to share it a hundred more.
Reginald Burks doesnt want to say, Im sorry. Sure, the 39-year-old father and aircraft mechanic said some harsh things to the officer who pulled him over.

But even now, almost six months later, Burks said he had the right to speak his mind.

Court officials in the small town of Ozark in southeast Alabama dont agree. Ozark Municipal Court Judge Nicholas Bull ordered Burks to apologize in writing to the officer.

Either that or face 10 to 30 days in jail.

What am I going to do? Im going to jail, Burks told AL.com. I aint writing no letter. I cant do it. I dont see where its legal for him to do that.

The trouble started with a traffic stop on Dec. 13, 2023. Burks, who lives in nearby Skipperville, was taking his kids to school when police pulled him over for speeding. The officer said his radar gun was broken, so he used cruise control to estimate the speed, Burks said.

And I told him he was full of crap because theres no way that he clocked my speed by cruise control, Burks said.

Things went downhill from there. The officer gave Burks the ticket, and then stood in front of his car, Burks said, forcing the driver to back up and go around him.

I said, Get your ass out of the way so I can take my kids to school, Burks said. My daughters like, Daddy you cursed. And I said, Im sorry boo.

One law professor at the University of Alabama said the case might seem trivial, but it raises big questions about judicial power.

In addition to fines and jail time, judges can tell defendants not to contact victims or visit certain businesses, said Jenny Carroll, a professor of criminal law. Some judges have taken that flexibility a bit further, including one in Texas who ordered sex offenders to post signs in their front yards about their criminal convictions. He faced criticism for imposing punishments beyond sentencing guidelines or state law.

In this case, Carroll said threatening Burks with up to 30 days in jail doesnt seem to fit the crime.

I think it is one of those judicial orders that is sufficiently questionable that we ought to say, is it really proportional to give a 30-day sentence if he wont say hes sorry? Carroll said.

Thats a long time for what he allegedly said, she added. And my guess is, we could stop most adults on the street, and they would admit that in a moment of frustration, he said something that may be regrettable but doesnt deserve a 30-day sentence.

Burks initially received a ticket for speeding, but he was not charged with disorderly conduct, or any other wrongdoing related to his interaction with the officer. He has friends and family who work as police officers, and they advised him not to challenge the ticket, he said.

He arrived in court prepared to plead guilty and pay the fines when he learned the judge wanted him to write an apology for cussing at the officer.

I was like, Ill just pay the ticket, but Im not going to apologize, Burks said.

Judge Bull declined to comment on the case. The special prosecutor did not respond to requests for comment.

Burks said he has spent most of his life in Skipperville, about 10 miles from Ozark, and built deep roots in the area. He has worked the same job for almost 20 years and said he keeps out of trouble. A review of court records show that Burks has been ticketed for several traffic offenses over the years.

But Burks said he does not believe his speech crossed a legal line. Carroll said Alabama law does prohibit cursing in public, but that Burks should have been charged with that and given due process if the judge intended to punish him for his speech.

Instead, she said the judge appears to be flexing his power to force Burks to say sorry.

Hes not able to make a choice about whether or not he wants to apologize, Carroll said. And hes not a child, hes an adult man. Hes not being allowed to exercise his own decision-making process about whether or not his behavior warrants issuing an apology to the officer.

Burks is set to go back to court on June 4 for a hearing in the case. That is when he expects to go to jail. He has already arranged with his mother and his childrens mother to take care of them in his absence.

His attorney, David Harrison, said in an interview with WTVY that Burks might file a lawsuit in the case. Thats unlikely to happen before his hearing.

If I did something to offend him or bodily harm him in any way, I would apologize, Burks said. But I didnt do anything to this officer besides curse. And theres no law saying that I cant curse or speak my mind.
Sunday afternoon gunfire in west Birmingham left two people injured, including a young child.

West Precinct officers were dispatched at 1:58 p.m. to a Shot Spotter call in the 1500 block of Cullman Avenue. While en route, they were told someone had been shot.

They arrived to find a man wounded. He was taken to UAB Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Minutes later -- at 2:08 p.m. -- a second victim showed up at Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Station 16 on Avenue I in Ensley.

That victim -- believed to be a young boy about 11 or 12-years-old -- also sustained serious injures. He was taken to Childrens of Alabama.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said at least 25 shots were fired.

The victims were either in a vehicle or had just arrived in a vehicle when the suspect or suspects opened fire on them.

We believe one of the victims was targeted,' Fitzgerald said.

No arrests have been made.

Were asking anyone in the neighborhood to come forward because we believe these victims may be father and son,' Fitzgerald said. Someone shot a father and son on Mothers Day.

Please, we need the information, he said.

Fitzgerald said the latest update is that though the injuries are serious, doctors are hopeful both will survive.

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
This story is re-published with permission from The Birmingham Times

After building a successful Alabama construction company, earning a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and being honored by more than a dozen local and national organizations, Birmingham business owner LTryce Slade considers becoming a first-time mom at age 45 one of her greatest accomplishments.

Slade is the owner of Slade Land Use, Environmental, and Transportation Planning LLC in Birmingham. Her son will turn 2 in June, and Slade, now at the age of 47, embraces motherhood every second she can.

As Mothers DaySunday, May 12approaches, Slade reflected on being a business owner in a male-dominated industry, finding work-life balance, and having a baby through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

One of the biggest challenges she faces is juggling it all, she told The Birmingham Times.

I am trying to find work-life balance, she said. I am working toward building a village around me.

Another challenge is simply leaning on others, said Slade: I have experienced guilt when I feel like I have to ask someone to pick up [Baby Slade] in the evenings.

There are only so many hours in a day, and parenting is a role that involves many adjustments. A typical day for Slade begins with going to work. Then she drops off her son at daycare and picks him up after work.

Having never been a stay-at-home mom  [I make sure I] leave work by 5 p.m. in order to pick up my son on time. In the past, I could stay at my office as long as I needed, said Slade, who established her construction company in her apartment in 2006.

In the evenings, he wants my attention, so it is difficult to work on things I do not get done during the day, she added.

Becoming a mother was a tough journey, said Slade, but having her child was such a joy, and she wants others who are thinking about it to have the courage to keep pushing through.

Dream Come True

For Slade, having her son through IVF was a dream come true.

During [IVF], mature eggs are collected from ovaries and fertilized by sperm [from a partner or donor] in a lab. Then a procedure is done to place one or more of the fertilized eggs, called embryos, in a uterus, which is where babies develop, according to the Mayo Clinic and, hopefully, result in a successful pregnancy.

Slade said she never considered the process until she turned 35, after a conversation with her stylist during a salon visit. Her stylist said, You know youre getting a little older, and you may want to consider getting your egg reserves checked if you want to have children.

Apparently, she had gone through some fertility challenges, and so it began as a casual conversation with her, Slade recalled. My stylist is married, and she shared that shed had a miscarriage and wanted a child. She asked me if I had ever heard of IVF or if Id considered freezing my eggs? I had no clue what she was talking about.

From that instant and conversation, the ideological seed was planted.

How It All Began

Slades research and search for a medical team for the IVF procedure led her to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and in 2015 she was ready to begin the route of IVF. The medical procedure made headlines recently in Alabama when, in February, the state Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through IVF should be considered children.

During her IVF journey, Slade had two miscarriages; an embryo transfer and negative pregnancy, which likely means the implanted embryo did not reach the stage of development to attach to the womb (uterus); and another embryo transfer with a negative response. In addition, her IVF cycle was cancelled twice: once due to a follicle response (meaning the follicles in the ovary do not respond in a manner that is suitable for retrieving eggs) and another time due to fluid in her uterus.

According to the Mayo Clinic, One full cycle of IVF takes about two to three weeks. Sometimes these steps are split into different parts and the process can take longer.

She also had to undergo three hysteroscopy procedures, during which a hysteroscope (a thin, lighted tube) is inserted through the vagina and cervix so the doctor can see inside the uterus.

After having been through all of that, Slade said, Thats why you would go get a surrogate.  You go get a surrogate when youve been through a lot of things, and thats your last option.

Her medical team suggested that she look for another option outside of carrying her own child.

Beating the Odds

During the process of seeking a surrogate mother, which she began in 2018, Slade lost her mother in 2020. After taking time off to work through that life event, she eventually chose a surrogate in the same year.

The next steps would involve Slades remaining fertilized eggs being implanted into another womans body. The chosen surrogate stood out because she was married, vegan, and had two children of her own, Slade said.

You have to take your time and research what agency is best for you, she said. I interviewed three different surrogates. These surrogacy, or matching, agencies are essentially a one-stop shop for parents whove decided to extend their families via surrogate.

For Slade, the road to motherhood, although challenging at times, was a victory, even though she faced many tests along the way.

I even attended doctor visits for [Baby Slade] via Zoom to follow his growth journey, she said, adding that she remembers the whole processfrom making travel arrangements to meeting the surrogate motheras overwhelming.

Slade kept and nursed her baby boy immediately after he was born, while still in the hospital.

When the baby was born, they gave me my baby, she said. It was like, Heres your room. You and your baby can go in here.

When that whirlwind was over, Slade had to navigate flying back to Birmingham with her infant, who was three days old. Once home, she had to understand how to manage her life and career while adjusting to her newborn. One of her biggest lessons was learning how to ask for and receive help, she said, adding that she leaned on the support of her family and church members.

Main Priority

For other women considering this path to motherhood, Slade suggested that they be financially prepared and respect the process.

Its a very deep and winding road when you talk about this path, she said. Nobody told me I had to make all these decisionsincluding being present daily in his life, reading to him daily, and raising him in a Christian environment.

Oftentimes, other people ask me if I plan to hire a nanny or an au pair. I have decided not to, in order to keep him as my main priority, she added.

Slade advises women to keep adoption as an option and also consider the bedside manner of your medical team carefully.

Kindness counts, she said.

Slade recalled an older male doctor who took time to talk to her face-to-face about medical procedures on the motherhood journey versus a younger female doctor who communicated about medical procedures via a web portal online. Slade said she really appreciated the personal touch with the male doctor.

Slade, whos engaged to be married, encouraged women to lay aside any negative myths about having a baby at a more mature age. She also advised against basing the decision to become a mother on existing relationships or relationships that may happen in the future because [relationships] can come and go, she said.

Slade added that a woman should not worry about whether having a baby would make men less likely to date her.

[I asked myself], Would I be as marketable with a child versus without a child? Then I got to the point where I saw other women who have kids getting married so I dont think it makes a difference, she said.

Still, Slade said, theres nothing like being a mom: I hug him and squeeze him so tight, she said of her baby. I tell him I love him every day.

To learn more about the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process, visit the Mayo Clinic or the American Pregnancy Association. For statistics and information about IVF and surrogacy, check out the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Fact Sheet: In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Use Across the United States.
Union members Saturday afternoon turned out at Hoovers Brocks Gap Brewing Co. to show support for the United Auto Workers ahead of next weeks election at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance.

More Perfect Union Solidarity, an organization supporting labor, staged the gathering, where people enjoyed live music, barbecue and the afternoon air as they shouted union slogans.

About 250 people came, and they briefly heard Austin Brooks of Centrevilles first performance. Brooks, 20, has worked for two years at Mercedes electric battery plant in Bibb County, and he sang Folsom Prison Blues with the band.

Here is full coverage of the effort to unionize the Vance Mercedes plant

Ill bet theres rich folks eating in a fancy dining car, he sang, the lyrics, for a moment, evoking the great labor folk songs of the previous century. He admitted nervousness before attempting the Johnny Cash classic, but he segued quickly after into a speech telling of his time at Mercedes and his support for the UAW.

The only one wholl look after you in a boardroom is you, Brooks said. At least with a union, we have someone else looking after us.

Workers at the Vance factory are scheduled to begin voting next week on whether they will be represented by the UAW. Vote totals are expected Friday.

Union supporters are pointing to the election as a possible turning point for organized labor, not only in Alabama but the Deep South. Approximately 70 percent of the plants 6,000 workers have signed union cards, though some Mercedes employees say they do not trust the UAW to improve conditions on their jobs.

Joe Cleveland, with the International Association of Machinists Local 291 in Anniston, told the crowd a vote to join the UAW would improve the lot of workers across Alabama.

When theres more union workers, wages, working conditions and benefits improve across the board for everybody, he said. It improves for future generations of workers. Its a hard fight to win the organizing drive, and its a hard fight to get the first contract, but its going to make it better for future workers and for your kids.

Brooks said he first became aware of the union drive at Mercedes around the first of the year, but did not initially support it. His mind changed after he began reading on the history of organized labor in America, he said.

It started as just a whisper in a corner, keeping it real hush-hush, he said. Ive always been a history nerd. So I Iooked at it. Unions helped steel mills, lumber mills. I looked at the stuff (the companies in previous union fights) were doing, and I thought, theyre doing the same thing to us now.
An all new episode of When Calls the Heart will premiere on the Hallmark Channel Sunday, May 12 at 9/8c.

During episode six of the new season, Elizabeth confronts an imposing figure from her past and Rosemary helps Lee navigate a new leadership role.

Meanwhile, Lucas struggles to find bidders for his resort project.

Where can I watch When Calls the Heart season 11?

Though airing on the Hallmark Channel, those without a basic cable set up can still watch new episodes of When Calls the Heart on Sundays with either Philo or Fubo.

Both streaming services offer free trials for new subscribers who can stream for free before committing to a paid subscription.

What is the difference between Philo and Fubo?

Philo is considered one of the cheaper live streaming services available as it allows users to stream over 70 live TV channels for just $25 a month after its 7-day free trial.

Popular channels offered with Philo include the Hallmark Channel, MTV, AMC, HGTV, History Channel, Discovery Channel, CMT, TLC, BET and more.

Meanwhile, Fubo is also an alternative to a regular cable subscription, but with more exclusive channel options that Philo does not offer such as ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, FOX and more.

While Fubo considers itself a sports-focused streaming service, its standard streaming package comes with over 100 TV live channels for $79.99 a month after its free trial.

What is When Calls the Heart about?

The official series description of When Calls the Heart is as follows:

Elizabeth Thatcher is a young teacher accustomed to high society, so she experiences culture shock when she gets her first classroom assignment in Coal Valley.

Life in the small mining town is filled with challenges. A recent explosion has killed more than a dozen of the towns miners, compelling the widows of those men to work in the mines to earn money. One of them - Abigail Stanton, whose husband was foreman at the site of the tragedy - welcomes Thatcher and tries to help her adjust to frontier customs.

Constable Jack Thornton is not as welcoming, though, because he believes Thatchers wealthy father doomed his career by assigning him to Coal Valley so he could protect Elizabeth. Janette Okes books about the Canadian West inspired the program.
By Kim Hyun-bin

The 2024 African Film Festival kicked off with a vibrant opening ceremony in Busan on Thursday, showcasing the rich tapestry of African cinema and culture.

Organized by the Korea-Africa Foundation in collaboration with the Busan Cinema Center, the festival aims to foster cultural exchange and dispel stereotypes about Africa through the power of film.

Running through June 5, the festival features a curated selection of 14 films from across the African continent, recommended by the African Group of Ambassadors in Korea (AGA).

From historical dramas to contemporary romances and action-packed thrillers, the lineup offers a diverse range of genres and perspectives.

In his opening remarks, Korea-Africa Foundation Chairman Lyeo Woon-ki emphasized the importance of the festival in building bridges between Korea and Africa, especially as the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit approaches in early June.

He expressed hope that through cinematic storytelling, the festival would deepen understanding and strengthen ties between the two regions.

Notable films include "Goodbye Julia," directed by Mohamed Kordofani of Sudan, which explores the complex religious and cultural divides in Sudanese society.

Documentaries like "Nelson Mandela: Countdown to Freedom" also provide insights into key figures and historical events that have shaped Africa's trajectory.

Beyond the cinematic experience, the foundation is hosting a series of events as part of Africa Week, commemorating Africa Day on May 25. These events include talks, music performances and cultural exhibitions, providing further opportunities for Koreans to immerse themselves in the diverse facets of African culture.
I always thought ironclad meant binding, but to President Biden it apparently means a pledge thats good until it becomes politically inconvenient to stick to it. On at least two occasions he asserted his (and our) commitment to Israels defense was ironclad:

On July 18, 2023, seated beside Mr. Herzog. And as I affirmed to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu yesterday, Americas commitment to Israel is firm. And it is ironclad.

He reiterated this pledge last month:

"As I told Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel's security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad - let me say it again, ironclad," Mr. Biden said. His comments come one day after an interview, recorded a week ago, was aired in which Mr. Biden urged Mr. Netanyahu to "just call for a ceasefire" in Gaza and in which he said he disagreed with the prime minister's war strategy. "I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach," he said in the interview with US network Univision.

With rockets pouring into Israel from Lebanon and Gaza after the most murderous barbaric attack of October 7, The Biden administration told Congress it would waive sanctions on military sales to several Middle Eastern nations the day before President Biden himself publicly declared that the U.S. would not give Israel offensive aid if it invaded Rafah. (Israel had already begun to invade Rafah.)

Some of those countries have been accused playing an active role in the proliferation of Hamas and other terror groups intent on wiping Israel off the map.

The State Department sent Congress a notification on Tuesday that it would extend existing sanctions waivers for Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen Libya, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia through April 30, 2025, according to a copy of the notice obtained by Fox News Digital on Friday.

This week, in accord with a National Security Memorandum issued in February, the Department of State released a report which covers Israel and six other states concerning whether these states, which receive U.S. defense aid, have provided assurances that they will abide by U.S. and International law. Respecting Israel, its report is convoluted and provides little cover for the President, who is now being charged with Articles of Impeachment for threatening to cut off aid to Israel, a move predictable because the congressional authorization for arms sales to Israel was most certainly a quid pro quo for the defense authorization for continued aid to Ukraine.

In relevant part the unclassified version of the report states, per Michael Crowley of the New York Times, as Powerline's Scott Johnson quotes and discusses:

"The Biden administration believes that Israel has most likely violated international standards in failing to protect civilians in Gaza but has not found specific instances that would justify the withholding of military aid, the State Department told Congress on Friday. Crowley also observes that the report adds 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 Even so, the report -- which seemed at odds with itself in places -- said the United States had no hard proof of Israeli violations. It noted the difficulty of collecting reliable information from Gaza, Hamass tactic of operating in civilian areas and the fact that Israel has not shared complete information to verify whether U.S. weapons have been used in specific incidents alleged to have involved human rights law violations. The report addresses Israels compliance with international law at pages 21-25. Here is a key paragraph at pages 21-22: 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, 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. Israels own concern about such incidents is reflected in the fact it has a number of internal investigations underway. [snip] The report addresses the IDFs responsibility for civilian harm at pages 25-28. As I read it, Israel has undertaken heroic efforts to mitigate harm to civilians at great risk to its own soldiers, but thats not quite what it says. [snip] How accurate are Hamass accounts of reported deaths? Perhaps it would make sense to resort to serious statistical analysis, such as that conducted by Abraham Wyner in his Tablet column How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers. The report offers no such analysis or even any standard of comparison by which to assess proportionality. Aside from any reliance on admittedly highly questionable data, the State Department report makes clear the alliance of Hamas and UNRWA in Gaza.

As Powerline reminds us, John Spencer, the West Point modern urban warfare expert, has already assessed the great and remarkable efforts by the Israelis to protect civilians behind whom the murderous, cowardly Hamas hides:

In their criticism, Israels opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, Ive never known an army to take such measures [as the IDF has] to attend to the enemys civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history -- above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As perfidious as this report is, I conclude it gives no cover for Bidens halting arms shipments to Israel now, at its greatest time of need.

In the words of my favorite online poster, Alex Bensky, the report says we want to favor Hamas and hinder Israel even more and we cant find any actual reason to do so.

In the meantime, the Administration is continuing building a pier to Gaza even under fire by Hamas and even though it will continue to provide an attractive, easily accessible target for it, and Israel continues to urge civilians to leave Rafah where any remaining hostages and Hamas leaders are hidden underground.

There are two cheering bits of news this week. Two notable left-wing outfits, BLM and Tides, are at odds, with BLM suing Tides for fraud in withholding $33 million in donations. Its one of those things where we could hope theyd both lose.

At Harvard, 170 professors have sent a signed letter to interim president Alan M. Garber which states:

Dear Interim President Garber, We have been watching with increasing alarm the continuing situation with the encampment in the Yard and agree entirely with your statement that this must end. We agree with the following principles, which we have edited from a similar document which MIT faculty members sent to their President. We support you fully in recognizing the following principles: 1. Freedom of speech on campus is subject to limitations in time, place and manner, and subject to other applicable US laws, including Titles VI and IX. 2. The right to free speech is not a right to cancel the speech of others. The encampments violation of Harvard rules is not theoretical. It has prevented the use of a central campus space by many students, and now threatens to displace and marginalize activities by groups following the rules. 3. The right to protest does not imply the right to impose unlimited costs on the University. The Harvard police and other elements of the Harvard administration which are tasked with supporting our entire community have been stretched to the breaking point by the encampment. This cannot continue indefinitely. 4. Conduct rules should not be set aside in troubled times. On the contrary, it is at times like these that they must be applied rigorously and fairly, along with free speech protections and a respect for diverse viewpoints. 5. Students engaged in civil disobedience must accept the consequences of their actions. The willingness to accept the consequences of ones actions is a critical difference between civil disobedience and mob rule. 6. Academic freedom is not negotiable. Harvard should never negotiate away the rights of its faculty, students and staff to engage in research and engage in scholarly collaborations which advance the academic mission. Any concession on this front, including minor adaptations to Harvards current processes or a commitment to review them in light of the protestors agenda, is likely to be interpreted as politicization of Harvards procedures. 7. The administration must not make concessions to protesters that would have not been granted had they followed the rules. Concessions of this type would reward bad behavior and undermine our commitment to fundamental principles of civil discourse. Furthermore, it may encourage other groups to engage in disruptive behavior. 8. Prompt removal of the encampment should be followed by civil dialogue with those representing the views of the protesters who remain in good standing with the university. The sooner the encampment is removed, the sooner a meaningful conversation can begin. On the basis of these principles, and recognizing that there can be no academic freedom in an atmosphere of lawlessness, we fully support your efforts to end the encampment swiftly and as peacefully as possible, so that the academic missions of our community, including exams and commencement, can go forward without further disturbance.

As you might expect, the signatories are not from the gender studies programs but almost entirely from the medical school, business, and science faculties, and this is significant because its my understanding these are the programs which receive the most donations to the school.
Thousands of Americans are protesting for a change to Americas alliance with Israel. NBC news says, The movement overall appears grassroots, with localized efforts that coordinate primarily through social media Nerdeen Kiswani is emblematic of the movement. Kiswani, 29, a law school graduate, founded the group Within Our Lifetime (WOL) nearly a decade ago to build a community for young people who want to raise awareness for the Palestinian cause.

WOLs website reads more like a Che Guevera fan club than the community friendly grassroots organization that NBC makes it out to be. The organization wants to end US sponsored genocide in Gaza after they celebrate the martyrdom of George L. Jackson -- Black Panther Party leader, communist revolutionary, freedom fighter, political prisoner and writer. They, stand in solidarity with all national liberation struggles across the globe resisting U.S. imperialism.

The protestors want to introduce a Palestinian state to the Levant, which is a war zone infused with hatred, complicated by competing political interests, and smothered in religious zeal. There is no apparent solution to the wars which have been ongoing since 1948. The Squad, a name for the communist faction operating in the Democrat Party, wants America to stop sending weapons to Israel. They contend these arms are used to kill innocent Palestinians. Since innocents are killed in all wars, this is true.

It is also true that Hamas killed hundreds of Israelis last October. Hamas is the pseudo religious-political-military cult that Palestinians in Gaza elected to represent them in 2006. The murder, rape, and kidnapping of more than 1500 Israeli citizens on October 7th was a political calculation Hamas made on behalf of the Palestinian people. Hamas planned the attack to lure Israel into invading Gaza. They hoped Israel would inflict death and destruction on the Palestinian people as a result.

Hamas dream came true. Much of the world is now condemning Israel for defending itself. This includes factions of the Democrat Party and Che Guevera fan clubs everywhere. Liberal activists have flocked to college campuses across the country to protest the war in Gaza. Students protesting on these campuses are extremely sensitive individuals. They fear microaggressions like Uncle Bosie feared cannibals. These tender-hearted people wont tolerate comments they interpret as socially unjust, but they are liberated by unleashing antisemitic rants calling for an end to Israel and death to Jews. Student protestors, the Squad, and the universal Che Guevera fan club would cancel Israel and replace it with Palestine. The fate of the displaced Jewish people is irrelevant to them.

The Squad pretends to support liberal democracy while ignoring the fact that democracy does not exist in Gaza or any Muslim country. The U.S. spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan and Iraq to install democracy and American values. Muslims dont want either. They have their own culture and have no desire to embrace decadent western values. Biden supports a two-state solution. Why would Biden induce the birth of a Palestinian state that will dedicate itself to the proposition of destroying Israel, the only democracy in the region and heir to the foundation of the Judeo-Christian ethos?

If Palestine is granted statehood, it is doubtful that terrorist rockets will be beaten into ploughshares and peace will reverberate in the Levant. From the river to the sea reflects their desire to control the territory between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. This desire will not subside if the two-state solution is enacted. Palestine will have armed forces and weapons of war. Terrorist organizations will continue to thrive. Nothing will change except Palestine will enjoy the rights and privileges associated with statehood.

The government of Israel is against the two-state solution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently, Im proud that I prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state. Bill Clinton pressed Israel and Palestine to sign the Oslo Accords in 1993 which were established to pave the way for a two-state solution. Since then, every Democrat President has yearned for a photo op memorializing the birth of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has deprived three Democrat administrations of this much-prized photo session, and they loathe him for it.

In 2015 President Obama funded Netanyahus opponents $350,000 to vote for anyone but Bibi. Recently Senator Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi have called for Netanyahu to resign. It is supremely arrogant for the U.S. government to attempt to bring down the leadership of one of its closest allies. President Biden has maintained support for Israel but is distraught that the Israelis wont let him run their war. Perhaps they watched the coverage of his retreat from Afghanistan.

One of the last obstacles Israel faces in its war on Hamas is taking the city of Rafah. Biden advised Netanyahu not to attack the city. Israel attacked Rafah on May 5th. Biden is now withholding weapons shipments destined for Israel until they comply with his demands. Biden wants the Israelis to accept a strategy that will deny their primary objective, which is the unconditional defeat of Hamas.

Michael Moore and other liberal activists want the protests against Israel to continue and intensify. Expressions of antisemitism are now acceptable in many liberal circles and promoted by Che Guevera fan clubs everywhere. One is saddened by images of innocent death and destruction in Gaza, but these images have become typical in a region filled with terror, violence, and advocacy for martyrdom. Israel is an island of democracy awash in a sea of terror. If America turns its back on Israel they will fight on, likely until the end of time.
Selective history that omits salient factsespecially those involving diverse racesis nothing less than grave injustice. When race is involved, it is itself a form of racism. Sadly, this is true of the general narrative and teaching of Americas slave history. Calls are made to teach more about what slaves endured, yet not about who all the oppressors were. The truth is that Americas slavery represents multi-racial guilt based on multi-racial participants, except for the slaves themselves.

Its time to balance an untold record for justices sake. Selective justice is injustice. As to Americas slavery history, injustice has been allowed for too long. Its time to balance facts and end racist blame games toward one race only. Teaching false or incomplete narratives as to the participants in this historical tragedy to Americas children and youth is unfair to them. Most importantly, it promotes unnecessary race-based enmities at a very young age. Many black adults are shocked to learn the role of blacks in that tragedy. Such omissions to authentic history sadly play a role in supporting racist huckstering and profiteering from a falsified blame game.

Where should we begin correcting a false, inaccurate, and incomplete record of Americas slave history? Rationally, of course, from where slaves originated, who captured them, and who sold them to Americans. American slaves originated in western Africa south of the Sahara Desertthus, all black Africans. That historical narrative is true. Missing is who the oppressors were who captured and sold them not only to the Americas but also to millions more to the Middle East Arab Muslim world. Those oppressors were black Africans. Slavery was a very profitable commerce not officially ending in Africa until the late 20th Century. Mauritaniathe last nationfinally abolished slavery in 1981. Since American slaves originated in Africa, why is the fact they were captured and sold by blacks not included in teaching in most K-12 schools? Blame is incorrectly and solely aimed at whites who bought, transported, sold, and owned them.

Image by Andrea Widburg using AI.

Coming to Americas shores, the participants in slave trading, ownership, and escaped slave bounty hunting were racially diverse. One of the first legal slave owners in the American colonies, Anthony Johnson, was black, and he came from Angola as an indentured servant. Becoming free, he bought land and slaves. Virginia 1655 Court records indicate he owned slaves. He became significantly wealthy, as did other black slave owners. It is alleged the wealthiest slaveowner in Louisiana with the most slaves was black. Its incredible to understand how so many relevant facts remain under wraps yet today.

History classes and textbooks mainly teach slaves were black and slave owners were whiteneither accurate nor the total story. Far less than five percent of whites owned slaves. Though the free black population was much smaller, as is todays black population, it possessed a much higher percentage population-wise of slave owners. Very few know these facts. Thanks to black historians and scholars, such historical data is addressed. Some of those writers are John Franklin Hope, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Larry Koger, Glenn Loury, and Carter G. Woodson, et al.

In both Carolinas and Louisiana, thousands of free blacks owned black slaves. Black slave owners existed in the North, too. Also noted is that their slaves were treated as poorly and abused as those owned by whites. One has to wonder if the descendants of black slave owners might also receive reparations where they are being paid out, as its difficult today to differentiate descendants of slaves from descendants of free blacks or black slave owners. Nonetheless, those slave owners justly deserve to be included in history textbooks and classes, sharing the same apportionment of blame as white slave owners.

Other important facts omitted from history textbooks and classes relate to Native American ownership of black slaves. Specifically, five tribesCherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cree, and Seminoleowned black slaves in the thousands. Three tribes would not emancipate their slaves following the Civil War but were forced to when signing a treaty with the United States. Where are they included in this tragic history? No mention of them is heard from those voicing a desire for more to be taught about the hardships slaves endured or demand for reparations.

Constant reiterations of slave history and claims of alleged continuing consequences in effect yet today via false, inaccurate. and incomplete narratives contribute to promoting racial division and enmity currently. Restoring factual history is just one antidote to the malicious division fostered by various individuals. A false emphasis is unhealthy diminishing a nations cohesion of national harmony and unity.

Furthermore, falsely blaming and holding people of one race guilty only among others who were guilty is pure, poisoned racist injustice. If equal justice for all is genuinely desired, this racist myth needs to end. If other parts and people of history are being canceled, the cancelation of this myth deserves prominence and priority.

Finally, no entire race is monolithic in actions or attitudes. To stereotype any race solely by the evil of some is racist. To do so exclusively to any specific race is unjust and, thus, grave injustice. Stereotyping any entire race made up of diverse individualssome evil but most good peopledemands every race be held equally guilty for those in their race who are also evil. Justice always demands a single standardas opposed to a double standardwhich this myth perpetuates.

Remember Rodney Kings question, Cant we all just get along? Perhaps we should add, Cant we all just agree, Its time to balance racial history for justices sake?
Just as Hamas targeted young children, even babies, for unthinkable torture and death, pro-Hamas demonstrators in Berkeley targeted a Jewish Community Center (NOT an Israeli facility) with preschool students in class as they chanted slogans through a bullhorn and marched. Even worse, the students who walked out were reportedly accompanied by two vice principals from the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School as they intimidated the innocent toddlers, guilty solely of being Jewish.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, Berkeley

Photo credit: Maplebed CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Emilie Raguso reports in the Berkeley Scanner:

The Scanner got multiple reports about a walkout march from King middle school that stopped to protest outside the Berkeley branch of the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay. The protest group was made up of an estimated 60 or more middle school students who were chanting with a bullhorn and accompanied by school administrators, parents said. When the group stopped for several minutes to protest outside the JCC, which is about a half-mile from the King campus, JCC security went outside to investigate and Berkeley police were also called. (snip) One BUSD parent said the protest reports were concerning in part because the district had promised parents on Thursday, by email, that no school staff would accompany the student march. In the email, school leadership said students might have a walkout Friday, and that they might march to UC Berkeley during the event. "Site and district staff will monitor students at the school site, but we will not have the capacity to walk with students to UC Berkeley or monitor their activity while on the university campus where there will be other activities happening," King Principal Michael Tison Yee told parents in the email Thursday. (snip) "Although this was not a district sanctioned event, our administration team made a decision to accompany the students to monitor for safety," BUSD spokeswoman Trish Mcdermott told The Scanner by email in response to an inquiry about Friday's events.

Sorry, Ms. Mcdermott: sending two vice principals to accompany the tyros as they terrorized tots does symbolically sanction the activity. The monitor for safety excuse holds no water because walking out of school and marching up busy city streets in an un-permitted march of children is inherently unsafe. Stopping the march would be the safe option, perhaps warning students that they will be regarded as truant if they skip out of the taxpayer-funded education they are being provided.

Somehow, I doubt that outside adults were not involved in organizing and directing the teen and pre-teen students. Where is the inquiry into their likely role in encouraging truancy?

Casting an even deeper shadow of Jew-hatred on the event, it was preceded by antisemitic graffiti at the school:

The Berkeley Unified School District said it is investigating the graffiti report, in which someone scrawled, "[Name redacted] hates Jews. We stand with [name redacted]" next to a Jewish star on a classroom whiteboard. A photograph of that message that has been shared among parents and other community members was also provided to The Berkeley Scanner along with concerns about the message.

The superintendent of Berkeleys public schools, however, doesnt think Jew hatred at her schools is a big deal:

Friday's reports come at a difficult time for the Berkeley Unified School District, whose superintendent, Enikia Ford Morthel, told federal lawmakers this week that "antisemitism is not pervasive" in the district. Ford Morthel said there had been nine formal antisemitism complaints to BUSD since Oct. 7, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Question: would nine complaints of anti-black racism be similarly regarded with equanimity?

Incidentally, Superintendant Ford Morthel describes herself as "an urban educator and community activist, dedicated to creating public education experiences that are revolutionary, relevant and responsive for students and families."

Update: Serious harrassment of Jews in Berkeley Schools has been taking place. Via UnitedwithIsrael:

...a second-grade teacher, who hung a Palestinian flag in the window of her classroom after Oct. 7, threatened the family of a concerned father after learning he had reported her conduct. I know who you are, I know who you f wife is, and I know where you live, the teacher said to him at a school event. Later, in a Facebook post, the teacher defended her politicization of the classroom, proclaiming, Ive been a non-neutral educator for all 20 years Ive been a teacher. The eruption of of antisemitism in Berkeleys elementary and high schools is like nothing Ive ever seen before, Brandeis Center chairman and former Assistant Secretary of Education Kenneth Marcus said in a press release announcing the legal action. It is dangerous enough to see faculty fanning the flames of antisemitism on college campuses, but to see teachers inciting hate in the youngest grades while Berkeley administrators sit idly by as it continues to escalate by the day is reprehensible. Where is the accountability? Where are the people who are supposed to protect and educate students? At several schools throughout BUSD, students were recruited to assist anti-Zionists teachers in cheering Hamas atrocities as liberation. They were called on to join walk outs and rewarded with excused absences in return for their participation, another violation of district policy forbidding excused absences for all but the most important reasons. These demonstrations became salvos of antisemitic rhetoric. During one organized at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, students shouted KKK, Kill Israel, Kill the Jews, and From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. In another incident, the second-grade teacher who threatened a parent instructed her students to write Stop bombing babies on sticky notes. The behavior of BUSD teachers and the benefits they offered in exchange for engaging in antisemitic behavior sent a strong signal to students that hating Jews is normal, socially acceptable behavior, the complaint explains. Acting on such approval, they proceeded to bully Jewish students with impunity. You have a big nose because you are a stupid Jew, a Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School student told their Jewish classmate. Another called a Jewish student a midget Jew, and throughout the district it became a trend to ask Jewish students if they have a number, an allusion to tattoos given to Jewish concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust. In almost every case investigations of teacher misconduct and bullying never led to disciplinary measures. Others are far from sanguine over the safety and emotional wellbeing of Jewish children entrusted to Ford Morthels tender mercies:

EdSource reported that the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education plans to investigate allegations that BUSD "failed to respond properly to rising incidents of antisemitism in its schools." That includes a complaint by two Jewish civil rights organizations "urging an investigation into the 'virulent wave of antisemitism' aimed at Israeli and Jewish students" in Berkeley Unified, EdSource reported.

In fact, Ford Morthel hired consultants, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, who created an ethnic studies curriculum that is horrifying. Via EdSource:

The group pitches to school districts in California an alternative to the states ethnic studies model curriculum framework with a focus on dismantling capitalism, systems of racism, and Zionism, which it equates to colonialism. The groups leaders include ethnic studies professors from California State University and the University of California. (snip) Ford Morthel testified Wednesday that the district has not purchased a Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum. Rather, she said, the district takes pride that teachers and community partners have written the curriculum. Teachers created lessons on Israel and Palestine because of a lot of curiosity, a lot of questions, and quite frankly, a lot of confusion from many of our students wanting to know what was going on. (snip) Early in the two-hour hearing, the chair of the subcommittee, Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., forced Ford Morthel and the other two superintendents on the panel, New York City schools Chancellor David Banks and Montgomery County school board President Karla Silvestre, to give one-word answers to a series of complicated questions. One was whether the phrase From the river to the sea Palestine will be free is antisemitic. Yes or no, Bean asked? If it is calling for the elimination of the Jewish people in Israel, Ford Morthel responded. And I will also say that I recognize that it does have different meanings to different members of our community. Im going to go yes. Ill put you down, yes, Bean said. Kiley used that answer against her during his questioning. He referred to a slide in the teacher-prepared curriculum that cited the From the river to the sea phrase as a call for freedom and peace and paired it with a supportive quote by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel. Congress censured Tlaib on a 224-188 Republican-led vote, with members claiming it implied support for armed resistance to abolish the state of Israel. Many people, including most Jews, also view it that way. Others, Tlaib included, say it evokes future coexistence where everyone can live in freedom in Palestine. Do you think thats an appropriate thing to have on a slide for students? Kiley asked Ford Morthel. So, she replied, we definitely believe that its important to expose our students to a diversity of ideas and perspectives. And if it was presented as a perspective, I do think its appropriate.

Watch as Ford Morthel responds to questions from California Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley on the curriculum in which she takes pride:
In November 1979, the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai terrorists, referred to as students, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They subsequently held 52 U.S. diplomats as hostages for 444 days. The following March, Jimmy Carter, the weakest U.S. president in the 20th century, wrote a confidential letter to the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian supreme leader, promising to recognize the Islamic Revolution in a public speech. Simultaneously, Carter complied with the ayatollahs wishes to get the Shah of Iran to leave his medical refuge in the U.S. and find shelter in Sadats Egypt. Despite Carters appeasement, the Iranians defied calls to release the hostages.

In April 1980, the Carter administration attempted a halfhearted military effort to rescue the hostages, which ended in total failure. The Iranians mutilated the bodies of eight U.S. servicemen and dragged them through the streets. The taking over of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was an act of war, and when the U.S. appeared impotent to act decisively, Iranian contempt, defiance, and aggression grew.

Only in January 1981, as President Ronald Reagan was being inaugurated, did the Iranians release the hostages, fearing Reagans military action against them. They perceived Reagan, unlike Carter, as being uncompromisingly strong.

In the Islamic Middle East (whether Shiite Iran, Sunni Arabs, or Turks), the only thing that is respected is force, and only when it is duly exercised. The American (and Western) mindset and ideals stress peace and prosperity, and the perception in the Western world is that everyone longs for these virtuous ideals. Not so in the Islamist Middle East, where the ideals are founded not on individual prosperity or peace, but the advancement of Islam, the return to the Islamic glories of the 7th century, and peace only after the world has accepted the dominance of Islam. Currently, this is less apparent among the elites of the rich Gulf states, but it is certainly the ideal of the masses.

President Joe Bidens appeasement, much like that of Jimmy Carter and his former boss, Barack Hussein Obama, is seen, once again, as weakness in the eyes of Americas enemies. Biden is appeasing his pro-Hamas staffers, the antisemitic pro-Hamas progressive wing of the Democrat party in the U.S. Congress, and the Muslim pro-Hamas public in Michigan, Minnesota, etc. He is also appeasing the radical mullahs of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad proxies in Gaza. And as is obvious, he is afraid to stand with Israel, in recognition of its just cause, lest he lose Arab, Muslim, and leftist voters in the November 2024 elections.

The Biden administration has decided to place punitive sanctions on an Israeli religious battalion called Netzach Yehuda for alleged human rights violations. Bidens relentless pressure on Israel to increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, forced the building of a floating pier in Gaza at U.S. expense.

What the Biden administration has not done is threaten military action against Hamas unless it releases, at the very least, the American hostages held in Gaza tunnels.

Hamas watches gleefully as Israel is pressured regarding humanitarian aid, U.S. opposition to an Israeli incursion into Rafah, and calls for a ceasefire  all while Hamas enjoys American largess in the form of humanitarian aid, which it controls and distributes, thereby receiving support from the Gazan public.

Consequently, Hamas is in a better position to come out a winner in the current conflict. And because it feels confident, it has stiffened its conditions for the release of the Israeli (and American) hostages.

On the domestic American scene, antisemitism on American campuses is spreading like a cancer and has the potential to infect the entire population just as it did in Germany in the 1930s. The Biden administration is using words rather than taking aggressive action against the pro-Hamas inciters and instigators, many of whom are funded by the Qatari regime through various Islamic and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), an advocacy group with ties to the Democrat Party. AMP has led various legislative initiatives targeting Israel.

Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department official and vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated in testimony before the US Congress last November, Individuals who previously worked for Hamas charities are now a driving force behind the large pro-Hamas demonstrations taking place in major cities across America.

Schanzer cited Hatem Bazian, a longtime lecturer at the University of California Berkeley, as an example. Bazian founded the U.S. branch of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and later launched the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Both groups advocate for the end of U.S. government support for Israel  the former on campuses, and the latter within the Democrat party.

The vocal red and green alliance (Marxist and Islamists) has infested Western societies with a wokeness ideology seeking to replace Jewish and Christian values. And, instead of creating racial and gender harmony, wokeness has sharpened division among racial and gender groups. Jews, deemed white, are being defamed as oppressors, while the Palestinians are portrayed as the oppressed.

Obama appeased the Muslim world in his June 2009 Cairo speech, and his former vice president is now pandering to and appeasing both the Islamists and the hard left. Obama and his successor Biden have engendered Islamic contempt for America and various forms of anti-American forms of aggression.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
In the words of Shakespeare: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Such is Benjamin Netanyahu.

Presently, the world press is tearing this man down, but he is arguably the greatest world leader of the past fifty years.

Does he have his faults? Yes! Who doesnt?

But Netanyahu has had to navigate his countrys security through the decades when even his friends (Clinton, Bushes 1 & 2, Obama) wanted to enforce policies on Israel that were self-destructive. And his country had little margin of error if things went wrong.

Soon after he announced a new world order, George Bush, Sr. started pressuring Israel to accept the Oslo process at Madrid in 1991. The Arabist James Zogby has praised Bush Sr. for doing so.

Bush established consequences for bad behavior, and he got results, said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. It can happen again.

Bush Sr. was praised for being even-handed between the Arabs and the Israelis, but he was in bed with Arab oil money and interests. Netanyahus so-called corruption pales by comparison.

Clinton thought he had brought peace in 1993 with the Oslo Accords. That was a failure.

Bush Jr. was also part of this Bush-Saudi oil interest. His administration would later encourage Israel to allow the 2006 elections in Gaza (with the approval of Jimmy Carter) that would get Hamas elected.

The Carter Centre and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) considered the 2006 elections to have compared favorably to international standards ... with polling results reflect[ing] the will of the people.

Of course, it is now obvious that the Palestinians were never interested in peace, but rather in conquest. Netanyahu was warning everyone about that, even in the 1990s.

Has Netanyahu made mistakes. Who hasnt.

Yes, Netanyahu did subsidize Gaza to keep Hamas and the P.A. from uniting and working toward a two-state solution. Netanyahu aimed for a divide-and-conquer strategy. Had the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and Hamas united, the P.A., with world approval and arm-twisting, would have forced Israel into a terrible predicament.

For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank  bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group. The idea was to prevent Abbas  or anyone else in the Palestinian Authoritys West Bank government  from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Did this policy backfire? Yes!

But how many times was Netanyahu stopped from bombing Gaza into submission in the past by a world that would not let Israel win a war? In a way, the world left Netanyahu little choice.

Great men can make great mistakes. Think of Gallipoli, Churchills horrific blunder.

Netanyahu is accused of being a liar. Consider Frances President Sarkozys statement.

I cant look at him [Netanyahu] anymore, hes a liar, Sarkozy told Obama, the French media website Arret Sur Images reported. Youve had enough of him, but I have to deal with him every day, Obama is said to have responded.

What politician does not lie?

But the Western powers, which promised the Jewish people a return to their homeland, committed the greatest lie of all when, in 1939, they allowed the British to stop all Jewish immigration into the Mandate when the Jews needed it most of all, during the Holocaust.

Netanyahu had to guide Israel though the gauntlet of hostile Western diplomats determined to divide his country.

And what about the recent Israel protests, where half of Israel protested Netanyahus government?

Israel, like America, has a self-destructive left wing. They are inventing charges, as they did against Trump. Netanyahu may not be totally innocent, but the charges are blown out of all proportion. At most, Netanyahu deserves administrative fines, not criminal charges.

I do not agree with Netanyahus partners. Itamar Ben Gvir, for example, is considered, even by the Israelis, to be a violent extremist.

By his own count, the far-right provocateur and ultranationalist member of the Knesset, Israels parliament, has been charged with crimes more than 50 times and convicted in eight cases, including once for providing support to a terrorist organization.

But politics forces one to make coalitions with unsavory characters. FDR, the hero of the left, cut deals with truly scary Boll Weevil Southern Democrats.

What is clear is that Israel would not have survived so well without Netanyahu. His vices are minor compared to his virtues. The world, and the left-wing press in Israel, are eating him alive.

They are doing to Netanyahu what they did to Trump, and for the same reasons.

Image:    via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
If you liked our country the way it was before he arrived on the scene, Biden says you must be xenophobic. Its obvious that he means it disparagingly when speaking of people who dont see a virtue in Americas fundamental transformation.

Being accused of being a xenophobe is not a compliment and means:

1. Having a fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners

2. Having abnormal fear or hatred of the strange or foreign.

The Biden Administration sees xenophobia as a disease that he must root out, isolating and attacking those who have a fear of immigrants overrunning our country. In a May 3 NYT newsletter, I read the following statement:

Biden, defending Americas history of immigration, called Japan and India  U.S. allies  xenophobic and said that China and Russia dont want immigrants.

Clearly, President Biden is making war not only on his citizens but also on Japan and India, our essential and valued allies. Japan and India find value in preserving their cultures, which is inconsistent with mass immigration.

Raising evil actors China and Russia in the same sweeping statement attempts to smear both friend and foe with the same brush amounts to guilt by association. That is nothing more than rank brutishness that should be beneath the leader of the free world. Uttering such words is a slap in the face to important allies who wont change their positions.

Now that Biden is opening the door to mass immigration of Palestinians, the Democrats xenophobia argument will explode. This is on top of the recent White House announcement that Palestinians living in the U.S. will be shielded from deportation .

Ultimately, its apparent that the new word xenophobia is joining the old standby racism to be another tool to isolate those Americans who understand that illegal immigration is a direct threat to our countrys survival. Most oppose Biden on illegal immigration, seeing its effect on our citizens ability to live and work in peace and prosperity. Americans are not xenophobic. They just havent signed on to the Democrat that America must become the lead nation of the Progressives' One World New Order.

Those Americans who object to unlimited illegal immigration are the new dissidents. Theyre now being tarred with a word thats fancy and sounds like a mental illness. Keep in mind how China and Russia commonly treat dissidents as mentally ill, and dont be surprised if thats not on the Democrat menu, although, thankfully, our policies have not reached that level quite yet.

Still, Bidens reference to xenophobia is laying the groundwork for enforcement actions against anyone expressing revulsion at mass immigration into our country. To achieve this goal, Biden has shown himself willing to demonize some of our few major allies who have not yet drunk the Kool-Aid of Progressive imperatives. Europe is already an immigration basket case . When Islamic immigration is unchecked, crime is rampant.

Here are a few European Cities with Muslim immigrant populations and their impact on the host countries:

There were 1,318,755 Muslims reported in the 2021 census in the Greater London area. Office for National Statistics reports the proportion of Muslims in London had risen to 15% of the population, making Islam the second largest religion in the city after Christianity.

The Paris metropolitan region, or aire urbaine, is estimated to be home to some 1.7 million Muslims, making up between 1015 percent of the areas population. However, without official data, the margin of error of these estimates is exceptionally high.

An estimated 300,000-420,000 Muslims reside in Berlin , making up about 8-11 percent of the population.

reside in , making up about 8-11 percent of the population. The exact number of Muslims in Belgium is unknown, but various sources estimate that 4.0% to 7.6% of the countrys population adheres to Islam.

Officially, there are 196,000 migrants in Madrid, but that number could be twice as high, according to Statistica.

Rome, as well as Italy, is a major stopover country, with at least 1.6 million immigrants residing there.

Overall, European Muslims are projected to increase as a share of Europes population  even with no future additional migration and will eventually become the dominant culture. Europe is currently believed to contain about 30 million migrants, comprising over 6% of its total population. Truthfully, no one knows the actual numbers. When you have unchecked immigration, your basic character will change...and not necessarily for the better.

Biden is obviously intending to do to America what the Europeans did to themselves, and hes labeling anyone who opposes him. This is apparently his way to combat the fact that our native population is outraged to the point where it is the number one issue of likely voters, according to some polls.

We must ask ourselves, as well as our elected representatives, what future we desire. Will it be one in which we have no say or one in which We, The People, decide our future? That is the real question we should keep at the forefront of our minds as we watch in horror as students with brainwashed minds run wild in our universities. Unchecked, theyll be our countrys next leaders. Is this what we want?

Author, Businessman, Thinker, and Strategist. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com.

Image of a Biden hate speech by Andrea Widburg using AI.
In the seventeen-second ad below, Why Monitor a Problem? a credit monitoring service is in the role of what appears to be a dentist. He looks inside the patients mouth, tells the patient he has the worst cavity hes ever seen, puts his instruments down, swivels away, then tells him to have a good day as he gets up to leave. The patient, horrified, is then informed the dentist isnt an actual dentist; hes just a dental monitor.

That's the problem with Congress: our Republican leaders aren't using the power they have, they're just monitoring things. They can diagnose the problems. But, gosh, they just can't seem to access the same power the Democrats have accessed to do a darn thing about it.

This ad came to mind when I was reading a recent post at The Conservative Treehouse.

It included a video clip which Sundance described this way:

(Foxs) Maria Bartiromo gets very angry with South Carolina Republican Representative Russell Fry who talks about the political attacks against President Trump. Congressman Fry outlines the problem, yet provides no solution.

Again, this is the problem. To be fair, the Legislative branch cannot put anyone in handcuffs, no matter how many referrals they send to DOJ, because those who can wont. Doesnt mean they shouldnt send them. They should. But whats also fair, and painfully clear, is the lack of a unified voice, from the top down, making un-ignorable hay out of all the wrong were seeing.

It shouldnt be some backbencher on television outlining the problem. It should be House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, with an army of Republicans behind them, every single day, in every single committee, all over television, radio, print, everywhere, all the time, with not only the blessing of leadership, but the urgent encouragement of leadership, with dozens and dozens of Republicans standing behind them.

The country is incinerating and these clowns are wondering if its hot in here. Norms and institutions are being violated, weaponized, transmogrified, and this president is (actually) doing things the last guy was (wrongly and absurdly) impeached for, and whats Speaker Johnson doing?

Tweeting through it, here, here, and here. Theres even a strongly worded letter.

Withholding weapons from Israel is a catastrophic policy.



This will be devastating and go directly against the will of Congress. pic.twitter.com/iLPK3fyCmn  Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) May 9, 2024

Gotta love the two word tweet, Never Again, featuring the gates of Auschwitz on May 8th, then on May 9th the Johnson tweet which stated Withholding weapons from Israel is a catastrophic policy. This will be devastating and go directly against the will of Congress.

Notice its been up for two days and unless my Twitter counter isn't working, the video has zero views. Zero. Not even a reporter. Not even one member of the press cares what the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America has to say. The guy is third in line to be POTUS. And no one. Not one. Not one. Anywhere. On planet earth or any other planet. Nobody cares what this leader with the power to impeach has to say about this ghastly, lethal betrayal of an ally.

October 7 was the worst single day loss of life for Jews since the Holocaust and theyre in a hot war, right now, with the enemy. America has the largest population of Jews anywhere outside of Israel, and nobody cared enough what this leader had to say to click play.

Because everyone knows. Everyone knows he wont do anything meaningful.

Everyone knows.

But nothing gets past you, Mike! There was no May 10th tweet, or any tweet, actually, in which you followed up your May 9 and May 10 Twitter outrage with a plan to actually use the power you have, but youre monitoring it! Yes you are!

They should be fighting like a girl  well, like a pint-sized octogenarian from San Francisco. Nancy Pelosi is many things, but her most valuable trait is her ability to rally the troops and make one hell of a noise, everywhere, all the time. Gallons of ink have been spilled on the hagiography that is Speaker Pelosi; editorials, columns, news items, round-tables, glamour shoots in fashion magazines with the airbrush burning hot, and lighting guys on two coasts getting the Speakers keylight angled juuuuuust right before her friendly cable news hit.

Speaker Johnson cant get anyone to click play.

Because everyone knows.

Everyone knows hes just a congressional hall monitor. His job is to monitor the incineration of this country with just enough outrage to make us think he might actually, maybe, really, soon, do something; use his power like Nancy Pelosi did.

Really.

But in the meantime, if you want to know what the problem is, Speaker Johnson, and all his GOP flying monkeys can outline the problem. They can see there's a cavity there. They dont dare use the sharp instruments to do anything meaningful about it, but theyre aware of it, by golly.

So take your two tweets in the morning and shut up.

All this monitoring is exhausting. Sh-ts going sideways everywhere.

Image: Twitter screen shot
The House of Representatives voted to add a citizenship question to the Census in an attempt to block illegal immigrants from skewing the redistricting and Electoral College apportionment processes. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Ill.) introduced the bill, H.R. 7109, months ago and it has since acquired more than 100 co-sponsors.

The lower chamber recently passed the Equal Representation Act by a 206 to 202 margin, the voting entirely along party lines. (22 representatives abstained.) However, the measure is expected to be dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Not one Democrat voted for the bill, meaning they wish to continue the status quo of counting non-citizens in the Censuswhich is used to apportion representation in both the House and the Electoral College.

This is just one more example of Democrats spitting in the face of traditional Americans.

Todays Democrats have made it clear that they will choose to benefit illegal aliens at the expense of American citizens in every case. (They do this not to save our democracy, but to destroy it. And guarantee one-party rule, theirs, until the Earth spontaneously combusts due to global warming.) That American citizens have put up with this for several years now is beyond astounding.

We are frequently told by progressive leaders -- and elites around the world -- that the Great Replacement theory is just a figment of conservatives imaginations, a fever dream of the far right.

But, like so many other supposed conspiracy theories lately, it is all too real. The truth is, and always was, that the Great Replacement theory is real, and not just a theory. It is happening. Right now. We are letting it happen. And, at some point, so many of us will have been replaced  or effectively cancelled  that it will not be possible to fight back.

To save this nation, another Great Replacement must take place. We must replace every representative who voted against the Equal Representation Act. And vote to replace the Biden administration, too.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License
Were the campus protests that engulfed so many elite universities a Cuban intelligence operation?

They might have been, based on this investigative report from ADL America, (which JustTheNews also cited):

Some of the anti-Israel protests taking place at U.S. college campuses, including the recent demonstrations at Columbia University, have been supported by organizations that traveled to communist Cuba to receive resistance training, an ADN investigation has uncovered. ADNs investigation coincides with a recent Sunday report published by the New York Post that revealed a radical NYC based organization known as The Peoples Forum familiarized anti-Israel activists with Black Lives Matter protest techniques just hours before they stormed Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, and that the group was incited by Manolo De Los Santosa radical activist organizer with deep ties to communist Cuba. De Los Santos, who has long been the subject of past ADN investigations, has a lengthy, storied history of working with some of Cubas top communist party leaders including its president, Miguel Diaz-Canel. This past weekend the former seminarian turned radical leftist activist urged pro-Palestinian Columbia student protestors to give Joe Biden a hot summer and criticized Columbia's Zionist administration for wanting to resemble its masters in Israel. He praised demonstrators for deciding that resistance is more important than negotiations and incited protesters to make business as usual in this country unsustainable.

De Los Santos is the founder of the People's Forum, which has an address at or near New York's Chelsea district, which means it has a lot of money for rent and utilities as well as maybe taxes. No idea who pays for such a package.

ADN pointed out that De Los Santos went to Cuba for "revolutionary training" and shortly after making his exhortation to student radicals to give Joe Biden a long, hot, summer, goons in black skinsuits invaded Columbia's buildings, taking custodians hostage in one.

It obviously was a planned operation. Somebody planned it. One was a forty-year-old trust funder living off his parents' money who lived in a fancy Brooklyn brownstone and was out playing college student.

Whether it was De Los Santos or not calling the shots, it's the kind of thing Cuban revolutionaries like and romanticize.

Which raises questions about just what this guy was doing in the middle of these protests.

We know for sure that this campus protest movement is heavily influenced by Black Lives Matter activists, who ... just coincidentally, seem to be Cuban-trained, too.

Back in 2020, I noted that BLM violence had a strong Venezuela nexus, with BLM leaders making "pilgrimages" to Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela. What they were doing is unknown, but revolutionary training is well available there, through the organizations known as "colectivos." Chesa Boudin has been accused by Venezuelan expat groups of being associated with such characters in the Caracas slums during his own time working as a translator for the Venezuelan government. It may have been something these guys came to know, too, given the damage and destruction they wrought.

Maduro's miserable state is effectively run by Cuba, particularly its state security organs, and sometimes they literally merge the flags of the two states in Venezuelan state buildings.

I noted this at the time:

Thus far, there have been accurate-looking comparisons of these riots and loot-fests hitting the U.S. on a mass scale to the doings of the Palestinian Authority and parallels to the events of the Russian and French Revolutions. They are useful as pointers. But the one place that really shows evidence of instigation is the failed state of Venezuela and its controlling agent, Cuba. In this case, it's not just the similarities in the end result  the mass riots that engulfed much of South America's conservative-led states last year are remarkably similar to what is happening now in the States. There's actual evidence of collusion.

As Anne Applebaum noted in that famous essay of hers, the world's bad guys are all connected, which is how such shambling dumps can stay entrenched in power.

But more to the point, this is obviously a hostile act from a state sponsor of terror, using an army of useful idiots to lay low America's top educational institutions and blue cities.

Cuba had been on the state sponsor of terror list but President Obama dropped them back in 2015.

According to the State Department:

Cuba was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982 because of its long history of providing advice, safe haven, communications, training, and financial support to guerrilla groups and individual terrorists. This designation was rescinded in 2015. Cuba maintains close and collaborative ties with designated state sponsors of terror such as Iran and North Korea. The Cuban regime continues to host ELN leaders associated with now-defunct peace talks to reside in Cuba, despite Colombias repeated requests for their extradition. Cuba also continues to harbor multiple fugitives who committed or supported acts of terrorism in the United States. The U.S. Department of State certified Cuba as not cooperating fully with U.S. counterterrorism efforts for 2019, the first such certification of Cuba since 2015.

Sound like something that went on at Columbia and at various other campuses? The universities themselves have said that it's not just students leading these protests, it's outside agitators -- like these Cuban-trained "activists" causing the problems. You'd think Cuba would have been grateful that Obama humored them by dropping that designation, but all they did was step up the planned mayhem.

And where is the CIA and FBI in all this planned mayhem? That's right, still hunting for January 6 protestors and MAGA "extremists." The Cubans can see that they aren't looking, so with the cats away, it's the rat's playtime. They're not just infiltrating the U.S. government (and I have a feeling there are still a lot of uncaught spies on that front), they're trying to burn the U.S. down.

The Cubans need to be punished for this and placed back on that terror list again and that's a minimum. If Joe Biden had any gumption at all, he'd be pouring millions into arming Cuban dissidents to challenge that vile regime, and let the regime know that this was payback for the crap at Columbia and elsewhere.

But that's not how this fool rolls. He lets them roll him because his party is so sympathetic to them.

It's one more reason to vote Biden and his entire party out of office. Venezuela willingly let Cuba take them over. Joe Biden shouldn't be given the opportunity to do the same to America.

Image: Twitter screen shot
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul embarks on rare visit to Beijing

By Lee Hyo-jin

The South Korean government's response to China's forced repatriation of North Korean escapees has seemed somewhat subdued, amid desperate efforts to maintain the cautious improvement of bilateral ties between Seoul and Beijing and eventually pave the way for a long-delayed three-way summit including Japan, anticipated later this month.

With a meeting coming up this week between the foreign ministers of the two nations, spurring ongoing discussions for the high-stakes trilateral summit, Seoul has apparently opted for a cautious approach toward the North Korean defector issue to avoid triggering further tensions.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will embark on a two-day visit to Beijing, Monday, the first visit in more than six years by a top South Korean diplomat to the Chinese capital.

The Yoon Suk Yeol government has consistently urged Beijing to refrain from repatriating North Korean escapees against their will, but this has been significantly toned down  even though China recently sent back dozens of North Korean defectors.

The Korean Unification Solidarity, an organization for North Korean refugees, claimed last week that around 200 North Korean refugees who were apprehended in northeast China's Jilin province were forcibly sent back to their reclusive home country on April 26. According to the international organization Human Rights Watch, the Chinese government forcibly returned about 60 North Korean refugees in a similar period.

However, the South Korean government has refrained from issuing an official condemnation of China's recent actions, a departure from its previous practices.

The Ministry of Unification reiterated its position that North Korean defectors should not be returned against their will under any circumstances, without officially confirming the speculation.

This marks a shift from the ministry's response last October when the Chinese government repatriated at least 500 North Korean defectors following the Hangzhou Asian Games. At that time, the unification ministry officially acknowledged the repatriation just two days after human rights organizations raised the speculation, and said, "We have strongly raised this issue with the Chinese government and regret the situation."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to confirm whether South Korea has lodged a protest to China through diplomatic channels regarding the latest repatriation that occurred in April, stating that "related discussions with China have been ongoing at various levels."

Lee Sang-man, a Chinese affairs expert at the Kyungnam University Institute for Far Eastern Studies, suggested that it is unlikely South Korea has lodged a strong protest with China, nor will Minister Cho bring up the issue during his upcoming meeting with Wang.

Lee viewed that the seemingly restrained response is aimed at avoiding any disruption to the preparations for the upcoming trilateral summit, which is likely to be held in Seoul from May 26 to 27.

Amid enhancing trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, China has shown reluctance to participate in the event, the rotating chair of which is currently held by Korea. The last such summit took place in 2019.

"The primary objective of Cho's visit is to lay the groundwork for the summit. Bringing up the issue of North Korean escapees, where reaching common ground between the two sides is elusive, would not be a good idea. It's important for Seoul to keep efforts to find common priorities with China for the summit," Lee said.

Lee also viewed that South Korea's repeated demands for China to halt the repatriation have not yielded desired results, as Beijing sometimes uses the North Korean refugee issue as diplomatic leverage against Seoul.

"The trilateral meeting, if held, would be meaningful in spurring the long-stalled three-way cooperation. However, consensus on security matters would be challenging to achieve. Less sensitive topics such as people-to-people exchanges, environmental issues and cyberspace could offer areas of agreement," he noted.
Freddie Gray was a small-time petty criminal and drug dealer, who back in April of 2015 was arrested for possession of a knife illegal under Baltimore law.

Richly ironic was Gray was hanging out, likely making drug connections, in a Baltimore neighborhood notorious for that. Officers were there that day at DA Marilyn Mosbys direction in response to community outrage at the lawlessness in the area. Officers made a lawful Terry stop on Gray who ran, was caught and searched, and the knife was found. On the way to jail, Gray was seated in the back of a transport van and was seen and heard to be bashing himself against the interior of the vehicle. Before he arrived at the jail, he managed to break his neck and died, but not immediately.

Rushing to judgment long before a competent investigation could be completed, Mosby charged six officersthree white, three blackwith a ridiculous number of felonies. It was an egregious case of charge stacking. Some of them never so much as touched Gray. Mosby, also black, clearly saw political advantage in the charges, and quickly became the social justice hero of the moment. Gray never reached the holy social justice martyr status of George Floyd, whose martyrdom was years into the future.

Mosby, in the meantime, was enjoying her new-found celebrity. Photos of her and her husband Nick abounded, and magazines did tongue-bathing profiles of the newest young, black, female hero, a woman checking DEI boxes before checking DEI boxes became mandatory.

Graphic: ackbarsays, used with permission.

It quickly became obvious there was no criminal there there. The cases, before a black judge who had previously handled police misconduct cases for the federal DOJ, all ended badly for Mosby. The judge turned out to be an honest, non-racist jurist and his carefully considered decisions made clear there was never probable cause to arrest any of the officers, let alone proof beyond a reasonable doubt of any crime. Three of the officers were found not guilty of all charges, and because the remaining three would be tried on the same faulty and/or non-existent evidence, their charges were dismissed. An internal Baltimore Police investigation also eventually exonerated the officers of policy violations.

Throughout the debacle, Baltimore burned and then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake, also black, destroyed her political career by bizarrely proclaiming she gave the almost entirely black rioters space to destroy, by preventing the police from stopping riot, looting and arson. As is all too common for such people, Mosby, apparently thinking herself invulnerable, burned down her own career:

Disgraced former Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby sobbed in court Tuesday as she was convicted of mortgage fraud  a verdict that could carry decades in prison. The Democrat served in office from 2015 until she lost her 2022 reelection bid after being indicted on perjury and mortgage fraud charges related to the withdrawal of funds from the citys Deferred Compensation Plan. [skip] Mosby, 44, was indicted on both the perjury and mortgage fraud charges in January 2022, and was found guilty of the perjury in November 2023.

Mosby is facing up to 40 years in prison, though as one might expect, Joe Biden is being pressured to pardon her.

Will Biden pardon Mosby? For the moment, that will depend on entirely political calculations. If his handlers think a pardon will help solidify his base, its likely. Unfortunately for her, Mosby isnt Muslim, the identity group Bidens handlers currently most want to appease. Thus far in the campaign, theyre taking the black vote for granted. If Biden loses the election, expect his handlers, through Bidens shaky signature, to pardon all manner of miscreants, not the least his family and himself.

In the meantime, Baltimores crime rate continues to skyrocket. Its police force, laboring under a federal consent decree, is badly undermanned and recruiting has proved virtually impossible. The DOJ is doing all it can to prosecute the officers that remain, most of whom keep their heads down and do as little as possible.

And of course, the primary victims of this woke largess are the very poor, inner city black residents of Baltimore who would much prefer the police were allowed to do their jobs.

Thats the legacy of social justice martyr Freddie Gray, and Marilyn Mosby, the woman once lauded as the fresh face of young, female, black political success.

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.
By now, you all know that the turnout at President Donald Trumps rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, was one for the record books. However, that didnt occur in a vacuum. It is, instead, a portent of a tide strongly turning in his direction. That doesnt mean Democrat shenanigans wont cause trouble in November, but it does show a country ready to abandon Bidens disastrous presidency.

The estimates are that 80,000 to 100,000 people attended the rally, although, naturally, leftists are already quibbling with the numbers, just as they did on Trumps inauguration. Ignore those quibbles. Let your eyes tell you that the turnout in New JerseyNew Jersey!was humongous:

This one is gonna be hard to steal pic.twitter.com/w9pDaOGD6m  Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 12, 2024

Donald Trump has 80,000 Americans show up for HOURS ahead of a rally in deep blue New Jersey.



Joe Biden cannot get 8 people to show up for an event without the crowd yelling "EFF Joe Biden."



Yet Biden says he got 80 million votes last election. Sure!pic.twitter.com/9U401F6ilz  Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 11, 2024

This is NEW JERSEY. A Deep Blue state. FIVE HOURS before a #TrumpRally. WOW. pic.twitter.com/c4BxgoRmSk  Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 11, 2024

That kind of enthusiasm is money in the bank for a candidate. In 2016, I recall that Mark Steyn predicted that Donald Trump would win the election because of what he saw when he attended a rally in Vermont. The people who attend rallies also cast votes and, if they can, donate money. We saw that during Obamas 2008 run although Thomas Lifson has reminded me that Obama couldnt gin up that enthusiasm a second time around, in 2012.

Despite all the COVID panic, Trump managed to have huge rallies again in 2020, with tens of thousands of people attending. Those rallies contrasted strongly with Bidens rallies when tens of people sat in carefully distanced little circles or stayed in their cars and honked their horns.

What mattered most in 2020, though, was that it was the year of mass mail-in voting, drop boxes, and all sorts of dishonest practices, many of which are still coming to light (as was the case last week in Fulton County, Georgia). Polls also suggested a neck-and-neck race, so it was arguably possible for the outcome to go in either direction.

This year, though, Biden is still rallying only tens of people, except that, this time around, he doesnt have the COVID excuse to cover for the sparse attendance:

Bidens rally in Nevada today. Theres gotta be at least 40 people there! pic.twitter.com/VAPZV7Jfs5  American Patriot  (@BobbyWalker2002) March 20, 2024

Instead, the biggest crowds Biden has been able to assemble have been outside his events, and these are not Biden voters who are showing up:

Meanwhile Back at the Crooked Joe Biden Rally. pic.twitter.com/W21EO1Z6gK  Rob/1865 (@Rob1865_) May 8, 2024

Pro-Hamas extremists showed up today outside a fundraiser in Chicago that Joe Biden was attending.



This creature called the police the KKK and said, Tell me, does Joe Biden deserve a peaceful day in his miserable life?



Democrat infighting continues.pic.twitter.com/XdRWdUXZGA  Paul A. Szypula  (@Bubblebathgirl) May 9, 2024

ELECTION 2024.



On the Left: Trump's campaign rally in deep blue New Jersey.



On the Right: Biden's campaign fundraiser in Seattle.



You keep these two videos in mind when they announce Biden got 82 million votes again in November. pic.twitter.com/PDSPhxKsDQ  Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 11, 2024

In the following video, you get a two-fer, which is the pathetic attendance at a rally plus the leftist bases growing hatred for Bidens failure to destroy Israel:

At a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, President Biden was told to his face that he was genocidal Joe and shared responsibility for tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and children dying in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/g9LFWs4kvO  S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) March 10, 2024

Meanwhile, Trump doesnt bother with Bidens failed political dance on Israel and Hamas. Instead, he is full-throated in his defense of Israel and his hostility to jihad on American soil.

Biden "announced he will withhold shipping weapons to Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas terrorists in Gaza... I support Israel's right to win its war on terror. Is that OK? I don't know if that's good or bad politically. I don't care. Gotta do what's right."



-- Trump pic.twitter.com/3yMy5feNNg  Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) May 11, 2024

Trump promises to immediately deport foreign students participating in anti-Israel protests.



If you come here from another country and try to bring Jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to campuses we will immediately deport you. pic.twitter.com/JlkMlNXqT9  Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 12, 2024

Its not just the rallies and the protests, though. Whats fascinating are the polls. Lately, Ive been visiting the Real Clear Polling Biden v. Trump page daily, and its a sea of red. Today, Trump is up by 1.2 points on average:

As you study that, keep in mind the shy Tory factor, which still sees Republican candidates polling a little bit behind their actual numbers.

And even Trumps lead in the general polls is the most stunning thing. What is really stunning are todays numbers showing Bidens approval ratings and Trumps standing in key battleground states:

The swing state data was an especially pleasant surprise because Wisconsin was still Biden territory only yesterday. Today, its not.

Nor are these numbers anomalous. They reflect a very strong trend:

All this datathe rally attendance and the pollingshould have Democrats shaking in their shoes. All that theyve got to hang onto is a swift end to the war in the Middle East with a two-state solution (which wont happen) and what they think is their ace in the hole: Donald Trumps conviction.

While its possible Trump will be convicted, I believe a conviction will ensure his reelection rather than end his chances for the White House. Americans understand that this lawfare is fundamentally wrong and very dangerous. Allowing it to succeed will extinguish liberty in America forever.

Ill leave you with a thoroughly enjoyable video as a deeply depressed Fareed Zakaria explains very clearly and well why he thinks Trump is positioned to win:

When the 24 race began to take shape, I thought Pres. Biden had a strong pitch to voters: a rebounding economy and a return to normalcy after the chaos of Covid & Trump.



Things havent played out that way.



My take: pic.twitter.com/WAwifAZjfB  Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) May 12, 2024

Image: YouTube screen grab (cropped).
Should Biden be re-elected, which I seriously doubt, then America will become a historical asterisk.

If Trump is re-elected, and has the voting plurality to accomplish his goals, what should we expect?

In no particularly strict order, I submit the following:

1) He will address border issues and probably complete the wall, plugging it where it has been destroyed or penetrated.

2) He will make sure border staffing is adequate.

3) I suspect he will begin a series of returning illegal aliens back to their countries of origin.

4) After addressing border issues, Trump should turn his attention to those universities and colleges who have violated Americas civil rights laws and threaten to take away their government funding while calling for the resignation of their presidents, administrators and board members.

5) After that, I suspect he will fire the head of the FBI and demand that this corrupt agency enforce the law in at least two ways:

a) Begin an investigation to determine who has been financing the rioting campus marauders engaged in anarchy.

and

b) Gather and present evidence, to a newly constructed and staffed Department of Justice, that will form the basis of trials of rioters who broke the law.

6) The next neo-Marxist group Trump must attack is the education union for its illegal activities of subjecting students to a curriculum that results in teaching them to hate America and to be free to act outside parental authority and rid the description of parents as domestic terrorists.

7) Next, he should do his best to lay the groundwork for the Saudis to join the Abraham Accords so Israel, in conjunction with the other members, can begin to craft a postHamas war, self-governed Palestinian entity void of any Hamas and PLO involvement or connections.

8) He must unshackle Bibi and allow him to pursue the war as Bibi sees fit and re-instate delivery of any requested and approved arms deliverance, including all congressionally approved funding.

9) In terms of Americas economy, if The Fed has not already reduced rates, Trump will discuss with Fed chair Jerome Powell the need to do so immediately.

10) All of the above and more, if possible, could be implemented in the first two weeks after his inauguration. He will outline all of this in a major presidential speech to the nation.

11) He should pardon all of his former administration personnel who have been jailed because of their association with him, as a result of the weaponization of politics, and I would hope he would establish a government fund to reimburse them for their legal fees, etc.

12) I would hope and expect him to allow any impeachment of Biden and his family members to continue without any personal demands, pressures, or personal involvement. Leave that to Congress.

Were I one of his advisers, I would inform Trump if he does not do the above and more, I will no longer support him.

Even if the above is accomplished, I still remain fearful that too much toothpaste is out of the tube. But the above are the minimum essentials to get America back to where it needs to be.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
In  Washingtons makeover for GWU protest , dated May 4, 2024 (before the title was changed), a perspective piece from the Washington Post refers to the vandalism and defilement of our founding father, George Washington, as a makeover.

Philip Kennicott, the Post's art and architecture critic, waxes poetically that what is most striking is the symbolic incorporation of the statue into the wider messaging of the protest. Kennicott calls the desecration repurposing of an American symbol. His remark was not meant as satire.

Kennicott emphasizes that Washington was an enslaver and plantation owner. That is no doubt true. But he doesnt mention the overriding fact that Washington was the leading Founding Father of our nation. Without Washington, we very possibly would not have a United States. And then where would we be today? What other nation would have introduced humanity to the ideals of freedom and equality inherent in a democracy divorced from monarchical rule? George Washington was the legendary figure who led the formation of the first country dedicated to those ideals. But you will never read that in the Washington Post, which bashes him at every turn. Reading the Washington Post seems like studying a manual of Russian disinformation.

The article says Washington is no doubt a controversial figure among many of the people who are protesting American support for Israel. He omits the reason why. Is it because they are anti-American and Washington is the greatest human symbol of our nation? That is precisely it, and that obvious fact is missing from the article.

Kennicott says Washington has been symbolically appropriated as a defender of the Palestinian people. Says whom? Not the protestors. He quoted not one protestor to support his claim. It seems this article is just a vehicle for Kennicott to project his personal views on those of the protesters.

Kennicott goes on to say that the pro-Hamas encampments are a place of invention. exposes. Place of invention? Hardly. These college protests, with their matching tents, signs, and chants, are merely following a blueprint carefully drawn by pro-Palestinian operatives at the national level. Politico uncovered this stunning truth in their

The piece further states that the students are creating communities. It would be more accurate to say they are destroying communities. Jewish students are harassed. Classes are on hold. Graduation proceedings have been canceled. Property has been vandalized and/or demolished.

While Kennicott is out of his depth when writing about campus protests he clearly knows nothing about, he should look at the symbolism of the American flag being taken down and replaced by the Palestinian flag. That stunt has been performed throughout the country at many pro-Hamas college encampments. That is what he is glorifying. And that is the cause he has shamefully chosen to support.

Dr. Michael Berenhaus is a freelance activist who works to combat anti-Israel bias in the media. He has been widely published in news sources such as The Economist, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Image: Dr. Michael Berenhaus // by permission
Civil War is a movie in the same way a grenade is a source of light. Whatever else Civil War might be  a dystopian work of fiction, for one  it is foremost a psy-op exercise masked as a brave work of creative storytelling. Its bombastic violence is the shiny thing that distracts attention from the deeper purpose of the movie: to dissuade and demoralize any who would support Trump in 2024.

As with any psychological operation exercise, the movies mission is to change enemy behavior, shape the battlefield, and reduce the adversaries will to fight. For Alex Garland, the movies writer and director, Donald Trump and his right-wing supporters are the enemy. The battlefield is the 2024 election.

Garland, in his own words, is a man of the left  as in Im left-wing and [Im] picking a fight. He explains he is willing to lie to get to what I think is truth. (These quotes are from Canadian Tom Powers interview with Briton Alex Garland, key to understanding Garlands motivations and the movies psy-op methods.)

The movie is a shot over the bow of the right; it promises that if you elect Trump, civil war will happen. It is also a call to arms for the left; it promises that if Trump is elected, we will wash him away. (Know that neither Garland nor his movie has timid goals.) Woven within the shock and awe of the visual and audio assault on viewers senses are the many practiced ways Garland uses the subliminal and visual to embed his political message deep in the moviegoers emotions.

To make Garlands psy-op techniques more concrete, consider this partial list of subliminal messages he inserts in the flow of the movie to influence viewers:

The movies president character delivers a wandering speech, as is Trumps recognized proclivity.

President wears a red tie  red for GOP, red as Trumps signature tie color.

President disbanded the FBI  Trump is said to have threatened to do this.

President is in his third term  Trump accused of this unconstitutional intention.

President uses military against U.S. citizens  Trump accused of being a fascist totalitarian willing to kill Americans to achieve his goals.

The most egregious killers are camo-wearing rural white men  not Portland Antifa in their signature black uniforms, nor BLM in city context. Both of those groups did kill people.

The gas station killer is a rural white male wearing a red jacket and Christian cross.

The body-pit killer is a camo-clad, xenophobic Aryan male wearing rose-colored glasses.

The hot spot is Charlottesville, VA  A Predictable Atrocity in Donald Trumps America.

It is through the shocking visuals and pounding sound that Garland gains ground. It is through the subliminal that Garland gains power. The whole work is designed to grip and to control and to misdirect.

This analysis leans heavily on U.S. Army handbooks for understanding PSYOP Fundamentals and Psychological Operations and ultimately the fifth principle of Sun Tzus The Art of War to recognize the tools Garland uses to make his movie accomplish two ends:

1. Demoralize and weaken conservatives.

2. Inspire and embolden progressives.

Before and immediately following the movies first showing, promoters flooded the print and digital worlds with declarations the movie was balanced. Balance was the chosen word on which all things turned and the only acceptable frame through which to view the movie. Here again is psy-op in action: impose and imprint a desired message to shape the targets mind to bring change to the targets behavior.

Yet if Garland had wanted even the facade of balance for his grossly unbalanced movie, he could have included subliminal messages and images showing actual threats to America:

the invasion of millions of illegal aliens across Americas southern border;

the shoplifting gangs raiding retail stores in liberal cities, open crime on the streets of liberal cities, rampant carjackings in liberal D.C., street thugs sucker-punching Hasidic Jews in liberal NYC, and

the Pelosi purge via her January 6 totalitarian prosecutions and the Schumer shrug-off of the Ashli Babbitt shooting by Capitol Police.

In truth, the movie is not the least bit balanced. But it is obscure. The two are not the same, and Garland uses obscurity and the absence of clarity to hide the fact that the movie is purposefully unbalanced to confuse heads and capture hearts. For while facts inform, emotions move people to action.

The movie has resolute purpose. Im in some respect picking a fight, Garland warned . Im not making this movie accidentally. I have a position. This is important because if you dont make your intellectual mind override your emotional heart, you will surrender to Garlands psy-op methods and goals.

At its core, the movie is a platform from which Garland launches an array of almost constant subliminal messages and images  it is propaganda a la Joseph Goebbels, with Saul Alinsky twists, and, most of all, Sun Tzus tenets that all warfare is based on deception, and one wins without fighting by undermining the enemys trust in their leadership and confidence in their own position.

At the end of the interview (time track 34:1034:25), Garland spills the beans. He says, I am concerned. Right. I am concerned. So Im taking a position on things that I, on an ideological level, disagree with. Civil War is that position.

Greg Moo is a former high school principal, college teacher, organizational development consultant, and author of articles, a white paper, and a policy book: Power Grab: How the National Education Association Is Betraying Our Children.

Image: LIDayo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Google Wallet is probably the most convenient and usable tap-to-pay platform on Android. However, as with most platforms, it gets less convenient the older the device you have. Google just announced that Google Wallet will not work on older devices.

If youre curious about what Google Wallet is and why you should use it, we have a full rundown of what this platform is. Its a great platform to use if you want to migrate away from using a real-life wallet. While not a proper replacement for your wallet, it can replace it in certain areas.

If youre a person who doesnt like taking out their credit card just to make a purchase, you can use Google Wallets tap-to-pay ability to pay for products. This is not the only functionality that this platform brings.

Google Wallet will not work on older devices

If youve been using Google Wallet on an older device, then youre going to be in for a bit of disappointing news. The company announced that, if youre using a phone with Android 8 or older, Google Wallet will no longer work. Google has been removing apps targeted at older versions of Android and telling developers not to develop for them.

Why is this? Well, its for security. In the updated Google support document, Google said that security updates arent available for Android versions below 9. As such, if youre using Google Wallet on a version of Android older than 9 Pie, you will not be able to receive the proper security updates to keep your phone secure. This, ostensibly, puts your phone at a higher risk of being infiltrated by bad actors. Thats the LAST thing you want to happen on an app that handles your credit cards and I.D.

This isnt only for people running Android. If youre a person using a wearable running Wear OS 2 or below, you will also be losing support.

It may be time to upgrade

If youre using an older device, and Google Wallet is crucial to your experience, then it may be time to upgrade. Its going to be an annoyance having to spend money on a new device if your current device is working perfectly. However, there are several benefits to upgrading your device.

Firstly, having a newer device will give you access to newer features coming to the software. Second, newer devices are more secure because they receive all the newest security updates. The number of security updates you get will vary depending on the manufacturer. Youre going to get more security updates with phones from Google and Samsung.

Lastly, having a newer device means that you are using newer hardware. So, your device will be better able to handle day-to-day tasks and last longer on a single charge.

If you dont want to spend a lot of money, then you can check out our list of the best budget smartphones on the market.
Baroness Floella Benjamin recalled how she was warned to shut up or she would never work again as she described championing diversity and inclusion over the course of her long television career.

The beloved childrens presenter, 74, known to millions of Britons as the host of BBC childrens TV shows Play School and Play Away, was honoured with the Bafta fellowship at the annual television awards.

Collecting the highest honour from the television academy, she said: I feel blessed as I stand on the summit of the lifes mountain, looking back at my adventurous journey sparkled with affection, but also with challenges and adversities.

Baroness @FloellaBenjamin OM DBE DL receives the BAFTA Fellowship. Read more about Floellas long-standing career in our #BAFTATVAwards with @pandocruises Show Notes at the link below.  https://t.co/GVGfusG3EI#BAFTATVAwards with @pandocruises  Rachel Smith pic.twitter.com/muYgQ3ytji  BAFTA (@BAFTA) May 12, 2024

Ive been told shut up, or youll never work again when I spoke out. But my mission over the last 50 years has been to get broadcasters and organisations to have diversity and inclusion in their DNA, paving the way for future generations.

I am so proud of my work for children, making them feel loved, confident, hopeful, worthy, as I took them through the windows of imagination, inspiring to grow up and make a difference for others.

Offering a call to action, Baroness Benjamin added: I believe everyone in our industry has that same responsibility, as we are privileged to be able to influence societys thinking and behaviour, which in turn affects the nations children.

So its important that we provide high quality regulated content that reflects childrens lives, no matter where or how theyre watching.

Baroness Floella Benjamin (Ian West/PA)

Our industry is in turmoil, facing new technology, mental health issues, cuts, unemployment. The Government must provide creative survival solutions as we navigate this rapidly changing landscape.

Oh, how I wish my beloved mum and dad were alive to celebrate this part of my familys Windrush journey.

The veteran star received a video tribute from the Prince of Wales, who is the president of Bafta, who hailed her remarkable achievements as well as her commitment to television broadcasting, and her work as an unwavering champion of inclusion.

William added: In a career spanning more than five decades, she has touched the lives of millions.

The award was presented to her by newsreader Clive Myrie, who paid tribute to her illustrious career, adding: She has proven to be a multifaceted talent, excelling in everything from theatre to film, to public service.

Yet, no matter where life has taken her, Floella has remained true to the spirit of kindness, compassion, and inclusivity that endeared her to audiences worldwide.
The Foreign Secretary has branded Hamas callous over a video showing a British-Israeli hostage who the militants said had died in Gaza.

Lord David Cameron on Sunday said he could give no updates on the fate of Nadav Popplewell as the Foreign Office investigates what happened.

Hamas on Saturday released a statement that the 51-year-old had died after being wounded in an Israeli air strike a month ago.

It provided no evidence for the claim and the Israeli military has not commented.

It came hours after the Palestinian militant group released undated footage of Mr Popplewell, who was taken hostage during its October 7 attack on Israel, with a black eye confirming his name.

Lord Cameron told the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: I cant give you any new updates this morning.

Like everyone else, I watched the video on Twitter, X, last night, put out by Hamas of Nadav answering a question as to who he was. And I watched that video and you just think, what callous people they are to do that, to play with the familys emotions in that way.

I met Nadavs family, his sister, and I know the heartbreak theyve been going through for over 200 days, and when you see what Hamas are prepared to do, you just realise the terrible, dreadful, inhuman people, frankly, that we are dealing with.

Lord David Cameron condemned Hamas over the footage (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is trying to work out what has happened and will not say anything until we have better information, he added.

The Tory peer also urged the BBC to call Hamas a terrorist group.

Maybe its a moment actually for the BBC to ask itself again, shall we describe these people as terrorists? They are terrorists.

In response, a BBC spokesperson said: No-one consuming BBC News can be left unaware of the horrific nature of Hamas acts.

Weve made our long-standing position on this matter very clear  we use the word terrorist when it is attributed to others, such as the UK Government.

On Saturday, an FCDO spokesperson 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.

Nadav Popplerwell from Kibbutz Nirim is a family-oriented person who loves spending time with his beloved nephews. He is also a dedicated enthusiast of speculative fiction books. On October 7th, terrorists broke into his mother's house, kidnapped him and his mother, Hana Peri, to pic.twitter.com/ATXaBhXm5L  Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) January 12, 2024

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.
Reducing the number of international students coming to the UK would be calamitous, a senior university leader has insisted.

Such a move could harm the economy, skills and jobs, Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, president of Universities UK (UUK), has said, branding such a move unnecessary.

In March, Home Secretary James Cleverly asked for a review of whether the graduate visa route is undermining the integrity and quality of the higher education system.

A report from the review is due to be received by the UK Government.

The professor, who is also principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, made her comments on the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News.

Sir Trevor asked: Its being said that because of their concerns about overall immigration numbers, (the Conservatives) want to reduce the number of international students. Is that an issue for you?

Dame Sally said: It is a very big issue for us. International students are incredibly important to UK culture.

They contribute a huge amount to universities, to the economy, to skills and jobs and we think it would be a tragedy, calamitous not just for institutions but actually for the UK as a whole, if the Government took what would actually be quite unnecessary further action to restrict the number of international students coming into the UK.

A Government spokesperson said: We must strike the balance between acting decisively to tackle net migration and attracting the brightest students to study at our universities.

In December, we announced an independent expert review of the graduate route to prevent any abuse and ensure it is working in our interests, attracting and retaining the best talent.

We are providing significant financial support of nearly 6 billion per year to the higher education sector, plus more than 10 billion per year in tuition fee loans.

Home Secretary James Cleverly asked for a review in March (PA)

In March, Mr Cleverly wrote to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), to assess if the graduate visa route  which allows overseas graduates to stay in the UK for two or three years after graduation  is supporting the UK to attract and retain the brightest and the best.

He said he wanted to ensure that the graduate route was not being abused and that some of the demand for study visas is not being driven more by a desire for immigration rather than education.

University leaders warned in February that the Government could damage the economies of towns and cities with policies which deter international students.

UUK suggested that uncertainty over the Governments commitment to the UKs post-study work offer is affecting the decision-making of prospective students.

Tory peer Lord Jo Johnson, the former universities minister, has also called for the Government not to make cuts to international student numbers, calling the idea self-defeating.

He said: Slashing the graduate route would set back so many important Government policy priorities: Global Britain, levelling up, exports, science superpower. Its hard to think of a policy more self-defeating, and all for what? To lower immigration stats which international students shouldnt be part of anyway.

The sooner they are treated as migrants only when they actually indicate an intention to immigrate by applying for the graduate (visa) or a skilled economic work visa, the better.

In a rational world, overseas students would be treated as temporary residents or tourists, with which they share many characteristics.

Dr Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group of leading research universities, said: International students are hugely valued as part of our university community, not only for their contributions to our local and national economies, but also their significant social and cultural benefits  including long-lasting soft power on the global stage.

Placing further restrictions on them doesnt make economic sense and will have a direct, negative impact on UK students.
The final season of Happy Valley will compete against heist series The Gold and spy drama Slow Horses for a top prize at the Bafta TV Awards on Sunday.

They are nominated alongside crime drama Top Boy for the best drama prize at the ceremony, which will be presented by Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan at the Royal Festival Hall.

The swansong of creator Sally Wainwrights Yorkshire-set thriller Happy Valley already has a string of awards under its belt.

One week to go until the #BAFTATVAwards with @pandocruises  Join Rob and Romesh on Sunday 12 May at 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer. If you're not in the UK head to the link below to find out where to watch, including on BritBox International.  https://t.co/xa4gkXj7Cr pic.twitter.com/lMq5mPAHEm  BAFTA (@BAFTA) May 5, 2024

Star Sarah Lancashire is also nominated for the best actress Bafta for her portrayal of no-nonsense sergeant Catherine Cawood.

She will compete against veteran actress Anne Reid for her role in The Sixth Commandment, which explores the deaths of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.

Also scoring a leading actress nomination is Bella Ramsey for her role in The Last Of Us, the TV adaptation of the hugely popular video game which is set in a post-apocalyptic world where society has been destroyed by a pandemic.

Helena Bonham Carter is also nominated in the leading actress category for her role in ITVXs Nolly, which saw her playing Crossroads star Noele Gordon, known to her friends as Nolly, in the Russell T Davies drama about the rise and fall of the actress.

Bella Ramsey scored a leading actress nomination (Ian West/PA)

Actress Anjana Vasan, also known for Channel 4s We Are Lady Parts, is nominated in the leading actress category for her role in Black Mirror instalment Demon 79 as sales assistant Nida, while Sharon Horgan is nominated for Best Interests,

The final series of Netflixs royal drama The Crown is also in the running for a string of prizes.

Among the nominations for the sixth series, which was released in two parts last year, are a leading actor nomination for Dominic West who played Charles, then the Prince of Wales, and a supporting actor nomination for Salim Daw, for his role as Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Diana, Princess of Waless partner, Dodi Fayed.

The series has two nominations in the supporting actress category, with Elizabeth Debicki nominated for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales and Lesley Manville for her role as Princess Margaret.

Dominic West is nominated in the leading actor category (Ian West/PA)

Scottish actor Brian Cox is nominated in the leading actor category for his role as patriarch Logan Roy in media dynasty drama Succession, alongside The Crowns West, Kane Robinson for Top Boy, Paapa Essiedu for The Lazarus Project, and Timothy Spall for The Sixth Commandment.

The nomination marks Coxs first Bafta TV nomination since 1993, when he was nominated for The Lost Language Of Cranes.

Steve Coogan, known for portraying comedy character Alan Partridge, is also nominated in the leading actor category for his portrayal of serial sex offender Jimmy Savile in BBCs The Reckoning.

Six talked-about TV moments are also shortlisted for a Bafta, which has been voted for by the public.

Former childrens TV presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin will receive the Bafta Fellowship (Ian West/PA)

Ncuti Gatwas unveiling as the 15th Time Lord in Doctor Who, Logan Roys shocking death in Succession and David Beckhams teasing of wife Victoria about her working-class upbringing are among the stand-out scenes in the running for the P&O Cruises memorable moment award.

Characters Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royces final kitchen showdown in Happy Valley, blind musician Lucys performance in The Piano and the relationship between Bill and Frank in The Last Of Us are also in contention for the prize.

Former childrens TV presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin will receive the Bafta Fellowship at the ceremony, while daytime star Lorraine Kelly will be given a special award.

The Bafta TV Awards will air on BBC One at 7pm.
Korea's Army chief of staff was set to leave for Washington on Sunday for talks with his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Randy George, to discuss exchange and cooperation between their armies, according to the Army.

Gen. Park An-su will then fly to Hawaii to attend the Land Forces Pacific (LANPAC) Symposium and is set to hold high-level talks with his counterparts from major countries on regional peace and stability as well as cooperation in the military and defense industry.

Park also plans to visit the U.S. Army Pacific and discuss ways to boost joint drills on the island. (Yonhap)
Grant Shapps has predicted Russias next defence minister will be another of Vladimir Putins puppets amid reports Sergei Shoigu is set to be replaced.

Russias president is moving long-time ally Mr Shoigu to another role and has proposed appointing former deputy prime minister Andrei Belousov in his place more than two years into the Ukraine war.

Sergei Shoigu has overseen over 355k casualties amongst his own soldiers & mass civilian suffering with an illegal campaign in Ukraine. Russia needs a Defence Minister who would undo that disastrous legacy & end the invasion  but all theyll get is another of Putins puppets. https://t.co/gNAhXqoRcm  Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) May 12, 2024

Defence Secretary Mr Shapps said: Sergei Shoigu has overseen over 355k casualties amongst his own soldiers & mass civilian suffering with an illegal campaign in Ukraine.

Russia needs a Defence Minister who would undo that disastrous legacy & end the invasion  but all theyll get is another of Putins puppets.

Mr Shoigu, defence minister since 2012, is set to become secretary of Russias national security council.

The reshuffle of the military command is the most significant Mr Putin has undertaken since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

The announcement came amid Russias renewed armoured push across the border in north-eastern Ukraine.
Israels Eden Golan has finished in fifth place after receiving an audience score of 323 points, including 12 points from the United Kingdoms public vote.

The 20-year-old singer celebrated with her team while jeers sounded throughout Malmo Arena in Sweden as the vote was announced, which put the country briefly in first place with a total of 375 points.

Despite only scoring 52 points from the other countrys jury votes, Golan topped the UKs public vote with 12, while 10 votes went to Irelands Bambie Thug, who finished in sixth place.

Switzerlands Nemo was the winner with 591 points, while Croatias Baby Lasagna was given 547 points and Ukraines Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil with the emotional and religious song Teresa & Maria landed on 453 points.

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)

Golan had performed her emotional song Hurricane in the final, which was reworked from a previous track called October Rain, which was thought to reference the Hamas attacks on Israel that sparked the current conflict.

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.

Eden Golan reacts as the judges votes start to be announced during the Grand Final of the Eurovision (Martin Meissner/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 travelled 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, had 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, took 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.

There have also been several incidents of fans waving Palestinian flags during rehearsals.
Comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan have poked fun at the economy after Liz Trusss spell as prime minister, NHS waiting times and Russian President Vladimir Putin as they hosted the Bafta TV awards.

The duo, who hosted the ceremony for the second consecutive time, opened the show with a monologue featuring a host of topical gags.

Deal Or No Deal returned with Stephen Mulhern as the host, although thanks to Liz Truss the banker hasnt been able to offer him anything lower than a 17% five-year fixed rate, Ranganathan joked, referencing Britains shortest-serving prime minister.

Former prime minister Liz Truss was the target of jokes (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Last month, Ms Truss again refused to apologise for the banking crisis, pointing out that mortgage rates have gone up across the world, and reiterated her criticism of Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.

Beckett continued the opening monologue: At the end of last year, Ncuti Gatwa became the 15th incarnation of Doctor Who.

At least someone could get a doctors appointment  am I right guys? Ranganathan joked.

Beckett said here we go, did someone order double politics, to which Ranganathan replied: A little bit of topical.

Later they introduced two stars of The Responder, a drama about a first response police unit in Merseyside, to announce an award.

Which unfortunately means they could arrive on stage anywhere between two minutes and five hours, Ranganathan joked, to which Beckett replied: Triple politics.

The duo also made reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Theres also been loads of great documentaries and current affairs shows this year, such as Putin Vs The West, Ranganathan said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was mentioned at the Baftas (Nick Potts/PA)

Unfortunately, weve been told that Putin cant make it tonight. But a lot of the West is here, Beckett joked.

Ranganathan closed the monologue saying he hoped the awards go some small way to bringing the country together.

Like Elton Johns set at Glastonbury, the final of The Traitors or Nigel Farage on Im A Celebrity, he joked, referencing the British politician placing third on the ITV reality show.

The duo also took aim at famous faces including Barney Walsh, the son of TV star Bradley Walsh, presenter Lorraine Kelly and The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman.

Beckett said: We were all glued to a gripping drama of Succession, to see who of the next generation would follow in his fathers footsteps.

Yes, it turns out it was Barney Walsh, Ranganathan joked.

Bradley Walsh and Barney Walsh (Ian West/PA)

The brilliant Top Boy has also been nominated for three awards this year. Its a show full of guns, laundered money and drugs. Incidentally all things that are on Lorraine Kellys rider, Ranganathan told the audience.

He also said he enjoyed the thriller Slow Horses.

I love Gary Oldmans character, anyone who isnt afraid of farting on national TV is fine by me speaking of which Claudia Winkleman is here, Ranganathan joked.

Beckett added: The producers of The Crown are hoping to take home four Baftas this evening.

Which will make up for the fact they are never, ever, ever getting an MBE, Ranganathan said.

The duo kicked off the Bafta TV awards issuing stern instructions to the star-studded audience.

Beckett said: We are back for a second year as hosts. There were a few mistakes made last year so if you win, we love a good acceptance speech  but keep it tight.

Ranganathan added: Actually dont say anything at all.

Producers, you can come up to the stage if you must, but please stand at the back and let the famous people talk.

To the actors, its impossible to fall in love with a script  you read it, you liked it and thought it would make you some money.

Beckett continued: If you have got to make a political point remember we have got to follow you, so keep it light.
Lorraine Kelly said dont pull up the ladder to those from working-class backgrounds to break into the TV industry, as she was presented with a special award at the TV Baftas ceremony.

Succession star Brian Cox presented the award to the queen of daytime TV, who has hosted ITV chat show Lorraine for the past 30 years.

I suppose if Ive learned anything at all over the past 40 years, its whats the point of having all that experience if you dont actually share it, and if you dont actually pass it on, and help other people, Kelly said on stage.

The wonderful @reallorraine reflects on her amazing career as she collects the BAFTA Special Award #BAFTATVAwards with @pandocruises pic.twitter.com/NvJOd1lqfa  BAFTA (@BAFTA) May 12, 2024

So I would just say dont pull up the ladder, please make it possible for kids like me from my background, from a very working class Glasgow background, rise the same from Dundee.

Weve had amazing opportunities, but I just want everyone to have those opportunities the same that we did.

It comes after she said it is now almost impossible for those from working-class backgrounds to break into the industry, calling for more opportunities outside of London  having been told she would never make it on the screen due to her Scottish accent.

Lorraine Kelly attending the Bafta TV Awards 2024 (Ian West/PA)

Speaking backstage, she said the lack of opportunity comes down to money a lot.

I was only able to come to London and work because I got help with a place to rent and I got a reasonable salary and that actually was the only reason that I was able to do it. I was in a very fortunate position, she said.

Kelly said her husband Steve Smith was an electrician in Dundee at the time and he came to work for the BBC in London.

She added: He got put up in a hostel, the BBC had hostels for people from all over the UK, and maybe we have to start looking at that.

I know that ITV are doing amazing things, they really try really hard and other media organisations as well.

But I think (it can be) as simple as giving somebody somewhere to live thats affordable for them.

Mark Heyes, Lorraine Kelly and Rosie Smith attending the Bafta TV Awards 2024 (Ian West/PA)

On-stage, Kelly thanked her mother and father for her work ethic, as well as her fantastic husband and her daughter Rosie, who is pregnant with her first child.

And my daughter Rosie who is working on the most exciting production. Shes having a baby and making us grandparents and Im so proud  this means the world, she said of the award.

Speaking backstage, she said theres no better title in the world than being a grandmother.

It hasnt quite sunk in yet to be honest, but Im just so proud of my girl, shes got a lovely, lovely partner and theyre really happy and Im going to be Granny Smith  my married name is Smith, she said.

When asked how long she would continue fronting Lorraine, she said: Ill be in there in my zimmer frame, as long as people want me to do it, Im there.

Im on the telly tomorrow but Im going to celebrate tonight, Kelly added on stage.

Brian Cox attending the Bafta TV Awards 2024, at the Royal Festival Hall in London (Ian West/PA)

Scottish actor Cox described Kelly as having infectious humour, boundless enthusiasm and genuine, genuine kindness.

The 64-year-old said she was honoured that viewers of the show think of me as a pal  they think of me as their friend.

I never, ever, take it for granted that so many people trust me with their stories, she said.

Now one of televisions most recognisable faces, Kelly was told of her Bafta award live on air on March 25 by Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid during her weekday show.

She was recognised for her outstanding contribution over her 40-year career in broadcasting, since she joined TV-am in 1984.

Previous names to win the special award include Clare Balding, Idris Elba and Sir Lenny Henry.
James Belsky, a truck driver was used to traveling with his Miniature Dachshund everywhere until a family emergency which required him to fly home caused him to book a dog-sitter via the pet sitting service Rover in Phoenix.

Blesky dropped his pup named Dobbie off with a five star rated Rover sitter and was shocked to receive a phone call from the sitter just two hours after he dropped Dobbie off.

12 News reports, "He was going to take out the trash and Dobbie ran out the door, Belsky said. Somehow my wiener dog ran down three flights of stairs.

Dobbie was last seen Feb. 12 running away near West Campbell Avenue and the I-17. The dog sitter told Belsky he was traumatized as well and promised to spend the entire day and night searching to get little man home safe.

The sitter said he would print stacks of missing dog flyers, but when Belsky returned to the apartment days later and walked the neighborhood, he saw none posted. Instead of picking up his best friend, the sitter sent him home with Dobbies leash and collar.

Related: Rover Sitter Goes Above and Beyond to Help Puppy in Her Care After Owner Abandoned Him

12 News also received this statement from Rover.

As you noted, our team worked to support search efforts for Dobbie and Mr. Belsky during this challenging time. We refunded his stay, offered a significant reward for information leading to locating Dobbie, posted in online pet-finding websites that send alerts directly to local shelters and veterinarians, and reached out to members of our sitter community in the area. The reward remains active and our team is ready to assist if anyone has information that would help bring Dobbie home.



Rover prioritizes the safety of our community. In the rare event that a safety issue occurs during a booking, our 24/7 Trust and Safety team will conduct a thorough investigation and take appropriate action. In this instance, the sitter has been removed from our community and can no longer offer services through our platform.

Rover offered a $1,000 dollar reward for Dobbies return and sent notices to nearby dog sitters, veterinarians and shelters, but there is still no sign of Belsky's beloved dog.

How To Find a Reliable Dog Sitter

One of the best ways of finding a sitter you can trust with your pets is to ask friends and family who they use. Ask on your social media page to find someone who people you know can vouch for.

Get references! If you hire people for a job, you get referencesthis is a job, and a most important job. It never hurts to check people's backgrounds out and make sure they are who they say they are and they know how to do what they say they know how to do.

Make sure you fully explain what you expect the pet sitter to do, as far as walking, feeding and how many times per day they will visit your pet. Discuss fees, payment methods, cancellation policies, and any additional charges for extra services or special requests.

Ask them what they will do in case of emergency, if your dog is lost, or if your animal gets sick. Make sure you have multiple ways of contacting them, and let them know how often you wish to be contacted and if you want photos of your pet texted to you.

Before leaving your pet in the care of a new pet sitter, consider arranging a trial visit or short-term pet-sitting session to evaluate their compatibility with your pet and their ability to follow instructions. Monitor your pet's behavior and well-being during the trial period and address any concerns or issues that arise. Trust your instinct! If your pet seems uncomfortable or if you feel the vibe is off with their interactions with your pet, keep looking.

It's always better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to our fur babies.

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Hospitals, coastguard operations centres, job centres, universities, Church of England churches and other public institutions can now apply to have a free official portrait of the King.

They will be able to claim the free framed image from June 5 to mid-August as The Kings Official Portrait Scheme is extended to include more public institutions.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said: Our public authorities and established churches are an essential part of the fabric of the nation and it is right that they have the chance to commemorate this moment.

Displaying this new portrait also serves as a reminder of the example set by our ultimate public servant. Like his mother before him, The King has dedicated his life and work to serving others.

Charles is pictured in full regalia inside Windsor Castle wearing his Royal Navy uniform as an Admiral of the Fleet and an abundance of official medals and decorations.

He was captured last year by photographer Hugo Burnand, who also took the King and Queens coronation portraits and their 2005 wedding photos.

The Cabinet Office has released a new official portrait of His Majesty The King that will soon hang in public buildings the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. pic.twitter.com/3MIiVXAPUx  Cabinet Office (@cabinetofficeuk) January 16, 2024

A serious-looking Charles stands in the royal residences Grand Corridor as he rests his right hand on his pristine white gloves on an antique table and grasps a sword with his left.

Hospitals, job centres, universities, HM Coastguard operations centres, coroners courts and Church of England places of worship are among the newly eligible organisations.

The scheme was previously open to local authorities, court buildings, schools, police forces and fire and rescue services and other public institutions across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, among others.
Bob Menendez after a Senate luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, on 23 January 2024. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

The criminal corruption trial of Democratic US senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is scheduled to get under way in a Manhattan federal court Monday, with prosecutors preparing a colorful tale of a greedy politician with a fondness for gold bullion, fast cars, and almost half a million dollars in cash found hidden around his home.

Menendez, 70, insists he is innocent of the 16 felony charges brought against him by the US attorneys office of the southern district of New York, including bribery, extortion, obstruction, and acting as a foreign agent.

But prosecutors allege he used his considerable power and influence as chair of the Senate foreign relations committee to illegally smooth over lucrative business deals for several associates with the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Related: Bob Menendez faces fresh corruption allegations involving Qatar

And they say the 13 gold bars  and money found stuffed into jacket pockets, closets and a safe during a summer 2022 raid on his house in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, as well as a gleaming new Mercedes-Benz in the garage  were his rewards.

Menendez resigned his committee post but refused to stand down as a senator, even after a superseding indictment in January leveled new allegations, including that he took gifts of more cash and gold, as well as Formula 1 tickets and high-end wristwatches, for promoting Qatari interests.

The charges are wide-ranging. Prosecutors say he also divulged secret information to Egyptian officials about the number and nationalities of US embassy staff in Cairo  and that he tried to disrupt a New Jersey criminal case against another businessman friend.

What the government really has going for it in this case is the picture of a powerful senator renting his office to a foreign power, Daniel Richman, an expert on federal bribery law at Columbia Law School, told the Washington Post.

Politicians in his own party have been critical of Menendez, who will stand trial alongside his wife Nadine and three New Jersey businessmen, including Wael Hana, an Egyptian government representative alleged to have set up shell companies to transfer the money and some of the gifts.

The Pennsylvania Democratic senator John Fetterman is among those demanding Menendezs resignation and has repeatedly called the New Jersey senator a sleazebag. Fetterman told CNN last week: He wont be around much longer  that would be my bet.

Menendez has declared he will not be running as a Democrat in November for re-election to the New Jersey Senate seat he has held since 2006. But he has not ruled out a campaign as an independent.

At a press conference last September, Menendez remained defiant, claiming the $480,000 found in the raid was for his personal use and insisting that he would not quit. Asked last week by CNN if he would resign from the senate if convicted, he replied: I am looking forward to proving my innocence.

The trial, to begin Monday with jury selection, is expected to last several weeks.

It is the second time in a decade that Menendez has faced bribery charges after a 2017 mistrial into separate corruption claims, including that he misused campaign donations from a Florida eye doctor and cavorted with prostitutes at the doctors home in the Dominican Republic.

A jury was unable to reach a verdict after an 11-week trial, and prosecutors announced in February 2018 that they would not seek to retry him. Menendez was elected to the Senate for his fourth term later that year.
Army troops on Nato exercises are being advised on how to dodge electronic surveillance - Cpl Aaron J Stone/Army

British troops have been warned that the Kremlin could spy on their phones when they conduct military exercises near the countrys border.

Thousands of British soldiers have been deployed to countries which border Russia to conduct major land and air assault exercises as part of Operation Steadfast Defender, Natos largest military exercise since the Cold War.

Lieutenant Colonel Grant Brown warned troops in Estonia that Russian agents could carry out an electronic collect of data on their mobile phones, according to The Times.

He wrote: We must be under no illusions. Russia will be watching us as we prepare, as we deploy and as we are operating in Europe.

Thats a good thing, it is the whole point of this deployment. But it will mean a rigorous approach to things like the use of mobile phones while out in theatre.

We must expect Russian agents to be conducting an electronic collect on us while there, so the measures we will have in place are designed to protect all of us.

One of the main threats is the location of soldiers being revealed - Cpl Aaron J Stone/Army

Russia has been accused previously of compromising the smartphones of Nato personnel in order to mine or delete contacts and intimidate soldiers.

The British force at the base in Estonia has several measures in place to counter the threat, including a rule that phones are to be left in dorm rooms during exercises.

Geo-tagging reportedly must also be disabled to stop locations being revealed.

One soldier said that the main threats were phones being used to trace their location being tracked and the contact details of friends and family being hacked.

He said: Typically what you would see particularly in the Operation Herrick days [the codename for the Afghanistan campaign], is them getting access to personal contact details of loved ones at home and just trying to use that against us. Theyre just trying to use any asset that is available to them.

So, again, its why its very important to stick to the guidance thats pushed out from above.

Brigadier Mark Berry, commander of the 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, said not using mobile phones would make troops harder to find.

He said: Electronic surveillance is a tool that many different nations have, so its important for our soldiers that they get used to taking the precautions that will limit any adversary.

Simply going back to what we call reversionary methods, old-fashioned ways of doing business, not using GPS but using maps and compasses, were hiding from those enemy surveillance tactics.
Socialist party of Catalonia candidate Salvador Illa (centre) and others on the day of Catalonia's regional election, 12 May. Photograph: Nacho Doce/Reuters

Separatist parties are in danger of losing their decade-long hold of power in Spains northeastern Catalonia region, with the pro-union Socialist party poised to win the most votes in Sundays election, according to a near-complete count of the ballots.

The four pro-independence parties, led by the Together party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, were set to get a total of 61 seats, short of the key figure of 68 seats needed for a majority in the chamber.

The Socialists, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, were on course to win 42 seats, up from 33 in 2021, when they also barely won the most votes but were unable to form a government.

The Socialists will still need to earn the backing of other parties to put Illa in charge. Dealmaking in the coming days, perhaps weeks, will be key to forming a government. Neither a hung parliament nor a new election is out of the question.

Related: Catalan election gives voters chance to leave lost decade, says Salvador Illa

But Illas surge should bode well for the prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, and the Socialists before European parliament elections next month.

The snap election was called in March by Catalonias ERC president, Pere Aragones, after opposition parties voted down the budget proposed by his minority government.

The ERC (Republican Left party) had governed in coalition with Junts, which is led by the self-exiled former Catalan president Puigdemont, until festering disagreements led the latter to abandon the government in October 2022.

Sundays vote comes six and a half years after Puigdemont plunged Spain into its worst political crisis in decades by staging an unlawful, unilateral referendum on regional independence and following it up with a unilateral declaration of independence.

The conservative Spanish government of the time responded by sending in thousands of police officers to stop people voting, often violently. It then sacked Puigdemont and his cabinet, dissolved the regional parliament and took direct control of Catalonia. Puigdemont fled Spain to avoid arrest, leaving other key figures in the independence movement to face trial and prison.

Tempers have cooled and tensions lowered since Sanchez became prime minister in 2018. Almost three years ago, Sanchez pardoned nine independence leaders over their role in the failed push to secede, and called for a new era of dialogue and understanding. Although the pardons were controversial, they were nothing like as contentious as the amnesty law that Sanchez introduced in April in order to win the support of the ERC and Junts and thereby secure his return to office after last summers inconclusive general election.

The law  whose most high-profile beneficiary is Puigdemont  will apply to about 400 people involved in the symbolic independence referendum of November 2014 and the poll that followed three years later.

Polls had consistently pointed to a win for the PSC. Illa has acknowledged that some people remain unconvinced by the amnesty, which the Peoples party and others have decried as a cynical, self-serving and craven piece of political manoeuvring by Sanchez, but he has said the move and other conciliatory gestures have greatly reduced tensions.

He accused the ERC and Junts of being too obsessed with independence to improve Catalonias declining public services or to prepare for the drought in the region over the past three years.

In an interview with the Guardian on Friday, Illa said a PSC-led government would allow Catalonia to move past what he called a lost decade of rule by the ERC and Junts.

This election could  and should  open a new era in Catalonia that Id define in two words: the verbs unite and serve, he said. When you talk to people about what matters to them, they talk about the drought, about education  which was always excellent in Catalonia, but which is now lagging behind the rest of Spain  about infrastructure, about safety, about healthcare.

Puigdemont, who is preparing to return to Spain once the amnesty law takes effect, has said his party may abandon its support for Sanchez if it does not like the composition of a PSC-led government.

During a final campaign rally in the south of France on Friday, Puigdemont appealed for the faithful to come out and vote This vote will be a banged fist on the table  a way of saying enough!, he told supporters. Enough of mistreating our language and culture and saying sorry for who we want to be. The moment to say enough! is now  saying it the day after the election will be too late.

Aragones also urged pro-independence voters to turn out in force. I ask you to fill the ballot boxes with republican votes, he said on Friday. To build a future of dignity and freedom. For independence, social justice, against the monarchy and against corruption, and in favour of the whole of Catalonia.

Recent polls suggest the appetite for an independent Catalonia continues to diminish. At the height of the crisis in October 2017, a survey by the Catalan governments centre for opinion studies found that 48.7% of Catalans supported independence and 43.6% did not. A poll in March from the same centre found 51% were against and 42% in favour.

Associated Press contributed to this report
On the campaign trail: West Midlands mayor Andy Street, left, out canvassing with local residents in Birmingham on 1 May. Photograph: Darren Staples/Getty Images

Senior Tories on the moderate One Nation wing of the party are urging the defeated West Midlands mayor Andy Street to consider reviving his political career by standing for a seat at Westminster.

Street suffered the biggest shock of the local and mayoral elections a week ago when he lost to Labours Richard Parker by just 1,508 votes in a knife-edge contest.

The narrow defeat deprived the former head of John Lewis of a third term in charge of the second largest mayoral region in England. Street suggested he would take some time before deciding on his next move.

But Damian Green, chair of the One Nation group of Tory MPs at Westminster, made clear he believed Street would be a great addition to the parliamentary party.

I would very much welcome Andy staying in active politics, as an MP if he wants, as he is a huge asset to the Conservatives and has a track record that any Conservative would be proud of, Green said.

Other Tories on the left and centre of the party believe he could even mount a challenge for the leadership were the party to lose heavily at the general election and prime minister Rishi Sunak were to stand down.

Another senior Tory said: Andy has not spent time in government, but he has run a big city and a large business. He knows how to run things and he knows about politics. He has a great track record. I can see him emerging as a very credible candidate for a position not just as an MP but as one at the top of our party.

With a general election approaching, the Conservative party will be looking for candidates in several seats in the West Midlands, where Street will already have very high voter recognition. One vacancy will be in Solihull West and Shirley (which the Tories held with a majority of more than 21,000 in 2019). Solihull was one of the seven council districts voting in the mayoral election and where Street won by a large margin.

In his resignation speech, which was generous to the victor and gracious in tone, Street thanked his team and said he was sorry that he had not been able to win a third term. He appeared to hint that he might stand for the mayoralty again in four years time, telling his supporters and allies he was sure they would fight to live another day.

During his campaign he went out of his way to dissociate himself from Sunak and the Conservative party, describing his offer as brand Andy.

Tory MPs fully understood why he had to do this to have a chance of retaining the mayoralty.

Related: Andy Street ditches Tories in West Midlands mayoral campaign material

The Spectator magazine last week praised his dignity in defeat and wondered whether one day Street could rise to the very top of the party.

It was a classy performance, one which will have sharpened the sadness many Conservatives already felt at his loss, the magazine said. Street balanced acceptance with an honest admission of acute disappointment, and that collection of emotions felt real and unfiltered. After a grim few days for the party, and with the memory of Susan Halls less gracious concession speech in London still fresh in the mind, some have now wondered if Street should now look to a future at Westminster. Perhaps, one theory goes, he might even be a contender for the Conservative leadership in the wake of an election defeat.

The West Midlands result last Saturday evening capped a disastrous showing for the Tories in the local council mayoral and police commissioner elections. They finished third behind the Liberal Democrats in the number of seats held, for the first time since 1996.
A group of South Korean Cold War-era fighter aircraft staged one of their final flights last week ahead of retirement next month, bidding farewell after more than five decades of service.

The four F-4 Phantom IIs took off from their home base in Suwon, just south of Seoul, for the commemorative flight boarded by reporters on Thursday, retracing the supersonic fighter-bomber's 55-year history in South Korea's airspace.

The first batch of the U.S.-made jets arrived in South Korea in 1969, in a major boost to the Air Force that sought to beef up its aircraft fleet against threats posed by North Korea's Soviet-made jets amid fierce rivalry between the two Koreas.

More than a half-century later, the Phantoms will be fully retired from service on June 7, handing over operations to defend the skies to a new generation of aircraft.

During the farewell flight, the jets first headed southward above an airbase in the central city of Cheongju  home to the aircraft from 1979 to 2018  that now operates the latest-generation U.S.-built F-35A stealth fighters.

One of the Phantoms was painted in a jungle camouflage pattern and another in light gray in a nod to their past paint jobs, while the two others were in the current dark gray color.

Moving on to the east coast, the jets revisited airspace where Phantoms had been deployed to intercept a Soviet heavy bomber in 1983. The aircraft were also mobilized to respond to incursions by a Soviet bomber and a nuclear submarine in the area the next year.

They then landed at an airbase in the southeastern city of Daegu for refueling, where the country first received the jets in a move that heralded a major shift in the balance of air power between the two Koreas.

The delivery took place just a year after a failed assassination attempt by North Korean commandos against then President Park Chung-hee in 1968, raising the need to bolster military capabilities to better fend off the North's threats.

The introduction of the then-state-of-the-art aircraft marked the beginning of the South's air superiority over the North as Seoul continued to acquire more advanced fighters like the F-16 amid its transformation into an economic powerhouse.

In contrast, the North's economy has staggered, with its military still reliant on Soviet-era jets.

After refueling in Daegu, the Phantoms traveled to the southern city of Sacheon  home to the country's sole fighter jet manufacturer, Korea Aerospace Industries  where they briefly flew alongside two KF-21 prototype jets.

The homegrown supersonic fighter, which is designed to replace the F-4 and scheduled for deployment in 2026, will likely play a key role in South Korea's "three-axis" deterrence system against North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

The system includes the Kill Chain preemptive strike platform, the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation, an operational plan to incapacitate the North's leadership in a major conflict, and the Korea Air and Missile Defense system.

Next, the jets flew along the west coast, where Phantoms took part in a mission to sink a North Korean spy ship in 1971, before returning to Suwon.

The Air Force once operated some 220 Phantoms but has since retired most of them, with only around 10 units remaining in service.

South Korea is among a handful of countries that still operate the F-4, with the United States retiring the aircraft in 1996. (Yonhap)
People view The Italian Version of Popeye has no Pork in his Diet by Jean-Michel Basquiat, part of the Spring 20/21 Marquee Week preview at Christie's auction house in New York, 3 May. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA

The success of New Yorks spring art auctions was in jeopardy Sunday, a day after auction house Christies confirmed that its website had been hacked, potentially shutting out some bidders on $850m worth of art work going up for bid this week.

Yet despite failing to regain control of its website, Christies said that its auctions  the most important of the year in the art world  would go ahead in person and by phone.

On Saturday, even that was regarded and being uncertain as Christies staff and cybersecurity contractors scrambled to fix the issue. It is unknown who or what caused the auction houses computer systems to collapse. Christies called it a technology security issue, but the company has been hacked previously.

A spokesperson for the company told the New York Times on Sunday that the sales of modern and contemporary art would take place as planned. Last summer, a German cybersecurity company said that there had been a breach in the form of a leak of the locations of artworks held by some of the worlds wealthiest collectors.

Beneath a calm exterior in which prospective buyers toured the midtown auction house looking at hundreds of potential acquisitions Saturday, including Andy Warhols Flowers silk-screen painting from 1964  estimated at $30m at the top end.

But the upcoming auctions account for as much as half the revenue Christies may bring in annually. Any slip-up  especially the loss of confidential client data  is a potential crisis. A cyber-attack like this is the 21st-century equivalent of a hand grenade in a small room, art market lawyer Thomas Danziger told the Times.

At the same time, the New York spring sales are so important to the art market that they may be less vulnerable to online interference because top-end buyers tend to bid in person  through an art adviser  or directly by phone through a Christies representative.

Nonetheless, the hack will be seen as embarrassing for Christies owners, the Pinault family, which controls the auctioneer through Groupe Artemis. Artemis also controls the fashion conglomerate Kering, owner of Gucci, which has issued a series of profit warnings and seen its share price decline by almost two-thirds over the past year.

But over the next week, more than 1,700 modern and contemporary artworks are expected to come under the hammer through the three dominant houses  Sothebys, Christies and Phillips. Between them, art estimated at $1.2bn to $1.8bn is expected to be auctioned soon.

Thats a decline of roughly one-third over two years. In 2022, auctioneers shifted $2.8bn of merchandise at the May sales, a record some attributed to build up of cash during the pandemic.

With many of the worlds regional economies struggling for growth, the demand for art in the US is seen as a potential savior as Chinese and European buyers hold back as compared to previous years.

A Bank of America study recently found that the average price of artworks sold at auction in 2023 decreased by 32%. The art market is still in search of price equilibrium years after coming off the highs of 2021, the bank said.

Not only were buyers expecting lower prices, but sellers were holding back until demand regains its prior price elasticity.

The art market correction is adjusting price expectations, the report said, noting that there was a bright spot. Women artists are finally getting their due, the report found, noting that sales of works by female artists were up 10% last year to $788m, an increase on top of gains of 29% in 2022 and 55% in 2021.
Robert Jenrick, former immigration minister, is leading the plan - TOLGA AKMEN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Civil servants are trying to block plans for league tables of the migrant nationalities with the highest rates of crime.

The proposal, backed by 40 Tory MPs as an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, would require the crime rates of each nations migrants in England and Wales to be published annually.

Ministers would present a report to Parliament each year detailing the nationality, visa status and asylum status of every offender convicted in English and Welsh courts in the previous 12 months.

The move, first revealed by The Telegraph and led by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, would mirror an approach by some US states and Denmark, where league tables show the crime rates of those from Kuwait, Tunisia, Lebanon and Somalia are far higher than those of Danish nationals.

It is understood that Home Office ministers are in favour of the plan in principle as it would enable Government and law enforcement agencies to assess the scale of criminality in specific migrant populations.

However, civil servants have advised that Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, is likely to rule the amendment is not in scope for the Bill.

Migrants picked up mid-Channel by Border Force are brought back to Dover, on Wednesday - STEVE FINN

This means that it would be judged to be out of kilter with the thrust of the legislation which primarily aims to crack down on knife crime, drugs, anti-social behaviour and other crimes.

There are also concerns within Whitehall that it has become a Christmas Tree bill, with multiple amendments potentially added to it including on decriminalising abortion and combating county lines gangs.

Ministers are understood to be seeking to get the data published irrespective of whether there is legislation. It can just be done. You dont need legislation, said a source.

It is actually mainly an operational issue. How do you collect the data and make sure it is reliable?

There are all those considerations rather than legislative commitment going forward. Ministers like the idea. We want to work out how to do it.

The plan has been backed by MPs from all wings of the Conservative party from Right-wing former Commons leader Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg to Sir Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary, a One Nation Tory.

Backers of the league table plan believe it will help the Government strengthen immigration policy on three fronts.

First, they said it would allow the Home Office to tighten screening of visas from countries with nationals linked to higher crime rates in the UK.

A similar approach could be taken to asylum applications. They also say it would enable the Home Office to focus deportations and returns agreements on those countries.

We cannot hope to fix our immigration system without understanding the problem. The national debate on legal and illegal migration is hindered by a lack of data on the fiscal, economic and societal impacts of migration, said Mr Jenrick.

There is mounting concern that the UK is importing crime, particularly violent crime, sexual assaults and drug production. We need to have transparency so the public knows whats happening and policy can be formulated accordingly.

Denmark has strong immigration policies

The Danish Governments data on migrant crimes enables researchers to compile league tables showing which nations have the highest conviction rate relative to Danish nationals.

Japanese, US, Australian, Austrian, Argentinian and Indian citizens have the lowest rates at half those of Danes, while more than 40 nations have higher conviction rates for violent crime.

Denmark has some of the toughest immigration policies in Europe and has been seeking to work with other EU countries to deport migrants to a third country outside the bloc where their asylum claims would be processed.
David Campanale's relationship with the Liberal Democrats stretches back more than 30 years

He had hoped to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Tim Farron and Charles Kennedy, both Christians who became Liberal Democrat MPs and eventually led the party.

But it was not to be for David Campanale, after he was deselected from the plum seat of Sutton and Cheam following a two-year campaign against him by activists and local party members.

Mr Campanale, 60, worked as a journalist at the BBC for more than 30 years, winning awards for his work on such stories as exposing the treatment of Uygur women in camps in China, but his relationship with the Liberal Democrats stretches even further back.

He began canvassing for the party while a student at Oxford University. He helped campaign for Vince Cable, who later went on to become party leader, in the early 1980s and was first selected as an SDP-Liberal councillor at the age of 22.

Mr Campanale, an Anglican, later became a member of the Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) for around a decade.

While a Lib Dem councillor in his twenties, he was a member of Liberal International, which saw him work with groups opposing communism in countries such as Russia, Romania and Ukraine.

He left the party in 2012, later claiming that it had been infiltrated by extremists and that he fully [repudiated] the offensive and divisive campaigns the people using the name now pursue.

Outside of politics, Mr Campanale has pursued a significant amount of charity work, inspired by his faith.

He served as a director of Tearfund, a Christian charity that works with churches in over 50 of the worlds poorest countries to tackle poverty and injustice through sustainable development.

While working for the BBC, Mr Campanale was a prominent trade union representative within the National Union of Journalists, known to regularly challenge the broadcaster over employment issues.

A fellow union member described Mr Campanale as a dogged campaigner for fellow employees, including advocating for one colleague suffering from PTSD after reporting from a war zone.

They added that he had been unafraid to stand up against both the BBC and indeed the union leadership if he disagreed with their approach.

Other major news he helped to break with the BBC included the first English language televised interview with Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy.

It was the Brexit vote that eventually led Mr Campanale back to the Lib Dems as he did not approve of the result.

He spent eight years as a party councillor in Kingston, becoming vice-chairman of the constituency association of Sir Ed Davey, the party leader.

During that time, he helped to bring a new Church of England secondary school to the borough, which is expected to open within the next three years.

It was the Brexit vote that led Mr Campanale back to the Lib Dems as he did not approve of the result

Mr Campanale went on to run against Kwasi Kwarteng, the former Tory chancellor, in the seat of Spelthorne in 2019  his campaign helped by his twin brother Mark and older brother Anthony.

He managed to treble the Lib Dem vote in the constituency, despite still losing out to the Tories.

He later quit the BBC in order to focus on his political career, just ahead of being announced as the Lib Dem candidate for Sutton and Cheam at the upcoming election.

But he soon came under fire from local party members, with an activist at one meeting asking if he felt he was being persecuted like Jesus, while at another a local party official allegedly told him: We had no idea we were selecting another Tim Farron.

His historic ties to the CPA were cited among the objections to Mr Campanales candidacy, along with claims that he had not been sufficiently open about his faith during the selection process  a charge that he denies.

He has since been deselected from the seat, though an appeal against the decision is currently under way.

The saga will overshadow an important contest for the Liberal Democrats, in a Blue Wall constituency that they will be keen to win.
With the extreme erosion of local decision-making, there is now no clear way to debate what local communities want. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Simon Jenkins has yet again highlighted a fundamental issue of disparity between conflicting views of freedom, this time in educational provision (Schools should bond communities: faith schools divide them. Why are ministers making that worse?, 2 May). The secondary school I attended in the 1960s had a high proportion of Jewish children, which gave me the privilege of insight into cultural and religious differences in a context of shared learning and friendship. I worry that the growth of separate provision will deny that opportunity in future.

There is one matter on which Simon will no doubt be happy to be corrected. Selection at 11-plus has not ended. England still has 163 grammar schools, concentrated in areas such Kent, Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire and parts of London and the north-west. This reflects local decisions not necessarily linked to party politics  Conservative areas such as Hampshire abolished selection in the 1970s and 80s and went on to establish successful schools and sixth-form colleges, a move popular with parents wanting their children educated locally.

Central government nudged and incentivised, but decisions remained local. With the extreme erosion of local decision-making, there is now no clear way to debate what local communities want and the sense of local schools belonging to those communities has been diminished. Simons praise for the role of democratically elected local government in developing schools is well placed but rare: is there a chance that decades of denigration and financial savagery of local government might have been misplaced?

Andrew Seber

Winchester, Hampshire

 As a lifelong atheist and educator, I was dismayed to read that the government is now lifting the cap on selection to faith schools (England scraps 50% rule on faith school admissions, 1 May). It seems extraordinary to me that in an increasingly secular society, admission to any school might be based upon the acceptance of mystical precepts. Apart from leading to the possible exclusion of non-faith children, this will lead to the cynical spectacle of parents attending places of worship simply to obtain a place for their children in a particular school.

The excellence of any school is surely based on rational and well-evidenced educational and social principles, rather than on belief in the numinous. Its a disturbing decision that may well lead to further inequalities for young people. We should have faith, of course  in the teachers who are currently leaving the profession in such large numbers.

Emeritus professor Graham Mort

Lancaster University
Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria, leave a polling station in London after voting in local elections on 2 May. Photograph: Benjamin Cremel/AFP/Getty Images

Miqdaad Versis article about Labour and the Muslim community was interesting (There is a way for Starmers Labour to fix the big rift with Muslim voters  if it has the will, 6 May). However, while older Muslims tended to support the Labour party in the past and were loyal, younger generations have become extremely savvy and knowledgeable about local and world politics. They will not blindly follow politicians.

The hegemony enjoyed by the two main parties is slowly disintegrating, and many are now considering smaller parties. Therefore I am not sure the Labour party will gain the trust and support of the community in the future, and I would be extremely surprised if it does. In my area, five independent candidates defeated Labours candidates in the local elections.

Baser Akoodie

Batley, West Yorkshire

 Great to hear the disenfranchised Labour-leaning Muslim voice in Britain, thanks to Miqdaad Versi. His point about Labour core values of human rights, justice and international law is important. But the exclusive focus on Muslim voters in relation to Labour is misleading. Experts were doing the same thing after the local elections, talking about this portion of the electorate as if it were the only demographic that Labours disgraceful policies on Gaza and Israel had alienated. Implying that only Muslim votes were lost because of this is at best simplistic and at worst a wilful manipulation of the truth.

One effect of the campus protests in the US has been to allow students in other countries to realise that they arent alone.

Paul Gander

London

 Labours response to losing Muslim votes in recent local elections misses the point (Labour working to get support back after losing votes over Gaza stance, 5 May). To say the better lives that people want for the Palestinian people is something the Labour leadership shares is a wholly inadequate response to what many people see in Gaza. People want a stop to the slaughter and destruction of the Palestinian people and their society. And they want the actions of the Israeli government and army to be condemned. To call for better lives in the face of 35,000 deaths, destitution and the rising threat of famine suggests that the Labour leadership does not understand or care about the depth of feeling of many people in this country, not just Muslims.

Geoff Skinner

Kensal Green, London

 Martin Kettle is right to question the assumption that discontent with our politicians response to Gaza comes only from the Muslim vote, or the left (If Keir Starmer isnt careful, Gaza could do for him what the Iraq war did for Blair, 9 May). There are many who are neither Muslim nor left, but react with horror and disgust to the spectacle of a civilised, articulate people reduced to clustering around tiny body bags and moving from one rubble heap to another to escape merciless bombardment.

We would feel  did feel, on 7 October  this disgust whether the victims were Palestinian, Jewish or anyone else. Accusations of antisemitism are misplaced. Our disgust encompasses Hamas too, but we had perhaps hoped for better from Israel, and from politicians claiming to speak for us.

Peter Millen

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

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Israeli troops and military hardware amassing in southern Israel ahead of any movement into Rafah - AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP

Labour has called for the UK to pause selling arms to Israel for the first time amid concerns over a military offensive in Rafah.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, urged the Government to suspend the sale of weapons that could be used in an assault in Rafah.

It marks a divide with the Government as Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said on Sunday that it was not a wise path to halt arms exports to Israel.

Israel has urged residents in more areas of Gazas southern-most city to evacuate in a further sign its military is preparing for a ground incursion.

The US has threatened to halt the supply of offensive weapons to Israel if it carries out an attack on Rafah.

Explaining the shift in Labours position, Mr Lammy said: Labour has been opposed to an Israeli offensive in Rafah for months and has been clear it must not go ahead.

This was part of Labours motion that passed the House of Commons in February and it is one of the reasons we have been calling on David Cameron to publish a summary of the legal advice with regards to arms sales.

President Biden is correct to tell [Israeli] prime minister Netanyahu that the US will not supply weapons that could be used in a Rafah offensive if Israel proceeds with a full-scale attack on Rafah against the international communitys warnings.

The US has rightly been clear it will continue to supply weapons that allow Israel to defend itself.

The UK Government should now work with the US to try and prevent a Rafah offensive by being clear it will assess UK exports and, if the Rafah offensive goes ahead, join our American allies in suspending weapons or components that could be used in that Rafah offensive.

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, accused Labour of abandoning Israel at a critical moment.

Israel is acting in legitimate self defence against Hamas. We know that Hamas battalions, operatives, and many hostages, remain in Rafah.

In order to degrade Hamas and defend itself, it is necessary for Israel to go into Rafah and the UK should maintain support for Israel right now, she said.

To suspend arms exports would, symbolically speaking, be nothing but appeasement to Hamas.

The truth is that Israel will win this battle with, or without UK support. Labour has buckled under hard-Left pressure. Thats not a serious foreign policy.

On Sunday, Lord Cameron argued that the US and UK were in a totally different situation when asked if the UK would follow in Americas footsteps.

He said: The United States is a massive, bulk, state supplier of weapons to Israel, including 1,000lb bombs and all the rest of it.

Labour's announcement 'a bit embarrassing' for David Lammy, shadow foreign secretary - Elliott Franks

The UK provides less than 1 per cent of Israels weapons and its not a state supplier. We have a licensing system and those licences can be closed if its judged theres a serious risk of a serious international human rights violation.

The Tory peer said he was urged to declare an immediate arms embargo a few months ago and the very next thing that happened just a few days later, was a massive Iranian attack on Israel.

I dont think it would have been a wise path, and I still dont think it would be a wise path, he said, adding it would only strengthen Hamas.

The UKs arms exports regime would prevent the supply of weapons to Israel if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law, he added.

A government source said: David Lammy misunderstands that Britain is not in the same place as the US, as we have never state supplied arms to Israel.

Its a bit embarrassing for Lammy that he doesnt understand this.
Members have reported the party to the equalities watchdog over accusations that the party has tolerated a 'hostile environment' for people of faith - Paul Marriott

The Liberal Democrats have been accused of deselecting a candidate based on his Christian faith in a breach of equality law.

Members have reported the party to the equalities watchdog over accusations that the party has tolerated a hostile environment for people of faith, failed to investigate serious allegations of discrimination and harassment and emboldened those who believe Christians should be driven out of public life.

The complaint to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) concerns the treatment of David Campanale, an Anglican and award-winning former BBC journalist, who is set to be replaced as a prospective MP candidate for Sutton and Cheam after a two-year campaign against him by members of his local party and a number of LGBT activists.

The campaign alleged he had been involved with the Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) political party, which has campaigned against abortion and gay marriage, and that he had not sufficiently disclosed his faith during the selection process, a charge he denies.

Mr Campanale, who left the CPA in 2012 and says he did not agree with its tone or priorities, believes the attacks against him are part of an ongoing attempt to secularise the Lib Dems.

Party members supporting him are now calling on the EHRC to launch an independent investigation into multiple alleged breaches of equality law and our party constitution.

David Campanale believes the attacks against him are part of an ongoing attempt to secularise the Lib Dems

The letter to the EHRC, shared with The Telegraph, said: This evidence depicts a supposedly liberal organisation allowing clear religious discrimination and hostility to thrive within its ranks.

It suggests that Mr Campanale was driven out from his democratically elected position not because of any objective failings or wrongdoing but because a vocal group within SBLD [Sutton Borough Liberal Democrats] refused to tolerate his Christian worldview.

It added: Although Mr Campanale has submitted evidence of religious discrimination, harassment and victimisation perpetrated against him to party authorities at all levels over a two-year period, no appropriate action has been taken. We believe that only an external investigation by the EHRC can now secure justice.

The complaint is currently under consideration by the watchdog, which has said that it looks at each complaint carefully and [takes] action where appropriate.

Hustings are being held in Sutton and Cheam to replace Mr Campanale on Tuesday despite an ongoing appeal against his deselection.

The row is set to overshadow the Lib Demss attempt to win the seat, seen as a target at the upcoming general election.

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, is a practising Christian - Stefan Rousseau/PA

Paul Scully, the Conservative incumbent, is stepping down at the next election as the Lib Dems try to make significant inroads in the so-called Blue Wall of Tory-held constituencies in the south of England.

It hopes to beat the SNP to regain its status as the third-largest party in Westminster after almost a decade, having lost scores of MPs in the aftermath coalition between the party and the Conservatives.

But members of the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum (LDCF), whose patrons include former leader Tim Farron, have written to senior party figures warning that the treatment of Mr Campanale could damage the prospects of hopeful MPs across the country.

Mr Campanale has won support from a number of senior party figures, including Sir Simon Hughes, the former justice minister, who has warned that he was deselected in a kangaroo court.

Lord Marks KC, the Lib Demss justice spokesman in the House of Lords, has concluded that the former BBC World Service reporter was deselected on the basis of a procedure that was seriously non-compliant with the Rules and fundamentally flawed.

Mr Campanale rejoined the party in 2019, having first campaigned for them as a student, and became its candidate in Spelthorne against Kwasi Kwarteng, running a campaign, which trebled the Lib Dem vote at the election.

He was selected to stand in the south London seat of Sutton and Cheam in late 2021 but weeks later there were murmurs of discontent and he was blocked from campaigning and targeted because of his Christian faith and conscience and to undermine his position, the EHRC has been told.

Mr Campanale was not invited to the launch of the election campaign and not allowed to appear on any literature, it is alleged.

As part of the campaign against him, he faced hostile questioning about his Christian beliefs and demands that he resign, according to the evidence submitted to the equality watchdog.

Several other sitting MPs, including current leader Sir Ed Davey, are practising Christians  and a Lib Dem spokesman said the party was home to people of all faiths and none.

But The Telegraph can reveal that Mr Campanale, 60, has faced repeated hostile and degrading questioning over his faith over the two-year period, with votes on his position that are allegedly in breach of party rules.

The Telegraph understands that in one meeting he was asked if he felt he was being persecuted like Jesus, while at another a local party official allegedly told him: We had no idea we were selecting another Tim Farron.

Tim Farron is Christian who became a Liberal Democrat MP and eventually led the party between 2015 to 2017 - Charlotte Graham/Guzelian

In one of a number of appeals against the deselection seen by The Telegraph, Nasser Butt, the founder and chairman of Lib Dem Muslim Forum, revealed that he was contacted by a party activist in early 2022 who informed him there was considerable opposition from Partys Youth groups in London Region lead by some LGBT youth.

He was told that Mr Campanales past activities and beliefs with the CPA was questionable and made him unsuitable.

Mr Butt refused to join the campaign, noting: I dont believe that a persons faith should be a deciding point to join Liberal Democrats or that a party member with faith or no faith should be targeted in a discriminatory way.

Attempts were made to make David resign without going public or to membership, he told party leaders. David proved his strength by standing up to such bullying tactic.

After Mr Campanale refused to stand down, an extraordinary general meeting was called in November of that year, which those present have described as an extraordinary verbal attack which was personal and vitriolic.

Juliet Chaplin of Sutton Borough Liberal Democrats Cheam branch, an executive member and one of the signatories to the complaint to the EHRC, said that it became clear that objections to Davids position are based entirely on his Christian faith.

Despite him winning the selection in a poll of all members in the constituency, only the 64 members who attended the EGM in person and 29 who attended via Zoom were allowed to vote on his deselection, which was confirmed.

Mr Butt, who attended online but did not vote as he could not hear properly, warned in his appeal that the meeting broke a number of party rules and there was no clear evidence or reasons for the vote of no confidence.

No evidence of concerns about Campanales performance

His comments were echoed by Sir Simon, who said that he had seen no evidence of concerns about Mr Campanales performance, which party rules state must be the reason to begin the deselection process.

Lord Marks, acting for Mr Campanale at his appeal, added that the local party failed to follow processes stipulating that they must try to work with the candidate and that the executive which voted against him was not properly elected.

The KC warned that the treatment of Mr Campanale was in breach of the principles of the party, which state that they reject all prejudice and discrimination based upon race religion or belief.

Mr Campanale was told in March that an appeal against his deselection had been rejected.

He is now appealing to the panel that rules on internal disputes in the party.

As a result of the party shortlisting new candidates for the seat ahead of Tuesdays hustings, the LDCF, of which Mr Campanale is one of over 400 members, wrote to Mark Pack, federal president, warning that they are deeply disturbed by this saga.

They called on the party to pause the selection of a new candidate until the conclusion of the appeal, saying that unless they do so it could have a detrimental effect on all candidates across the country.

The LDCF suggests that the party would take a zero tolerance approach if another candidate was opposed based on a protected characteristic, but says Mr Campanale has been serially ignored.

Either we liberals believe in equality and freedom of conscience and practise those beliefs or else we are not liberals, the group wrote as they called for an independent inquiry into the deselection.

Lib Dems home to people of all faiths and none

A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: This decision is currently undergoing an appeal so it would not be appropriate to comment at this stage.

The Liberal Democrats are home to people of all faiths and none, including many Christians.

Three Liberal Democrat MPs in neighbouring seats to Sutton and Cheam are practising Christians, including party leader Ed Davey, and the partys candidate selection process is overseen by the Reverend Margaret Jane Joachim.

A spokesman for the equalities watchdog said: The EHRC receives complaints each week about allegations of unlawful activity contrary to the Equality Act 2010. We consider each complaint carefully and take action where appropriate.

The EHRC previously found that the Labour Party had broken equality law in its handling of anti-Semitism under Jeremy Corbyn, identifying serious failings in the leadership.

In 2019 the watchdog ruled that the party had breached the Equality Act 2010 in relation to political interference in complaints of anti-Semitism, a failure to provide adequate training to those handling such complaints, and harassment.

The report demanded that the party draft an action plan on how it would implement the array of recommendations from the EHRC, which would become legally enforceable by the courts if not fulfilled.
Visitors see one of Raphael's rooms in the Vatican Museum - Andreas Solaro/AFP

Museum workers are suing the Vatican after they were forced to pay back lockdown salaries.

In the first-ever class action against the Catholic institution, 49 employees of Vatican Museums, mostly attendants, are challenging the monthly repayments they have been making since Covid restrictions were lifted.

There is no social safety net in the Vatican, so in the event of a crisis, like what happened during Covid, the employees are held responsible, Laura Sgro, the lawyer representing the employees, told The Telegraph.

There are many critical issues.

The museums closed at the start of the pandemic in early 2020, and after a couple of fits and starts reopened with strict rules in 2021. Its not clear whether staff were on full pay while they were shut.

In a letter to Cardinal Fernando Vergez Alzaga, the President of the Governorate of Vatican City, the employees also complained about unfair working conditions, inadequate compensation for overtime, risks to their health and safety, and poor management.

Tourists climb Bramante's Staircase in the Vatican Museum - Karl Weatherly/Digital Vision

Most Reverend Eminence, the working conditions harm the dignity and health of every worker. Bad management is evident and it would be even more serious if it was driven by the sole logic of obtaining greater earnings, said the workers, according to Italian daily, Corriere della Sera.

Last year around seven million tourists visited the Vaticans 54 galleries, which have about 20,000 works of art on display to the public, including classical sculptures, Renaissance art, and Egyptian artefacts.

With tickets starting from around 20 (17.30), the museums are a major source of revenue for the Holy See.

The museums recently extended their opening hours to cater to growing demand. Footfall next year is expected to be especially high, when an estimated 30 million visitors descend on Rome for the holy Jubilee  a special year of grace.

The Pope talks about rights, we are treated like a simple commodity, the employees complained in their petition.

They raised concerns about health and safety, saying their contact with up to 30,000 visitors each day exposed them to greater risk. Unions are not allowed in Vatican City.

The Vatican declined to comment on the legal case - Laurie Chamberlain/Corbis

The flow of people is immense and the workers are asking for compensation for their health, since they are in contact with many people every day, Ms Sgro said.

The Vatican Museums declined to comment on Sunday. Media reports said the Vatican had 30 days to respond to the complaints before a formal judicial process began.

If the conciliation procedure fails, the case can then be brought to a Vatican Court.

Ms Sgro is also the lawyer for the family of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old girl who vanished from the streets of Rome in mysterious circumstances in 1983.

Her father was employed by the Holy See and last year the Vatican announced a new inquiry into her unsolved disappearance.
Keir Starmer and Natalie Elphicke in Dover on Friday. Senior Labour figures have been forced to defend Elphicke since her defection. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Keir Starmer is under fresh pressure over the former Tory MP Natalie Elphickes defection to Labour after the president of the Trades Union Congress said her vocal support for anti-strike laws should be incompatible with the party whip.

Matt Wrack, who is also the general secretary of the Labour-affiliated Fire Brigades Union, has described the MP for Dover and Deals views as disgraceful after she used a parliamentary intervention in March to blame firefighters for the deaths of three people who perished during a national strike.

Wracks comments have been set out in a letter sent to Starmer this weekend, which has been seen by the Guardian.

Senior Labour figures have been forced to defend Elphicke amid claims she lobbied the justice secretary to interfere in her then husbands rape case  claims her spokesperson has described as nonsense.

Wrack, who became president of the TUC in September, wrote in the letter that Labours decision to admit Elphicke was alarming because of the partys promise to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which effectively bans strike action across parts of the public sector.

Labours pledge to repeal this authoritarian legislation within 100 days of taking office, alongside the 2016 Trade Union Act, is a crucial commitment. It is therefore alarming that Natalie Elphicke has been admitted to the parliamentary Labour party.

Elphicke was a cheerleader for the minimum service levels act and has specifically targeted firefighters in her contributions in parliament.

On Tuesday 12 March this year, she spoke in support of the new anti-union laws by blaming striking firefighters for the deaths of three people during a past national firefighters strike. This is a disgraceful attack on firefighters, who protect the public and save lives every day, sometimes at great personal cost, he wrote.

The Labour party is the political wing of the labour movement  Attacking trade union members in this way to justify support for draconian anti-worker laws ought to be incompatible with membership of the parliamentary Labour party.

Natalie Elphicke should never have been given the Labour whip, but these remarks further undermine the decision to accept her into the party. There appears to have been little, if any, due diligence.

Asked on Friday about unease from senior Labour figures about Elphickes defection, Starmer urged his party to be less tribal. I am very pleased to welcome Natalie to the Labour party, he said.

Natalies conclusion, having thought about this profoundly, is that Rishi Sunak has effectively lost control of the borders, the Tory party is characterised by incompetence and the Labour party has changed. I think that is a very powerful thing to have said.

Wracks intervention comes as Starmer seeks to capitalise on the political momentum generated by both the recent local elections and Elphickes defection.

The Labour leader will meet the partys new slate of English mayors on Monday for the first time since this months elections, saying that driving regional economic growth will be top of Labours devolution agenda.

While Starmer wants voters to focus on the economy going into this years general election, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, will give a speech on Monday in which he will attempt to frame it as a choice between a forward-looking Conservative party and a backward-looking Labour.

Sunak is facing a gradual bleeding of his parliamentary authority as Tory MPs line up to announce they are standing down at the next election while Labour works to secure more defections.

Elphicke, a rightwing Tory MP, shocked Westminster on Wednesday when she crossed the floor and joined Labour MPs at the beginning of prime ministers questions.

The move initially delighted Starmers closest allies, showing that even anti-immigration MPs appear to have lost faith in Sunaks Rwanda deportation plan and his ability to lead the Tories.

But Starmers decision to accept her into the party has caused upset on his own benches, given her long history of attacking Labour on immigration issues.

Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, told LBC she would probably have said no to Elphicke joining the party and there should be an independent inquiry into the latest claims.

Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, who is from the left of the party, told the BBC: [Elphicke] was a member of the [Eurosceptic] European Research Group; she voted for Liz Truss in the leadership; shes at odds when it comes to fire and rehire; she has attacked trade unions and their activities; [shes] not great on the environment either. So unless shes had the biggest Damascene conversion ever, I just dont buy it.

Wracks letter, written on FBU-headed paper, said the union would be raising its concerns about Elphickes views and her admittance to the parliamentary party through formal channels.

During parliamentary scrutiny of strike regulations in March, Elphicke expressed her support for plans to allow fire and rescue authorities to issue work notices forcing firefighters to work during disputes.

She told the fire services minister, Chris Philp: It may be helpful to the minister to note that actually three elderly people were reported to have died in the first national firefighters strike  the one that the minister is referring to  and indeed, more recently, the failure to respond to a call-out in the middle of a strike led to a serious incident that very nearly led to loss of life in Essex.

That might be helpful to the minister, to expand on why it is so important that these measures are put in place to save lives. The FBU has condemned the claims as unsubstantiated.

Union bosses and Starmer will discuss Labours pledges on workers rights in a meeting on Tuesday.

The Guardian disclosed on Wednesday that Unite and the FBU were among unions concerned that Labour was watering down proposals on fire and rehire, zero-hours contracts and plans for legislation.

Key to the criticism from trade unions were changes to the wording of plans to end fire and rehire  removing a direct promise to end the dismissal of workers for rejecting a worse contract.

A union source said: Elphickes move across the floor looks like the direction of travel under Keir. He may have to be reminded on Tuesday that the unions will not be messed about.
Charlie and Natalie Elphicke: before his trial in July 2020 she was standing by her man - Pixel GRG

Labour came under pressure on Sunday from its own MPs to investigate Natalie Elphicke over claims she lobbied ministers to intervene in her ex-husbands sex assault trial.

Jess Phillips, former shadow minister on domestic violence, has said there should be an independent investigation into the claims over Ms Elphicke, the MP for Dover who defected from the Tories to Labour last week.

It was alleged at the weekend that Ms Elphicke asked Sir Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary, to speak to the judge who was going to preside over her ex husband Charlie Elphickes trial four years ago for sex assaults on two women.

Ms Elphicke allegedly wanted the trial date moved to a less high-profile slot in the court listings and questioned whether the senior judge presiding over it would be excessively tough on her former husband.

Sir Robert told her it would be completely inappropriate for him to speak to the judge as it would breach a constitutional principle that there should be a separation of powers between Parliament and the judiciary.

Ms Elphicke has claimed the allegations are nonsense and Labour has questioned why the concerns were not raised at the time of the trial four years ago.

But, speaking on LBC, Ms Phillips said: There should always be an independent investigation into all these sorts of claims that come forward.

Ms Phillips said Sir Robert needed to come forward with more evidence. What I find absolutely galling about the whole thingis people tend to only care when its the other side that do it - and you have to try and care regardless.

And Robert Buckland coming out now with these claims which I have absolutely no idea of the veracity of, does somewhat suggest he cared considerably less about the rule of law (and) victims of sexual violence when it wasnt politically expedient for him.

I think questions have to be answered now, I dont know how one would prove if two people are saying two different things, its not my wheelhouse, its not my paygrade, there are questions to be answered, there are apologies to be made and there is work to do and I maintain that position.

Labour politician Zarah Sultana said she did not buy Ms Elphickes defection to her party from the Conservatives unless the Dover MP had had the biggest Damascene conversion ever.

Its concerning as well in terms of conversations Ive had within the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party), especially in the Womens PLP on the comments that shes made about her ex-husband and the trial, she told the BBC.

However, Labour officials dismissed calls for an investigation. A party spokesman 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 that Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party.

Lord Blunkett raised the same question and branded the row a storm in a teacup. But, asked about her defection to Labour, he echoed Lord Kinnocks comments that Labour have got to be choosy to a degree about who we allow to join our party because its a very broad church but churches have walls and there are limits.

Lord Cameron yesterday branded Ms Elphickes defection from the Tories as naked opportunism by Labour. This is quite a right-wing Conservative MP suddenly welcomed into the Labour fold having never supported any of their policies, people or approaches, he said.

The revealing thing is it was like a moment where you look at the Labour Party and think - if you dont stand for anything, then youll fall for stuff like this.

He said he was not a fan of defectors, adding: I took over from one in Witney and I think it always leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal, and everything else.

Ms Elphicke crossed the floor of the Commons to join Labour at the start of Prime Ministers questions last week, accusing the Tories of becoming a byword for incompetence and division. The Dover MP cited housing and the failure to stop the boats for her decision.

It was the second defection to Labour for Rishi Sunak in less than two weeks, after Dan Poulter also quit the Tories.

Natalie Elphicke was on a mission. In Robert Bucklands ministerial office in the House of Commons, Mrs Elphicke, the MP for Dover, had a favour to ask of the lord chancellor and justice secretary.

Sources who were at the meeting have gone as far as to call the request brazen.

Mrs Elphicke had secured the meeting with Sir Robert in order to lobby the cabinet minister over her husbands forthcoming trial.

At the meeting she expressed concern over the date of her husbands trial because it was the first to be heard at the high-profile Southwark Crown Court in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown.

According to sources in the room, Mrs Elphicke felt it was unfair her husbands trial would receive even more scrutiny as a result.

The name of the judge in the case, Lady Justice Whipple, was also raised, leaving some present with the distinct impression that Mrs Elphicke wanted the court switched. And with that would come a change of judge too.

Mrs Elphicke, now 53 and a Labour MP having crossed the floor last week, accepts she met with Sir Robert in the early summer of 2020 before her husbands trial.

Sir Robert Buckland refused Mrs Elphicke's request to speak to the judge in the case - Jeff Gilbert

But she insists the characterisation of the meeting is all wrong.

At the time, Mrs Elphicke had been Dovers MP for six months, having won the seat in Boris Johnsons December 2019 landslide victory.

Charlie Elphicke had preceded his wife as the towns MP. But he had the party whip withdrawn in November 2017 when first accused of sexual offences and then again when charged in July 2019 with three counts of sexual assault against two women.

Mrs Elphicke, standing by her husband, filled his shoes as the Tory candidate at the election.

She would only dump him in the immediate aftermath of Mr Elphickes conviction on July 30 2020, just a few weeks after her meeting with Sir Robert.

Todays verdict, she tweeted, is one that brings profound sorrow. It ends my 25-year marriage to the only man I have ever loved.

Mr Elphicke was jailed for two years, with Lady Justice Whipple branding him a sexual predator who had used his success and respectability as a cover.

Natalie Elphicke with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer after she defected to the party - Gareth Fuller/PA

However, back in early July 2020, Mrs Elphicke was standing by her man and trying to do her best by him. He was after all, as she had said on social media, the love of her life.

Her request got short shrift. She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all, Sir Robert told The Sunday Times.

Mrs Elphicke didnt stop there, according to the reports. Following his jailing, Mrs Elphicke is said to have lobbied again. This time she complained to Sir Mark Spencer, the chief whip, over her husbands prison conditions.

Wary of going back to Sir Robert with a request, she reportedly asked Sir Mark if the quality of her husbands bed and pillows could be improved.

Two months later in November 2020, Mrs Elphicke along with four other senior Tory MPs sent a letter to senior judges on parliamentary headed stationery over a decision being made by Lady Justice Whipple on whether to release pre-sentencing character references for Mr Elphicke.

Suspended from the Commons

Mrs Elphicke and two other MPs were suspended from the Commons for a day and ordered to make a public apology.

The letter sent to two senior female judges also copied in the trial judge. The standards committee concluded that such egregious behaviour is corrosive to the rule of law.

Sir Roberts intervention, which follows Mrs Elphickes defection, was made, his friends say, because of his concerns about the appropriateness of her behaviour in those months before and after the trial.

Sources close to Sir Robert told The Telegraph: Its really about her judgment. We are expected to believe there is some Damascene conversion to Labour. People are entitled to know about the judgment of this person bearing in mind that she then got MPs to write to the judge about the case at the end of it.

The source added: Should there be an investigation? That is a matter for the Labour Party. It is a matter for the new political party. Maybe they should have done due diligence before they accepted her to score a political point.

Meanwhile, Matt Wrack, president of the TUC, demanded the Labour whip should be removed from Ms Elphicke because of her vocal support for anti-strike laws.

A Labour Party spokesman 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.

A spokesman for the MP said the reported second meeting with Sir Mark, after she had broken up with her husband, was nonsense.
Three members of a seven-men gang suspected of robbing victims at a suburban Seoul apartment nearly two years ago have been arrested in the Philippines, police said Sunday.

The National Police Agency (NPA), which has been probing the case in cooperation with law enforcement agencies in the Philippines, said the men in their 20s and 30s were apprehended in Cebu on May 3.

The suspects are accused of breaking into an apartment in Namyangju, 25 kilometers east of Seoul, in June 2022, along with four other accomplices, and assaulting and threatening the victims before fleeing with cash and valuables worth 130 million won ($94,717).

After apprehending four members of the gang in November, the police have been tracking the remaining three suspects after receiving tips they had fled to Cebu.

The three suspects are detained at an immigration detention center in Manila as a process for their forced expulsion is under way in accordance with an immigration law.

The NPA plans to push for their immediate repatriation to Korea as soon as relevant procedures are completed, an official said. (Yonhap)
Official portrait of King Charles by Hugo Burnaud - Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2024/Cabinet Office

Hospitals, coastguard operations centres, job centres, universities, Church of England churches and other public institutions can now apply to have a free official portrait of the King.

They will be able to claim the free framed image from June 5 to mid-August as The Kings official portrait scheme is extended to include more public institutions.

Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, said: Our public authorities and established churches are an essential part of the fabric of the nation and it is right that they have the chance to commemorate this moment.

Displaying this new portrait also serves as a reminder of the example set by our ultimate public servant. Like his mother before him, The King has dedicated his life and work to serving others.

Charles is pictured in full regalia inside Windsor Castle wearing his Royal Navy uniform as Admiral of the Fleet and an abundance of official medals and decorations.

He was captured last year by photographer Hugo Burnand, who also took the King and Queens coronation portraits and their 2005 wedding photos.

The scheme was previously open to local authorities, court buildings, schools, police forces and fire and rescue services and other public institutions across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, among others.
Ukrainian police lead residents to safety during he evacuation of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv Oblast

After two years on the front line of Ukraines war, residents of the Russian border town of Vovchansk have a generous definition of what counts as peace and quiet. Cross-border skirmishes have been part of life here ever since the invasion started - so much so that most townsfolk barely flinch at the sound of artillery salvoes.

Since Friday, however, what is normally shrugged off as background noise has become a deafening thunder as Russian forces launch a renewed ground offensive into Ukraines north-east.

And on Saturday night, it finally became too much for 51-year-old Olena when a Russian shell destroyed a neighbours home and tore the roof off her own house.

Clutching a bag of belongings and her sausage dog, she left her home and fled in an evacuation convoy organised on Sunday by police and civilian volunteers. A salvo of incoming Russian shells bade her goodbye.

The situation is absolutely f---ed, we had glide bombs coming in really close everywhere, and loads of Russian drones flying over, she told The Telegraph, referring to one of Russias deadly new weapons. It has always been pretty crazy around here anyway, but nothing like as crazy as it is now - before, the Russians would at least give us a bit of a break between shelling.

Olena carries her dog as she is evacuated from her home in Vovchansk - Simon Townsley

An elderly resident being assisted to a waiting vehicle for evacuation - Simon Townsley

Olena is among an estimated 4,000 residents to flee Vovchansk and nearby villages since the Russian offensive began just after midnight on Thursday. On Sunday night, troops who brought a wounded comrade to a hospital in a nearby town said there was heavy fighting in Vovchansks suburbs, with Russian troops making constant pushes.

Most of it is infantry attacks, said a sergeant call-signed Senior, whose wounded comrade had a gunshot wound to the arm. The situation is okay, we are defending our country and no matter what they do, we can hold them off.

Soldiers assist a comrade wounded in Vovchansk to a hospital in a nearby town - Simon Townsley

An infantryman being treated after being shot in the upper arm - Simon Townsley

That was not the view on Sunday of the Russian defence ministry, which claimed that its forces had advanced deeply into the enemy defences, attacking not only Vovchansk but capturing a handful of villages that lie around 15 miles further east.

It remains unclear at present whether the Russian offensive is part of a renewed drive towards Kharkiv, the north-east regional capital, or simply a distraction exercise to force Ukraine to divert troops from the Donbas front line further south.

Either way, the renewed fighting brought a sense of weary deja vu to the residents of Vovchansk, a town of 17,000 that spent six months under Russian occupation when Kremlin troops first rolled across Ukraines north-east border in early 2022. Vovchansk was retaken by Kyiv that autumn, when a counter-offensive recaptured thousands of square miles of the north-east. But with Russian forces simply having to retreat across the border three miles away, the threat of reoccupation has never gone away.

Indeed, to an outsider, it can seem remarkable that anyone still chooses to live in Vovchansk at all. Parts of it are already half-flattened from the past two years of conflict, and in the fields and pine forests, grinning red skull signs warn of minefields. The 3,000-odd residents who have stuck it out here have done so either out of patriotism, bloody-minded stubbornness, or simply because they have nowhere else to go.

With some residents now trapped by the recent fighting, local evacuation teams have been making mercy dashes to pluck them out - the emphasis being very much on the dash.

The Russian drones can fly at about 50mph, so try to keep to at least 60mph or more as we drive in, one policeman told The Telegraph as we departed for Vovchansk from a muster point ten miles south.

The bomb-cratered country lane leading to the town wound through swathes of forest set ablaze by shelling. In Vovchansk itself, which was near-deserted, palls of black smoke rose on the skyline, and the sound of artillery was constant.

Dispensing with pleasantries, the evacuation team hammered on Olenas door and that of another resident, yelling at them to leap into the waiting vehicles. Several times the team took cover as incoming shells whistled overhead, while at one point there was the high-pitched buzz of a drone.

Its a dangerous job that we do but you get used to it after a few missions, said Yarik, one of the volunteers.

Back at the muster point, evacuated residents were loaded into buses and driven to Kharkiv, either to stay with relatives or in emergency accommodation.

It has been crazy, just non-stop shelling for three days, said Oksana Velychko, 45, another evacuee, as she hugged her tearful daughter Kristina, 10. It was just unbearable for the kids - lots of houses wrecked, and all the forests burning. Were off to Kharkiv now where hopefully the social workers will find us somewhere to stay. God forbid the Russians dont start attacking Kharkiv too, because we need some peace.

Oksana Velychko, with her tearful daughter Kristina, described the shelling as 'just unbearable for the kids' - Simon Townsley

An estimated 4,000 residents have fled Vovchansk and nearby villages since the Russian offensive began just after midnight on Thursday - Simon Townsley

Supervising the evacuation attempts on Sunday was a tired-looking Tamaz Hambarashvili, the head of the Vovchansk military administration. He said that since Friday, three civilians had been killed and at least seven injured, with another reported missing.



Weve evacuated 600 people, although many others have just left in their own cars, he told The Telegraph in between fielding constant mobile phone calls. Even before now, this area was getting heavily shelled every day, but now its just massive.

The new Russian offensive piles yet more pressure on Ukraine after nine months in which Kyivs progress in the ground war has faltered. Kremlin forces are also mounting a separate push in the eastern Donbas region, seeking to maximise gains before Ukraine gets renewed US weapons supplies.

The north-east push is also a test for Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraines new commander-in-chief, who took over from Valery Zaluzhny earlier this year. General Syrsky personally oversaw the original counter-offensive that recaptured swathes of the north-east in autumn 2022, and will not wish to see his work unravelled.

On Sunday he said that the Russian attacks had been halted in their tracks, but conceded that the situation had deteriorated significantly.

A member of the team helping to evacuate residents - Simon Townsley

One other reason for the Kremlins push may be to establish a grey zone along the north-east border to stop Ukrainian incursions into Russias neighbouring Belgorod region. On Sunday, Russian officials said that seven people were killed and 17 other injured, including two children, in a Ukrainian missile in Belgorod city.

In a sign that not all Ukrainian troops have confidence in their high command, one soldier gave an on-the-record interview to the BBC on Sunday to protest that there had been no proper defences around Vovchansk when the Russians had attacked.

There was no first line of defence, said Denys Yaroslavskyi, a reconnaissance leader. The Russians just walked in.

He added: When we were fighting back for this territory in 2022, we lost thousands of people. And now, because someone didnt build fortifications, were losing people again.

As of now, life across most of the rest of north-east Ukraine remains relatively calm: in Kharkiv on Sunday night, bars and restaurants were still busy. Outside the city, however, bulldozers are digging fresh defensive trenches - a sign that the Russians previously routed by General Syrsky are once again looming nearer.
Keir Starmer pledged his belief in a functioning, rule-based asylum system, in Dover this week. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Could Keir Starmer Make Asylum Boring Again? That would be the ultimate test of success for his claim that he can grip the issue that has caused Rishi Sunak more trouble than any other. Starmers message is that he is no less committed to securing the borders and stopping the small boats crossing the Channel, but that achieving this requires a serious plan to tackle smuggling gangs and fix the asylum system in Britain too. So how different is Labours plan  and would it work?



Labours analysis should be that making asylum work depends on blending control and compassion. The Dover speech was a political exercise in asymmetric triangulation. Robust messages about control were loudly proclaimed. More liberal ideas about a rules-based system could be found, but mostly by reading between the lines.



Starmer did confirm that Labour would scrap the Rwanda scheme. Labour had seemed to wobble in the face of premature Conservative confidence that Rwanda is already working to deter. Ironically, the biggest risk for Sunaks deterrent argument would come if he finally gets to test it practically. Send the first flights to Rwanda this summer and further arrivals across the Channel will surely outpace any removals 10 times over.



There is a clash of principle over asylum. Labour would process the asylum claims of those who arrived without permission. The Conservatives have now passed several laws vowing they will not. Yet ministers are in denial. Whether or not up to 500 people go to Rwanda does not give the government any plan for the next 50,000 people it still claims it intends to remove. So flagship new duties on the home secretary to refuse these claims for ever have not been given legal force  as the courts would strike that out in all those cases where the government has no realistic alternative. Yet the government has ceased to process asylum cases, reversing last years success in clearing the historic backlog.

Starmer is right to deny the charge that Labours policy is an amnesty, since processing the backlog would see some asylum claims granted and others refused. But he confusingly blurs his own argument with a tit-for-tat labelling of government policy as a Travelodge amnesty.

Starmer believes in a functioning, rules-based asylum system. The standstill on making asylum decisions does delay and prevent returns to safer countries. Fewer than one in 10 asylum claims from India are granted, for example, yet asylum seekers who could be returned there safely are now stuck in limbo alongside refugees from Syria and Eritrea, where nine out of 10 claims would succeed once assessed. But it is an unlikely stretch to present restoring a functioning asylum system as a significant deterrent as to whether people make those journeys or not. Nor, indeed, would that be a significant pull factor either, as rising flows amid the current chaos show.

Labour wants to compete on competence, hence its graft, not gimmicks slogan

Life-threatening journeys across the Channel should be nobodys idea of how asylum should work. Labour wants to compete on competence, hence its graft, not gimmicks slogan, and focus on inter-agency cooperation. Trying to operate the Rwanda scheme does have enormous opportunity costs, beyond its financial ones, so more energy and capacity could go into doing something more useful. But deepening the policing effort alone is unlikely to be sufficient to restore order to the Channel unless a broader British-French deal could be negotiated alongside it, addressing whose claims should be heard where.

Starmer recognised that logic last autumn. His three-pronged plan involved being tough on smuggling gangs; fixing the asylum system at home; and multilateral cooperation to manage asylum flows. He has since retreated from talking about the crucial third flank of that strategy once political opponents caricatured his willingness to negotiate on routes and returns deals as having EU asylum quotas imposed on Britain. That Conservative attack will continue. The status of Labours own plans are less clear.

The Dover speech fits the electoral imperatives of the campaign that Labour wishes to fight this autumn. It cautiously keeps open the constructive policy space for serious asylum reforms too. The question that leaves open is how far that balance can be maintained without developing more confidence in the publics appetite to hear and understand the whole story.

Sunder Katwala is director of the thinktank British Future
Good advice: they know what theyre doing at the Majestic Wine warehouse, Highbury, north London. Photograph: Graham Turner/The Observer

Le Grand Retour Malbec, France 2020, 12.99, or 9.99 in a mixed case of six, Majestic With the likes of Unwins, Thresher, Wine Rack and Oddbins all either severely diminished or departed to the great off-licence in the sky, Majestic is the last of the Mohicans when it comes to nationwide bricks-and-mortar wine retail chains. And, after a turbulent 2010s, the business has enjoyed a period of what seems, from the outside, like calm since being acquired by US investment firm Fortress in 2019. Sales and store numbers (there are 203 around the UK) are healthy, and, in the past couple of months, it has been joined in the Fortress stable by two very different businesses: upmarket wine bar/retailer hybrid chain Vagabond, and the no-frills retailer Poundstretcher. It was the latters pile-it-high discount vibe that came to mind when I recently tasted some sweeter, more commercial offerings in the Majestic range. But there are also wines that would not be out of place in one of Vagabonds urban outlets, such as the snappy cassis-scented red, Le Grand Retour Malbec.

Definition by Majestic Barossa Shiraz, Australia 2021, 14.99, or 12.99 in a mixed case of six, Majestic) Le Grand Retour is a reference, by Cahors winemaker Georges Vigorouroux, to the malbec grapes return to prominence in its original, southwestern French homeland. But it was a delightfully fluent and fragrant example of malbec from the country where the variety has found global 21st-century fame that was one of the highlights of Majestics newly revamped Definition by Majestic own-label range. Definition by Majestic Uco Valley Malbec 2022 (13.99, or 11.99 in a mixed six) is made by the excellent family-run firm, Zuccardi, and comes close to fulfilling the retailers avowed intention with the Definition wines of capturing the quintessential qualities of the worlds greatest wine styles. Another red in the range which enjoyably matches the brief is the classic vanilla-scented Definition by Majestic Vina Majestica Rioja Reserva 2018 (14.99 or 12.99) made by La Rioja Alta; and the succulent Barossa Shiraz made by Dean Hewitson.

Definition by Majestic Limoux Chardonnay, France 2022, 13.99, or 11.99 in a mixed case of six, Majestic For whites, meanwhile, the Definition highlights took me back to France, with the ever-reliable Jean-Claude Mas taking full advantage of the relative cool of the elevated hills around Limoux in the Languedoc to produce his Chardonnay, with its balance of ripe peachy fruit, subtly toasty oak and brightness in a wine that I would want to drink with a buttery, garlicky roast chicken. Also in France, and another consistent producer, the southern Burgundy co-operative Cave de Lugnyhas come up with a ripely stone-fruited yet elegantly brisk Definition by Majestic Macon-Villages (13.99 or 11.99), while the Definition by Majestic Cotes de Provence Rose Organic 2023 (14.99, or 11.99) is, on the mixed-six price, a very good-value example of the easy, subtly creamy, hazy strawberry and melon-fruited charms of Provencal pink from a producer that also makes one of my favourite (non-Definition) white wines in the Majestic range: the Mediterranean breezy, citrussy Peyrassol Les Templiers Cotes de Provence Blanc 2023 (15.99 or 13.99).

Follow David Williams on X @Daveydaibach
Spate of gold robberies across UK - Black Lollipop/iStockphoto

Police have urged Asian communities to remain vigilant after a wave of burglaries targeting family gold.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of gold has been stolen since the start of 2024, with the thieves targeting Indian, Pakistani and other Asian households, police revealed.

The warning is particularly timely as the Hindu spring festival of Akshaya Tritiya  in which Hindu and Jain families often buy gold  took place on May 10.

It is believed that thieves may have been cold-calling homes at random, pretending to have dialled the wrong number at houses later targeted.

In 2020, Nottinghamshire Police issued a warning after Asian families were targeted following strange enquiries over the phone.

Hampshire has had 19 burglaries so far this year, while Dorset and Surrey police have reported 31 gold burglaries between them since January, with an estimated total value of 200,000.

Similar hotspots have been identified in well-established Asian communities in Slough, Maidenhead and Windsor.

Devon and Cornwall Police warned that wedding season this summer could be a target for would-be burglars. Thames Valley Police, meanwhile, said that gangs know that many wealthy Asian families avoid banks and prefer to keep their wealth in their own homes.

Ch Insp Matt Paling, of Hampshire Police, said: We have seen an increase in high-value gold theft, and I want to reassure the community we are doing everything we can and to remain vigilant.

Very organised

This is a very organised crime. If you think of the yield that they are going for, gold has gone up quite considerably.

Gold is a particularly lucrative target for thieves lately as gold prices reached record levels in March, rising to $2,083.15 (1,642.96) per ounce, according to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

This surpassed the previous record of $2,078.40 set at the end of December last year.

Preeti Nayyar, of Chilworth, in Hampshire, was a victim of thieves in March. She said four men smashed their way in through a conservatory door.

Mrs Nayyar said: I was in a deep sleep, when I opened my eyes and saw two burglars going through my wardrobe. I screamed and they ran down the stairs.

The gang made off with about 20,000 worth of gold.

Since the burglary, Mrs Nayyar has given her remaining gold jewellery to her mother in India, believing that it will be safer there than in the UK.

The stolen gold is often melted down or posted anonymously to gold traders.

One detective said: There is no legislation covering the buying and selling of gold, and independent gold retailers are becoming increasingly common in most towns and cities.

Hampshire Constabulary has advised families to keep gold in a safe location, such as a bank or safety deposit box, and to install CCTV cameras at home.
A woman looks at a building damaged by shelling in Vovchansk, Kharkiv. The town has been under sustained attack from Russian forces. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Ukraines top military commander admitted on Sunday that the situation in the north-eastern Kharkiv region was difficult as Russia continued an assault in the area and Moscow claimed to have captured several more villages.

Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi denied that the Russians had made a significant breakthrough, but said his forces were on the back foot. [We] are fighting fierce defensive battles. The attempts of the Russian invaders to break through our defences have been stopped, he wrote in a statement on Telegram.

Ukraine is suffering from chronic shortages of manpower and weapons and delays in western funding. Analysts have warned of an impending Russian offensive for some weeks and the first moves came on Friday with a push around Kharkiv.

The situation is difficult, but the defence forces of Ukraine are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions, and inflict damage on the enemy, added Syrskyi, who was appointed as the army commander earlier this year.

Related: Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv was 9 May terror target, says SBU

However, the Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, said on Saturday that previous Russian claims to have captured four villages appeared to be accurate and described the recent gains as tactically significant. On Sunday, Russia claimed to have taken control of another five villages.

The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, told Sky News on Sunday that the Russian assault marked an extremely dangerous moment in the war.

The Russian offensive may require Ukraine to reposition troops to the northern front, just as Russian forces are also probing in the south and east of the country. Russian military bloggers said Moscows troops were looking to seize a window of opportunity, pressing Ukraine back amid a delay in western aid arriving.

On Sunday the town of Vovchansk, which before the war had a population of 17,000, was under sustained attack from Russian forces. Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Moscows troops were already on the outskirts of town and approaching it from three directions.

Tymoshko said Russia was combining aerial assaults with attacks by infantry units, similar tactics to those used in Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, which eventually succeeded but destroyed much of the towns in the process.

Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Kharkiv region, said Vovchansk was under permanent Russian fire on Sunday. He said about 4,000 people had been evacuated from areas newly under fire over the past two days but about 500 people remained in the town. We call on residents to save their lives and leave the areas which are being shelled by the enemy, he wrote on Telegram.

Kharkiv is Ukraines second-largest city, with a population of more than 1 million. In the early stages of the full-scale invasion in spring 2022, Russian forces reached its suburbs but were driven back to the surrounding region. Later in the year, a Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed them back to the border with Russia, and in recent months Ukraine has intensified shelling of areas across the border.

Most analysts believe Russia does not have the capacity to launch a renewed drive to seize the city, but may instead focus on intensifying strikes on it to make it unhabitable, as well as drawing Ukrainian forces away from other parts of the frontline. Moscow may also be trying to minimise Ukraines capacity to strike across the border. In March, units of Russians fighting for Ukraine made a cross-border raid into parts of Kursk and Belgorod regions near the border, while Ukraine in recent months has stepped up artillery and rocket attacks on targets inside Russia.

On Sunday, Russian authorities claimed that at least seven people had been killed and 17 injured when a section of an apartment block collapsed in the city of Belgorod, the nearest major Russian city to Kharkiv. Footage showed a slice taken out of the building, about 10 storeys high. During a rescue operation, part of the roof fell, causing panic among rescuers and bystanders.

Russian officials claimed the damage came when a Russian air defence system shot down a Ukrainian missile, which had been launched as part of a Ukrainian cross-border assault. The defence ministry called it a terrorist attack on residential areas. Ukrainian authorities are yet to comment on the incident.

The mood in Kyiv has remained bleak in recent months, as the countrys army struggles to overcome Russias superior troop numbers and a prolonged shortage of weapons continues. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the No 1 priority was to halt Russias offensive in the Kharkiv region. He added: Whether we succeed in that task depends on every soldier, every sergeant, every officer.
Palestinian Permanent Representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, following the United Nations (UN) General Assembly vote on Friday

This has been another week of shame for the United Nations, which has again voted to reward terrorism and victim-blame Israel. The general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, a move that Israels envoy, Gilad Erdan, has warned will give the rights of a state to an entity that is already partly controlled by Hamas.

Shamefully, Britain abstained, though that was better than France, which voted in favour. The US, Argentina, the Czech Republic and others did the right thing and voted against.

The appalling savagery of October 7, which the Hamas leadership has stated it will repeat as soon as an opportunity arises, made clear what the terror group thinks of living peacefully alongside Israelis. A two-state solution is obviously the long-term aspiration, but is impossible as long as the Palestinian establishment  and not just Hamas  refuses to accept the legitimacy of Israels existence, continues to claim a right of return to Israel, and pushes a rejectionist vision of Palestinian nationalism from the river to the sea.

Palestinian membership of the UN will remain out of reach so long as the US continues to veto it. Yet Americas support for its long-standing ally is far less ironclad than Joe Biden vowed it would be last month. On Wednesday, the US president threatened to deprive Israel of certain military hardware if they go into Rafah.

Mr Biden seems to believe that he can micro-manage this conflict, and has delayed the Israelis for months, lengthening the war and reducing the hopes for the hostages. We ought to remember that only one group of people will benefit if the IDF is unable to achieve its strategic aims: Islamists who, given the chance, will destroy all the West stands for.
Anita Mukhey was a medical secretary in the NHS. Photograph: Metropolitan police/PA

A grandmother who was stabbed to death in north London has been remembered for being devoted to her family.

Anita Mukhey, 66, a medical secretary in the NHS, was attacked near a bus stop in Edgware on Thursday morning.

In a statement released through the Metropolitan police, her family said she was a married mother and grandmother devoted to her family.

They added: The family ask for privacy at this difficult time.

Police were called at about 11.50am on Thursday morning. The London ambulance service and air ambulance also attended. Mukhey was treated for knife wounds but died at the scene.

The Met urged people not to share enormously distressing footage of the incident online. On Saturday, police spokesperson said on X: A small number of social media users have posted graphic footage of the attack.

It is enormously distressing for grieving families. We ask that these posts are deleted and others not to share them.

DCI Alex Gammampila, who is leading the investigation for the Mets specialist crime command, said: I know that the effects of this incident will be felt throughout the local community and would like to reassure everyone that a man is in custody and we are not looking for any other suspects.

We are working hard to establish the full circumstances and motive for this offence, which we believe to be an isolated incident.

Jalal Debella, 22, from Colindale in north-west London, appeared at Willesden magistrates court on Saturday charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon, namely a knife. No pleas were entered.

Debella is due before the Old Bailey on Tuesday.
The United Kingdoms Olly Alexander has finished the Eurovision Song Contest in 18th place with 46 points after he was awarded zero in the public vote.

He and his team reacted jovially as the United Kingdom was the only country to not score from the audience tally, after his performance of song Dizzy at Malmo Arena on Saturday night.

However he had 46 points from the other countrys judges which landed him above seven other nations.

Switzerlands Nemo finished in first place with 591 points, while Croatias Baby Lasagna was given 547 points and Ukraines Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil with the emotional and religious song Teresa & Maria landed on 453 points.

Olly Alexander performing the song Dizzy, during the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest (Martin Meissner/AP)

It was smooth-sailing for Alexander during his final performance, after he spoke of having a wardrobe malfunction during 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.

Earlier, demonstrators were gathered outside the venue in Malmo before 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.
Kasia Madera, who is among senior female BBC journalists to have launched legal action against the broadcaster claiming a job application process was rigged, is back on air.

Her return to BBC News on Sunday was met with a flood of warm wishes from viewers and fellow presenters Martine Croxall and Karin Giannone, who are also part of the tribunal claim and hinted they may also soon be back on screen.

After her appearance, Ms Madera posted on X, formerly Twitter: Thanks for all the lovely messages. Its nice to be back.

In response, Ms Croxall stated There she is! alongside a screengrab of Ms Madera, who she said was back on BBC News. Ms Croxall added that Ms Giannone and I not far behind.

In reply to a viewer who said they were looking forward to seeing her back, Ms Croxall said hopefully youll find my humour undimmed!.

Ms Giannone hailed Ms Maderas return as lovely news.

The trio, along with Annita McVeigh, have launched an employment tribunal case against the BBC, alleging they were snubbed for chief presenter roles following the merger of the BBCs News and World News channels.

Ms McVeigh, who returned to work on March 18 saying online that it is so good to be bringing you the news again, also posted it was lovely to see my friend and colleague back on air.

Earlier this month, the journalists were seen together as they attended preliminary hearings for their discrimination claims at the Central London Employment Tribunal.

They are expected to give evidence during their full employment tribunal which was set for March.

Ms Croxall and Ms McVeigh, who are both 55, plus Ms Madera, 49, allege discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, being a union member and wages.

Ms Giannone, 50, alleges discrimination based on age, sex and wages.

The BBC is resisting the womens legal claim in which they allege they lost their jobs and were kept off air for a year when they challenged the process.

The women alleged they have been left to suffer victimisation, harassment and reputational damage.

After the preliminary hearing when the journalists who had previously reached settlements with the broadcaster were told they would not be able to bring a claim for equal pay, a BBC spokesman said: We are pleased with the result and that the tribunal has accepted our position. We will not be commenting further at this stage.

It is believed that the BBCs position is that it had complied with equal pay legislation.

It is also understood the BBC is confident it applied a rigorous and fair recruitment process, and that all managers conducted that process properly.

The women applied for the new roles as BBC News chief presenters but lost out to successful applicants including Matthew Amroliwala.

Lovely to see my friend and colleague @KasiaMadera back on air https://t.co/pCIImEONGk  Annita McVeigh (@AnnitaBBC) May 12, 2024

Ms Croxall, who has worked for the BBC since October 1991, has been a chief presenter with the BBC News Channel and BBC World News since 2001. She has also appeared on BBC One network news bulletins.

Since March 2012, Ms Madera has been a chief presenter with the BBC News Channel and BBC World News, and also appeared on BBC1 network news bulletins.

Ms McVeigh, who has worked for the BBC since October 1995, has been a chief presenter with the BBC News Channel and BBC World News since 2006. She has also appeared on BBC network news.

Ms Giannone started working for the BBC in January 2005. She became a permanent staff member in April 2008 and has been a chief presenter on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel.
By Kwak Yeon-soo

The political row over a special probe bill into a Marine's death has intensified, as the opposition bloc is pressuring President Yoon Suk Yeol to accept the Assembly-approved bill. Meanwhile, the ruling side has described the attempt as being "politically motivated."

On Saturday, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and five other opposition parties  the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP), the Reform Party, the Justice Party, the Progressive Party and the Saemirae Party  held a joint press conference near the presidential office in Seoul to call on Yoon to accept a special counsel bill passed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly last week.

The bill aims to launch a sweeping investigation into officials at the presidential office, the Ministry of National Defense and the Marine Corps, to look into the death of Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who died last year during a search operation after floods, amid suspicions of political interference in order to downplay the responsibilities of ranking military officials.

"Is it asking too much to ask for the truth on why a young Marine died during a search-and-rescue operation for flood victims and whether there was external pressure during the course of the investigation?" DPK floor leader Rep. Park Chan-dae said. "The president using his veto power will not hide the truth."

RKP leader Cho Kuk, known for his vocal criticism of Yoon, said, "People are demanding a special counsel probe right now." According to recent public surveys, nearly 70 percent of the people support the special counsel probe.

The first-term lawmaker-elects of the DPK staged a sit-in protest against the Yoon administration.

Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) lashed back at the opposition parties, accusing the DPK of using the Marine's death for political gain.

"No truth can be revealed through bad propaganda," PPP spokesperson Ho Jun-seok said Sunday.

"It is a mere conjuring trick to gain the upper hand and exert power through threats and offensive remarks before the 22nd National Assembly launches on May 30. The pain from the unfortunate death of a Marine cannot be used as a tool to justify political strife."

During a press conference to mark his second year in office last Thursday, Yoon expressed opposition to the separate special counsel probe bill.

"The police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials are already investigating the case, and it will be handed over to the prosecution for indictments and trials of those involved," Yoon said.

"If these processes are completed, the investigative authorities will brief the public on the results. If the public deems the investigations unacceptable, I will be the first to call for a special counsel probe."

If Yoon opposes the special counsel probe bill, it may deepen political divides. He faces a political burden as collaboration with opposition parties becomes more important than ever, given that the DPK secured a large majority in the 22nd National Assembly.
British Olympian William Fox-Pitt confirmed his farewell appearance at the Mars Badminton Horse Trials after a dramatic showjumping finale saw New Zealander Caroline Powell crowned champion.

Fox-Pitt, second going into the final phase, had a chance of becoming Badmintons second-oldest winner, aged 55.

But six fences down on Grafennacht dropped him to 13th place as a Badminton relationship that began 35 years ago, featuring victories in 2004 and 2015, reached its conclusion.

Fox-Pitt had previously suggested this year could be his Badminton swansong as part of him stepping back from elite five-star level eventing following a stellar career that harvested 20 major championship medals, and he said: I wont be coming back to Badminton.

It is a shame to finish on a bit of a downer, but she is a great horse and I look forward to seeing what happens next.

This is my last Badminton. It has been a great week, I have really loved it, and it has been a great send-off.

There are no kind of tears and sobbing. I am very matter of fact about it, and I think its the right thing.

The Queen presents Caroline Powell with the Badminton Horse Trials trophy (David Davies/PA)

It wasnt my day today, and you have to deal with it. That is the sport.

Overnight leader Tim Price also saw his hopes of victory disappear amid a clatter of showjumping poles, as 20 faults with Vitali relegated him to eighth.

Powell, meanwhile, jumped from sixth to first on Greenacres Special Cavalier as the London 2012 Olympic team bronze medallist won her first Badminton title and 117,600.

I wasnt ready for that one! To win here  wow, Powell told BBC Sport. I cant believe it  it means so much.

Irelands Lucy Latta finished second in the Badminton Horse Trials (David Davies/PA)

Irish rider Lucy Latta, who was making her five-star debut, finished second as she put herself firmly in the Paris Olympics selection frame.

Latta, who is the cousin of Grand National-winning jockey Robbie Power, went close to becoming the first Irish winner at Badminton since Captain Eddie Boylan 59 years ago.

Somerset-based Alex Bragg took third on Quindiva, with Emily King and Valmy Biats finishing fourth.
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.

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A Chinese criminal organization, dubbed "BogusBazaar," appears to be behind thousands of fake online shops targeting Americans. Getty Images

A study linked one Chinese criminal organization to over 75,000 fraudulent online shops.

The group, known as 'BogusBazaar,' has processed over $50 million in fake orders, the study found.

The majority of the 850,000 victims are based in the US and Europe.

Have you encountered an online shop with deals too good to be true? Well, they probably are, and the website probably is too.

As the rise of online shopping took hold during the pandemic, so did the rise of fake online shops and products.

SR Labs is a German-based cyber security company that consults with clients in more than 21 countries. The company last week announced the findings of a three-year study, which found that one Chinese criminal organization was linked to more than 75,000 fraudulent online shops.

The group, dubbed "BogusBazaar," mostly runs websites claiming to sell items like designer clothes at cheap prices, the report says. Instead, the sites harvest credit card details and collect payments for the fake merchandise.

The fake shops processed over $50 million in orders between March 2021 and April 2024, SR Labs says.

A spokesperson for SR Labs noted that, since every successful order does not conclude with successful payment, the immediate monetary damage to the victims is likely lower than the figures suggest. But the exposure of credit card details to the scammers will likely "add to the overall damage."

SR Labs said the group is highly organized, using a cloud computing model where a core team manages the system's infrastructure while a "decentralized network of franchisees operates fraudulent shops."

"A typical BogusBazaar server runs about 200 webshops, with a few servers hosting more than 500," the report says. "These servers are often associated with more than a hundred IP addresses each."

Additional data shared with Business Insider showed that victims in France placed the most orders on the phony shops  almost 200,000. Users inside the United States placed the second-most orders  about 168,000  at a value of more than $12.5 million.

Most of the scam's 850,000 victims come from inside the United States and Western Europe, with almost no victims identified inside China, where the fraudsters are based, SR Labs says.

The credit monitoring company Experian says that the best thing to do if you are a victim of credit card fraud is to notify your card provider, request a fraud alert on your credit report, report the scam to the police, and contact the three major credit bureaus.

Read the original article on Business Insider
It took Esteban Ribovics only 37 seconds to get the win Saturday night in St. Louis. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) (Josh Hedges via Getty Images)

Esteban Ribovics wasted no time getting UFC St. Louis started Saturday night.

Ribovics, not even a minute into his bout against Terrance McKinney on the preliminary card at the Enterprise Center, delivered a wild kick that ended their fight before it could even really begin.

Only 37 seconds into their match, Ribovics stepped forward and landed a ridiculous kick to McKinney's head that sent him crashing unconscious into the side of the Octagon. Immediately, the officially called the fight and Ribovics started celebrating.

ESTEBAN RIBOVICS HEAD KICK KO IN THE OPENING SECONDS  #UFCStLouispic.twitter.com/eqYojEphBq  ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 11, 2024

This is what I told people, Ribovics said about his win, via MMAfighting.com. I tell people all the time, this is my moment, this is my time. This is what were here for. My plan was go for the kill. I visualized it all week. It came true and I did it.

The win pushed Ribovics to 13-1 in his career, and it marked his third win in his last four fights. The 28-year-old out of Argentina has seven knockouts in his career, too. McKinney, on the other hand, holds just a 15-7 record and has lost four of his last seven.

The fight was was one of six bouts on the preliminary card ahead of Saturday's main card night in Missouri, which is centered around Derrick Lewis heavyweight matchup against Rodrigo Nascimento. Lewis has won four of his last five bouts, while Nascimento is on a three-fight win streak.

Though the main card hadnt even started yet, Ribovics' brutal finish may end up winning the Performance of the Night.
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.
Since the very first day of testimony in former President Donald Trump's New York criminal hush money trial, prosecutors have been introducing evidence laying the groundwork for anticipated testimony from Michael Cohen  a likely star witness in the case, but also a convicted liar.

Cohen, who's expected to testify as early as Monday, could be crucial in tying Trump to key parts of the 34 felony counts the former president faces that accuse him of falsifying business records to cover up unlawfully interfering in the 2016 election. Cohen has said Trump authorized him to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about an alleged affair. And he has described a discussion with Trump at the White House about getting reimbursed. The records charges are connected to what prosecutors say were falsified reimbursement payments made to Cohen in 2017.

However, Cohen isn't the type of witness prosecutors would have drawn up from scratch. The disbarred former lawyer pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress, among other crimes, and was sentenced to three years in prison. Trump's defense team will almost certainly come ready to portray Cohen  who regularly antagonizes Trump in media appearances  as biased.

Trump trial live updates: Michael Cohen set to testify as star witness in hush money trial

Who is Michael Cohen and why is he so prominent in Trumps hush money trial?

So what have prosecutors done to get ahead of Cohen's vulnerabilities? Here's a look at the testimony and evidence  including Trump's own words  that prosecutors have provided jurors ahead of what's sure to be his contentious time on the witness stand.

What will Cohen say about the lead-up to hush money payments?

It's not clear what Cohen will reveal in his testimony, but he's expected to describe a meeting at Trump Tower in August of 2015 with Trump and David Pecker, who headed the parent company for the National Enquirer tabloid at the time.

According to prosecutors, Pecker agreed at the meeting to alert Cohen to any potential negative stories about Trump before they were published, to help the Trump campaign buy the stories and thereby keep them from getting out. That arrangement is often called a "catch-and-kill" scheme, used to protect celebrities or other prominent people from damaging reports.

Catch-and-kill scheme: What the jury has already seen and heard

Jurors have already heard Pecker's testimony. Pecker described the alleged August 2015 meeting with Cohen and Trump, and said he promised to be "eyes and ears" when it came to stories that might hurt Trump's 2016 campaign. He also described publishing negative stories about Trump's competitors that were fed to him by Cohen.

What will Cohen say about a pivotal 2017 meeting with top Trump employee?

According to prosecutors' allegations, Cohen met with then-Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg in January of 2017 to discuss how he would be reimbursed for paying Daniels the hush money.

Cohen, Weisselberg, and Trump all agreed to the reimbursement arrangement, which involved Cohen sending invoices to Trump through Trump Organization employees that would falsely request payments for 2017 legal services, New York officials have said.

What has the jury has already seen and heard about that meeting?

Weisselberg is currently in jail for committing perjury in Trump's recent New York civil fraud trial, which centered on whether the former president inflated the value of his real estate empire. (A judge determined he did, and Trump has appealed.)

Judge Juan Merchan suggested on Friday that prosecutors may consider bringing Weisselberg to the trial to confirm he would invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination rather than testify, or to see what he will say. But as of now, Cohen seems poised to be the only witness who will testify about the meeting with Weisselberg.

Still, the jury has already heard from ex-Trump Organization financial controller Jeffrey McConney about arrangements that could have flowed from the January meeting.

McConney testified that Weisselberg told him Cohen needed to be reimbursed, and that Weisselberg directed him to pay Cohen $420,000 spread out over twelve payments of $35,000. Jurors also saw notes on a bank statement about the arrangement that McConney said reflected Weisselberg's handwriting.

A portion of an exhibit displayed on May 6, 2024 in former President Donald Trump's New York criminal trial. Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified that notes on a bank statement were in Allen Weisselberg's handwriting.

Multiple meetings: Will Cohen address White House conversation about Stormy Daniels hush money payment?

Cohen is also expected to testify about meeting with Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017. He and Trump confirmed the reimbursement arrangement at that meeting, according to prosecutors.

2017 White House meeting with Trump: What the jury has already seen and heard

Prosecutors already introduced an image of Cohen that appears to show him at the White House. Metadata associated with the image is from Feb. 8, 2017, according to testimony.

Jurors also saw an email from Madeleine Westerhout, a former Trump aide in the White House, to Cohen on Feb. 5, 2017. Westerhout told Cohen that he was "confirmed for 4:30pm on Wednesday."

What invoices, checks and other documentation will Cohen address?

Cohen is expected to testify that, as part of a scheme to be reimbursed by Trump, he submitted invoices to falsely suggest he was requesting payment for legal services under a legal retainer. A legal retainer is an agreement with a lawyer about compensation that reserves a lawyer or pays for future services.

The former Trump lawyer is also expected to testify that he got several checks from Donald Trump for the $35,000 payments, in line with their agreement.

What has the jury already seen and heard about payments, documents?

Prosecutors have already shown the jury 11 invoices that each make up one of the 34 counts in the indictment. The first invoice was sent in February of 2017 and was for the first two months of that year.

An invoice prosecutors say Michael Cohen submitted to receive $35,000 payments for each of January and February, 2017.

McConney, the former Trump Organization financial controller, testified that he told Cohen to submit a formal invoice because McConney needed that invoice in order to get a check cut. He also testified that he never saw a retainer agreement for Cohen.

The jury has also been shown 11 checks that each make up one of the 34 counts in the indictment.

Earlier witnesses testified that Trump's personal signature was required on many of the checks, that his signature can be seen on many of the checks, and that a FedEx process was used to send checks without Trump's signature to the White House to get that signature and get the checks returned.

An excerpt from former President Donald Trump's 2005 book, "Trump: Think Like a Billionaire," that was read aloud to jurors on May 7, 2024 in his New York criminal trial.

Prosecutors also brought in a book publisher to read from Trump's 2005 book, "Trump: Think Like a Billionaire." One excerpt read aloud stated: "I always sign my checks, so I know where my money's going."

On cross-examination, Trump's lawyer suggested that a ghostwriter  someone who is hired to write something that will be credited to another person  could have been responsible for those words.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Trump prosecutors have paved the road for Michael Cohen testimony
Novak Djokovic is likely to be much more competitive at Roland Garros later this month - Alessandro Di Meo/Shutterstock

A concerned Novak Djokovic will undergo medical tests after feeling the effects of being struck on the head by a bottle in his shock exit from the Italian Open.

Djokovic was beaten 6-2 6-3 in just 67 minutes by Chiles Alejandro Tabilo in Rome, the six-time champion committing 22 unforced errors, serving five double faults and failing to create a single break point.

The one-sided loss came two days after Djokovic collapsed to the ground after being struck by a bottle which fell from a spectators backpack as the world No 1 signed autographs.

It was unexpected obviously. I wasnt even looking up, Djokovic said after his defeat to Tabilo. Then I felt a very strong hit in the head. That has, yeah, really impacted me a lot. Been through half an hour, an hour of nausea, dizziness, blood, a lot of different things.

I managed to sleep okay. I had headaches. The next day was pretty fine, so I thought its okay. Maybe it is okay. Maybe its not.

I mean, the way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, no balance whatsoever on any shot.

Its a bit concerning. I didnt do any scans or any tests. Right now, I feel like I should do it, so I will do it and lets see. Lets see whats happening.

Djokovics latest defeat was his fifth in 17 outings this year, so that while he remains at the top of the world rankings, he stands at a relatively lowly 12th place in the ATPs Race to Turin  a chart which only counts results for the 2024 season.

This also means that Djokovic will go into the French Open  which starts in a fortnights time  dealing with an unprecedented lack of match practice.

Given that both world No 2 Jannik Sinner and No 3 Carlos Alcaraz were unable to participate in the Italian Open, on account of hip and forearm injuries respectively, this French Open is shaping up as the most open grand slam since the rise of the Big Three.

In all probability, Djokovic will find much better form when playing for a 25th major title. But even a man of his class and experience could be vulnerable when going into Paris with just six clay-court matches under his belt this season.

We should pause for a second to give Tabilo  a Canadian who plays under the Chilean flag  some deserved credit. While not a familiar name, Tabilo has climbed high enough to be seeded at the majors since winning his maiden ATP title in January.

Alejandro Tabilo has the biggest scalp of his career to date - Alessandro Di Meo/Shutterstock

Tabilos lefty forehand was on fire in this match, scoring a quality rating of 9.8 out of 10 on the ATP index. But it should be said that he was despatching a lot of juicy meatballs which sat up nicely in the middle of the court.

Bottle incident or not, Djokovic could hardly have communicated his lack of interest more clearly. He rushed between points, often taking only 15 of the allocated 25 seconds when serving. There was no sign of the usual poker-faced ball-bouncing, which he normally employs to focus his mind before the toss.

Neither did he look across to his player box, which featured his recently reappointed physical trainer Gebhard Gritsch in the absence of Goran Ivanisevic and Marco Panichi (both of whom have left the Djokovic camp in the last couple of months). From time to time, he wore a wry smile, as if amused by the absurdity of the sport he has dominated for the past decade.

There are certainly precedents for Djokovic turning his own form around quickly. Last year, he lost to Holger Rune in the Rome semi-finals, but still told reporters that he was confident about his prospects in Paris  a prediction that proved accurate when he eased past a cramping Alcaraz at Roland Garros and then walloped Casper Ruud in the final.

But this has been a funny old year for Djokovic, who has yet to reach a single ATP final, and who delivered one of his worst-ever grand-slam performances against Sinner at Januarys Australian Open.

Going into 2024s clay-court showpiece, second-tier players like Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas  all major finalists and top-ten regulars  will surely feel emboldened about their chances.

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Meet Julien, the two-month-old addax calf and the latest addition to the Disney herd

Landon McReynolds/Walt Disney World A mother Addax stands side-by-side with her newborn at Disney's Animal Kingdom

An endangered addax calf at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge arrived in time to celebrate Mother's Day with his mom.

On May 10, the Disney Parks Blog announced the birth of Julien, a now-two-month-old addax calf, the first male addax calf born at the Animal Kingdom resort  in what Disney calls "an incredible win for the population of this species."

Two feet tall with "a great head of hair," Julien is named after his parents, mom Juniper and dad Allen. The addax is a rare antelope species native to the Sahara Desert in Africa.

As the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute noted, the critically endangered addax faces threats in the wild, including drought, hunting, and "habitat loss from oil drilling and agricultural expansion."

Related: Pet Rescue Shares Warning About Wild Baby Animals After Family Brings in 4 Coyote Pups

Landon McReynolds/Walt Disney World Addax calf Julien photographed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

The Disney Parks Blog shared that the species has an estimated population of less than 100 in the wild and is currently on the brink of extinction. There are over 180 in addax in managed care across organizations accredited by the Associations of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

Julien and his parents are members of a larger herd at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, one of 21 AZA-accredited institutions that houses addax.

"Julien's birth is an incredible win for the population of this species and for our team of veterinarians and animal keepers who are over the moon to welcome another addax as they are so critical in the wild," the Disney blog shared. "This birth is just one of many examples that testifies to the level of care our animals receive."

Animal keeper Lindsay Cooper and veterinarian Dr. Deidre Fontenot care for Juniper at Walt Disney World with best-in-class care and wellness exams.

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Landon McReynolds/Walt Disney World Addax calf Julien photographed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

Related: Kansas Zoo Announces 5 of Its 6 Female Elephants Are Pregnant and Expecting Calves in 2025

According to Sahara Conservation, the addax used to be "found in great numbers over immense arid areas" before their population crashed due to "the advent of modern weapons and transport, and more recently oil exploration and civil unrest."

"Today, the addax, a nomadic desert-living species, is the most threatened ungulate in the Sahara and quite possibly the world, and is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List," its website noted.

The addax can only be found today in two small populations in the wild, in the Tin Toumma desert of eastern Niger and Chad's Eguey-Bodele region, per Sahara Conservation.

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Read the original article on People.
Thorough plans needed to create ministry to counter low births

President Yoon Suk Yeols announcement to create a ministry to cope with Korea's falling birthrates and aging society is timely, if not too late. Considering its profound impact on the economy and society, the population crisis is an urgent issue that must be tackled.

As always, however, identifying problems is easier than finding solutions. This holds true for Koreas fight to stop falling birthrates.

The Korean government took the downward spiral of the total fertility rate seriously and unveiled numerous measures, including expanding free child care and parental leave, in hopes of stopping the trend. But few of them were effective.

According to Statistics Korea, the nations total fertility rate last year marked 0.73, down further from 0.78 the previous year.

In Korea, having children is a decision requiring married couples to contemplate various factors. Job security, education costs, work and family balance and child care are some of the key issues people consider when they make that decision. The economy has grown fast and society has become wealthier. But people increasingly feel insecure about their livelihoods. This is the root cause of falling birthrates.

Because of the complex nature of the total fertility rate, policymakers are advised to take a holistic approach.

Yoon said the new ministry, if established, will be tasked with overseeing and formulating effective policies encompassing welfare, education and labor. He declared a state of emergency, vowing to mobilize all possible means to stabilize the population.

The governments previous policy efforts to boost the total fertility rate were fragmented as several different ministries unveiled scattered measures. The Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy has served as a sort of control tower but its role was rather symbolic because like other committees, it is not authorized to implement certain policies.

Yoons idea to create a ministry responsible for stopping the population crisis came against this backdrop.

Creating a new ministry requires a revision of the Government Structure Act, which means the revised bill needs approval from the National Assembly.

Unlike other issues, establishing a new ministry for overseeing the population crisis may be relatively easier in terms of reaching a bipartisan agreement. Both the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) vowed to create an independent ministry addressing birthrates, although they label it differently.

The real challenge, however, will come after the creation of the new ministry.

To consolidate birthrate-related jurisdiction in the new ministry, restructuring of other related ministries, such as welfare, labor and education, will be inevitable. Resistance, lobbying and infighting can happen among ministries not wanting to lose their turf. The will of the government is more than important to push through the overhauling of jurisdictions.

Risks lurk in creating a new ministry. Small government is a global trend. Calls are mounting for minimizing government intervention in the private sector. Establishing a new ministry goes against this trend.

If not properly managed, a new ministry can also be a waste of taxpayer money.

The new ministry can end up being an unnecessary house built above an existing one, to use a Korean adage referring to busywork.

The government should thoroughly evaluate whether the establishment of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 1998 helped fulfill its initial goal of what activists call gender mainstreaming in this society. It remains uncertain whether womens representation in public office and the private sector has improved over the past two decades since the ministry was established. Few can answer confidently whether there has been any marked improvement in womens rights after the establishment of the gender equality ministry.

To prevent Yoons idea of establishing a new ministry from becoming another policy failure, a well-planned strategy and a visionary leader are the two foremost things that need to be actioned, prior to its establishment.
For ten years, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea has held two visits annually to listen to people in places that are important for the life of the Church and society. On the mudflats near the longest dyke in world, built 20 years ago, the bishops saw first-hand the dykes environmental impact on local communities, which was front-page news following last years Scouts Jamboree debacle.

Seoul (AsiaNews)  Bishops visiting places significant for the Church and beyond falls within the perspective of the outbound Church" Pope Francis never tires to talk about.

An interesting example of this are the "field experiences undertaken by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK), who this year marked their tenth anniversary, the result of a decision by the local Assembly of Bishops.

Since 2014 in fact, Korean bishops every year make a day visit to at least two significant places to listen to local communities.

This year, the first field experience took place on 30 April at the mudflats near Haechang and Sura at the Saemangeum Seawall, the 33-kilometre dyke, the longest in the world, on the southwestern coast of the Korean peninsula, which joins two headlands separating the Western Sea (which the Chinese call the Yellow Sea) from the former Saemangeum estuary.

The visit was organised by the CBCKs Committee for Ecology and the Environment, and saw the participation of Archbishop Cho Hwan-Kil of Daegu, Bishop Kwon Hyeok-ju of Andong, Bishop Cho Kyu-man of Wonju, Bishop Kim Son-tae of Jeonju, Bishop Kim Ju-young of Chuncheon, and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Sung-hyo of Suwon.

The prelates gathered in the morning to see the Haechang mudflats, then, at the Catholic church in Dengyong, listened to the explanation of the damage caused by the Saemangeum Seawall, while in the afternoon they went to the Sura mudflats.

As a result of the construction of the large dyke, completed on 21 April 2006, the ecosystems of Saemangeum Lake suffered greatly. The seawall gates have to be open regularly, and since 2020, seawater is let in twice a day, keeping it 1.5 metres below sea level.

This method has not solved the problem of black water in the lake, which, by flowing into the sea, carries the pollution beyond the dyke.

Last summer, the Haechang mudflat was the site of the worldwide scout Jamboree, which unwittingly became a symbol of the areas poor environmental conditions, which turned out to be unsuitable even for tents.

At the site, the bishops met Fr Moon Kyu-hyun, a priest from the Diocese of Jeonju, who in the spring of 2023 travelled for 65 days to Seoul on a small boat together with Monk Su-kyung and Pastors Kim Kyung-e Lee Hee-woon to raise awareness about the Saemangeum mudflats.

Located near the village of Namsura, the Sura tidal flat means "embroidered silk" to reflect the rich biodiversity generated by the tides. Some species of birds at risk of extinction still survive at the site. However, the prospect of the construction of a new Saemangeum airport that the government wants to open by 2029 hangs over its future.

Local communities are up in arms against such a project, especially since an airport already exists in nearby Gunsan and the area is at risk of flooding due to rising sea levels and collisions of planes with flocks of birds.

Seawater must be able to come and go, and the current situation seems to be serious, said Archbishop Cho Hwan-gil, speaking about what he saw during the visit. I saw a banner that said, 'Water is life,' and I realised that we have to work to make this happen.

I had heard a lot about this problem, but it was only when I came here that I realised how serious the situation is," added Bishop Kim Sun-tae. The project started with little transparency. As believers, we must pray and understand how to overcome this situation and resolve it.

The Korean bishops second field experience took place last Thursday at the Incheon City Hall Youth Self-Reliance Support Centre with the participation of CBCK president, Bishop Lee Yong-hoon, Bishop Kim Jong-gang, chairman of the Youth Ministry Committee, Bishop Jung Shin-chul of Incheon, Bishop Kim Ju-young Chuncheon, Bishop Moon Chang-woo of Jeju, and Bishop Seo Sang-beom (military ordinary).

Run by the Catholic Children and Youth Foundation on behalf of the Incheon Metropolitan City, the Youth Self-Reliance Support Centre provides a harmonious living environment and practical self-reliance training programs for local youth, especially those who spent time in penal institutions.

The aim is to reintegrate them into society by supporting their journey towards psychological, social, and economic self-reliance.

ECCLESIA IN ASIA IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN ASIA. TO RECEIVE A WEEKLY UPDATE EVERY SUNDAY, CLICK HERE.
He made the appeal during the Regina Caeli in the name of the Risen One "who frees us. For the Solemnity of the Ascension, which is being celebrated today in Italy, the faithful may ask if the desire for eternal life alive in me? Francis spoke about the wisdom of the heart on World Day of Social Communications and expressed gratitude to all mothers on their feast day.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis renewed his appeal for an exchange of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war today from St Peter's Square at the end of the Regina Caeli prayer, on the day in which the Church in Italy celebrates the Solemnity of the Ascension.

As we celebrate the Ascension of the Risen Lord, who frees us and wants us free, I renew my appeal for a general exchange of all the prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, the pontiff said.

To this end, he expressed the willingness of the Holy See to favour any effort in this regard, especially for those who are gravely injured and ill.

The Holy Father went on to ask the faithful to pray for peace in Ukraine, in Palestine, in Israel, in Myanmar Let us pray for peace.

Jesus return to the Father appears to us not as His detachment from us, but rather like preceding us to the destination, Francis said.

Just as, when in the mountains, one ascends to a summit: one walks, with difficulty, and finally, at a turn in the path, the horizon opens up and one sees the panorama.

The Church, the pontiff said, walks with Jesus on this ascent because, step by step, one rung at a time, Jesus shows us the way.

What are these steps? Todays Gospel says: preach the Gospel, baptize, cast out demons, pick up serpents, lay hands on the sick (cf. Mk 16:16.18); in summary, to perform the works of love: to give life, bring hope, steer away from any form of wickedness and meanness, respond to evil with good, be close to those who suffer.

And the more we do this, the more we let ourselves be transformed by the Spirit, the more we follow His example, as in the mountains, we feel the air around us become light and clean, the horizon broad and the destination near.

Thus, we ought to ask ourselves: Is the desire for God, the desire for His infinite love, for His life that is eternal life, alive in me? Or am I a bit dulled and anchored to passing things, or money, or success, or pleasure?

Likewise, does my desire for Heaven isolate me, does it seal me off, or does it lead me to love my brothers and sisters with a big and selfless heart, to feel that they are my companions on the journey towards Paradise?

May Mary, She who has already arrived at the destination, help us to walk together with joy towards the glory of Heaven.

For the Catholic Church, Ascension Day is also the World Day of Social Communications, which this year focuses on Artificial Intelligence and Wisdom of the Heart".

Only by restoring a wisdom of the heart can we interpret the demands of our time and rediscover the way towards a fully human communication. Our thanks go to all communication workers for their work! Francis said at the end of the Regina Caeli.

Finally, the pope noted that the second Sunday in May is also Mother's Day in many countries.

[L]et us think gratefully of all mothers, and let us also pray for the mothers who have gone to Heaven. And let us entrust mothers to the protection of Mary, our heavenly mother.
By Robert Neff

Korean is said to be one of the fastest-growing languages in the world. Undoubtedly, Korean movies, dramas and K-pop have influenced the popularity of the language. Not many years ago, speaking a few words of Korean garnished undeserved praise from elderly Korean shop keepers, but those days are gone. Korean-speaking foreigners are often encountered in the streets, seen on TV or on YouTube. The number of Korean language schools are constantly increasing, and for those who cannot physically attend a language school, there are many programs online.

But what was it like to learn Korean in the 1880s? Most of the early American missionaries hired Koreans to teach them the language  many of these early students did fairly well, while others, like Horace Allen, gave up quickly.

In the summer of 1885, Henry Appenzeller, an American missionary, studied every day for five hours with his Korean tutor and used a French-Korean dictionary as his textbook. In a letter to his father, Appenzeller noted that he was acquiring quite a knowledge of French in his pursuit of learning Korean.

Appenzeller probably learned some Korean as he taught English to his students. In a letter to his friend, he wrote:

Educational work is acceptable, especially instruction in the English language. It is truly wonderful how the East takes to the English language. Everybody is anxious to learn it and proud when he knows but a few words. Even my houseboy who has picked up a few words prefers to receive his orders in it. I never saw the superiority of the glorious English over other languages as I do now and I believe she is destined to be the language of the world.

This desire to learn and practice English was often described in letters home or in contemporary books and newspaper articles. Sometimes these anecdotes were rather amusing such as the young Korean boys who pestered British sailors for cigarettes and tobacco. When they were refused, the young English scholars expressed their dissatisfaction with volleys of British oaths.

As Appenzeller predicted, English became the language of the world  at least in Korea  but not without some challenges.

In a report to the State Department in December 1897, Horace Allen, who was at this time the American minister to Korea, wrote:

The French are making a persistent effort to have their language supersede English in Korea and they are succeeding with the help of the Russians, who use French mostly. There are several teachers of French now in Seoul, and Mr. de Plancy, the French Charge dAffaires, has declined to sign documents in English, having a French translation made, to which he attaches his signature.

Allen stated there were several teachers of French in Seoul, but he failed to identify them. It is likely some of these teachers were members of the Catholic missions  French and Korean. There was also Charles Claude Aleveque, a 32-year-old Frenchman who arrived in Korea in the middle of October 1897.

Shortly after he arrived, he placed the following ad in a local newspaper  The Independent:

A Parisian gentleman staying in this city will give private lessons in French to those who desire to acquire the diplomatic language of the world. He has sufficient knowledge of English so that beginners will find it easy to get along.

Judging from the newspaper accounts, Aleveque was quite popular. He taught French to not only Koreans but also a number of foreigners. It is interesting to note that when Aleveque took a short trip to Shanghai in 1898, the newspaper insinuated that his departure was rather mysterious. It isnt clear why he suddenly took a short trip  perhaps he was representing one of the French firms in Korea or was involved in some political intrigue.

According to Dr. Joel Lee of the Korea Stamp Society, Aleveque helped import French rifles for the Korean government. He also played a role in securing rice from Southeast Asia during the famines in the early 1900s and helped arrange a loan from France.

Perhaps even more relevant to this article:

In 1901 [Aleveque] published a French-Korean dictionary entitled Petit Dictionnaire Francais-Coreen which was dedicated to French Ambassador Collin de Plancy, writing A Monsieur Collin de Plancy Ministre de France a Seoul. For Korean philatelists, Aleveque is most notable for the photographic postcards known as the Aleveque postcards.

Considering Allens general displeasure with the French and Catholics, I find his personal correspondences somewhat amusing. His sons studied French at school in the United States, and his wife, Fannie, studied French in Korea so that she could inspire them to do better. Allen encouraged them to study hard: Do the best you can on your music and French. How I do regret that I had not these two things. Profit by my mistakes and you will thank me some day.

The boys actually did fairly well  93 percent and 80 percent on their tests. As for Fannie, she became quite fluent and spent a lot of time reading French books on the porch and writing letters to her sons in French. In a letter to his sons, Allen wrote:

She [Fannie] jabbers away in French at these Diplomatic functions in such a manner that Mr. Gubbins, the British Representative, said to her the other night at the Palace, that he didnt like this supremacy of the French language.

In a later letter he added:

You see I have reason for wanting you [his sons] to do well in your French. German is of no particular international use, and Latin of none whatever, but French is absolutely necessary if one does much outside of America and for the American, Spanish comes next. If I knew French so as to speak it fluently I could now exchange [my position in Korea] for a nice little mission to one of the second rate foreign powers which would be a great relief, but to know a language that way, one must begin when a boy.

Allen may have been a very good physician, an adept schmoozer and a prolific gossiper, but he was not a linguist and often expressed regret at not being able to learn Korean and, apparently, French. Despite his warm feelings for Korea, the popularity of Korean must have him turning in his grave.

My sincere appreciation to Diane Nars for her invaluable assistance and allowing me to use one of her images. And, to my high school French teacher who told me that I would never learn French and would be lucky to learn English  you were only partially correct.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang Corp. said Sunday it has introduced frozen gimbap in Australia through the country's biggest retailer Woolworths' store chains.

It is the first time for the Korean company to sell its gimbap, seaweed rice rolls filled with vegetables, through a mainstream distribution channel in Australia.

Beef bulgogi and chamchimayo gimbap are available at 1,000 Woolworths discount stores, where six kinds of dumplings are also available since last year under CJ CheilJedang's Bibigo brand, the company said in a statement.

Bulgogi gimbap is made from cooked rice, beef and other ingredients rolled in dried seaweed. Chamchimayo gimbap is mainly made with tuna and mayonnaise.

In March last year, the company introduced its frozen gimbap in Japan through local shopping mall chain Aeon and some other mainstream distribution channels.

More than 1.5 million rolls of gimbap were sold in the neighboring country in the first year ended in March this year, it said. (Yonhap)
12 May 2024 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

By Farman Aydin, AZERNEWS

In recent days, the interpretations given in various versions about the shadow business of the Armenian churches and the clerics who manage them are already beginning to be revealed as truth.

Some time ago, there was clear evidence that the Armenian churches were involved in the "candle business" and stole from the state budget. In addition, a number of accusations were made regarding the clergymen's blasphemy against the government by plunging into the political swamp of Armenia. However, there is deeper and more comprehensive information than this.

The weekly newspaper Armenian Mirror-Spectator, published in Canada, in its issue dated July 20, 2013, presented shameful details of the activities of the then primate of the Canadian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Bagrat Galstyan.

According to the article, Galstyan first involved the Canadian diocese in dubious financial schemes that resulted in significant debts and then tried to mortgage a church in Quebec to pay off the debts.

Galstyan's adventures do not end there. He secretly and illegally negotiated bail with several associates. The process was stopped thanks to the prompt actions of honest and conscientious parishioners, who demanded the convening of an emergency general meeting and uncovered the illegal conspiracy.

Moreover, Galstyan was accused of embezzling funds from the Church of the Holy Cross in Laval. The church's debt currently exceeds $1 million. A detailed report of what happened was presented at a joint meeting of the Laval parish council with the diocesan council and trustees.

From the given facts, it is once again clear that Galstyan, who is already spending the night on the streets of Yerevan, did not enter the realm of politics in vain. The former clan leaders who stood behind him put their trust in the speculator cleric for this reason and still fully support him.

In Armenia today, the only means that can widen the rifts between the people and the government are churches, where especially foreign donors have high hopes for them. Otherwise, without them, how will the mechanism of influence from the West on Armenia be managed?

Until this time, the local authorities used all means, but in the end, they realized that conceding Azerbaijan was the only way out. Finally, when Yerevan was approaching the peace process that Baku only wanted to achieve, the clergy began to play the role of a catalyst.

Today, protests from churches against the Armenian government are also the influence of the dark forces in the West who want to hinder peace in the South Caucasus. Therefore, Gasltyan's drama is like his predecessors up to a certain point. When the time comes, he too will have to shut up...

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews Deputy Editor-in-Chief; follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2024 08:00 (UTC+04:00)

The famous British politician, Secretary General of the "Commonwealth" organization, Patricia Scotland, visited Azerbaijan at the invitation of the "Tahir Gozel Development Initiative" organization. The lady diplomat, who heads the organization representing 56 countries that entered the territory of the former Great Britain Empire, visited the grave of National Leader Heydar Aliyev and prominent ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva. During the visit to the alley of honor, Patricia Scotland was also informed about various thinkers who left a mark in the history of our country.

Later, a meeting was held with media representatives. Many socially important issues were discussed at the conference.

Answering the journalists' questions, the guest noted that holding the COP29 in Azerbaijan, which is the most urgent issue of this year, is of great importance for our country and expressed confidence that Azerbaijan will cope with this prestigious event at a high level, as in other global projects. Stating that the "Commonwealth" organization is doing important work in the fight against climate change, the diplomat said that the whole world should be sensitive to this issue. He spoke about the danger of risks that will arise as a result of global warming and noted that small island states located in the oceans may face a tragedy.

Patricia Scotland said that she is carefully following the steps taken by Azerbaijan in the direction of transition to "green energy", and the research and application of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy in our country is a very right decision. He said that new opportunities have arisen in the period when artificial intelligence and other technologies have developed so much, and noted that the whole world should be united as in the fight against the coronavirus.

In the end, the guest expressed his satisfaction with being in Azerbaijan and said that the organization he represents wishes peace and friendship to the whole world and believes that the climate crisis will be overcome.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2024 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

Azerbaijan`s chairmanship in NAM has created excellent opportunities for the voices of small countries to be heard, said Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, during her meeting with Sahiba Gafarova, Speaker of Azerbaijan`s Milli Majlis, in Baku.

During the meeting, Sahiba Gafarova highlighted Azerbaijans strong bilateral relations with the Commonwealth member countries, noting that a majority of these countries are also members of the Non-Aligned Movement. The speaker underlined that the measures carried out by the Non-Aligned Movement on the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan have contributed to further increasing the organization`s authority and enhancing cooperation among member states.

Patricia Scotland hailed the measures implemented during Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the NAM. The meeting also included discussions around COP29.

Congratulating Azerbaijan on hosting this event, the Secretary-General expressed her confidence that the event would be excellently organized.

The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2024 13:20 (UTC+04:00)

Education rules have been tightened in Armenia to prevent evasion of military service, Azernews reports, citing the local press.

Education expert Serob Khachatryan said that the Science and Education Ministry is trying to prevent the fraud of parents who are trying to delay the conscription of their sons by making it difficult for school-aged children to enter secondary schools.

It should be noted that the current general education procedure has been changed. According to the change, starting from 2025, 7- and 8-year-old children will go to the second or third grade, depending on their age, instead of the first grade.

"Now, if parents send their children to school a year late, it will be a disaster for him. If the child immediately goes to the second grade, his education will simply fail. Even the most talented child cannot immediately master the program of both the first and second grades," Khachatryan said.

The expert noted that the main motivation for parents who send their children to school a year or two later is the respite from the army for boys, parents simply think that 6 years old is too early for school.

According to the expert, if the child is not sent to school on time, according to the new rule, parents will still not achieve what they want, because students will study in the same class as their peers and finish school at the age of 18.

"The ministry proposes a tough decision. It hopes that parents will not take such a step to avoid difficulties for children. This decision will have a positive effect only if parents see that the previous rule no longer works and send their children to school on time," Khachatryan said.

Psychologist Migrdat Madatyan, head of one of the psychological centers, approached the issue from a different angle. According to him, the decision of the ministry calls into question the meaning of education in the first grade.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2024 15:45 (UTC+04:00)

Russian border guards have started to close the posts in the Zangazur district of Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan, Azernews reports, citing local media outlets.

It is noted that they settled in this area in December 2020 after the 44-day war.

Earlier, the head of the ruling faction of the Armenian parliament Hayk Konjorian announced that the Russian border guards had been removed from the regions of Gegharkunik, Syunik, Tavush, Ararat, and Vayots Dzor.

Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President, said that the withdrawal of Russian border guards from several regions of Armenia was agreed upon at the meeting of the leaders of the two countries in Moscow.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2024 18:19 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

Anti-government protests under the leadership of religious leaders continue in Armenia. Actions prepared in the background with the support of opposition supporters and clan members are organized under the special leadership of clerics who have more influence among the people in Armenian society.

Thus, another protest against the government will be held today in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of the "Tavush for the Motherland" opposition movement, said at 18:30 that "a very important rally will be held and there will be many important messages during the action." He invited all Armenians to the action.

It should be noted that the protesters are against the border delimitation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They also held an action on May 12. Besides, 12 people were detained during the action.

It should be recalled that on April 19, the eighth meeting of the State Commission on the delimitation of the state border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia and the Commission on the delimitation of the state border and border security between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan was held on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. During the meeting, an agreement was reached on the return of 4 villages of Gazakh occupied by Armenia (Baganis Ayrim, Ashagi Eskipara, Kheyrimli and Gizilhajili villages) to Azerbaijan.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
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, dismissing a report by news site Axios. "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.

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.

Haley, the former South Carolina governor and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, ended her long-shot challenge to Republican presidential frontrunner Trump in March.

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.

There was already a long list of potential candidates for the vice president position that includes North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and J.D. Vance, and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik.

Burgum and Scott competed against Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination before dropping out. Noem has been embroiled in controversy after revealing in a memoir that she once shot a 14-month-old dog for being disobedient.

Trump is in no hurry to pick a running mate, according to advisers. He will not be formally nominated until the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. He will face President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the Nov. 5 general election. (Reuters)
12 May 2024 20:27 (UTC+04:00)

Nazrin Abdul Read more

French political circles continue their provocative actions.

According to Azernews, this was told in the statement of the West Azerbaijan Community.

In the statement, it is also mentioned: "These days, the mayor of Lyon, France, Gregory Duce, together with a group of radical members of the Armenian diaspora, took a photo in front of the map of the crazy fantasy called "great Armenia", and insulted the territorial integrity of the countries of the region and used Armenia as a tool to increase tension in the region. tried to use as

It should be recalled that Gregory Duse held regular meetings with known separatist circles and actively supported activities against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. In addition, the mayor of Lyon is closely involved in the erasure of Azerbaijani cultural heritage in Armenia. It was on his initiative that Lyon City Hall and Yerevan Municipality started the project to destroy the remains of the historical Tepebas neighborhood in Yerevan.

The Western Azerbaijani Community strongly condemns the provocative actions of Gregory Doucet and the widespread Azeriphobia in French political circles and demands that France stop its destructive actions.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2024 21:00 (UTC+04:00)

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili addressed the country's opposition. She called on the opponents of the "Transparency of Foreign Influence" bill, that is, the opposition, to be "extremely careful".

The President made a statement about this at a briefing held on May 12.

She urged the protestors to be extremely careful.

"I want to appeal to the participants of the rally to be careful. Some of them have plans to provoke you - the opposition. That's why I want you to be very careful. This is not fear, but caution."

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2024 21:49 (UTC+04:00)

If the ground operation in Rafah begins, the UK will stop selling arms to Israel, which will strengthen Hamas.

According to Azernews, David Cameron, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, stated this.

The minister did not support launching the Rafah operation without a plan to protect thousands of civilians.

"Britain has a completely different position than the United States on the issue of arms to Israel. "Less than 1% of Israeli weapons supplied from the UK are now controlled by a strict licensing system."

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Likely More Aurora Borealis Tonight: Finding It In Oregon, Washington, Coastlines (Photo Gallery)

Published 5/11/24 at 6:17 p.m.

By Andre' Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection





(Oregon Coast)  As far as a celestial show goes, it was a show-stopper. And it's going to put on an encore. (Photo Bandon, courtesy Manuela Durson - Manuela Durson Fine Arts )

Look for more of the northern lights tonight  Saturday  with local experts saying there's a really good chance the aurora borealis is popping up again as more waves of coronal mass ejections (CME) hit the Earth. The Oregon and Washington coast will have some problems with that tonight, however, as clouds are set to wander in, but inland areas around Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver, Portland, McMinnville, Salem and Eugene should remain clear.

However, those along the coastlines - in places like Westport, Bandon, Long Beach, Port Orford, Lincoln City, Seaside or Manzanita  can head just a bit inland and get away from the clouds.

According to local meteorologists and OMSI astronomy expert Jim Todd, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. should be the best viewing, with some saying the peak will be about midnight.

It's the strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years, said OMSI's Todd, and it caused auroral lights to hit as far south as California and Alabama, creating vibrant pinks, purples, red and greens that you'd normally see only in the Arctic. Those photos sent to Oregon Coast Beach Connection's social media by readers may have been amateur shots but there wasn't a bad one in the bunch. See the photo posts

The KP index was at extreme  a level 9  which measures how much electromagnetic energy is pouring onto Earth from the CMEs.

Todd, who's been in Portland for decades, had never seen anything like it.



Photo Seaside Aquarium's Tiffany Boothe - Seaside



This was the best auroral viewing I have ever seen in my career from the Portland metro area, he said. We have been overdue for a storm for a very long time.

It's an extreme event, Todd said  a category 5 at one point.

It is subsiding now (currently category G3), but it is not over, Todd said early Saturday. More CMEs are expected to hit Earth's magnetic field during the next 24-48 hours, and they could push the storm back to extreme levels.

This comes from a gigantic sunspot that is 15 times the size of Earth called Region 3664, which is still dumping stuff out into space, but it's pointing away from Earth now.

While it all looks promising, it's still not for certain.

A G4 storm isnt a guarantee youll be able to see the Northern Lights from our region, but it definitely bears watching and looking north late tonight between 11 PM to 2 AM, Todd told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. The weather should be clear and the moon is a very thin crescent, which is perfect for viewing conditions.

Why those hours?

11 pm to 2 am figures due to the earth shadow being directly overhead, Todd told Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos around the Oregon coast and Washington coast were stunning: even the shaky ones.





Ashleigh Daly caught it at 11:30 p.m. on Portland's Beaverton / Hillsdale Highway, even in the midst of bright city lights.

Some of the most stunning came Manuela Durson in Bandon on the south coast, including the Coquille River Lighthouse (at top).

More incredible shots came from Tiffany Boothe of Seaside Aquarium, with the full variety of shades from pinks and purples down to the greens. These were vibrant and intense.

In Portland's Gabriel Park, Oregon Coast Beach Connection had some photo misfires  or we simply missed out on the best timing (which was apparently 10 p.m. to midnight). There were some equipment issues, including accidentally using the wrong lens. However, there was this striking and surprise encounter with the International Space Station flying over some light auroral purples at 3:10 a.m.

Oregon Coast Hotels for this event - South Coast Hotels - Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours







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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.

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The official death toll from devastating flash floods in northern Afghanistan has risen to 153 people across three provinces, the Taliban's interior ministry said on Saturday, while the World Food Program said it was double that.

The WFP, which operates throughout Afghanistan, said on X that floods had killed more than 300 people. It did not give a source for its figure.

When asked about the WFP figure, a ministry spokesperson said its figure was still 153  but the authorities have said the death toll could rise.

At least 138 people have also been injured in the flooding across northern Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan, caused by heavy rains on Friday, the ministry spokesman, Abdul Mateen Qaniee, said.

In Karkar village in Baghlan province, residents held funerals for people who had been killed by the floods.

"I lost five members of my family  two sons, two daughters, and their mother in a result of this devastating flash flood," said Gulbudeen, a mourner who provided only one name.

"We were standing on the other side of the flood, but we could not help them, and eventually the flood took the lives of our loved ones."

Taliban authorities sent helicopters to try to assist civilians overnight after receiving reports that over 100 people were stranded.

Many people had been left homeless and transportation, water and waste systems were "severely disrupted", the World Health Organization said.

"The impact has been profound, leading to loss of life and injuries, with many individuals still unaccounted for," the WHO's Afghanistan office said in a statement late on Friday.

It added that four health centers had been damaged and one destroyed by the floods and said the agency was sending health teams to provide treatment in the inundated areas. (Reuters)
Now that Kamala Harris has been coronated the Democratic Socialist designee for nomination as their candidate for President of these United States, after that political party's contrived primary process "democratically" elected Joseph R. Biden: What are your feelings about this party's progressive posture within their self-styled exercise of "Saving Democracy for America," and how truly critical the outcome of this presidential election will be?

8.7% I am ecstatic that this "Democracy's" First partially Black, First partially Indian, First female Co-Parent, and this nation's primary necessity is to her elect our First woman president.26.09% I really do not care about all these "Firsts." I will continue to pray, and work for this Representative Republic to elect someone competent, and brilliantly patriotic to be our next president.65.22% I will never vote for any politician that "first" does not have the core values to understand how dire this Constitutional Republic's situation has become.
Pleasure Boys, Frostbit Boy and Free Presbyterians: A night to remember as strip group returns to NI

After the controversy of The Devenish show in February, Niamh Campbell went to Banbridge to see what kind of night the stripper group had in store

Reporter Niamh Campbell and (far left) Frostbit Boy Ruairi McSorley with several of Pleasure Boys

Niamh Campbell Sun 12 May 2024 at 21:13

The UK Pleasure Boys, Frostbit Boy and two Free Presbyterian ministers walk into a bar No, thats not the start of a joke, its how this reporters Saturday night panned out.
A photographer from Co Tyrone has described the moment she was able to capture a dramatic lightning strike on camera in Omagh.

Cara Coll, who is originally from the town, said she is kind of obsessed with storms, so was doubly pleased to have taken the startling footage, despite not realising just how well she had seized the moment through film.

Watch: Moment Co Tyrone woman catches lightning strike on camera as thunderstorms continue across NI

It's not quite as dramatic on the video, but I had seen the [lightning] strike and went back through my video to take a screenshot  and that's when I had seen it was like this, she explained.

The still image taken from the short clip has been viewed almost 70,000 times on Twitter/X at the time of publication, and Cara noted that it was also her first time ever getting a shot like that.

She added: I was a bit scared of it after that, but went to my sisters house and was hanging out a window there. Bit safer.

A yellow weather warning for thunderstorms was issued for central and western Northern Ireland on Sunday, with Northern Ireland Electricity networks reporting multiple power cuts and incidents across the region.

Around 3,000 homes in Ballymoney were without power on Sunday afternoon as a direct result of lightning impacting power lines there.

The Belfast Telegraph understands that the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue service attended the power lines in the region.

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has stated: A repair team has been assigned and will be on its way as soon as possible.

The fault is due to lightning causing damage to the network.

The outages were reported to the network at approximately 3.45pm on Sunday, and were fixed at around 9pm.

Lightning further caused power outages in and around the Strabane, Newtownstewart and Gortin areas of Co Tyrone.

Power cuts were also reported in Limavady and near Dunloy, but they were due to equipment failure.

The Met Office has further issued a yellow weather warning for rain across Northern Ireland from 12pm on Monday to 6am on Tuesday, while Sundays warning runs from 12pm to 7pm.

News Catch Up: Sunday 12th May 2024
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.
A spokesperson for the NI Fire and Rescue Service said eight pumping appliances and 64 firefighters were called to the scene of the blaze on the Leitrim Road, Hilltown, on Sunday.

Crews remain at the scene to damp down the area and the NIFRS has appealed to the public to avoid the area so firefighters can resolve the incident safely.

A spokesperson for the NIFRS said earlier on Sunday: There are eight pumping appliances incorporating 64 personnel in attendance in the Mourne Mountains, Leitrim Road, Hilltown.

Whilst this incident is ongoing, we are appealing to the public to avoid the area completely to allow us to deal with the incident safely. Local residents should keep their windows and doors closed.

Firefighting operations will be ongoing throughout the day.

It comes after Northern Ireland recorded its hottest temperature of the year on Saturday.

The mercury reached 23.8C at Aldergrove in Co Antrim and Magilligan in Co Londonderry.

However, Simon Partridge, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the records were not likely to last long as Northern Ireland is not expected to enjoy the same high temperatures on Sunday.

Parts of the UK will be warm and humid in the morning before thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected in the afternoon.

There is a yellow warning for thunderstorms for the western half of Northern Ireland between 12pm and 7pm.
The For Your Tomorrow installation at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-Sur-Mer, France, as part of the 80th anniversary of D-Day (Gareth Fuller/PA)

D-Day veterans, royalty and world leaders are expected to gather in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the largest seaborne military invasion in history.

Events will occur in the UK and France, commemorating the allied troops involved in Operation Overlord on June 6 1944.

Here are some of the key commemoration events taking place:

 May  JuneA Torch of Commemoration organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will travel from the UK to Normandy to mark D-Days 80th anniversary.

Events will take place at locations across the UK before crossing to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

The torch ceremony will begin at Botley Cemetery, Oxford on May 15 and the flame will then travel to City Cemetery, Cambridge on May 16, Brookwood Military Cemeteries in Surrey on May 17, and the Naval Memorial, Kent on May 18.

It will continue on to Plymouths Naval Memorial on May 20, Haycombe Cemetery, Bath, on May 21, Newark Cemetery on May 23, and Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate on May 24.

Further events will include a torch ceremony and exhibition at Imperial War Museum North in Manchester on May 29 and a symbolic lighting of the torch followed by speeches by veterans at the National War Museum in Edinburgh on the same date.

Other events paying tribute to those carrying the torches will take place at Runnymede Memorial, Surrey on May 30 and the D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth on June 3.

The final leg, starting on June 4, will see the living flame of commemoration light every Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave in Normandy.

 June 5

The Royal British Legion (RBL) will lead a service at the Bayeux war cemetery in Normandy, hosting D-Day veterans and the families of those who served, and focusing on the personal experiences of troops.

(PA Graphics)

In the evening, a candlelit vigil is to be held at the cemetery, where 4,500 graves will be illuminated, while the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is leading a service at Bayeux Cathedral.

Meanwhile, thousands of people will join D-Day veterans and VIP guests on Southsea Common in Portsmouth.

The event is set to feature military musicians, a Royal Air Force flypast and tributes from speakers, and will be broadcast live across the UK and the world.

 June 6

The UK national commemorative event in France will be held in the daytime at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, which contains the names of the 22,442 servicemen and women who fell during D-Day.

Veterans and 2,000 guests will be in attendance, including high-ranking figures, with this year marking the first time the British Normandy Memorial has been at the heart of major anniversary commemorations.

(PA Graphics)

The official international ceremony takes place at Omaha Beach, where around 2,500 American soldiers died.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to attend along with other global heads of state, as well as veterans.

On Normandys Juno Beach, the Government of Canada will host a ceremony to honour Canadian soldiers involved in the invasion.

At 2pm in the UK, the RBL will host a service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, with veterans and their families set to attend.

The arboretum will be open as normal on the day, allowing visitors to watch the service within the grounds.

 June 7

The Spirit of Normandy Trust is due to host a service at Ranville cemetery.
Grant Shapps has predicted Russias next defence minister will be another of Vladimir Putins puppets amid reports Sergei Shoigu is set to be replaced.

Russias president is moving long-time ally Mr Shoigu to another role and has proposed appointing former deputy prime minister Andrei Belousov in his place more than two years into the Ukraine war.

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Defence Secretary Mr Shapps said: Sergei Shoigu has overseen over 355k casualties amongst his own soldiers & mass civilian suffering with an illegal campaign in Ukraine.

Russia needs a Defence Minister who would undo that disastrous legacy & end the invasion  but all theyll get is another of Putins puppets.

Mr Shoigu, defence minister since 2012, is set to become secretary of Russias national security council.

The reshuffle of the military command is the most significant Mr Putin has undertaken since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

The announcement came amid Russias renewed armoured push across the border in north-eastern Ukraine.
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 (The Ellen Show/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.

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.

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.

News Catch Up: Sunday 12th May 2024
Socialist candidate Salvador Illa saw a surge in votes for his party (Emilio Morenatti/AP)

Separatist parties appear to be in danger of losing their decade-long hold on power in Spains north-eastern Catalonia region as the pro-union Socialist Party is poised to win the most votes in an election on Sunday, according to a near-complete count of the ballots.

The four pro-independence parties, led by the Together party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, are set to total 61 seats, short of the key figure of 68 seats needed for a majority in the chamber.

The Socialists led by former health minister Salvador Illa are on course to win 42 seats, up from their 33 seats in 2021 when they also barely won they most votes but were unable to form a government.

Former regional president Carles Puigdemont is living in exile in France, but is still running for election (Joan Mateu/AP)

The Socialists will still need to earn the backing of other parties to put Mr Illa in charge. Deal-making in the coming days, maybe weeks, will be key to forming a government. Neither a hung parliament nor a new election is out of the question.

But Mr Illas surge should bode well for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the Socialists before a European Parliament election next month.

Mr Puigdemont is a fugitive from Spains laws since he fled the country days after his failed secession attempt.

But that has not stopped him from running in this election as he campaigns from southern France. He has said he will return to Spain when the newly elected politicians convene to choose a regional president at some point after the election.

By that time, Mr Puigdemont hopes to be cleared of any legal troubles after Spains parliament gives final approval to a contentious amnesty for him and hundreds of other separatists.

The amnesty forms part of Mr Sanchezs intense push to reduce tensions in Catalonia that has also included the pardoning of jailed high-profile separatists.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, right, has campaigned with socialist candidate Salvador Illa (Emilio Morenatti/AP)

If voters do not validate that by coming out in support of his Socialist party, then it would be a blow to the leader who heads a minority coalition in Madrid.

The election also featured a battle inside the separatist camp between Mr Puigdemonts conservative Together party and Mr Aragoness Republican Left of Catalonia.

An upstart pro-secession, far-right party called Catalan Alliance, which campaigns against unauthorised immigration as well as the Spanish state, also hopes to earn parliamentary representation.
North Korea supports a United Nations resolution for Palestine's full membership, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said Sunday, criticizing the United States for vetoing the move.

The remark came after the U.N. General Assembly urged the Security Council to give "favorable consideration" to full Palestinian membership on Friday.

"The DPRK fully supports it," a spokesperson for the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, noting that the rights of Palestinians are "mercilessly violated" by the U.S.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Last month, the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have recognized Palestine's full membership, a status that Palestinians had long sought at the U.N.

Palestine has been a "nonmember observer state" at the U.N. since 2012. (Yonhap)
Brute left animal for dead in a ditch after smashing it over head

A man who smashed a dog over the head with a crowbar, left it for dead in a ditch and boasted about the episode to his sister and her children has been jailed for 10 months.
Billy Connolly: The day an IRA leader, 18 off-duty cops and armed soldiers were all in same room for the Big Yin

Long lost doc followed the Big Yin on 1975 tour as diary recalls dangerous security situation at two gigs

Billy Connolly in Belfast in 1974

Ivan Little Sun 12 May 2024 at 08:00

Scores of Billy Connolly fans have attended sell-out screenings in Belfast of a lost film of the Scottish comedians October 1975 Irish tour as new details emerged about his trip at the height of the Troubles.
High-profile loyalist lodges complaint with watchdog

Loyalist Jamie Bryson has lodged a complaint with a government watchdog over suspicions his phone was hacked by the PSNI and that he has been the subject of surveillance techniques.

Security sources claim the snooping was prompted after the itinerary of a visit to Northern Ireland by a powerful US politician was leaked. Bryson was widely believed to be the recipient of the sensitive material.
Walking stick user and wheelchair user admit roles in smuggling operation

These are the two unlikely drug dealers facing a spell behind bars for trying to smuggle more than 1.25m of cocaine and cannabis into Northern Ireland.

Donald Moore and Ian Brown are due to be sentenced at Belfast Crown Court this week after admitting their roles in the plot which led to one of the biggest drugs seizures ever made by the PSNI.
PITTSFIELD  Postal workers making their rounds hoped to pick up more than letters on Saturday. At each stop along their mail delivery routes, they kept their eyes peeled for grocery bags of food assembled for neighbors in need.

The day marked the return of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, a nationwide effort by the National Association of Letter Carriers and United Way to shine a light on the silent hunger in communities and encourage people to give what they can to help feed those in need.

Over the last 30 years, the food drive has collected more than 1.82 billion pounds of food to donate to the United Way and their partners. The local branch of the NALC said that in the height of the drives popularity, carriers collected 42,000 pounds of food. Last year, Pittsfield carriers collected 11,500 pounds while postal workers in North Adams collected 5,000 pounds.

This has coincided with an increase in demand for food pantries. The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts tracks the number of people helped by it and partner organizations. The organizations data shows an upward trend from the 15,411 people served at Berkshire County food pantries in January 2019 to the 22,911 served at the start of this year.

Even with a decrease in donations, Stamp Out Hunger is a cant-miss opportunity to help out your community, says Amy Breault, the NALC president of branch 286 in Pittsfield.

Breault has worked at the Pittsfield post office as a letter carrier for 18 years. She started with the post office only a handful of days before that years Stamp Out Hunger event. Led then by the constant efforts of Mike Callahan, a now retired postal worker, Breault became hooked.

Though the coronavirus put the local collection effort on hold for two years, shes worked the event every other year.

Breault said the food drive fell on the same day as her sisters college graduation. As she carted bins of donations through the post office, she paused to check her phone.

Shes sending me pictures because I told her it was [the] food drive, so I couldnt come, Breault said. Her sister understands.

As does the rest of her family.

Breaults daughter, husband and brother-in-law all served as volunteers on Saturday for more than seven hours of sorting and processing donations. Breaults brother-in-law Rick Kidney even dressed the part, rocking a bright blue Stamp Out Hunger T-shirt, as he mentioned his apartment building produced 16 bags full of donations this year.

The Breaults had plenty of company as a dozen or so mail carriers volunteered during their shift, came in on their day off or came from retirement and brought their families and friends to drive the streets of the county and collect donations.

Among them was mail carrier Joe Schilling and his five-year old daughter Zoey Schilling, who drove around Pittsfield early in the morning to gather donations before they headed to the first communion of a family member.

The volunteer team was completed with the help of Berkshire United Way. Volunteers from the organization helped staff the loading dock at the post office, accepting donation bags and placing them in pumpkins  the colloquial term for giant wheeled orange mail bins.

Volunteers then weighed each bin before wheeling them back to the dock and sorting them into waiting vans and cars of local food pantries. At about 1:30 p.m. the teams had helped take in and ship out 3,618 pounds of food. By 6:30 p.m. that number had more than quadrupled  totaling at just over 13,000 pounds of food.

A community coalition

Brenda Petell, the director of volunteer engagement at Berkshire United Way, said fighting food insecurity is part of the ongoing mission of the United Way.

In fact, it's currently partnering with Berkshire Bounty, a local nonprofit focused on bringing nutritious foods to emergency food programs, on a deal that would increase the amount of food provided by the United States Department of Agriculture to food pantries in the Berkshires by tons.

Both organizations also bring canned foods, packaged foods, meat and local dairy and produce to organizations like the South Community Food Pantry and Roots & Dreams and Mustard Seeds.

But Stamp Out Hunger brings out something extra  something special  for local pantries as they work to restock their supplies. Petell said this year shes seen cake mixes, cooking oils and brand name cereals make it into the donation pile.

That will be unique and families will really look forward to seeing that on the shelves because its something different, Petell said. She said she was hoping the drive would also bring some more rice, pasta and tuna fish to pantries  something organizations are having a hard time coming by at the moment.

Maria Encalada, the founder of Casa Esperanza in Pittsfield, volunteered for Stamp Out Hunger this and last year. It's the impact and human relationships that bring her back.

Last year, she left with a surprise. She left with a pumpkin  which can hold up to 400 pounds of food  courtesy of Petell for Casa Esperanza, for which she was "grateful." Casa Esperanza provides 45 families with food a week.

Petell was glad to be a part of an effort to restock local food pantry shelves.

Its challenging for pantries to keep up these days because the amount of food insecurity has grown so significantly, Petell said.
This fall, neither Jaeschkes nor Bartletts Orchard in Richmond will offer customers the option of picking their own apples  a must-do fall activity for many in the Berkshires. They simply dont have enough fruit. Across the state, experts estimate there might have been a 20 percent loss in apples.
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A candidate for Dublin in the European elections says more must be done in the European Union when it comes to the housing crisis in Ireland.

Sinead Gibney, who is running as a candidate for the Social Democrats, said housing, climate and Gaza have been the three main issues on the canvas.

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Speaking to Breakingnews.ie, Ms Gibney called for an EU wide response to housing similar to what was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I will be pushing for an EU wide action plan on affordable housing that would be of the same level of the Covid response that we saw at an EU level.

"There are also ways in which the EU is hampering Ireland's ability at a domestic level to really instigate better crisis response for affordable housing. There are fiscal policy measures, for example, that are blocking Ireland's efficacy in terms of crisis response. There is also funds we could potentially unlock.

"I think it is shocking we haven't seen more. It is no use when it is in the run up to election time, this is something they should have been working on for the last five years.

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"It is an EU-wide housing crisis, and it needs an EU wide response."

Despite having had her own experience of being targeted in the lead up to an election, Ms Gibney was not put off running in the European elections.

Commenting on the rise of the far-right in recent months, the Social Democrats member criticised the Government for pulling back on the proposed hate speech legislation.

"Of course these things are present when you make these decisions, because you are not just thinking about yourself, you are thinking about your loved ones and you family.

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"I have had my own experience in a previous election, I did have a stalker. It doesn't sit easy. In terms of online presence that is where most of the hate comes through.

"Not in its current format, but I do support hate speech legislation. I do think that we are an outlier in Ireland in terms of not having specific hate speech and hate crime legislation.

"There are elements within the current legislation that cover requirements from an EU directives, particularly around naming genocide.

"I don't think the Government has done an amazing job with this legislation in terms of shaping it the right way, but it seems they have done a u-turn completely, and because there has been criticism of it, they are dropping it from the legislative table. I think that is hugely problematic.

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"We do need hate crime and hate speech legislation that is affective, and we need to make sure that we can prosecute hate crimes affectively in this country."

Migration was once again one of the main political talking points this week, as 163 people were moved from a makeshift migrant camp at the Grand Canal, a week after smilier scenes at Mount Street.

On Friday, there was 30 tents pitched on the Grand Canal, just one day after the operation. Ms Gibney says the Government can expect this to continue.

"I would describe it as panicked as shambolic, they just seem to be making it up as they go along. The idea that this is what passes as Government policy at the moment is just moving homeless migrants from street to street.

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"I don't know what they expected to happen when they housed those people who had originally been on Mount Street but still are not offering accommodation to those seeking international protection here.

"This is large groups of people, so of course they are going to stay safe in numbers and remain as a group because they are exposed to extreme violences and intimidation being homeless on the streets.

"I thought it was crazy when the Taoiseach said he was not going to allow these 'shanty towns' to pop up, but yet they are no addressing the fact international protection applicants are not being offered protection. As long as that continues to happen, we will continue to see people put up tents in our city.

"We need to see an audit of the IPAS and Ukrainian vacant beds so that we can understand what's available, and an urgent review of state property where migrants can be temporarily housed."

EU response to Israel

The Social Democrats have been very vocal in condemning the actions of Israel since October, with Ms Gibney critical of the EU response to scenes in Gaza.

The Dublin MEP candidate said she would not support President of the European Commission Ursula Von Den Leyen for a second term should be elected to the European parliament.

"Sadly, I think the EU response has been very, very poor. As a party, we would have expected to see the same response to Israel as we saw to Russia, and we have not seen that.

"For that reason, I would not be supporting Ursula Von Den Leyen for a second term should I be elected. What we have seen sadly is inaction at EU level.

"Israel is in clear breach of its human rights clause in its EU trade deal, but the EU seems to be refusing to do even a cursory investigation into that issue.

"I will be pushing for a suspension of the EU trade deal because of a breach of its human rights clause."
An Irish mother whose children were abducted by their father in Egypt two years ago has received a court date in Cairo in her ongoing bid to bring them home.

Mandy Kelly from Dundalk in Co Louth was on holiday in Egypt two years ago when her husband Ramy Gamal Maamoun Mohamed locked her in an apartment and took the children away in a car.

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Three-year-old Kareem and his five-year-old brother Zayn Mohammed were both born in Ireland and have had no contact with their mother since June 2022, three months after they were kidnapped.

Ms Kelly has now received a court date in Egypt for September. She pointed to the slow judicial process in the country, adding that she was called to a hearing on April 10th but only received notice on April 8th.

Ms Kelly told BreakingNews.ie that her ex-husband has made a "cash ransom" demand for her two young sons.

She also expressed frustration about her dealings with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

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Mandy Kelly with her three-year-old son Kareem.

"They are trying to downplay the whole thing like it's just a divorce and my children aren't stranded in a foreign country with a cash ransom.

"There has been a catalogue of failures in this. I have been incredibly disappointed with the DFA, they are still refusing to cancel the passports for my two sons regardless of the fact there is a domestic and international arrest warrant for my ex-partner. Even though he cannot travel anywhere in Europe, he can still go anywhere in the Middle East with my children, so this is something that I am incredibly concerned about.

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"I brought this to the attention of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee when I met her on April 11th. I know that Minister Micheal Martin does have the power to cancel my children's passports. I know that, and it's something I will be raising with the Children's Ombudsman.

"To date there has been nothing put up on the Interpol missing children's page for my children, so even if they went anywhere in the Middle East, Australia, there are no mechanisms in place to show that my children are unlawfully retained by their parent in another country.

"The authorities know that there is a cash ransom involved in the case. My ex admitted his cash demands in writing to the Irish courts. He had even gone to the bother of getting the document notarised in Egypt."

Ms Kelly said she has received notification that Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin raised the case with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in November.

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However, she said she is "incredibly disappointed with the time lapsed".

Ms Kelly said she received an email from the Egyptian ministry of justice last week, in which a judge signed off on an offer of a Zoom call with her two children.

Mandy Kelly leaving the Department of Justice , Dublin after meeting with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

She said this would only upset the boys.

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"Two kids who I haven't spoken to in two years. It shows how biased their legal system is. If I agree to the Zoom call, I'm giving my ex authority to make decisions for my children.

"Any fool would know that a Zoom call for a three-year-old and five-year-old child, it would not only be upsetting, it would be incredibly detrimental to their mental health.

"As I told Minister Martin, the Egyptian authorities are not going to act in the best interests of my children."

Along with the international arrest warrant issued for her ex-husband, Ms Kelly has secured an order from the High Court for the "immediate return" of her children.

"Even the judge knew that the best interests of my children would be served in Ireland," she added.

Ms Kelly said she was unhappy with a DFA suggestion that she travel to Egypt to visit her children, pointing out that she feels unsafe in the country after the incident in which Mr Mohamed locked her in an apartment and kidnapped her two sons.

Ms Kelly's case is complicated by the fact Egypt is not a signatory of the Hague Convention on child abductions, and she feels this shows "a bilateral agreement on child custody is needed".

Her case has been discussed in the Seanad, the Dail and brought to Oireachtas committees.

Ms Kelly pointed to other cases where the Irish Government have intervened, such as that of Ibrahim Halawa who was arrested in Egypt in 2013 and eventually released in 2017.

More recently, she referenced the case of Yasser Eljuboori who was being held in jail in Iraq before having all charges dropped and being returned to his family,

Ms Kelly recently met with Dr Umar al-Qadri, chief imam of the Islamic Centre of Ireland, who is running in the upcoming European elections.

She said Dr al-Qadri has followed her case all the way through, and been a great help.

Ms Kelly again expressed her frustration at the slow pace of the Egyptian and Irish authorities.

"Six months after this, the Egyptian ambassador and Simon Coveney [then minister for foreign affairs] sat and talked about the repatriation of an Egyptian mummy that was in University College Cork, and there was the utmost cooperation and an international agreement drawn up on the return of Egyptian artefacts.

"Are children less important than artefacts?"

Ms Kelly's case has been discussed in the Seanad, the Dail and brought to Oireachtas committees. Photo: Collins

Living every parent's worst nightmare, Ms Kelly said her life has been hell for the past two years.

"I've been working on this continuously, I don't even have a life. I can't even explain it sometimes, it's waking up every morning to a nightmare.

"My two children are two and a half years without their mother. My son should be going into first class, I'm sure he's never done a day of school in Egypt. My other son should be starting his second year in play school. I'm going through my third year of not having my children for the start of school in September. It's absolutely horrific."

After she travels to Cairo in September, Ms Kelly insists she will not return to Ireland without her children.

"My children are hostages. My ex-partner allowing me a Zoom call highlights that. That's what people holding hostages do, not parents.

"I won't be leaving Cairo until my boys are with me. I've let the Irish and Egyptian authorities know that my children will be leaving Cairo with me."

In response to a request for comment on Ms Kelly's case, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement to BreakingNews.ie: "The Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of the case and has provided extensive consular assistance and continues to. As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the detail of individual cases."
Here, we have a look at the issues likely to dominate political discourse in the week to come.

Migration challenge

Migration has surpassed the likes of health and housing as the biggest issue on the Irish political agenda.

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Interestingly, those canvassing for the upcoming local and European elections have reported it is barely mentioned on doorsteps, however it looms large for Government and opposition parties.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has clearly identified it as an issue he can make progress on in what will be a short leadership term, whether the Government runs its course until March 2025 or the more likely scenario of an earlier general election.

The clearing of the 'tent city' outside the International Protection Office (IPO) on Mount Street led to homeless migrants pitching tents along Dublin's Grand Canal.

A number of these asylum seekers were moved to State-run centres, but it did not stop more tents springing up further along the canal.

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This highlights the complexity of the migration challenge, and the fact it will take more than symbolic operations to 'clear' it from prominent streets and areas.

The Government has now said it will review payments made to migrants.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe indicated the review is set to take place within weeks.

He told RTE the Government wants to assess why people are coming to Ireland  in line with how other countries do it.

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Obviously, the context of all of this is the number of people who are coming to Ireland has increased very considerably over the last number of months, he said.

This is happening to other countries as well. But this will be worked within weeks, and I know the Government will act quickly.

In an article in the Sunday Independent, Taoiseach Simon Harris said Ireland needs to adopt a firmer system on migration.

He said his coalition Government is working together to pull levers in a number of Government departments to ensure Ireland adopts a firmer system and ensures we are not out of kilter with other EU countries.

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He wrote: This will not be a long drawn-out process.

The Government will take decisions on this soon.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein has been moving from its previously open view on migration to a more hardline one, undoubtedly due to its drop in popularity according to recent opinion polls.

Their website states: The Government has no plan for immigration. Their approach has been shambolic. Sinn Fein is opposed to open borders  Ireland, like every other country must have control of its borders.

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The Taoiseach tried to question Sinn Fein's changing stance on migration in the Dail this week, prompting a strong response from Mary Lou McDonald who was critical of the Government's handling of the situation.

Expect similar debates in the Dail this week.

Local and European elections

Local and European election candidates will be canvassing increasingly intensely in the weeks to come as we approach June 7th.

Election posters have popped up on every available poll and corner across the country in recent days.

The elections will be hotly contested, and seen as a big indicator of what way the political tides are turning.

There is a fear of far-right candidates making gains both locally and in Brussels, but how well they will actually fare at the ballot box remains to be seen.

Abroad

In the UK, prime minister Rishi Sunak is facing increasing pressure to confirm a general election date (expected late this year) after the Conservatives were defeated resoundingly in the local elections.

This is probably a warning for the Coalition Government about how local elections can increase pressure on the incumbent leaders. However, it is unlikely they will fare as badly as the Conservatives have across the water.

In the US, president Joe Biden has cut some American arms aid to Israel after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored a warning not to launch an offensive in Rafah.

While Mr Biden has already lost thousands of votes ahead of the November presidential election, pulling away from Israel can only help him at the polls as Americans continue pro-Palestine demonstrations, particularly on college campuses.

Meanwhile, his predecessor and Republican opponent for the upcoming election is bogged down in court proceedings.

The hush money trial in New York is in full flow with explosive testimony from Stormy Daniels hitting headlines in the past week. The adult film actress alleges an affair with Donald Trump.

However, the details of the affair may be embarrassing, but whether the $130,000 (121,000) payment she received was meant to influence the 2016 election is the crux of the case.

Mr Trump's presence at court has been mandatory, but he has made use of any days off to hit the campaign trail.
Natalie Elphickes defection to Labour was naked opportunism, by Labour as much as anything, David Cameron has said.

Meanwhile, Labour defended its newest recruit, saying the Dover MP had dismissed claims she lobbied ministers to interfere in her ex-husbands sex offences trial as nonsense.

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Ms Elphicke quit the Conservatives on Wednesday, hitting out at Rishi Sunaks tired and chaotic government and accusing the UK prime minister of failing to deliver on his promise to stop the boats.

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UK foreign secretary Lord Cameron criticised his former colleague over the move, telling Sky Newss Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: Im not a fan of defectors. I think it always leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal, and everything else.

I thought this was just naked opportunism, by Labour as much as anything. This is quite a right-wing Conservative MP suddenly welcomed into the Labour fold having never supported any of their policies, people or approaches.

The revealing thing is it was like a moment where you look at the Labour Party and think  if you dont stand for anything, then youll fall for stuff like this.

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Lord David Cameron lashed out at his former Conservative colleague over her decision to cross the Commons floor Photo: Victoria Jones/PA.

Ms Elphicke has been accused of asking Sir Robert Buckland, who was the justice secretary and lord chancellor in 2020, to intervene before the hearing of her then-husband Charlie Elphickes case.

Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth told Sir Trevor: She said that is nonsense and not her interpretation of the meeting. I obviously wasnt in the meeting so I dont know.

If this happened at the time, then why did the lord chancellor not raise this issue at the time through his good offices?

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The Sunday Times reported that Ms Elphicke told Sir Robert that it was unfair the case was the first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after the Covid lockdown and that it was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple.

One person present viewed her comments as a bid to have the case moved to a lower-profile court to spare her partner public scrutiny, while another saw it as an attempt to replace the senior judge, according to the newspaper.

Sir Robert rejected her plea, suggesting his intervention could undermine the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers between Parliament and the judiciary.

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Tory former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA.

Ms Elphickes former husband Charlie, her predecessor as Dover MP, was convicted of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years in 2020.

She ended the marriage after his conviction but supported his unsuccessful appeal, saying Mr Elphicke had been attractive, and attracted to women and an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations.

Her defection to Labour prompted a backlash among some of its MPs, who raised concerns about the decision to admit her to the party, citing her comments about Mr Elphickes case and his victims.

Natalie Elphicke defended her husband after the allegations emerged and accompanied him to Southwark Crown Court throughout the trial. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA.

Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana questioned whether her new colleagues values were really aligned with the Labour Partys.

She told the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: I think its great when people are moving towards the Labour movement and the Labour Party.

Natalie Elphicke, however, is an interesting one because she is a former paid-up member of the ERG (European Research Group), she voted for Liz Truss in the leadership, shes at odds when it comes to fire-and-rehire, has attacked trade unions and their activities not great on the environment either.

So unless shes had the biggest Damascene conversion ever, I just dont buy it.

Ms Sultana added: And its concerning as well in terms of conversations Ive had within the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party), especially in the Womens PLP on the comments that shes made about her ex-husband and the trial.

Ms Elphicke apologised for the comments supporting her ex-husband following criticism from her new party colleagues.

In a statement on Thursday, she said she condemned his behaviour towards other women and towards me, adding it was right that he was prosecuted and she was sorry for the comments that I made about his victims.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has proposed removing defence minister Sergei Shoigu from his post.

Mr Putin nominated first deputy prime minister Andrey Belousov for the role.

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His appointment must now be approved by Russian lawmakers.

The change comes weeks after Timur Ivanov, a Russian deputy defence minister in charge of military construction projects, was jailed pending an investigation and trial on charges of bribery.

In line with Russian law, the entire Russian cabinet resigned on Tuesday when Mr Putin began his fifth presidential term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration.
Kim Walker-Smith - "MAMA" | Merge PR

NASHVILLE, TENN. (MAY 10, 2024) Renowned worship leader Kim Walker-Smith releases an anthem for mothers everywhere titled, "Mama." The song will be on the forthcoming full album, Trample, releasing on June 7th. Just in time for Mother's Day weekend, listen to the powerful song here.

"I homeschool my kids and most of the work I do is within churches so Im not attending school board or PTA meetings, but Im not oblivious to the war that has been declared on our children," explains Kim Walker-Smith. "As a mother of three young children, I cannot let my guard down for one second. This stirs a righteous anger in me. I want to use my talents to help in this battle. While praying and talking to God about it, I felt God drop this song in my heart. The words and melody just came to me. I got with some other songwriting parents who helped me finish this song."

Co-written by Walker-Smith, Jessie Early, Hank Bentley, and Mia Fields, Kim Walker-Smith hopes this song becomes a war cry and fight song for mamas everywhere.

She adds, "I hope it encourages mamas everywhere, emboldens them, and fuels their fire in fighting for their children and to be bold in parenting."

With more than 20 years of worship leadership, Kim Walker-Smith is known for her spirit-led worship anthems. Earlier this year, she released her first new song ("Boxes") in more than three years to much acclaim as part of her new June release, which features 12 new songs. She will be touring internationally this summer with a nearly sold-out South Africa tour followed by a headlining tour in the US this fall.
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.
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.
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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.
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]
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.
Home News Ghana demolition leaves over 6,000 Liberian refugees displaced, 65 churches looted, destroyed

Hundreds of Liberian refugees living in Ghana have been left destitute following the demolition of a section of a refugee camp, 28 miles (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 U.N. 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 and prefer to stay in Ghana.

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Speaking to Christian Daily International, the president of the Liberian Community Leadership at the Buduburam Refugee camp, Dennis Yoko Gwion, said the U.N. recommendation for an option of refugee integration within the Ghanaian society in 2010 hasn't 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 added that 6,168 registered individuals have been displaced as a result of the demolitions, which also included the destruction and looting of 65 churches.

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've been camping in nearby schools following the Feb. 27 demolition, are now at risk of being pushed to the streets after 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 is making arrangements for 231 documented refugees to be moved to another camp in the Western Region with the help of UNHCR, Padie added.

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 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 [are] 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.

Boakai urged the Ghanaian government to intervene and ensure that the refugees living in the camp are safe, protected and treated humanely.

Originally published at Christian Daily International
Home News Church gunman who tried to shoot pastor now charged in cousins murder

A 26-year-old man is facing charges of criminal homicide after authorities discovered his cousin dead in their shared residence in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, hours before he attempted to shoot a local pastor, the Rev. Glenn Germany, during a church service at Jesus Dwelling Place Church, which was being broadcast live.

Bernard Junior Polite has been charged in the death of his cousin, Derek Polite, 56, Newsweek reported.

Early Sunday evening, Allegheny County Police were called to the North Braddock home where Derek was found deceased in a pool of blood, with a gunshot wound to the head. The manner of death was ruled a homicide following an autopsy. Neighbors contributed to the timeline of events, with one recounting a noise, possibly a gunshot, heard around 10 a.m. that day.

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Later that afternoon, Bernard Polite entered Pastor Germanys church during the service, which was being livestreamed to congregants and viewers. He attempted to shoot the pastor. His firearm, however, malfunctioned and did not fire.

Deacon Clarence McCallister played a crucial role by tackling Bernard, with assistance from the pastor, until police took over. The swift intervention prevented what could have been a tragic outcome. By him reacting, it gave me the chance to come from behind the podium and help him out, Germany was quoted as saying.

After witnessing Bernards arrest broadcast on the news, concerned family members went to check on Derek Polite, leading to the horrifying discovery of his body. A further investigation linked the firearm recovered from Bernard at the church to the projectile that killed Derek Polite, firmly connecting the two violent acts.

Germany was shocked to hear about Derek Polite's murder. Thats when the reality really sunk in that that gun was loaded, he pulled the trigger, you couldve really died today, he told Newsweek, attributing his survival to divine intervention.

Bernard Polite had no previous connections to Germany or the church. He is now detained at the Allegheny County Jail, facing not only a homicide charge but also charges of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person.

The church community, though shaken, has found a renewed sense of unity and support in the aftermath. Germany said the incident has "brought us closer together as a church," according to Trib Live.

Germany also recounted the immediate moments of the attack. When I saw the gun, I was just trying to get out of the way. I didnt have time to think, I just reacted, Germany said. He praised McCallisters bravery, calling him a hero for his actions during the crisis.

McCallister, who was operating the cameras for the Facebook Live broadcast, shared his relief that the incident did not lead to physical injuries. I was just hoping he didnt get a shot off, McCallister was quoted as saying. Im thankful that the pastor was getting out of the way, and that the bullet got jammed in the gun.
Home Opinion How do godly mothers pray?

We see throughout Scripture the high-value God places on mothers.

The first woman in history was named Eve, which means the mother of all the living. Adam gave her this name because, of all the significant things about her, the one thing that most captured his attention was that Eve was created by God to be the mother of humanity.

When we skip ahead to Exodus, we meet Moses mother. She made the unbearable sacrifice of nursing her baby boy until he was weaned, knowing he would then be taken as one of the royal babies in Pharoahs court. Her actions show the importance of a mother giving birth to and protecting her children, sacrificing herself for their good.

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And who could forget Mary, the mother of Jesus our Lord? She believed the Word of God although it was impossible to understand from a human point of view  and she had the highest privilege of any mother who ever lived, giving birth to the Son of God and being His mother.

Another mother in Scripture who was a model of godly character is Hannah. Her story is brief, but her impact on the divine significance of motherhood is massive.

Hannahs exemplary character is displayed clearly in 1 Samuel 2, with her prayer of praise after God had answered her request for a son. In this prayer, we find the heart every godly mother should imitate as they seek to honor the Lord in raising their children. There are four truths in Hannahs prayer about the character of a godly mother.

First, the godly mother extols the holiness of God.

Gods holiness is the reason Hannah exults in the Lord and rejoices in His salvation (1 Sam 2:2). Hannah, through her pain of experiencing infertility, was sustained by her knowledge of Gods holiness, which assured her of His faithful goodness to all who trust in Him. No matter what she faced in her life, she knew God was her immovable rock.

As Hannah reflects on Gods answer to her prayer, she recognizes Gods glory and majesty. Those who believe in the Lords promise exult, not primarily in the answer, but in the One who answered their prayers, as Hannah did. She understood the answer to her prayer was not the result of her strength but that God gave her victory amid distress.

Christians are called to follow Hannahs example as she extols Gods holiness. Godly mothers will extol Gods holiness so everything in their life is determined by Gods character.

Second, the godly mother explains the mysteries of God.

God often ordains experiences that seem to contradict His promise so that we might exercise faith in what is unseen. These mysterious trials test our faith and prove its reality because we believe God will reverse these circumstances by His own sovereign power without human explanation.

Hannah explains three divine mysteries in her prayer: the mighty are shattered while the weak become strong, the rich become poor while the poor enjoy abundance, and the woman with many children languishes while the barren gives birth. These mysteries completely reverse historical expectations through events that are seemingly impossible to the human mind.

Hannah expresses faith in the exclusive power of God to reverse all human circumstances that seem contrary to His will but which the godly are powerless to change. These mysteries can only be explained by words of faith, even in Hannahs situation. She saw, in Samuels birth, Gods work to deliver His people from sin and death. Hannah did not know of Mary and her song, or of Christs death and resurrection, but she believed God would be faithful to all His promises to His people and deliver them from evil because He answered her prayer.

So, it is with godly mothers in every generation, explaining to their children the mysteries of the faith, that what is seen is temporal, but what is unseen is eternal. Godly mothers walk by faith, knowing trials are given to them to see within them the divine mystery God brings about His promises in the most unexpected ways, for His glory alone.

Third, the godly mother exclaims the salvation of God.

Hannah speaks of God bringing about the salvation of His people. She had firsthand experience that Gods deliverance came through suffering, not without it.

This salvation is so marvelous that no human can accomplish it, which is why Hannah notes God Himself established the world and exercises authority over it. God created the world in such a way that the power of men is useless to prevail. Like Hannah, we must depend wholly on God through every circumstance of life for our deliverance; and no matter how painful the situation, God will exalt His people and deliver them by His own power.

Hannahs once-barren womb is a powerful picture of this helplessness. She clearly saw Gods providence through her heart-breaking situation. She recognized that her deliverance could only come to her by the Almightys power, leading her to glory in the ways of God rescuing His people.

Godly mothers must have a palpable dependence on God in their life, recognizing they are at the mercy of divine providence, not only for eternal salvation, but for their every breath. All believers should also exhibit that attitude. It is not by our own strength we will prevail in our battle against sin or come into Gods kingdom. It is only by the great saving work of God in Christ, and we should exclaim that work.

Finally, the godly mother expects the supremacy of God.

Because the world hates Gods design for women, it misses how much God honors women and womanhood as He has created it to be. In Michelle Obamas documentary Becoming, she said being a mom was a concession she had to make as a woman, forcing her to give up her dreams and aspirations. How contrary this is to the picture God wants us to have of the beauty and glory of womanhood and motherhood! God honors women and motherhood. We see this reality many times in Scripture, but Hannahs story is one of the clearest examples of it.

Hannahs prayer to become a mother is answered, and God blesses her to be the first person in Scripture to use the word we call Christ (1 Sam 2:10)  even though we previously knew about a promised deliverer. Being a mother was not a concession, nor did it cost Hannah her dreams and aspirations. Rather, it bestowed on her the incomparable honor of introducing the world to the truth that God would send His people the Messiah.

In looking to the future, Hannah sees God reigning supreme over the earth through His Anointed King. She understood Gods promise and pointed forward to Messiahs coming and His glorious reign. Her testimony shows that no one should manifest hope more than a mother, and that mothers should lead their children with an example defined by hope because a godly woman knows Christ will reign supreme.

These truths meant so much to Hannah because ultimately, she knew she was a sinner in need of a saving God who would conquer Satan, sin, and death. Godly mothers can sing with hope like Hannah when they are profoundly impacted by Gospel truths.

We must acknowledge these truths are not just for moms, but for all of us. We are all sinners in need of salvation  a salvation we can never secure by our own strength, and God fulfilled this promise in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who know Christ by faith know the salvation of our God. I pray our lives might be marked by a singing hope to the glory of His grace.

Happy Mothers Day!
Almost as quickly as the China stock rally happened, several investment analysts have been swift to point out its weaknesses. "China's recent rally was not justified by fundamentals," Citi's emerging markets strategists said in a note Friday that downgraded China, while upgrading India. The firm is overweight Chinese internet, industrials and technology, but neutral on autos and consumer stocks broadly. Among the sectors, consumer discretionary stocks have the highest expected earnings per share growth this year of about 29%, the Citi report said. After a tepid start to 2024, the MSCI China Index is beating not only emerging markets but the S & P 500 with gains of nearly 11% year-to-date. "Although it looks like a big rally, it's not broad," said Ding Wenjie, investment strategist for global capital investment at China Asset Management Co., according to a CNBC translation of her Mandarin-language remarks. "The increase in capital is not as big as we expected," she said, noting hedge funds rather than long-only funds were doing much of the buying  primarily in Hong Kong-listed consumer discretionary names in the internet tech sector. MSCI China's top holdings are Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent and Alibaba , which have both recently ramped up stock buybacks with their extra cash. "Our strategy has always placed great importance on free cash flow," Ding said, noting a defensive aspect and how recent government capital markets policy has emphasized the ability of companies to buy back stock. Investors in China are increasingly focused free cash flow , an indicator on profitability which reflects how much money a company has generated, excluding operating expenses. The cash can be used to repay creditors or give investors dividends. Such signs of financial health are important in an economy whose growth is slowing after years of rapid expansion, China Merchants Securities pointed out in a webinar on the Wind Information financial platform last week. In an environment of moderating demand, relying on high levels of capital expenditure can no longer generate significant returns, the securities firm said. It's now focused on finding industry leaders with high free cash flow. Earnings ahead Investors will soon get details on how the best-known names are doing financially. Tencent and Alibaba are due to release quarterly earnings on Tuesday, while Baidu is set to report on Thursday. Hong Kong-based AlphaHill Capital is looking specifically for Chinese consumer names with free cash flow growth, said Siliang Jiang, the firm's partner and portfolio manager. He noted the narrative around China may have turned significantly gloomier in the last five years, but he does not expect China will repeat Japan's "lost decades" due to its far larger market that can absorb the cost of research and development. Jiang expects the Chinese consumer will start to turn around in the second half of this year or next year. There are already a few green shoots. China's "Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) edged up in the past 9 months, despite falling property prices and fears of 'household balance sheet recession '. That said, the current CCI reading at 89 is still well below the pre-COVID levels at ~120," Bank of America analysts said in report in late April. "We advise investors to focus on firms that can create value for consumers  value for money, functional value, and/or emotional value," the report said. Two of their picks based on positive free cash flow are Li Auto and New Oriental Education . Based on their expectations of future cash flow, the analysts also like the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway operator, a state-owned company listed in Shanghai. They noted its potential to hike prices while benefiting from an increase in travel post-Covid. Last week, Chinese media reported that many of China's high-speed train operators will raise ticket prices by nearly 20% for certain routes, which include travel around Shanghai. State-owned transportation and utilities companies are able to increase their profit margins by raising prices in China's current economic environment because they have monopoly power, said Liqian Ren, leader of quantitative investment at WisdomTree. The firm has an ETF for tracking non-state-owned Chinese companies. "How long this tactical rebound is going to [last] probably depends on the economic data in the next couple weeks," she said. "Considering China isn't stimulating too much, that means the Chinese economy is not as bad as [much] of the negative sentiment," Ren added. China is due to release major economic data Friday local time on May 17. Analysts polled by Reuters expect a 3.8% increase in retail sales in April from a year ago.  CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
The earnings season is wrapping up, but there are still some key names set to report, which could provide insight into the health of the consumer. Just seven S & P 500 names are slated to post their quarterly figures, including Home Depot and Walmart. Overall, 92% of the S & P 500 has already reported, with nearly 80% of those companies beating expectations, per FactSet. Take a look at CNBC Pro's breakdown of what's expected from some of this week's key reports. All times are Eastern. Tuesday Home Depot is set to report earnings before the bell. A call is also slated for 9 a.m. Last quarter: HD reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue despite consumers taking on smaller home improvement projects. This quarter: The home improvement giant's earnings are forecast to have fallen more than 5% from the year-earlier period. What CNBC is watching: Home Depot has struggled this year, hovering around the flatline. Can the company's upcoming numbers get the stock out of its funk? "HD shares face the triple [whammy] of a rate overhang, arguably dilutive deal & still negative comp trends. But Q1 results could spur relief amidst gradually improving comps," Wells Fargo analyst Zachary Fadem wrote. What history shows: Home Depot has beating earnings estimates 87% of the time, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The stock has also risen in three of the last four earnings days. Wednesday Cisco Systems is set to report earnings after the close. Management is scheduled to hold a call at 4:30 p.m. Last quarter: Cisco posted fiscal second-quarter results that beat expectations. The company also said it would lay off 5% of its workforce . This quarter: Analysts polled by LSEG expect double-digit earnings and revenue declines from the legacy tech giant. What CNBC is watching: Cisco shares are down about 5% year to date, making their valuation "inexpensive" in the near term, according to JPMorgan. However, analyst Samik Chatterjee said the medium-to-long term earnings outlook for the company is muted, which could be reflected in this upcoming report. "Significant part of Cisco's product revenues are accounted for by Campus Networking, including Switches and WLAN, which saw a significant surge in demand post the pandemic. With a recently refreshed installed base, the Campus market is now in correction," he wrote. What history shows: Cisco shares have risen after the last six earnings releases, Bespoke data shows. Thursday Walmart is set to report earnings in the premarket, followed by a call at 8 a.m. Last quarter: Walmart earnings topped analysts' estimates, thanks to soaring e-commerce sales . This quarter: Analysts expect mid-single digits earnings and revenue growth from the retail giant, according to LSEG. What CNBC is watching: Walmart's strong momentum is expected to have continued in the fiscal first quarter, according to Bank of America analyst Robert Ohmes. "We see continued gross margin expansion for WMT as increasing contributions from higher-margin profit streams (digital advertising, 3P marketplace & fulfillment services) help offset ongoing mix shift headwinds (as sales of higher-margin general merchandise continue lagging grocery and health/wellness)," the analyst said in a note Friday. What history shows: Walmart has beaten bottom-line forecasts 71% of the time, per Bespoke. However, shares fell in two of the last three earnings days.
Children stand behind barbed-wire along a slope near a camp housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 30, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the militant group Hamas. - | Afp | Getty Images

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago but where militants have regrouped. Warnings continued against the growing offensive in Rafah, considered the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million civilians as well as Hamas' last stronghold. Some 300,000 people have fled Rafah following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel that sparked the war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated opposition to a major military assault on Rafah, telling CBS that Israel would "be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency" without an exit from Gaza and postwar governance plan. The expanding Rafah operation has drawn warnings from neighboring Egypt, whose foreign ministry said it intends to formally join South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel rejects. The statement cited "the worsening severity and scope of the Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians."

Israeli soldiers stand next to military vehicles, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza Border, in southern Israel, May 7, 2024. Amir Cohen | Reuters

"A full-scale offensive on Rafah cannot take place," United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, adding he cannot see how it can be reconciled with international humanitarian law. Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas' armed wing to reconstitute itself in even the hardest-hit areas. Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain open-ended security control over the coastal enclave home to about 2.3 million Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Memorial Day speech vowed to continue fighting until victory in memory of those killed in the war. Netanyahu has rejected postwar plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to govern Gaza with support from Arab and Muslim countries. Those plans depend on progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu's government opposes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Jerusalem, February 18, 2024. Ronen Zvulun | Reuters

The Oct. 7 attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Militants still hold about 100 captives and the remains of more than 30. Internationally mediated talks over a cease-fire and hostage release appear to be at a standstill. Israel's air, land and sea offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Heavy bombardment in the north

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza, which has suffered widespread devastation and been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. U.N. officials say there is a "full-blown famine" there. Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have battled militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in eastern Rafah, Gaza on May 07, 2024. The Israeli army said that its forces have seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Abed Rahim Khatib | Anadolu | Getty Images

"It was a very difficult night," said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday Saturday. "This is madness." First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defense said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as from Rafah. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said forces were also operating in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. The two towns near Gaza's northern border with Israel were heavily bombed in the opening days of the war. "Hamas' regime cannot be toppled without preparing an alternative to that regime," columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israel's Maariv daily, channeling the growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months into the war. "The only people who can govern Gaza after the war are Gazans, with a lot of support and help from the outside."

Civilians flee in the south

The United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid in Gaza, said 300,000 people have fled Rafah since the operation began there. Most are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Mawasi, a tent camp on the coast where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.

Displaced Palestinians, who fled Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating civilians from the eastern parts of the southern Gazan city, ahead of a threatened assault, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, travel on a vehicle, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip May 6, 2024. Ramadan Abed | Reuters

Rafah was sheltering some 1.3 million Palestinians before the Israeli operation began, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere. Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, and Hagari said dozens of militants had been killed there as "targeted operations continued." The United Nations has warned that a planned full-scale Rafah invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian deaths. Rafah borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, which are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down. Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the delivery of aid though the crossing because of "the unacceptable Israeli escalation," the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel reported.

Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment in central Gaza City on March 18, 2024, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. - | Afp | Getty Images
Leading healthcare companies Pfizer and AstraZeneca announced on Sunday new investments in France worth a total of nearly $1 billion, ahead of the start of this year's annual 'Choose France' business summit.

Pfizer said it would invest 500 million euros ($538.5 million) in France to build up its research and development work in the country, while AstraZeneca announced an investment of $388 million for its site at Dunkirk.

Their investment pledges came as President Emmanuel Macron prepared to kick off on Monday the annual 'Choose France' event aimed at wooing big overseas businesses and investors.

France announced earlier on Sunday 100 new jobs in Paris at Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley, and investments from other firms such as German aviation company Lilium .

Macron wants to burnish Paris' role as a top European business capital, although it has traditionally lagged New York and London on a global scale.

The closely watched Z/Yen survey of global financial centres, published in March, ranked New York as the world's top financial centre, with London in second place. The survey ranked Paris in 14th position.
Chinese Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 5, 2024. China said the United States must refrain from "stirring up trouble" or taking sides on the South China Sea issue, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a security deal with the Manila extended to attacks on the Philippine coast guard.

The Philippines' national security adviser called on Friday for Chinese diplomats to be expelled 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.

China's embassy in Manila had orchestrated "repeated acts of engaging and dissemination of disinformation, misinformation and malinformation," with the objective of sowing discord, division and disunity, Eduardo Ano said in a statement.

Those actions "should not be allowed to pass unsanctioned without serious penalty", he said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian called the comments provocative and said Chinese diplomats in the Philippines had to be allowed to do their job.

"China solemnly requests the Philippine side to effectively safeguard the normal performance of duties by Chinese diplomatic personnel, stop infringing and provoking, and refrain from denying the facts," Lin said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

The office of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and the foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The two countries have been embroiled in a series of heated stand-offs 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 China's vast coast guard.

Asked to comment on the latest row, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said: "We are aware of the media reports and defer to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs."

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 expelling of diplomats could intensify a row that has so far seen heated exchanges, diplomatic protests and the ramming and water-cannoning of Philippine ships at two disputed shoals, the closest of which is more than 850 km (530 miles) away from mainland China.

Ano was referring to a news report this week of an alleged leak of a call between a Chinese diplomat and a Filipino admiral discussing a dispute over the South China Sea, which carried a transcript that showed the admiral agreeing to concessions with China.

According to the transcript published by the Manila Times, the admiral agreed to China's proposal of a "new model", where the Philippines would use fewer vessels in resupply trips to marines stationed at a grounded warship at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, and notify Beijing about the missions in advance.

Reuters has not heard the reported phone conversation and could not verify the contents of the published transcript. The report said the conversation had taken place in January and the transcript was provided by a "ranking Chinese official", which it did not name.
Ukrainian firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the site of a drone attack on industrial facilities in Kharkiv on May 4, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire, officials said Sunday.

The intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw in the Kharkiv region, capitulating more land to Russian forces across less defended settlements in the so-called contested "gray zone" along the Russian border.

Meanwhile, a 10-story apartment block collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border, with several deaths and injuries reported. Russian authorities said the building collapsed following Ukrainian shelling. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow's forces launched the operation, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a social media statement. Heavy fighting raged Sunday along the northeast front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours, he said.

Analysts say the Russian push is designed to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line. Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic by launching a disproportionate amount of fire and infantry assaults to exhaust their troops and firepower.

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.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that disrupting Russia's offensive in the area was a priority, and that Kyiv's troops were continuing counteroffensive operations in seven villages around the Kharkiv region.

"Disrupting the Russian offensive intentions is our number one task now. Whether we succeed in that task depends on every soldier, every sergeant, every officer," Zelenskyy said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Moscow's forces had captured five villages on the border of Ukraine's Kharkiv region and Russia. These areas were likely poorly fortified due to the dynamic fighting and constant heavy shelling, easing a Russian advance.

Ukraine's leadership has not confirmed Moscow's gains.

A Ukrainian unit said that they had been forced to retreat in some areas and that Russian forces had captured at least one more village late Saturday.

In a video Saturday evening, the Hostri Kartuzy unit, part of the special forces' detachment of Ukraine's national guard, said that they were fighting for control of the village of Hlyboke.

"Today, during heavy fighting, our defenders were forced to withdraw from a few more of their positions, and today, another settlement has come completely under Russian control. As of 20:00, fighting for the village of Hlyboke is ongoing," the fighters said in the clip.

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said Saturday that it believed claims that Moscow had captured Strilecha, Pylna, Pletenivka and Borsivika were accurate, and that geolocated footage also appeared to show that Russian forces have seized Morokhovets and Oliinykove. It described the recent Russian gains as "tactically significant."

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, Ukraine's 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.
NORTH DAKOTA

Jury finds railway contributed to 2 asbestos-tied deaths

HELENA  A federal jury on April 22 said BNSF Railway contributed to the deaths of two people who were exposed to asbestos decades ago when tainted mining material was shipped through a Montana town where thousands have been sickened.

The jury awarded $4 million each in compensatory damages to the estates of the two plaintiffs, who died in 2020. Jurors said asbestos-contaminated vermiculite that spilled in the rail yard in the town of Libby, Montana was a substantial factor in the plaintiffs' illnesses and deaths.

Family members of the two victims hugged their attorneys after the verdict was announced. An attorney for the plaintiffs said the ruling brought some accountability, but one family member told The Associated Press that no amount of money would replace her lost sister.

The vermiculite from Libby has high concentrations of naturally-occurring asbestos and was used in insulation and for other commercial purposes in homes and businesses across the U.S.

After being mined from a mountaintop outside town, it was loaded onto rail cars that sometimes spilled the material in the Libby rail yard. Residents have described piles of vermiculite being stored in the yard and dust from the facility blowing through downtown Libby.

The jury did not find that BNSF acted intentionally or with indifference so no punitive damages were awarded. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. acquired BNSF in 2010, two decades after the W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine near Libby shut down and stopped shipping the contaminated mineral.

The estates of the two victims argued that the railroad knew the asbestos-tainted vermiculite was dangerous and failed to clean it up. Both lived near the rail yard decades ago and died from mesothelioma, a rare lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure.

A second trial against the railroad over the death of a Libby resident is scheduled for May in federal court in Missoula.

IDAHO

Group pursues 2026 abortion-rights ballot initiative

BOISE  A new Idaho organization says it will ask voters to restore abortion access and other reproductive health care rights in the state after lawmakers let a second legislative session end without modifying strict abortion bans that have been blamed for a recent exodus of health care providers.

Idaho has several anti-abortion laws on the books, including one that makes performing abortions a crime even in medical emergencies unless they are done to save the life of the pregnant patient. The federal government has sued Idaho over the ban, contending it violates a federal law that requires hospitals to provide stabilizing care  including abortion  if a patient's life or health is at serious risk.

Idaho's attorneys say the ban allows for life-saving procedures for things like ectopic pregnancies, and they contend the Biden administration is trying to create a federal "abortion loophole" at Idaho hospitals.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in that case on April 24.

Idahoans United for Women and Families is fundraising and hopes to have one or more ballot initiatives ready to propose this summer in an effort to get them on the 2026 ballot, spokeswoman Melanie Folwell said.

Cynthia Dalsing, a certified nurse midwife in northern Idaho and a board member for Idahoans United for Women and Families, said her region went from offering a "premiere obstetric range of services" to becoming a maternal care desert after the four local obstetricians moved out of state.

Roughly one-quarter of Idaho obstetricians have stopped practicing since a near-total abortion ban took effect in August 2022, along with about half of the state's maternal fetal medicine doctors, according to data compiled by the Idaho Physician Well-Being Action Collaborative. Three hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units.

NEBRASKA

Governor to call special session on tax relief

OMAHA  Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen threatened from the beginning of this year's legislative session that he would call lawmakers back for a special session if they failed to pass a bill to significantly ease soaring property taxes. On the last day of the 60-day session on April 18, some lawmakers who helped torpedo an already anemic tax-shifting bill said they would welcome Pillen's special session.

Pillen followed through in his address to lawmakers just hours before they adjourned the session without taking a vote on the property tax relief bill he backed, saying he planned to issue a proclamation for a special session.

Nebraska law requires that a special session can be no shorter than seven days and that actions considered must be limited to the subjects outlined in the governor's proclamation.

Pillen had backed a bill that initially sought to raise the state's sales tax to 6.5%, which would have been among the highest in the country. It also expanded the sales tax base to items like candy, soda, pet grooming and veterinary services and digital advertising and included some caps on spending by local governments.

By the time it reached the third and last round on the final day of the session, however, the sales tax increase had been stripped away, leaving just a fraction of the property tax savings originally sought.

The bill was key to Pillen's plan to slash soaring property taxes. Just days into the session, Pillen called for a 40% reduction that would cut $2 billion from the $5.3 billion in property taxes collected in 2023. That property tax revenue compares to $3.4 billion collected just 10 years earlier, and is far more than the collections from sales and income tax, which brought in about $2.3 billion and $3 billion respectively in 2023.

Soaring housing and land prices in recent years have led to ballooning property tax bills for homeowners and farmers, but some homeowners have been hit especially hard, as state law requires residential property to be assessed at nearly 100% of market value, compared to 75% for agricultural land.

The array of proposed sales tax increases was enough to find opponents in both liberals, who complained that it put too much of the tax burden on those least able to afford it, and conservatives, who called for more reductions in spending over new taxes.

NEW MEXICO

Voters can receive absentee ballots permanently

SANTA FE  Registered voters in New Mexico for the first time can join a permanent list to receive an absentee ballot by mail in future elections, state election regulators announced on April 17.

The secretary of state's office said it was accepting online requests for absentee ballots ahead of the June 4 primary on the website NMVote.org, where qualified voters can opt in to the permanent list.

Previously voters had to request an absentee ballot with each election in a voting process that could involve three or four mail deliveries.

Absentee ballots can be returned by mail or by hand at county clerks' offices or ballot drop boxes in some areas. The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot in the state's June 4 primary is May 21.

New Mexico's permanent absentee ballot list was authorized under 2023 legislation aimed at expanding access to the ballot in New Mexico. The law also requires that each of New Mexico's 33 counties maintain at least two monitored ballot drop boxes, though county clerks can request an exemption.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said in a statement that the option is one way the state has increased the convenience of voting.

KANSAS

Ostrich at zoo dies after swallowing staffers keys

TOPEKA  A beloved ostrich at the Topeka Zoo & Conservation Center in Kansas has died after swallowing a staff member's keys.

The zoo announced in a social media post on April 19 that the 5-year-old ostrich named Karen had reached beyond her exhibit's fence and grabbed and swallowed the employee's keys. Staff consulted with experts around the U.S. "to undergo surgical and non-surgical efforts to minimize the impact of the keys. Unfortunately, these efforts were unsuccessful," the zoo said.

Karen was euthanized on April 18 and "passed away in staff's hands," Topeka Zoo Interim Director Fawn Moser said in an email.

Said Moser: She was not just an animal; she was a beloved member of our community. Our thoughts are with our dedicated animal care team, who formed deep bonds with Karen during her time with us."

The adored ostrich had been at the zoo since March 2023. She was known for her love of playing in water "and, best of all, being our 'dancing queen!'" the zoo said.

The zoo said it undertook an investigation and "is taking appropriate actions regarding the team member involved." The zoo also said it would review and enhance safety protocols for its animals.
Thankfully, kids these days still know whats funny about the phrase anal probe.

Despite the fact that South Park has been on TV for longer than all but the oldest members of Generation Z have been alive, Trey Parker and Matt Stones obscene animated masterpiece is a surprising hit among the younger generation of comedy fans. Every day in America, some teenager stumbles upon the series that made their parents parents clutch their pearls back in the 1990s, usually through some clip on TikTok or a GIF of the Make Love Not Warcraft guy posted out of anger in the middle of a Twitter argument.

Don't Miss

For new South Park fans looking to start from the beginning, many of the pop-culture references from the shows earliest episodes may be inaccessible to anyone with no memory of a time before smartphones, so let us explain the most topical jokes of 1997 one hastily summarized Wikipedia entry at a time

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When Kyle shouts at his adopted Canadian baby brother Ike to Do your impression of David Carusos career before the baby enters a freefall, he was referencing a string of commercial and artistic failures that the former NYPD Blue star had put out in the years leading up to the South Park series premiere Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, which included the unsuccessful un-thriller movies Kiss of Death and Jade and the doomed legal drama show Michael Hayes. Of course, Caruso would reach greater heights than ever before when he signed up for CSI: Miami in 2002. But even that show might need an explanation for some younger audience members.

To summarize: YEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!

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It sure would have been better than what we got

While the last movie Eddie Murphy made for a streaming service was a sanity-taxing Christmas-themed fever dream, some of us are still cautiously optimistic that Netflixs upcoming Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F  the fourth film in the Beverly Hills Cop saga  will be good.

At the very least, it has to be better than the last entry in the franchise; Beverly Hills Cop III, the famously disappointing threequel that found Axel Foley busting a counterfeiting ring in an amusement park that definitely wasnt Disneyland, or any other legally-actionable real-life location. And when it comes to cinematic spectacle, things dont get much more exciting than Eddie Murphy cutting a line and mildly inconveniencing George Lucas.

But this wasnt always the plan for Beverly Hills Cop III. A number of different ideas were floated for the movie Murphy once said there was no reason to do. One was a pitch from Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne in which Axel Foley has to deal with his celebrity cop status. While producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer of Top Gun and cocaine fame were happy with the idea, the deal with the studio fell through and the project collapsed (the producers still got to walk away with a million-dollar payout).

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Then, the head of Paramount at the time, Brandon Tartikoff, came up with a unique proposal: The third Beverly Hills Cop and the third Crocodile Dundee film could be the same movie. Yeah, Axel Foley would crossover with Dundee, played by Paul Hogan. While that idea ultimately didnt pan out, Crocodile Dundee did eventually make his way to Los Angeles in a movie, and it was a total disaster.

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A more promising suggestion was for Alex Foley to travel to England and partner with a Scotland Yard detective, which would retain the fish out of water framework that made the original so popular. At one point the new English character was going to be played by Sean Connery. Another plan, it seems, was to have Murphy teaming up with John Cleese to take down the Kray brothers  or at least gangster characters inspired by the Kray Brothers.

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Come to think of it, Cleese did know a thing or two about getting laughs with fictional characters based on Reginald and Ronald Kray.

The specifics of these various pitches are all pretty murky, but seemingly the U.K.-based story ideas fell by the wayside when Die Hard screenwriter Steven De Souza was hired, and shifted the action to a California theme park. While it would have been exciting to see a young Murphy share the screen with a post-Fawlty Towers, pre-hacky senior citizen Cleese, the pair did work together eventually: Both actors lent their voices to multiple Shrek movies and Cleese played the holographic chauffeur in The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

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On second thought, maybe Murphy and Cleese should just stay the hell away from each other.

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists by the time youre reading this).
Members of the countys Citizens Review Panel met for the first time Thursday to discuss the committees procedures.
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The older I get, the more I think that humans  as a species  are becoming increasingly bonkers. If not all, then quite a lot of them.

Take, for example, the hysteria over Eurovision. The annual event is a silly, kitsch, largely irrelevant music competition (I use the term 'music' loosely) in which embarrassing, regional acts perform pale approximations of proper pop songs against a background of cheerful xenophobia.

Occasionally, a decent act slips through (Abba, Maneskin, Domenico Modugno) but mostly it's all just overblown pyrotechnics and daft outfits.

In the case of the British entry, it's invariably a virtue-signalling ninny in a ripped T-shirt who thinks that simulating sex with crotch-grabbing dancers dressed as rent boys and pontificating about how much he hates the British flag will compensate for lack of vocal talent.

Eden Golan, representing Israel, holds her country's flag aloft as she sings Hurricane

Climate activist Greta Thunberg attends a pro-Palestine demonstration in Malmo, Sweden, where the Eurovision song contest took place

It doesn't, but who cares. It's just a bit of a laugh.

Or it was until Greta Thunberg and her army of hate pixies showed up and made it all about something else. Draped in a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, the Swede, 21, explained in her characteristically sanctimonious manner: 'Young people are leading the way, and showing the world how we should react to this.'

If only that were the case.

Sadly, I am no longer a young person, but if I were I'd like to think that my reaction  and that of my peers  to the brutal rape, murder and mutilation of hundreds of young people at the Nova music festival last October 7 by a group of Hamas terrorists funded by Iran's totalitarian dictatorship that imprisons, tortures and murders girls like me  would be absolute solidarity with those victims.

Instead, at Eurovision and elsewhere, there is sympathy for the supporters of those terrorists and their vile actions, blind hatred for Israel for daring to defend itself and its citizens  and an attempt to mobilise thousands of others to bully and intimidate Israel's entry, Eden Golan, whose only crime (apart from her awful fake nails) is her nationality.

A 20-year-old was booed for performing a song about survival in the face of suffering.

She was forced to lock herself in her hotel room for fear of being attacked. She's been treated as if she was responsible for decades of conflict in the Middle East.

I've always thought Thunberg was a bit odd, but I didn't realise she was nasty, too.

The UK's Eurovision entry, Olly Alexander, rehearses his song Dizzy ahead of the contest final

A rally in the Swedish city sees signs branding Eurovision the 'Genocide Song Contest'

But the insanity doesn't stop there. A Brighton-based group calling itself 'Queers for Palestine' (they do know, don't they, what happens to homosexuals in places run by hardline Islamic regimes such as Iran?) posted online the contact numbers of venues that were planning to host Eurovision nights, urging people to tell them 'to reconsider' because the organisers were 'complicit in genocide' for allowing Israel to participate.

Inevitably, the BBC reported this on Newsnight alongside an interview with a drag queen called 'Crystal' by presenter Kirsty Wark (poor woman: decades of experience as a respected broadcaster and this is what it's come to).

Through thick mauve make-up and false lashes, Crystal said: 'I was going to host my own screening event, with 800 people screaming, cheering along, but decided to join the boycott because of Israel's inclusion.'

I'm sorry Crystal's party was ruined  but seriously, is this how low we've sunk  that the cancellation of a North London party is worthy of a slot on Newsnight?

READ MORE: SARAH VINE: Why Harry cannot just waltz back whenever he fancies Advertisement

And doesn't the irony of a drag queen complaining about the inclusion of Israel  a nation where LGBT culture flourishes as almost no other, and which was the first country in the history of Eurovision to field an openly trans contestant (the fabulous Dana International in 1998)  occur to any of these people? Or are they just too thick to see it? Young women such as Israel's Eurovision entry Eden Golan are not the enemy of the Palestinian people.

That enemy is Hamas and the terrorist network that oppresses Palestinian civilians, building a network of tunnels under their homes and hospitals, filling their heads with hatred for Jews, fuelling this endless and brutal conflict with their barbaric actions.

For the record, I didn't think much of Golan's song (though I liked her dress). It was a second-rate, sub-Celine Dion ballad with abysmal choreography. But I defend her right to perform for the simple fact that I believe in a world where young women with silly nails can dance and sing as much as they want without being afraid.

And I defend her because the fact that so many young people across the world have been trying to stop her represents a kind of derangement I shall never, as long as I live, understand.

Hugh Grant is not a very nice human, so I'm reluctant to agree with him  but on the subject of a new iPad advert, he's right. He describes the ad, which shows creative objects, including musical instruments and books, being crushed by a press before an iPad appears in their place as 'the destruction of the human experience'. In other words, every painter, artist, musician and writer in history reduced, quite literally, to ghosts in a machine to feed the coffers of Silicon Valley.

A friend sent me a picture of his local hipster bakery with about 40 people queuing to buy sourdough. 'How crazy! It'll take about an hour to be served,' he said. Near me there a brunch place that's similarly mobbed at weekends. The food's nice but you have to wait 30 minutes for a cramped table and it costs about 50 a head. I can knock up two eggs on sourdough with bacon and avocado for about 1.50  without the side order of other people's screaming kids.

What I can see in Meghan's speech

Taking Nigeria by storm, the Duchess of Sussex told a group of children an anecdote about her daughter Lilibet, aged two. 'She looked at me and goes: "Mama, I see me in you." As I look around this room, I see myself in all of you as well.' What a remarkable thing to say. I've known a few two-year-olds in my time, some quite bright, but none offering such a handy opportunity for a soundbite as Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, during a visit to Nigeria for the anniversary of the Invictus Games

A vicar armed with a chisel tries to break the protective glass on the Magna Carta as part of a Just Stop Oil protest. A vicar. The Church of England really is a joke.

Rein in the lycra louts

A cyclist speeding at close to 30mph in a park with a 20mph limit avoided conviction despite a crash that killed an 81-year-old woman. As a cyclist myself, I've occasionally almost collided with distracted pedestrians. But with rheumatic knees and an ancient pushbike, there's a limit to the damage I can do. But lately I've been fearful of Lycra louts on high-tech bikes who cut me up and curse at my slowness. Worse are those on e-bikes and scooters. Surely, it's time the rules were overhauled?

No surprise that researchers have found that women who take time off from social media experience a marked improvement in self-esteem. It encourages an ideal of perfection that's utterly unrealistic. Not only are we encouraged to judge ourselves by others' standards, but to obsess about our own appearance and become slaves to the camera. Fortunately, I'm part of that last generation who grew up without the damn thing. We had no idea how terrible we looked most of the time  but we lived much happier lives.

So that's conviction politics!

Stormy Daniels with her lawyer Clark Brewster after taking the stand at Donald Trump's trial

Fascinating. A new poll finds that a guilty verdict for Donald Trump in his Stormy Daniels 'hush money' trial would lead to votes in his favour in certain key states. This could result in the extraordinary situation of a President with a criminal conviction having to issue himself with a pardon. Not even Silvio Berlusconi could have dreamed up something that sordid.
Lord Kinnock is probably our greatest living expert in losing elections when you expected to win them. He did this very spectacularly in 1992, to his own fury and that of the Labour Party.

One theory is that a vainglorious, triumphal rally, in Sheffield on April Fools' Day, eight days before polling, torpedoed what would otherwise have been a victory.

So Sir Keir Starmer should heed his wise and experienced forerunner. He should not be angry with him for going on the radio and being unenthusiastic about Labour's chances.

Nor should Sir Keir chide his party chairwoman, Anneliese Dodds MP, for remarking that 'We [Labour] can be very good at losing elections people thought we would win.' She also referenced the 1992 debacle.

Those with long memories can remember others, especially 1970, when the Labour Party (and the polls) thought they would win until the results started to come in, and 1964, when Harold Wilson's thrusting, white-hot Labour Party were very nearly defeated by the skull-faced, tweed-clad aristocrat Sir Alec Douglas-Home, written off by experts as a hopeless campaigner and an anachronism.

Lord Kinnock (pictured) is probably our greatest living expert in losing elections when you expected to win them.

Pictured: Labour leader Keir Starmer gives a press conference as he announces Labour's plan to stop illegal small boat crossings on May 10

Well, as so often, so much for experts. Lord Kinnock's lack of enthusiasm for Sir Keir's 'Changed Labour' was beautifully expressed in his BBC interview, when he said: 'People will say, 'Let's get the bloody Tories out', but they won't say, 'Hurrah, marvellous, freedom, liberation is with us because of Keir Starmer.'

These feelings are, as he drily put it, 'entirely different departments of human sentiment'.

It is in any case possible that Lord Kinnock preferred the Labour Party before Sir Keir changed it. Certainly a lot of Sir Keir's colleagues and supporters have been severely jolted by the supposed defection of Natalie Elphicke.

Ms Elphicke is a woman of many and rapidly varying opinions, on private and public matters, but nobody had ever previously accused her of being a Labour supporter.

She does not even look like one in the weird publicity shots of her with the Opposition Leader, pretending to be friends. Such defections are normally quite minor events, forgotten in a day.

But this one threatens to loom over politics for weeks ahead, because it is so fascinatingly unconvincing, and because it has genuinely infuriated many Labour supporters.

Perhaps the best and most piercing mockery of it came from the Tory frontbencher Penny Mordaunt.

She laughingly dismissed suggestions that she too might defect  because she is too Left-wing to fit in a party which welcomes Ms Elphicke.

Pictured: Rishi Sunak, holds a meeting with vice chancellors from some of the country's leading universities and representatives from the Union of Jewish Students on May 9

Labour activists have been jeering in turn that perhaps Sir Keir is now trying to woo Tory Right-wing hardliner Nadine Dorries.

This event is a serious wobble and it is doing serious damage. And its roots lie in the same overconfidence that led to the catastrophic 1992 Sheffield rally.

Right up to polling day, voters enjoy a sort of holiday from seriousness.

They can tell each other, and pollsters, that they won't vote Tory or they will vote Labour, because they are angry with the Conservatives for their failures and mistakes. But that does not mean they are truly committed.

Labour's other major initiative of last week  a bombastic, empty new immigration policy with all the firepower of a water pistol  must have reminded many of just how useless they are on this and so many other major issues that matter.

Meanwhile, the deterrent effect of the Rwanda scheme has been demonstrated clearly in Ireland. And the economy is looking better every day.

Can we all please stop assuming that the election is a fore- gone conclusion?
Under a microscope, the cells on three-year-old Sienna Cook's arm looked suspiciously like 'adult melanoma' - but the dermatologist dismissed it as impossible.

Her worried mum Shawnee, 30, from Perth, was told it was likely just a benign lump and would need to be cut out. Doctors added that while it could certainly 'become cancerous' it 'wasn't yet' so there was no rush.

They were wrong. Now Sienna, a bubbly little toddler, is mid-way through a gruelling series of cancer treatments after the potentially deadly disease spread to her lymph nodes.

While rare, most forms of melanoma in children can't be prevented as they are genetic and caused by a mutation. Doctors are learning more about these tumours, which are often called 'spitzoid melanomas'.

The most common symptom is a sudden 'small lesion'.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Shawnee revealed the family's frustrating experiences with medical professionals who, until they landed at the children's hospital, seemed to dismiss Sienna and her little red sore every step of the way.

Under a microscope, the cells on three-year-old Sienna Cook's arm looked suspiciously like 'adult melanoma' - but the dermatologist dismissed it as impossible

At first the bump, which appeared in June, looked like a little bite - but months later it started to look 'infected'

'I am still in disbelief. I am scared and angry. I trusted the professionals - they had her life in their hands and got it wrong,' she said.

The melanoma, which is a genetic variant and not caused by the sun, appeared on the then two-year-old's arm in June, 2023.

It wasn't brown, didn't have rough edges or dark spots and didn't grow rapidly like typical melanomas do.

The family were in Bali on holiday and it looked like your average mosquito bite.

'I don't have any photos of it back then because it didn't look different enough for me to even think about taking a photo,' she said.

The little round bump never seemed to go away. Then, at the end of August, it started to noticeably annoy Sienna.

It was itchy, would hurt when she played with her five-year-old brother and started to scab over and bleed.

So, like all parents do when they notice something amiss with their bubs, Shawnee decided to take her little girl to the GP to get it checked out.

He assumed it was some kind of staph infection and gave her a cream to try. Then a week later he gave her another one. A week after that he tried some oral medicine. Nothing worked.

Sienna actually had melanoma - it has been cut out and she's had a second operation to remove lymph nodes where the cancer had spread

Shawnee was losing faith and it vanished altogether when the doctor took a photo and started 'Googling it'.

'I said "I don't mean you any disrespect but I feel like you don't know what it is",' she said.

She then asked for a referral to a dermatologist. It was now late October.

The skin specialist offered her a cream but she rejected that and opted to go back to get the sore scraped instead.

'A few weeks passed and I got a call saying that under the microscope it looked like adult melanoma but that wasn't right, given her age,' she said.

'They did more tests and told me it was a benign lump and that I should get it cut out because it could become cancerous.'

This is when she started to worry so she called the surgeon who had been recommended and his staff said the results weren't urgent. They would see Sienna after Christmas.

Shawnee is pictured here with her kids on that Bali holiday - her son Byron, five, has had a suspicious mole removed since his sister was diagnosed though results aren't back

She went in when they reopened on January 15.

'At this point I was stressed because they said it could turn cancerous but everyone was telling me not to worry,' she recalled.

The mum became even more stressed after receiving calls from the dermatologist to see if she had cut it out - and then urging her to do it quickly.

'I thought "hang on you said it wasn't urgent why do you keep calling me?"' She said.

The surgeon said the results looked benign and said he could cut it out for $6000 or the family could wait two weeks and the hospital would cut it out for free.

'We decided that everyone had been telling us it was benign and it was only a two week wait and we didn't have $6000 on hand so we would wait,' she said.

Then it took the practice over a week to make out the referral, despite multiple calls from Shawnee and the dermatologist.

On February 20 they arrived for their first consultation at the hospital.

The family, which includes Brayden's eight-year-old from a previous relationship, have been super stressed for weeks

Doctors here were far more alarmed by the results which confirmed active 'adult melanoma' cells.

'He looked at her arm, felt her lymph nodes, looked at the records and then asked us to give him a minute,' she said.

'He left the room and came back 30 minutes later to let me know they had just had a cancellation and they could operate the next day.'

Sienna's dad Brayden, 33, asked the doctor to be straight with them. Shawnee remembers words like oncologist being thrown around and the doctor revealing he wasn't comfortable ruling out melanoma because of her age.

The lump was cut out and seemingly divided medical opinion.

Teams of doctors were consulted including specialists in Perth. They came to the conclusion it had to be treated like melanoma.

A PET scan showed a hot spot in her lymph nodes.

Then the terrified toddler, who had started to develop a fear of the hospital, was put in a straight-jacket like brace in an imaging machine so doctors could determine which lymph nodes needed to be removed and tested.

'She was in the scan for three hours, it was the most traumatic day, the camera was so close to her face but she couldn't move and she was screaming at us for help,' she recalled. 'She said "save me mummy" and I just had to sit there.'

The test failed so they took another approach and found the lymph nodes in her arm needed to be removed.

'They had to take all of them out - they usually don't do that,' she said.

In the meantime Sienna's big brother Byron had a mole pop up out of nowhere.

'We asked them at the hospital what to do. we didn't want to go down the same road,' she said.

The doctors have removed the lump and aren't taking any chances - given the disease is hereditary.

Sienna's appointments continue and the 'fiery princess' has developed attachment anxiety and bawls when she can't see her mum.

'She has changed so much - we got married in November and she stayed at grandmas and didn't bat an eyelid,' she said.

'I dropped her there when my son had his procedure and she bawled.'

Sienna has had a few operations to cut out the melanoma, increase borders, fix drains and remove lymph nodes and will start immunotherapy soon.

This could cause complications down the track including Hepatitis, Type 1 Diabetes, thyroid issues and Heart Disease/Failure.

And given the nature of the disease there's no way to know if they 'got it all'.

'It could be travelling, which means it could pop up somewhere else,' Shawnee said.

Shawnee's sister started a Go Fund Me to help support the family support Sienna. Shawnee has stopped working though Brayden continues to run his air con company.

Shawnee wants parents to be on the lookout for sores which don't heal and push for answers if they are ignored

At one point the sore looked like it had an ulcer inside

Shawnee wishes she knew about childhood melanoma and understood more about its appearance - but admits even doctors she has met since are fascinated.

'The whole family have had their skin checked since she was diagnosed. The doctor who checked my husband and cut something out asked to see photos and the pathology report and admitted he wouldn't have thought it was melanoma,' she said.

She says if the disease was caught when she first went to see the doctor - or even when abnormal cells were first noticed - it may not have spread.

The family have also thanked the Australian Skin Foundation for their support since Sienna was diagnosed.

'We are at the end of the first part of her journey. We still have a long way to go,' Shawnee said.
Priya from London was amazed by their large portions of KFC popcorn chicken

A British woman living in Toronto has revealed all the things she found confusing about the cold north.

Priya from London said there were plenty of positives about living in Canada - especially the food and drink.

Posting to TikTok, she explained how she was blown away by the large portions of KFC popcorn chicken and their extensive range of delicious coffee creamers.

From the cream percentages to unusual cooking terms, the content creator shared the reality of living in Canada.

From different cooking terms to specialist liquor stores, Priya (pictured) from London has revealed the five things about Canadian life that has left her head in a spin

1. 12-hour clocks

In the UK we use both 24 hour and 12 hour clocks, however this is not the case in Canada, according to Priya.

The content creator claimed that whilst some may know how to use the 24-hour clock, it is 'rarely' used.

'I've shown people the time and most had to really think about what 18 meant rather than just knowing it means six,' she said.

'I'm sure a lot of Canadians do know it but I just don't think it's the standard way of telling the time.'

2. Their temperature terms

Another aspect of Canadian living that left Priya stumped, was the use of 'broil' and 'grill.

According to the Cambridge dictionary both terms mean the same thing - to cook a food item under a very hot surface in a stove.

However, in the UK we typically call this cooking method 'grilling' while in other parts of the world - Canada included - dub it 'broiling.

'I literally just didn't grill anything for about a year because I thought there was no grill setting on my oven,' Priya said.

The expat was also left confused by the interchangeable use of Fahrenheit and Celsius in Canada,

'Cooking temperature is in Fahrenheit but outside temperature is in Celsius,' she quipped.

3. Cream Percentages

Priya was also left baffled by the categorisation of milk in the chilly North American country.

In the UK, we typically class our milk by using different colour lids, such as green for semi-skimmed, red for blank and blue for full-fat.

But across the Atlantic it is different, as Canadians use cream percentages to separate the different types of milk.

She said: 'Milk and cream percentages confuse me which one is green and which one is double cream?

'And milk bags - what's that about do you pour the whole bag into a judge does it go bad quickly do you keep it in the bag, is it cheaper to buy bag milk?'

It wasn't only the different types of milk that left her feeling middled, the lack of squash and cordial in the country also took her aback.

But having these tiny concentrate version are so convenient for putting in your bag,' she added.

4. Alcohol Specific Shops

In Canada, beer, wine and spirits are usually sold in liquor stores - a stark difference to the UK where you can pick up a bottle of wine at your local supermarket.

Only being able to buy booze in specific stores was another culture shock to the former Londoner.

'You can only buy alcohol in a few specific shops and they don't sell mixers. So you need to go to two different shops,' Priya said.

Although slightly inconvenient, the ex-pat noted the choice of beers, seltzer were better in Canadian liquor stores.

She added: 'You can literally get any flavour you want.'

5. Tax Is Added When You Pay

When you walk into a British clothing shop or supermarket, the tax of the item you wish to purchase is included in the price.

However, Priya was shocked to learn that in Canada tax is added at the till, therefore your desired item will cost more than you initially thought.

'Thinking something is going to cost a certain amount and then it being more is so jarring,' she shared.

'I mean I'm used to it now but I don't understand the reason why its not just shown in the price already.

She added: 'If Canada could clear that up that would be great because it's always confused me.'

Canadians flooded her comment section, mainly disgruntled by Priya highlighting they rarely use a 24 hour clock.

Among the many things she missed from the UK was squash, revealing Canada has tiny concentrate drinks instead

Canadians flocked to the comment section, mainly disgruntled by Priya highlighting they rarely use a 24 hour clock

One penned: '"Rather than just knowing it means six  if you, I [and] everyone else knows that it means six then just USE six. Why would you use 18 when you want to say/mean eight?'

'The funny thing about 24-hour time. People still report the time as 12 hour time, excepting things like the military lol,' a second chimed.

'Us using F for the oven and C for the weather is like you guys using KMs on everything but measure driving distances in miles and mph,' another quipped.

A fourth added: 'LOL yeah, Canada is a weird mix of metric and imperial because of American influence. I had no idea you guys use miles in the UK, though'
The Queen thanked nurses for their 'wonderful work' as she met staff and patients in a London hospital to mark International Nurses Day.

Camilla, 76, met families and medical staff involved with Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's 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.

The Queen thanked nurses for their 'wonderful work' as she met staff and patients in a London hospital to mark International Nurses Day

Camilla (above with Alex Jones), 76, met families and medical staff involved with Roald Dahl 's Marvellous Children's Charity, of which she has been a patron since 2017, at the Royal London Hospital

Ms Goodchild is also a charity trustee, and said meeting the Queen meant 'the absolute world'.

She said: 'The visit was a great honour, it was really lovely, and it's 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 you've got Her Majesty present who's 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.

'She didn't 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 Hospital's 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 sister's necklace and shoes, asked her if she loved her sister, and told her: 'I'm sure you're very, very helpful, you've given her your very special toy.'

The Queen met the nurses, medical staff and patients in the Royal London Hospital's Healing Suite, a room decorated with oversized inflatable toys and games

Camilla 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

Camilla was joined on her visit by The One Show co-host Alex Jones, a supporter of the charity

Camilla meets with nursing staff at the Royal London Hospital

The Queen also greeted the families of some of those receiving treatment at the hospital

Camilla also spoke to the family's specialist paediatric nurse, Charlotte Duhig, who has cared for the family since December 2023.

When Ms Duhig said she had been in the nursing industry for seven years, the Queen replied: 'You're 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 Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity provides specialist nurses and care for children with complex health conditions

International Nurses Day is celebrated each year on May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth

Camilla wore a blue patterned dress for her outing on Thursday, May 9

She met with members of the Air Ambulance at the Royal London Hospital

Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's 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.

As part of its Fund a Nurse Appeal, the charity is aiming to raise 1million 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'.

Alex Jones speaks with nurses during a visit by Queen Camilla, patron of Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity, at the Royal London Hospital

Camilla spent time speaking to one young family, a member of whom is treated here

She added: 'Queen Camilla is really passionate about the Roald Dahl nurses and interested in how they help. It's wonderful to have her support.'

International Nurses Day is celebrated each year on May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth.

Roshni Vadher, a healthcare transition nurse specialist who has worked with the charity for two years, said: 'It's 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.'
Meghan Markle ditched her neutral style in favour of a vibrant red dress in order to 'fit in' with Nigeria's 'incredible fashion', she revealed on day two of the whistlestop tour with Prince Harry.

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, ended her streak of pale hues seen throughout the visit - including a peach dress and a chic white suit - for a red ruffled hem midi dress by Nigerian designer Orire, which she wore while speaking at a Women in Leadership event in Abuja.

According to People, the stylish royal - who once revealed she is 43 per cent Nigerian - said she opted for the brightly coloured gown as an ode to its citizens' colourful sense of style.

Meghan shared her thoughts while co-hosting the event with Nigeria's director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

She said: 'It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion!'

Meghan Markle ditched her neutral style in favour of a vibrant red dress in order to 'fit in' with Nigeria 's 'incredible fashion'

For the occasion, the Duchess donned a bright red three-quarter length gown with sleek spaghetti straps.

The 265 dress was crafted from a heavyweight crepe material and featured a ruffled structured bottom in deep orange.

The outfit's designer, Orire - meaning good luck or good wishes - prides itself in 'exploring artistic femininity' and states that it's clothes are 'ethically designed and crafted in Lagos, Nigeria'.

Based in the elite area of Lekki Phase 1, they are known for their complex structured gowns and dazzling colour palette.

Meghan's dress, 'Dire', is currently available on their website, with shipping available worldwide. She added a diamond Logan Hollowell tennis necklace to complete the look.

Meghan turned up for the tour's first official engagement on Friday wearing an elegant sleeveless peach maxi dress by Californian designer Heidi Merrick, as she visited a school supported by the couple's Archewell Foundation.

Later on that evening she was spotted wearing a chic white suit trouser suit with a fitted cream undervest to meet army wives at the Defence headquarters in Abuja.

She also donned a stunning St Agni white strapless gown to attend a lunch with the with Nigerian chief of defence staff, Christopher Musa.

She wore a red ruffled hem midi dress by Nigerian designer Orire, which she wore while speaking at a Women in Leadership event in Abuja (pictured with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala)

The 265 dress (pictured) was crafted from a heavyweight crepe material and featured a ruffled structured bottom in deep orange

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, ended her streak of pale hues seen throughout the visit - including a peach dress and a chic white suit - for a red ruffled hem midi dress

The stylish royal - who once revealed she is 43 per cent Nigerian - said she opted for the brightly coloured gown as an ode to its citizens' colourful sense of style

Barring her red dress, Meghan's looks have so far been the epitome of her typically neutral style.

While speaking at the Women in Leadership event, the Duchess also revealed she had fulfilled her dream of becoming a parent as she opened up about her 'very chatty, sweet children' Archie, five and Lilibet, two.

Meghan told the audience how much she loves being a mother but admitted that balancing her family and her career posed its own set of challenges.

During the talk, Meghan was asked how she juggled being a mother with her career and she replied: 'I love being a mum.'

Despite being told more than ten years ago by her friend and mentor that she would never be able to balance the demands of motherhood and her work, the 42-year-old duchess said she enjoys being a mother and her priorities are constantly changing.

During the panel discussion, Meghan said that 'balance' in her life has changed over the years and looks different to ten years ago before she was married and had Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Meghan shared her thoughts during the leadership panel, which featured Nigeria's director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and media mogul Mo Abudu (pictured centre)

The 265 dress was crafted from a heavyweight crepe material and featured a ruffled structured bottom in deep orange (pictured: Meghan Markle with Mo Abudu during the event on Saturday)

She said: 'What I think that to mean now is that that balance will always change for you. That balance, what seems balanced ten years ago is going to shift,' according to Hello!.

During the Q&A session, Meghan also thanked Nigerians for welcoming her to 'my country' and she said she hopes she can 'do justice' to being a 'role model'.

The Duchess of Sussex, who recently discovered she is '43 per cent Nigerian', wowed crowds today as she and Prince Harry continue their whirlwind 'royal' tour to the African nation.

Meghan arrived almost an hour late to the women in leadership summit in a spaghetti strapped red dress without her husband Prince Harry.

She told the audience: 'I want to start by saying thank you very much for just how gracious you've all been in welcoming my husband and I to this country... my country.'

She also added: 'I am just flattered and honored and inspired. It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion.'

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, looked effortlessly elegant as she bared her back in a sleeveless peach-coloured frock, featuring a dropped hemline, billowing skirt and cinched waist while visiting a school on Friday

When asked how she felt after discovering she was 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test, Meghan said the first thing she did was 'call my mom, because I wanted to know if she had any awareness of it.'

Meghan went on: 'Being African-American, part of it is really not knowing so much about your lineage or background, where you come from specifically.

'And it was exciting for both of us to discover more and understand what that really means. Never in a million years would I have understood it as much as I do now.

'It's been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know this is just the beginning of that discovery.'

Defining Nigerian women as 'brave, resilient, courageous, powerful, beautiful', Meghan said: 'It is the most flattering thing to be in that company, to be in your company.'

Meghan Markle kept cool in a 2,275 striped sundress as she and Prince Harry began their 'quasi-royal' tour of Africa

She also added: 'I often find that whatever travels I've done, regardless if it's Nigeria or another country around the world, oftentimes when women reach the peak of success, they leave.

'But you need to come back home. You need to at least be a familiar face for the next generation to say: "Oh, she looks like me  and I can be that."

'And I think that is a really key piece in all of it... It's defined by, and you still always want to come back home, because that's how you're going to help shift any sort of generational pattern that might be stifling, especially for young girls who need to see someone who looks like them in that same position.'

After being told by a moderator that she had 'come home', Meghan replied: 'I hope that I could do justice to the role model that I think so many young women deserve to have.

'Obviously in the face of all of you here, I know that they, they see that. But being able to be a small part of that means a lot.'

Meghan was also spotted wearing a chic white suit trouser suit with a fitted cream undervest to meet army wives at the Defence headquarters in Abuja on Friday

Earlier on , Meghan wowed crowds again as she attended a lunch with the Nigerian defence minister.

Wearing a shoulderless St Agni full length white dress Meghan drew gasps from onlookers as she walked into the officers mess for the reception with the Nigerian chief of defence staff Christopher Musa.

Harry had a cream linen suit and was heard joking with one guest who was wearing a black tuxedo: 'Love your jacket. I want it.'

After being seated the British and Nigerian national anthems were played with the couple facing a stage decorated with red, white and blue balloons.

The lunch event came shortly after Harry and Meghan attended a sitting volleyball match and were mobbed by fans as they carried on their Nigeria visit  which has become a royal tour in all but name.

Meghan Markle wowed crowds in Nigeria as she wore a shoulder less St Agni full length white dress to a lunch with the Nigerian defence minister yesterday

The Duchess also wore a sleeveless peach maxi dress titled Windsor from Californian designer Heidi Merrick as she visited a school supported by the couple's Archewell Foundation on Friday.

The mother-of-two appeared to look to the late Princess of Wales for inspiration for her accessories as during Diana's own visit to Nigeria in 1990, the royal opted to wear similar earrings and necklace.

Meghan sported chunky gold earrings from Lanvin, her AURate collar necklace and an array of dazzling bracelets, as well as her wedding rings.

The jewels resembled those worn by Diana when she visited the country with her then-husband Charles, just two years before they separated.

Meghan added a bit more glamour by wearing Diana's gold Cartier Tank Francaise watch.

The gold 17,800 watch was worn by Diana at a number of occasions, including a 1997 visit to London's Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple and an engagement at the British Lung Foundation that same year.

Meghan is known to be a fan of the elegant timepiece and splurged on her own two-tone version back in 2015 when Suits was picked up for a third season.

At the time, she told Hello Magazine, 'I've always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch. When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third seasonwhich, at the time, felt like such a milestoneI totally splurged and bought the two-tone version

'I had it engraved on the back, 'To M.M. From M.M.' and I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That's what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them.'

It appears Meghan also chose to honour Diana once again on Saturday by wearing a gold cross necklace that a source told Page Six actually belonged to the Princess.

The beauty showed off the gold chain by pairing it with a white strapless dress by St. Agni for a reception hosted by Christopher Musa, the chief of the Nigerian defense staff, in honour of military families.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have arrived in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick service members and veterans.
The famously cheeky Prince Louis could be rubbing off on his cousin as Lucas Tindall poked out his tongue at the Badminton Horse Trials today.

Earlier, Mia, ten, and Lena, five, sweetly watched the action on the final day of the equestrian event in South Gloucestershire.

Meanwhile, their sibling Lucas, three, was pictured looking adorably mischievous as he poked out his tongue while looking at his mother.

After competing in the event, Zara appeared delighted to greet Mia and Lena with a warm hug and picked her youngest, Lucas, up for a cuddle.

Elsewhere, Zara's husband and former rugby union star, Mike, 45, and Queen Camilla, 76, also joined Zara at the event.

Lucas Tindall (pictured left) looked adorably mischievous as he poked his tongue out while looking towards his mother, Zara Tindall, at day four of the Badminton Horse Trials

Looking equally adorable, Mia and Lena sported light blue caps and summery outfits for a fun-filled family day out. Lena donned a cotton floral dress from Joules.

Meanwhile, Lucas donned a Spiderman hat with a pair of blue shorts and a shirt in a matching shade.

Their father, Mike, looked as equally prepared for the warm weather as his children, donning a pair of khaki shorts, a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a cap and a pair of shades.

The family appeared to be having mounds of fun during the action-packed day out - with the children seen with broad smiles on the grounds at Badminton House.

Elsewhere, Queen Camilla looked chic in a blue summer dress at day four of the Badminton Horse Trials on Sunday.

The Queen has attended the final day of the Badminton Horse Trials and presented trophies to prize winners to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the event.

Camilla, as patron of British Equestrian, watched the final show-jumping phase of the competition in Gloucestershire and then presented trophies in the arena.

She met guests associated with the trials, including representatives of the British Equestrian Federation, past winners of the competition, as well as volunteers and officials involved with this year's event.

Lucas playfully poked his tongue at as his mother, Zara, picked him at the final day of the Badminton Horse Trials

Mia Tindall (pictured left) and Lena Tindall (pictured right) put on a sweet display at the equestrian event

Mike dressed appropriately for the warm temperatures and donned a pair of khaki shorts with a black shirt

Images showed the Queen chatting with beauty entrepreneur Charlotte Tilbury and the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, Rose Hanbury. She was also seen watching the trials in the grandstand, sitting next to the Duke of Beaufort, Henry Somerset.

A member of the Beaufort Pony Club presented Camilla with a book detailing the trials' 75-year history and an anniversary model horse.

The horse trials are one of seven five-star equestrian events in the world. Five-star competitions see the best horses and riders in the sport compete against each other in three phases: dressage, cross-country and show jumping.

Badminton Horse Trials was established in 1949 to prepare British riders for the Olympic Games. Queen Elizabeth II presented the Badminton trophy on the event's 50th anniversary in 1999, to five-time British Olympian Ian Stark.

Camilla last presented the trophies at Badminton in 2016, when Michael Jung won the 'grand slam of eventing'.

This accolade is awarded to those who win three consecutive five-star competitions: the Badminton Horse Trials, the Kentucky Three-Day Event, and the Burghley Horse Trials in Lincolnshire.

Camilla, 76, wasn't the only royal attending the annual event as Zara Tindall was spotted trotting along with her horse Class Affair, to an inspection, in South Gloucestershire.

The daughter of Princess Anne, who is also an Olympic silver medallist, looked effortlessly elegant in a pinstriped blazer and white trousers teamed with a matching top as she guided her horse.

The King's niece had her blonde locks tied back and accessorised with a stylish pair of sunglasses, while Camilla completed her ensemble with brown heels.

The doting mother sweetly pecked Lucas as she reunited with her children at the equestrian event

Lena Tindall appeared to be having mounds of fun as she played on the grounds of Badminton House while donning a floral cotton dress from Joules

Queen Camilla looked chic in a blue summer dress at day four of the Badminton Horse Trials on Sunday

At the event Camilla presented 10 year-old Rhea Salt, a runner from Beaufort Pony Club, with a stuffed pony and she posed for a snap with British equestrian and former Badminton winner Lucinda Green.

On Friday, Zara joined her husband Mike Tindall as they embraced the warm British weather in stylish, casual outfits as they attended a drinks reception at the Badminton Estate event in Gloucestershire.

The royal and her husband Mike, 45, looked relaxed 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.

On Saturday, Zara was back in her wellington boots, wading through deep puddles 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 as she was supported by her husband Mike and her father Captain Mark Phillips at the equestrian event.

Mia and Lena appeared delighted to greet their mother at the Gloucestershire-based horse event

Zara and Mike's youngest child, Lucas, looked animated at the event

The young royal appears to have taken a leaf out of Prince Louis' book and poked his tongue out

The daughter of Princess Anne and her three-year-old son, Lucas, put on a sweet display at the event

Mia looked chic dressed in summery attire - including a pair of denim shorts and a simple white t-shirt

Mike held on to his oldest child's hand as they walked through the grounds at Badminton House

Zara Tindall looked in her element today as she trotted along with her horse at day four of the Badminton Horse Trials

Camilla appeared in great spirits as she beamed for a slew of snaps at the final day of the Badminton Horse Trials

At the event Camilla presented 10 year-old Rhea Salt, a runner from Beaufort Pony Club, with a stuffed pony

Camilla posed for a snap with British equestrian and former Badminton winner Lucinda Green

Camilla is greeted by previous winners Pippa Funnell (Left) and William Fox-Pitt (Centre) as she arrived to attend the final day of the Badminton Horse Trials

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 on Thursday 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 daughter of Princess Anne , who is also an Olympic silver medallist, looked barely out of puff while she led her gelding, Class Affair, to an inspection

Looking effortlessly elegant, equestrian Zara, 42, wore a pinstriped blazer and white trousers teamed with a matching top as she guided her horse

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.

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.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's three-day visit of Nigeria has been dubbed a 'quasi-royal' tour - and Meghan Markle appeared to adopt 'regal-like' gestures when attending an event solo on Saturday.

Meghan, 42, adopted 'graciously regal' gestures and 'took the lead' at a women in leadership event in Abuja, a body language expert has revealed.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Judi James explained that the mother-of-two's 'body language adopted a graciously regal look as she arrived into the function and then onto the stage to speak.'

She added: 'Her back was straight, her shoulders and arms pulled back and her pace of walk was slow as she threw a beaming smile around the room or touched people she passed to create small moments of gracious connection.

'Meghan also uses steering and directional gestures that made it look as though either she was the host or that she led the protocol, gesturing another guest into her seat before waiting for her own chair to be pulled back for her by what looked like one of the guards.'

Meghan Markle has adopted 'graciously regal' gestures and 'took the lead' at solo event in Nigeria , a body language expert has revealed

Meghan, who appeared 'cool and elegant', was warmly welcomed as she took to the stage for her speech, where she 'performed another regal-looking greeting ritual'.

Judi added: 'Meghans talk came with some emphatic hand rituals that did seem to be used to make her statements look and sound more profound.

'Her line ''Never in a million years will I understand as much as I do now'' might have been puzzling in terms of comprehension but the way her hand performed a baton gesture with a downward pat to signal emphasis defined how profound she was being.'

'Her role-model status came with raised brows and a raised hand for similar emphasis although her words were clearer as she told her audience her simpler but inspirational message of ''She looks like me, I can do that''.'

The Duchess was speaking at a Women in Leadership event she was co-hosting with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization.

During her speech Meghan said she fulfilled her dream of becoming a parent as she opened up about her 'very chatty, sweet children' Archie, five and Lilibet, two.

Meghan told the audience how much she loves being a mother but admitted that balancing her family and her career posed its own set of challenges.

'Meghan also uses steering and directional gestures that made it look as though either she was the host or that she led the protocol', according to Judi

Meghan 'created small moments of gracious connections' as she arrived at a Women in Leadership event on Saturday

Meghan 'threw a beaming smile around the room or touched people she passed to create small moments of gracious connection', according to Judi

The Duchess of Sussex walked alongside Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, right, Director-General of the World Trade Organization

Meghan was speaking at a meeting with Nigerian female industry leaders at an event

Meghan was asked how she juggled being a mother with her career and she replied: 'I love being a mum.'

Despite being told more than ten years ago by her friend and mentor that she would never be able to balance the demands of motherhood and her work, the 42-year-old duchess said she enjoys being a mother and her priorities are constantly changing.

During the panel discussion, Meghan said that 'balance' in her life has changed over the years and looks different to ten years ago before she was married and had Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

She said: 'What I think that to mean now is that that balance will always change for you. That balance, what seems balanced ten years ago is going to shift.' according to Hello.

During the Q&A session, Meghan also thanked Nigerians for welcoming her to 'my country' and she said she hopes she can 'do justice' to being a 'role model'.

The Duchess of Sussex, who recently discovered she is '43 per cent Nigerian', wowed crowds as she and Prince Harry continue their whirlwind 'royal' tour to the African nation.

Meghan arrived to the women in leadership summit in a spaghetti strapped red dress without her husband Prince Harry.

She told the audience: 'I want to start by saying thank you very much for just how gracious you've all been in welcoming my husband and I to this country... my country.'

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, pictured with Mo Abudu during the event on Saturday

This is the second day of the Duchess' tour of Nigeria with her husband Harry

Meghan told the audience: 'I want to start by saying thank you very much for just how gracious you've all been in welcoming my husband and I to this country... my country'

She also added: 'I am just flattered and honoured and inspired. It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion.'

When asked how she felt after discovering she was 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test, Meghan said the first thing she did was 'call my mom, because I wanted to know if she had any awareness of it.'

Meghan went on: 'Being African-American, part of it is really not knowing so much about your lineage or background, where you come from specifically.

'And it was exciting for both of us to discover more and understand what that really means. Never in a million years would I have understood it as much as I do now.

'It's been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know this is just the beginning of that discovery.'

Defining Nigerian women as 'brave, resilient, courageous, powerful, beautiful', Meghan said: 'It is the most flattering thing to be in that company, to be in your company.'

She also added: 'I often find that whatever travels I've done, regardless if it's Nigeria or another country around the world, oftentimes when women reach the peak of success, they leave.

'But you need to come back home. You need to at least be a familiar face for the next generation to say: "Oh, she looks like me  and I can be that."

'And I think that is a really key piece in all of it... It's defined by, and you still always want to come back home, because that's how you're going to help shift any sort of generational pattern that might be stifling, especially for young girls who need to see someone who looks like them in that same position.'

After being told by a moderator that she had 'come home', Meghan replied: 'I hope that I could do justice to the role model that I think so many young women deserve to have.

'Obviously in the face of all of you here, I know that they, they see that. But being able to be a small part of that means a lot.'
: Louise Thompson reveals what really happened during childbirth ordeal in the second part of the Made in Chelsea star's story

It's funny how a chance conversation with a stranger can flip your perspective. Last June I'd just landed in St Lucia with my partner, Ryan Libbey, and our one-year-old son Leo.

I was telling our taxi driver how much we needed this holiday, explaining I'd nearly died first giving birth to Leo, then again a week later after I haemorrhaged, losing litres of blood and requiring several transfusions.

Since then, I'd haemorrhaged a second time. Quite separately to those events, I'd been hospitalised for terrible pain, malnutrition and dehydration with the bowel disease ulcerative colitis. All this has rocked my relationships, my physical and mental health, and my sense of self.

The driver's response? 'Wow, you made it through. You're so lucky.'

It was a penny-drop moment. 'Lucky' is not how I would have described myself. I've felt cursed. For the first time, I thought about the fact that no matter how appalling the situation, I'd been in the right place at the right time to get the help I needed. I'm still here.

I guess that makes me very lucky indeed.

Louise and Ryan after giving birth to Leo - but her health ordeal had only just begun

Louise was also hospitalised for complications relating to the bowel disease ulcerative colitis

Most people would recognise me from Made In Chelsea [MIC, the E4 reality show about rich young people living in London's most expensive borough], in which I appeared from 2011 to 2020. I seemed an ideal candidate for the show, having grown up in Chelsea's neighbour South Kensington.

Both of my parents are quite stoic. I respect them for not pushing their problems and emotions on us as children. It was a happy childhood on the whole, materialistically at least. My father, who works in property, is entirely self-made. He was brilliant at providing for his family, but he wasn't necessarily designed to be a good parent.

My mother is a property developer and has always been a fiercely independent perfectionist. I believe she developed a self-sufficient attitude owing to her own upbringing, and that way of thinking seemed to trickle down into our childhood too. She wasn't the most sensitive parent.

When I was 11 my parents divorced. My brother Sam [who also appeared on MIC and won I'm A Celebrity last year] was distraught; I barely reacted at all, perhaps because we didn't have strong family bonds. Shortly afterwards, I started boarding at Downe House School in Berkshire.

I was studying geography at Edinburgh University when a group of TV producers started sniffing around for people to take part in a new reality show  MIC. I thought the show sounded like a total waste of both time and a good education.

They ended up practically begging me to appear. Then, after my relationship with another student ended miserably, I decided I had nothing to lose.

I was plunged straight into a love triangle situation with Spencer [Matthews, my on-off boyfriend] and Caggie Dunlop. One week strangers online would be lauding me, the next they'd be calling me a 'poison dwarf' (I'm 5 ft) and sending me death threats.

Two years in, the Spencer drama crescendoed with our infamous break-up scene on the bridge where he mocked me, saying I had 'allowed' him to cheat on me. The hurt was impacted by the fact that everyone saw it on television, and continue to talk about it to this day.

There's a general assumption that if you're on TV you must be getting handsomely rewarded.

The family after Louise's recovery

Louise rose to fame on Made in Chelsea, the E4 reality show about rich young people living in London's most expensive borough, and appeared on the show for nine years

Ummm . . . not quite. In the beginning I think we were paid 25 a day with no wardrobe allowance, so by the time I'd been into Topshop and spent 100 on an outfit to wear for the next day's filming, I was running at a significant loss.

Everything changed when Instagram took off. What began as a fun hobby sharing pictures morphed into a lucrative career.

Yet my drinking was spiralling. On occasion, I was in trouble with MIC's producers because it was affecting my ability to work. If I'd had a regular job, I'd have lost it.

Things turned around in 2015 when I met Ryan, a personal trainer. He felt like the best thing that ever happened to me. He'd never watched MIC and was completely different to anyone I'd dated before.

This wasn't a guy who was going to screw me over, I could just be myself with him.

I quit booze, started training five times a week and my body transformed.

After we got engaged in 2018, we set up our fitness brand Turtle together and I began winding down my MIC appearances, finally quitting in 2020. By early 2021 I was pregnant with Leo.

As I described in You magazine yesterday, his birth was catastrophic. I'm narrow, with a tiny pelvis, and had a baby with a larger-sized head. He was never getting out naturally.

After 24 hours of agonising pain and an epidural  which as far as I was concerned had no effect, as my pain was still out of this world  Leo was finally pulled out. But his birth culminated in a three-hour operation, throughout which I was awake all the time, to staunch my haemorrhaging after an artery was nicked as he was born.

Seven days later, home from hospital, I haemorrhaged again and needed a four-hour operation, having lost litres of blood. This time I spent three weeks in hospital. I became a blood-testing pin cushion. My C-section staples were infected and had to be removed with a scissor- type implement.

I was so immobile I got bedsores and felt not like a human being but a rag doll with no stuffing.

Back home, my mental torment was only just beginning. My old life had been completely erased: it was as if I'd died and been reborn in hospital. I was convinced I would haemorrhage at any moment. It had happened before, why not again?

Louise and Leo on a sunshine break in Antigua

Louise cuddles Leo in a sweet snap from her Instagram page

I was hyper-paranoid, and detached from reality: I couldn't see, hear or smell anything. I couldn't tell if something I had cooked would scald my mouth or if the handle of a pan would burn me when I picked it up. I couldn't look anyone in the eye. At times I'd have struggled to tell you what my name was. I simply couldn't cope.

I thought about taking my own life. If I heard a Tube train going past, I'd imagine myself walking in front of it. If things stayed as they were, I had no future  but there was no manual for how to live again. Being back at home was unspeakably awful. I was scared of my own baby  this tiny, helpless little thing  and I would distance myself from him as much as possible.

T here was nothing there. I had no emotion towards him. There was zero love. It's so very hard to say that out loud, but he was such an obvious trigger. At the time I didn't even know what a trigger was. I didn't know what PTSD was. I'd read about it, but I didn't believe or accept that it was happening to me.

I couldn't understand the patterns, so there was no obvious connection at that point, but Leo's crying especially would bring on a bout of debilitating anxiety or instigate a serious trauma reaction in my body and my brain like a flashback. I associated the sound of my baby's cries with bleeding to death.

At night, Ryan saw to him while I lay in bed like a bag of flesh. I didn't talk or sing to him, didn't hold him, could barely bring myself to look at him. Leo seemed to cry all the time. He must have picked up on the tension. Perhaps he didn't get the cuddles and skin-to-skin that he needed. That makes my heart hurt.

I used to cry hysterically to Ryan that I wanted to get better for Leo. What's crazy is I didn't actually feel it, but I wanted Ryan to think I was a decent human and mother.

But at the same time, I was worried about the impact my mental health condition was having on Leo, that if I died that would hurt him for the rest of his life. As the months passed, I tried to engineer feelings for him. I'd go robotically through the motions, doing things normal parents did such as taking him swimming, hoping I would start to feel normal, too.

The best decision we ever made, and what helped me turn a corner, was when we weaned Leo on to solids at around four months. He'd sit in his little chair and I could look at him and connect with him, while still maintaining distance. He loved his food so much  it felt as if I could finally do something right. The more he smiled and expressed himself, the more I was drawn to him.

NOW READ THE FIRST EXTRACT: 'There's blood splattering all over the curtain': Read Louise Thompson describe her childbirth ordeal in an exclusive extract from her book, and how labour 'destroyed everything good in my life' Advertisement

He was 14 months when I felt confident enough to climb into his cot and lie snuggled up next to him, as I stroked his face and he twiddled my hair. It felt hugely significant. When I was so poorly, Ryan assumed the brunt of responsibilities with parenting and running the house  cooking, cleaning, washing  while also trying to earn some money.

I had been the breadwinner but now was unable to work and there were huge worries around our finances. Ryan has admitted the experience turned him into an angry person. Angry at the world, angry at the hospital. He even said it made him angry at Leo. Not that any of it was Leo's fault, but as a newborn, he was so demanding at a time when Ryan couldn't think straight. Understandably, Ryan's mental health suffered as a result.

I've asked him if he thought about leaving me and he said yes. Ouch. That stung. But he also knew he never would go through with it. He said: 'I was struggling and thought a lot about a different life. But in the same way I never really believed you would take your own life, I never believed I would walk away.'

H e added the ordeal had changed the way he saw me, but positively. He wouldn't have been able to stomach even 10 per cent of the physical, emotional and mental torture I endured. It showed him how tough I was and warranted a lot of respect. We've come through a huge test and emerged stronger for it. I don't think anything could tear us apart now.

One lesson I've taken from all this is that relationships are everything. Last Mother's Day, I wrote my mother an emotional card, thanking her for everything she'd done to help me get well again  expressions of love which do not come naturally between us after a lifetime of suppression. A few months later, she held my hands and told me I was the strongest person she knew. I can't tell you how important that was. It felt like a real breakthrough in our relationship.

When I look at my funny, happy, handsome, bright, sociable and adventurous dream of a little boy today, I wonder how on earth I made something so pure when there were times when I thought we wouldn't make it at all.

Despite everything, the love seeped in, until all of a sudden it came in a flood. Having lost so much time together, I'm now in a position to give Leo my everything. That's what I plan to do.

Leo deserves the best life and the most love I can give him. And, despite our rocky start (or possibly because of it), the bond between us now couldn't be tighter. Ultimately, I gave birth to a beautiful son. I am still here and I am still fighting.

'I was refused a c-section and nearly bled to death after my womb tore - but my fight for survival had only just begun': Louise Thompson reveals what really happened during childbirth ordeal in the second part of the Made in Chelsea star's story

Adapted from Lucky by Louise Thompson (Ebury, 22), to be published on May 23. To order a copy for 19.80 (offer valid until May 25, 2024; UK P&P free on orders over 25), go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.
The Duchess of Sussex has favoured a series of daring styles while travelling in scorching temperatures during her whistle-stop tour of Nigeria alongside Prince Harry.

Unlike the Princess of Wales, who typically opts for more conservative looks while travelling abroad, Meghan Markle chose a very different wardrobe for the hot weather during her most recent visit.

From her 450 open-back blush silk maxi by Californian designer Heidi Merrick, which is sold as the 'Windsor Dress', to her 2,275 striped sundress with cut-outs by Columbian designer Johanna Ortiz, Meghan hasn't held back when it comes to dressing for the 95 Fahrenheit heat.

Meghan, 42, equally chose a bright red midi dress with a ruffled hem and spaghetti straps for her appearance at a Women in Leadership event in Abuja.

Designed by Nigerian creator Orire, the vibrant dress allowed the Duchess to 'fit in' with the country's 'incredible fashion', she said.

Meghan, 42, wore a 450 open-back blush silk maxi by Californian designer Heidi Merrick, which is sold as the 'Windsor Dress', for her first engagement in Nigeria

Meghan shared her thoughts while co-hosting the event with Nigeria's director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

She said: 'It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion!'

While Kate Middleton tends to opt for more demure dresses - even when faced with high temperatures - Meghan appears happy to show a little more skin.

For her arrival in Jamaica as part of the royal tour of the Caribbean, which the Prince and Princess of Wales completed in March 2022, Kate chose a high-neck yellow dress with cap-sleeves by Serbian designer Roksanda.

In contrast, the Duchess of Sussex sported a white strapless gown by Australian design studio St Agni to attend a reception with the Nigerian chief of defence, Christopher Musa.

Indeed, in public appearances since she met Prince Harry (including her wedding day which was watched by millions around the world), Meghan has opted for off-shoulder and boat-neck styles in both dresses and tops.

In particular, she set tongues wagging during her first ever Trooping the Colour when her bespoke Carolina Herrera dress with a bardot neckline showed off both her shoulders and her arms, in a break from tradition in royal fashion - but fans went wild for the look nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Kate, also 42, has a tendency to have her outfits customised so as to have less skin on show.

At Crown Prince Hussein's lavish wedding to Rajwa Al-Saif in Jordan last year, the Princess of Wales wore an Elie Saab custom gown featuring long sleeves, a ruffled high neckline and intricate detailing on the bodice.

Kate chose a high-neck yellow dress with cap-sleeves by Serbian designer Roksanda for her arrival in Jamaica as part of a royal tour of the Caribbean in March 2022

This 2,275 striped sundress with cut-outs by Columbian designer Johanna Ortiz proves Meghan isn't afraid of putting her own stamp on royal dressing

The Duchess of Sussex sported a white strapless gown by Australian design studio St Agni to attend a reception with the Nigerian chief of defence, Christopher Musa

Megan chose a bright red midi dress with a ruffled hem and spaghetti straps for her appearance at a Women in Leadership event in Abuja

Eagle-eyed fashion insiders may have spotted something in particular about her look - that it was yet another example of the way that Kates dresses are adapted from the catwalk to make them more conservative.

When seen on the catwalk as part of the Lebanese fashion designer's Fall 2017 Ready-to-Wear collection, the dress featured sheer panels on the skirt and top area.

Kate's however has clearly been altered to remove these see-through elements.

The mother-of-three has developed a trick for making sure her off-the-peg garments are tailored before wearing them, to remove revealing hemlines to suit her regal and elegant style.

While Kate looks fabulous when wearing the works of the world's leading designers, less modest clothes that catch the eye on the catwalk rarely meet the standards of the royal dress code.

The British Royal Family is said to stick to a very specific style guide which rules out inappropriately short skirts, day dresses that are too long, plunging necklines, slits that gape if you bend or sit down, and fabrics that crease.

Since her marriage to Prince William in 2011, Kate has never faltered with her perfectly tailored garments.

The Princess of Wales put on an elegant display in a soft pink dress by Elie Saab as she joined Prince William for Crown Prince Hussein's wedding to Rajwa Al-Saif in Jordan

When seen on the catwalk as part of the Lebanese fashion designer's Fall 2017 Ready-to-Wear collection (pictured), the dress featured revealing sheer panels. These did not feature on Kate's version of the dress

An example of Kate's simple yet effective alterations was the Princess' show-stopping No Time To Die premiere gown. British label Jenny Packham dressed Kate in a dazzling gold number for the film premiere at the Royal Albert Hall back in 2021.

The 4,000 gown, which was originally thought to be a custom creation, featured one small change in comparison to its runway edition - an altered neckline to add a touch of modesty.

In December 2019, the mother-of-three transformed an Alessandra Rich dress before wearing it for the 'A Berry Royal Christmas' programme.

By removing a waist-high slit and a revealing keyhole opening at the neckline, and adding a wide bow to the neck of the dress, Kate and her stylists made the piece a fitting outfit for a royal.
This interminable cost-of-living crisis means that, at 53, Im as strapped for cash as when I first moved to London a quarter of a century ago. Only this morning, I found myself putting not Prada, nor even Primark, but peanut butter on the credit card.

Still, some beauty products are non-negotiable, however low funds go. Below are my must-haves.

Skin

Cleanser is stuff that washes away down the plughole rather than lingering on your face, so the theory is go cheap. However, Ive found that serious scrimping can upset my reactive midlife complexion.

This means that  however destitute I find myself  a non-irritating make-up remover remains vital. Step forward, Biodermas Sensibio H2O Micellar Water for Sensitive Skin (from 5.49, superdrug.com).

For your second cleanse, pick your texture. For me, it has to be a nourishing oil, Bioderma Atoderm Cleansing Oil For Very Dry To Eczema-Prone Skin (from 18, boots.com), and/or a milder lotion, namely Avene Tolerance Extremely Gentle Cleanser for Sensitive Skin (14.50, boots.com, now on a three for the price of two offer).

Hannah Betts reveals the beauty products that are non-negotiable, however low funds go

SPF

SPF50s abound, but not all make beautiful make-up bases. Aussie smash hit, Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face SPF50+ Superscreen (16, meccacosmetica.com)  designed with make-up-wearers in mind  is not only competively priced, but acts as the perfect primer, helping ones slap last hours.

Foundation

Foundation is an area in which I have found no bargain option, however stalwartly Ive strived. I want my skin to look impeccable and will shell out for this, if nothing else. This means Glossier Stretch Fluid Foundation (34, ukglossier.com)  a bouncy, skincare-rich, gel base that fuses seamlessly with skin rather than languishing mask-like on top of it  plus the Stretch Balm Concealer (22) that inspired it. Invest in them together for 50.

Colour

The only other make-up must-have is a lip colour that suits its wearer perfectly, whatever its cost. This is The One: your ultimate, ultra-flattering lifter-upper, making your eyes pop, your skin glow and your heart gladden. It will suit you with, or without, anything else on your face, and will also look amazing brushed onto your cheeks as blush.

It took me until my 40s to discover mine and it is Charlotte Tilburys Matte Revolution Festival Magic, which is a rather beauteous berry hue (28, spacenk.com).

Hair

I have to have a can of Batiste Dry Shampoo & Volume (3, ocado.com) about the house or I panic. Theres a reason why this great British booster sells two cans every second. Theres nothing like it for refreshing lank locks, or eking out a blow dry.

Body

The body product I keep coming back to is Dove Pro Age Body Lotion (now 3.50, boots.com). Face cream-inspired, it descales, plumps and reduces age spots. Another essential is Mitchum Women Triple Odor Defense 48HR Protection Deodorant in Unscented (9.90, amazon.co.uk)  an unbeatable shield with no naff reek.

Aromas

It is possible to concoct your own bath oil with essential oils from Holland & Barrett, from 6, plus olive oil from the kitchen cupboard. However, when I am flush, I will wallow in Aromatherapy Associates Bath & Shower Oil (58 for 55ml, aromatherapy associates.com); or Chanels paean to vetiver, Sycomore Les Exclusifs de Chanel Eau de Parfum (from 215, chanel.com).

Skimp, when needs must, but be aware of the luxuries that make life worth living, too.

RACE YOU TO IT!

DS & Durgas Wear at Maximum Volume eau de parfum Created for Liberty, DS & Durgas Wear at Maximum Volume eau de parfum (155, libertylondon.com) has sold out online, but is still available in the stores new Fragrance Lounge. Inspired by David Bowie, apparently its a cosmic trip of Martian(!) pepper, Liberty silk, South London moss and moonlit patchouli. Shop

EASY SHADOW STICKS

Vieve Eye Wand in Lilac (vieve.co.uk) Lilac eye make-up boasts more than 12.5 million views on TikTok. Join the craze with this foolproof, creamy formula in this flattering hue. Shop

Victoria Beckham EyeWear in Cornflower (victoriabeckhambeauty.com) When smoky-eye fan VB is doing bright colour, you know its a thing. Its waterproof so ideal for holidays. Shop

MY ICON OF THE WEEK

Keeley Hawes

British actress Keeley Hawes, 48, wore Violette-FR Yeux Paint in Nuage de Lilas on her lids at the Met Gala

Brilliant Brit Keeley, 48, was prepped for the Met Gala by make-up artist Justine Jenkins, using et al. Intelligent Skin Radiant Foundation (45), with et al. Complexion Glow in Rose Glow (30, etalbeautycollective.co.uk), plus Violette-FR Yeux Paint in Nuage de Lilas (33, violettefr.com) on her lids. Keeley is ambassador for Boots No 7 Future Renew.

COSMETIC CRAVING
But the small bump turned out to be basal cell carcinoma, a skin cancer

Cera Byrum, 31, noticed what she thought was a pimple on her forehead

When Cera Byrum noticed a barely there 'pimple' on her forehead in December, 2023, skin cancer was the last thing on her mind.

But just four months later, she was handed the grim diagnosis halfway through her shift as a teacher.

The young mum, 31, from Dallas, was in the classroom when she received a phone call from a nurse who told her the little bump was cancerous.

'I vividly remember it. It was an awful day already and I was told I had to give up my only break during the school day to cover another teacher,' Cera told FEMAIL.

'My phone rang and I knew it was the doctor's office. I remember telling my friend, "Well, at least I have some good news today. I bet they're telling me my biopsy was clear." I answered and the nurse on the other end said it was skin cancer.'

Mum Cera Byrum (pictured with her daughter) was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, last month

She spotted a tiny bump on her forehead which a biopsy confirmed was cancerous (pictured)

As a child, Cera would play in the sun for hours. She admitted she also used tanning beds throughout her late teens because she was ashamed of her pale skin.

She also has a family history of skin cancer, with her parents and brother being previously diagnosed.

Cera was first diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma at the end of 2021 after spotting a 1.5cm 'flaky patch of skin' under the bra strap on her shoulder.

She had it removed and had two layers of stitches.

'I wasn't allowed to lift my baby for three weeks. I don't think I understood how something so small could have such a large effect on my daily life,' she said.

After that diagnosis, she was diligent with skin checks and wore sunscreen every day. However, this did not erase the damage that was done when she was younger.

'If I had never gotten my first skin cancer and made annual visits, I would never have had it checked out,' she said.

'As a few months passed, the fleshy bump took on a translucent, pearly sheen to it. I assumed it was forming a pimple,' she said. 'Unfortunately I was never able to pop the "pimple" and it stuck around. She then went to a dermatologist

Cera was first diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma at the end of 2021 after spotting a 1.5cm 'flaky patch of skin' under her bra strap on her shoulder. She had it removed and had two layers of stitches (scar pictured on her shoulder)

A dermatologist conducted a biopsy and two weeks later Cera was diagnosed while teaching a class full of students (pictured with her husband and daughter)

Cera spent the years after surgery trying to 'love and embrace' her pale skin and avoided going into the sun or tanning. She also started researching skincare and moved towards a daily dose of tretinoin and sunscreen.

In December, she noticed a small bump on her forehead above her eyebrow and thought it would disappear.

'As a few months passed, the fleshy bump took on a translucent, pearly sheen to it. I assumed it was forming a pimple,' she said.

'Unfortunately I was never able to pop the "pimple" and it stuck around. I hated the way this bump stood out even more underneath my luminous makeup.'

In April she decided to see a dermatologist and assumed the bump was due to clogged pores and would only require a cream to get rid of it.

The expert grabbed a light and lens to examine the spot closely before conducting a biopsy.

'She said the pearlescent sheen was a telltale sign of basal cell carcinoma. I could not believe it,' Cera recalled.

The dermatologist said it would take up to two weeks for the results to come back, but it took slightly longer and she thought she was 'in the clear'.

As a child Cera would play in the sun for hours then during her adolescence she would use tanning beds as she was ashamed of her pale skin

Then the dreaded day came when she was told the cancer had returned and she needed surgery.

Upon hearing the news, Cera left the classroom and cried.

'I walked back into the classroom and told my colleague and my best friend. The kids knew I had been crying and were so sweet to me. I never told them about it until I came back to school with a line of stitches down my forehead,' she added.

'I had no idea that the years of UV radiation from my time lying out in the sun or going to tanning beds was stored up inside waiting to be released. I felt guilty because I did this to myself,' she said.

'It was a consequence of my own stupid decisions from my youth and early adolescence.'

The young mum also felt guilty and sorry for herself.

'If it's "just skin cancer", it's easily treatable, then why in the world was I so sad about it?' she recalled.

'I guess I just assumed that since the first round of carcinoma, I had followed all the rules and did everything I was supposed to in order to prevent this.'

Cera had two surgeries: one to remove the bump and another to remove additional surrounding tissue which wasn't removed before.

'Skin cancer is like an iceberg - what appears on the skin above the surface is usually much deeper and wider below,' she said.

'Skin cancer is like an iceberg - what appears on the skin above the surface is usually much deeper and wider below,' she said (pictured recently)

Now Cera wishes she could turn back the clock and tell her younger self what she knows now

What are the different types of a skin cancer? There are three main types of skin cancer: melanoma (including nodular melanoma), basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma Melanoma: Most deadly form of skin cancer and if left untreated, it can spread to other parts of the body. Appears as a new spot or an existing spot that changes in colour, size or shape. Basal cell carcinoma: Most common, least dangerous form of skin cancer. Red, pale or pearly in colour, appears as a lump or dry, scaly area. Grows slowly, usually on areas that are often exposed to the sun. Squamous cell carcinoma: A thickened, red scaly spot that may bleed easily, crust or ulcerate. Grows over some months, usually on areas often exposed to the sun. More likely to occur in people over 50 years of age Advertisement

Cera wishes she could turn back the clock and tell her younger self what she knows now.

'I wish I could go back in time and really warn myself about the effects of the sun. I used to go to tanning beds in my youth knowing the risks. I know, I am so ashamed of it now,' she said.

'I used to get made fun of for having such pale skin, even now I have still had grown women make comments about how I need a tan or how they can see my veins through my skin.

'But despite my insecurities, I know that my pale skin is beautiful. I won't bully my body in order to reach some superficial beauty standard.'

Back then Cera assumed if she did get skin cancer it would be an 'easy fix' and she would catch it immediately. Though she had no idea how the UV rays touching her skin were slowly causing cancer.

'I had no clue that once I had skin cancer it could show up anytime and anywhere else on my body. When you go for a skin check, your doctor will check EVERYWHERE,' she said.

'If there is skin there, they're checking it. Every crevice of my body gets thoroughly examined. My doctor once told me she found melanoma in somebody's mouth!

'I think there is a misconception that skin cancer can only show up on the parts of the body that are frequently exposed to the sun.'

Cera shared her story in a popular Facebook group to urge others to be diligent with skin checks and sunscreen.

'Education is key. Prevention is key. Access to knowledgeable dermatologist is key. I may not be able to change several of those factors, but I hope my story can help to educate others and bring awareness to skin cancer,' she said.
Listing was a scam and required a $100 deposit; more than 20 people fell for it

Three Australians have urged others to be diligent when using Facebook Marketplace after chatting to a fraudster who posed as a friendly Sydneysider selling a designer couch.

Jason Fassbender, Georgina Solomon, and Georgina's friend Bec were all conned into thinking a $800 Black Leather Togo set by Michel Ducaroy was authentic with Bec even paying a $100 deposit to secure the deal.

The listing caught their attention as the designer three-seater and two-seater retails for anywhere between $8,000 to $33,000.

Georgina, 39, was provided an address in Surry Hills and was only told by the resident she'd fallen for a scam when she visited the location.

Georgina, a model and founder of the photography studio Prim Haus, has been a regular user of Marketplace for 10 years and was browsing when she came across what she thought was a remarkable find.

Sydney model Georgina Solomon (pictured) stumbled across a Black Leather Togo set by Michel Ducaroy on Facebook Marketplace for $800 and eagerly messaged the seller as the designer item sells for $8,000 minimum

Jason Fassbender (pictured) messaged another seller and also almost fell for a scammer's trap

The fraudsters posed as friendly Sydneysiders selling 'designer' items and requested deposits from buyers, only to later block them once received

Georgina went to an address in Surry Hills she was given to go see the couch only to meet the resident who alerted her it was a scam. The man then put a sign on his door (pictured)

She said she was always outsourcing products from Marketplace for her studio, which focuses on sustainability and recycled pieces.

Georgina almost fell over when she saw the price of the couch as she knew such a product usually retails for $8,000 minimum.

'I contacted the seller who would respond at really weird hours such as 2am or 4am,' Georgina recalled.

'I had a gut feeling about it that something wasn't quite right. He would ask me questions and I felt pressured to buy.'

She was then asked to pay a $200 deposit to secure the sale - and she almost did.

Facebook Marketplace scams: How to identify and avoid them Too good to be true: When a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is. Shoppers should be wary of any listing offering an extremely low price for a valuable item. Likewise, sellers should watch out for potential buyers who offer more than the asking price. Manufactured urgency: If you receive immediate messages from a buyer or seller urging you to act ASAP, exercise caution before proceeding. Scammers often use the illusion of urgency to trick buyers or sellers into going forward with less-than-legitimate deals. Odd payment requests: Scammers often make unusual and very specific payment requests, without flexibility. For example, Facebook recommends that buyers avoid making sales or transactions that require you to pay with gift cards. You also should verify the quality and condition of the item you are buying before exchanging money or personal information of any kind. Suspicious photos: If there is only one photo of an item from the site where it was originally purchased and no current photos of the item in its actual condition, be wary that the item may not exist, or may not exist in the quality promised. Source: F-Secure Advertisement

But she instead decided to visit the address provided in Surry Hills to go and look at the couch.

'I knocked on the door and this poor guy answers then said, "Oh no, not more",' Georgina said.

'His face said it all and I told him, "Oh no, it's a scam isn't it?" and he nodded.'

'The man said: "I'm so sorry, there's no couches here. You've been scammed. I had over 20 people come to my doorstep yesterday."'

Georgina said the man then grabbed a piece of paper alerting others to report the profile and stuck it to his front door.

Georgina walked home empty-handed but she was glad she didn't lose any money.

'It's the thrill of the chase because you never know, you might find some gold,' she added.

Georgina uses the platform to sustainably source secondhand items for her creative photography studio Prim Haus (pictured)

When she moved from Adelaide to Sydney she also bought items from Marketplace to fill her home (pictured)

That same week Bec lost $100 after paying the scammer a deposit - but she admitted she was willing to lose the money.

The 40-year-old told FEMAIL she came across the same couch as she's moving house and wanted to swap some furniture on Facebook Marketplace.

'You can get lucky sometimes because some people don't know the value of the items they have,' she said.

'I reached out to see if the couch was still available. To be honest it did strike me as too good to be true.'

Bec offered to pay the deposit and admitted she should have done her research first.

'Even if it was a scam I was willing to lose $100. It was worth the risk just in case the listing was real,' she said.

But when she was sent the Surry Hills address and put it into Google, she realised the property didn't match exposed brick house that was in the photos.

Bec then did a little more research on the profile - which although looked authentic with 5,400 followers - there was a location tag to Africa.

'I was still in denial but then I saw a photo on Georgina's Instagram story of the same couch and a note on the front door of the property,' she recalled.

Bec messaged the seller asking for her money back for the deposit and sent a photo of the note but she was instantly blocked.

'It would only take ten people paying a $100 deposit for him to make bank on that one listing,' she said.

Jason Fassbender also almost fell into another scammer's trap.

Mr Fassbender told FEMAIL he collects classic designer items and is 'always on the hunt' for his next find.

'I was browsing marketplace and saw what appeared to be an unbelievably great deal on a vintage Mario Bellini le bambole sofa, so I started the enquiry process by asking why it was being sold so cheap,' he said.

The seller quickly replied explaining the price was cheap because he 'needed it gone before moving to Melbourne'.

The product was listed for $850 but sells elsewhere for up to $15,0000, so Jason asked for more images which were provided.

What he did next made him one step ahead of the fraudster.

'I reverse image searched them and found all the exact same pictures to a 1st Dibs listing where the sofa was intact - $15,000,' he said.

'When I asked the seller about it, he blocked me.'

While Facebook scams are nothing new, the three separate experiences certainly highlight the importance of being alert online - more so than ever before.
Can you really make a baby using a turkey baster?

It's a question that has no doubt made appearances at booze-filled dinner parties and girly nights in many times over. You'd be forgiven for thinking the answer is, of course not.

However, judging by a string of unconventional pregnancies popping up across the US, it would seem that such a method is not unfathomable after all.

DailyMail.com has discovered a plethora of online companies that offer $99 pregnancy kits; a collection of paraphernalia - including a pipette-like tube - that claim to help distribute sperm into the vagina in a way that is likely to result in conception.

And judging by some couples' accounts on social media - it works.

Hanna Rewerts and her wife Kara, from Tampa, Florida, credit DIY kits they bought online for the birth of both their children, now three and one.

Remarkably, both - one ready made kit for Hanna and one they had cobbled together themselves - worked the first time.

Hanna Rewerts (right) and her wife Kara (left), from Tampa, Florida, credit DIY kits they bought online for the birth of both their children, Hudson, 3, and Halton, 1

Remarkably, both kits - one ready made kit for Hanna and one they had cobbled together themselves for Kara (pictured pregnant) - worked the first time

Like many couples who choose this option, the pair were not keen on the barrage of medical appointments and tests that traditional fertility treatments would entail.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most popular method for non-sexual conception, such as for same-sex couples. It involves eggs being harvested and fertilized with sperm in the lab, before the embryos are inserted into the uterus. An average IVF cycle costs between $15,000 and $30,000.

Then there's intrauterine insemination (IUI), a type of artificial insemination, which is simpler and cheaper. During IUI, sperm is placed directly into the uterus using a small catheter.

But DIY IUI does not require any medical appointments at all.

It can be as simple as tracking ovulation and buying over-the-counter tools, including a container for semen and a needle-free syringe.

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The semen is injected into the vagina, around the time an ovary is due to release one or more eggs, and instruments are used to keep the semen as close to the egg as possible.

'I didn't want to have to be on a medication or pumping in hormones,' Hanna told DailyMail.com.

'I just wanted it to be a more natural thing, because it can't happen naturally for us, obviously.'

'It was so nice to be able to be like, "we got pregnant at home," versus saying at a doctor's office,' she added.

They found a sperm bank and decided on a tall, slim, white, college educated donor. The couple bought all of his sperm - nine vials at $900 each - because they did not want their donor to be able to donate to any other couples.

The vials were transported to a cryobank close to the couple to be stored in the right conditions, which costs them $50 a month.

When they decided to start trying, the first vial was sent to the house in a small nitrogen tank containing dry ice to maintain the quality of the sperm.

Once the couple opened the box, they had 30 minutes to use the sample.

They had been tracking Kara's ovulation for around four months, but when they received the sample, Kara, a business development manager, had not ovulated as scheduled.

The pair were about to leave for a trip, so they went ahead with the insemination and hoped for the best.

They sucked up the half-a-teaspoon of semen using a syringe and Kara inserted it, followed by a disposable menstrual disc, which is similar to a menstrual cup.

The menstrual disc holds the sperm close to the cervix for a longer period of time, increasing the likelihood that sperm will swim through the cervix and uterus into the fallopian tube to fertilize an egg, while also stopping the semen from leaking out.

'The cup is probably the most uncomfortable thing, because it's just awkward and weird. But once it's in there, it's in there,' she added.

Mosie Baby is a $99 at-home insemination kit which was the first to be cleared by the FDA in December last year

'It was very lucky, and I'm very grateful that it worked the way it did,' Hanna told DailyMail.com

Kara laid on her back with her legs in the air for 10 minutes to let gravity do its thing, and then kept the menstrual disc in for 12 hours.

Hanna said: 'I think the biggest thing that helped us was that period cups, because the sperm had nowhere else to go. It was like, even if you didn't ovulate that day, and you ovulated the next day, it's still gonna be in there.'

Ten days later, Kara had a positive pregnancy test.

'We were very surprised. I was like, "Are you sure it worked?"' Hanna said.

'It was very lucky, and I'm very grateful that it worked the way it did.' For their second child, Hanna was the one getting pregnant.

They did the exact same procedure, this time using a Mosie Baby syringe - part of a $99 at-home insemination kit which was the first to be cleared by the FDA in December last year.

Hanna kept the menstrual disc in for eight hours after insemination, and had a positive pregnancy test just five days later.

Their friends and family were 'thrilled'. 'Everyone loves to hear how it happened,' Hanna said.

'For us, it wasn't the money factor. It was just wanting it to be a more intimate situation. But the money is a huge part of it, too. It is still cheaper than IVF.'

A couple from New Jersey also fell pregnant on their third attempt using Mosie Baby. 'We started accepting the fact it just wasn't meant to be,' they said, after they spent over $5,000 on several rounds of IUI treatments

A range of these kits are available online from sites such as Amazon, ranging from $50 to 100.

But are they really that fool-proof?

IVF has a success rate of around 24 percent across all age groups per cycle, meaning women often require more than one attempt.

Experts agree that artificial insemination and sexual intercourse tend to have similar success rates, which is around 30 percent per menstrual cycle.

There is 'no difference' in the chance of conception using artificial insemination compared with intercourse, Dr Lora Shahine, reproductive endocrinologist at Pacific NW Fertility in Seattle, told DailyMail.com.

An intrauterine insemination done in a fertility clinic, however, will have a higher chance of success than at-home inseminations or intercourse, she said, because it cuts down on the time and distance the sperm has to travel. This is because in clinics, a catheter is used to help the sample reach further inside the vagina.

In general, IVF has higher success rates than IUI, experts say.

IVF has a success rate of around 24 percent across all age groups per cycle, meaning women often require more than one attempt. Meanwhile, experts agree that artificial insemination and sexual intercourse tend to have similar success rates, which is around 30 percent per menstrual cycle

DIY IUI can be helpful for couples that have difficulty with intercourse, Dr Shahine said, such as painful sex for the woman or erectile dysfunction for the man.

'Many people having difficulty with the trying part of having a baby and at home insemination kits allow couples to try in the privacy of their own home in a different way,' she said.

Other motivations for the DIY method include that the widespread problem of lack of access to care.

'Location to a fertility clinic, cost of fertility treatments, and wait times to see a fertility doctor can all be barriers. People can try at home inseminations before seeing a fertility doctor or while they wait for their first appointment,' Dr Shahine said.

However, there are downsides, explains Dr Shahine.

For instance, going totally DIY without speaking to a doctor risks glossing over serious fertility problems that require medical treatment.

'I do worry people may delay fertility testing or consults with a fertility clinic because they're spending time doing at-home inseminations,' she added.

Then there's the issue of finding a sperm donor. The cells are often obtained from a friend, or sometimes from a stranger via online forums like sperm donation Facebook groups.

But experts say unregulated sperm donation raises the risk of STIs, which could leave a woman infertile or with an unviable pregnancy.

Mosie Baby was founded by the couple Maureen and Marc Brown after they had struggled to conceive for over two years.

After two and a half years, they visited a fertility doctor, who said there was nothing wrong with either of them, and suggested they try IUI.

After doing IUI in a doctors surgery to conceive their first child, the pair became pregnant with their second child after a single cycle with Mosie - a healthy baby boy named Frank who was born in August of 2016.

A couple from New Jersey also fell pregnant on their third attempt using Mosie Baby.

'We started accepting the fact it just wasn't meant to be,' they said, after they spent over $5,000 on several rounds of IUI treatments.
Veryt high cholesterol runs in my family, and I have been prescribed statins and another drug called ezetimibe to control it. I'm now suffering stomach aches and flatulence, which are known side effects of ezetimibe. Should I stop taking it?

We offer drugs to lower cholesterol  a fatty substance in the blood  to try to reduce the risk of a heart attack and stroke.

Statins work by affecting the way the liver works  stopping it producing so much cholesterol and helping to remove it from the blood. Ezetimibe, on the other hand, works by stopping the gut absorbing cholesterol from food, which is where the digestive side effects come from.

If a medication is doing what it should be but is also causing issues, doctor and patient need to have a serious conversation to weigh up the pros and the cons.

If someone is describing their side effects as mild, the benefits of the medication might outweigh the downsides. Or the reverse may be true. Only the patient knows how much the side effects impact their day-to-day life.

If a medication is doing what it should be but is also causing issues, doctor and patient need to have a serious conversation to weigh up the benefits and downsides, writes DR ELLIE CANNON (file photo)

Digestive discomfort can be distressing, embarrassing and seriously impact quality of life.

One option could be to continue the medications if they are valuable, but add in another drug to deal with the side effects.

This is something that your GP could handle.

It's also important to note that there are other medications that can be taken instead of ezetimibe.

I HAVE long had difficulties emptying my bladder completely. When I go, I often have a weak stream and need to go again shortly after. I was recently told I'd need a hysterectomy as, at 77, I was suffering from intermittent bleeding. Will the operation solve my bladder issue?

NOT being able to fully empty the bladder is known as urinary retention. Combined with a weak stream, in a woman this could be the symptoms of a prolapse.

This occurs when the pelvic floor muscles are weak and the structures within the pelvis, including the bladder and womb, are not supported properly, so they might squash into each other and cause urinary retention. In this scenario, if a patient is having a hysterectomy for another reason, it may improve the flow of urine.

Women can also suffer types of urinary retention if they are chronically constipated, if the womb is 'bulky'  for example, due to benign growths known as fibroids  or due to certain neurological conditions that may stop the bladder functioning properly, such as multiple sclerosis.

Some medications may also prevent the bladder from emptying fully, including antidepressants as well as the medications that we use to treat overactive bladder and urinary incontinence.

One concern about urinary retention is it makes women susceptible to urinary tract infections. Any treatment for urinary retention will always depend on the cause. In somebody with a prolapse, a hysterectomy is not the first treatment of choice. It would usually be pelvic floor exercises or a small operation to raise the womb out of the way of the bladder.

AT THE end of last year I fractured a vertebra in my back. I went to A&E but didn't receive any treatment. I'm still struggling to walk or stand for more than a few minutes due to the pain. I've asked for another scan but I've been told this won't take place until December. I'm 79. Are the doctors not taking my pain seriously because of my age?

ANYONE who suffers a fracture should be under the care of a specialist until the injury is healed.

The vertebrae are the spinal bones and can be broken just like any other bone, but patients usually won't be offered an operation because they can heal on their own. Sometimes a spinal brace is fitted in order to keep it stable and allow the bone to heal in the correct position. Many patients are also offered physiotherapy to build up strength in the back.

However, most fracture sufferers receive a scan within three months to ensure that the bone is healing correctly.

A fracture may also be a sign of osteoporosis  a condition which thins the bones. The risk of this increases with age.

Anyone with osteoporosis should be offered medication to help prevent further fractures, as left untreated it can lead to life-threatening injuries.

Most hospitals have fracture clinics where patients can receive a DEXA scan  an X-ray which can reveal signs of osteoporosis  and then, if necessary, be referred on to a specialist for treatment.

Waiting another six months for a scan while in intense pain does not seem appropriate or safe. It's possible that a referral to a fracture clinic was supposed to happen, but didn't. A GP can check the medical notes taken when you visited A&E, known as a discharge summary, to find out whether a referral was missed.

Men: was bone disease missed?

Are men missing out on vital care for the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis just because they're men?

Last week The Mail on Sunday carried the shocking story of Steve, who was diagnosed aged 71 after a series of horrendous-sounding spinal fractures.

He'd been back and forth to his GP who kept on telling him his discomfort was simply wear and tear due to ageing. It was only after another fracture  triggered by a sneeze of all things  that he decided to pay privately for a bone scan and his illness was picked up.

We've since been contacted by another chap, aged 75, with a similarly miserable story  he endured seven fractures, which have robbed him of his mobility and independence, before getting a diagnosis.

Women are four times more likely to get osteoporosis, but that doesn't mean men should get fobbed off. I'd like to know if you're male and faced a delay in diagnosis. Please write and let me know.

Don't worry if you had the AstraZeneca jab

AstraZeneca is phasing out its Covid vaccine, ending its short history as one of the main ways we dug our way out of the pandemic.

Blood clots from the AstraZeneca jab were extremely rare and those who had it don't need to worry about problems developing now

Given the amount of negative attention the jab received on social media, there's a temptation to think this move could have been due to concerns about side effects, including the much-talked-about risk of blood clots.

But the fact is that there are now many more effective vaccines, which are better at protecting against the new variants.

And, actually, this was the case by the time the first Covid booster programme was launched, which is why everyone got Pfizer and Moderna shots instead.

The important things to know about the AZ jab is that blood clots were extremely rare, and people who had it don't need to worry about problems developing now. If anything was going to happen, it would have happened pretty much right away.
It was about two months ago, in the middle of March, that my daughter started coughing.

I'll admit I was blithely unconcerned. Frankie is nearly 11 and generally pretty robust. She's rarely ill and it would never have crossed my mind to make a GP appointment over it.

After all, it was 'just' a cough, albeit a pretty nasty one.

There was no runny nose, no temperature and she wasn't feeling unwell. But when it worsened after a couple of weeks, at the start of the Easter weekend, it became the kind of deep, phlegmatic bark that people started to comment on. 'That's a really nasty cough,' they'd say. And it was.

Multiple times a day it would take over her body, leaving her gasping for breath. Her eyes would tear from the effort, her face would redden and she'd have to grab hold of furniture for support.

Jo MacFarlane and her family, husband Rob, daughter Frankie and son Alasdair

Despite being vaccinated against whooping cough, Frankie developed symptoms including vomiting and struggling to breathe

I knew there was little that a GP could do, but it became far more serious when Frankie started throwing up every time that cough took over.

It was awful to watch. The cough would start from nowhere and, after 10-15 seconds of struggling to breathe, she would be sick. She told us that it felt like there was a blockage which was stopping her from getting any air.

It became even more worrying when we started to find pools of vomit by her bed in the morning. The idea that she could choke overnight was terrifying.

After she was sent home from school two weeks ago because of the vomiting I finally took her to see our GP.

I had started seeing reports of a rise in whooping cough and read an account from someone who, like Frankie, had been left throwing up violently. The idea that I might have inadvertently ignored something so serious  and contagious  filled me with an awful guilt.

Yet Frankie was vaccinated against whooping cough. In addition, when I was pregnant with her, I was among the first cohort of women to also receive a vaccine when it was introduced in the UK in October 2012.

Frankie vomited three times during her appointment with the GP, who saw first-hand how the cough consumed her.

The GP initially dismissed the likeliness of it being whooping cough given Frankie's vaccination history, but rang me the next day to say he had changed his mind

However, when I suggested whooping cough, he felt it was unlikely given her vaccination history. He thought her lingering cough was exacerbating an over-active gag reflex, and recommended Strepsils.

But the next day he rang me. 'I've been thinking,' he said, 'and I think you might be right about the whooping cough. It seems that GPs might be missing it.'

He notified the local health protection team, which sent out a test, and prescribed a course of antibiotics.

We're still waiting for the results, which I'm told can take several weeks. And Frankie is still intermittently coughing so violently that she is sick.

I feel terrible that I dismissed something so serious  and even worse, that she might have passed it on to someone more vulnerable.

My heart goes out to those families who have lost a child to whooping cough. At the back of my mind, I wonder how much worse it could have been had we skipped the vaccine ourselves.
It made for frightening reading. Amid an ongoing outbreak of whooping cough last week  the worst for almost a decade  it was announced that the infection had claimed the lives of five infants.

According to figures released by the UK Health Protection Agency (UKHSA) there have been 2,800 laboratory-confirmed cases this year, compared with 858 cases in the whole of 2023. In addition, GPs have reported around 8,000 suspected cases of whooping cough  in May last year that figure stood at just 207.

And scientists say the vast majority of cases go unrecorded  due to the fact that people don't always visit a doctor for a cough  meaning these numbers are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.

As the disease continues to rapidly spread across the country, experts speaking to The Mail on Sunday have warned that the UK is heading for an outbreak on a scale not seen since the early 1980s, when there were 70,000 cases in a single year.

The news offers some explanation as to why, for the past few months, social media has been awash with users complaining of a 'mystery cough' they can't shake.

There have been 2,800 laboratory-confirmed cases of whooping cough this year, compared with 858 cases in the whole of 2023

The illness is highly contagious  on a par with measles  and can be serious in young children and babies

Health officials say the cause of the current surge is a fall in vaccinations since the Covid pandemic. For adults, whooping cough  also known as pertissus  is not life threatening, although it can be very unpleasant. However it is highly contagious  on a par with measles  and can be serious in young children and babies.

For this reason, all pregnant women are offered a vaccine, which passes on protection to their baby, and it is also offered to babies at eight, 12 and 16 weeks of age. A booster jab is also available for three-year-olds.

Even a small drop in the number coming forwards for vaccination increases the risk of an outbreak, according to experts.

It all begs the question: just how worried should we be? What should you do if you think you've picked up the bug? And is there anything you can do to avoid catching it, or giving it to others?

Here, we speak to Britain's most authoritative experts to answer all your whooping cough questions...

I've had a nagging, chesty cough for weeks  could it be whooping cough?

The short answer is, it could well be. The infection is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, which latches on to the tiny hair-like cells that line the upper airways, causing damage. In babies and toddlers it can be quite severe, and results in an alarming hacking cough.

This is often punctuated by a characteristic high-pitched whistling or 'whooping' noise made when the child is gasping to draw breath, hence the name.

However, in the majority of older children and adults it's not a serious illness  just a bad, chesty cough.

In all ages, the illness has a similar trajectory. The first signs are usually similar to a cold, with a runny nose and sore throat, although these can be very mild. There may also be a slightly raised temperature (around 38.3C).

A vaccine is offered to babies at eight, 12 and 16 weeks of age. A booster jab is also available for three-year-olds

The whooping cough bacteria

The coughing usually comes on a week to a fortnight after these symptoms start. This stage can last up to six weeks before the coughing fits begin to become less frequent. But there can be bouts for up to three months after infection  hence why it's sometimes called 'the 100 day cough'. Adults may also become very red during coughing fits, and suffer burst blood vessels around the eyes.

Experts say right now they are also seeing a surge in hay fever-related coughs.

According to the Met Office, the UK has been experiencing high pollen levels for the past six weeks. For this reason, people who may only have moderate pollen allergies are experiencing more symptoms than usual, such as coughing.

In these cases, antihistamine tablets might be a remedy, says Dr Andy Whittamore, a GP and clinical lead for the Asthma+Lung charity. He adds that hay fever can trigger asthma symptoms, which can include coughs.

'Many people do not realise they have asthma, or had it as a child,' he says. 'I see a lot of people who come in complaining of a cough which turns out to be asthma triggered by allergies.'

Whooping cough, however, won't respond to antihistamines. 'If you've been coughing for a month or more, then at present it's likely to be whooping cough,' explains Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia.

The reality is most people with whooping cough don't realise they have it, says Doncaster-based GP Dr Dean Eggitt. 'People mostly tell us they have a terrible cough they can't shake. It's only when we ask questions about how long it's been going on and what the symptoms have been, that we realise it could be whooping cough.'

Q: I think my child has it. Do we need to keep them home from school and isolate?

A: Yes, but the sooner they get to a doctor and get treatment the sooner life can get back to normal. Whooping cough is extremely contagious. On average, each person who has it will pass it on to 15 others, making it as 'catchy' as measles. By comparison, at the start of the pandemic, one person with Covid was expected to pass it to between two and three others.

The UKHSA suggests a family member who's unwell with suspected whooping cough stays at home and doesn't go to work, school or nursery until they've seen a doctor, been prescribed antibiotics and waited 48 hours for the medication to take effect.

Antibiotics will not combat the symptoms, but will ensure patients are no longer infectious and cannot pass the bug on.

Doctors don't usually advise isolating the family member who's ill away from the rest of the household while waiting for the GP appointment. This is because if the GP suspects whooping cough, antibiotics will be prescribed to the whole household, regardless of symptoms, as a preventative measure.

If a baby develops a bad cough, parents are advised to book an urgent GP appointment.

The same advice is given to pregnant women and people with a weakened immune system due to an underlying medical condition, who are also at risk of more severe whooping cough.

Q: We are often told that we shouldn't take antibiotics for things such as coughs and colds. But this is different?

A: Yes, as whooping cough is a bacterial infection, antibiotics are the main treatment.

Some GPs will carry out a test to find out whether the whooping cough bug is present, or notify the local health protection unit who will do so. This involves sticking a swab up the patient's nose  similar to a Covid test  which is then sent to a laboratory.

However, results can take several weeks to come back, so if the patient's symptoms fit the right pattern then doctors typically offer antibiotics without waiting for the confirmation.

Many GPs do not offer the test at all, which is why so few official whooping cough cases have been recorded. Dr Philippa Kaye, a London-based GP, says: 'Once we've given the prescription, we then tell the family to isolate for 48 hours. After two days of antibiotics, you aren't infectious any more.'

If a family member has been coughing for three weeks or more, they may not be offered antibiotics as at this point they are not likely to be infectious.

Q: I've been coughing for weeks but have not wanted to bother my GP. Should I go now?

A: Possibly. People who have whooping cough remain contagious for around three weeks, beyond which point the immune system has typically kicked in and fought off the bug.

'After three weeks there's little point in taking precautions like isolating,' adds Professor Hunter. 'At this stage, it's just a case of waiting for the cough to get better, which can take a while.'

However, Dr Kaye advises anyone who has had a cough for more than three weeks to make a GP appointment, regardless.

The majority of persistent coughs are caused by an infection such as pertissus. However, there could be a more sinister cause.

An extended cough can be a symptom of tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial lung infection which, if left untreated, can spread to the brain and be fatal. Other symptoms of TB include fatigue, weight loss and a high temperature.

TB also causes bloody phlegm  something that experts say always requires an immediate GP appointment. In rare cases, a cough that lasts longer than three weeks, and coughing up blood, can be a sign of lung cancer.

Usually doctors will order a chest X-ray for any patient who has had a cough for more than three weeks, in order to rule out these two diseases.

Q: Is there anything the doctor can do for my cough, or at least make it less unbearable (to me and everyone else who has to put up with it)?

A: If your cough is triggered by a virus or bacterial infection  such as whooping cough  there is very little that GPs can offer for relief.

Coughing is a bodily reaction to germs and irritants in the airways and lungs. The body creates sticky mucus to trap these foreign particles and then attempts to propel them out of the body through the process of coughing.

'It's part of the body's healing mechanism,' says Professor Penny Ward, a pharmaceutical expert at King's College London. 'Think of it as the lungs' attempt to remove any trace of a bug.'

Dr Kaye adds: 'Most coughs will eventually go away on their own and there's not much we can do to speed up the process.

'Many people take cough medicine, but these don't really do anything that a little honey and lemon in warm water wouldn't.

'But really the main thing I recommend to people with no clear cause for their cough is just to stay hydrated and rest up.'

GPs may offer a cough syrup called codeine linctus to patients who have had a cough for more than eight weeks. But many say they reserve the drug for those most in need.

Earlier this year, the Government decided to reclassify codeine linctus. Previously available to buy as an over-the-counter medicine, it is now a prescription-only drug in order to limit access.

'It's an addictive drug so I tend not to use it a lot,' says Dr Kaye. 'I might prescribe it to someone at the end of life with a chronic cough, but that's about it.'

Q: What about home remedies  do they work?

A: Aside from honey and lemon, research suggests that eating chocolate can help. A UK study, published in 2019, concluded that milk chocolate is more effective at calming coughs than most over-the-counter cough syrups.

This is because the chocolate coats the back of the throat, reducing the tickling sensation that can trigger a coughing fit.

Professor Ward says: 'It can be particularly welcome at night when people are trying to sleep.'

Another soothing tactic is purchasing a humidifier  a gadget which adds moisture to the air in order to combat dryness.

'This should also soothe the airways,' says Professor Ward.

'You'll get the same effect by sticking your head over a bowl of steaming hot water or by sitting in a steamy bathroom.

'Some people add menthol or Olbas Oil, which are supposed to have soothing properties, but there's no real evidence these products are any better than hot water on its own.'

Q: Is there anything I can do to avoid whooping cough?

A: Not much, says Dr Michael Head, a global health expert at the University of Southampton.

'Its very infectious. Moreover, most people don't realise they have it, which means there are plenty of chances for it to spread.'

None of the doctors The Mail on Sunday spoke to recommended measures such as social distancing or mask-wearing, as a rule.

Dr Kaye says: 'If I have a patient coming in who thinks they have whooping cough, I might suggest wearing a mask while travelling, but that's it.'

Why you can't get a vaccine now  but missing out puts babies at risk of death

Q: I've read that one of the reasons for the outbreak is not enough people getting vaccinated. Do I need to get a jab now?

A: There are currently no plans to offer new whooping cough vaccines to adults, nor is it available privately. The vast majority of people born since the 1950s received a jab as a child, although immunity begins to wane after around 12 years, research suggests. This has never been considered a problem as, for adults, the disease is not a serious concern.

Instead, the NHS has focused on vaccinating infants. Around nine in ten whooping cough deaths occur in children aged under three months  the most vulnerable group as their immune system hasn't formed fully.

A vaccine is offered to pregnant women as the protective antibodies pass across the placenta and protect the baby in the first few months of life. The vaccine is also offered to children as part of the routine vaccination schedule. Prior to 2020, more than 70 per cent of pregnant women were taking up the offer of the jab. Since Covid, that figure has fallen to about 60 per cent.

The take-up among two-year-olds has dropped from 96 to 93 per cent over the past decade, due to what experts refer to as 'vaccine fatigue'  people less likely to get jabs as they recently received other vaccines. Hesitancy due to scares about Covid jab side effects is also a factor.

If a child misses a whooping cough jab, they can get it up to age ten
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.

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.

Louise Thompson with her son Leo, who is two years old

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 toldme 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.

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 May 23, 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
If you drive a particularly big car, you could be fined for parking in some public car parks.

That's because five local councils have introduced length restrictions on vehicles using their parking facilities, with most setting a limit at 5 metres, which is shorter than a Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

And more than nine in ten councils have said they have no intention of making their parking bays bigger to accommodate today's much larger vehicles, which are said to be growing 1cm wider every two years.

Five local councils in the UK have introduced length restrictions for vehicles using their car parks. Find out if your car is deemed too long to park in one

Automotive title, Autocar, sent Freedom of Information request to every UK councils to inquire about any future plans to expand the size of parking spaces, given that regulations around the minimum dimensions of an off-street bay haven't changed for over 50 years.

Since the 1970s, the smallest a car parking space can be is 2.4 metres wide and 4.8 metres long.

However, the size of passenger cars has grown dramatically since.

Average parking bay sizes in Britain On-street parking bay in cities (adjacent to the footpath): 1.8 metres wide Traditional parking space in a car park: 2.4 metres wide (4.8m long)

This is primarily a result of a combination of both modern car design and stricter safety standards, including the requirement for larger crumple zones and more reinforcements to protect drivers and passengers in crashes.

In fact, the study revealed that seven out of the top 10 best-selling car brands in the UK last year produce at least one car that exceeds this length.

Yet 91.8 per cent of the 287 authorities that responded to Autocar's request said they have no intention of increasing the size of their council-run car parking spaces to accommodate today's much larger motors.

To make matters worse, five UK councils already impose maximum length restrictions on vehicles, putting the drivers of many big-selling models at risk of receiving fines when using council-run facilities.

Among the cars sold in the UK that is too big to park in Wokingham, South Hams, Broadland and South Norfolk, and West Devon council-operated car parks is the 5,172mm-long Audi A8

At 5,391mm long, BMW's current 7 Series and electric i7 is banned from using all five council's public car parks due to exceeding the length restrictions

The BMW X7 is another substantially-long model that exceeds some council-operated parking restrictions

The Kia EV9 is the Korean' firm's latest electric SUV and measures in at a whopping 5,015mm long

Five councils in total said they expressly ban cars from parking in their car parks if they exceed a specific length.

Wokingham, South Hams, Broadland and South Norfolk, and West Devon all have in place a restriction of 5 metres.

Cars including the Audi A8 and Kia's electric EV9 SUV exceed this restriction and are therefore deemed 'unparkable', as is the latest Range Rover and both the Tesla Model S and Model X EVs.

Thurrock council imposes a slightly more lenient length restriction of 5.35 metres, which means owners of BMW's 7 Series (5,319mm) and Land Rover's Defender 130 (5,358mm) will be fined if they use these authority-ran car parks.

Height and weight restrictions are also in place in these and other council-operated car parks.

Thurrock council imposes a slightly more lenient length restriction of 5.35 metres, which means owners of Land Rover's Defender 130 (5,358mm) will be fined if they use these authority-ran car parks

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class measures in at an extensive 5,210mm long, which is far bigger than a standard-size parking bay in the UK

The latest Range Rover - even the short-wheelbase model - is more than 5 metres long

Rolls-Royce's 300,000 Cullinan SUV is another car that far exceeds the 5 metre length restriction imposed by some councils

Both the Tesla Model S (left) and Model X (right) are longer than 5 metres, meaning they are 'unparkable' in some council-operated public car parks

10 MAINSTREAM CARS THAT HAVE INCREASED IN LENGTH SINCE 2018 Make/Model Length in 2018 Length today Increase Peugeot 208 3,475mm 4,055mm 580mm Toyota Yaris 3,495mm 3,940mm 445mm Mazda 3 4,060mm 4,460mm 400mm BMW 7 Series 5,098mm 5,391mm 293mm Mercedes A-Class 4,299mm 4,419mm 120mm BMW 2 Series 4,432mm 4,537mm 105mm Peugeot 3008 4,447mm 4,542mm 95mm Mercedes C-Class 4,686mm 4,751mm 65mm Toyota Prius 4,540mm 4,599mm 59mm Range Rover 4,999mm 5,052mm 53mm Volkswagen Tiguan 4,486mm 4,539mm 53mm Source: Autocar

Why are cars getting bigger?

With hardly any councils planning to increase the size of their parking bays, the study says drivers of the largest motors - especially hulking SUVs - will find it increasingly hard to park without risking punishment if the current trend of growing car dimensions continues.

Based on a sample of 27 popular models on sale both in 2018 and today, the report found that the average increase in vehicle length is 3.8 inches (97.6mm).

The car in the sample which has grown the most is the Peugeot 208, which is nearly 580mm (22.8in) longer than it was in 2018.

The luxury BMW 7 Series - which starts from just over 100,000 - has grown nearly a foot longer, meaning it is too long for the vast majority of parking spaces in the UK.

A similar study carried out earlier this year by green campaign group, Transport & Environment, found that the average new car sold in the UK is getting 1cm wider biannually.

As a result, many SUVs and larger family-friendly models are wider than kerb-side on-street parking spaces in London - with T&E claiming they are bullying other transport users, especially cyclists, off the road.

Wide load: Transport & Environment says the wider cars are not only unable to park in on-street bays, they are leaving less room for other transport users and bullying cyclists off the road

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Mark Tisshaw, editor of Autocar Business, said: 'We know that cars are getting longer and wider, typically due to ever-stricter crash and safety legislation they must meet, and these figures show too few councils are adapting to this new reality.

'Fewer than one in 10 of them plan to increase the size of their parking bays and, in some regions, you run the risk of receiving a fine for parking a car the size of a BMW 7 Series.

'Space sizes should reflect the UK vehicle parc, so motorists can park without fear of damaging other vehicles or being fined for overstepping a bay.

'The fact its almost impossible to find the parking restrictions online  with drivers often forced to read the small print on physical signage at the location to understand the precise rules  only adds to the difficulties faced by motorists.'

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief exec

Since 2018, Autocar found that councils have issued more than 357,000 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for cars parked outside marked bays since 2018, raking in more than 8million over this period.

Mike Hawes, chief executive at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which represents car makers in Britain, has defended the increasing size of the latest vehicles.

He told This is Money that new cars are getting bigger in order to improve safety and to allow for cleaner powertrains to be used to slash emissions.

'Modern cars are packed with advanced safety technology that protects passengers and other road users, from airbags to crumple zones, all of which contribute to vehicles being larger than before,' Mr Hawes said.

'Cars also increasingly accommodate electric batteries and motors rather than just engines which can affect size and shape.

'Ultimately, however, it is consumers that influence vehicle design with manufacturers responding to market tastes and preferences and ensuring that all cars  irrespective of size and body type  meet relevant regulations.'
The Taliban terror group is trying to woo tourists to visit Afghanistan - and it seems to be working.

Foreigners are increasingly visiting the country. In 2021, there were 691 foreign tourists. In 2022, that figure rose to 2,300. Last year, there were 7,000.

The buzz around Afghan tourism is credited to a drop in violence, increased flight connections to hubs like Dubai, and the bragging rights that come with vacationing in an unusual destination.

However, Afghanistan's rulers are pariahs on the global stage due to the threat of terror attacks and restrictions on women - prohibiting them from going to school, working outside the home and going anywhere without a male guardian.

The country's economy is also struggling, infrastructure is poor and poverty is rife.

The Taliban terror group is trying to woo tourists to visit Afghanistan - and it seems to be working. (Pictured: Afghans take selfies at the renovated Darul Aman Palace in Kabul, April 2024)

Foreigners are increasingly visiting the country. In 2021, there were 691 foreign tourists. In 2022, that figure rose to 2,300. Last year, there were 7,000. (Pictured: A Taliban security personnel poses for a photograph along a road in Kabul)

The buzz around Afghan tourism is credited to a drop in violence, increased flight connections with hubs like Dubai and the bragging rights that come with vacationing in an unusual destination. (Pictured: Afghan boys selling Tulip flowers look for customers along a roadside)

The biggest foreign visitor market is China because of its proximity and large population, according to Mohammad Saeed, the head of the Tourism Directorate in Kabul.

Afghanistan also has advantages over some of its neighbors.

'They've told me they don't want to go to Pakistan because it's dangerous and they get attacked. The Japanese have said this to me also,' Saeed said. 'This is good for us.'

Still, there are many obstacles in the way for Afghan tourism to develop.

Visas are difficult and expensive to access. Many countries have also severed ties with Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power, and no country recognizes them as the legitimate rulers of the country. Afghan embassies either closed or suspended their operations.

There's an ongoing power struggle between Afghanistan's embassies and consulates staffed by people from the former Western-backed administration, and those under the Taliban administration's full control.

The US Department of State also warns citizens to avoid traveling to Afghanistan for any reason.

'Multiple terrorist groups are active in country and US citizens are targets of kidnapping and wrongful detentions,' the Afghanistan Travel Advisory writes.

'The Department has assessed that there is a risk of wrongful detention of US citizens by the Taliban.'

Just this week, the leader of the anti-Taliban resistance in Afghanistan issued a chilling warning that a new terrorist attack on America is a matter of 'when not if.'

Ahmad Massoud said terrorism is 'breeding' in the vacuum left by the U.S. pulling out in August 2021 and it is 'very possible' extremists will now try to strike America or Europe.

Massoud is the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the legendary resistance leader known as the 'Lion of Panjshir,' who was assassinated by Al Qaeda two days before 9/11.

Afghanistan's rulers are pariahs on the global stage, largely because of their restrictions on women and girls - but also because their economy is struggling, infrastructure is poor, and poverty is rife, (Pictured: Taliban security personnel stand guard as Afghans at a burial)

Afghan authorities still prohibit women from going to school, working outside the home and going anywhere without a male guardian. (Pictured: Afghan vendors work on a laptop at a mobile repairing shop at the Sargardan Chowk in Khost)

Saeed wants Afghanistan to become a tourism powerhouse, an ambition that appears to be backed by the Taliban's top leaders. (Pictured: An Afghan vendor prepares 'Bolani', a flat-bread stuffed with potatoes, as a boy sitting near him watches, at a roadside shop in Kabul)

But Saeed said he was working with ministries to overcome these challenges.

His ultimate aim is to have a visa on arrival for tourists, but that could be years away. There are problems with the road network, which is half-paved or non-existent in some parts of the country, and airlines largely avoid Afghan airspace.

The capital Kabul has the most international flights, but no Afghan airport has direct routes with major tourist markets like China, Europe, or India.

Despite the challenges, Saeed wants Afghanistan to become a tourism powerhouse, an ambition that appears to be backed by the Taliban's top leaders.

'I have been sent to this department on the instructions of the elders (ministers). They must trust me because they've sent me to this important place.'

A debut student cohort at a Taliban-run institute training tourism and hospitality professionals has launched with around 30 men are crammed into a Kabul classroom.

Its students vary in age, education level and professional experience. One student is a model. Another is 17 and has no job history.

They're all men  Afghan women are banned from studying beyond sixth grade  and they don't know anything about tourism or hospitality. But they are all eager to promote a different side of Afghanistan. And the Taliban are happy to help.

The students also have aspirations. The model, Ahmed Massoud Talash, wants to learn about Afghanistan's picturesque spots for Instagram posts and its history for media appearances.

The biggest foreign visitor market is China because of its proximity and large population, according to Mohammad Saeed, the head of the Tourism Directorate in Kabul. (Pictured: Afghans walk outside Hazara's Sakhi Shrine in Kabul)

Business school graduate Samir Ahmadzai wants to open a hotel but thinks he should know more about tourism and hospitality first.

'They hear that Afghanistan is backwards, poverty and all about war,' said Ahmadzai. 'We have 5,000 years of history. There should be a new page of Afghanistan.'

Classes include Afghan handicrafts and anthropology basics.

An unofficial subject is how to interact with foreign women and how their behavior or habits could clash with local customs and edicts. Examples might be women smoking or eating in public, to mixing freely with men who are not related to them by blood or marriage.

The Taliban have imposed a dress code for women and requirements for them to have a male guardian, or mahram, when they travel. Dining alone, traveling alone, and socializing with other women in public have become harder. With gyms closed to women and beauty salons banned, there are fewer places where they can meet outside the home.

In a sign that the country is preparing for more overseas visitors, the country's only five-star hotel, the Serena, has reopened its women's spa and salon for foreign females after a months-long closure.

Foreigners must show their passport to access services. Women with 'born in Afghanistan' on their ID are barred.

The restrictions on Afghan women and girls weigh on overseas travel companies, who say they try to focus on the positive aspect of cultural interactions by making donations, supporting local projects or only visiting family-run businesses.

Just this week, the leader of the anti-Taliban resistance in Afghanistan has issued a chilling warning that a new terrorist attack on America is a matter of 'when not if'

For Massoud, the Biden administration's withdrawal was the final nail in the coffin. (Pictured: Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021)

Shane Horan, the founder of Rocky Road Travel, said visiting Afghanistan should not be seen as an endorsement of any particular government or political regime.

'Ultimately, the goal should be to support responsible tourism practices that contribute positively to the local economy and foster mutual respect and understanding, while also remaining cognizant of the broader political context in Afghanistan.'

He said there was no input from authorities about what tour groups saw or did, and that the company worked closely with a women's rights organization in Afghanistan. A percentage of the tour cost went into supporting this organization's programs, Horan added.

There are no women at the Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management. The students don't mention it. But an official at the Tourism Directorate does.

'It's a heartbreaking situation,' said the official, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. 'Even female family members ask if they can study here. But there was a change in policy with the change in government. The women who were studying before (the takeover) never came back. They never graduated.'
Revealing the damage cost more than her holiday, Sam was left feeling 'violated'

After leaving her car with Galaxy Parking, she had to buy a new bonnet

Sam Laurie, 37, felt the 'blood drain' when an email from her insurers arrived

A couple were left with 10,000 worth of car damage after leaving their vehicle in the hands of a 'meet and greet' parking service at Gatwick Airport.

Sam Laurie, 37, and her partner's holiday bliss was cut short when they received an email that their car had been crashed into whilst they were away.

The parents thought it was a mistake as they had left their vehicle with a car parking valet service - Galaxy Parking - before flying from Gatwick.

Sam told MailOnline: 'You just feel the blood drain from you as much as it's only a car, you think: "What if someone has been hurt?"

'It is all I could think about until I got back to the airport. It ruined our weekend away.'

Although Galaxy Parking allegedly told Sam her car was fine, she was met with a ransacked vehicle when she landed back at Gatwick on March 17,

Sam Laurie's car was left with an estimated 10,000 worth of damage after she left it with 'meet and greet' parking company Galaxy parking (pictured: Gatwick Airport car park)

The car owner was left needing an entirely new bonnet, new car seat and other repairs after having her vehicle valeted by the company (pictured: Short stay car park at Gatwick)

Describing how she felt when they arrived back in the UK, she said: ' 'It's the unknown.

'We didn't know what we would have to deal with - it was a feeling of dread.'

After repeated unanswered phone calls to the company, the pair eventually found the Audi with the help of three parking attendants.

Upon finding her car had been severely damaged - with a new entirely bonnet and car seat required - Sam rang the company again.

I told them that they needed to come and meet me here and explain the damage they did to my car or I would call the police,' she claimed.

The guy [Galaxy Parking Employee] then literally laughed at me and said: "Go on love, call the police, see what happens"

'They left my car unsecured with the key on the left wheel for God knows for how long. It's just completely unacceptable.'

It wasn't only the outside of Sam's car in poor condition -the inside was left with rubbish scattered throughout.

Sam and her partner were hoping to have a peaceful first weekend away from their two-year-old daughter in Amsterdam (pictured: Sam's Audi before the damage)

But cloud was left looming over their holiday when they received an email from their insurer informing them a claim had been made against their car. Galaxy parking reportedly denied any of their drivers had been involved in a collision (pictured: the car's damaged front end)

When they arrived at Gatwick, the couple eventually found their car damaged and with the keys placed in clear view on the front wheel

'Seeing my car, I literally felt sick. People will say its only a car but its the fact that there are people this in the world that they get away with it,' Sam said.

'I pride myself on being a really good driver and I keep my car in a good condition. It felt like a violation of my personal space.

'There were dirty coffee cups in the car and rubbish everywhere.'

However, dirty coffee cups were the least of mother's worries as for two weeks they did not know if their insurance would cover the 10,000 worth of damages.

According to Sam, it is now predicted the damage may be somewhere around the 8,000 mark.

She had paid 67.88 plus 10 in parking tickets to valet her car from the airport whilst she was in Amsterdam.

'Its not going to significantly affect us but it would affect a lot of people,' Sam said.

'I was talking to someone in the office who said the damage was more than his car was worth.'

'I pride myself on being a really good driver and I keep my car in a good condition. It felt like a violation of my personal space,' she said (pictured: damage to her car)

The damage wasn't only done to the exterior of the car, Sam also discovered coffee cups and litter inside her vehicle (pictured)

By signing a contract with Galaxy Parking, Sam and her partner had given the company permission to drive their car off site.

However Admiral eventually agreed to cover the damages made to the vehicle, but Sam would have to pay a 450 excess fee.

'My insurance is now going to go up every year because of it and I lose 12 years worth of no claims discount,' she revealed.

Alongside paying for temporary insurance to drive her father's car, as well as purchasing a new car seat, Sam and her partner were left 650 out of pocket.

'[The holiday] cost less than what we spent to fix it [the car],' she said.

The parents paid 233.20 for a three-night hotel stay as well as a 100 for both of their flights.

To add insult to injury, Sam later discovered her two-year-old had been taken to A&E by her grandparents at the time.

'They didn't tell us because they knew we were already stressed about the car situation,' she said.

'We were worried about her and obviously finding out after and we could've potentially needed the car - it was just another stress.'

She added: 'We were annoyed with ourselves and just really angry and it completely took any shine of the enjoyment of the weekend.

'I just felt really stupid. We did it for ease. Weve previously been away with our daughter and its just so much easier to be able to get back into your car rather than have to rely on taxis or trains.'

Sam said the incident took all the 'shine' out of their weekend away. MailOnline has approached Galaxy Parking for comment

When they approached Sussex Police it was later determined the incident was a civil matter.

'Its not even about the money. I can suck that up a bit because when you have a car you take the risk it might get damage,' Sam shared.

'The frustration is more there are people out there that get away and have no respect for people.

'There is no support or anything when these things happen.'

A spokesperson from Sussex Police said: 'Sussex Police supports West Sussex Trading Standards which is lead agency to investigate these matters.'

MailOnline has reached out to Galaxy Parking for comment.
EXCLUSIVE

It was the fast-food fracas that made national news: an outraged gran who copped a tirade of abuse after she dared to complain about a misshapen, capsicum-covered pizza.

Katherine Pickles appeared ashen-faced on TV three weeks ago as she described her clash with broom-wielding Domino's franchisee Akhil Antony, who was caught on camera yelling that he would 'smash' her face in if she did not leave his store.

No one disputes that Mr Antony's language was, at best, inappropriate  least of all him. The sheepish manager previously told Daily Mail Australia he was 'deeply apologetic and embarrassed'.

But Ms Pickles' hometown of Mt Gambier - just 17km from the Victorian border in the bottom right-hand corner of South Australia - has been abuzz ever since.

Local whispers insist Ms Pickles' confronting video clip only told half the tale  and her appearance on national television perhaps painted her in a flattering light.

Katherine Pickles (pictured) copped a tirade of abuse from a Domino's store owner after she complained about her pizza. The Mount Gambier grandmother has vehemently rejected the accusation that she abused Domino's staff members

Ms Pickles (right, with another family member) appeared ashen-faced on 7News three weeks ago as she described her bracing encounter with broom-wielding Domino's franchisee Akhil Antony, who was caught on camera yelling that he would 'smash' her face in if she did not leave

They have labelled Ms Pickles a 'Karen' for making the complaint - while equal numbers are sticking up for her right to object as a paying customer.

Claims and counter-claims have been hurled across local social media and chat groups as the row erupted like the now-dormant volcano which gave the city of 33,000 its name.

Now a relative of a Domino's employee, who asked to remain anonymous, alleges Ms Pickles abused young female staff members after her three pizzas arrived that fateful Friday night.

Ms Pickles is alleged to have used crude language during the exchange before the young worker handed the phone to her boss, and the insults continued to fly.

The source said Ms Pickles wanted a full refund for her entire order: a package deal of two deep-pan crust pizzas, one thin and crispy, and three sides for about $48.

'But the manager said, "I'm not going to give you everything back. I can swap the offending pizza but I'm not refunding the whole order,"' the source added.

Ms Pickles is alleged to have reacted furiously to the snub and hung up on the owner.

The source said the manager was 'really protective' of the young girls who work in his store.

Akhil Antony (pictured) previously told Daily Mail Australia he was deeply sorry about the incident and said there was 'no excuse' for his behaviour

'He's a good manager but he does have a hot head,' they said.

'He shouldn't have said what he said to this lady. But there's a whole backstory to it.'

The source also alleged Ms Pickles is something of a serial complainant and is renowned among fast-food restaurant staff in the area.

Ms Pickles, who said she was a regular Domino's customer until the bitter bust-up, branded the new accusations 'absolute lies'.

'It's bordering on slanderous,' the grandmother told Daily Mail Australia.

'I've never done anything like this in my life. Why would I say that to anyone? No, I just wanted my pizza.

'But he ended up being so rude that I didn't trust that he wouldn't spit in it. He was that disgusting on the phone.'

Domino's has been in touch with Ms Pickles (pictured) to apologise and to comp the cost of her order. She rejected the offer of free vouchers, saying: 'I don't want to ever visit that store again, not while he's there'

The key dispute centred on Ms Pickles' own pizza of choice, The Lot, which is billed by Domino's as their 'most topped pizza yet!'

'Ground beef, crispy rasher bacon, capsicum, pepperoni, Italian sausage, seasoned chicken, smoked leg ham, pineapple, onions, olives, topped with oregano and chilli flakes, then drizzled with garlic butter,' the pizza chain boasts.

Crucially, however, Ms Pickles requested a thin and crispy base  and no capsicum.

'When I opened it to start, straight away I could see it just wasn't right,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'It was oddly shaped and then I saw there was capsicum all over it and I can't eat capsicum. It makes me sick.'

It was the pizza's geometry  or lack of it  that made Ms Pickles realise she had to escalate the problem.

'The reason I took a picture and finally decided to ring up was because this has happened to me before,' she explained.

'You just don't do anything, you just let it go and or if you want to complain, it goes to head office and nothing gets done about it.

'So this time I just thought, "I gotta take a picture of this. This is absolutely absurd".

The key dispute centred on Ms Pickles' own pizza of choice, The Lot, which is billed by Domino's as their 'most topped pizza yet!' (pictured). It comes with ground beef, crispy rasher bacon, capsicum, pepperoni, Italian sausage, seasoned chicken, smoked leg ham, pineapple, onions and olives as toppings. Crucially, however, Ms Pickles requested no capsicum

'When I opened it to start straight away I could see it just wasn't right,' Ms Pickles told Daily Mail Australia. 'It was oddly shaped and then I saw there was capsicum all over it and I can't eat capsicum. It makes me sick' (the offending pizza is pictured)

'When you look at the picture, it looks like maybe three different pieces put together to tell the truth. But two pieces were too big for the actual pizza itself. They did not fit the circumference of the rest of the pizza.'

She added: 'I think he actually got a couple of pizzas that were mistaken that night and thought he could get away with it.'

After her initial complaint on the Friday evening, Ms Pickles claims the manager said he would send someone round to swap the supposedly wonky pizza or offer a refund.

But she claims no one arrived and she was forced to 'go without tea' that evening.

'The next day I was still upset about him saying that I was lying so I thought, "Well, I'll take that pizza down there and I'll get my refund,"' she said

'And what you see in the video is what happened.'

The grandmother said many people had questioned why she started filming, with some accusing her online of knowingly picking a fight.

'Something in my gut gave me an unsettled feeling when I got off my bike,' she said.

'I didn't go down there intentionally to film  something just made me feel unsure.'

Happier times: franchisee Akhil Antony pictured outside his Domino's Pizza store

Daily Mail Australia understands the store's CCTV footage will form a central part of Domino's head-office investigation into the incident, which was ongoing as of last week.

Insiders believe the store footage before the delivery presents a different pizza to the misshapen one Ms Pickles showed to 7News.

Mr Antony did not want to comment when approached at the pizza store by Daily Mail Australia.

But he has previously apologised for his behaviour, admitting that 'no one deserves to be spoken to' in the way he confronted Ms Pickles.

'I let my emotions get the best of me. But that's no excuse,' Mr Antony said.

He added: 'My behaviour was unacceptable, and I am deeply apologetic and embarrassed.'

After launching an investigation, Domino's head office got in touch with Ms Pickles straight away to apologise.

Domino's head office has launched an internal investigation into the events surrounding the viral incident (pictured: the Mount Gambier store)

The Domino's store now has a sign in its window which reads 'It's not okayfor anyone to experience abusive or disrespectful behaviour in our store. Please help us build a community of respect'

READ MORE: Domino's owner threatens to 'smash' grandmother's face after she tried to return a $12 pizza Stock image of a Domino's store Advertisement

'They did pay my pizza back and they offered me some Domino's vouchers for compensation but I refused them,' she said.

'I don't want to ever visit that store again, not while he's there.'

It's understood the chain is considering offering her further compensation.

What's undeniable is that the aftermath of the incident has seen mud-slinging on both sides that had driven a rift through the community.

Ms Pickles, for her part, has been sent some 'nasty' messages, she said.

'One guy said to me, "You deserve that pizza in your face. He should have thrown a can of Coke as well,"' she said, shaking her head.

She added: 'I found it all quite triggering.

'I've been in domestic violence relationships in the past and to have something like that happen to me  I'm still upset about it.'

Several staff members and former staff members told this publication Domino's employees had been subjected to abuse and threats in the wake of the incident.

The store was forced to close early on several days and the police reportedly had to be contacted after a man came in and abused some young female members of staff.

SA Police said the imbroglio and its aftermath was a civil matter.

But almost everyone is agreed that the ongoing fallout has been toxic.

'If something happens in this town everyone gets their pitchforks and their flaming torches,' the source said.

'The store manager threatened a woman, and now all these people are retaliating by going and threatening young women in that store. It doesn't make sense.'

The Domino's store now has a sign in its window that reads: 'It's not okay for anyone to experience abusive or disrespectful behaviour in our store. Please help us build a community of respect.'
A sales agent working for one of the UK's biggest housebuilding firms has been suspended after sticking up his finger up at a homebuyer.

Photos seen by MailOnline show an employee of Persimmon Homes in Derby using the gesture during a row.

The gesture was made to a potential homebuyer looking to buy a property on the scandal-hit Buttercup Leys estate where the properties sells for up to 400,000.

The estate has been hit by a series of controversies including Persimmon building an 'eyesore' fence without planning permission and claims that buyers were having to face upset, stress, depression and bullying during the process of buying homes.

The buyer from Derby told MailOnline that he attended the sales office at the new development earlier this month to view a home with his two brothers and parents.

The buyer was hoping to view a new build property on the Buttercup Leys estate with his family but was swore at by an estate agent (pictured)

The man says the experience left his family 'traumatised'. (Pictured: The sales agent sticking his finger up)

The Buttercup Leys estate which has been constructed over the past few years by housebuilder Persimmon in Derby

He said: 'We had a viewing booked in for 4.30pm. Apparently they sent an email at 4.26pm that the appointment has been cancelled.

'We were not aware of it and realised after we got home and checked our emails.'

However, after entering the sales office, the man claimed that the mocking started by the sales agent.

The man said: 'After arriving, I entered into the sales office and said we had a booking.

'The guy looked shocked, he then saw my brothers and parents coming towards the entrance and asked, 'all these people for a 3-bedroom house?'

'I replied: 'Of course mate, they all will be living and paying, there are three rooms in the house, you shouldn't be judging or making comments like this.' I felt insulted.

'He then said that I have a bad attitude and that he doesn't want to show me the house anymore.'

He claimed that he then left the office but the sales agent then followed him. 'He started making judgments like: 'You can't afford the house! Look at the car you are driving! What is this? Look at my gold tooth!,' the man said.

The 8ft barrier forms part of a 1,058-home site next to the A6

'He was also using swear words, so I told him to f*** off and that he had no customer service skills.

The man also claimed: 'He kept instigating, saying 'U don't know who I am! U see this golden tooth? Meet me outside of work and I will show you.'

'A lot of rubbish came out of his mouth. He completely ruined the experience, we all were very upset. It's not nice to be threatened like this.'

However, people who witnessed the altercation said rude exchanges were made by both the homebuyer and sales agent.

A Persimmon Homes spokesperson told MailOnline: 'This sales advisor has been suspended pending a full investigation.

'Eye witness accounts suggest there was an unfortunate incident between both parties and our sales advisor has reacted in an unacceptable manner.

'Customer service is of the utmost importance to Persimmon and we are very sorry for this inappropriate behaviour whatever the circumstances. All customers and staff should be treated with respect at all times.'

Elsewhere, Persimmon is battling to keep an 8ft high fence dubbed an 'eyesore' by locals between the development and the A6.

It forms part of the 1,058-home site off Chellaston Road. However, it was erected without planning permission and has since been vandalised.

Persimmon's new proposal for the fence which includes landscaping measures

Councillor Dan Corbin, group leader for the Conservative Group on South Derbyshire District Council, said at the time: 'What is actually up is quite frankly a disgrace  a heavily graffitied fence.

'It has been destroyed by tag artists and it has been turned into a complete eyesore.'

A retrospective planning application was refused last September by South Derbyshire District Council.

The barrier, which aims to block noise and the view of the A6, was part of an initial outline application submitted in 2006.

But another application needed to be approved before it could be built. However this did not happen, council officers said.

The North Midlands division of Persimmon have now submitted a new planning application.

It comes after residents of the estate expressed their dismay after having to face upset, stress, depression and bullying during the process of buying homes at the development.

Lee Else, a 38-year-old supplier quality engineer at JCB, lives on the estate with his partner Katie and three-year-old son, Logan.

Speaking previously, he said: 'We know it can be stressful at the best of times, but when it's first time buyers or first time for someone to actually own a new-build property, it is meant to be a dream, a fantasy, a happy time.

'Persimmon preyed on first-time buyers, younger families. They threatened to take the full deposit off people (500) and to take away the homes if you don't sign the contracts.

'You can imagine the nightmare this created. People lost 15,000 to 20,000 to make a fast sale (on their current house) or lose it all.

'This has created upset, stress, depression, arguments between families as tensions were raised. People's dream homes turned into homes from hell.'

Kim Durkin, who bought plots on the estate in 2015 and 2017, said: 'We were told all houses on the estate are and will be leasehold and that is how all new-build estates are sold now. I feel we were mis-led and mid-sold.'

And Vikki Williamson, a 49-year-old clinical scientist for the NHS, lives on the estate with her husband Mark and daughter Amy-Lea and was one of the first to move on to the estate in April 2015.

She said: 'We knew it was leasehold, and nearly pulled out because of it, but the salesman assured us that it would only cost 2,000 to buy after two years, and that 'all new houses are leasehold now'.

'Persimmon tell the same stories to purchasers nationwide, with the same figures, so it is obviously company policy, which they deny, just to get sales.

'Once people move in, the aftercare is non-existent. This is not the first new build house I have bought, and I had none of these issues previously, so we are not naive house owners.'

Speaking at the time the concerns were raised, Persimmon said: 'We are in regular contact with the residents at the Buttercup Leys development.

'Any residents with queries about their own property are welcome to contact us directly.'
A river monster that can reach 120lbs and eat anything nearby is tightening its chokehold on America's waterways and has now crossed the Canadian border.

Flathead catfish have gained thousands of fans in the shape of 'noodlers' who try to wrestle the giant creatures out of a river with their bare hands.

But conservationists are sounding the alarm about their unstoppable march across the country from their original habitat in the Gulf of Mexico basin.

Joel Fleming of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources with one of the Flathead catfish squeezing the life out of rivers in the state: 'Anything we do is simply a suppression effort'

The monster fish was originally confined to the waters around the Gulf of Mexico but has surged across the US and has now established itself in Canada for the first time

'They are going to be one of the apex predators around every system once they establish those populations,' said biologist Joel Fleming. 'If they can fit it in their mouth, they're going to eat it.'

The freshwater fish, which lays around 10,000 eggs at a time, was once confined to the rivers of the south, but has spread across the country due to a mix of deliberate stocking of previously unaffected rivers and its own attempts to escape from overpopulated areas.

They were detected in California in 1962, Virginia in 1965 and the Potomac in DC in 2003.

They get heavier the longer they are established with a 66lb example breaking the state record in Pennsylvania in June last year.

Scientists believe that global warning has contributed to their spread which has now reached the Thames River in southern Ontario.

Damon Mullis, riverkeeper for the Ogeechee in Georgia says the fish are the new bosses at the top of the food chain

First detected there ten years ago, scientists fear they have now established themselves as an endemic population in a river that is home to 25 already at-risk fish and mussel species.

'Any one fish is going to be eating kilograms and kilograms of fish every day,' said biology professor Nicholas Mandrak of the University of Toronto who is an expert in invasive fish species.

'I think that very likely climate change is part of it,' he told CBC. 'As our waters warm, they become a more appropriate temperature for these southern catfishes to survive in Canada.

'They get very large and they eat a lot of fishes, so they're likely to have a substantial negative impact if we do not do anything to control their populations.'

But scientists in the US fear their Canadian colleagues may face a rude awakening when they discover there is little that can be done to control their exploding population.

The fish can live for 20 years, grow to 5ft, weigh 120lbs, and lay around 10,000 eggs at a time

But the flatheads, also known as 'mudcats', have an army of devoted fans at 'noodling tournaments' in which contestants wrestle the fish out of the water with their bare hands

Thousands are expected at the sport's biggest event, the 24th annual Okie Noodling Tournament, in Pauls Valley Oklahoma where categories include scuba, natural, and under-17s

Water tanks are set up for tutorials on the best way to 'noodle' the creatures from their lairs

Conservationists in Georgia caught and removed 64,000 in nine years after they established themselves in the state's Satilla River, but admit they are fighting a losing battle.

'They have extraordinary vision and a very large mouth gape that allows them to swallow forage items almost as large as they are,' the wired2fish website notes.

'This trait has tempted many fisheries managers to utilize flathead catfish as a control method for undesirable fish species.

'Their overall aggressive demeanor and uncontrollable forage consumption usually leaves those experiments unsuccessful.'

The Satilla is part of a network that drains into the Atlantic rather than Gulf and their arrival has helped cement their stranglehold across the East Coast.

One was caught for the first time in the nearby Ogeechee River in 2021, and dozens more have been seen since then, with scientists fearing they 'wandered in' on floods from the Savannah River which they reached in 2010.

'The native catfish we have are mostly scavengers or they eat muscles and crayfish and that sort of thing,' Ogeechee Riverkeeper Damon Mullis told the Augusta Chronicle.

'But the flatheads are top carnivores. They eat other fish.

'Once a flathead gets up to a few pounds, it becomes pretty strictly a predator.

'They will be one of the top predators in our river. That is the concern. They get so big and dominant, and a big fish needs lots of food.'

'Originally they were brought over here to these river systems in some form or fashion,' Fleming told The Telegraph of Macon.

'They must have come over with the illegal stockings here and there and that's how they got over on the east coast side.

'We're never going to get them all. Anything we do is simply a suppression effort at this point.'

The species was deliberately introduced to Idaho's Snake River in 1943, and has spread from there through Oregon and Washington.

More were placed in the Colorado River basin in the 1940s near Phoenix, reaching California by the early 1960s.

Official or illegal stockings have taken place in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and the monster fish have now found a home in 34 states across the country.

The male fish will grab on to an arm or leg if dangled in front of them while they are guarding their nest of eggs during the spring breeding season

Noodlers rely on the fish maintaining its grip to pull them to the surface but the sandpaper-like surface of the animals' mouths can leave deep wounds on those taking part

Timothy Dwyer of the University of Central Oklahoma warns that around six people a year lose their lives, mainly by drowning, while noodling the flatheads in the US

They have proven a prize catch for anglers with a record-breaking 121lb specimen being pulled from the Elk City Reservoir in Kansas in 1998.

The beast was 5ft long, had a 42-inch girth and had to be weighed at a local grain elevator to establish its weight.

But the male catfish's habit of closely guarding the nests where eggs are laid means the animals are easy to find and has tempted thousands of amateurs to pit their wits against them.

More than a dozen states stage 'noodling' competitions in which contestants try to drag the fish to the surface using just their bare hands.

Thousands are expected to take part in the Okie Noodling Tournament in Pauls Valley next month, a contest that spawned a documentary film in 2001.

Participants dangle their hands in front of the fish in the hope that they will latch on with their sandpaper-like mouths.

'Once a noodler settles on a spot, they will usually block all of the potential exits in order to stop the fish from escaping,' fishmasters.com notes.

'Usually, one person will tackle the fish, and others will help to block its path and ensure that no issues occur.'

One couple from from Mannford, near Tulsa, went viral in 2017 after bringing their friends to a gender reveal party on an Oklahoma creek where husband Colt Moore attached a pink tag to a Flathead before hauling it up to his guests.

But Oklahoma medicolegal death investigator Timothy Dwyer calculated that around six people a year die in the US trying to catch the giant fish with their hands.

'A large flathead could easily overwhelm an unsuspecting angler who was not prepared for the struggle back to the surface with a weighty opponent who has no problem breathing under water,' he wrote in a 2020 paper for the University of Central Oklahoma.

'In addition to the ferocious fight they are known for, the pectoral fin is accompanied by a stout spine on the lateral aspect of each fin.

'While physically wrestling a large flathead, the noodler needs to take care not to be 'spined', especially through the chest wall and into a hollow organ such as a lung.'

Some states have outlawed the pastime but some videos have attracted more than one million views on YouTube with many offering tutorials on how to snare the animals.

National Geographic Channel ran two seasons of a show called Mud Cats in which men competed to catch the biggest flathead.

But many serious anglers recognize the threat the flathead catfish pose to the rest of the river system and scorn those who seek them out.

'Noodlers are like carp or drum,' one told researcher Ruth Tobias. They're the bottom-feeders, they're trash, they're the scum-suckers.

'They're the lowest on the totem pole as far as the bass fishermen, your tournament trout fishermen are concerned.'

The fish can survive for several hours out of water and a three-foot specimen was found earlier this month flapping about on a road in Houston's League City after having apparently been dropped accidentally from an angler's truck.

Despite their unappetizing appearance the catfish are said to be among the tastier of river fish, and at Maryland's Conowingo Dam in Chesapeake Bay operators have launched a trap and transport scheme to remove them from the Susquehanna and donate them to local foodbanks.

Down in Georgia scientists are using electrical stun devices to tackle the fish and are begging anglers not to keep those they catch.

'Over the next 10 years we will see quite a few impacts,' said Mullis.

'They're going to impact our native catfish, and even though bullheads are not premiere game fish, they occupy a different niche in that ecosystem and they're certainly important.'

And scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have been tallying their devastating effect on dozens of native fish in rivers from Washington to Florida.

Shad, herring and perch have been decimated in some areas with 28 separate species found in flathead bellies in Virginia's James River alone.

But they have also been known to feast on birds, crabs and turtles.

'Flathead Catfish attract some fishers for its spectacular size and sporting qualities,' the Smithsonian wrote.

'But they are dreaded by conservationists and fisheries biologists for their effects on native species, and for its demonstrated ability to colonize river systems from introductions of a few individuals.'

Scientists in Ontario are now considering how to deal with the southern invasion, but Tim Barrett of the Department of Natural Resources fears they may be wasting their time.

'It's just physically impossible to take them all out,' he said.
Even before he set foot inside courtroom 1530, Michael Cohen's role as a key witness in Donald Trump's hush money case put the former president's lawyer-cum-fixer at the center of proceedings.

Celebrity lawyer Keith Davidson, for example, was asked about a message he received asking him to 'call that jerk back.'

'Who was that jerk?' he was asked by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass during the second week of the trial.

'Michael Cohen,' he replied to laughter in the public gallery.

It is one thing for Trump's defense to start to case doubt on the testimony of a disbarred lawyer who has changed his story about paying $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels; it is quite another for the prosecution, which will rely on Cohen's testimony to draw a direct link from Trump to the payment, to highlight his shortcomings.

Michael Cohen has come in for intense criticism from witnesses at the Donald Trump hush money trial, even without setting foot in the Manhattan court room

Copies of checks from Donald Trump to attorney Michael Cohen from 2017, shown as exhibits by prosecutors in the hush money trial

Yet legal experts see the two sides in the case setting out their strategies for a courtroom showdown when he finally appears on Monday.

The defense is planting the idea in the jury that someone who served time in prison after pleading guilty to federal crimes in 2018 cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

Meanwhile the prosecution is happy to get the dirty laundry out of the way, with a string of witnesses who have gently ridiculed Cohen.

'I think the prosecution are hoping the jury when they see him won't be shocked,' said Catherine Christian, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney.

'That could be a double edged sword. Will the jury say: "Oh, here's that liar. We're not gonna believe what he says.'

The digs so far have come from Trump world insiders such as Hope Hicks, who went to the White House with her boss.

She was asked about Cohen's role as a fixer for Trump. 'I used to say that he liked to call himself "a fixer" or "Mr. Fix It," and it was only because he first broke it that he was able to come and fix it,' she said.

And the Trump Organization's controller triggered laughter when he was asked if it was correct to say that Cohen was a lawyer. 'OK,' was his pointed answer.

Trump denies 34 felony charges of falsifying documents to hide hush money payments

Trump and Cohen in happier times, pictured in 2011 during a visit to New Hampshire amid intense speculation that the New York property mogul was about to enter politics

A string of prosecution witnesses, including former Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks, have poured scorn on Cohen from the witness stand

Davidson, another witness for the prosecution, compared Davidson to the eager dog character in the animated movie 'Up,' repeatedly pulled off course by random things.

Cohen is central to the prosecution's case. It alleges that Cohen helped his boss, who was then a presidential candidate, to silence Daniels and prevent a damaging story being published just before the 2016 election.

The court has seen documents showing how Daniels entered into a non-disclosure agreement for $130,000, and been shown the invoices and checks signed by Trump for $35,000 a month through 2017.

Prosecutors have traced the path from Cohen to Trump Organization employees showing how a scheme came together.

But Christian said that still left one missing link: 'So far, not one witness has said Donald Trump directed me to do this.'

That is where Cohen's testimony is likely to prove crucial, and where the defense will see its best shot for sabotaging the case.

Cohen began working for the Trump Organization in 2006, after helping the property mogul in a tussle with the condominium board at the Trump World Tower.

The court has also seen the handwritten 'chicken scratch' note the Trump Organization's controller had taken as he discussed a repayment scheme for Cohen

The court has seen text messages sent between Cohen and Hicks as the story broke, days before the 2016 election, about hush money payments to women

He soon reveled in the idea that he was Trump's enforcer, telling ABC News in 2011: 'If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn't like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump's benefit.

'If you do something wrong, I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished.'

Days before the 2016 election, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Cohen had made a secret payment to Stormy Daniels.

The loyal fixer, who once said he would take a bullet for Trump, at first insisted he acted alone.

'Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign  reimbursed me for the payment,' he said in 2018.

But he turned on his former employer midway through Trump's presidency as federal investigators closed in. He was eventually sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank fraud, related in part to the hush money schemes.

In 2019, he told a congressional committee: 'I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a con man. He is a cheat.'

Yet that was only the start of his credibility problems.

Cohen initially said he acted alone in arranging payment for Stormy Daniels (pictured) but he later changed his story to say that he was acting for Trump

Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney testified about payments made to Cohen

Last year he appeared in New York state court in a civil fraud case against Trump and claimed, under oath, that he had not committed tax evasion. He said he had lied to the judge in 2018 when pleading guilty.

Trump's lawyers used that to ask the judge in the Manhattan criminal case to bar Cohen from appearing and warned of the risk of 'further perjury' if he appeared.

Judge Juan Merchan denied their request without exactly offering Cohen much praise, simply pointing out there was no law or statute that barred witnesses whose credibility had been called into question.

It all means that not only must prosecutors prepare the ground for his testimony they must also prep their witness properly.

Andrew Weissmann, a former top prosecutor at the Department of Justice, said: 'They need to prepare him to own his wrongdoing and not be thin skinned. Easier said than done.

'I dont think they can put him on quickly as he has a lot of information that is relevant to the trial.'

In the meantime, Cohen has done nothing to suggest he is anything other than a highly partisan witness, using a podcast and social media platforms to demand that the former president gets prison time.

'Trump 2024?' he said in a recent TikTok post. 'More like Trump 20-24 years.'

Christian said it was one thing for prosecutors to prepare for witnesses with credibility issues...

'Michael Cohen is different. I have to say I had witnesses that had criminal records, including for violence,' she said.

'I never had a witness that had a conviction for lying ... ever.'
OpenAI has launched a 'disinformation detector' to identify deepfakes amid fears they could sway the presidential election this year.

The artificial intelligence company is set to release a tool to detect faked images created by its picture generator DALL-E, according to The New York Times.

It will share the deepfake detector with some disinformation researchers in order to test it in real-world situations and find ways to improve.

The new tool can correctly identify 98.8 percent of images on DALL-E 3 but it was not designed to work on photos generated by other popular programs such as Midjourney and Stability.

It comes just under a year after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted there was a 'lot of fear' about the impact artificial intelligence technology could have on elections and society.

It comes just under a year after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted there was a 'lot of fear' about the impact artificial intelligence technology could have on elections and society

Pictured: A deepfake of Biden pre-gaming in drag, posted by @drunkamerica on Instagram. Experts believe that the eerie accuracy of AI-generated voices and faces mean it will be 'increasingly difficult to identify disinformation'

The artificial intelligence company is set to release a tool to detect faked images created by its picture generator DALL-E

OpenAI shared news about the new deepfake detector tool on Tuesday but understands it is only one step towards fighting faked images in the coming months.

'This is to kick-start new research,' OpenAI researcher Sandhini Agarwal said. 'That is really needed.'

The new system is able to correctly identify 98.8 percent of pictures which are made on DALL-E 3 and the results will be shared with disinformation researchers.

It is impossible for it to get it right every time because the technology is driven by probabilities.

OpenAI is joining the likes of Google and Meta in the steering committee for the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity to produce credentials for digital content.

It will come with a 'nutritional label' for videos, audio and images which details how they are produced or altered.

OpenAI previously revealed it is developing a watermark to highlight AI-generated sounds so they can be quickly identified and hope they will be hard to remove.

AI companies are being pressured to take responsibility for the content its products produce.

There are calls to prevent people from making misleading and malicious content and for a way to track the origins.

Deepfakes have already impacted elections in countries including Taiwan, India and Slovakia.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has previously spoken about the fears of artificial intelligence interfering in elections.

'There's a lot of fear right now about the impact this is going to have on elections and on our society and how we ever trust media that we see,' he said during a talk hosted by The Economic Times last year.

'I have some fear there but I think as a society, we're going to rise to the occasion. We're going to learn very quickly that we don't trust videos, unless we trust that sort of provenance.

Around 20,000 people in New Hampshire got a phone call with the doctored voice of President Joe Biden telling them to skip the state's primary earlier this year

Midjourney, another popular artificial intelligence image-generator, has started blocking its users from creating fake images of Biden and former President Donald Trump ahead of the upcoming US presidential election

OpenAI has joined companies including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, TikTok and X to combat misinformation

'We'll have techniques like watermarking detectors. More than that, I suspect at some point, if people are saying something really important, they'll cryptographically sign it and you know, web browsers or phones or whatever, we're building some ability to say okay, this is authentic.'

OpenAI has joined companies including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, TikTok and X to combat misinformation.

Midjourney, another popular artificial intelligence image-generator, has started blocking its users from creating fake images of Biden and former President Donald Trump ahead of the upcoming US presidential election.

With the election in full swing, it's time to 'put some foots down on election-related stuff for a bit,' CEO David Holz told several hundred members of the service's devoted userbase in a digital office hours event in March.

Attempts to test Midjourney's new policy by asking it to make an image of 'Trump and Biden shaking hands at the beach' led to a 'Banned Prompt Detected' warning.

While a second attempt escalated the warning to: 'You have triggered an abuse alert.'

At least 39 states in the US are looking at ways to add transparency to AI-generated deepfake adverts or calls.

Around 20,000 people in New Hampshire got a phone call with the doctored voice of President Joe Biden telling them to skip the state's primary earlier this year.

To combat situations like this, 20 major tech firms in social media and AI technology signed a pact to combat deepfake media relating to the US election.

The issue of misinformation in elections has been a significant problem since 2016 when Russians found easy ways to spread inaccurate content on social media.
Shropshire Council took him to court after he failed to get planning permission

The family of a farmer ordered to fork out 45,000 for demolishing a historic dovecote on his land without permission have hit back at his local council who took him to court.

Philip Gore's action was branded 'one of the worst examples of deliberate damage and destruction to a listed building'.

But his step mother said the dovecote on their Shropshire farm was 'full or holes and falling down' and would have cost even more to repair.

Ms Gore also told how the court ordeal had taken its toll on the family, saying: 'We are pleased it is all over now.'

Mr Gore, 49, was fined a huge 30,000 and ordered to pay a contribution towards Shropshire Council's costs of 15,000, plus a victim's surcharge of 190 - a total of 45,190.

The 30-foot dovecote (pictured) was believed to be the last of an ancient moated farmstead that once existed on Lower Newton Farm in Shropshire

Lower Newton Farm in Shropshire (pictured) which is owned by Phillip Gore who has been fined 45,000 by Shropshire Council for demolishing the dovecote

Mr Gore was fined 30,000 and ordered to pay a contribution towards the authority's costs of 15,000, plus a victim's surcharge of 190 (Pictured: Mr Gore's farm)

She admitted that the dovecote - designed to house pigeons and doves and once a status symbol for Britain's elite - was 'a listed building but was falling down.'

Speaking to MailOnline from Lower Newton Farm in Yockleton, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, she insisted: 'It would have cost a lot more than the fine to repair, at least 60,000.

What is a dovecote? In the 16th and 17th centuries, English nobility built dovecotes as a way to house pigeons or birds they would later eat. People would collect feathers as well as the birds' excrement for fertilizer, gunpowder, and tanning hides. Dovecotes quickly became a recognisable status symbol, according to the National Trust. Early 20th century pigeon expert Arthur Cooke estimated that by the 1650s, there were 26,000 dovecotes in England alone. During the reign of Elizabeth I, a pigeon tower was a privilege reserved only for feudal lords. Advertisement

'It was not usable and had holes in the walls and roof so it was knocked down.'

She said other farmers would 'probably do the same thing!'

Mrs Gore told how the 'crime' only 'came to light' when they applied to Shropshire Council for planning permission to put up a new grain store in its place.

She said: 'That's when the council investigated and took Philip to court.

'We have lived and farmed here since the mid seventies, and we are known in the community. It has been a very upsetting experience and a big worry for the family.'

She added: 'There are a lot of farmers in the area, who are neither for nor against what we did, but they would probably do the same.

'We have had no support from locals, they are all getting on with their own business, or no antagonism.'

Mrs Gore said: 'This has been going on for two or three years, and now with the court case over we just have to move on.'

She explained that as the dovecote, a red brick structure with a tiled roof, had not been in use 'we didn't think we had done anything wrong else we wouldn't have done it!'

She said their 'only downfall' was not taking pictures of the building in its state of disrepair to prove to the authority.

She added: 'The photos used in the court case were aerial shots from 30-40 years ago, we should have taken ones to show the building falling down.'

Artist's impression of the proposed grain store which Mr Gore was planning to build in place of the dovecote. The planning application was later withdrawn

Mr Gore was sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on April 30. (Pictured: Mr Gore's farm)

The farmer was sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on April 30.

Prosecutor Chris Hawley told the hearing: 'He was required to get permission, whether it was for demolition or otherwise.'

He had planned to replace it with a new grain store but the court heard that project had now been shelved.

The chairperson of the bench told him that the fine should be more than any potential financial gain by the defendant for the offence, and that it should also act as a deterrent for other people thinking of bulldozing Britain's heritage.

The dovecote was believed to be the last of an ancient moated farmstead that once existed on the site.

The court ordeal had taken its toll on the family. (Pictured: The gore family farm)

Chris Schofield, a planning and regulatory services expert at the council said: 'This was one of the worst examples of deliberate damage and destruction to a listed building seen in the county in recent decades.'

He said: 'When officers visited the farm in March 2022 they found the dovecote demolished and the site levelled with hardcore in preparation for the new building. Altering or demolishing a listed building without consent is a criminal offence.

'We have not taken the decision to prosecute Mr Gore lightly.

'This case will have long term consequences for both him and his farm business.'

The building was situated 160 feet from the farmhouse where Mr Gore had lived most of his life.

Sonia Gore told how the 'crime' only 'came to light' when Mr Gore applied to Shropshire Council for planning permission to put up a new grain store (Pictured: Lower Newton Farm)

The structure, consisting of one storey with a loft, was believed to have been built in the late 17th century.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, English nobility built dovecotes as a way to house pigeons or birds they would later eat.

Dovecotes quickly became a recognisable status symbol, according to the National Trust.

Shropshire has 7,500 listed buildings, the owners of which are encouraged by the council to 'undertake routine repairs and maintenance.'

A council spokesperson said: 'They form a vital part of Shropshire's heritage and a vital part of the county's appeal and unique nature and what help to make it such and attractive place for so many people.

Farmer Phillip Gore was sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court as he failed to obtain consent to flatten the Grade II listed dovecote

'Anyone thinking of undertaking any works to a listed building is advised to first talk to the council's planning team.'

The Gore farm has no near neighbours but the dovecote demolition has become a talking point amongst residents in the nearest village.

One local, who declined to be named, said: 'It was a foolish thing to do! You can not go around knocking down historic buildings with no consequence.

'I reckon they thought they'd get away with it and no one would notice. It's an isolated location.'

Another said: 'The fine was steep but it was justified. The family has been around for a long time and should have known better.'

One, supporting the locally well known farming family, added: 'If the dovecote was in ruin and beyond use, I don't think it so wrong to get rid of it, and I understand they intended to replace it with a more useful grain store.'
Congress passed legislation to force TikTok to divest from its parent company ByteDance - or face a U.S. ban - at record speed in March.

Meanwhile, TikTok's main competitors Meta, Google and YouTube were working furiously behind the scenes to make sure nothing stood in the way of that, new disclosures suggest.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and Google, which owns YouTube, dumped millions into well-connected lobbyists to infiltrate Washington and knock out their top competitor.

The bill, introduced on March 5 and passed on March 13, was born out of concerns about China stealing Americans' data and information.

A version of the bill that became law passed both chambers and was signed by the president in April - starting the clock on a nine-month countdown to what TikTok claims amounts to a 'total ban.'

Congress passed legislation to force TikTok to divest from its parent company ByteDance - or face a U.S. ban - at record speed in March

In the first quarter of 2024 - from January through March when the bill was introduced - Meta spent a staggering $7.6 million on lobbying, according to newly released disclosures.

In the last three months of 2023, it spent $4.6 million.

But the company covered its tracks and did not specifically state the TikTok bill itself on its disclosure. 'China' is listed under lobbying issues related to trade on the form.

The governmental entities lobbied on 'China' include the Senate, House, Commerce Department, State Department, White House, U.S. Trade Representative, Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, and the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Google, meanwhile, spent $4 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2024, $3 million of which went to its in-house lobbying team. Disclosures show the company lobbied specifically on H.R. 7521 - the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

Big Tech has long had an aggressive lobbying operation in the nation's capital - Google parent company Alphabet spent $14 million dollars to persuade lawmakers to pursue legislation that is favorable to them in 2023.

Meta spent $19.3 million in 2023, but the company spent more money in the first quarter of this year than it had in any other quarter on record.

Google denied pushing lawmakers to pass the bill. 'We did not take a position on the bill,' spokesperson Jose Castaneda told DailyMail.com.

Meta also told DailyMail.com it did not lobby on the bill. The company said the increase in lobbying expenditures was due to increased compensation as the company has performed well recently.

'The increase in Meta's lobbying expenditures is due principally to operating expenses, including changes to the timing of the biannual compensation structure and an elevated stock price,' spokesperson Daniel Roberts said.

'Google and Meta's reasons for lobbying on the TikTok divestment are cynical and political  if national security were the only motivation then surely they'd be taking a look at their own companies, which harvest Americans' data and auction it off to China, court CCP leaders, and shutter the programs designed to mitigate foreign election interference,' Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, told DailyMail.com.

'Lawmakers now need to turn a critical eye to Google and Meta, because if all Congress does is force divestment on TikTok ... it will be a massive handout to Big Tech.'

ByteDance also had its biggest-spending quarter on lobbying in the first three months of this year, though its $2.8 million dwarfed in comparison to tech competitors.

Meta , the parent company of Facebook and Instagram , and Google , which owns YouTube , dumped millions into well-connected lobbyists to infiltrate Washington and knock out their top competitor

After India last week banned 59 apps and services developed by Chinese firms including TikTok, Facebook immediately swept in and announced it was rolling out its 'Reels' in the country, a video feature that is similar to TikTok.

The company has a long history of copying its competitors' features. Instagram's 'stories,' photos and videos that disappear within 24 hours, came years after Snapchat did the same thing.

Instagram rolled out 'Reels' in 2020, and they've proven to be popular, but don't suck viewers in for the 54 minutes on average that TikTok users spend on that app. Meta's algorithm is not nearly as addictive or eerily personalized as TikTok. The algorithm is exactly what ByteDance says it is unwilling to surrender to the U.S.

Days ago the platform sued the U.S. government and accused it of violating First Amendment rights by allegedly trying to 'silence the 170 million Americans' who use the social media application.

Former President Donald Trump warned that banning TikTok would make Facebook more powerful ahead of the divestment vote (though that warning came after he tried to do the same thing in 2020).

'Just so everyone knows, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok. He is the one pushing it to close, and doing it to help his friends over at Facebook,' Trump wrote on Truth Social after the bill passed in Congress.

Starting January 19, the new law would prohibit app stores from offering the TikTok app, while barring internet hosting services from supporting it unless ByteDance divests it.

According to the suit, the Chinese government 'has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States.'

It also said TikTok has spent $2 billion to implement measures to protect the data of U.S. users and made additional commitments in a 90-page draft National Security Agreement developed through negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

That agreement included TikTok agreeing to a 'shut-down option' that would give the U.S. government the authority to suspend TikTok in the United States if it violated some obligations,' according to the suit.
A notorious socialite who scammed her way to success may be heading back to New York after her former landlord was trolled over $40,000 in unpaid rent.

Caroline Calloway, 32, became one of the first Instagram influencers when she documented her time at England's prestigious Cambridge University to her 800,000 followers.

But she faked her qualifications, paid for followers on Instagram, and defrauded hundreds of fans with 'creative workshops' that never materialized before bolting to Florida where she says she's 'not f***ed someone who can read in over two years'.

Last week a plaque went up outside her former apartment in New York's West Village that she left in 2022 owing thousands of dollars in rent.

Caroline Calloway, 32, had 800,000 followers on Instagram as one of the site's earliest influencers but was sued for $40,000 by her landlord after leaving her NYC apartment in 2022

This week a plaque commemorating her 11-year stay was mysteriously attached to the exterior of her former West Village home as she returned to the city from her Florida bolt hole

She denied involvement despite the inscription matching the text she said she hoped would one day appear, in her 2023 memoir Scammer

'Caroline Calloway (1991 - ) the American memoirist lived in this West Village apartment building throughout her twenties, during which many of the events she would later write about occurred. A spell of eleven years,' it read. 'She paid rent for ten of them.'

The heir to a Virginia real estate fortune, she was dubbed the 'Gatsby of Cambridge' for posts about her glamorous lifestyle while studying History of Art at Cambridge.

'I feel like I'm in Harry Potter, turning up for dinner in the grand hall in my robes and having beautiful three-course meals,' she told Dailymail.com when she was a student at St Edmund's College.

'I'm still getting used to which way to lean when they serve you. I can't tell you the amount of times I've had to Google etiquette.

In 2015, her large Instagram following helped her secure a six-figure book deal but she failed to deliver, branding its premise 'sexist', but offering the first seven chapters for sale on Etsy.

Three years later she was likened to notorious Fyre Festival conman Billy McFarland after selling $165 tickets to a nationwide 'Creativity Workshop Tour', which promised tutorials on building an Instagram brand, developing ideas, and addressing 'the emotional and spiritual dimensions of making art'.

But most of the events were cancelled with Calloway urging some ticket buyers in Philadelphia to get on a train to New York for one of the few that went ahead.

By then she was involved in a feud with college friend Natalie Beach who claimed she had written the Instagram posts that had won Calloway such fame and published a devastating critique of her former pal.

The heiress from Virginia enchanted followers with her about an American's glamourous life at Cambridge University where she studied the history of art, from 2012 to 2016

She secured a $375,000 book deal on the back of her blog and her huge online following

But she later admitted lying about her qualifications for entering the prestigious university and was accused of using a ghost writer for her blog posts

She never completed the book and was left owing $100,000 to the publisher

The pair transferred from NYU to Cambridge together with Beach admitting she was dazzled by 'the most confident girl I'd ever known'.

'She seemed like an adult, someone who had just gone ahead and constructed a life of independence. I, meanwhile, was a virgin with a meek ponytail, living in a railroad apartment that was sinking into the Gowanus Canal,' she wrote.

'She was constantly calling me her best friend and work wife, telling me she loved me. I thought we were in this together.'

But Calloway later admitted she had been turned on by Beach's account of being sexually assaulted, and cruelly compared her figure to that of a pot-bellied man she had had sex with.

Calloway's memoir was favorably reviewed when it was finally published last year with the New Yorker describing it as 'funny, engaging, and full of genuine insight'

Beach's essay in The Cut coincided with the suicide of Calloway's father, and Calloway told followers on Instagram Stories she was struggling with depression, anxiety, and Adderall addiction, while consumed with existential questions about why she was alive.

Still needing to pay off the advance on the book she had not written, she opened an OnlyFans account in 2020 claiming that Playboy had commissioned a photoshoot with her.

She told Harvard's Crimson Magazine she imagined her subscribers to be 'boys who went to Princeton and now work on Wall Street and who think I would have been mean to them in middle school'.

But her subscribers were not enough to stop her being evicted from her West Village apartment by a landlord who sued her for $40,000 and damage to the building.

That summer a BBC documentary 'My Insta Scammer Friend' dealt her reputation another blow as former followers detailed their abusive relationship with her.

'I was 10 out of 10 obsessed with Caroline Calloway,' Genevieve Wheeler told the program-makers.

'She would like your posts and it felt like Christmas morning. It was the greatest thing in the world.'

'I would definitely say I was addicted,' said Caitlin Vickers. 'I wanted to be living that life so much.'

She told followers she wanted them to 'grow old with me' and watch her fall in love and get married.

But many lost money on her 'creativity workshops' and were devastated when Calloway revealed her mercenary side shortly before quitting social media in 2021.

'Do you know hard it is to conjure fame and money out of thin air?' she demanded. 'And I'm f***ing killing it.

'Big picture: I want fame, power and money and people talking about me is part of that.'

Fellow American Natalie Beach (right) described Calloway as 'the most confident girl I'd ever known' as they partied through Cambridge society

Beach was Calloway's right-hand woman as her social media profile soared

But they suffered a bitter split with Beach describing her as the 'ultimate unreliable narrator'

Beach's expose coincided with the suicide of Calloway's father, and Calloway told followers on Instagram Stories she was struggling with depression, anxiety, and Adderall addiction

'It was this sickening feeling,' fan Abigail Scott said. 'A lightbulb went off  She was just looking at her fans as a way to make money.'

Relocating to Saritosa in Florida she cashed in on her reputation with a 2023 memoir called Scammer in which she described the plaque she hoped would one day sit outside her former New York apartment.

Sold through her revived Instagram account and self-published through her imprint Dead Dad publishing it was well received by reviewers with the New Yorker describing it as 'funny, engaging, and full of genuine insight'.

She told the Crimson she expects it to be the first of a trilogy of 'juvenilia' answering her critics before she tries to put her past behind her.

'It's been terrible for my reputation,' she said. 'I mean, people finally know that I'm not a scammer now. 'How am I supposed to keep up my reputation when people are out here slandering my name?'

Earlier this month she told the No Jumper podcast she was only dating men who know nothing about her past, but she 'hates' them

'I have not fked someone who can read in over two years,' she said.

'I meet them on Hinge, and I think maybe if I go on more than a couple dates with them, they might be able to have enough clues about my life to figure out who I am, but most of them, they don't ask, and I don't tell them.

'I do it purely for fun. I think it's fun because I hate them all.

'I always felt that when I was dating in New York, like, these guys are all Ivy Leagueeducated, they all have such cool jobs, these beautiful apartments; maybe they're nepo babies, maybe they come from family money.

'I always felt, like, these whispers in my ear of my lesser self being like, 'If you just kept saying yes to another date and another date your life could be so easy. He could fund your art'.

'The only thing I want from these dudes is their company.

'They have nothing to offer me. I have already out earned their lifetime earning potential, like, it feels like dating like a man. I'm like, 'I need nothing from you'.'

Calloway was back in New York last week with appearances at the Waverly Inn and a gala for The Drift.

But she denied responsibility for the plaque, despite its wording being reproduced verbatim from her book, telling Curbed.com she only found out about it from a 'member of my team'.

She posted pictures of it to her Instagram account but insisted that she would have designed it differently: 'Frankly, the ones in London are the prettiest.'

The landlord, Beach Lane Management, said it was unaware of the adornment to its building, and the plaque was removed within hours of being put up.

Racked by debts Calloway set up an OnlyFans page which she claimed was bringing her $25,000 a month

She said she imagined her subscribers to be 'boys who went to Princeton and now work on Wall Street and who think I would have been mean to them in middle school'

Calloway was in teasing form as she referenced the plaque on her return to New York

Calloway said she was disappointed it was gone but that some of her followers had been in touch to tell her they were going to steal it.

'I was happy to see so many people wanted it,' she told the website.

'It's a very nice statement piece for any home's interior or exterior.'

Alongside her writing she is making pottery for sale to her followers through Instagram, planning to release a 'scamazine' and hoping to make money from turquoise velour sweatpants embossed with 'SCAMMER' in rhinestones.

And she told the Harvard magazine she will only return to New York when she has made enough money to buy a place of her own back in the West Village.

'I actually think ultimately, in the long run, my first priority in this life is my art,' she added.

'If it's make books that live on after your death, or have a fulfilling family and be happy, I'm choosing books 10 times out of 10.

'I would rather make my art than be happy.'
It was a glorious day that boosted the country after the worst constitutional crisis in living memory.

On May 12, 1937, five months after Edward VIII's abdication, his brother Albert - the stammering Duke of York - was crowned King George VI.

The unlikely monarch's coronation took place on the same day that had been set aside for his errant sibling before he stepped away to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

With his beloved wife Elizabeth - the future Queen Mother - alongside him, George's coronation was overseen by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Gordon Lang.

He was widely thought to have helped push Edward VIII to abdicate and was fiercely criticised for a radio broadcast in which he heaped opprobrium on the departed monarch.

Watching the ceremony were the monarch's daughters, 11-year-old Princess Elizabeth - the future Queen - and her sister Margaret, who was aged just six.

Although the scene in Westminster Abbey was the epitome of regal glory, there were some mishaps.

The elderly Dean of Westminster, who died later that year, fell down steps as he was carrying St Edward's Crown.

The Dean then put the regalia in the wrong order on the high altar and twice handed the wrong sceptre to the wrong peer.

It was a glorious day that boosted the country after the worst constitutional crisis in living memory. On May 12, 1937, five months after Edward VIII's abdication, his brother Albert - the stammering Duke of York - was crowned King George VI

The unlikely monarch's coronation took place on the same day that had been set aside for his errant sibling before he stepped away to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth pose in their Coronation robes with daughters Princess Elizabeth (centre) and Princess Margaret

And Lang almost placed St Edward's Crown on the King's head the wrong way around.

But George later wrote to the Archbishop to thank him for his words of encouragement 'in the course of that very trying ordeal'.

The King's mother, Queen Mary, added that 'everything was perfect' and praised Lang for his 'marvellous voice', whilst the mother of Queen Elizabeth thanked him 'from the bottom of my heart'.

Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Gordon Lang presides over the coronation of King George VI in Westminster Abbey in May 1937

Queen consort Elizabeth crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Gordon Lang

After the royal couple returned to Buckingham Palace, they appeared on the balcony with daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret and waved to thousands of adoring Britons

Unlike his daughter's Coronation in 1953, George VI's ceremony inside Westminster Abbey was not televised, although the procession was shown on TV and the service itself was filmed for posterity.

The procession route back to Buckingham Palace was more than six miles along, with hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets to get a glimpse of the King and Queen.

The televisation of the procession - at a time when very few people had TV sets - marked Britain's first major outside broadcast.

After the royal couple returned to Buckingham Palace, they appeared on the famous balcony with Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

Thousands who were massed down The Mall sang 'For He's a Jolly Good fellow', along with the National Anthem.

The Daily Mail reported: 'For five minutes they stood there, overwhelmed, while a demonstration the like of which London has seldom heard took place.'

The King told the nation in a radio broadcast that day: 'Never before has a newly crowned King been able to talk to all his peoples in their homes on the day of his Coronation.

'Never has the ceremony had a wider significance, for the Dominions are now free and equal partners with this ancient kingdom.'

He added: 'To many millions, the Crown is a symbol of unity. By the grace of God and by the will of the free peoples of the British Commonwealth, I have assumed that crown.

'In me, as your King, is vested for a time of the duties of maintaining the honour of integrity.

'This is indeed a grave and constant responsibility, but it gave me confidence to see your representatives around me in the Abbey and to know that you, too, are enabled to join in that infinitely beautiful ceremony.'

Princess Elizabeth shakes the hand of the Duke of Norfolk as she arrives for the coronation of her parents

The coronation procession of George VI, May 12, 1937, in Westminster Abbey

Opulently dressed guests in the pews inside Westminster Abbey during George VI's coronation

Queen Mary stands next to Princess Elizabeth during King George VI's coronation

The official route of the coronation procession through London, May 12, 1937

Across the capital and the nation, people partied late into the night.

The intelligent and charismatic Lang was close to the Queen Mother and had baptised the infant Princess Elizabeth after her birth in April 1926.

He was also the first Archbishop of Canterbury to broadcast to the nation.

But in 2012, the emergence of letters and files held in Lambeth Palace's archives revealed the depth of Lang's role in Edward VIII's abdication.

They showed how Lang colluded with the then editor of The Times, Geoffrey Dawson, to threaten Edward over his affair with Mrs Simpson - telling him that the relationship would be revealed in public unless he abdicated.

At the time, relationships outside of marriage were taboo. The fact that Edward was the King and head of the Church of England made his situation all the graver.

Lang falsely alleged that the King was mentally ill, telling the Times's editor: 'My dear Dawson, I have heard from a trustworthy source that His Majesty is mentally ill and that his obsession is due not to mere obstinacy but to a deranged mind.

'More than once in the past he's shown symptoms of persecution-mania.

'This, even apart from the present matter, would lead almost inevitably to recurring quarrels with his ministers if he remained on the throne.'

Lang also told the then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin that the King had undergone treatment for alcoholism.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the day of their coronation, with Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret

The King and Queen wave to crowds with Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive at Westminster Abbey on the day of their coronation

Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, 1937. The objects have been at the heart of the coronation ceremony for centuries

A depiction of King George VI in full coronation regalia on his big day in May 1937

And in another letter sent to the PM at the height of the abdication crisis, after Winston Churchill had suggested that Edward could remain on the throne and still marry Mrs Simpson, Lang said he must give up the crown immediately.

(Although then in the political wilderness, Churchill still commanded considerable authority.)

Lang wrote: 'He must leave as soon as possible. It would be out of the question that he should remain... any announcement that is to be made of the kind you indicate to me, it should be made as soon as possible and the announcement should appear as a free act.

'I understand that you are seeing him tonight; and doubtless you would make this plain.'

George VI would go on to lead Britain through the Second World War, which broke out in 1939, just two years after he was crowned.

His popularity contrasted starkly with the way that his brother, who became the Duke of Windsor, was perceived in Britain.

George, a heavy smoker, died in 1952 after suffering from lung cancer - a condition he was not told about by his doctors.
Prominent MAGA accounts are enjoying unprecedented money and attention in the 2024 election

Publicly, candidates for former President Donald Trump's running mate are appearing at fundraisers with the president as part of the auditioning process.

But behind-the-scenes, the race is a golden opportunity for online MAGA influencers, as several different forces are weaponizing top social consultants to shape their persona online.

It's a gold rush in influence circles, as multiple agencies are promoting different candidates but also hurting their opponents.

Stories like Kristi Noem shooting her dog was an obvious viral hit, but the intensity of the backlash raised suspicions about whether anyone was priming the pump.

Vice Presidential candidates are getting additional scrutiny on social media

Other negative threads about possible vice presidential candidates like North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum popped up online, prompting some top MAGA social media personalities to wonder. Are people sharing this content on their own or is someone paying them?

It's a balance that has already raised suspicions from people who follow prominent accounts to question whether something going viral is organic or whether there is a little extra money sliding into the DM's to grease the skids.

Some top personalities have already publicly shared outrage when approached by firms asking them what their 'rates' are. Others quietly accept a little money to share something they are already interested in, and others raise their rates to new heights as their influence grows.

Besides, prominent Democratic firms have already fully implemented payment and influencer platforms to help spread their message across social media platforms.

When Vivek Ramaswamy ended his campaign for president and endorsed former President Donald Trump, his Deputy Director of Communications Zach Henry was courted by some of the top MAGA influencers in the business after he had helped amplify Ramaswamy's campaign on social media.

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024

Zach Henry, former Deputy Director of Communications for Vivek Ramaswamy

But rather than join an existing firm, Henry had an idea to create his own business, an influencing platform that could deliver big hits for clients just as he helped do for Ramaswamy.

Henry's firm was new to the business, but he already had success getting clients who were interested in boosting their message on social media.

Other firms in the MAGA influencer space such as X Strategies, run by Alex Bruesewitz, Influenceable and Project Nucleus by Trump's former digital campaign chief Brad Parscale, and Trump's former White House chief digital officer Ory Rinat, who left in 2020 to start Urban Legend, a tech firm that openly recruits influencers to get paid on his platform.

It's a delicate process, but 'game respects game' in the public influencing firms and there is plenty of work for everyone.

Behind the scenes, however, MAGA forces began doing their own opposition campaign against one of their own, as they believed Henry had crossed the line.

Alex Bruesewitz (center) poses with President Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Zach Henry started the social media influencer firm Total Virality

The Washington Free Beacon published details of a Robert F. Kennedy FEC disclosure that Henry's Total Virality company had done work for his campaign.

Bruesewitz began fanning the flames against Henry, and any other firm that was doing work for RFK.

'RFK JR BUSTED PAYING 'RIGHT WING INFLUENCER' FIRM TO TRY TO TRICK REPUBLICANS INTO THINKING HE'S 'CONSERVATIVE,' he wrote in all caps on X. 'If you see a 'right wing' social media account defending or promoting RFK Jr., it's safe to assume that they are being paid by him.'

The message was reposted about an hour later by Donald Trump Jr.'s social media account, sending a warning to all MAGA personalities on social media.

If you are a 'right winger' and you are accepting money from RFK Jr to work against Trump and MAGA we won't forget,' he warned. 'Saving your country is more important than a few bucks to shill for a radical leftist.'

Hours later the Daily Caller published a leaked pitch deck from Henry's company, which featured his successful efforts to boost Kennedy's state of the union response video.

The document featured screenshots of prominent MAGA personalities and people on the right people sharing the Kennedy video as evidence of Henry's successful work on behalf of his client.

Prominent accounts featured on Henry's pitch deck publicly distanced themselves from Henry.

'I have no idea who you are and have never talked to you, and certainly have never agreed to "influencing" for your two-bit firm, with or without compensation,' wrote Jenna Ellis, a former lawyer for President Trump and supporter of Gov. Ron DeSantis during the 2020 presidential primary in a public post directed at Henry.

Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis

'Trust me, Jenna, if you were included, it was definitely by accident. I only use A-list creators,' Henry replied.

As word got out, MAGA influencers turned on Henry, condemning him as an apostate to the movement. He watched as his one-time friends and colleagues appeared to be trying to destroy his business.

'I'm not surprised, but I am a little disappointed, yeah,' Henry told DailyMail.com. 'Most of these people I've known for years.'

At one point, it was not uncommon to see MAGA personalities sharing RFK Jr. content, as the legacy Democrat was an acceptable presense on the campaign trail, when he was believed to be a perfect spoiler for Biden.

Videos of a shirtless Kennedy working out were widely shared by MAGA supporters, as his physical prowess was a stark contrast to videos of a feeble President Joe Biden. Kennedy's positions on immigration and border security sparked interest as well as his condemnation of the government's role in handling the coronavirus.

Photos of Robert F. Kennedy working out were once widely shared by MAGA influencers, impressed with his vitality over President Biden's

Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump

But polls now show that Kennedy's campaign could be a bigger problem for Trump, as his approval ratings with republicans are starkly higher than Democrats.

When Kennedy's name is included in a poll, Trump's slight leads over Biden sink even or even a couple of points below the president's.

Henry's publicly disclosed work for the campaign was a perfect opportunity for MAGA personalities to make an example of him to other influential online messengers.

'No amount of money he spends on paying influencers to promote him will erase that fact,' Bruesewitz said to DailyMail.com. 'Conservatives, especially MAGA republicans, know that RFK is a far-left whack job who can't be trusted.'

As MAGA began attacking Henry as an apostate, he was disillusioned with the community.

'Veer from acceptable orthodoxy even an inch and it's the electric chair!' he wrote on social media.

He admitted to DailyMail.com he was surprised by the vitriol of some of the attacks.

'I try to build relationships with people who I believe have a similar outlook on lifefriendships and relationships come first, then business,' he said. 'But for some people, their bottom line will always come ahead of everything else, which is frankly sad.'

Ramaswamy, who was still doing a little business with Henry, ended his contracts with him, as he sought to distance himself from the controversy.

'It is now CONFIRMED that RFK Jr. has been paying right wing influencers to attack Trump and promote RFK,' Bruesewitz celebrated on X. 'Also to be clear Vivek Ramaswamy has FIRED this staffer.'

The blowup uncovers the delicate relationship that MAGA influencers have with each other and what happens when someone steps outside their ideology.

Donald Trump Jr. used the moment to discredit any social media about Kennedy going forward.

.@DonaldJTrumpJr calls out the right wing influencers who are taking money to promote RFK Jr.



He also cites this Daily Caller report exposing RFKs whole plot to buy right wing support -> https://t.co/BoBBLGzqMJ pic.twitter.com/IwoVKi5afS  johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) May 9, 2024

'If you see so-called right wing accounts, I've seen a lot of them, promoting RFK Jr, it's safe to assume they are being paid,' he said on his Triggered Podcast, calling it a 'plot' against Trump. 'He's trying to trick MAGA to think he's a conservative but don't fall for it.'

A cornered and betrayed Henry appeared ready to throw some of his former colleagues under the bus, after his name was smeared all over the internet.

'Just remember, I didn't open it,' he wrote, sharing an image of Pandora's Box.
What do you say to the mother you havent seen for almost 50 years? My plan was to reassure her that I was happy and to offer her any help she needed if she had health or financial problems.

As I sat on the fast train from London to Birmingham, on my way to our first meeting, I also hoped, but wasnt entirely convinced, that the prospect of meeting me would bring her some closure.

Unfortunately, I had a nagging doubt that might not be the case.

So, I resolved to tell my birth mother that I wasnt looking for a deep and meaningful relationship, because I already had that with my lovely mum Betty who had adopted me. And of course, I wanted to reassure her that I was not planning to interfere in her life, in any way.

Andrew Pierce with his birth mother Margaret who he tracked down at the age of 48

With me on the train was my dear friend and Daily Mail colleague Amanda Platell. It was Amanda who had first knocked on my birth mother Margaret Connollys door, while I waited down the road in a taxi.

Shed refused to acknowledge even my existence  but when Amanda went back an hour or so later, Margaret, now an old lady of 83, acknowledged that I was indeed her son and that she wanted to meet me.

Even though I was waiting down the street, shed refused to see me straight away. Instead, at her suggestion, wed corresponded a couple of times and finally, during a disappointingly prosaic first phone call, made arrangements to meet  again, at her suggestion  at the British Home Stores cafe in the centre of Birmingham.

Thanks to the investigative talents of my old colleague Jane Moore  now a regular presenter on ITVs Loose Women  at the age of 48, Id finally located my birth mother just a few months before.

At that point, the sum total of what I knew about my origins, mostly from my adoption file, was slight. For whatever reason, Margaret had been extremely economical with even the very smallest of details about herself  providing no permanent address, no middle name and no date of birth.

I felt sure this was out of fear that someone in her Irish Roman Catholic family might discover shed had an illegitimate child, rather than a deliberate ploy to stop her son  me  ever searching for her.

In any case, the law enabling children to trace their birth parents hadnt even been thought of in 1964, the year I was adopted.

Andrew's birth mother Margaret as a young woman

The few facts I knew about Margaret were puzzling. Shed emigrated from Ireland to Birmingham in the 1950s, and shed been working there as a state registered nurse when she gave birth to me 100 miles away in Bristol  for reasons never explained. Shed then had me baptised as Patrick James, and had placed me in a Catholic orphanage, Nazareth House, in Cheltenham, telling the nuns that shed withdraw me four months later when she got married.

She never did ask to have me back  yet shed continued to visit me at the orphanage for two and a half years before finally giving me up for adoption.

As for my birth father, all I knew about him was that his name was James Coffey and that hed been an engineer.

I also knew that Margaret had subsequently married a man called Patrick Lennon, now no longer alive, and had grown-up children and grandchildren.

So I was positively bursting with questions! For instance, what kind of relationship had she had with James Coffey? Had he left her in the lurch? Why had she left me so long in an orphanage before putting me up for adoption? I was wary, however, of bombarding an elderly lady, so I decided to ask only one or two general questions at our first meeting. I certainly didnt want to overwhelm her; thered be other chances to talk.

Or so I fervently hoped.

When the train arrived, we walked to the BHS cafe, where I was relieved to spot Margaret immediately  easily identifiable because of her distinctive shock of white hair which I had seen when she walked past the taxi the day we found her.

She was wearing a colourful scarf, sensible shoes and a warm coat that ended below her knees  and she was smiling broadly as we approached. I suddenly wondered what I was supposed to do. Kiss her? Shake her hand? Or maybe kiss her on both cheeks? What on earth was the correct protocol for meeting your birth mother at the advanced age of 48?

Amanda did the formalities, saying simply: Margaret, this is your Patrick James. Hes now known as Andrew Pierce.

I gazed at her, feeling uncharacteristically shy and reticent. Margaret, its so lovely to see you and to meet you, I said after a pause. Thank you for agreeing to see me because Ive been wanting to meet you for a long time. Well a lifetime, in fact!

I gave myself a swift, mental kick, because this was neither the time nor the place for the slightly ironic tone of my last remark.

Quickly, I added: I hope my sudden appearance in your life hasnt been too much of a shock? Because I want you to know that Im OK, that Im happy and have had a wonderful life. I do hope you

have, too? She quietly replied, Thank you for coming and extended her arms towards me. As I hugged her, it dawned on me she had a bird-like frame.

Downstairs in the cafe, we ordered cups of tea and Amanda made a strategic exit. I asked Margaret about her family, and she told me that her eldest son  by Patrick Lennon  was called

Sean and she had a second son named Patrick, as well as a daughter, Anne.

I briefly wondered whether her son Patrick was named after me or after his father. The dark irony of Margaret living with two Patricks, having already given up her first Patrick, appeared to be entirely lost on her.

As we talked, it quickly became apparent from whom Id inherited my reputation as a chatterbox. Margaret was now busily nattering away about her late husband, her children and six grandchildren and her dog, Bobby  in considerable detail.

Little Andrew celebrates a birthday with his adoptive mother Betty

Was that because she, too, was nervous? No, I decided; it was clearly a diversion  because Margaret was conspicuously asking me nothing about my life. Absolutely nothing at all.

Not where I was brought up, not what my adoptive parents George and Betty were like, not whether Id been happy at home and school and not whether I had any step-brothers or sisters.

I have to confess I was puzzled. Why wasnt she interested? Was it too difficult for her, even after all this time, to hear about the adoptive parents whod brought me up? Maybe she didnt want to be told that Id had a very happy childhood?

The only question Margaret asked me was whether I was either married to Amanda or planning to marry her. Luckily, as it turned out, I fibbed and told her wed probably be getting married at some point. She nodded her approval and said she hoped our wedding would take place in a Catholic church.

We talked about Ireland, and she told me her early life on the family farm in County Mayo had been hard. I mentioned that I happened to be going to Belfast in a few weeks time.

This brought an immediate halt to her flow of chatter. I dont like the people from the North of Ireland. The ones who arent Catholic, she said sternly.

Why did she dislike them? They have funny views, she replied. They believe in abortion and gays. Which are both mortal sins.

Well, that decided it. This was hardly the time to confide in Margaret that her first-born son was gay.

Looking at my watch, I saw that 30 minutes had already elapsed and I was none the wiser about the real reason I hadnt been whisked away for adoption as soon as I was born  let alone why shed left me in an orphanage for over two years.

She was now rattling away about her life with Patrick Lennon, whod died in 1990 and obviously had nothing at all to do with me.

As if she could read my mind, Margaret said: My husband never knew anything about you. I didnt tell him. I didnt tell anyone. My family in Ireland never knew. No one knew.

Very gently, or so I thought, I asked: Margaret, can you tell me about my father? Starting with the most important question: who was he? Is he still alive? And if so, are you still in contact with him?

I certainly didnt expect the response she gave me. I dont remember. I dont remember anything about him, she said.

Really? I said, barely able to disguise the note of scepticism in my voice. But you told the nuns at the orphanage that you intended to marry in the summer of 1961, which was four months after you put me in the orphanage. Its in my Nazareth House report.

She stared at me blankly. Is that what I told the nuns? I dont remember.

Well, is it true, Margaret?

Were you planning to marry my birth father?

She stonewalled me again. I dont remember. I cant remember. Because, you see, it was a sin.

I dont understand. What precisely was a sin? I asked, feeling as if Id suddenly found myself on stage in some avant-garde, totally incomprehensible play.

What I did. Getting pregnant when I wasnt married. Sex outside of marriage is a sin, she explained slowly, as if to a particularly dim child. I knew that. I have had to pay for that sin all my life. Thats why I cant remember anything.

I repressed a wicked urge to exclaim, Wow! What an utterly brilliant idea. I cant remember because its a sin could cover just about anything in life, from petty theft to murder.

Forty minutes had now elapsed and Margaret had hardly touched her tea, declined a second cup and refused any food. No longer content to stick to generalities, I tried lobbing her a few more questions.

No, she said. I cant tell you anything, because I have absolutely no recollection of any of it.

Andrew with adoptive parents George and Betty in the 90s. The couple took him in age three

As for visiting me at the orphanage in Cheltenham  not easy for a nurse on a tight budget, working shifts in Birmingham  she insisted: Ive put it out of my mind for good. I dont know how I got there.

Did she have any recollection of why she placed me there? Or why she left me at the orphanage for over two years, or why she finally decided to give me up?

She fell silent, staring down at her cup, before repeating her mantra: I dont remember. I dont know why you were in the home for that amount of time.

Our conversation, such as it was, had now stumbled to a halt. So I decided to try the direct approach. Staring straight into Margarets eyes, I said slowly: Margaret, who is James Coffey?

Her eyes narrowed as she

stared back at me. Who? Who did you say? I repeated the name slowly. James Coffey. Who is he, Margaret?

There was another long pause before she shook her head and said emphatically: I dont know who he is. When I asked her if the name sounded even vaguely familiar, she shook her head and reiterated: No. I dont know who he is.

I then pointed out, as gently as I could, that in my adoption file, she had identified James Coffey in her own handwriting as my father.

Oh. Did I? Margaret mumbled, carefully avoiding my gaze. I dont remember.

I took a deep breath, trying not to show my increasing exasperation. Was it possible shed truly forgotten? Had she buried, deep in her psyche, like nuclear waste, all memories of my conception, birth, Nazareth House and the deepest and darkest secret of all  her relationship with my father?

Andrew says of his adoptive parents: 'The only mum and dad I had ever known, or wanted'

But I quickly realised it would be senselessly cruel to point out the obvious inconsistencies in what Margaret could and could not remember.

How for instance, could she recall in great detail her nursing career, her engagement and her marriage to Patrick Lennon  in July 1963  yet be unable to remember anything about Nazareth House, the nuns or visiting her young son that same summer. Well, there was clearly no point in prolonging our conversation. Not today, anyway.

Margaret had put a time limit on our first meeting, because she didnt want to leave her dog alone for too long.

When we had just five minutes left, Amanda returned.

Smiling, Amanda asked her: Did Andrew tell you that hes a very successful and famous journalist?

Margaret looked at me. Is that so? I didnt know that, she said.

Amanda looked startled. By now, Margaret was arranging her scarf  her best one, she told us, which she was wearing in my honour  and getting ready to leave.

Watching her, I felt ashamed of my momentary irritation at her total lack of interest in my life.

She was, after all, an 83-year-old lady who must have found meeting me both tiring and emotionally draining.

I walked her to the front of BHS and offered to pay for a taxi, but she was having none of it.

Ill go on the bus. If I arrived home in a taxi and people saw me, they would know thats not something Id ever do, she said adamantly. I dont want to be seen doing anything out of the ordinary.

I found myself thinking, Hmm still covering your tracks Margaret, even after all these years! And then, cross with myself for being so cynical, I asked her if shed been pleased to meet me.

Oh, yes! Im so happy to have met you today, Andrew, she said, with a big smile.

I told her I really hoped we could arrange to meet again, by which time she might feel more relaxed in my company, Margaret gave me another beaming smile.

Ive felt really relaxed. I was a little bit nervous before I met you, of course. But youre a really charming fellow, she added. At which point she reached up and kissed me directly on the lips.

Thank you, she continued, for making my day. Making my week. And in fact, thank you for making my life.

Im a happy woman, and Ill see you again soon Andrew, she promised. Then she delivered another of her knockout smiles and walked swiftly away. She never looked back.

Amanda and I made our usual trip to the pub and in Margarets honour we bought a very nice bottle of rose  quite unlike the terrible bottle wed downed in record time the day Amanda first knocked on Margarets door and she denied any knowledge of giving up a child for adoption.

But, still worrying about her, I called Margaret at home.

Im just checking that you got back ok, I told her. And that youve no regrets about meeting me?

Margaret sounded happy and cheerful. Its nice of you to call Andrew. Im fine and Ive no regrets about seeing you. I dont know if I said it to you  but youre a fine looking man.

I couldnt resist. Do I look more like you or my father? Quick as a flash, Margaret replied, Ah  if only I could remember.

Both in the pub and on the way back to London, I endlessly replayed to Amanda what had happened between Margaret and myself. She was struck by the fact that Margaret had asked me nothing at all about my life. Absolutely nothing. She had shown no interest in what had happened to me since the last time shed seen me at Nazareth House Orphanage when I was only two and a half years old.

We both decided that Margaret would have undoubtedly found it far too upsetting to hear endless stories about how happy I had been with my adoptive mum and dad.

The only mum and dad I had ever known, or wanted.

We also thought it might be Margarets way of protecting her own feelings, because my reappearance in her life must have stirred up some very painful memories of her pregnancy  about which, of course, no one must know anything.

Not to mention going through the birth on her own, the misery of the mother and baby home and then visiting me in Nazareth House.

Although, she was now claiming to have no memory of anything, let alone of who my father might have been which I found simply impossible to believe. Margaret had told me she had become more absent-minded as she had grown older, but her memory seemed good.

She knew all about her marriage in Birmingham to her husband Patrick and told me about her three children, six grandchildren, her church and working as a nurse.

So, I was quite confident that when we next met, that the answers to some of my questions would come tumbling out.

I thought that perhaps she needed more time to really feel at ease with me.

The experience in BHS must have been daunting, especially being asked to open up and recall painful memories to her first-born child, someone who was in fact, a complete stranger to her.

I was already looking forward to the next time I would see her. Maybe I could persuade her to meet me in a restaurant or smarter cafe, where she might find it easier to talk over lunch.

When she said goodbye, Margaret had pledged that she would see me again and had repeated the promise when I telephoned her to check that shed got home safely.

But as I was to discover, with painful consequences, it seemed that she had no intention of keeping her word.
Former President Donald Trump continued auditioning potential vice presidents Saturday at his massive Wildwood, New Jersey rally.

Trump trotted out North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to give some opening remarks, with the ex-2024 rival revealing that he flew to the ocean-front site with the ex-president on board 'Trump Force One.'

When it was Trump's turn to speak, the presumptive Republican nominee hinted that Burgum could be the one.

'So get ready for something, OK just get ready,' Trump teased.

This shot the odds of Burgum becoming Trump's running mate to the top, according to betting site OddsChecker.com.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who previously ran against former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP primary, was on hand at Saturday's massive New Jersey rally, heightening speculation he was a frontrunner for Trump's VP pick

Former President Donald Trump called Burgum 'outstanding' during his Saturday evening rally in Wildwood, New Jersey that the campaign said attracted around 80,000 Trump supporters. Burgum was one of Trump's opening acts

As of Sunday morning, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was oddsmakers No. 1 pick for former President Donald Trump's VP followed by ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik

The North Dakota governor now leads the list followed by Democrat-turned-Republican ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik.

The site is missing from the list another top contender: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who seemingly tanked her changes of becoming Trump's pick when she admitted to shooting her dog, also isn't on the list.

At the rally, Trump poured praised on Burgum, calling him 'outstanding.'

'And he was one of the candidates running and it was sort of a large group and sometimes you need controversy to get yourself known and he's a very - he's not a controversial person, he's a very smart person, he's an outstanding person, who made a lot of money, ran for office, became the governor of North Dakota,' the ex-president said.

'And the numbers there, the numbers that he's done there, the job he's done is unparallel,' Trump continued. 'And his wife is incredible. It's an incredible couple.'

'You won't find anybody better than this gentleman in terms of his knowledge - you know he made his money in technology but he probably knows more about energy than anybody I know,' the ex-president went on. 'But Doug Burgum has been incredible, the country is lucky to have him.'

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum waves to the crowd at Saturday's massive Trump rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, which took place on the beach. Burgum said working with Trump as a governor was like 'having a beautiful breeze at your back'

Thousands and thousands of Trump supporters wait in line for the presumptive Republican nominee's Wildwood, New Jersey rally on Saturday. Trump had a number of opening acts but heaped a lot of praise on North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who flew on his plane

During his remarks, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum revealed that he got a ride to the rally on former President Donald Trump's plane 'Trump Force One.' The plane did a flyover of the rally site about two hours before Trump appeared onstage

Burgum launched his longshot presidential bid in June 2023.

The little-known politician only qualified for two of the GOP debates - which Trump refused to participate in - and came to the first one on crutches, directly after injuring his Achilles heel.

In early December - about six weeks before the first votes in Iowa were cast - Burgum pulled the plug on his campaign, endorsing Trump on the eve of the Iowa caucuses.

He's since appeared alongside Trump at a handful of campaign events, including when Trump easily won the Nevada caucuses, where chief rival Nikki Haley wasn't on the ballot.

At Saturday's rally, Burgum noted how he had held his governorship under both Presidents Trump and Joe Biden.

'Working with President Trump as a governor was like having a beautiful breeze at your back. President Trump respects states' rights, he cut regulation, he lowered taxes,' Burgum said. 'Working under the Biden regulatory regime is like having a gale-force wind in your face.'

'Because the Biden bureaucrats are treating our constitutional republic like a dictatorship,' Burgum said.
North Yorkshire Council was last week rebuked for axeing apostrophes from road signs, claiming they cause problems when searching online.

The Daily Mail's legendary columnist Keith Waterhouse, who died in 2009, spent years fighting for apostrophes to be used properly, beginning his campaign with an article in June 1986 launching the Association for the Abolition of the Aberrant Apostrophe, and which we reprint here...

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first working breakfast of the Association for the Abolition of the Aberrant Apostrophe  the AAAA as it is known to our myriad town and country members.

As Life President of the Association, I should like to extend an especially cordial welcome to the many new faces I can see from the platform.

Since not a few of them are, looking distinctly puzzled  perhaps some of our friends strayed accidentally into the meeting in search of the stock exchange prices or television listings  I will explain the aims and objects of the AAAA.

The AAAA has two simple goals. Its first is to round up and confiscate superfluous apostrophes  from, for example, fruit and vegetable stalls where potato's, tomatoe's and apple's are openly on sale.

Its second is to redistribute as many as possible of these impounded apostrophes, restoring missing apostrophes where they have been lost, mislaid or deliberately hijacked  as, for instance, by British Rail, which as part of its refurbishment programme is dismantling the apostrophes from such stations as King's Cross and shunting them off at dead of night to a secret apostrophe siding at Crewe.

North Yorkshire Council has been criticised for banning apostrophes on new street signs

Ladies and gentlemen, examples of the misuse of apostrophes abound. In the AAAA's Black Apostrophe Museum in the basement, which you are welcome to visit (no children or persons of nervous disposition, please), you will find an advertisement from The Guardian for Technical Author's; a circular from the National Council for the Training of Journalists, if you please, containing the phrase 'as some editor's will know'; an announcement from Austin Rover about the new Maestro's; a leaflet from Hereford and Worcester County Council called 'How the Council Spends It's Money'; and many other apostrophic atrocities too gruesome to describe while you are eating your Danish pastries.

How has this pestilence come about? The AAAA's laboratories have identified it as a virus, probably introduced into the country in a bunch of bananas and spread initially by greengrocers, or greengrocer's as they usually style themselves. Apostrophe Interpolation, Displacement and Suppression  AID'S, as the affliction is known  recognises no frontiers. It afflicts the highest and the lowest of the land alike, the educated along with the sub-literate. The Times (shortly to be renamed The Times's) as well as The Sun.

Why, even the Daily Mail itself, it has to be confessed between these four walls, is not immune. I hold in my hand a misprinting of 'who's' for 'whose' which was detected in its pages only a short while ago.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we find ourselves in a world where a newsagent's placard can read 'Gleny's Kinnock Lead's Teachers Strike', the Apocalypse is near and something must be done.

Apostrophic anarchists, deliberately disrupting the apostrophe's function as part of their wider plan to destroy English grammar, must be weeded out root and branch.

Innocent misusers of the apostrophe  for instance the Darlington bus company promising Shopping Trips to Leed's  must be hustled off to night school in plain vans for a crash course in punctuation.

If necessary, children must be stopped outside their classrooms and frisked for aberrant apostrophes, and the pushers identified.

The Daily Mail's legendary columnist Keith Waterhouse (pictured), who died in 2009, spent years fighting for apostrophes to be used properly

But what can we, as individuals, do to stop the rot, bearing in mind that your Association will have no truck with the proscribed militant Apostrophe Abolition Army, whose declared aim is to stamp out the now universal use of 'it's' for the possessive 'its' by blowing up offending printing plants?

What we can do, ladies and gentlemen, is to be vigilant and relentless in our pursuit of the aberrant apostrophe. We must write to each and every publication that transgresses in this respect.

When they write back pleading that it was a regrettable printer's error, we must reply by return of post that no it wasn't, it was a regrettable printer's error, or even more accurately, the error of a regrettable printer.

We must boycott shops selling Co's lettuce, bean's, and suchlike contaminated produce.

Members of the AAAA are invited to forward examples of misplaced apostrophes to the Association for possible use in our touring exhibitions, provided that these do not infringe the Post Office regulations on the sending of obnoxious matter through the mail.

The AAAA regrets that its hardworking staff will be unable to acknowledge contributions individually but assures members that every apostrophe submitted will be scrutinised keenly and considered on its demerits.

The AAAA has no membership cards and no subscription. Members are, however, asked to donate at least one aberrant apostrophe when attending our meetings, rallies and conferences.

I have to point out that we are considerably overstocked on their's, it's and who's, and can consider no further examples until those we have already accumulated have been ploughed into the Association's apostrophe dump at Devizes.

You are now asked to place the aberrant apostrophes you have brought with you in the offertory bags being passed among you by the ushers.

During the collection we will all rise and sing the AAAA's battle anthem, 'Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts For Soldiers.' Anyone singing a misplaced apostrophe will be instantly ejected from the hall.
The daughter of writer Kay Mellor has revealed her mum left a treasure trove of TV scripts when she died two years ago.

The Fat Friends writer, pictured with daughter Gaynor Faye, left more than 13.2million to her family after she died suddenly in May 2022  just days after her 71st birthday.

Ms Faye, who has starred in Emmerdale and Coronation Street, told the BBC a new TV series could be in the works. She added: 'She's got scripts she put in a drawer and said there's always a time and a place for it.'

Fat Friends writer Kay Mellor (right) pictured with her daughter Gaynor Faye (left)

Some of the cast of working-class 2000s ITV drama Fat Friends pictured together on set

Ms Mellor was a trailblazer for working-class drama, earning an OBE in 2009. Her hits included TV series Band Of Gold and lottery drama The Syndicate.

She won the Writers' Guild Award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing in 2014.

'Everything my mum wrote will be used,' Ms Faye said.
These days, it's hardly surprising that young women struggle with self-esteem. Impressionable teenagers and young adults are constantly bombarded with images of flawless, slim models online.

But experts have discovered that simply taking a week away from social media can have an enormous impact on young women's body image.

And those who crave a slender physique appeared to benefit the most.

Researchers from York University in Toronto recruited 66 female undergraduates to take part in their study, which lasted a week. Half were randomly assigned to take a one-week break from social media, which included Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, while the other half were told to continue their normal use.

Experts have discovered that simply taking a week away from social media can have an enormous impact on young women's body image (stock image)

All completed surveys before and after the study took place, which covered topics such as body image and self-esteem.

Analysis revealed that those who took the break reported having higher body satisfaction and higher self-esteem than those who continued to use social media as normal.

The benefits were especially pronounced for women who had reported higher levels of 'thin-ideal internalisation', meaning they believed that slim or underweight was the ideal body type.

Psychology professor Jennifer Mills, who co-authored the paper, said: 'We don't often see effect sizes this large in my area of psychology research because human behaviour is complicated and there's lots of variability.

Analysis revealed that those who took the break reported having higher body satisfaction and higher self-esteem than those who continued to use social media as normal (stock image)

'We hope that this study can be used to help protect young people and influence social media companies to give users more agency in how they interact with these platforms.'

The paper, published in the journal Body Image, is thought to be the first to look specifically at social media breaks and body image.

Professor Mills said the differences in the social media landscape were remarkable compared to when she started researching eating disorders and the effects of media.

'Back then, you could only spend so many minutes or hours looking at fashion and beauty magazines and they only came out once a month,' she said.

'There was a finite amount of content that you would be exposed to. With social media, it's infinite.'
This is the hilarious moment an emcee mispronounced a series of common names at a Pennsylvania graduation ceremony.

The unfortunate incident occurred at a graduation ceremony for nursing students at Thomas Jefferson University on Thursday.

Footage of the event posted to social media shows the presenter mispronounced the name 'Molly Elizabeth Camp' as 'Mollina -zabeth- cap'.

In the next moment the presenter trips over another student name, 'Thomas', which she inexplicably pronounces 'Tha-mo-may.'

Some students, dressed up in their cap and gowns for their big moment, appeared to find the mistakes frustrating and one tried to correct the presenter.

An emcee hilariously mispronounced common names during a Pennsylvania graduation

Others offered a wry smile but made their way across the graduation stage to receive their degree.

The unidentified presenter later apologized for the haphazard mistakes, explaining that it was due to the way the phonetic spellings were presented on the prompt cards.

The university also offered their 'sincerest apologies for the mispronunciations of the names of several of our graduating nursing students.'

'This ceremony is a celebration of the significant achievements of our students, and each graduate deserves to have their name honored correctly on this pivotal day' the college said in a statement.

'We also recognize that commencement is not only a milestone for our students but also a deeply important day for their families and loved ones who have supported them throughout their educational journey, and we are deeply sorry for any disappointment this may have caused.

'The mispronunciations occurred due to the way phonetic spellings were presented on the speaker's cards, which was noted when the presenter apologized during the ceremony.

'This unfortunate error does not reflect the immense respect we have for our graduates and the value we place on their hard-earned accomplishments.'

One video of the event was viewed more than 11 million times and 'liked' more than 1.3 million times on TikTok.

The unfortunate incident occurred at a ceremony for nursing students at Thomas Jefferson University on Thursday

Both the presenter and the university have offered their 'sincere apologies'

'Please tell me how one can be allowed to speak at college commencement and mess up that badly' the poster wrote.

Some viewers agreed with one commenting under the video 'please I need an investigation into what happened here.'

Another expressed frustration on behalf of the graduates: 'I would be heartbroken if I spent all that money and time for that degree just to have my name mispronounced' they wrote.

Others saw the more humorous side, with one user commenting 'wait pronouncing Thomas wrong at Thomas University is crazy.'

Another poster who claimed to be at the ceremony wrote, 'this was my graduation and it was SO FUNNY we couldnt stop laughing.'
Biden administration officials are said to be offering Israel exact locations of Hamas leaders in a bid to stop the IDF invading the Gazan city of Rafah.

The president has reportedly offered highly-classified information that also includes the locations of Hamas' secret tunnels to try and stave-off what he fears could be a humanitarian catastrophe.

The detailed and sensitive talks serve to illustrate the stakes facing Israel and the U.S. Rafah is the last city in Gaza that has not been bombed by Israel.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. is also proposing to assist in the construction of thousands of shelters to create tent cities and help with the setting up of delivery systems for vital supplies like food, water, and medicine.

The Biden administration is said to be working furiously behind the scenes in an attempt to stave of a full scale Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, pictured on Saturday

The Biden Administration is said to be offering Israel substantial support, including top secret intelligence information that would help Israeli forces pinpoint the exact location of Hamas leaders together with the terror group's hidden tunnels

This support will help ensure that 1.3 Palestinians that fled and were already evacuated from other parts of Gaza under Israeli orders and now sheltering in Rafah have access to livable conditions, rather than being exposed to further hardship.

Israel has promised an invasion using 'extreme force' - something the Biden administration is particularly concerned about, particularly given the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. The current goal is to essentially prevent unnecessary destruction and minimize harm to civilians.

Israeli says it must go into Rafah in order to complete the job of wiping out Hamas.

But the job is easier said than done as destroying city's extensive underground tunnel network where many Hamas fighters and leaders are based, would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

'We have serious concerns about how Israel has prosecuted this campaign, and that could all come to a head in Rafah,' a senior administration official said.

U.S. officials, including experts from agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), have been involved in detailed discussions with Israeli counterparts on how to implement a humanitarian plan effectively.

Over the last seven weeks President Biden and his team have been making offers hoping to convince Israel 's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured, and the Israeli military to pursue a more targeted and limited operation in the city

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah

A street in Rafah is nearly deserted, as Israel's military expanded an evacuation order for eastern areas of the southern Gaza city

It includes considerations such as the number of shelters that would be needed and the amount of water required for specific areas with suggestions it would take several months to set up - although Israel disagrees with such calculations.

Biden aides are have imparted to their Israeli counterparts that Palestinians are unable to just be moved to barren or bombarded parts of Gaza and that Israel needs to provide basic infrastructure together with shelter, food, water, medicine and other necessities.

'The aid community generally is very skeptical there's any safe way to relocate people out of Rafah,' said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International to The Post.

'I've been really concerned about the U.S. line on this  that the line has not been, 'End the war and don't go into Rafah.' The line has been to find a way to safely evacuate people, and that presumes that's a possible thing,' Konyndyk said.

The U.S. is also been working closely with Egypt to address the issue of tunnels that cross the Egypt-Gaza border, which Hamas has used in the past to transfer weapons across and to replenish its military supplies.

While Israel has already launched strikes on Rafah, it has not yet launched a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, but the U.S. is said to have become concerned by recent actions including the seizing of a border crossing and the ordering of evacuations suggesting a ground offensive is not far off.

Internally displaced Palestinians arrive to Khan Younis after leaving Rafah following an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army

More than 34,900 Palestinians and over 1,455 Israelis have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the IDF, since Hamas militants launched their attack in October

An elderly woman and child wait with belongings before evacuating from Rafah, following an order from the Israeli military

Israel has given assurances that 800,000 Palestinians will be evacuated from the area before any incursion into Rafah begins.

Aid agencies say there is nowhere left for previously evacuated Gaza citizens to move to, given that Egypt refuses to open its borders.

Other parts of Gaza have been reduced to rubble with the collapse of infrastructure and hospitals no longer functioning.

The Biden administration had earlier signaled that further escalation, especially actions targeting densely populated areas, could lead to consequences, including the withholding certain weapons shipments if the country moves ahead with a Rafah invasion.

Biden has said Israel has not yet crossed his 'red line' as forces have not begun a ground invasion or bombing of Rafah.

The administration has also calculated that Hamas would welcome a major battle in Rafah, particularly one that inflicts maximum death and destruction in order to further isolate Israel.

Netanyahu has promised to enter Rafah with 'extreme force,' while Biden wants any operation to be targeted. Pictured, displaced Palestinians are seen arriving in Khan Younis

A makeshift tent camp in Rafah. The U.S. has promised to assist in erecting more

Displaced Palestinians arrive at a makeshift tent camp west of Rafah

It is still unclear whether Israel will listen to warnings offered by the U.S. not to launch a full-scale ground invasion as tension has been building between Biden and Netanyahu over the last week.

Days ago, the Biden administration paused the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs over fears they might be used in an operation in Rafah.

'Actually restricting more weapons deliveries is a step the Biden administration would probably prefer not to take. As a result of that, they're likely to keep the definition of the red line flexible, so they can decide based on the entirety of the circumstances whether Israel has crossed it or not,' said Frank Lowenstein, a former State Department official, to the Washington Post.

'It seems like the brightest part of that pink line would be mass casualty events for civilians in Rafah and large-scale armored incursions into the city.'

The situation remains fluid, with ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a peaceful resolution and avoiding further escalation of violence and humanitarian crises.
Churches, universities and hospitals can apply for a free framed official portrait of King Charles to display, as the Government expands its 8 million scheme to cement public support for the monarch.

The move, driven by the Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, will make hundreds more public bodies eligible for the picture project.

The expansion spells a victory for the MoS, which highlighted concerns that under the first stage of the scheme prisons qualified but places of worship were excluded.

Churches were told they would have to stump up the money for the portrait themselves, despite the King being Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

But now, from June 5 all Church of England places of worship can apply for a free portrait of the monarch  as well as hospitals, job centres, universities, coastguard centres and coroners' courts.

Churches, universities and hospitals can apply for a free framed official portrait of King Charles to display. Pictured: The official portrait

The move, driven by the Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden (pictured), will make hundreds more public bodies eligible for the picture project

Mr Dowden said last night: 'His Majesty's accession marked a new chapter in the history of our nation. Our public authorities and established churches are an essential part of the fabric of the nation and it is right that they have the chance to commemorate this moment.

'Displaying this new portrait also serves as a reminder of the example set by our ultimate public servant.

'Like his mother before him, the King has dedicated his life and work to serving others.'

The portrait was taken by royal photographer Hugo Burnand at Windsor Castle and shows the King wearing a Royal Navy uniform with official medals and decorations.
An Aussie driver has slammed new surveillance cameras on our roads as an 'invasion of privacy' and questioned why there are no 'warning signs'.

Layla Ellaz, 32, filmed a transportable mobile phone detection camera on Punchbowl Road, Punchbowl, in Sydney's southwest, and posted it to TikTok on Thursday.

The Sydney driver questioned why people weren't being told about the sky-high cameras, which sit ontop of a small crane.

'Why don't we get warning signs similar to mobile speed cameras? Also isn't this an invasion of our privacy, you can see inside our car?' she said.

Ms Ellaz, who joked her solution would be to stop wearing pants, doubled down on her privacy concerns.

@laylaellaz Why don't we get warning signs similiar to mobile speed cameras? Also isn't this an invasion of our privacy, you can see inside our car? Solution: Stop wearing pants. I have no issue not using a phone while driving, I have an issue of how it's okay to take pictures inside people's cars from above. #fyp #cameras #phone #driving  original sound - laylaellaz

Ms Ellaz mounted her phone onto her dashboard and filmed the camera to show people how similar it looks to powerlines and to fume there are no warning signs (pictured)

The 32-year-old Sydney driver (pictured) said that aerial cameras are an invasion of privacy, and warning signs are a 'constitutional right'

'I have no issue not using a phone while driving, I have an issue of how it's okay to take pictures inside people's cars from above,' she wrote.

In the video, a yellow trailer was seen on the grass opposite Perry Park, with a crane attached that has the camera on it, which is positioned over the road.

Ms Ellaz said the unit looks similar to overhead electric lines.

'Can you see the yellow box on the left hanging? Looks like electricity. There you are. You mother effers,' she said.

'That is to catch you using your mobile phone.'

Some Aussie drivers agreed with Ms Ellaz, but the majority didn't share her concerns.

'What are you doing in your car that you don't want them to see,' one wrote.

'Why would you need a warning sign to not be on your phone while driving? Its not that f***ing hard,' another wrote.

'Wait till someone in your family is hurt or killed by a driver using their phone and your tune will change!' another said.

Ms Ellaz also wrote she was worried if the people screening the footage could be trusted.

Transport for NSW do not want warning signs as they want drivers to do the right thing and stay off their phone. They are more likely to do this if they think they could be caught at anytime. (pictured a stock image of a transportable mobile phone detection camera)

'Are the people checking those cameras screened with police checks and working with children checks?' she said.

The 32-year-old told Yahoo she was concerned by the height of the camera and how 'Big Brother' is now infiltrating internal car spaces.

'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.'

A Transport for NSW spokesperson said that all photos taken, stored and used do not breach the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

'When a potential offence is detected, images will be pixelated and cropped to protect privacy before the images are adjudicated by authorised staff,' they said.

Transport NSW said computers monitor images and are permanently deleted if the driver is not committing any offences. For those doing the wrong thing, the photos are cropped and pixelated before staff check the image

Software reviews all images - not humans - and when an offence has not been detected the footage is permanently deleted, usually within an hour.

The penalty in NSW for using a mobile phone behind the wheel is $387, or $514 in a school zone, in addition to five demerit points.

The Transport for NSW spokesperson also said the cameras have no warning sign so they can catch people doing the wrong thing.

The government wants to deter drivers from using their phones while driving to make the roads safer by having motorists know they could be caught anywhere at anytime.

NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said the cameras save lives, and are a preventative measure.

Mr Khoury also said a driver's capacity to use their vehicle safely is reduced when looking at their mobile phone - it is 'almost like driving drunk'.
Sue Gray is calling in senior security experts to draft Labour's hostile states policy.

Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff has taken a personal interest in shaping how a Labour government would handle China, Russia and Iran.

A senior party source said: 'There is work going on with serious people who have had experience working on hostile states threat. She is personally leading the work.'

Before joining Sir Keir's inner circle, Ms Gray held a senior role in the Cabinet Office, which is where Britain's National Security Adviser is based.

That job involves managing the heads of the intelligence agencies  MI5, MI6 and GCHQ  as well as dealing with Britain's Five Eyes allies  the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Sue Gray (pictured) is calling in senior security experts to draft Labour's hostile states policy

Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff has taken a personal interest in shaping how a Labour government would handle China, Russia and Iran

It is thought the shadow Foreign Office team has been leading the policy work on hostile states, with Ms Gray taking a role in shaping it.

China was last week reported to be behind a cyber attack targeting MoD data, such as staff bank accounts.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said there was reason to believe the hack 'was the suspected work of a malign actor'.
Sydney's Warragamba Dam is expected to spill after reaching full capacity, as severe weather warnings continue across parts of NSW following days of rain.

WaterNSW has Warragamba Dam's capacity at 100 per cent on Sunday morning.

A spokesperson says a spill is expected 'very soon' despite no current rainfall over the dam, as rainfall from the past 48 hours made its way downstream into the catchments.

Warragamba's automatic spill gates are set to open when the dam reaches over 8cm past its full capacity, with estimates setting the current overflow level at 6cm.

Warragamba Dam catchments span 9000sq/km from Lithgow to Goulburn, encompassing much of the Blue Mountains.

Sydney's Warragamba Dam is expected to spill after reaching full capacity, as severe weather warnings continue across parts of NSW following days of rain

WaterNSW has Warragamba Dam's capacity at 100 per cent on Sunday morning

'The community should continue to monitor advice on river levels and any flood warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology,' a WaterNSW spokesperson said.

'WaterNSW modelling based on Bureau forecasts indicates that Warragamba will spill, though the exact timing and volume will depend on catchment rainfall and the resulting inflow to the dam.

Dams in the Greater Sydney area including Cataract, Nepean, Woronora, Tallowa, Greaves Creek, Medlow Bath, and Middle Cascades all were possible overflow risks this weekend.

'Avon Dam, currently 93 per cent of capacity, may also spill,' a WaterNSW spokesperson said.

'If you are downstream of the dam, stay away from fast-flowing or deep water near waterways and flood plains.'

Warragamba's peak spill rate is expected to be roughly 40 gigalitres per day assuming the region sees 35mm of rainfall across the weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts rainfall of up to 20mm across metropolitan Sydney this morning

In the past 24 hours, Sydneysiders saw the highest rainfall figures recorded at Campbelltown with 35.4mm

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts rainfall of up to 20mm across metropolitan Sydney this morning.

In the past 24 hours, Sydneysiders saw the highest rainfall figures recorded at Campbelltown with 35.4mm.

The statewide maximum from 9am Saturday to Sunday was recorded at Moruya Airport, which saw 111.6mm.

The BoM put out a statewide severe surf warning, alongside a Severe Weather Warning for parts of Illawarra, South Coast, Southern Tablelands and Snowy Mountains.

Flood warnings remain in place along the state's riverbanks.

Tuggerah River had a final flood warning, moderate risk was advised along the Moruya, Warrego and Deua Rivers, and minor warnings were standing along the Bega, Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers.
Shocking police bodycam footage captured a screaming woman being attacked by fire ants while her face was held to the ground during her arrest, a lawsuit alleges.

The painful biting incident happened in 2021 when the plaintiff, Taylor Rogers, was arrested by the Santa Fe Police Department.

Per the lawsuit, Rogers was driving with her son when an officer started yelling at her to stop. Court documents said Rogers panicked because officers pounded on her vehicle and pointed their gun at her, and she went the wrong way accidentally.

That's when Santa Fe PD Sergeant Ruben Espinoza hit Rogers's car, per the lawsuit. Another officer, Officer Christian Carranza, arrived at the scene, and allegedly became aggressive with Rogers.

In a news conference Saturday, Rogers's lawyer Randall Kallinen described what his client said happened at the scene.

A woman who was left covered in bug bites is suing the City of Santa Fe, Texas after claiming local police handcuffed her shoved her face down in a bed of fire ants

The incident happened in 2021 when the plaintiff, Taylor Rogers (pictued), was arrested by the Santa Fe Police Department.

Pictured: Bug bites covering Rogers's neck and face, which she claims came from her encounter with the police

'Taylor Rogers was stopped by Santa Fe police for no reason, thrown on the ground right into a bed of fire ants in the middle of the day and then held there while screaming,' said Kallinen.

The bodycam footage shared with local CBS affiliate KHOU shows Rogers screaming, pleading for help as the ants crawled on her face and started biting her.

'Ants are on my face, ants are getting on my face. Please, help,' Rogers yelled at Caranza. 'How could y'all do this? Ants are on my face, please let go.'

Per the court documents, Caranza allegedly twisted Rogers's legs and hogtied her, and she couldn't swipe the ants off her face or body. She claimed the officers didn't bother to help her swipe the ants away or move her to a different location.

The aggressive ants bite humans who get to close and inject them with a venom which causes a burning sensation and which gives them their name.

Fire ant stings can even prove deadly to people with certain medical conditions. In 2023, Georgia mom Cathy Weed, 43, was killed by an allergic reaction after stepping on a fire ant hill at her home.

'Is it torture? Yeah that's a strong word but I call it torture,' Kallinen said. 'When the police hold you down in a fire ant bed and you're saying 'fire ants' and screaming, and they keep you there, what is that?'

To make matters worse, Rogers said the ordeal happened in front of her 9-year-old son, who was sitting in the backseat of their car.

The police have a different story and defended their actions.

Espinoza said when he tried to stop Rogers, she became furious and attempted to make an illegal turn into her son's school parking lot.

She then allegedly ignored him and drove toward the back parking lot. That's when Caranza got involved.

'When she [the officer] gave the description of the vehicle, I immediately knew who it was. So, I approached the intersection and observed Miss Rogers fleeing,' Espinoza said. 'She was also passing a vehicle in the grassy area on the right side when I tried to get in front of her to stop. She didn't put her vehicle in reverse and fled from me.'

Espinoza then said he used his police car to stop Rogers. Cornered, Rogers was pulled out of the car by other Santa Fe officers and placed in handcuffs.

Police shared images of Rogers's arrest, pointing out that there were no fire ants or ant farms in sight.

They also claimed the bodycam footage was misleading, and that Rogers was actually treated with 'respect and dignity.'

The bodycam footage shared with local CBS affiliate KHOU shows Rogers screaming, pleading for help as the ants crawled on her face and started biting her

In a news conference Saturday, Rogers's lawyer Randall Kallinen (pictured) said what happened to his client at the scene was a form of 'torture'

Rogers (pictured) is now suing three years later, asking for the two cops to be held accountable, and for the Santa Fe Police Department to go through proper de-escalation training

'They stopped the clip that they provided to you. The officer says, 'Calm down and we will lift you up,'' Espinoza said. 'At that point, she said, 'OK I will calm down,' and they lifted her up immediately.'

Espinoza said Rogers pleaded guilty to fleeing from police while Kallinen said she was sentenced for deferred adjudication.

Rogers is now suing, asking for the two cops to be held accountable, and for the Santa Fe Police Department to go through proper de-escalation training.
You hope to forgive and forget if you choose to stay with your partner after they admit to an affair.

But according to a study, the wronged party is then almost nine times more likely to stray away themselves.

Researchers from California State University call it 'revenge intimacy'  and say anger is often the motivation, with the aim to inflict similar heartache on their straying partner.

The study, published in scientific journal Deviant Behavior, queried 2,000 married men and women about cheating.

Partners who have been cheated on are more likely to stray away themselves, a new study has found (Stock image)

So called 'revenge intimacy' is motivated by anger and the desire to inflict a reciprocal heartache on their cheating partner (Stock image)

They also measured levels of commitment, passion and intimacy to help gauge its impact on infidelity.

Their results showed people who perceive that their partner had sex with another person were 8.72 times more likely to go on to have an affair themselves.

Researchers also discovered that levels of intimacy in a relationship were found to have no deterrent effect on infidelity.

They said: 'Giving a person everything they want will not keep them from cheating.'
Network Ten may have to fork out millions to cover its own legal bills for Bruce Lehrmann's defamation case if the former staffer can't pay.

Lehrmann lost the case against the network and Lisa Wilkinson in the Federal Court in April, which he himself launched in a bid to restore his reputation after Brittany Higgins accused him of rape on The Project in 2021.

Justice Michael Lee found, on a balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann had raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019 in much the way she described during her television interview with Wilkinson.

On Friday, the judge ordered that Lehrmann foot the winning parties' legal costs, which are rumoured to be worth about $6million.

If Lehrmann is unable to cover the costs, the network could be forced to pay its own bills.

Bruce Lehrmann is pictured outside court after losing his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson

Lehrmann was also ordered to pay Wilkinson's legal fees, which were worth $700,000 in mid-2023 but are rumoured to have hit about $2million after the month-long trial in December.

If Lehrmann cannot pay Wilkinson's bill, Network Ten will have to pay a portion of her fees which were 'properly incurred and reasonable in amount'.

During a costs hearing earlier in May, Ten's barrister Matthew Collins KC said discussions about the costs were 'academic' because it was unlikely Lehrmann was worth millions of dollars.

He said 'someone' would have to bankrupt Lehrmann to recoup any of the costs.

Dr Collins said in court: 'Alternatively, someone has to go and bankrupt Mr Lehrmann.'

The network had ordered Lehrmann to produce bank statements, contracts or agreements with third parties to cover the costs of the trial if he lost.

However, his solicitor Paul Svilans told the court last week that Lehrmann had nothing to produce.

The only agreement Lehrmann had was a no-win, no-fee arrangement with Mr Svilans' firm, Mark O'Brien Legal, which meant he had no obligation to pay his lawyers if he lost.

During his judgement on Friday, Justice Lee said there were 'no real winners' in the defamation trial.

Lisa Wilkinson is pictured (right) with her barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, after the defamation trial judgement in April

He accepted Ten's submission that Lehrmann proceeded with the defamation case knowing Brittany Higgins' rape claims were substantially true.

He said Lehrmann 'defended the criminal charge on a false basis, lied to police, and then allowed that lie to go uncorrected before the jury'.

'He wrongly instructed his senior counsel to cross-examine a complainant of sexual assault in two legal proceedings including, relevantly for present purposes, in this case, on a knowingly false premise.'

Network Ten and Wilkinson were asked to submit their estimated legal bills by May 24, before a case management hearing on May 27.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been banned from entering 20 percent of the state after several Native American tribes barred her from their land.

The bans come after Noem suggested that tribal leaders benefitted from drug cartels.

Noem, who infamously wrote about shooting her hunting dog for misbehaving in her memoir, told a forum in March that 'we've got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there, and that's why they attack me every day.'

The governor, who has been tipped as a frontrunner to be Trump's running mate in the upcoming election, has now been banned by the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Ovate tribe, the Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes.

There are just three other tribes in the state that have yet to ban her.

Kristi Noem has been banned from entering the land of six South Dakota tribes, including the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe, pictured with the tribe's Chairman J. Garrett Renville in February

Noem appeared to double-down on her position on Thursday by addressing the controversy on social media

Noem appeared to double-down on her position on Thursday by addressing the controversy on social media.

'Tribals leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,' Noem wrote on X.

'We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden Administration is failing to do their job' she added.

Relations between the state and South Dakota's Native American tribes have long been tense.

The Wounded Knee massacre of 1890 continues to loom large for many tribes and continued disagreement over policies such as the environment have caused recent strains.

Noem has personally clashed with tribal leaders in the past, notably over the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock which resulted in her temporary ban from the Oglala Sioux reservation in 2019.

Relations became strained once again during the COVID-19 pandemic when tribes set up checkpoints at their reservation borders to limit visitors.

Political Science professor Cal Jillson told the Seattle Times it is plausible that Noem is aggravating a disagreement with tribal leaders for political means.

Noem has personally clashed with tribal leaders in the past, notably over the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock

Noem seems to be 'stoking it actively, which suggests that she sees a political benefit' the Southern Methodist University professor argued.

'I'm sure that Gov. Noem doesn't mind a focus on tensions with the Native Americans in South Dakota because if we're not talking about that, we're talking about her shooting the dog,' Jillson told the Times.

However, Jillson told the publication the controversy may be a strike against her when Trump comes to pick his vice president slot.

'I think that the chaos that Trump revels in is the chaos he creates' she explained.

Adding: 'Chaos created by somebody else simply detracts attention from himself.'
As many as three more Tory MPs are in talks to defect to Labour, after Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor earlier this week.

Shadow cabinet ministers are said to have been offering potential switchers a 'warm welcome' if they desert the Government.

Ms Elphicke, the right-leaning MP for Dover known for her hardline views on immigration shocked commentators by announcing her defection to Labour on Wednesday just before PMQs.

Just a week earlier Dr Dan Poulter joined the Opposition benches over the Government's record on the NHS. Both MPs have indicated they will not stand again at the next election.

A former minister told the Sun that they wouldn't 'rule anything in or out'.

Three more Tory MPs are 'in talks about defecting to Labour' after Dover MP Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor this week

Among Tory MPs most likely be the next to jump ship include members of the party's One Nation caucus.

So far a total of three Conservatives have changed allegiance from Tory to Labour, the first being Christian Wakeford who defected back in 2022.

A string of by-election losses - most recently to Labour in Blackpool South - have added to Tory woes.

As well as losing MPs to Labour, a further threat from the right is posed by Reform, whose sole Commons member is former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson.

Ms Elphicke joined former Tory Dr Dan Poulter on the Labour benches, who changed sides after criticising the Government's record on the NHS

A Labour MP suggested that having turned MPs over doctors and small boats, the party should aim to poach a defector who endorses its economic policy.

They added that conversations were happening with the help of cross party relationships.

As many as 26 Tories are rumoured to be on a list, with one Tory saying it was difficult who could be next to cross the floor.
The first patient to receive a genetically modified kidney transplant from a pig has died just two moths after the procedure.

Richard Slayman, 62, from Boston, was living with end-stage kidney disease when he received a kidney from the pig which had undergone 69 genomic edits in what experts said would herald a new epoch in organ transplantation.

Unfortunately, Mr Slayman sadly died on Saturday after doctors said he was 'recovering well' when he was discharged from hospital on April 6.

There is currently no indication from anyone involved in the procedure or from Mr Slayman's family that his death was related to the transplant.

Richard Slayman, 62, the first patient to ever receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig has died just two moths after the procedure

The four-hour surgery was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston

The four-hour surgery was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston under Expanded Access Protocol 'compassionate use' clearance which is only implemented when patients with life-threatening illnesses have no other options.

Mr Slayman had been struggling with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension for years before he was finally diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease.

He had dialysis treatment in 2011 and was eventually put on the kidney donor waiting list and received a human kidney transplant in December 2018.

Five years later the donor kidney started to fail and Mr Slayman was put back on dialysis in May 2023.

He then had to undergo de-clotting and surgical revision every two weeks to address clotting complications during this second round of dialysis.

It was due to these persistent complications and Mr Slayman's quickly failing kidney function that his doctors suggested trying the pig kidney transplant.

He did have an organ rejection scare just as he was getting ready to leave the hospital after having the transplant but doctors were able to quickly address it as it was a common for of rejection.

The doctors make an incision in the thigh and, using instruments, are able to tunnel through to the area where the kidney is.

At the time, Leonardo Riella, MGHs medical director of kidney transplantation said: 'I would rather get a rejection very early and get it treated and make adjustments rather than seeing it much later where it might go unnoticed for a couple weeks, at which point it might be too late.

'Its a bit like a wildfire; you want to extinguish it quickly before it gets out of control.'

The rejection and kidney stabilised after three days on a high dosage of steroids and Mr Slayman was released from hospital.

Upon his release, Mr Slayman said: This moment  leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest bills of health Ive had in a long time  is one I wished would come for many years.

Now, its a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life.

In the months following the surgery he underwent blood and urine tests three times a week and visits from his doctor twice a week to monitor his condition.

At the time Mr Slayman said: 'I have been a Mass General Transplant Center patient for 11 years and have the highest level of trust in the doctors, nurses, and clinical staff who have cared for me.

'When my transplanted kidney began failing in 2023, I again trusted my care team at MGH to meet my goals of not just improving my quality of life but extending it.

'I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive.'

Providing insight at the time into why Mr Slayman was put forward for the experimental treatment, Dr. Winfred Williams, associate chief of the nephrology division at MGH said: 'He would have had to wait five to six years for a human kidney. He would not have been able to survive it.'

There are more than 100,000 patients on the waiting list for a new kidney in the US, with most facing delays of at least three years.

Joren C. Madsen, Director of the MGH Transplant Center emphasised the significance of Mr Slayman's contribution to medicine.

He said: '[The surgery] would not have been possible without his courage and willingness to embark on a journey into uncharted medical history.

'Mr. Slayman becomes a beacon of hope for countless individuals suffering from end-stage renal disease and opens a new frontier in organ transplantation.'
A second man accused of bashing a grandmother was an ex-detainee who was released into the community by the former Coalition government in 2020.

Seyed Younes Tahami is one of three people who allegedly broke into the home of Ninette Simons, 73, and beat her, in Girrawheen, Perth's north, on April 16.

Ms Simons and her husband Phillip, 76 were both inside their home on Allinson Drive, when the accused attackers allegedly impersonated police officers and knocked on their door.

The grandmother was left with several facial wounds after she was allegedly punched in the face several times and knocked her unconscious.

A former immigration detainee who allegedly carried out a violent home invasion that led to Ninette Simons (pictured) being allegedly attacked in her Perth home last month, had been released into the community by the former coalition government

Tahami along with another man Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan have been charged with robbery, aggravated assault, and impersonating a police officer.

He also pleaded guilty in a Perth court on Friday to carrying a flick knife.

Tahami was previously released from immigration detention on January 12, 2020 by the Home Affairs department, after his protection visa was cancelled in 2019.

Tahami, who is Iranian, had been put behind bars in 2018 for drug possession before he was released back into the community two years later.

Since his release, Tahami was charged with possessing methamphetamine in July, 2020 and was charged twice on 2021 for possessing cannabis before being charged with the same offence two years later.

Tahami was also charged with driving without a license and being under the influence of drugs, in March last year and was fined for all of these offences.

The decision to revoke the protection visa was made by an official from the Home Affairs department, after they were given the power to make the move by then-Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton.

The Coalition have been highly critical of the federal government after the High Court found in November it was unlawful to keep a asylum seeker - known as NZYQ - in indefinite detention.

Tahami and Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan (pictured) have been charged with robbery, aggravated assault, and impersonating a police officer, following the alleged violent home invasion

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) has ordered Peter Dutton to front up and provide an explanation, to the decision made by the former coalition government

The decision saw the gradual release of 153 asylum seekers with the former detainess sent to live in the Australian community.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered a scathing response on Saturday to Mr Dutton over the release of Tahami under his watch.

'Of the three people that entered Ninette Simon's home and engaged in that brutal attack, one of the alleged perpetrators was someone released from detention when Peter Dutton was Home Affairs minister in 2020,' he said.

'[Mr Dutton] was not subject to any ongoing scrutiny, and that person [Tahami] has an extraordinary record of behaviour which is of enormous concern.'

'It's up to Peter Dutton to explain how this occurred, why this occurred.'

A spokeswoman for Mr Dutton said his office would need to receive advice from the government about Tahami, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

'Until we can see that, we are unable to comment on an individual's case and the circumstances surrounding the individual,' she said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Dutton's office for further comment.

Mr Dutton previously called federal ministers in the Labor government to provide an explanation over their decisions which led to the alleged attack on Ms Simons.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton (pictured) was the then Home Affairs Minister when Tahami was released into the community in January, 2020

'The minister (Andrew Giles) has responsibility here. The first charge of the Prime Minister of our country is to keep people safe, not to put them in harm's way, and that's what's happened with Ninette,' he told the Today show on May, 3.

Home Affairs Minister Claire O'Neil has consistently denied the government is responsible for the release of the detainees.

Ms O'Neil has delivered several fiery speeches in parliament in a bid to reassure the public, that the government is committed to the safety of citizens.

Last month WA Police arrested four people over the alleged robbery.

Tahami will next front the Joondalup Magistrates Court on June 10.
A Queers for Palestine chapter created a human barricade to the entrance of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, prompting a bystander to lose his cool.

On Saturday, the Central Florida branch of Queers for Palestine pulled their cars in a blockade on Interstate 4, claiming that Disney supported genocide.

An angry driver became so irate that he got out of the car to yell at the demonstrators, three of whom were arrested 11 minutes later by Florida cops.

'You are losing people to your cause because of this... Think a little bit. You are causing people to actually hate you,' the driver yelled at them.

The protestors responded: 'Go f**k yourself. 45,000 people dead.'

The Queers for Palestine group created a human barricade to the entrance of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida , prompting a bystander to lose his cool

The pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested by Florida Highway patrol within 11 minutes of them starting the protest

One of the activist jumps into the car to leave. They keep recording, streaming the event on Instagram Live, as they start to drive off

In a video circulating on X, formerly Twitter, police reinforcements showed up to the protest.

One of the activist jumps into the car to leave. They keep recording, streaming the event on Instagram Live, as they start to drive off.

The pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested by Florida Highway patrol within 11 minutes of them starting the protest.

Three members of the Queers for Palestine group were arrested, per the group's Instagram story. A QR code to their bail fund has been published.

In a series of Instagram stories posted by the central Florida Queers for Palestine branch, they claim that Disney has not only 'publicly pledged support and alliance toward Israel following October 7,' they also '[have] not acknowledged the loss of Palestinian lives in the ongoing genocide.'

The group also states the reason behind their boycott involves Disney's choice to reintroduce an Israeli character during such a polarizing political climate.

'Disney has announced that a character called 'Sabra,' an Israeli superhero, will be featured in Marvel films,' the Instagram story read.

'In a 1981 comic, Sabra shows little remorse for the death of a Palestinian child.'

Three members of the Queer for Palestine group were arrested, per the group's Instagram story. A QR code to their bail fund has been published.

'You are losing people to your cause because of this... Think a little bit. You are causing people to actually hate you,' the driver yelled at the demonstrators

In a series of Instagram stories posted by the central Florida Queers for Palestine branch, they claim that Disney has not only 'publicly pledged support and alliance toward Israel following October 7,' they also '[have] not acknowledged the loss of Palestinian lives in the ongoing genocide'

The group also states the reason behind their boycott involves Disney's choice to reintroduce an Israeli character during such a polarizing political climate.

The group claims Disney has pledged $2 million to Israeli relief efforts following October 7th, and that calls for more boycotts are in order

The group claims Disney has pledged $2 million to Israeli relief efforts following October 7th, and that calls for more boycotts are in order.

Per their story, Disney is on the BDS list, or the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions list that dictates what to boycott or what companies to support or not support. The group instructed its members what they can do to boycott Disney.

'Cancel your Disney+ subscription and Hulu memberships, boycott Disney products (including Marvel), and show up for Palestine,' the Instagram story read.
Police will seize dogs if their owners allow them to 'terrorise livestock' under new government laws.

In a bid to placate concerns from rural communities, the new legislation will allow officers to detain pets who 'attack or worry livestock'.

A private members bill which has Government backing will allow police to take dogs which distress or chase after livestock.

Current laws mean only owners can be prosecuted if their pet frightens livestock, allowing dogs roaming alone to go unchecked.

The proposed amendment to the Protection of Livestock Act 1953 will allow police to use seizure in the most serious of cases, the Telegraph reported.

A new law will allow police to seize dogs that attack or frighten livestock, enabling farmers to 'breathe a sigh of relief'

Environment Secretary Stephen Barclay said that the new bill would help reduce the financial and emotional impact on 'hardworking farmers'

Environment Secretary Stephen Barclay said the move give powers to officers to reduce the impact on 'hardworking farmers'.

He added that the Government would always stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with the agricultural community to tackle the emotional and financial impacts of killed or harmed livestock.

The new law, introduced by Mr Barclay's predecessor Therese Coffey, will also allow officers to take evidence samples from both dogs and livestock to help investigate crimes.

Ms Coffey said the bill, which will get its third reading next week, would mean farmers could 'breathe a sigh of relief' and that unleashed dogs could be a 'real menace' to farm animals.

An estimated 2.4million worth of livestock were left severely harmed or killed by dogs last year, a 30 per cent increase on the previous year.

The Dogs Trust advises owners to keep their pets close to them on a short lead while walking them in rural areas

Farmers have blamed the issue on a generation of less socialised 'lockdown puppies' purchased during the pandemic.

David Barton, the livestock board chair at the National Farmers' Union said that as well as having a financial impact, farmers experience emotional stress from losing animals.

The Dogs Trust advises owners to keep pets under control on a short lead and avoid straying from designated paths while walking them in rural areas.

Its head of canine behaviour Jenna Kiddie said that dogs were prone to chasing and that dog walkers had a responsibility to consider their surroundings when taking their pets out.
British adults are more addicted to using their phones than those in France, Germany and America, a poll has revealed.

A representative poll of 8,000 people suggests that 44 per cent of adults in the UK look at their phone every hour, compared to 29 per cent in France, 25 per cent in Germany and 41 per cent in America.

The study, conducted by the More In Common think tank, also found that 14 per cent of adult Brits go no longer than 15 minutes without checking their phones.

Germany's low percentage could be because they are much less likely to have social media accounts, with a study by the Pew Research Centre finding that only half of Germans actively use social media.

The work-life balance in Germany may also contribute to their low percentage as several companies, including Volkswagen, turn email servers off after work hours.

France introduced a rule that prevents employers of 50 people or more from emailing their staff after their contracted work hours, which could see them checking their phone less than Brits.

Nearly half of parents in the UK admit to struggling to control the amount of time their children spend on their phones (stock image)

Despite our obsession with our phones, we are more likely to be in favour of restrictions on usage for children.

However, there is little evidence to suggest that teenagers and young adults use social media more than their parents.

The More In Common poll suggests that two thirds of British people think social media is having a negative impact on children.

However, nearly half of parents in the UK admit to struggling to control the amount of time their children spend on their phones, which is more than the three other countries that were surveyed.
A Tesla driver has been slammed after they parked across two parking bays out of apparent desperation to charge their car.

The electric vehicle (EV) was spotted by another shopper at Orion Springfield Central in Ipswich, in central Queensland, on Monday.

The car was left parked next to the charging bay - that had already been taken up by another vehicle.

It is not known whether the Tesla driver disconnected the charger from the other car - or if the vehicle parked in the bay was not using the charger.

A Tesla driver has been slammed after they parked across two parking bays to charge their car

It is unclear whether the Tesla owner unhooked the charger from the car or whether the other car had parked in the EV bay without using the charger

Shoppers were left unimpressed by the parking act regardless, slamming the Tesla driver for taking up the unecessary amount of extra space.

Photos circulating on Facebook showed the Tesla parked over two spots and hooked up to the charger, while another EV occupied the bay the charger belonged to.

'She had to charge... I hope someone parks next to her to block her in,' a shopper captioned the photos.

Social media users questioned why the driver hadn't reversed into one parking bay to reach the charger, calling out the move as 'entitled' and 'annoying'.

This incident is one of many which has seen Tesla owners slammed in recent times.

Another Ipswich driver was critisised for mounting the kerb to recharge last month because the charger was too short, Yahoo reported.

As the hype around electric vehicles reaches new heights in Australia, more and more drivers are becoming frustrated over the insufficient EV infrastructure.

A video shared on TikTok showed at least 10 electric vehicles lined up waiting to use public charging stations in South Australia over the Easter weekend.

For a Tesla Model 3 sedan, it takes at least 20 minutes to fully charge at a Supercharger station, meaning some owners could have potentially waited hours before they were able to hit the road again.

There are around 198,000 electric vehicles driving on Australian roads, but currently only 3,000 public charging stations nationwide.

The government claims it is working quickly to increase the availability of fast chargers, with the number of sites forecast to double this year.

A report by consulting firm Next System also found that even though Tesla dominated electric vehicle sales it was Chargefox that provided the greatest share of charging sites.

The findings came after record sales of electric vehicles, and despite concerns from some potential buyers that Australia's charging network was not large enough to support the technology.

Another Ipswich driver was slammed for mounting the kerb last month to recharge because the charger didn't extend far enough to account for the trailer being towed behind the car

At least 10 electric vehicles could be seen lined up in the rural town of Keith, in South Australia, with drivers waiting to use the public charging stations

The Public Fast Charger Network Report found Australia had seen another 397 car-charging sites and 755 new charging points built during 2023, but predicted that number would rise significantly higher in 2024.

Next System founder Daniel Bleakley said the analysis showed charging stations were already planned for another 470 locations throughout Australia and a total of 900 new charging sites could be expected during the year.

Electric vehicles are a crucial part of the government's strategy to cut emissions from new vehicles by 61 per cent by 2030.

The NSW Government is investing almost half a billion dollars in tax cuts and incentives to drive uptake and reduce barriers for electric vehicle purchases over the next four years.

States across the country have implemented fines if drivers of any vehicle park in designated EV bays without using the equipment.

In Queensland drivers that block chargers can cop hefty fines of up to $2,757, while drivers in NSW may be forced to pay up to $2,200.

There are currently no fines for removing a charger from an EV, but it's been deemed an anti-social.
Cannabis plants have been seized in a police raid at a high street shop being used for campaigning by a Reform UK party election candidate.

Bewildered locals spotted officers carrying large marijuana plants out of the two-storey building and loading them into a forensics van in Strood, Kent, on Friday.

The shop was plastered in blue Reform branding with slogans pledging to 'save Britain'.

Staff at neighbouring businesses told this newspaper that police swooped on the property and spent most of Wednesday gutting it of the cannabis growing operation.

The shop front windows and signs are leased by Reform's parliamentary candidate Daniel Dabin, who is hoping to become the Rochester and Strood constituency MP. The building is owned by former Reform local councillor candidate, Bill Khatkar. Neither are understood to have any involvement in the drugs bust.

Cannabis plants have been seized in a police raid at a high street shop being used for campaigning by a Reform UK party election candidate (File image)

One local business owner said it was the second time a 'weed farm' had been discovered at the site, while another explained: 'I've never seen anyone in there, someone even came in recently asking when they are open, but it never was.

'Then this week there were loads of police, about three police cars and a van. They broke the door down with a big red battering ram.'

Kent Police said that detectives are investigating but that no arrests have been made.

Mr Dabin told the MoS that Reform only uses the windows for advertising, not the building itself.

He said: 'It's a vacant shop, no one's been in there. I don't even know whether it's got electricity.'

The building's owner Mr Khatkar said it was leased to a local business, and that he had not been inside in years.

He said: 'All I heard was that it was a gas leak, and then somebody said there were plants being taken out by police.

'I just can't believe it, it's on the high street, it's got cameras at the front and round the back, so they've got to know who's coming in and going out.'

A police spokesman said: 'Kent Police attended a property in Strood High Street on May 8, 2024, where they seized a quantity of cannabis plants. Nobody was present at the premises and an investigation is underway.'
Two 'upstanding' cafe owners were 'provoked' into kidnapping a former employee and holding him for ransom after finding him with his hand in the till, a court has been told.

The details of the terrifying abduction can finally be revealed after Dominic Tran was sentenced in the NSW District Court last month, nearly a year after married couple Nathan Yeung and Ann Ngo learned their fate.

The trio co-owned the award-winning Vietnamese restaurant Mama Hong's on Sydney's lower north shore when they noticed in March 2022 cash was mysteriously disappearing.

The restaurant is located at Lane Cove - one of Australia's wealthiest suburbs with the median price for a house at $3.2million.

At 9pm on March 22, Yeung and Tran were alerted that someone was inside the cafe and rushed there to find a former kitchen hand trying to take money out of the register.

Court documents reveal he had been using a copy of the keys to sneak into the restaurant and steal money every few days. He had stolen $2,500 from the trio over two weeks.

Cafe owners Ann Ngo and Nathan Yeung admitted to kidnapping a former employee and holding him for ransom after finding him with his hand in the till

The Mama Hong's cafe and restaurant (pictured) is located at Lane Cove - one of Australia's wealthiest suburbs with the median price for a house at $3.2million

Ngo, a mum-of-two who grew up in Cabramatta in Sydney's south-west, is seen with cafe staff. It is not suggested anyone pictured was involved in the theft that led to the kidnapping

Yeung and Tran grabbed the former staffer before he could run away and the victim was hit with a flurry of slaps, punches and kicks.

They cable-tied his hands, took his belongings and cut his hair before Yeung slapped him twice across the face with a plastic bucket lid.

The cafe owners then shoved him into a car before collecting Ngo as they drove to the victim's mother's house in Chatswood to demand their money back.

According to the court documents, Ngo later told police the trio had hoped to 'resolve it, you know, without having to go to the police'.

The victim's mother was not at home, so Ngo called her to tell her that her son had been 'stealing money from [the cafe]' and 'comes every night' to pilfer from the business.

'He has taken a lot of money. If he don't [sic] give it back, I will take him to the police now,' Ngo told her.

The former staffer's mum agreed to repay the stolen $2,500 and asked for video footage of her son stealing from the business.

Ngo sent her the business's bank details and a still image from the cafe's CCTV footage that showed the ex-employee with his hand in the till.

She also took a photo of the young man while he was bleeding from his nose in the rear passenger seat.

Once Ngo was satisfied the money was paid in full, the business partners drove the victim to a park in Drummoyne and cut the cable ties securing his hands.

The victim spent three days in hospital for the treatment of his injuries.

The ringleaders of the abduction, Yeung and Ngo, were surrounded by family and friends when they were sentenced by the NSW District Court in June last year.

The employee was released at a park in Drummoyne, in Sydney's inner-west (pictured)

As they waited to learn their fates for kidnapping their former employee, Yeung tenderly kissed his wife on the forehead.

The court was told he was overwhelmed with anxiety and stress at the time of the offences and was paranoid after previously being defrauded.

'My Yeung acknowledged his actions were impulsive, reckless, and disproportionate to the situation,' Judge Andrew Scotting said.

Glowing references tendered to the court praised the chef as 'hardworking', 'kind' and 'dedicated' and lauded Ngo as 'caring', 'compassionate', and 'hardworking'.

'All of the references described the offending as out of character,' Judge Scotting acknowledged.

He noted the couple had used their cafe to raise money for Doctors Without Borders and described them as 'upstanding members of society'.

The judge found the kidnapping had been an 'unplanned and spontaneous response to the victim stealing' from Yeung and Ngo at a time when they were both living with post-traumatic stress disorder.

'The victim provoked the offenders by abusing their trust and taking advantage of them on multiple occasions,' he said.

'I am satisfied the offenders would not have committed the offences absent this serious provocation.'

Yeung slapped the victim twice across the face with a plastic bucket lid

Judge Scotting determined both kidnappers had shown remorse for their actions and recognised the harm done to the victim and the community.

'They have learnt a significant lesson from the events and they are unlikely to offend again,' he said.

He sentenced Yeung to an intensive corrections order lasting one year and nine months for detaining a person in company with intent to ransom occasioning actual bodily harm.

The sentence will expire in March next year.

Ngo was handed a 10-month intensive corrections order for detaining a person in company with intent to ransom. She has already completed her sentence.

Nearly a year after their sentences were handed down, the couple's business partner Tran was last month sentenced in the NSW District Court over his role in the saga.

He was sentenced to a 15-month community corrections order for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the company of another person.

His sentence will expire in July next year.

The court was told Mama Hong's was forced to permanently shut its doors after the news broke of the violent kidnapping.
An unearthed diary has potentially offered horrific new details on the gruesome murder of legendary art dealer Brent Sikkema.

Sikkema, 75, moved to Rio de Janeiro last Christmas after spending two years attempting to settle an acrimonious divorce with his estranged husband Daniel, 53.

Daniel was seeking an 'unreasonable' $6 million of his reported $20 million fortune.

On January 13 Brent was stabbed to death, within his two-story vacation home sparking a high profile police investigation and manhunt for his killer.

On January 18 a 30-year-old delivery driver, Alejandro Triana Prevez, was arrested.

After initially denying any involvement in the crime the Cuban immigrant eventually admitted to police that he had killed Sikkema and alleged that Brent's ex Daniel, 53, had hired him to do it.

Brent Sikkema (right) moved to Rio de Janeiro last Christmas after spending two years attempting to settle an acrimonious divorce with his estranged husband Daniel Sikkema (left)

Murder suspect Alejandro Triana Prevez's journal entrees reveal a shocking tale of an alleged 'murder-for-hire' plot by Sikkema's estranged husband

On January 13 Brent was seen entering his apartment for the last time

Daniel has denied the allegations, telling the Wall Street Journal in a statement 'I hope that, based on evidence and not false allegations, what really happened will come to light.'

Now shocking details from Prevez's handwritten prison diary, seen by the Wall Street Journal, reveal the brutal final moments of before Brent was stabbed eighteen times, including in the chest and face, in his own bed.

'He finds [Brent] sleeping with his mouth open, his naked body covered by silky sheets, breathing calmly' Prevez wrote about the moment he entered Brent's bedroom in Rio ready to take his life.

'He moves to the side of the bed silently, trying to breathe calmly but failing' he wrote, describing himself in the third person.

Prevez detailed how he used a knife from Brent's kitchen to murder the millionaire art dealer.

'He closes his eyes and throws himself down on top of the victim, letting the knife go in.'

'The fighting begins, he removes the knife with tears in his eyes and stabs three more times trying to make him stop moving, an image that will never be erased' the harrowing diary entry reads.

Prevez wrote in the account that he stabbed Brent four times, apologized and covered the body with a sheet before washing the knife and leaving the property.

The legenday art dealer had amassed a fortune of $20 million

Prevez detailed how he used a knife from Brent's kitchen to murder the millionaire art dealer

However, an autopsy found that Brent had been stabbed 18 times, mostly in the chest and face.

Prevez, who used to teach at a Havana polytechnic school, came to know Brent and Daniel, who is also Cuban, when he was hired to be a caretaker for a property they owned in Havana.

After some years in this role he moved to Sao Paulo but got back in touch with Daniel in 2022, the Journal reported.

The friends decided to catch up, a meeting at which Daniel allegedly offered Prevez $200,000 and a place to stay in Rio in exchange for murdering Brent, according to Prevez's later police statement.

Prevez's journal reveals that the former teacher had moved to Brazil in September 2022 in the hopes of making a better living.

However, he was tempted by Daniel's alleged offer, the diary claims, after being enraged by Daniel's stories of Brent's poor behavior in the marriage.

Daniel had accused his spouse of cheating, drug use that had got out of hand including leaving 'bowls of cocaine' around their homes, and of planning to take a gun to JFK airport to ' kill people,' the Journal reported.

Prevez wrote in his diary that he became particularly angry after hearing Daniel recall how their son Lucas was left in tears when he heard Brent with an escort in the next hotel room during a trip to Paris.

After initially denying any involvement in the crime Prevez eventually admitted to police that he had killed Sikkema and alleged that Brent's ex Daniel, 53, had hired him to do it

The apartment where Brent Sikkema was found stabbed to death

Daniel's lawyers confirmed to the Journal that their client shared this story with Prevez as he states.

However, Prevez claims he first told Daniel that he would 'think about the proposal', according to his police statement.

Prevez told police that he was subsequently sent sums of money from an account in New York, in lumps of $300 to $500 at the time.

Brazilian police later linked the transfers to an account registered to Daniel's cellphone, the Journal reported.

Daniel's lawyers claim the money was backpay for Prevez's previous work in Havana.

Prevez claims Daniel then sent him a key to the property in Rio and asked him to get a cellphone so they could communicate via WhatsApp.

Prevez told investigators he travelled to Rio twice in 2023, once to plan the murder and again in December when he planned to commit it.

However, he got nervous and pulled out of the plan.

The famous art dealer had many notable connections, including pictured here with Michelle Obama

Brent and David had spent two years arguing over a divorce settlement

In response, Daniel allegedly told Prevez 'if you don't want to do this, don't do it, but forget that I exist' according to Prevez's police account.

After this conversation the money allegedly stopped arriving from New York and Prevez took a job making deliveries.

However, he claimed he was not making enough money to support his family back in Cuba so got back in touch with Daniel.

Prevez says he agreed to return to Rio and kill Brent after Christmas, when Daniel has allegedly confirmed that his husband would be in town.

Prevez parked his borrowed Fiat Palio on Brent's block at 2:30pm on January 13 with a crossbow on the backseat, according to police.

'It's like a rifle, but you just get one shot. The most important thing, though: it's silent,' Prevez wrote of the potenital murder weapon in his diary.

However, he decided against taking it inside as he made his way into Brent's bedroom and brutally knifed him to death.

Moments after Prevez left Brent's home he called a Brazilian WhatsApp number reportedly registered to a woman Daniel knew in Brazil.

Prevez parked his borrowed Fiat Palio on Brent's block at 2:30pm on January 13 with a crossbow on the backseat, according to police

However, police say the call came through a New York IP address.

The next morning Prevez claims he received a call back from the same number and that it was Daniel on the line.

Prevez claims he asked him to delete their call history but that he did not do it.

Lawyers for Daniel deny that he spoke to Prevez after Brent's death.

Prevez said he returned his hired Fiat car in Sao Palo and bought another one with money sent by Daniel.

He planned to escape to Paraguay but only made it to Minas Gerais where he was arrested at a gas station by police.

Under Brazilian law Prevez could receive a lesser sentence if he acted on the paid instructions of another person.

Daniel claims this may be the reason he is being encouraged to accuse him of paying for the murder.

Brazilian police indicted both Daniel and Prevez on charges of 'qualified homicide' on February 7.

Brent's murder sparked a high profile police investigation and manhunt for his killer

They claim that Daniel stood to benefit from Brent's death.

Indeed, under New York law Daniel could claim a third of Brents net worth as the surviving spouse.

This is likely more than he would have received in a divorce settlement which would only have been half of any assets accrued during the marriage and much of Brent's $20 million fortune was amassed before the couple met.

Daniels lawyers have indicated that they intend to claim his share as a surviving spouse.

Police issued a preventive arrest warrant for Daniel following the indictment which has been submitted to Interpol, the Journal reports.

Brazilian authorities are also in talks with their U.S. counterparts to determine whether the US will extradite Daniel or pursue its own investigation.

On March 20, the FBI arrested Daniel for allegedly committing passport fraud after he tried to file a new US passport request for his son Lucas when the executor of Brent's will blocked him from accessing it.

Daniel must now wear an electronic ankle bracelet and await the authorities decision.
Now, AI has given him a glowing review for a chapter in his novel

He made serious allegations against Channel Seven in court

A former Channel Seven employee hints at a tell-all book about his dealings with 'a controversial figure accused of rape', following his evidence at Bruce Lehrmann's failed defamation trial.

Taylor Auerbach was one of the producers responsible for securing two exclusive interviews with Lehrmann on the network's Spotlight program, which aired in June and August 2023.

During Lehrmann's case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson last December, the Federal Court heard the former staffer's rent was covered for a year in exchange for those interviews at a cost of about $105,000.

However, Mr Auerbach then came forward in April and claimed Seven not only covered Lehrmann's accommodation costs, but that it spent thousands on cocaine, prostitutes, and $10,000 Thai massages.

The defamation trial reopened in light of Mr Auerbach's allegations - which Lehrmann and Seven have denied - and he was called to the witness stand to answer questions about his time at Spotlight.

On Saturday night, he took to social media to tell his 3,374 followers that artificial intelligence had given him a glowing review for the first chapter of his forthcoming novel.

He does not have a publisher, but described his work as 'one helluva yarn'.

Taylor Auerbach is pictured outside the Federal Court in April. He was a producer for Seven's Spotlight program

Bruce Lehrmann is pictured on an episode of Channel Seven's Spotlight program

'Ive been writing a book!' he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

'I dont have a publisher - rather, Im just having a crack, to see if I can do it. It might never be read by anybody but me. And Im only an each-way bet.'

'Fiction/Non-fiction? It would be crass to say.'

Mr Auerbach did not post an extract of the book, but instead uploaded two screenshots of overwhelmingly positive feedback he got from an artificial intelligence chatbot.

According to the AI review, the first chapter 'revolves around a series of events involving a group of individuals connected to the media and political landscape in Australia'.

'It follows the interactions and dynamics between these characters, including a producer, government consultants, and a controversial figure accused of rape,' it read.

The book promises to explore themes of 'media manipulation, power dynamics, and the ethical implications of reporting on sensitive issues,' along with the 'consequences of personal and professional decisions'.

The chatbot gave described Mr Auerbach's writing prowess as advanced and coherent.

Taylor Auerbach posted an excerpt of his forthcoming novel on social media on Saturday night (pictured)

Taylor Auerbach posted a portion of a review of his book by an AI chatbot (left and right)

'Based on this excerpt, the writer demonstrates a high level of proficient in crafting detailed narrative prose.

'The writing is coherent and flows smoothly, maintaining the reader's interest throughout.

'Overall, the writer's proficiency appears to be advances, with a talent for storytelling and attention to detail.'

The four people who commented on the post were encouraging, with three telling Mr Auerbach they would 'definitely' read the book.

His next social media post was at midnight on Saturday and made no mention of the book.

It was a blog-like recount of his quest to order McDonald's from a restaurant that was only taking deliveries.

'The local McDonalds wont serve me at counter, but will honour Uber Eats orders, so Ive ordered Uber Eats to the local McDonalds,' he wrote, with a selfie of him collecting his order outside the store.

Despite Mr Auerbach's explosive claims against Lehrmann and his former bosses in court during the defamation case in December, his evidence had a relatively small impact on Justice Michael Lee's judgement on April 15.

Lehrmann had launched defamation proceedings over an interview Brittany Higgins did on The Project in 2021, during which she told Wilkinson that she was raped by a male colleague in Parliament House in 2019.

A Federal Court judge found Bruce Lehramnn had most likely raped Brittany Higgins (pictured in blue) in Parliament House in 2019

Lehrmann was not named in the broadcast, but sued over claims that friends and colleagues were able to identify him as Ms Higgins' rapist.

However, his case toppled when Justice Lee found that Lehrmann had most likely raped Ms Higgins in the way she described on television, to police, and in two courts.

Mr Auerbach's evidence led Justice Lee to accept Mr Lehrmann had been 'less than candid' in his recollection about how Seven interview came about, and the compensation he received from the network.

His testimony appeared to fortify Justice Lee's negative assessment of Lehrmann, who was branded in the judgement as a lying rapist, but he also noted Mr Auerbach was motivated by resentment for his former employer.

'This is a man who desperately wanted to do as much damage to his previous employer as he could conceivably do,' the judge said.

'That doesnt mean hes not a truth teller, but dont put him up as some sort of noble public interested person who was coming along to get something off his chest because he thought hed assist his majestys justices.'

'Hes a man who wanted to make a range of allegations against people under absolute privilege.'

Mr Auerbach left his job at Channel Seven last year to join Sky News. He is now self-employed as the director of his own consultancy firm.
This video is no longer available

This video is no longer available

A young woman who got addicted to nangs as a teenager said the substance left her temporarily bedbound and unable to walk.

Molly Day, 20, who lives in Perth, first used nitrous oxide at her end-of-year school celebrations to mark the end of Year 12.

'They were so easily accessible, you could get them from smoke shops, corner shops, and get them online 24/7, so it was a very popular thing [with] teenagers especially,' Ms Day told ABC.

What started out as a bit of a laugh slowly morphed into a serious addiction, when she began to use the substance by herself after her friends found out the gas was available in larger cannisters.

Molly Day, 20 (pictured) who lives in Perth, said she got addicted to nangs after she first tried the substance at her end-of-year school party last year

Ms Day said her addiction got so bad that she couldn't even get out of bed one morning.

'I was doing them the night before actually and I woke up that morning with just about complete paralysis,' she said.

'By the time I got to the hospital, within a day or two, I couldn't even stand, couldn't walk, couldn't feel anything.'

Nitrous oxide is a colourless gas that is commonly administered by health professionals, as a type of anaesthetic to provide patients with pain relief.

The drug can cause major health affects including memory loss, a weakened immune system, and psychosis, if the substance is used excessively.

Consuming the drug in large quantities can lead to permanent brain and spinal cord damage.

Ms Day said she spent a lot of money buying nitrous oxide to fuel her addiction.

Dozens of retailers including food delivery platforms will allow people to order nangs and have them delivered at all hours of the day.

The availability of the substance has sparked an unhealthy habit among Aussies who are using nangs.

The 20-year-old (pictured right) was unable to walk for a period of time after she began consuming the laughing gas in larger quantities

Figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed that among the 300,000 people who used inhalants between 2022-2023, 56 per cent have used nitrous oxide.

Dr Jeremy Haylar, clinical director of the Alcohol and Drug Service for Metro North Mental Health in Queensland, said that a young student in Sydney, who is often referred to in medical studies, would spend $750 a day to buy nitrous oxide.

'She had no connection with reality, she was hearing voices and very confused, so she went to hospital because those effects had come on so quickly,' he said.

Around 600,000 Aussies have used nitrous oxide at some point and the substance has been associated with the deaths of 20 people from 2000-2021, findings from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre show.

Dr Haylar, who is among the dozens of medical professionals who deal with the impacts of excessive use of nangs firsthand, said the effects of the gas are devastating.

He treated a patient who lost control of their bladder, after they consumed nitrous oxide in high doses, and the person has still not recovered from the health issue.

'They had an Indwelling urinary catheter, and they also lost feeling in their legs, so they were very unsteady on their feet,' he said.

Ms Day, who spent three months in rehabilitation before she could begin walking again, still has not regained the feeling completely in her legs a year after she began her treatment.

Health experts have become increasingly concerned about the accessibility of nitrous oxide, which are sold in cannisters (pictured) as the substance can cause major health issues

She urged others not to use nangs and she hopes her horrifying ordeal will set an example, for those who may be thinking of consuming nitrous oxide.

'This [nangs] is something that affects everyone, it doesn't have to do with gender, it doesn't have to do with weight,' she said.

'It could be that one nang that possibly kills you and puts you in the position I was in and it's honestly just not worth it.'

The widespread concerns over nangs prompted the West Australian government to ban the sale of nitrous oxide cannisters.

The state government will amend the Medicines and Poisons Regulation 2016, to ensure the supply of nangs is only permitted for use by registered food businesses.

Health experts have urged other states to implement similar measures in a bid to restrict the number of young people, who can access large nitrous oxide cannisters.

Being in possession or selling the gas in not illegal in most states across Australia, unless there is a risk that users are likely to inhale the drug.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) now requires nitrous oxide to have a 'do not inhale' label to be included on cannisters after the change was introduced in 2022.
The father of an Aussie tourist stabbed on his Fiji holiday has broken his silence to urge others to have travel insurance.

Clayton Brett, 43, sought medical attention at a hospital in Nadi for a stab wound to his stomach instead of boarding his flight home to Australia on May 1.

He has been in an induced coma after becoming rapidly unwell once his wound became infected and he developed sepsis.

The medivac flight back to Australia cost $140,000 and his hospital fees came to a whopping $80,000.

The tourist's father, Terry Brett, told 7News the situation had been 'very difficult' for the family to deal with.

'The worry was for us that if we didnt get him home then, we possibly wouldnt get him home,' he said.

The stabbing comes as the Fiji government warned high cost-of-living pressures have seen an uptick in crime and urged tourists and locals to be careful.

The father of an Aussie tourist (pictured, Clayton Brett) stabbed on his Fiji holiday has broken his silence to urge others to have travel insurance

Clayton Brett, 43, sought medical attention at a hospital in Nadi for a stab wound to his stomach instead of boarding his flight home to Australia on May 1

'While we urge the Fiji Police Force to increase their presence in towns, cities and communities  we urge every Fijian to take caution in public spaces and secure their premises,' Fiji MP Rinesh Sharma said on social media.

Mr Brett said the soaring cost of the medical flight was reminder for Australian tourists to make sure they had organised their insurance.

'Any person that goes overseas and doesnt have travel insurance is silly,' Mr Brett said.

Clayton's family first became concerned about their son when they hadn't heard from him.

His parents, stepbrother and cousin desperately tried to track him down.

His stepbrother Matthew Davis said Clayton didn't come home when he was meant to and wasn't answering any phone calls.

In desperation, the family began to call hospitals in Fiji.

'We had a bad feeling there was something going on, so we called the hospitals to see if by chance he was at any of the hospitals,' Mr Davis said.

'They got news he was there and he actually presented with a stab wound to the stomach.'

As soon as they heard the news, Mr Brett and his partner Jenny Davis were on the next flight to Fiji to be by his side.

When they arrived, they were told Clayton must remain in 24-hour intensive care to receive treatment.

The medivac flight back to Australia cost $140,000 and his hospital fees came to a whopping $80,000

Septic shock is a life-threatening condition that can cause dangerously low blood pressure and organs to shutdown.

Clayton required dialysis as his kidneys were failing, but the hospital in Nadi didn't have a functioning dialysis machine.

His parents made the crucial decision to fly him back to Australia at a cost of $140,000, which they had to scrape together and pay up front.

A GoFundMe was set up by Clayton's stepbrother to help ease the financial burden.
A domestic violence victim who was plunged into six years of homelessness after escaping her abusive ex-husband has issued a plea for the government to guarantee and boost a program that helped her secure a home.

In 2014, Maitland mum Heather Bosworth, 44, was evicted from her home after she fell behind on her rental payments.

In 2012, her ex was sentenced to nine months in jail for domestic violence offences against her, including stalking, intimidation and breaching an AVO

But once he was released, he moved into a home on her street, adding to her stress.

The mum-of-10 said the anxiety compounded in the weeks before she lost her home.

Heather Bosworth was homeless for six years after she tried to escape her perpetrator

Ms Bosworth stopped paying rent and thought if she was homeless she could 'escape' (pictured housing in western Sydney)

Ms Bosworth said at the time she believed being homeless was the only way for her to 'escape' her circumstances.

'I didn't bother paying my rent, got evicted and ended up being homeless,' she said.

'That was the only way I could escape, by going from town to town.'

Ms Bosworth said the signs of abuse didn't start till after she married in 2011.

'He was really obsessive and controlling. He tried to take control of my money and then it was verbal and emotional abuse,' she said.

'He took all my money. If I didn't buy him alcohol, I'd get bashed in.

'It got so bad that I felt scared to walk out.'

After her eviction, she spent the next six years homeless, bouncing around between stints of couch surfing with friends, street sleeping and other temporary and emergency accommodation arrangements.

'I stayed wherever I felt safe, in parks, trains, train stations, even at 24-hour McDonald's. I'd sit there all night just so I felt safe,' she said.

In 2020, she heard about the Together Home program. The government initiative allows people experiencing homelessness to rent private rentals that are leased by the government and subleased to community housing providers.

Importantly, participants can also access wraparound services such as mental health and legal support, as well as case workers.

Since its start in July 2020 up to January 2023, the program has housed 1092 clients. About 75 per cent of people in the program have maintained their rentals.

Heather and Hume Community Housing chief executive Brad Braithwaite at last year's Together Home program graduation

For Ms Bosworth, the program helped her rebuild her life, describing her home as a 'palace'.

She's since held down a job in retail, kept her home and divorced her husband.

'Financially, I couldn't get divorced, and I didn't have the support to have anyone to serve him with the papers because of the past between me and the perpetrator, and the paperwork to get into the courts was just a nightmare,' she said.

However, the future of Together Home remains unclear, with the government yet to confirm whether it will be given extra funding to meet demand.

The $11.3m from last year's budget will allow support packages to be delivered for some clients until 2026.

Homelessness NSW, however, has called for an injection of $62m over the next three years to ensure about 400 more people experiencing homelessness can access the program.

'NSW cannot afford to again curtail funding for a program at the coalface of the housing and homelessness crisis when one in two people (accessing homelessness services) are being turned away from help,' Homelessness chief executive Dom Rowe said.

Domestic violence victims represent many of the people accessing homelessness services, with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reporting that about 38 per cent of the 104,000 people who accessed specialist homelessness services in 2022-23 had experienced family and domestic violence.

'Domestic violence is one of the main drivers of homelessness. We cannot solve homelessness without ensuring women and children have a safe place to go,' Ms Rowe said.

'It is unacceptable that women are forced to choose between staying with an abusive partner or sleeping rough. Housing First initiatives like Together Home are essential to ensure women and children have somewhere safe to go.

Ms Bosworth knows first hand how life-changing the program can be.

Domestic Violence NSW chief executive Elise Phillips (pictured) said women escaping domestic violence situations needed to access housing

'I've achieved all my goals plus more ... like getting my mental health back on track, getting all my health check-ups up to date and getting myself back to the way I wanted to be,' she said.

'I don't think I would have been able to do it without the support of the Together Home program, both financially and mentally.

'I want the government to fund the program again because there are a lot of people in my situation and they wouldn't be able to get into safe and long-term housing without it.'

Domestic Violence NSW chief executive Elise Phillips said ensuring domestic violence victim-survivors had access to housing when they were escaping perpetrators was 'vital'.

However, in NSW wait times for social housing can stretch between five to 10 years, with access more difficult of people in regional and remote areas.

'Quite simply, victim-survivors escaping violence must have somewhere safe to go,' she said.

'Yet the shortages of crisis refuges, transitional accommodation and social housing has meant women are forced to choose between homelessness and staying in the violence.'

Ms Phillips said she'd heard reports of victim-survivors living in their cars or tents to remain mobile and safe from their perpetrators.

'This in itself poses a number of safety concerns and limits the victim-survivors' ability to engage with support services,' she said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are even more at risk, with figures from the AIHW stating they are nearly 11 times more likely to die from assault than other women and are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence.

NSW Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson (pictured) couldn't guarantee the housing program's survival

The Minns government has flagged imminent announcements and funding for housing measures for domestic violence victim-survivors, acknowledging the need to ensure victim-survivors have access to safe housing.

While NSW Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson couldn't guarantee the Together Home program's continuation, she acknowledged that 'demand for emergency accommodation and long-term housing is not keeping up with supply'.

'We know the Together Home program has assisted many vulnerable people in these situations. The former government left this program on a funding cliff with no continual investment,' she said.

Ms Jackson said she couldn't 'pre-empt the budget' but pointed to other support packages that supported women and children leaving violence like Staying Home, Leaving Violence, which recently had a $48m funding investment through the government's $230m emergency package to support victim-survivors of domestic violence.

'Fundamentally, we desperately need more long-term social housing for women and children leaving violence,' she said.

'We have established Homes NSW and are conducting the government land audit to expedite this work. We are delivering the $600m Social Housing Accelerator and negotiating hard with the Commonwealth to lift funding through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement as well as undertaking our own NSW government budget process to ensure we have the resources we need to confront this challenge.

'We can't pre-empt the budget - but we will have more to say as we continue to explore all options to strengthen support for housing.'
A young woman who was allegedly attacked while she was on a run has shared terrifying footage of her with a black eye in the moments afterwards.

Breanna Coats, 24, is warning others to be careful after she was approached by a pair of teens while she was jogging in Adelaide's southern suburbs last week.

She shared a 19 second clip on TikTok which she filmed while she was still in shock.

'I'm shaking... I just got attacked. What the f**k,' she said with a visibly large bruise under one eye.

It is alleged that a 13-year-old girl and a 16-year old girl approached Ms Coates and asked her if she had a vape before lashing out.

Breanna Coats shared a 19 second clip after she was approached by a pair of teens while she was jogging in Adelaide

'They shoved me onto the ground and she [one of the teens] was repeatedly kicking me in the head,' she told Yahoo.

Ms Coates said the girls ran off after a passerby in a car stopped to help.

In the wake of the alleged attack, she shared the video warning women around the country to be aware of their surroundings.

'I'm doing ok just very sore and shaken up,' Ms Coates captioned the video.

'Just a PSA to all my girls to be careful and to be aware of your surroundings.

'The world can be a scary place at times and it's unfair that we can feel unsafe just for exercising outside.'

It is understood that Ms Coates reported the incident to police and that two people have been charged with aggravated assault.

She initially sent the video to her family but later decided to share it online to raise awareness, and since then it's attracted almost 90,000 views.

'I was just so in shock I actually didn't feel anything, and I didn't know if there was any damage... I pulled out my phone camera to see and then started to record it,' Ms Coates said.

A couple of days later, Ms Coates provided an update on social media and thanked everyone for their messages of support.

'I don't know what I can say... it's still being investigated,' she said.

'I'm doing ok, I'm still just in shock and trying to process everything at this stage.

'My eye is quite sore and bruised and I also have some injuries to my arm as well.

'I'm really grateful that I got out with only minor injuries, it could have been so much worse... I initially thought they were trying to knock me unconscious.'
NATO has staged a show of strength against Vladimir Putin with British Paras taking part in a huge military exercise in Estonia, which neighbours Russia.

The drill was the organisation's biggest since the Cold War and saw 82 British soldiers and 60 American troops parachute from three US C-17 transporter planes.

The jump is part of a series of land, air and sea missions to be carried out by all 32 NATO states known as Exercise Steadfast Defender.

The exercises are set to take place in a range of different locations from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and yesterday's saw troops drop in a country which many fear the Russian president will invade next.

The display of unity comes after Russia launched a punishing wave of missile, kamikaze drone and artillery attacks on Kharkiv on Thursday night amid signs Vladimir Putin may seek to seize Ukraine's second city.

NATO has staged a show of strength against Vladimir Putin with British Paras (pictured) taking part in a huge military exercise in Estonia, which neighbours Russia

Parachuters pictured landing in Estonia during the mission which is part of Exercise Steadfast Defender - a series of NATO drills

The drill was the organisation's biggest since the Cold War and saw 82 British soldiers and 60 American troops parachute from three US C-17 transporter planes

Many fear Estonia, which lies on the northern end of the Russian border, will be Putin's next target

Shocking images and videos out of the devastated metropolis showed several residential buildings on fire and rubble strewn about the streets as rescue workers rushed to extinguish the blaze.

Corporal Thomas Keld, 35, was among the British troops who took part in the drill and told The Mirror: 'We started planning for this days ago - a lot of effort goes into it, manifesting, ground training, orders...

'We were up at 1 o'clock this morning packing kit. But the best part is when the doors open and you get hooked up and the lights come on. It's showtime. It's good fun...it's what we joined the Parachute Regiment for.'

Corporal Keld added that he had enjoyed jumping off the aircraft and feeling 'weightless' in the air.

Bombardier Ryan Shaves, 29, described the moment he exited the transporter plane.

He said: 'Everything goes completely silent and then you're just doing your drill, seeing who you're closest to and trying to get the best landing you can get.'

It comes amid growing tension between NATO countries and Russia after Britain expelled Moscow's defence attache and shut a secret base known as 'Putin's Palace' earlier this week.

James Cleverly unveiled plans to 'target and dismantle Russian intelligence gathering operations' in what is seen as one of the most significant steps of its kind since the end of the Cold War.

Russia struck Kharkiv and Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, on the border with Russia, with a mass missile, drone, and artillery attack in the early hours of May 10, 2024

James Cleverly unveiled plans to 'target and dismantle Russian intelligence gathering operations'

The Home Secretary unmasked the Russian defence attache, Colonel Maxim Elovik, as a top spy and he will be immediately expelled from the UK.

He also announced that a series of diplomatic premises suspected of being spy bases will lose their special legal status.

The minister told MPs: 'Our message to Russia is clear. Stop this illegal war, withdraw your troops from Ukraine, cease this malign activity.'
BrewDog's millionaire former CEO James Watt insists he is just 'demanding' and 'wired differently' as he quits the hipster brewer after 17 years.

Mr Watt, 41, this week handed over the reins of the top job to chief operating officer James Arrow, but will remain with the group as a non-executive director on the board and continue to advise them on strategy.

He has insisted he had been considering quitting 'for a while' amid his tenure being marred by criticism and controversies, including accusations by former workers the firm had a 'culture of fear' with 'toxic attitudes' towards junior staff.

After nearly two decades, having started BrewDog in a garage in Aberdeenshire with his friend Martin Dickie, Mr Watt says he is now burnt-out and admitted 'there are people that can' run a company with 3,000 people 'better'.

Last year, it was reported he sought specialist help after he was described as 'semi-autistic' in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards staff.

BrewDog's millionaire former CEO James Watt insists he is just 'demanding' and 'wired differently' as he quits the hipster brewer after 17 years

Mr Watt, pictured with his girlfriend and former Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo

The firm was accused by former workers in an open letter in 2021 of having a 'culture of fear'

BrewDog responded to the open letter, writing: 'we hear you, loud and clear'

He was diagnosed with ADHD - which causes people to be restless and impulsive - and Asperger syndrome, a form of autism.

The retired fishing boat captain told The Times this week the diagnosis made him realise his head is 'wired' differently.

'I don't have that same emotional intelligence,' he said.

'You're less likely to care what other people think. You're happy to do things that are a bit on the edge. That has definitely helped. But not having the same emotional way of relating to people became more of a challenge.'

Mr Watt, who starts each day with an ice bath, conceded that being 'intense and demanding' wasn't the right environment for everyone.

'But the vast majority of people that have worked very closely with me would give a very different perception,' he said.

'I'm demanding and have high standards, but how do you build something without that?'

Mr Watt will take on the newly created non-executive role of 'captain and co-founder' and retains his 21 per cent shareholding in BrewDog.

In a Linkedin post this week, Mr Watt said: 'After 17 fantastic years as chief executive, I have decided to transition into a new role in the business, one of "captain and co-Founder" - and James Arrow will pick up the reins as chief executive as our business pushes forward into our next phase of growth.

'In my new role I will remain as a board member, a director and I will also be part time strategic adviser to the business and our to leadership team.'

Mr Watt comes from a family of fishermen and used to help his father on his fishing boat in the North Sea. On his LinkedIn profile he claims to be a 'fully qualified deep sea captain'.

Georgia, 29, and boyfriend James Watt, 41, seen on holiday in the Maldives. The pair met last summer after a friend set up a blind date

Mr Watt (right) with co-founder Martin Dickie (left) in Scotland, 2020. The school friends set up the brewery from a garage in 2007

Mr Watt pictured at his company brewery and office headquarters in Ellon, Scotland

He graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in law and economics. After landing a job as a trainee solicitor he quit after two weeks - branding 'conforming' as 'painful at best - and, three years later, started BrewDog with Mr Dickie.

The business struggled at first but took off when, after around six months, Tesco placed an order to sell its beer across the country.

In 2014, Mr Watt won Great British Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2016 both he and Mr Dickie were awarded an MBE.

The pair grew up as best friends and became flatmates when they both lived in Edinburgh.

Mr Watt, who is divorced with two daughters, has very much been the face of the company since its inception.

He has been dating former Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo, 29, since last summer after being set up on a blind date by a friend.

Mr Watt's tenure at BrewDog has been marred by controversy in recent years, with the firm accused by former workers in an open letter in 2021 of having a 'culture of fear' within the business, with 'toxic attitudes' towards junior staff.

He later admitted to being 'too intense and demanding' amid a workplace culture row where he was accused of inappropriate behaviour and abusing his power.

Pictured are Martin Dickie and James Watt - BrewDog's founders

Mr Watt will take on the newly created non-executive role of 'captain and co-founder'

The former Made In Chelsea star, 29, and Mr Watt first got together over the summer

Georgia Toffolo and her boyfriend Mr Watt shared a glimpse into their new relationship

Speaking with Steven Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast about his leadership at the company, he admitted to previously pushing people 'too far' because of his 'high standards.'

But the CEO - whose company has been accused of having a 'rotten culture' - said that his actions were done with '100 per cent good intentions.'

Mr Watt revealed: 'It's completely fair to say at times in the journey I have been too intense.

'I have been too demanding, that I have set standards for the team which I would set for myself, and for a lot of the team members that is unattainable.

'I just pushed for such high standards, unrealistic deadlines, it's because I was so focused on 'let's build the thing, let's create more jobs, let's deliver more value for our customers.'

'The intention was 100 per cent good and because I was so bought in and so focused on that, I did push people too far.'

More than 15 ex-staff previously spoke out against Mr Watt with some claiming he made female bartenders feel 'uncomfortable' and 'powerless'.

They were even advised by colleagues on how to avoid unwelcome attention from Mr Watt, according to an investigation by BBC Scotland's Disclosure programme.

Katelynn Ising, who worked at a BrewDog bar in Ohio, US, said female staff would dress down when they knew Mr Watt would be in their bars.

Other former staff claim Mr Watt was witnessed by staff kissing an intoxicated customer on a roof terrace at another US bar.

Mr Watt has said the allegations are false and denies behaving inappropriately.

Last year, Watts' disgruntled former employees shared a scathing open letter slamming the company for its 'toxic attitudes' and accusing it of fostering a 'culture of fear' among staff.

Penned by a group called 'Punks With Purpose', the letter featured a list of 63 names of people who used to work for the firm, and takes aim at the Scotland-based brewery's founders James Watt and Martin Dickie.

It claimed the company is 'built on a cult of personality' and alleged that it left some staff feeling 'burnt out, afraid and miserable', adding that 'a significant number of people have admitted they have suffered mental illness' as a result of working there.

Georgia - who is known by her friends as Toff - admitted she hopes her boyfriend Mr Watt will be 'the one'

Mr Watt will hand over the reins to chief operating officer James Arrow, but will remain with the group as a non-executive director on the board and continue to advise them on strategy

It went so far as to claim being treated like a human being 'was sadly not always a given' for those employed by BrewDog - trashing the image of the hipster company which offers 'pawternity leave' if a staff member gets a dog and pays employees 500 to quit if they don't feel they're a good fit.

The letter also alleged that some senior staff members 'belittled' others beneath them and 'pressured them into working beyond their capacity' to the point where they eventually felt 'forced out of the business'.

It claimed the single biggest shared experience of former staff is 'a residual feeling of fear', both of the atmosphere and the repercussions if they were to speak out. It claimed 'many' felt unable to sign the letter because doing so would 'leave them feeling extremely vulnerable'.

The letter then personally accused Mr Watt for being responsible for the company's 'rotten culture', claiming in the wake of his success are people 'left burnt out, afraid and miserable'. It ends by demanding a 'genuine apology' for the people who felt they were 'harassed, assaulted, belittled, insulted or gaslighted'.

In response at the time, Mr Watt said: 'At BrewDog our people are our main priority, which is why the open letter we saw on Twitter was so upsetting, but so important,' it said.

'Our focus now is not on contradicting or contesting the details of that letter, but to listen, learn and act.

'At BrewDog we are focussed on building the best business we can. We have always tried to do the best by our team  we do have many thousands of employees with positive stories to tell as a result. But the tweet we saw last night proves that on many occasions we haven't got it right. We are committed to doing better, not just as a reaction to this, but always; and we are going to reach out to our entire team past and present to learn more.

'But most of all, right now, we are sorry. It's hard to hear those comments, but it must have been harder to say them. We appreciate that and we will endeavour to honour that effort and courage with the real change it deserves.

'We aren't going to make excuses, we're going to take action. From our commitment to sustainability to our passion for beer, BrewDog has always been defined by taking responsibility and continually improving. This is no exception.'
Madeleine McCann's parents have shared a heartbreaking message as they marked their daughter's milestone 21st birthday.

Kate and Gerry McCann posted the message on the official Find Maddie Campaign Facebook page, where they wrote: 'Happy 21st Birthday Madeleine. Still missing. Still missed. Still looking.'

The heartfelt post included a photo of Maddie in a pink dress and bucket hat - believed to be one of the last taken of her before she disappeared on May 3, 2007.

Beneath the caption is the word 'Hope', as thousands of supporters across the globe regularly flock to the site to donate towards the search for the missing girl.

Earlier this month, Madeleine's devastated parents took to social media to share a poignant message on the 17th anniversary of her disappearance.

Madeleine McCann's parents shared a heartbreaking message on their daughters official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page, celebrating her milestone 21st birthday

Kate and Gerry McCann (pictured ) wrote: 'Happy 21st Birthday Madeleine. Still missing. Still missed. Still looking.'

'It's 17 years since Madeleine was taken from us,' a social media post from Kate and Gerry McCann read.

'It's 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. And the absence still aches.

'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.'

During the same week, the Home Office put forward an additional 192,000 towards Scotland Yard's investigation into the disappearance that shook the nation, with police from across Europe still fighting to find out exactly what happened to the little girl.

German police are currently probing prime suspect and convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 47.

He is currently serving a prison sentence for raping a woman in Praia de Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further offences in the area between 2000 and 2017.

At the trial of the offences unrelated to Maddie's disappearance last month, a British police officer involved in Madeleine's case revealed dealings with Helge Busching, a key witness in the disappearance and former pal of Brueckner.

DC Mark Draycott revealed he had taken a statement from Busching in 2017, the witness telling police his fears Brueckner was involved in Madeleine's disapperance.

It would be another three years before German officials named Brueckner as their chief suspect in 2020.

And a former girlfriend to Brueckner told a court in Germany in April that detectives still had not searched her home despite revealing he had called her on the night Madeleine disappeared.

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, after being left asleep in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, Portugal

Christian Brueckner, the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, appearing in Braunschweig court in Germany on February 16th 2024, accused of other offences

The trial unrelated to Madeleine's disappearance has heard several pieces of evidence suggesting police were slow to investigate aspects of the case - or did not follow up on leads at all.

His defence have tried on several occasions to have witnesses ruled out - claiming the case is unfair and prejudiced against Brueckner because of the link to Madeleine, but all attempts so far have failed.

The German national maintains he has nothing to do with Maddie's disappearance, after she vanished from her bedroom at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, Portugal, while on holiday with her parents.

Gerry and Kate had left their three children - including toddler twins Sean and Amelie - asleep in their holiday apartment while they ate at a tapas bar 120metres away.

When Kate returned to check on the kids at around 10pm that evening, she discovered that Madeleine was not in her bed and was missing.

British police initially investigated the case before it was archived in July 2008 due to lack of evidence.

The family kept the case open with private detectives until Scotland Yard opened its own investigation in 2011.

Brueckner was officially named as a suspect in April 2022 after his yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan was reportedly spotted near the resort where Maddie had vanished.

German prosecutors say phone logs show he received a call on May 3, 2007, near the Ocean Club. He claimed he was miles away with a young woman at the time.

Brueckner has not been charged in connection to the case and denies the allegations.

The trial is expected to continue through the spring and into the summer.
READ MORE: Is Mona Lisa smiling? It depends on your mood , study finds

The mystery of where the Mona Lisa was painted might have finally been solved after a geologist and art historian claims to have tracked down the location of the famous painting.

In the 500 years since Leonardo Da Vinci created the Mona Lisa, millions have discussed and debated the intrinsic details of his masterpiece.

One such debate has been over the background of the painting and whether the view was imaginary or painted in a specific location in Italy.

Finally, geologist and Renaissance art historian Ann Pizzorusso believes she might finally have an answer to put the debate to rest.

Using both her fields of expertise, Ms Pizzorusso has analysed the background of the painting and she believes the painting might have been done in the picturesque town of Lecco, situated on the shores of Lake Como.

Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings of all. Now, the mystery of where the Mona Lisa was painted might have been solved after a geologist and art historian claims to have finally tracked down the location

Ann Pizzorusso has analysed the background of the painting and she believes the painting might have been painted in the picturesque town of Lecco - situated on the shores of Lake Como, northern Italy (pictured)

What do we know about Mona Lisa? Mona Lisa is an oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), one of the most revered painters of all. It's believed the Mona Lisa was begun in 1503 or 1504 in Florence, Italy and took several years to complete. It's traditionally considered to depict the Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo - although this is unproven. What's more, where she was sitting when da Vinci painted her has largely been a mystery. Advertisement

The expert in the history of art believes Lecco's Azzone Visconti bridge, which was built in the 14th century, is the same as the one in the background.

It is also an area in the southwestern Alps which da Vinci is known to have visited.

However, she acknowledges that focusing on the bridge is not enough; other historians have made claims in the past that the background is that of the small town of Bobbio or the province of Arezzo which have similar bridges.

Ms Pizzorusso is convinced she has found the right location by focusing on other aspects of the landscape.

Speaking to The Observer she said: 'The arched bridge was ubiquitous throughout Italy and and many looked very similar.

'It is impossible to identify an exact location from a bridge alone; they all talk about the bridge and nobody talks about the geology.

'Art historians said Leonardo always used his imagination, but you can give this picture to any geologist in the world and they'll say what I'm saying about Lecco.

'Even a non-geologist can now see the similarities.'

Ms Pizzorusso is convinced she has found the location of Da Vinci masterpiece by comparing the mountains in Lecco (left) with those depicted in the Mona Lisa (right)

Strong case: Retracing Da Vinci's steps, Ms Pizzorusso is convinced the Azzone Visconti bridge (left) is the same as the one depicted in the Mona Lisa (right)

Lecco's Azzone Visconti bridge was built between 1336-1338 on the Adda River in Lecco, northern Italy

As a geologist, Ms Pizzorusso claims the limestone mountains in Lecco are remarkably similar to the grey-white rocks depicted in the Mona Lisa.

To confirm her theory, she visited Lecco herself and traced Da Vinci's footsteps.

She said: 'We know from his notebooks that he spent a lot of time exploring the Lecco area and the territory further north.

'We have really perfect evidence at Lecco.'

Michael Daley, director of watchdog ArtWatch UK, called the findings 'momentous'.

'Pizzorusso has compellingly pinned down the location with proof of Leonardos presence in the area, its geology and, of course, a bridge,' he said.

Jacques Franck, former Leonardo consultant to the Louvre, also agreed that Ms Pizzorusso conclusions are accurate.

'I don't doubt for one second that Pizzorusso is right in her theory, given her perfect knowledge of the geology of the Italian country  and more precisely of the places where Leonardo travelled in his lifetime, which could correspond to the mountainous landscape in the Mona Lisa,' Mr Franck said.

Mona Lisa now hangs behind bulletproof glass in a gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris - and France has faced calls to return it to Italy

Ms Pizzorusso previously investigated whether Da Vinci had painted both versions of the Virgin of the Rocks which are displayed separately in the Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery in London.

Before 2010, it was widely believed that the painting in the National Gallery was the work of one of Da Vinci's assistants.

However, after it was restored the gallery and Ms Pizzorusso concluded it was possible Da Vinci painted all the picture himself.

Arguably, Mona Lisa is the most famous of the paintings by the Italian polymath, as well as one of the most famous paintings of all time

Mona Lisa now hangs behind bulletproof glass in a gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris, where it has recently been targeted by eco-vandals.

France has faced calls to return the paining to Italy from many notable figures, including Italian cyclist Alberto Bettiol who tweeted: 'Monsieur le President, please give us back the Monna Lisa', using the Italian spelling for the masterpiece.

Ms Pizzorusso will present her evidence about the painting at a geology conference in Lecco this weekend.
An Aussie mum has vented her frustrations over insanely high prices for second-hand items at an op shop.

Mother-of-six Nicole Preece had no problem calling out the exorbitant prices recently spotted at her local Salvation Army store in Melbourne.

Ms Preece claimed that not only almost all items for sale were unaffordable, but that a number of them were also filthy, including a $12 'heavily stained' pair of trainers that 'stunk like the family cat had just urinated in them'.

Other 'bargains' included $280 rugs filled with 'dog or cat hair', a $28 jeans with a 'crusty crotch', while a pre-loved karaoke machine would have set her back $299.

It didn't come with a microphone but did come with a set of drum sticks - until Ms Preece realised they sold separately for $15.

The passionate op shopper called out Salvation Army over the hefty prices while claiming to 'be there for the less fortunate ones that need them the most'.

An Aussie mum (pictured) has been shocked by prices at her local Salvation Army after finding a second-hand rug for $280 and a karaoke machine (pictured) for $299

She posted a four minute to TikTok, which has since attracted almost one million views and thousands of comments.

Aussies were equally as furious over exorbitant prices at second-hand stores meant to help those doing it tough.

'I've literally seen charity shops charge double the price for an Anko Kmart brand brand new,' one viewer commented.

Another added: 'I think they've outpriced the lower income earners.'

A third wrote: 'I donate plenty of good quality clothes [and] I never see anything that good in these stores.

One viewer said they had noticed anti-theft tags on items at charity stores.

'If people are having to steal from an op shop it's proof right there it's too expensive,' they wrote.

Another suggested that shoppers ask staff if an item is old stock, adding: 'If it is, they will happily lower the price.'

The Salvation Army's website says shoppers can find 'second-hand or vintage piece at an affordable price' in their stores nationwide.

'For those who are doing it tough, pre-loved furniture, clothing and goods donated to our stores are distributed free of charge to those in need through The Salvation Army's community programs,' the website reads.

The charity adds that all profits made from sales in-store go towards its community programs.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Salvation Army Australia for comment.
More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in Ukraine's Kharkiv region after Russia blitzed the city in a surprise cross-border attack that began on Friday.

The local governor of Ukraine's second-largest city, Oleg Synegubov, shared the devastating news on Sunday in a post on social media.

'In total, 4,073 people have been evacuated,' governor Synegubov wrote, a day after Russian forces claimed the capture of five villages in the region.

Synegubov said that on Sunday a 63-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Glyboke and a 38-year-old man was wounded in Vovchansk, a border town with some 3,000 residents before the current offensive.

Ukraine on Friday announced that Russia had launched an attack in the Kharkiv region, amid fears tyrant Vladimir Putin seeks to seize the nation's second city.

Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire at the site of an overnight missile strike on private buildings in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 10 May, 2024, amid the Russian invasion

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said three residential houses were set alight and destroyed with dozens more damaged as a result of a Russian attack Thursday night, which he said targeted both infrastructure and residential areas

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 10, 2024

Kyiv's troops pushed back Russian forces from most of Kharkiv region in late 2022, but Moscow has now been making small advances into a border zone as war-weary Ukrainians struggle with ammunition and manpower shortages.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had been carrying out counterattacks in border villages in Kharkiv region.

'Disrupting Russian offensive plans is now our number one task,' he said.

Troops must 'return the initiative to Ukraine', the president insisted, again urging allies to speed up arms deliveries.

Ukrainian officials had warned for weeks that Moscow might try to attack its northeastern border regions, pressing its advantage as Ukraine struggles with delays in Western aid and manpower shortages.

When the Russian offensive began on Friday, the Ukrainian defence ministry said: 'At approximately 5:00am (0200 GMT), the enemy attempted to break through our defence line under the cover of armoured vehicles'.

A high-ranking Ukrainian military source said Russia had advanced into Ukraine by just over half a mile close to the town of Vovchansk and was trying to 'create a buffer zone' to prevent attacks into Russian territory.

'The city is constantly under fire,' said Oleksiy Kharkivsky, a senior police officer from Vovchansk helping to coordinate the evacuations.

'Everything in the city is being destroyed... You hear constant explosions, artillery, mortars. The enemy is hitting the city with everything they have,' he said, speaking at an evacuation point in a village near Vovchansk.

A view from the site aftermath of the explosion of a Russian missile in the area of a cottage residential development in Kharkiv, Ukraine on May 10, 2024

Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire at the site of an overnight missile strike on private buildings in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 10 May 2024

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed 10 attack drones, the air force said, but added that two guided missiles were also launched by Moscow's forces

Kharkivsky said one person who was trapped under rubble had died overnight and 'several people were killed by shelling' on Saturday.

He estimated that around 1,500 people had been evacuated or fled Vovchansk since Friday and said there had been 32 drone strikes on the town over the past 24 hours.

He said evacuation teams had come under fire 'many times'.

The current advances are the Kremlin's biggest land offensives in the region since it unleashed terror in February 2022, when the war began.

President Zelensky said: 'Russia launched a new wave of counter-offensive actions in this area. Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery...

'Now there is a fierce battle under way in this direction,' he said in a press conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine had previously said it was aware that Russia was assembling thousands of troops along the northeastern border, close to the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

'The entire town is under massive shelling now, it is not safe to stay here,' Vovchansk administration head Tamaz Hambarishvili told Ukraine's Hromadske Radio.

The town, which has a population of 3,000 people, sits less than five miles across the border from Russia. Evacuations were underway there and in nearby areas on Friday.

One person was killed and several were wounded in the town amid shelling on Friday morning, regional police said.

'Enemy shelling from various types of weapons has been intensifying in Kharkiv region in the northern direction for the last day,' regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.

Vitaliy Ganchev, the Russian-installed official in the region, confirmed there was fighting near the border and urged civilians to take shelter.

'In this regard, I ask residents living in these areas to be careful and not to leave shelters without an urgent need,' he added.

The start of Friday's ground assault came after Russia launched a blizzard of missiles and kamikaze drones on Kharkiv on Thursday night.

Synehubov said three residential houses were set alight and destroyed with dozens more damaged as a result of the Russian attack, which he said targeted both infrastructure and residential areas.

In photos that he posted on the Telegram messaging app, huge flames can be seen engulfing buildings as thick clouds of smoke were sent billowing into the air.

Two people, including an 11-year-old child, were injured in the strikes, according to reports.

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed 10 attack drones, the air force said, but added that two guided missiles were also launched by Moscow's forces.

These missiles are believed to have caused the damage to the residential buildings.
Israel launched deadly strikes on war-torn Gaza on Sunday that claimed the lives of two doctors, after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah.

Gaza's civil defence agency said the two medics were killed in the central town of Deir al-Balah after heavy gunfire from Israeli helicopters was reported near the city.

The strikes come as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an immediate ceasefire, a return of hostages, and a 'surge' in humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.

'I repeat my call, the world's call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid,' Guterres said in a video address to an international donors' conference in Kuwait.

'But a ceasefire will only be the start. It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war', he added.

Palestinians prepare to flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city on May 12, 2024

A view of damage to an apartment following a hit from an Israeli rocket that was launched from the Gaza Strip

Palestinians residing in various areas of Gaza's Rafah, where Israeli attacks are particularly intense, flee to what they perceive as safer regions, taking along whatever belongings they could on May 11, 2024

A Palestinian man makes his way as he flees Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city

Israeli strikes on Gaza continued on Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah despite international outcry over its military incursion into eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing.

It comes after Guterres said on Friday that Gaza risked an 'epic humanitarian disaster' if Israel launched a full-scale ground operation in Rafah.

'The war in Gaza is causing horrific human suffering, devastating lives, tearing families apart and rendering huge numbers of people homeless, hungry and traumatised,' Guterres said.

Witnesses said Israel had carried out strikes in Rafah near the crossing with Egypt on Saturday, and images showed smoke rising over the city.

Israeli troops defied international opposition this week and entered eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing and suspending traffic through another.

Israel expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah, after saying 300,000 people had fled the city since the army urged people to leave earlier in the week.

Residents piled water tanks, mattresses and other belongings onto vehicles and prepared to flee again.

'We don't know where to go,' said Farid Abu Eida, who was preparing to leave Rafah, having already been displaced there from Gaza City.

Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip from a position in southern Israel on May 12, 2024

Displaced Palestinians evacuate from the Tal al-Zaatar camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on May 11, 2024

A woman and child arrive on foot at the Daraj quarter of Gaza City on May 11, 2024

'There is no place left in Gaza that is safe or not overcrowded... There's nowhere we can go.'

Residents were told to go to the 'humanitarian zone' of Al-Mawasi, on the coast northwest of Rafah.

But EU chief Charles Michel said on social media that Rafah civilians were being ordered to 'unsafe zones', denouncing it as 'unacceptable'.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also denounced the practice of forcing civilians into unsafe areas in Rafah as 'intolerable.'

Borrell took to X, formerly Twitter, to address the situation in southern Gaza, where Israel launched a ground attack.

'Forcing civilians to evacuate Rafah to unsafe zones is intolerable. Israel is bound by international law to provide safety to civilians,' wrote Borrell.

'We continue to urge Israel not to go ahead w/ a ground operation in Rafah. This would further exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.'

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had started transferring 22 patients from a field hospital in Rafah, saying Israel's operations in the city were 'making it impossible to provide lifesaving medical assistance'.

Hamas accused Israel of 'expanding the incursion into Rafah to include new areas in the centre and the west of the city'.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said 'we have eliminated dozens of terrorists in eastern Rafah' and the army said troops were fighting 'armed terrorists' at the crossing and had found 'numerous underground tunnel shafts'.

Internally displaced Palestinians arrive to Khan Younis after leaving Rafah following an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army, southern Gaza Strip, 11 May 2024

EU chief Charles Michel said on social media that Rafah civilians were being ordered to 'unsafe zones', denouncing it as 'unacceptable'

Sunday's attack comes as mediation efforts towards a truce and hostage release appears to have stalled.

US President Joe Biden said on Saturday a ceasefire would be achieved 'tomorrow' if Hamas released the hostages.

'Israel said it's up to Hamas, if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow. And the ceasefire would begin tomorrow,' Biden told a crowd of around 100 at a fundraising event in Seattle.

The US president raised the issue after warning Israel on Wednesday that he would stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons if its forces attack the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, amid concerns about civilian casualties caused by the use of US bombs.

'If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used to deal with the cities,' Biden told CNN.

'We're not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used.'

The war began with Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

During their attack, militants also seized hostages. Israel estimates 128 of them remain in Gaza including 36 who the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,971 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
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This video is no longer available

David Cameron today warned Israel it would be 'wrong' to launch an all-out offensive in Rafah 'without a plan to protect people'.

But the Foreign Secretary dismissed calls for the UK to stop selling arms to Israel as he argued it would not be a 'wise path' and warned it would 'strengthen Hamas'.

US President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he will pause arms shipments if Israel mounts a full-scale assault on Rafah.

Lord Cameron said Israel needed to show a clear plan on how to save people's lives in the southern Gazan city, where around 1.4 million have taken refuge.

Israel has claimed it must go into Rafah in order to complete the job of wiping out Hamas.

David Cameron today warned Israel it would 'wrong' to launch an all-out offensive in Gaza 'without a plan to protect people'

Lord Cameron says there needs to be a clear plan on how to save people's lives in southern Gazan city, where around 1.4 million people have taken refuge from the fighting

Asked whether it would be wrong for Israel to begin an incursion, the Foreign Secretary told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: 'That's right, without a plan to protect people.'

The Tory peer continued: 'For there to be a major offensive in Rafah, there would have to be an absolutely clear plan about how you save lives, how you move people out the way, how you make sure they're fed, you make sure that they have medicine and shelter and everything.

'We have seen no such plan... so we don't support an offensive in that way.'

Lord Cameron also said he was 'always pushing' the Israelis on a hostage deal and achieving a pause in the fighting to seek a sustainable ceasefire.

But the real pressure should be on Hamas, he added.

'Hamas have been offered a deal which would release hundreds of prisoners from Israeli jails, that would provide a pause in the fighting to get desperately-needed aid into Gaza and they're not taking that deal,' he said.

An immediate embargo on UK arms supply to Israel would not be a 'wise path', Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron argued.

Asked about US threats to withhold weapons, he said: 'I think America and the UK are in a totally different situation.

'The United States is a massive, bulk, state supplier of weapons to Israel, including 1,000lb bombs and all the rest of it.

'The UK provides less than 1 per cent of Israel's weapons and it's not a state supplier. We have a licensing system and those licences can be closed if it's judged there's a serious risk of a serious international human rights violation.'

Internally displaced Palestinians near the Egyptian border in Rafah prepare to leave with their belongings after an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah

A street in Rafah is nearly deserted, as Israel's military expanded an evacuation order for eastern areas of the southern Gaza city

Internally displaced Palestinians arrive to Khan Younis after leaving Rafah following an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army

An elderly woman and child wait with belongings before evacuating from Rafah, following an order from the Israeli military

A makeshift tent camp in Rafah. The U.S. has promised to assist in erecting more

Displaced Palestinians arrive at a makeshift tent camp west of Rafah

The Tory peer described how he was pushed to declare an immediate arms embargo a few months ago, 'and the very next thing that happened just a few days later, was a massive Iranian attack on Israel'.

'So I don't think it would have been a wise path, and I still don't think it would be a wise path,' he said, adding it would 'strengthen Hamas'.

Lord Cameron also said Israel must 'do better on' allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.

'I've said many times that I'm not content with the action Israel has taken over humanitarian aid,' he said, adding there are 'some signs' of improvement, 'but not fast enough'.

But Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth said the UK 'should be pausing arms sales in order to stop any arms that would be used in that Rafah offensive'.

The shadow paymaster general told the same programme: 'We do not want this Rafah offensive to go ahead, it would be completely catastrophic.

'The Americans have said they are not going to hand over arms which could be used in a Rafah offensive. I am saying that we should adopt a similar position.

'We should not sell British-made weapons or components that should be used in this Rafah offensive.'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have arrived in Lagos today as part of their 'quasi-royal' tour.

The Sussexes touched down in the Nigerian city this morning after spending two days in Abuja where the couple were mobbed at a sitting volleyball match.

Meghan appeared to be wearing an outfit made of aso oke - a hand-woven cloth from south-west Nigeria - which she had been gifted at a lavish lunch yesterday.

Harry sported sunglasses, a beige jacket, and a white shirt, as they shook the hands of military dignitaries who stood along the runway.

The couple, visiting Nigeria together for the first time, applauded and gasped as they were greeted with a dance performance. They will today reportedly visit a school which is being supported by their Archewell foundation.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have today landed in Lagos on their 'quasi-royal' tour.

Meghan appeared to be wearing an outfit made of aso oke - a hand-woven cloth from south-west Nigeria - which she had been gifted at a lavish lunch yesterday. Harry sported sunglasses, a beige jacket, and white shirt

They will then attend a cultural reception and later a polo fundrasier in aid of Nigeria Unconquered.

The visit is primarily to promote the Invictus Games and comes after Harry met the Nigerian team and General Musa at last year's competition in Dusseldorf, Germany.

They arrived in Abuja on Friday for the 72-hour whistlestop tour of the country after flying in together following a secret reunion in London.

During their two-day stay in the capital city, Meghan told how she had fulfilled her dream of becoming a parent as she opened up about her 'very chatty, sweet children' Archie, five and Lilibet, two.

The Duchess of Sussex was speaking at a Women in Leadership event she was co-hosting with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization.

Meghan told the audience how much she loves being a mother but admitted that balancing her family and her career posed its own set of challenges.

During the talk, Meghan was asked how she juggled being a mother with her career and she replied: 'I love being a mum.'

Despite being told more than ten years ago by her friend and mentor that she would never be able to balance the demands of motherhood and her work, the 42-year-old duchess said she enjoys being a mother and her priorities are constantly changing.

During the panel discussion, Meghan said that 'balance' in her life has changed over the years and looks different to ten years ago before she was married and had Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

She said: 'What I think that to mean now is that that balance will always change for you. That balance, what seems balanced ten years ago is going to shift.' according to Hello.

Yesterday, the Sussexes were mobbed by fans as the Duke of Sussex took part in a sitting volleyball match during their Nigeria tour.

The outfit Meghan is wearing today looks similar to one she was gifted yesterday

Meghan Markle speaks during an event in Abuja, Nigeria, on Saturday

The Duchess of Sussex walks alongside Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, right, Director-General of the World Trade Organization

Prince Harry was met by cheering crowds as he took his place on the court during a sitting volleyball match during a tour of Nigeria

A touching moment sees Meghan Markle, who turned up in an embroidered 2,275 Joanna Ortiz Tropicana Nights dress, patterned with black and white palm leaves, chatting to a young girl

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan at a sitting volleyball exhibition match today in Abuja, Nigeria

A new Invictus Games highlights reel, released by Team Sussex, shows Harry and Meghan being followed by cameras during their three-day visit as they are met by a large cheering crowd.

The Prince, wearing a black Invictus Games branded polo shirt, denim jeans and light brown shoes, shakes the hands of his teammates as he shuffles into position on the court in front of the net.

Meghan, who turned up in an embroidered 2,275 Joanna Ortiz Tropicana Nights dress, patterned with black and white palm leaves, claps and cheers on as sits and watches intently.

The short polished montage is presented to a backdrop of high-octane music and shows the couple being surrounded by excited fans.

The outdoor volleyball match at the Officers Mess was their first official engagement on Saturday and once again the couple were the centre of attention.

Meghan was happy to pose for selfies  at one point being lost amongst the crowd  and some were even reduced to tears after meeting her.

The Sussex Squad  a group of Harry and Meghan fans  were out in force as they cheered the Duke and Duchess on their arrival just before midday.

Aptly named Royalty Ojeh, six, was chosen to present a stem of roses to Meghan who pulled one out of the bunch and handed it back to the awe-struck little girl.

As they arrived there were loud cheers from a group of fans holding up placards reading '43 % Nigerian' in a nod to Meghan's recent admission of her west African heritage.

Others jokingly said 'Harry you owe us dowry' with London based Michela Rituc explaining;' It's traditional for dowry and Meghan is Nigerian so he owes us.

They later attended a lunch with the Nigerian defence minister where they stood for God Save The King.

Meghan looked blown away as she watched the entertainment during a lunch with the Nigerian defence minister

Meghan and Harry attend a Sit Out at the Nigerian Defence Headquarters in Abuja on May 11

Harry and his wife Meghan at a lunch with Minister of Defence in Abuja Nigeria

They sat in specially marked chairs during the assembly at the Nigerian Defence Headquarters

The Duke gave a speech thanking his hosts, saying it was an 'immense honour' to be in Nigeria

Meghan and Harry look on during the dance performances in Abuja on Saturday

Meghan seemed engaged in a delightful conversation with one of the party guests as she attended the reception with the Nigerian chief of defence staff Christopher Musa

Prince Harry is gifted a shirt during the ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria

It was Meghan who really sparked mayhem as she turned up in a strip Joanna Ortiz shoulder less dress to beat the 35c heat and humidity

Members of the Nigeria Unconquered team can be seen here on the left, dressed in yellow, while players on the Chief of Defence staff squad are seen wearing black

The Duke was all smiles as he got stuck in and battled hard in front of a delighted audience

Harry's Nigeria Unconquered team ended up losing 21-25 to the Chief of Defence staff squad with all the players being wounded military personnel

Guests at the lunch were able to choose from five different menus including special fried rice, fish fillet sauce and jollof rice.

There was cow offal with ofada sauce or if you they were reluctant to try the traditional Nigerian menu they could opt for spaghetti bolognese or grilled chicken.

A dance troupe entertained guests with music and rhythmic drumming with Harry and Meghan tapping and swaying to the beat.

A giant poster on the stage was perhaps not the best choice as it featured a rather stern looking Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

During the lunch Abike Dabiri-Erewa of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission gave a warm tribute to Meghan and her west African heritage.
Comedian Terry Gilliam has revealed that Monty Python's famous foot was 'stolen' from a 16th century painting in the National Gallery.

The foot, which notoriously stamps down twice in Monty Python's Flying Circus, was inspired by similar barefoot in Agnolo Bronzino's painting An Allegory with Venus and Cupid.

Mr Gilliam has appeared in a documentary film to celebrate the National Gallery's 200th anniversary where he discusses how he noticed Cupid's foot above a dove in the bottom corner of the painting.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said: '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.

'Cupid's foot made it even better because what better than to be crushed by love.'

Comedian Terry Gilliam has revealed that Monty Python's famous foot was 'stolen' from a 16th century painting in the National Gallery

Agnolo Bronzino's painting An Allegory with Venus and Cupid which partly inspired the famous foot from the opening credits of Monty Python's Flying Circus

The foot, which notoriously stamps down twice in the opening credits of Monty Python's Flying Circus, was inspired by similar barefoot in Agnolo Bronzino's painting An Allegory with Venus and Cupid

Gilliam is one of 16 people, including celebrities as well gallery employees, who appear in the film discussing their favourite paintings in the National Gallery.

Fellow Monty Python member also appears in documentary which will be shown in 300 cinemas across the UK. As a famous train enthusiast, Mr Palin unsurprisingly chose Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed.

He said: 'It shows the birth of the railways.

'Yet Turner is also depicting the countryside, counterbalanced by the train. It's a real narrative, in which you feel the New World will win.'

Meanwhile, Princess Eugenie chose Correggio's Madonna of the Basket. She said: A mother looking after her young child, and struggling to put on its jacket. I've recently had a second baby and know that feeling'.

Some people even claim that a painting saved their life as is the case with Peter Murphy.

Mr Murphy suffered from a serious drug and alcohol addiction in the 1990s and 2000s while working on Channel 4's Eurotrash. But a trip to the gallery in 2009 left a profound impact on him.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Gillaim said: '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. 'Cupid's foot made it even better because what better than to be crushed by love'

He said: 'I'd been before but this time I found myself drawn to a blue coloured painting. It was Bellini's Madonna of the Meadow.

'Very quickly the serenity and calmness of this Virgin and child touched me. I'm not religious though brought up by a very strict Catholic father. Seeing the Madonna made me think that "Mummy's home".'

He then visited the painting every day for 12 months and credits the famous artwork with helping him off the booze and drugs.

Mr Murphy added: '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.'
Two protesting pensioners, in their 80s, have been charged with criminal damage after the glass encasing the Magna Carta at the British Library was attacked.

Just Stop Oil activists, Reverent Dr Sue Parfitt, 82, from Bristol, and retired biology teacher, Judith Bruce, 85, were arrested on Friday morning, The Metropolitan police reports.

The pair have since been charged with criminal damage after the incident which occurred at the British Library in London.

The protesters reportedly attempted to crack the hardened glass casing surrounding the ancient document armed with a lump hammer and chisel.

Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, 82, from Bristol, and retired biology teacher, Judith Bruce, 85, from Swansea (pictured) were charged with criminal damage following an attack on the Magna Carta at the British Library

The pair have since been released on bail and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 20

The two elderly women then held up a sign which read: 'The Government is breaking the law'.

According to Sky News, they were also reportedly heard questioning: 'Is the government above the law?'

Following this the pensioners then glued themselves to the display, demanding an emergency plan to stop oil by 2023, according to Just Stop Oil.

A statement from the British Library said its security team confirmed two people had attempted to attack 'the toughened glass case'.

They added: 'The library's security team intervened to prevent further damage to the case, which was minimal.

'The police were notified and the Magna Carta itself remains undamaged.'

The gallery that houses the display containing the historical document which was issued in June 1215, is closed until further notice, it added.

The ancient document was the first of its kind to detail basic rights, including that no one - even the King and his government - were above the law.

It put into writing a person's right to a fair trial as well as limits on taxation without representation.

The Magna Carta served as inspiration for several constitutions in present-day diplomacy such as the US Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The British Library has two of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta in its possession.

The two other copies reside in Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.

The pair were released on bail and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 20.
This is the terrifying moment a Russian apartment block collapsed following a massive 'Ukraine strike' on a Russian border city that has left 'seven dead' and several others wounded.

A major rescue operation was underway in the city of Belgorod today after ten floors of a high rise building was left to crumble after being hit by what Moscow has dubbed a 'monstrous' attack by the Ukrainian armed forces.

But chilling footage of the blast shows it likely came from within the walls of the building, claimed Kyiv.

A large section of the tower in the Russian city collapsed after the explosion as rescuers scrambled to pull survivors out of the rubble.

More of the roof was seen falling onto emergency staff and several were spotted fleeing for their lives.

A major rescue operation was underway in the city of Belgorod today after ten floors of a high rise building was left to crumble after being hit by what Moscow has dubbed a 'monstrous' attack by the Ukrainian armed forces

People remove debris following the collapse of a section of a multi-story apartment block

Seven people have been reported dead, with several more injured after the apartment block was hit by what local authorities are calling a Ukrainian missile strike

Local reports said up to seven were dead with many injured residents pulled from the mountains of debris.

'Nine people have been hurt in the collapse of a residential building in Belgorod,' the Ria Novosti news agency quoted rescue services as saying.

The emergency situations ministry said 12 people, including two children, had been rescued from the rubble.

Officials and the pro-Kremlin media squarely blamed Ukraine for the 'terrorist' attack on innocent civilians in war-torn Belgorod city.

'When the entrance to a residential building in Belgorod collapsed as a result of Ukrainian shelling, a woman was killed,' said Russian outlet 360TV.

'Twenty eight adults and a child received shrapnel wounds, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reports this.

'Rescue operations are ongoing at the site. People use their hands to tow away cars. Up to 35 people may be under the rubble.'

Pro-Kremlin Readovka condemned a 'monstrous terrorist attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces'.

But based on the video, Andriy Kovalenko, head of Kyiv's Centre for Countering Disinformation, National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said disputed that it showed an incoming missile.

Officials and the pro-Kremlin media squarely blamed Ukraine for the 'terrorist' attack on innocent civilians in war-torn Belgorod city

A large section of the tower in the Russian city collapsed after the explosion as rescuers scrambled to pull survivors out of the rubble

The apartment block 'looks like it was blown up' from the inside.

'It looks like a provocation from Russia or an information provocation to inflate the situation,' said Kovalenko.

'The power of the explosion is not even close to that of a 122-mm projectile,' he said.

But it could also have been a OFAB-500 bomb 'which fell previously on the heads of Belgorod residents from Russian Su-34s'.

The defence ministry said meanwhile the Ukrainian army had attacked 'residential districts in the city of Belgorod'.

The ministry said one of a series of Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles intercepted by Russian anti-aircraft defences had 'damaged' the building.

The emergency situations ministry warned the number of victims could rise as part of the building roof caved in just as rescuers were searching for survivors.

Belgorod governor Viacheslav Gladkov had posted to Telegram a video showing a collapsed building with a huge hole in it.

'Following direct shell fire on a residential building ... the entire entrance, from the tenth to the ground floor, collapsed,' Gladkov said, condemning 'massive bombings' by the Ukrainian army.

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called 'the terrorist attack in Belgorod another bloody link in the chain of crimes of the Kyiv regime'

She alleged Western sponsors were behind Zelensky's 'criminal group'.

Yet footage gives no conclusive proof of an incoming missile.

The strikes come after more than 4,000 Ukrainians were evacuated from border areas in Ukraine's Kharkiv region after Russia blitzed the city in a surprise cross-border attack that began on Friday.

The local governor of Ukraine's second-largest city, Oleg Synegubov, shared the devastating news on Sunday in a post on social media.

Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire at the site of an overnight missile strike on private buildings in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 10 May 2024, amid the Russian invasion

A view from the site aftermath of the explosion of a Russian missile in the area of a cottage residential development in Kharkiv, Ukraine on May 10, 2024

'In total, 4,073 people have been evacuated,' governor Synegubov wrote, a day after Russian forces claimed the capture of five villages in the region.

Synegubov said that on Sunday a 63-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Glyboke and a 38-year-old man was wounded in Vovchansk, a border town with some 3,000 residents before the current offensive.

Ukraine on Friday announced that Russia had launched an attack in the Kharkiv region, amid fears tyrant Vladimir Putin seeks to seize the nation's second-largest city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had been carrying out counterattacks in border villages in Kharkiv region.

'Disrupting Russian offensive plans is now our number one task,' he said.

Troops must 'return the initiative to Ukraine', the president insisted, again urging allies to speed up arms deliveries.

The start of Friday's ground assault followed Russia's launch of a blizzard of missiles and kamikaze drones on Kharkiv on Thursday night.

Synehubov said three residential houses were set alight and destroyed with dozens more damaged as a result of the Russian attack, which he said targeted both infrastructure and residential areas.

In photos that he posted on the Telegram messaging app, huge flames can be seen engulfing buildings as thick clouds of smoke were sent billowing into the air.

Two people, including an 11-year-old child, were injured in the strikes, according to reports.
Situated in the shadow of Beverley's historic Minister church, John Dixon Hart promised customers 'four-star' luxury for stays in his elegant Grade II listed guest house.

Instead, the paying public found overnight stays were ruined by a rude 'Basil Fawlty' host and 'awful, dirty and unhygienic' rooms, a court heard.

A judge said the Minster Garth guest house was a 'dump' and said it didn't ever merit 'one star' because conditions were so appalling.

Visitors complained of 'shabby' unclean rooms, 'stained' and 'gruesome' bedding, 'musty and tobacco smells', mouse droppings in a drawer and dead insects.

Other complaints included a missing door handle, 'threadbare' carpets, a broken shower curtain and missing bathroom tiles.

Now the hotel owner has been handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence and 20 days rehabilitation after he admitted six offences involving misleading commercial practices at Hull Crown Court.

John Dixon Hart (pictured, at Hull Combined Court in 2023) promised customers 'four-star' luxury for stays in his elegant Grade II listed guest house. Instead, the paying public found overnight stays were ruined by a rude 'Basil Fawlty' host

A judge said the Minster Garth guest house (pictured) was a 'dump' and said it didn't ever merit 'one star' because conditions were so appalling

Pictures show a smashed window and rips in bedding at the guest house in Beverley, East Yorkshire

The back garden of the Grade II listed guest house is reported to have been a mess

The court heard Hart used an expletive to describe one woman and was rude in telephone calls

The business was said not to have minimum standards required of 'hygiene, health and safety' standards.

Adverts with misleading information and photographs were used on popular websites Expedia, LateRooms and Booking.com to attract customers by false pretences.

Hart's behaviour  likened by Judge Mark Bury to the TV sitcom character Basil Fawlty  was equally shocking, Hull Crown Court was told. The guest house owner put it down to a drinking problem that 'worsened' his behaviour.

The court heard that Hart, of Beverley, East Yorkshire, used an expletive to describe one woman and was rude in telephone calls.

Judge Bury said: 'He called some lady he had never met a f****** letch and told her she was a sponger.'

Commenting on his attitude towards his guests, the judge said: 'It's a wonder he had any. He wasn't particularly welcoming.'

On top of his suspended sentence, Hart was ordered to pay 729 compensation to reimburse eight guests who complained.

Visitors complained of 'shabby' unclean rooms, 'stained' and 'gruesome' bedding, 'musty and tobacco smells', mouse droppings in a drawer and dead insects (pictured: a room at the guest house)

Other complaints included a missing door handle, 'threadbare' carpets, a broken shower curtain and missing bathroom tiles

Hart, 60, of Beverley, East Yorkshire, admitted six offences involving misleading commercial practices between June 2021 and March 2022

The judge told Hart his business, in a stunning Georgina townhouse situated in a prime location for tourists, was 'a potentially lucrative business' and could be 'like a gold mine'.

Based on the adverts guests expected 'three or four-star' quality, instead Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, prosecuting, said conditions were 'shabby, tatty and run down' with 'unkempt grounds'.

Telephone calls were unanswered and rooms filthy.

Paying customers complained to council trading standards officers who investigated.

Miss Stuart-Lofthouse said one guest complained about the state of her room.

'Given the smell and how awful the room was, they had no option but to go into town and buy cleaning products themselves,' said Miss Stuart-Lofthouse. 'There was a bin with all the previous occupants' rubbish in it.'

Hart admitted he wasn't keen on giving refunds and told the court some people 'exaggerated problems'.

A group of international equestrian judges were among those demanding refunds, the court heard.

Hart admitted being rude to guests and explained: 'In the evening, I was in the habit of drinking quite a few vodka and cokes and that worsened my behaviour towards guests.

'We have got 12 or 13 rooms and, if people are all turning up at the same time and demanding attention, it can all get a bit fraught.'

The owner admitted telling some guests to 'sling their hook'.

He told the court at the time of the offences his wife left him, although they were now back together and improvements had been made to the guest house, including redecoration.

'There have been quite a few more positive reviews recently,' said Hart. 'I had the whole place redecorated last year and decent carpeting. I regularly replace the bedding.'

Judge Bury replied: 'Washing it would help.'

Hart told the court he only had a 'meagre income' from the business and was trying hard to improve standards to make it a success.

Judge Bury said: 'The idea is that you get back on your feet and run this guest house as it should be and not as Basil Fawlty. You are charging reasonable rates so people should not expect The Ritz. They should expect reasonable facilities and, from you, politeness.'

The guest house has received a series of one-star reviews on the site TripAdvisor

The court heard Hart was jailed for 22 weeks last August for public order and harassment offences. He only served just over a month in prison and had made good progress since.

Ordering compensation to be paid, Judge Bury said his customers had 'genuine grievances' and they suffered a 'shocking set of circumstances'.

But he told Hart: 'Do not go to the off-licence and buy vodka. All I can do is wish you the best of luck with it.'
The eldest child of a man locked up in isolation in a maximum security jail while facing possible extradition to America for allegedly sharing military secrets is losing hope that her dad will ever be the same again.

Daniel Duggan, a 55-year-old former US Marine pilot turned Australian citizen, is facing charges in America for allegedly training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers and combat techniques.

The US alleges that the father-of-six was able to divulge the military secrets while employed at a civilian flying school in South Africa between 2009 and 2012.

It would be another decade before Duggan was arrested for the alleged crime in October 2022.

His daughter Molly told 60 Minutes she fears the father she once knew has been chipped away after 19 months of of isolated imprisonment inside Lithgow Correctional Centre, 150km west of Sydney.

'I probably won't have my dad back again,' she told the program.

Molly Duggan (left) doesn't believe her father, Daniel Duggan (right), will ever be the same after spending 19 months in isolated imprisonment while facing extradition to the US

'He's been in maximum security for so long.

'Can you imagine being isolated like that for so long?

'He's not going to be the same person that he was before they took him.'

She doesn't believe her dad is a criminal.

'I feel like our world's been torn apart and I want the trauma to stop,' Molly added.

Duggan faces 65 years if found guilty of the charges against him in the US, according to his wife Saffrine.

She and her husband both claim he is completely innocent as he only trained civilian pilots with information available in online textbooks while in South Africa.

Ms Duggan called for Australia to put its foot down and avoid expediting her husband for an effective 'death sentence'.

'It means that my kids lose their father, our family is torn apart for something that can be stopped,' she said.

'It's absolutely unbelievable to think that Australia would do this.'

The family have struggled to come to terms with is Duggan's imprisonment in isolation, despite committing no crimes in Australia.

'There's no Australian charges whatsoever. Dan was a proud military marine. He's a proud Australian,' Ms Duggan said.

'He didn't break any laws. Dan is an innocent man.

'Our truth will win.'

Duggan issued his own plea from behind bars, begging for Australians to rally against his expedition.

'I asked the people of Australia to please help us help my family and to, to fight this injustice,' he said.

In a phone call to a friend from prison, Duggan also expressed the fears about the very real possibility of being sent to America.

'It's horrible. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy,' Duggan said.

Saffrine Duggan (pictured on 60 Minutes) has rejected allegations by the US that her husband shared military secrets with China

Duggan will learn whether he will be sent to US for trial on May 24.

'We will not give up,' his wife vowed.

'He deserves to come home to his family.

'I want to be proud that our Australian government does the right thing and brings Dan home.'

Duggan joined the US Marines in 1990 and flew Harrier jets before leaving the military in 2002.

He then moved to Tasmania, where he met and fell in love with Saffrine and ran a business called Top Gun Tasmania.

While running his business, Duggan also took temporary contracts to train pilots at a flying school in South Africa.

On top of running his business, Duggan also to train pilots in South Africa - where he is accused of sharing US military information.

The family relocated to China in 2014 but Ms Duggan claims it had nothing to do with the allegations against her husband.

'It was the place to be, there were lots of Australians going over there. Asia was a real hotspot,' she said.

Mr Duggan (pictured) was a former US Marine pilot and trained civilian pilots in South Africa after leaving the military

She and their children moved back to Australia in 2020 but Duggan, for an unknown reason, had his passport confiscated by the Chinese government.

He was eventually able to return in September 2022- shortly before his arrest.

On Sunday, it was also reported Duggan's lawyer claimed he unknowingly worked with a Chinese hacker.

Duggan feared requests by Western intelligence agencies for sensitive information were putting his family at risk, the lawyer said in a legal filing seen by Reuters.

The lawyer's filing supports Reuters reporting linking Duggan to convicted Chinese defence hacker Su Bin.

Duggan denies the allegations that he broke US arms control laws. He has been in an Australian maximum security prison since his 2022 arrest after returning from six years working in Beijing.

US authorities found correspondence with Duggan on electronic devices seized from Su Bin, Duggan's lawyer Bernard Collaery said in the March submission to Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, who will decide whether to surrender Duggan to the US after a magistrate hears Duggan's extradition case.

The case will be heard in a Sydney court this month, 19 months after his arrest in Orange in central-west NSW at a time when Britain was warning its former military pilots not to work for China.

Su Bin, arrested in Canada in 2014, pleaded guilty in 2016 to theft of US military aircraft designs by hacking major US defence contractors. He is listed among seven co-conspirators with Duggan in the extradition request.

Mr Duggan (pictured), who ran Top Gun Tasmania, will learn whether he will be sent to US for trial on May 24

Duggan knew Su Bin as an employment broker for Chinese state aviation company AVIC, Mr Collaery wrote, and the hacking case was 'totally unrelated to our client'.

Although Su Bin 'may have had improper connection to (Chinese) agents this was unknown to our client', Duggan's lawyer wrote.

AVIC was blacklisted by the US last year as a Chinese military-linked company.

Messages retrieved from Su Bin's electronic devices show he paid for Duggan's travel from Australia to Beijing in May 2012, according to extradition documents lodged by the United States with the Australian court.

Duggan asked Su Bin to help source Chinese aircraft parts for his Top Gun tourist flight business in Australia, Mr Collaery wrote.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and US Navy criminal investigators knew Duggan was training pilots for AVIC and met him in Australia's Tasmania state in December 2012 and February 2013, his lawyer wrote.

ASIO and the US Navy Criminal Investigation Service did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the meetings. ASIO has previously said it would not comment as the matter was before the court.

'An ASIO officer suggested that while carrying on his legitimate business operations in China, Mr Duggan may be able to gather sensitive information,' his lawyer wrote.

Daniel Duggan's family (pictured) claim the allegations against him are false and have slammed the Australian Government for keeping him in maximum security

Duggan moved to China in 2013 and was barred from leaving the country in 2014, his lawyer said. Duggan's LinkedIn profile and aviation sources who knew him said he was working in China as an aviation consultant in 2013 and 2014.

He renounced his US citizenship in 2016 at the US embassy in Beijing, backdated to 2012 on a certificate, after 'overt intelligence contact by US authorities that may have compromised his family safety', his lawyer wrote.

His lawyers oppose extradition, arguing there is no evidence the Chinese pilots he trained were military and that he became an Australian citizen in January 2012, before the alleged offences.

The United States government has argued Duggan did not lose his US citizenship until 2016.
Tributes have been paid to a 66-year-old grandmother who was stabbed to death in North London as a 22-year-old appears in court charged with her murder.

Anita Mukhey died after being stabbed in Burnt Oak Broadway, in Edgware on Thursday.

In a statement released through the Metropolitan Police, her family said: 'Anita Mukhey, 66 years old, was a married mother and grandmother devoted to her family, who also worked part-time in the NHS as a medical secretary.

'The family ask for privacy at this difficult time.'

Police said Jalal Debella, 22, appeared at Willesden Magistrates' Court in north-west London on Saturday charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon, namely a knife.

Anita Mukhey (pictured) died after being stabbed in Burnt Oak Broadway, in Edgware on Thursday. In a statement released through the Metropolitan Police, her family said: 'Anita Mukhey, 66 years old, was a married mother and grandmother devoted to her family'

Police were called at around 11.50am and the London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance also attended the scene

A police car at the scene of the crime. The Metropolitan Police urged people not to share 'enormously distressing' footage online posted online of the attack

Debella, of Colindale, north-west London, was ordered to next appear from custody for a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.

No pleas were entered.

Police were called at around 11.50am and the London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance also attended the scene.

Horrified locals described seeing 'a lot of blood'. The first paramedic arrived within two minutes, but the victim was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

The Metropolitan Police urged people not to share 'enormously distressing' footage online posted online of the attack.

On Saturday, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, a police spokesman said: 'A small number of social media users have posted graphic footage of the attack.

'It is enormously distressing for grieving families.

'We ask that these posts are deleted and others not to share them.'
Rape suspect Nicholas Rossi, who is suspected of faking his own death before being extradited to the US, says his wife calls him 'The Gruffalo' because his 'tummy is large'.

Mr Rossi, 36, was deported to the United States in January after spending two years fighting extradition from Scotland. His claims of mistaken identity were rejected by Scottish judges.

In a bizarre interview at his Glasgow flat before his extradition, Mr Rossi's wife Miranda told how they had gone to see the stage play of The Gruffalo and how she had likened him to the monster in Julia Donaldson's children's book.

Mr Rossi, who appeared throughout his court dates in the UK in a motorised wheelchair and using a oxygen mask, still maintains he is an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight.

He appeared before Utah's Fourth District Court in February charged with rape and is still awaiting trial in jail.

Nicholas Rossi, 36, who claims to be Irish orphan Arthur Knight, with his wife Miranda who calls him The Gruffalo because of his 'large tummy'

Mr Rossi departs Edinburgh Sheriff Court after his US extradition hearing in July 2023. He was deported to the US in January this year

He was caught after he awoke from a medically induced coma in a Covid ward at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in December 2021 and was subsequently arrested.

It is alleged he raped a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, and a 26-year-old woman in Salt Lake County, both in 2008 - for which he faces the prospect of life in prison.

Today The Sunday Times published an interview with Mr Rossi in 2022 before his extradition, where he told the newspaper how his wife 'calls me the Gruffalo, or Gruff'.

'It's because my tummy is large,' he said.

During the surreal exchange, devout Christian Miranda likened herself to 'the swift fox with the red hair' and revealed how the couple had gone to see the stage play together.

'He [The Gruffalo] is actually the one that is being manipulated,' Mr Rossi said.

'The real villain is the mouse.'

Under the guise of Arthur Brown, Rossi is believed to have met his wife, Miranda Knight, in Bristol in 2019 and married her in early 2020, assuming the name Arthur Knight.

They moved to Glasgow shortly afterwards but in 2021, Rossi became so ill with Covid that he had to be hospitalised at the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

In 2019, Rossi claimed he had been diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and is accused of faking his death a year later (pictured in 2008 in Utah)

He faces charges related to the sexual assault of a woman in Orem, Utah, nearly 16 years ago. Rossi faces another felony rape charge in Salt Lake County and multiple other complaints

The 36-year-old, pictured in a mugshot from a 2010 arrest, fled to Scotland after being identified as a suspect in a 2008 rape case

During his first US court appearance, Rossi wore an oxygen mask and spoke in a British accent, as he has done at previous court appearances overseas

She insisted to The Times 'she wouldn't choose somebody that was a rapist' and he is and he is 'kind, thoughtful and loving'.

In July 2020, DNA allegedly linked him to a 2008 rape in Utah which is ultimately what led to his discovery in Scotland.

He was arrested on December 13, 2021 at the Glasgow hospital by police officers who served him with an Interpol red notice.

Mr Rossi also goes by the aliases Nick Alahverdian, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown and Arthur Brown.

He stirred up confusion during his first court appearance in the US in January as he continued to speak in a British accent throughout the hearing and sported an oxygen mask that made it difficult to understand what he was saying.

He is still awaiting trial in jail in Utah.

There has never been an official version of events from Rossi because he continues to insist he is Arthur Knight and that the authorities have the wrong man.

In one interview with Dateline, Rossi is seen speaking in what appears to be an English accent and he angrily insists he is a British man called Arthur Knight.

He also theatrically tried standing to prove that he was unable to walk before throwing himself back down.

Rossi appeared alongside his wife British wife, Miranda who shouted: Woah, before trying to stabilize him

'I am not Nicholas Alahverdian. I do not know how to make this clearer,' he told NBC in a bizarre accent, muffled by an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.

Rossi, whose real name is Nicholas Alahverdian, made his first court appearance in February after his extradition to the United States a month earlier

The 36-year-old identified himself as Arthur Knight Brown, the name under which he is accused of living after fleeing the U.S.

In court appearances, he has maintained his pained English accent, with an Irish lilt whenever he mentions the word Dublin, where he claims to have been born.

Miranda, who still lives in Britain, has continued to stand by her husband's side since he was first arrested in December 2021.

'I'm here with Arthur,' she told the Daily Record in February. 'I know my husband, I love my husband, and he's always been the perfect gentleman to me and he's always wanted the best for me.

'I know what I've read about this other person,' she continued. 'The claims and what he's done is black and white to who I'm married to.'
April 2021

Sir Laurie said HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) interactions with Mr Zahawi over the tax issue began in April 2021, when he was a business minister.

June 2021

Mr Zahawi and his advisers met with officials from HMRC in June 2021, according to Sir Laurie.

The ethics adviser said: 'Mr Zahawi has told me that he had formed the impression that he and his advisers were merely being asked certain queries by HMRC concerning his tax affairs.'

July 5, 2022

Mr Zahawi becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer.

According to Sir Laurie's findings, after his appointment Mr Zahawi completed a declaration of interests form, but it 'contained no reference to the HMRC investigation'.

'A later form acknowledged (by way of an attachment) that Mr Zahawi was in discussion with HMRC to clarify a number of queries,' Sir Laurie added.

July 9, 2022

The Independent reports that HMRC officials were investigating Mr Zahawi and his tax affairs.

The Observer newspaper also reports that a 'flag' was raised by officials about the financial affairs of the Tory MP before he was promoted to the high-profile role that included responsibility for HMRC.

July 11, 2022

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Zahawi said that he was being 'smeared'.

'I was clearly being smeared. I was told that the Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency, HMRC, were looking into me.

'I'm not aware of this. I've always declared my taxes  I've paid my taxes in the UK,' he said.

July 15, 2022

Mr Zahawi received a letter from HMRC, which according to the account he provided to the investigation much later, changed the then-Chancellor's view.

The 'impression that he and his advisers were merely being asked certain queries by HMRC concerning his tax affairs' had 'persisted until he received a letter from HMRC on 15 July 2022 (dated 13 July)', Sir Laurie said of Mr Zahawi's account of the matter.

The ethics adviser said that after the letter, Mr Zahawi updated his declaration of interests form, acknowledging that his tax affairs were under investigation, but 'provided no further details other than the statement made previously that he was clarifying queries'.

'An HMRC investigation of the nature faced by Mr Zahawi would be a relevant matter for a minister to discuss and declare as part of their declaration of interests,' he said.

August to September 2022

Mr Zahawi and HMRC resolved that tax was owed and a penalty should be applied, with a resolution 'in principle' in August, and a 'final settlement' signed in September, according to the ethics adviser.

And Sir Laurie added: 'Mr Zahawi failed to update his declaration of interest form appropriately after this settlement was agreed in principle in August 2022.'

Mr Zahawi was replaced as Chancellor when Liz Truss became prime minister on September 6, moving to the Cabinet Office.

October 2022

Mr Zahawi 'failed to disclose relevant information' about the investigation and his penalty during the appointments process for new roles in Government in September and October, according to the ethics adviser.

Sir Laurie said: 'Without knowledge of that information, the Cabinet Office was not in a position to inform the appointing prime minister.'

January 14, 2023

The Sun on Sunday reported that Mr Zahawi had agreed to pay several million pounds in tax to settle a dispute with HMRC.

A spokesman for the Conservative Party chairman said that his taxes were 'properly declared', that he 'has never had to instruct any lawyers to deal with HMRC on his behalf', adding that 'Mr Zahawi's taxes are properly declared and paid in the UK'.

January 16, 2023

Mr Zahawi submitted his declaration of interests form in relation to his role as minister without portfolio and Conservative Party chairman, and included detail of the outcome of the HMRC investigation, according to the independent ethics adviser.

But Sir Laurie added: 'At the time of my investigation this declaration was under consideration by the permanent secretary and had yet to be submitted onward to me for consideration.

'Given the seriousness of this matter, I would have expected Mr Zahawi to attend to his submission much more rapidly and to have notified Cabinet Office officials at the time of his appointment.'

January 18, 2023

The Prime Minister and Downing Street defend Mr Zahawi over the allegations.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Sunak said the Tory chairman 'has already addressed this matter in full and there's nothing more that I can add'.

Downing Street said Mr Sunak had full confidence in the Stratford-on-Avon MP, having taken him 'at his word' over the matter.

January 20, 2023

The Guardian newspaper reported that Mr Zahawi paid a 30 per cent penalty as part of the dispute, with estimates that he paid 4.8 million in total.

January 21, 2023

Mr Zahawi admitted paying a settlement to HMRC after a 'careless and not deliberate' tax error related to his father's shareholding in YouGov.

He said that when he set up the YouGov polling company in 2000, his father took founder shares.

'Twenty-one years later, when I was being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, questions were being raised about my tax affairs. I discussed this with the Cabinet Office at the time,' he said.

'Following discussions with HMRC, they agreed that my father was entitled to founder shares in YouGov, though they disagreed about the exact allocation. They concluded that this was a 'careless and not deliberate' error.

'So that I could focus on my life as a public servant, I chose to settle the matter and pay what they said was due, which was the right thing to do.'

Mr Zahawi said the matter was resolved and 'all my tax affairs were up to date' by the time he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster last September.

January 23, 2023

Mr Sunak ordered an investigation by his new ethics adviser into Mr Zahawi.

The PM acknowledged that 'clearly in this case there are questions that need answering'.

January 25, 2023

Mr Sunak was grilled by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about Mr Zahawi during Prime Minister's Questions.

Mr Sunak told the Commons that while it would have been 'politically expedient' to sack the Tory chair, 'due process' meant that the investigation into his tax affairs should be allowed to conclude.

He also acknowledged that he had not been given the full picture of Mr Zahawi's tax affairs when he told MPs that the senior Conservative had given a 'full' account.

January 28, 2023

Downing Street denied reports that Mr Sunak received informal advice in October that there could be a reputational risk to the Government from Mr Zahawi and his tax affairs.

The Observer newspaper, citing sources, said that Government officials gave the new Prime Minister informal advice as he drew up his Cabinet in October regarding the risks from the HMRC investigation settled only months earlier.

A Number 10 spokesperson said: 'These claims are not true.'

January 29, 2023

Mr Sunak sacked Mr Zahawi as Conservative Party chairman after the ethics inquiry found a 'serious breach' of the ministerial code.

Sir Laurie's four-page report found that the Mr Zahawi had shown 'insufficient regard for the general principles of the ministerial code and the requirements in particular, under the seven Principles of Public Life, to be honest, open and an exemplary leader through his own behaviour'.
Are YOU one of the victims?

This is the horrific moment two people, including a woman, were violently mugged near Euston station in London in a daylight attack which left the victims sprawled on the floor.

The incident, which took place just yards away from bustling Camden High Street, saw two men attack a man and a woman at around 7am this morning before driving off in a white Audi.

Another woman, who appeared to be a friend of the mugging victims, watched on as crime rocks the capital.

Now grim footage has emerged of the two thugs brazenly hitting and kicking the pair on Eversholt Street in north London before seemingly running off with some of their belongings.

Each man attacks one victim during the mugging as shocked bystanders watch on and cars drive along the busy street in the capital.

This is the shocking moment two people were mugged near Euston station in London in a lawless daylight attack. The violent incident, just yards away from bustling Camden High Street, saw two men attack a man and a woman this morning before driving off in a white Audi

Grim footage has emerged of the two thugs brazenly hitting and kicking the pair on Eversholt Street in north London before seemingly running off with some of their belongings. Each man attacks one victim during the mugging as shocked bystanders watch on and cars drive along the busy street in the capital

One thug, wearing a black hoodie, violently attacks the male victim, who is wearing a light green hoodie and jeans, pressing him down on the pavement.

As a car drives calmly past the scene, the attacker grabs the man and throws him onto the road before kicking him aggressively in the face.

He then rips something away from his victim's grasp before running away with it in his hand.

Meanwhile the other attacker, wearing a purple hoodie, appears to drag the woman, who is dressed in all black, back on to the pavement by her hair as she tries to crawl into the road.

He then presses her head against the side of the road before she manages to push herself up out of his grasp and start pursuing the other thug.

But as she is running, the man who had been holding her down then pushes her strongly to the floor.

Despite the heavy fall, the woman manages to get up before being shoved down once more by the same man.

She is left lying in a car parking spot on the side of the bustling road as a motorbike and a bus pass by.

The attackers then get into their white Audi 4x4 and drive off, narrowly avoiding crashing into the male victim who has wandered into the middle of the street.

Indistinct shouting is heard throughout but towards the end a man can be heard saying 'let's go'.

The shocking attack comes just days after an alleged phone thief was knocked off his bike in the capital and confronted - before being quickly backed up by his machete-wielding accomplice

A masked man appears to defend the thief, armed with a machete to threaten the driver

The incident took place just yards away from London Euston station, one of the busiest transport hubs in the country, and Mornington Crescent Underground station.

Nearby Camden High Street is one of the capital's most popular tourist spots and is expecting to welcome thousands today on the hottest day of the year.

A Met Police spokesperson said:

'Police were called at 06:55hrs on Sunday, 12 May, to reports of a fight in Eversholt Street, NW1.

'Officers attended the location. All parties had left when police arrived. Enquiries are ongoing to identify those involved.

'Officers are aware of footage being shared on social media.

'Anyone who was a victim is asked to contact police. Officers all wish to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident or who has information that may assist their investigation.

'Please call 101, ref 1757/12may.'

The shocking attack comes just days after an alleged phone thief was knocked off his bike in the capital and confronted - before being quickly backed up by his machete-wielding accomplice.

Meanwhile in April, a thief on a bike snatched a woman's mobile phone from her hands as she walked along the pavement

The balaclava-clad criminal seized the phone in a moment from his startled victim before racing away along a fashionable street near the centre of the capital

The chaos unfolded in Stratford, North East London on Sunday 5 May and was captured on the dashcam of a passing car.

The man, who had allegedly nicked a mobile, was sent flying after being ploughed into by a car, but duly received reinforcement in the form of his pal brandishing the large knife at his assailant.

The video shows the two masked men as they cycle along the road, with the first passing by the dashcam car without incident.

However, as the second cyclist pedals by, a car in the same lane as the filming motor suddenly pulls out onto the other side of the road.

The car deliberately smashes into the man's bike and sends him flying into a tree, causing him to spin off his bike and falling to the pavement.

The car comes to a stop on the other side of the road as the injured thug gets to his feet and runs off, limping, after his pal.

Seconds later the alleged thief's partner returns to dish out revenge, cycling quickly back into frame with his accomplice at his side.

The driver exits the vehicle and begins to shout at the thugs, but quickly backtracks after the second masked man whips out a massive machete and rides towards the driver.

It comes after another cycle-riding offender seized a man's phone in nearby Park Lane

With the cavalry there to back him up, the thug who was knocked down picks the abandoned bike up from the side of the road and remounts it.

Meanwhile in April, a thief on a bike snatched a woman's mobile phone from her hands as she walked along the pavement.

The balaclava-clad criminal seized the phone in a moment from his startled victim before racing away along a fashionable street in Albany Place in Marylebone, near the centre of the capital.

An X account uploaded the clip with the words of warning: 'Keep your head on swivel when in London.'

The female victim of the theft is seen attempting to chase after the offender while calling out: 'Hey, come back here.'

Another cyclist in a balaclava had passed by her in the seconds beforehand.

Just days prior, another bike-riding thief snatched a man's mobile phone out of his hand in nearby Park Lane.

Video footage showed a cyclist riding in the middle of the main road then turning off the road to ride on the path, before lining up behind an unsuspecting pedestrian holding his phone and swiftly swiping it.

And in March two masked thieves were seen snatching a phone and fleeing on their bikes in Hampstead, north London - before crashing into an incoming car.

The series of brazen thefts across the city have prompted fears visitors will steer clear of London for fear of being the next targets.

Another cyclist in a balaclava had passed by her in the seconds beforehand.

And in March two masked thieves were seen snatching a phone and fleeing on their bikes in Hampstead, north London - before crashing into an incoming car

Metropolitan Police figures show there were 72,756 of those crimes reported in the year to 2023, up from 57,468 in 2022

London's street crime epidemic last year saw theft from a person offences soar by 27 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.

Metropolitan Police figures show there were 72,756 of those crimes reported in the year to 2023, up from 57,468 in 2022.

Moped and e-bike gangs have been identified as prolific culprits.
She left the late-night sketch show in 2007 as a full-time cast member

Comedian Maya Rudolph amazed fans during her opening monologue of Saturday Night Live.

Rudolph, 51, took to the stage on Saturday night and delivered an awe-inspiring Mother's Day-themed performance more than a decade after leaving the late-night sketch show as a full-time cast member.

The mother-of-four made fans go crazy as she stunned in a black and chrome bodysuit for what was dubbed the 'best SNL opening monologue of all time.'

Rudolph, who was called 'mother of the house of Rockefeller' by Keenan Thompson, danced and sang as she made comments about motherhood and even referenced her iconic movie and sketch scenes.

Before she took the stage, Rudolph joined cast members, Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman, who wished her a happy Mother's Day and branded her 'mother.'

The performance started as Rudolph sang: 'I'm your mother, I'm your mother, I'm your- oops I made you dance, remember in that movie when I pooped my pants?'

Maya Rudolph, 51, took center stage for Saturday Night Live as she dazzled in a black and chrome bodysuit and sang about being a mother

Before her performance, Rudolph joined cast members, Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman, who wished her a happy Mother's Day and branded her 'mother'

'When you were a baby you pooped your pants and I changed your diaper, I'm your mother,' she added.

Rudolph and her team of dancers vogued and made their way backstage as she continued on.

The performance itself was a nod to the 1980s New York ballroom culture, a popular underground LGBTQ+ subculture that led voguing, and coined the phrases 'it's giving' and 'it's serving.'

In the community, there were 'houses' that were led by 'mothers' who were experienced members of the ball culture scene. Those typically included drag queens, gay men or transgender women who helped guide their 'house children.'

Much of the culture was seen in the TV show Pose and the documentary film Paris is Burning.

Pose premiered in 2018 and followed people involved in New York ball culture around the city. Bill Porter, Indya Moore and Dominique Jackson starred in the series.

'It's Mother's Day y'all, today we celebrate all kinds of mother's. Stepmother's, Godmother's, mother's from another brother, dance moms, octomoms,' Rudolph sang as she was interrupted by comedian Chloe Fineman.

Finemen stepped in front of Rudolph with a dog dressed in a blue tutu and said: 'What about dog mom's?'

'What about them? And honey, that's not a dog, that's a bi***,' Rudolph said as she continued.

'Bow down children, I'm your mama. Giving queen, giving drama, this place gave you coneheads, it's 11:30, go to bed,' Rudolph sang.

She poked fun at the times she played Vice President Kamala Harris and said: 'It's me, Kamala Hunty.'

'I will also turn this car around if you don't stop hitting your sister,' she added before other cast members chimed in and rated her iconic performance.

As the mother was 'mothering,' one cast member said that Rudolph was giving 'body-ody-ody,' while Thompson stepped back in and revealed her ratings.

Rudolph is seen dancing and singing 'I'm your mother, I'm your mother, I'm your mother'

Throughout her impressive performance, she referenced motherly duties and even some of her most iconic movie and skit scenes

SNL cast member, Chloe Fineman, interrupted Rudolph mid-song and asked the comedian if dog mom's were included in the holiday

'Yes mother, the results are in,' Thompson said as the camera pointed to three cast members, two of which gave her a 10, while another said 'I'm gagged.'

Scorecards were used frequently in ballroom culture as judges watched and rated performers in competitions.

Rudolph made her way back on stage as she referenced other well-known SNL skits.

'Giving gorgeous, serving pretty, they did it live from New York City.'

'I'm your mother, I'm your mother, I'm your.... mother,' Rudolph sang as she opened a giant fan and ended her performance.

Fans flocked to social media to comment on her impressive monologue.

'Maya Rudolph just did the best SNL opening monologue of all time. Mother truly was mothering,' one said.

Another wrote: 'The Recording Academy better start engraving Maya Rudolph's Grammy.'

'15/10, absolutely ZERO notes,' another said.

Earlier last week, Rudolph teased her return to Saturday Night Live in a promo as Andrew Dismukes and Chloe Troast discovered the actress hiding in a closet after hearing strange laughter behind a door as they walked down the halls of 30 Rock.

After seeing the pair's startled expressions, in response to seeing her sitting alone in a dimly lit room holding a bowl of porridge, Rudolph said: 'Oh, hello there. I wasn't expecting visitors.'

When asked how long she had been in there, the mother-of-four revealed she 'never left.'

'Maya Rudolph just did the best SNL opening monologue of all time. Mother truly was mothering,' a fan said online

During her performance, three cast members rated her. Two gave her a 10 while the third rated her 'I'm gagged'

Earlier last week, Rudolph teased her return to Saturday Night Live in a promo as Andrew Dismukes and Chloe Troast discovered the actress hiding in a closet

'Why would I leave? I have everything I need here. My books, my porridge, and my dear friend Kenny,' she explained.

To Dismukes and Troast's horror, her friend Kenny, turned out to be a mop with googly eyes.

Troast reminded Rudolph of her upcoming hosting duties, which prompted her to ask the duo to close the door so she could 'freshen up.'

By the time Dismukes and Troast turn around, Rudolph is fully dressed and ready on the other side of the door.

'Hey guys! See you Saturday,' Rudolph tells the SNL stars after catching them off guard.

Previously, Rudolph served as a Saturday Night Live cast member from 2000-2007. Saturday night was her third time hosting the show, following her last appearance in 2021.

During her stint on the series, she became known for her hysterical celebrity impressions from Beyonce to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Rudolph is married to her filmmaker husband, Paul Thomas Anderson, who she shares four children with- Pearl Anderson, 18, Lucile Anderson, 14, Jack Anderson, 12, and their youngest, Minnie Ida Anderson, 10

She starred as Beyonce on the latest episode and participated in a 'Hot Ones' episode alongside Mikey Day's, who played the series host, Sean Evans.

Dressed in a red, white and blue cowgirl outfit, a large gray cowgirl hat and a blonde wig, Rudolph channeled her inner Queen Bee and tasted dangerously hot chicken wings.

Rudolph is married to her filmmaker husband, Paul Thomas Anderson, who she shares four children with- Pearl Anderson, 18, Lucile Anderson, 14, Jack Anderson, 12, and their youngest, Minnie Ida Anderson, 10.

Throughout motherhood, Rudolph has remained active in Hollywood starring in the hit series Loot, as well as films like Bridesmaids, Grown Ups, and Wine Country.

In many of her films, the actress starred alongside her fellow SNL comedians, including Amy Poelher, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig and Rachel Dratch.
Farmers fear their livelihoods will be destroyed forever after the Anthony Albanese government announced live sheep exports will be phased out.

The federal government announcement on Saturday sent shockwaves across the sheep farming industry, which will be forced to abandon the $143million-a-year practice by May 2028.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the new legislation, which was one of Labor's election promises, would be enacted before voters return to the polls next year.

Despite committing to a $107m transition package, farmers and industry leaders have branded the decision as a 'punch in the guts'.

Many have hundreds of sheep they will have to 'destroy' because they have 'nowhere for them to go'.

Anthony Albanese's government has come under fire after delivering on an election promise to ban live exports of sheep by 2028 (stock image)

Western Australian livestock farmer David Slade described the the shutdown of the industry as unjustified.

'It's destroyed the industry on a whim,' Western Australian livestock farmer David Slade told news.com.au.

'Everybody's really livid.'

The policy change came after several instances of video footage showing sheep that had died or were in distress due to overcrowding and excessive heat on board the ships.

But farmers and industry leaders claim that new standards mean the practice is now much safer for livestock and the ban is unwarranted.

'Our welfare standards are absolutely top notch,' Mr Slade said.

'It wasn't good before, there's no doubt about that. We own that. We've made sure that that doesn't happen again.'

Mr Slade branded a $64.6million package offered to help affected farmers to diversify into new areas as an insult.

Fellow West Australian farmer Ellen Walker branded the decision as a 'punch in the guts' following a dry summer and weak prices.

'I currently have over 200 sheep that I am going to have to destroy because there is nowhere for them to go,' she said.

Western Australian farmer Ellen Walker (pictured) described the government's decision to phase out live sheep exports by May 2028 as a 'punch in the guts'

NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin said the federal government failed to take into account the ripple effects of removing a 'key component' of the sheep industry.

'This industry is a fundamental market tool that enables farmers to manage livestock and uphold high standards of animal welfare through trying seasons, market failure and more,' Mr Martin said in a statement.

'And so without it, many farmers will have some major problems on their hands.'

He added that a reduction in sheep farming would also effect a demand on fodder and grain used to feed livestock.

Mr Martin said the transition package 'lightly touches' on supporting oversupply and processing but doesn't support the knock-on effect to the broader farming industry.

'There is insufficient detail about how broader agriculture and processing industries will be supported, and so we have serious questions as to what this will do to help the situation at all,' he said.

'Time and time again, this federal government has failed Australia's food and fibre producers  and now they are switching off markets for farmers, and food for hungry people.

'What's next, and can we continue to feed and clothe the nation if the decision-making keeps deteriorating?'

Live sheep exports (pictured with cattle exports) will be phased out by May 2028

Mr Watt announced the legislation from Western Australia, where most live exports begin their journey to other nations.

'There are a number of other states in Australia that used to do live exports of sheep,' Senator Watt said.

'They got out of it  they moved into more onshore processing.'

The live export industry has seen yearly decreases since its peak in the early 2000s having supplied a large amount of sheep to the Middle East.

RSPCA Australia boss Richard Mussell firmly backed the government's decision.

'A swift and orderly phase-out of live sheep export, with appropriate measures to safeguard animal welfare in the meantime, is the right decision for Australian sheep and Australian farmers,' he said.
The event came just days after an autopsy determined the cause of her death

Friends and relatives gathered for a celebration of life on Saturday

Loved ones of the murdered Colorado mom who vanished while on a Mother's Day bike ride four years ago gathered to mourn, just days after an autopsy report ruled her death a homicide.

A few dozen friends and relatives gathered at the Poncha Springs Town Hall on Saturday morning to remember Suzanne Morphew, 49, whose remains were discovered in September.

But the fourth annual remembrance ceremony was bittersweet, as it came just days after an autopsy report ruled Morphew's death a homicide in the presence of animal tranquilizers.

Butterfly decorations and small pouches of forget-me-not seeds adorned tables at the event. Attendees donned their black 'Justice for Suzanne' shirts, weeping quietly as they talked amongst themselves.

The original plan to plant a lilac tree near the site of Morphew's remains was thwarted by snowfall. Morphew's sister, Melinda, sent a letter in her absence that was intended to be read as guests rooted the tree in the San Luis Valley.

Friends and loved ones gathered at a memorial to honor the life of Suzanne Morphew, 49, who vanished while on a bike ride on Mother's Day 2020

Butterfly decorations and small pouches of forget-me-not seeds decorated tables at the event

Attendees originally planned to plant a lilac tree at the site where Morphew's remains were found in September 2023, but the plan was thwarted by snowfall

A few dozen people gathered to honor the life of the Colorado woman, just days after a completed autopsy report revealed her cause of death

In the letter, she recalled visiting the place where her sister's remains were found.

'For me, it was a day of some closure and peace where I no longer had thoughts of my sister being abandoned and left alone. She has been found,' Melinda wrote.

'I hope you all feel the same comfort today. The planting of this lilac tree is indeed a symbolic reminder of Suzanne, like the lilac was sweet in the fragrance of her life. Her temperament was breezy and light. She would have loved the choice of the lilac as her commemorative tree, she would have smiled with delight."

It is unclear if Morphew's daughters, Mallory and Macy, and husband Barry were present at Saturday's ceremony.

However, the trio were spotted at a different event last week. An attendee told DailyMail.com that none of them spoke.

Mallory and Macy have been quiet other than reaffirming their support for their father, who once faced murder charges in connection to Morphew's death.

The 49-year-old was last seen on Mother's Day 2020. The Chaffee County Sheriffs Office said she went for a bike ride but never returned home.

In September 2023, agents with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation discovered Suzanne's remains near Moffat, a remote town in Saguache County.

The remains of the Colorado woman (pictured with daughters Mallory and Macy) were found last September near the remote town of Moffat

Just last month, Morphew's death was ruled a homicide caused by 'butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication'

The 49-year-old's daughters have remained quiet aside from supporting their father, 56-year-old Barry, who was cleared of charges in connection to his wife's death in 2022

An autopsy report was completed this April. The document, reviewed by DailyMail.com, lists the final diagnosis of her death as 'homicide by unspecified means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication'.

The report notes that the drugs 'are marked as marketed as compounded injectable chemical immobilizer for wildlife providing pharmacologically reversible analgesia, sedation, and immobilization'.

A bullet was also found near her body, the report states.

Barry, 56, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection to his wife's disappearance in May 2021. He told investigators that he frequently used the drugs mentioned in the autopsy report to sedate deer for his hunting business.

When detectives revealed that 'a tranquilizer dart had been fired in or around the house,' Barry said he would often shoot the deer from inside the house.

Investigators found empty darts, a dart package and a dart needle on the property during a May 2020 search. However, an affidavit makes note of a needle cap tucked between washed sheets in the dryer.

Barry claimed he last saw his wife on May 9, 2020, when he returned home from work. He denied using a tranquilizer gun that day and said he had 'no idea' how the needle cap wound up in the dryer.

The following day, Barry was on a business trip, where investigators alleged he made five trash runs.

The autopsy notes that Morphew's death occurred under the intoxication of an 'injectable chemical immobilizer for wildlife'

Barry was charged with first-degree murder after investigators found empty tranquilizer darts, a dart package, a dart needle and a needle cap in the dryer on the couple's property

Prosecutors claimed Barry had shot his wife with a tranquilizer dart before chasing her around the house, based on cell data records that show him moving around outside

During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors asserted that Barry had loaded a syringe for a tranquilizer dart, put his phone on airplane mode and shot his wife.

Cell data records showed how he began 'moving in a pattern around the outside of the house,' most likely chasing Morphew around, they claimed.

However, his attorneys denied the allegations and filed a motion to dismiss the case. The charges were dropped days before the 56-year-old was set to stand trial that April.

However, the judge granted a request to dismiss the charges without prejudice - meaning they could be filed again at a later date.

Court documents reviewed by DailyMail.com showcase a marriage fraught with infidelity and strife.

Although Barry told investigators that he and his wife had a 'wonderful' evening before her disappearance - 'eating steaks, having sex, and going to bed early' - evidence in the affidavit tells a different story.

Four days before her disappearance on May 10, 2020, Morphew texted Barry letting him know that she wanted to end the marriage.

'Im done. I could care less what youre up to and have been for years. We need to figure this out civilly,' she wrote, according to the affidavit.

Morphew had been having an affair with Jeff Libler, an old high school friend, and was texting him the day before she was reported missing.

'Youre the only real love Ive knownthe only love I want,' the 49-year-old wrote in a message on LinkedIn.

Libler later told investigators that Morphew characterized her marriage as 'not good, lots of fights, very argumentative'.

The murder charges were dropped days before the 56-year-old was set to stand trial - however, the judge granted a request to dismiss the charges without prejudice

Morphew (center) was having an affair with an old high school friend at the time of her disappearance, and claimed her relationship with Barry was 'not good'

Prosecutors discovered three unknown DNA matches on the glove compartment of Morphew's car, including a partial match to a man who was connected to sexual assault cases in other states. Barry's DNA was not among them

The mother of two painted Barry as a controlling, abusive husband in messages with her sister, as well as in personal notes from her Apple account.

One uncovered note contained 60 'issues' she had with Barry. These included 'Phys abuse,' 'Not safe alone with you. Can't be trusted,' and 'Your lack of control over me=insecurities=a sick relationship'.

Prosecutors claimed that Barry 'initially represented to investigators...that his marriage with Suzanne was "perfect," and she had no intention of leaving him'.

However, these statements were 'proven to be false and misleading' by the investigation, the affidavit states.

Barry's attorney, Iris Eytan, spoke at a press conference shortly after the charges were dropped.

The prosecution was manufacturing a murder case. You've seen shows called 'Making a Murderer?' That's what was happening here in this courtroom,' Eytan said.

'They absolutely dismissed this case at this point because they knew they were going to lose this trial and Mr. Morphew was going to be acquitted and exonerated.'

Prosecutors disclosed the finding of three unknown DNA matches on the glove compartment of Morphew's car.

One was a partial match to an unknown man who was connected to sexual assault cases in other states. Barrys DNA was not part of that sample.

However, the determination of Morphew's death as a homicide could lay the grounds for charges to be filed against her husband once again.

The case is ongoing.
Police have contacted Angela Rayner to arrange a date for officers to quiz Labour's deputy leader over her housing row, it emerged today.

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP has faced weeks of scrutiny over the 2015 sale of her former council house with claims she may not have paid the right amount of tax.

It is also alleged she may have made a false declaration about where she was living on the electoral register, amid confusion about what was her principal residence.

Greater Manchester Police last month launched an investigation into the politician's past housing arrangements.

According to the Sun on Sunday, detectives leading the probe have now contacted Ms Rayner's office to arrange an interview with the politician.

The newspaper reported Labour's deputy leader is likely to be invited to attend a police station voluntarily and be interviewed under caution, rather than be arrested.

Police have contacted Angela Rayner to arrange a date for officers to quiz Labour's deputy leader over her housing row, it emerged today

Ms Rayner, pictured with Sir Keir Starmer, has faced weeks of scrutiny over the 2015 sale of her former council house with claims she may not have paid the right amount of tax

A source said: 'There is a lot of information already in the public domain so there is no need to be heavy-handed.

'The police are more interested in gathering all the information they can, and having Angela come in and speak to them.

'They will then take a view on where the investigation goes from there once they have assessed the evidence.'

Ms Rayner has vowed to 'do the right thing and step down' if she is found to have committed a crime in relation to her living situation a decade ago, during her marriage to her former husband Mark Rayner.

But she has pointed to 'expert tax and legal advice' she has received and stressed she is 'completely confident I've followed the rules at all times'.

Ms Rayner has rejected suggestions in a book by former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, which was serialised in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, that she failed to properly declare her main home.

The unauthorised biography alleged she bought her former council house, in Vicarage Road in Stockport, Greater Manchester, with a 25 per cent discount in 2007 under the right-to-buy scheme.

The former carer is said to have made a 48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.

Government guidance says that a tenant can apply to buy their council home through the right-to-buy scheme if it is their 'only or main home'.

Mr Rayner, her then-husband, was listed at another address in Lowndes Lane, about a mile away, which had also been bought under the right-to-buy scheme.

In the same year as her wedding, Ms Rayner is said to have re-registered the births of her two youngest children, giving her address as where her husband resided.

Ms Rayner has insisted that Vicarage Road was her 'principal property' despite her then-husband living elsewhere at the time.

But neighbours have reportedly disputed her claim that she lived apart from Mr Rayner.

A Labour spokesperson said: 'Angela has been clear that she will cooperate with any investigation. We do not plan to give a running commentary.

'We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it's now appropriate to let the police do their work.'
Hundreds of motorists flocked to beauty spots across the country to see the Northern Lights last night, only to be left bitterly disappointed after clouds ruined the spectacle.

On Friday night 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).

And experts predicted that the Aurora would light up Britain's skies again on Saturday night in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England.

But stargazers' plans were scuppered after the breathtaking lights failed to show up in a number of viewpoints around the country.

West Yorkshire Police were called to Castle Hill in Huddersfield after around 200 cars became stuck as stargazers arrived in their droves to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

Cars stuck in traffic in the Peak District while waiting to see the Northern Lights. Hundreds of motorists flocked to beauty spots across the country to see the Aurora last night, only to be left bitterly disappointed after clouds ruined the spectacle

West Yorkshire Police were called to Castle Hill in Huddersfield (pictured) after around 200 cars became stuck as stargazers arrived in their droves to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights

Sightings were reported across the UK on Saturday night. The lights are pictured here on Denbigh Moors in Wales

Tempers soon began to flare with the Aurora absent and vehicles remaining stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Officers then had to intervene to sort the situation out with cars at a standstill for 40 minutes once people realised the lights had eluded them.

One disappointed punter said: 'We went to see the lights and noticed Castle Hill was busier than usual.

'On arriving, we met up to 100 cars battling to get a space in an already full car park.

'We struggled to get out and was stuck in traffic for 40 mins. The police turned up to help traffic.

'People were getting annoyed with the amount of cars there.'

It comes after hundreds of drivers took to the Peak District roads to spot the phenomenon last night - only to see a stream of blinding headlights.

'The roads out to the Peak District were like the M1,' said Ben Green, who drove out from Sheffield to Stanage Edge at around 10.15pm amd described a 'constant flow of cars' driving further into the Peak District.

Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said there were sightings 'from top to tail across the country' (pictured: the lights seen from Denbigh Moors in Wales)

Mr Snell 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' (pictured: the lights seen from Denbigh Moors in Wales)

'I've lived here all my life and in 40 years I've never seen the roads so busy, even on a hot summer's day.

'The sheer number of people was bonkers in what is usually a quiet rural area.

'It was like a festival, people were parking up and some had camping chairs.. At the time you think you're the only person having this idea.'

Debbie Howard, who travelled out to Burbage Edge, said the only lights she saw were car headlights.

She posted on X: 'Yay! I saw the Northern Lights. But not the ones I was expecting.

'Just all us northerners blinding each other with our car headlights hoping to catch the Aurora Borealis in the Peak District.'

She added in a separate comment: 'It was actually great to see so many people out there hoping for a sighting of the Aurora. Appreciating nature.

'I guess we just didn't anticipate so many doing the same thing.'

Nick M posted photos of a busy traffic and said: 'Chaos in the Peak District last night as literally everyone attempted to catch sight of the Northern Lights.

'Nothing seen, apart from headlights.'

Meanwhile, Aurora lovers in London headed up Parliament Hill for a memorable astronomical display - only to be left scratching their heads as to why it didn't show up.

The person who took the video wrote in a caption: 'Thousands here tonight compared to last night. Activity seems to have decreased but fingers crossed.

Crowds of sky gazers gathered in London to catch a glimpse of a second night of Northern Lights - only to be left scratching their heads as to why they didn't show up

On Friday night 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 (pictured: the lights at Great Brington, Northamptonshire at around midnight on Friday)

'Also G5 storm possible tomorrow night.'

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.'
Russian force are continuing their relentless pummelling of the north border of Kharkiv, as Putin's troops 'seize nine villages in two days' forcing thousands of civilians to flee the region amid the blitz.

Russia said Sunday it had captured more than four villages in Ukraine's second-biggest city after its defence ministry earlier said five villages had been seized by troops already.

The ministry said its forces had 'advanced deeply into the enemy defences' and taken villages including Gatishche, Krasnoye, Morokhovets and Oleinikovo.

The Ukrainian army's top commander said the situation was 'complicated' but his forces were managing to hold back further Russian advances.

'All areas of the northern border are under enemy fire almost around the clock. The situation is difficult,' Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.

Firefighters finish extinguishing the fire at the site of a Russian missile strike on the city's private residential buildings area on May 10, 2024 in Kharkiv, Ukraine

Russia has claimed it has captured nine villages in two days after beginning its offensive in Kharkiv on Friday

Residents of the Vovchansk district which is under constant shelling by Russian troops stay by their belongings during the evacuation, Kharkiv region

'The number of settlements where active hostilities are ongoing has increased,' he said.

Local prosecutors said four civilians had been killed in the offensive.

Oleksiy Kharkivsky, a senior police officer from Vovchansk helping to coordinate evacuations, said 'The city is constantly under fire.

'Everything in the city is being destroyed... You hear constant explosions, artillery, mortars. The enemy is hitting the city with everything they have,' he said.

Kharkivsky estimated that around 1,500 people had been evacuated or fled Vovchansk since Friday and there had been 32 drone strikes on the town over the past 24 hours.

He said evacuation teams had come under fire 'many times'.

And more than 4,000 people have been evacuated across Kharkiv in total after Russia blitzed the border city.

'In total, 4,073 people have been evacuated,' Synegubov wrote on social media.

Synegubov said that on Sunday a 63-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Glyboke and a 38-year-old man was wounded in Vovchansk.

'Russian occupants' attempts to break through our defence have been stopped,' said Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky.

He said the situation in Kharkiv region had 'deteriorated significantly' and was 'complicated'.

Ukrainian forces 'are doing everything they can to hold their defensive lines and positions and inflict damage on the enemy,' he said.

Russia's emergency situations ministry said at least 20 people were injured in a Ukrainian missile strike on the border city of Belgorod which caused the partial collapse of a building, earlier today.

Officials were quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that 12 people, including two children, were rescued from the rubble of the building, which lies just across the border from the Kharkiv region.

In Kharkiv itself, mayor Igor Terekhov was quoted by the city council as saying there was no reason for people to leave the city despite the offensive.

'Despite all the events that are taking place in the region, Kharkiv is calm. We do not see people leaving,' he was quoted as saying.

Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire at the site of an overnight missile strike on private buildings in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 10 May 2024, amid the Russian invasion

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said three residential houses were set alight and destroyed with dozens more damaged as a result of a Russian attack Thursday night, which he said targeted both infrastructure and residential areas

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 10, 2024

Ukraine on Friday announced that Russia had launched an attack in the Kharkiv region, amid fears tyrant Vladimir Putin seeks to seize the nation's second city.

Kyiv's troops pushed back Russian forces from most of Kharkiv region in late 2022, but Moscow has now been making small advances into a border zone as war-weary Ukrainians struggle with ammunition and manpower shortages.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had been carrying out counterattacks in border villages in Kharkiv region.

'Disrupting Russian offensive plans is now our number one task,' he said.

Troops must 'return the initiative to Ukraine', the president insisted, again urging allies to speed up arms deliveries.

Ukrainian officials had warned for weeks that Moscow might try to attack its northeastern border regions, pressing its advantage as Ukraine struggles with delays in Western aid and manpower shortages.

When the Russian offensive began on Friday, the Ukrainian defence ministry said: 'At approximately 5:00am (0200 GMT), the enemy attempted to break through our defence line under the cover of armoured vehicles'.

A high-ranking Ukrainian military source said Russia had advanced into Ukraine by just over half a mile close to the town of Vovchansk and was trying to 'create a buffer zone' to prevent attacks into Russian territory.

'The city is constantly under fire,' said Oleksiy Kharkivsky, a senior police officer from Vovchansk helping to coordinate the evacuations.

'Everything in the city is being destroyed... You hear constant explosions, artillery, mortars. The enemy is hitting the city with everything they have,' he said, speaking at an evacuation point in a village near Vovchansk.

A view from the site aftermath of the explosion of a Russian missile in the area of a cottage residential development in Kharkiv, Ukraine on May 10, 2024

Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire at the site of an overnight missile strike on private buildings in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 10 May 2024

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed 10 attack drones, the air force said, but added that two guided missiles were also launched by Moscow's forces

Kharkivsky said one person who was trapped under rubble had died overnight and 'several people were killed by shelling' on Saturday.

He estimated that around 1,500 people had been evacuated or fled Vovchansk since Friday and said there had been 32 drone strikes on the town over the past 24 hours.

He said evacuation teams had come under fire 'many times'.

The current advances are the Kremlin's biggest land offensives in the region since it unleashed terror in February 2022, when the war began.

President Zelensky said: 'Russia launched a new wave of counter-offensive actions in this area. Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery...

'Now there is a fierce battle under way in this direction,' he said in a press conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine had previously said it was aware that Russia was assembling thousands of troops along the northeastern border, close to the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

'The entire town is under massive shelling now, it is not safe to stay here,' Vovchansk administration head Tamaz Hambarishvili told Ukraine's Hromadske Radio.

The town, which has a population of 3,000 people, sits less than five miles across the border from Russia. Evacuations were underway there and in nearby areas on Friday.

One person was killed and several were wounded in the town amid shelling on Friday morning, regional police said.

'Enemy shelling from various types of weapons has been intensifying in Kharkiv region in the northern direction for the last day,' regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.

Vitaliy Ganchev, the Russian-installed official in the region, confirmed there was fighting near the border and urged civilians to take shelter.

'In this regard, I ask residents living in these areas to be careful and not to leave shelters without an urgent need,' he added.

The start of Friday's ground assault came after Russia launched a blizzard of missiles and kamikaze drones on Kharkiv on Thursday night.

Synehubov said three residential houses were set alight and destroyed with dozens more damaged as a result of the Russian attack, which he said targeted both infrastructure and residential areas.

In photos that he posted on the Telegram messaging app, huge flames can be seen engulfing buildings as thick clouds of smoke were sent billowing into the air.

Two people, including an 11-year-old child, were injured in the strikes, according to reports.

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed 10 attack drones, the air force said, but added that two guided missiles were also launched by Moscow's forces.

These missiles are believed to have caused the damage to the residential buildings.
Donald Trump's chances of winning the election have improved despite coming face-to-face with porn star Stormy Daniels in court.

The politician's chances of being the next US President have increased by 4 per cent since the start of the hearing, with Betfair Exchange punters showing increasing faith throughout the 'hush money' trial.

Trump's chances shot up 2 per cent in the three days since the adult actress - allegedly paid $130,000 for her silence over sex with Trump  took the stand in the New York courtroom.

Trump has been the punters' favourite for a while but his odds decreased to 47 per cent on Thursday - after being at 45 per cent on Wednesday, and 43 per cent at the start of his trial on April 15.

The former US president's odds of reclaiming the Oval Office remained unchanged on Sunday at 47 per cent.

Donald Trump's chances of winning the election have improved despite coming face-to-face with porn star Stormy Daniels in court

Stormy Daniels leaves Manhattan Criminal Court after testifying at former US President Donald Trump's trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments

President Joe Biden has been trailing behind Trump for eight months now, but celebrated a one-day lead over his Republican rival on April 13.

Biden's popularity has steadily declined since the start of Trump's fraud trial. He has distanced from 43 per cent at the start of the hearing to just 40 per cent today.

Sam Rosbottom, a Betfair spokesperson, said: 'During his 2016 campaign Trump boasted he ''could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody'' and he ''wouldn't lose voters''.

'Roll forward eight years and with now less than six months to the vote, it feels increasingly like nothing can stop ''Teflon Trump'' who is favourite at 11/10 over Biden on 6/4.'

He added: 'Despite a string of lawsuits, Trump enjoys a substantial lead over Biden, and we've still to see anything rattle faith in the former president who simply seems immune to bad news.'
Germany could bring back conscription for all 18-year-olds amid fears of an all-out NATO war with Russia, leaked military plans reveal.

Military planners are discussing three potential plans, two of which involve a compulsory military year for all men once they turn 18.

It is understood that officials are in the final stages of discussions with German defence minister Boris Pistorius expected to go public with official plans next month, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Mr Pistorius, during a trip to Washington last week, said he was 'convinced' that Germany 'needs a form of military conscription'.

He also previously described the country's decision to suspend compulsory military service in 2011 as a 'mistake'.

Germany could bring back conscription for all 18-year-olds amid fears out an all-out NATO war with Russia, leaked military plans reveal. Vladimir Putin last week declared his nuclear forces were at full combat readiness in preparation for a global war. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Moscow

NATO enhanced Forward Presence battle group Spanish army tank Leopard 2 fires during the final phase of the Silver Arrow 2022 military drill on Adazi military training grounds in Latvia

In one proposal being considered by military planners in Berlin, all men and women would be subject to conscription once they turned 18.

Germany's previous policy on compulsory military service only applied to men.

To include women would require a changing the nation's constitution, according to the newspaper, but ministry insiders reportedly believe the change would 'most likely to receive societal approval'.

Another proposal, which is viewed by the defence ministry as a 'a strong signal' to both allies and rivals, would only apply to 18-year-old men, but would not see everyone selected, the leaked reports revealed.

Young men would be required to complete an online form and could then later be chosen for service.

A third option under consideration avoids conscription and instead focuses on 'optimising' the current military system through more proactive recruitment campaigns.

News of the defence ministry's potential conscription plans comes just days after Vladimir Putin declared his nuclear forces were at full combat readiness in preparation for a global war.

Putin, in an unsettling speech on Thursday from Moscow's Red Square, addressed top officials, members of the armed forces and millions of Russian citizens.

He hailed the troops fighting in Ukraine for their courage and also blasted what Russia calls the 'collective West', accusing it of 'fuelling regional conflicts, inter-ethnic and inter-religious strife and trying to contain sovereign and independent centers of global development'.

A Romanian Special Forces boards the Romanian frigate 'King Ferdinand' during the Sea Shield 2024 NATO-led drill in the Black Sea, outside Constanta, Romania on April 16, 2024

Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz (pictured May 8) said on Saturday that Ukrainians with a residence permit and work in Germany can stay even as Ukraine seeks to recruit nationals living abroad to serve in the war against Russia

Amid Russia-West tensions that have soared to the highest level since the Cold War, Putin also issued another stark reminder about Russia's nuclear might.

Putin said the Kremlin would do everything to avoid global confrontation, but warned that his military was ready to meet any threat to his nation's security.

Meanwhile, Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that Ukrainians with a residence permit and work in Germany can stay even as Ukraine seeks to recruit nationals living abroad to serve in the war against Russia.

The Ukrainian government last month approved rules temporarily barring military-age men from applying for passports abroad, further tightening regulations as it seeks to address a shortage of troops to counter Russia's attacks.

'The legal situation is such that residency here is not called into question by this,' said Scholz, speaking at a webcast event by the RND group of newspapers.

'Being in employment leads to security of residence,' he said, adding that Germany wanted to encourage Ukrainians in the country to work
Hundreds spent Mother's Day marching in memory of Molly Ticehurst, a young mum whose life was allegedly taken by her former partner.

A large crowd gathered in Forbes in central-west New South Wales on Sunday to honour the local childcare worker, 28, who was allegedly killed in her home by her former partner, 39-year-old Daniel Billings, on April 22.

Billings was on bail for charges including rape, stalking and intimidation when Ms Ticehurst's alleged murder took place.

Locals walked around Lake Forbes on Sunday wearing white shirts emblazoned with Ms Ticehurst's face and the words, 'Her name is Molly'.

The march came on a day when the NSW government confirmed that it will consider sweeping new laws aimed at protecting women from domestic violence.

Hundreds gathered in Forbes on Mother's Day to walk for Molly Ticehurst (pictured) who was allegedly murdered on April 22

Members of the community walked around Lake Forbes (pictured) while wearing shirts emblazoned with Ms Ticehurst's face and the words, 'Her name is Molly'

Some walkers, including Ms Ticehurst's aunt and uncle - Debbie and Fred Brown, carried signs for the late childcare worker.

'It's been hard over the last couple of weeks, but it's good to see so much support around town and how people support each other,' Mr Brown told ABC.

'It's hard but, you know, it's good to see that things are going to change out of this, which is one of the best things.'

The walk was organised by Forbes local Cassandra Tyack.

'So many people didn't know Molly but she's touched the hearts of everyone with what's happened,' she told Nine News.

Forbes mayor Phyllis Miller tearfully described Ms Ticehurst's legacy in the small town.

Not a day goes by when she doesn't think of Ms Ticehurst's loved ones.

The death of Ms Ticehurst (pictured) has prompted the state cabinet to consider tougher bail laws for violent domestic abusers

'Molly Ticehurst's beautiful smile gives you insight into the strong and lovely young woman she was,' Cr Miller said.

'We pay tribute to you, Molly, a dedicated educator and even a more dedicated mum.

'It is fitting and heartbreaking today that it is Mother's Day.

'A vibrant and positive teacher Molly has touched the lives of thousands of children in our community  Molly made everything an adventure for her family and of course for all her friends, we are heartbroken.'

Sunday also marked an important step for better laws to protect women as NSW Health Minister Ryan Park announced the government's consideration of urgent reforms.

The walk (pictured) was attended by Ms Ticehurst's family members with Forbes Mayor Phyllis Miller tearfully describing the late childcare worker's legacy in the small town

'We're determined to make sure we keep women safe,' Mr Parksaid.

'That is a single focus of ours at the moment with far too many women being killed at the hands of someone that's meant to care for them.'

The state cabinet on Monday will consider reforms that could see bail refused for violent domestic abusers and those deemed at a high risk of reoffending kept behind bars while awaiting trial.

The cabinet will also discuss expanding the use of electronic monitoring anklets.

'Today, on Mother's Day, it's a stark reminder that there are families today mourning the loss of women who have been taken in the most horrific circumstances,' Mr Park added.
Outraged California residents successfully petitioned to ban short term rentals in their neighborhood after reaching the breaking point with partying neighbors.

Andy Oliver, 50, formed a coalition to end un-hosted rentals in his Long Beach neighborhood when a shooting victim staying at a rental next door crawled into his home seeking shelter on January 2.

He launched the Long Beach Neighborhood Coalition and began petitioning in his census block group to restrict un-hosted short-term rentals in the College Estates section of their neighborhood.

Members of the group spoke at a city council meeting in April, where officials voted to start looking at increasing restrictions on short-term rentals.

'Imagine that you buy your dream home and then all of a sudden, your next-door neighbor turns his house into an Airbnb. You spend over a year putting up with loud parties, marijuana smoke wafting into your vents, film shoots, hourly rentals, strangers coming in and out all the time and many other issues,' Oliver said.

Andy Oliver (pictured), 50, formed a coalition to ended un-hosted rentals in his Long Beach neighborhood when a shooting victim staying at a rental next door crawled into his home

Outraged California residents successfully petitioned to ban short term rentals in their neighborhood

Airbnb rentals in the quaint neighborhood of College Estates range from $179 to $433 per night. Pictured: a $433 per night rental in the College Estates neighborhood

'Then on a sunny Tuesday morning with children playing outside, a 21-year-old renter who is targeted from this Airbnb is chased by a masked gunman and shot right in your front porch.'

'The victim jumps your fence, tries to bust in your house seeking protection, spilling his blood all over your property. Your house is turned into a crime scene, you miss work, families are forever traumatized and then new renters come in that very same night,' said Oliver.

Melissa Rakiey said renters staying at her neighbor's Airbnb often block her driveway and threaten residents.

'On March 16, customers of the short term rental hosted a birthday party which escalated and resulted in the Long Beach PD breaking up a party of 52 people in a three bedroom house,' Rakiey said.

'The Airbnb brought into my neighborhood a large group of hoodlums, flushed them into the streets with open containers, smoking weed and racing cars.'

Melissa Rakiey (pictured) said renters staying at her neighbor's Airbnb often block her driveway and threaten residents

On Friday, Oliver was informed his petition had passed. According to the Long Beach Community Development Department of the 735 petitions delivered, 375 came back signed, meaning it passed with 51 percent support.

'I don't have the final count, but there are something like 755 homes, and we just got enough signatures,' Oliver told the Los Angeles Times.

'I heard it was close and I don't have confirmation of the final vote, but I was informed [last week] that we succeeded.'

'There were two previous petition drives that failed, so I wasn't sure if we would have success,' he said.

Now there are eight other census tract block groups with pending petitions to ban un-hosted short-term rentals throughout Long Beach.

Long Beach banned un-hosted short-term rentals in 2020, but loosened restrictions to allow people to use their second properties as Airbnbs. Pictured: College Estates Neighborhood

According to the Community Development Department there are 626 non-primary short-term rentals registered in the city. Pictured: a $350 per night rental on the border of the College Estates neighborhood

Airbnb rentals in the quaint neighborhood of College Estates range from $179 to $433 per night.

Long Beach banned un-hosted short-term rentals in 2020, but loosened restrictions to allow people to use their second properties as Airbnbs.

According to the Community Development Department there are 626 non-primary short-term rentals registered in the city.

Jean Young, 67, is one of those short-term rental owners who told the LA Times she understands the backlash from the shooting at Oliver's home but would be sad to lose the ability to earn money from her rental.

'I'm a part-time writer, and the income from rentals just smooths out the rough edges and has been wonderful,' she said.

'My son has since moved on to college and my mother passed away, so there's all this room in my house to share. It would be sad to lose that ability.'
President Joe Biden's campaign has tapped two of Hollywood's biggest celebrities - Julia Roberts and George Clooney - to appear at a Los Angeles fundraiser next month.

NBC News reported Sunday that Clooney and Roberts will join former President Barack Obama at a West Coast donor event in the coming weeks, while Bill and Hillary Clinton will headline a similar East Coast event in early summer.

The Biden campaign - which drew in a record $26 million when it booked Radio City Music Hall for an event with Biden, Obama and Bill Clinton in late March - is using the Democratic have-hitters and A-list stars to maintain its financial advantage over former President Donald Trump's campaign.

'We're not under any illusion that he's not going to narrow the gap,' a Biden campaign adviser told the network.

The Biden campaign ended March with $85.5 million of cash on hand, after raising $43.8 million that month, which was nearly triple what the Trump campaign brought in.

President Joe Biden's (center) campaign plans two more glitzy fundraisers in the coming weeks that will again tap the help of former President Barack Obama (left) and former President Bill Clinton (right). They appeared at a Radio City Music Hall event in March

Hollywood greats George Clooney (left) and Julia Roberts (right) will appear alongside President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama at a Los Angeles fundraiser expected to take place in June

When donations to the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee were factored in the Democratic advantage was $131 million over $67 million.

But after Biden's Radio City Music Hall fundraiser, Trump decided to match it with his own high-dollar fundraiser held at the Palm Beach home of billionaire investor John Paulson.

While it lacked the star power of the ex-presidents, the Trump campaign said it essentially doubled what the Biden campaign earned - reportedly bringing in $50.5 million to the campaign's coffers.

That number hasn't yet been backed up by Federal Election Commission filings, which have a mid-July deadline.

Shortly after that, Trump went to Atlanta for a high-dollar fundraiser in the ritzy Buckhead neighborhood, which featured former U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, the state's Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, and GOP mega-donor and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus.

That fundraiser, along with another held in Orlando, raised $15 million, a campaign official told Fox News.

More recently Trump came under fire for reportedly telling a group of oil and gas executives that he would roll back Biden's environmental regulations - suggesting they raise a billion dollars for his campaign for the courtesy.

Former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will join her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and President Joe Biden for an East Coast fundraiser early this summer, NBC News reported Sunday

The Washington Post reported that the conversation occurred at an 'energy round table' in mid-April at Mar-a-Lago.

In March, CNBC reported on some of Trump's donor woes, including that small-dollar donations have slowed.

In 2023, the Trump campaign raised 62.5 percent less cash from small-dollar donations than it did in 2019, the previous year before a presidential election.

But in recent weeks, Trump has used his highly publicized Stormy Daniels hush money case in New York to send out a number of fundraising pleas, which could help entice small-dollar donors back into the fold.

The RNC told NBC that it expects its April tally alongside the Trump campaign to be a combined $76 million.

The Biden campaign is expected to release its fundraising totals closer to the May 20 deadline.
Police have launched a fresh appeal over the unsolved murder of a pizza chef who was stabbed to death in a Sheffield park two years ago today.

Italian-born Carlo Giannini, 34, was found dead in Manor Fields Park on May 12, 2022.

A murder probe was launched and four knives were recovered during a search of the scene.

But no one has been linked to his death or could identify the handler of the weapon.

South Yorkshire Police say six people have been interviewed, five on suspicion of murder and one on suspicion of assisting an offender, in connection with the case, but as yet it remains unsolved.

Now, the force has today released a new appeal on the anniversary of Carlo's death.

Italian-born Carlo Giannini, 34, (pictured) was found dead in Manor Fields Park on May 12, 2022

Carlo, who was originally from Italy but moved to Sheffield and worked as a pizza chef (pictured), died from a stab wound, police confirmed

Carlo's family have payed tribute to their son saying: 'There isn't a day that we don't think about Carlo. We live that 12 May every day, remembering what happened.

'Our life has changed. Time does not change our pain.

'There are many questions - we ask why?

'The only answer is that whatever happened, no one had the right to kill a young man with many dreams and a great passion for his work. He loved life and his family.

'It saddens his family that someone must know what happened and does not help to find the culprit.

'They didn't just kill Carlo but also his whole family. He was a young man, a son, a brother, a beloved friend. We want to say thank you to the English police.'

Manor Fields Park in Sheffield (pictured) where Carlo was found dead on May 12, 2022

Detective Chief Inspector Becky Hodgman, who is the lead investigator for this case, added: 'Officers have worked tirelessly over the last two years on this large-scale murder investigation in their attempts to identify Carlo's killer, and the reason behind his tragic death.

'We have carried out this investigation with Carlo's family always at the forefront of our mind.

'Officers have left no stone unturned, but due to the scant evidence we have not yet been able to provide the answers that the family desperately want and deserve.

'Carlo's family and I believe that somebody has information that could be crucial in moving this case forward, enabling us to bring Carlo's killer to justice and offer his family the closure they need.

'I implore anyone who knows anything about this case to consider the pain that Carlo's family are in, and to get in touch.

'Two years have passed but it is not too late to help.'

Anyone with information is urged to call South Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 122 of May 12, 2022.
These photos show how the sea along the south coast of England underwent discolouration over the hottest weekend of the year so far.

Sun-worshippers looking to enjoy a dip in the sea at Brighton yesterday were met with an English Channel that was an off-putting, dirty brown instead of its usual dazzling blue.

However, it is likely to be algal bloom - a natural phenomenon in which phytoplankton start to reproduce in the warmer weather.

A murky brown coloured sea water off Brighton beach as crowds enjoy the hot sunny weather yesterday

The sea turns brown in Saltdean with what appears to be a viscous layer on the top of the water

When they begin to breakdown, they can often be mistaken for sewage - with brown foam appearing on the water's surface.

Pictures shared on social media yesterday showed swimmers bathing in the murky waters with Brighton's famous pier in the background.

Just up the coast, in neighbouring Saltdean, a similar phenomenon was videoed and posted on X - showing the sea also turning brown with what appears to be a viscous layer on the sea.
An Ohio man was stunned to learn that a book about his passion project would go for tens of thousands of dollars at auction during an episode of Antiques Roadshow.

The popular television program has been running since 1997, following auction house specialists around the country as they offer free appraisals of antiques and collectibles.

During a trip to Ohio, the PBS series met up with a man who'd purchased a worn-looking book dating back to 1792 - and was fully aware of its significance.

'I brought a very old book, which is an essay on clockmaking that I found in an antique mall,' the guest said. He shared that his 'main interest' was collecting watches, particularly those pertaining to navigation.

'I saw this book. What caught my eye was "Essai dHorloge" on the outside cover, which is French for "An Essay on Clockmaking,"' the man explained, sounding like an expert himself.

The man identified the item as a book written by French clockmaker Ferdinand Berthoud

The guest said he'd purchased the book at an antiques mall in Canada, sharing that his 'main interest' was collecting watches, particularly those having to do with navigation

He opened the book and was floored to discover that it was handwritten by Ferdinand Berthoud, a fabled Parisian clockmaker who was involved in the creation of the first marine chronometers, specialized devices used for finding longitude at sea.

Devon Eastland, the senior specialist of early printed books at Swann Auction Galleries, agreed that the item was 'really important for our entire history of navigation.'

Back then, she explained, 'there wasn't a way to determine longitude on a moving ship in a way that we now take it for granted that we know were going through time zones and so on.'

Addressing the guest, she said, 'You know more about the subject matter than I do.'

The man stepped in to explain that King George put a prize following a shipwreck 'to see who could solve the problem of determining longitude at sea so this sort of thing wouldnt happen.'

Eastland said British watchmaker John Harrison 'figured it out' before turning her attention to the centuries-old book.

'There is original material like these drawings inside,' she said, reiterating that the item was handwritten rather than printed.

'This is a very unusual occurrence, because we do sometimes find manuscript versions of printed books but, as far as I can tell, I cannot find a printed version of this book.'

An Ohio man was floored to learn how much a book about his passion project would go for at auction during an episode of Antiques Roadshow

Appraiser Devon Eastland agreed that the book was 'really important for our history of navigation'

She was impressed by the book's contents, identifying 'original material' like hand-drawn illustrations

Eastland estimated that the book would go for anywhere between $40,000 and $60,000 at auction

The guest appeared visibly stunned. 'Wow, I had no idea what its worth,' he said

She explained that a firm in Switzerland, bearing Berthoud's name, still makes watches by hand.

'They have a bibliography and they do not mention a work of this name at all anywhere that I can find, which is, again, very unusual,' she said.

'I also looked in library catalogues, I cant find it. It looks to be, for all intents and purposes, something that he is directly working on.'

To make the find even more 'extraordinary,' Eastland said, there were apparent working notes at the end of the book.

The guest shared that he closed the sale for only $200 Canadian dollars.

'Theres a lot of interest in this collecting area,' Eastland said before estimating an auction price between $40,000 and $60,000.

The guest appeared at a loss for words. 'Wow,' he finally blurted out. 'Wow, I had no idea what its worth.'

The show is known for capturing the shocked reactions of guests, for better or for worse. One of the most memorable was during a 2012 episode where a Texas man discovered that an artwork left to collect dust behind a door was the most expensive painting ever appraised on the show.

After receiving a retail estimate between $800,000 and $1 million, the man opted to donate the painting to the San Antonio Museum of Art, saying he was 'really scared to carry it around'.
Two skydivers have completed a death-defying wingsuit through London's Tower Bridge at the heart-stopping speed of 152mph.

Austrian Red Bull skydivers Marco Furst, 33, and Marco Waltenspiel, 39, are the first in the world to complete such a flight.

The pair jumped from a helicopter flying at 3,000 feet on Sunday morning, diving down to 35 metres above the River Thames.

They soared through Tower Bridge and executed a complex manoeuvre known as a 'flare,' to rise up again to 80 metres - the height required to open their parachutes before landing safely.

From take-off to landing, the wingsuit flight lasted 45 seconds, covering a distance of 1.2 kilometres and reaching a top speed of 152 miles per hour.

Two skydivers have completed a death-defying wingsuit through London's Tower Bridge at the heart-stopping speed of 152mph

Austrian Red Bull skydivers Marco Furst, 33, and Marco Waltenspiel, 39, (pictured) are the first in the world to complete such a flight

From take-off to landing, the wingsuit flight lasted 45 seconds, covering a distance of 1.2 kilometres and reaching a top speed of 152 miles per hour

The pair jumped from a helicopter flying at 3,000 feet on Sunday morning, diving down to 35 metres above the River Thames

Mr Furst said: 'It was incredible, a dream come true for sure.'

Mr Waltenspiel said: 'It was intense from the beginning - we took off on the helicopter 20 minutes before and then we flew into London, the sunrise was amazing, the city looked so good.'

'We approached the bridge and then we were in the zone and we went for it.'

Wingsuit flying allows jumpers to glide horizontally at high speeds before landing safely on the ground using a parachute.

The pair did more than 200 practice jumps for the challenge and underwent training at a ground in Oxfordshire - which featured two cranes to mimic the dimensions of the Tower Bridge.

The pair said they were nervous but focused before the jump.

Mr Furst said: 'We had to get up at 3am, so we had four to five hours of sleep, so for me to go to bed was actually a bit difficult because you feel the excitement the day before.

They soared through Tower Bridge and executed a complex manoeuvre known as a 'flare,' to rise up again to 80 metres - the height required to open their parachutes before landing safely

Marco Furst and Marco Waltenspiel of Austria fly through Tower Bridge in London

The pair did more than 200 practice jumps for the challenge and underwent training at a ground in Oxfordshire

Marco Waltenspiel after his flight through Tower Bridge in London

Wingsuit flying allows jumpers to glide horizontally at high speeds before landing safely on the ground using a parachute

The two men are part of the Red Bull Skydive Team and have completed more than 22,000 jumps between them

'Once we were in the helicopter, we prepared everything and we both knew, OK now it's time to shine, right, and everything was calm and it was really cool to do the jump.'

Mr Waltenspiel said after the jump: 'We are super happy, super stoked, everything went well and everyone is happy.'

Mr Furst added: 'I just feel amazing. The jump was beautiful and everything worked out really good.

'I really enjoyed the journey and I'm really grateful to work with Marco and such a good team to bring our dream to life.'

The two men are part of the Red Bull Skydive Team and have completed more than 22,000 jumps between them in places like Croatia's heart-shaped island Galesnjak and downhill ski run The Streif in Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Explaining his favourite aspect of skydiving, Mr Furst said: 'For me personally, it's the freedom, because if you jump out of a helicopter, you can basically do what you want - you can fly to the left, to the right, up, down - so it's pure freedom for me.'

A spokesperson for Red Bull said Tower Bridge had been closed for the jump.

He said: 'Red Bull worked closely with all the relevant authorities, had all authorisations in place for this World First and ensured that the jump was carried out to the highest safety standards.'
A softly-spoken former bank clerk has stepped into the shoes of Vladimir Putin's propagandist warlord, three years after she was released from a Virginia jail for drug smuggling.

Mira Terada, 36, fled back to her native Russia in 2021 after being seized on an Interpol warrant and serving 30 months on a plea bargain.

Back home the former Houston businesswoman became a protege of Yevgeny Prigozhin who led the infamous Wagner mercenary force and appointed her head of his propaganda unit the 'Foundation for Battling Injustice (FBR)'.

He died in an apparent assassination last August after leading a failed coup against Vladimir Putin, but the Russian president seems to have taken Terada under his wing and given her a starring role in his information war against the West.

'Prison is always hard, always pain, loneliness,' she wrote on her Telegram channel last month. 'However, it is extremely important WHAT a person will do in the future with the experience gained.'

Mira Terada, 36, is leading Russia's information wars against the West less than three years after she was freed from a 30-month prison sentence in Virginia for her role in a nationwide cocaine smuggling ring

The former bank clerk was appointed to head the 'human rights organization' founded by feared Wagner group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin

Yevgeny Prigozhin (left) was dubbed 'Putin's chef' after making his name supplying food to the Russian president. But he went on to found his feared militia and head Russia's disinformation campaigns against the West

Previously known as Oksana Vovk, she arrived in the US in 2010 and studied at the International Language Institute in DC.

She moved to Houston, Texas, and established a company, Stylish Traveller LLC, that prosecutors believe was a front for the drug smuggling operation run by her husband Aleth Terada.

But the operation began to unravel in November 2016 when she was discovered in a car with two co-conspirators and a kilogram of cocaine concealed in the engine compartment on a road trip from Texas to Virginia.

She fled abroad but was seized on an Interpol warrant at Helsinki Airport in 2018 and deported back to the US to face charges.

She was sentenced to 30 months in June 2019 for money laundering after a plea bargain which saw the drug charges dropped.

And she has used her time in jail as a platform for her work with the Russian 'human rights' organization, lambasting the 'brutality of the American judicial system, the inhumanity of American prisons and the complete indifference of the so-called liberal American society'.

'You know how in the West, we have all kinds of foundations that explore human rights,' Darren Linvill of Clemson University told the Daily Beast.

'If you want to create a multipolar world, and your country is guilty of a long list of human rights violations, you might need to start your own foundation that explores human rights violations,' he explained.

'But, you know, only the human rights violations that everybody else is committing.'

Terada, previously known as Oksana Vovk, has become a high-profile figure on Russian TV since her release from the US

She uses her platform as head of the 'Foundation for Battling Injustice (FBR)' to pillory US justice and amplify western human rights abuses

Her personal Telegram account is filled with pictures of the Russian-native celebrating the beauty of her homeland

'I saw the nightmares of the US prison hell, which are diligently hushed up by the world media: torture, bullying of prisoners, the sadism of the jailers and the cold ruthlessness of the American penitentiary system,' she said in a blog post

There was more drama in the Kremlin on Sunday as Putin fired his long-serving defense secretary Sergei Shoigu.

The 68-year-old appeared to have been rehabilitated in recent months as Russia foiled Ukraine's counter-offensive last summer after a disastrous start to its invasion.

But he was sidelined yesterday into a new role on the Russian security council, replacing long-time ex-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev, 72, a virulently anti-Western conspiracy theorist who is also being moved to a new job.

Prighozhin, once known 'Putin's chef' after making his money supplying food to the Kremlin became one of the world's most feared and brutal militia chiefs, typically ordering deserters to be beaten to death with sledgehammers.

But he was also a skilled propagandist and visionary of information warfare establishing the Internet Research Agency (IRA) which saturated social media with faked content designed to incite and polarize western electorates.

The IRA was dissolved in July last year after its undercover activities were exposed and Prigozhin admitted to interfering in US elections.

'I've never just been the financier of the Internet Research Agency. I invented it, I created it, I managed it for a long time,' he boasted.

'It was founded to protect the Russian information space from boorish aggressive propaganda of anti-Russian narrative from the West.'

Vladimir Putin sacked his long-serving defense secretary Sergei Shoigu (right) in a surprise move on Sunday afternoon

Linvill's colleague Patrick Warren, of the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University said that Terada's FBR is the 'Russian successor organization to Prigozhin's influence empire'.

'Putin would be a complete and utter idiot to let the network fall apart,' Linvill added.

'He needs the Prigozhin network more than ever before.'

On her X account, formerly Twitter, Terada delivers a series of pieces to camera in which she delivers a series of conspiracy theories including claims that Ukraine forcibly inseminates lesbians and that 'Western intelligence' was responsible for 9/11.

She was handed a new high-profile role in January when she convened the first public meeting of the 'Brics Journalists Association (BJS),' designed to 'provide assistance' to reporters in Russia's key allies of Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UAE.

The website parrots Kremlin disinformation and employs many of Prigozhin's former operatives US officials told Daily Beast.

Reports on the website accuse Ukraine of being a 'Nazi' state and rubbished Ukrainian claims this week that it had foiled a Kremlin-backed plot to assassinate President Volodymr Zelensky.

'As expected, Moscow is accused of being behind the attempted attack, but there is no evidence that the Russians participated in the conspiracy. On the other hand, the West seems quite interested in eliminating Zelensky,' Brazilian BJS member Lucas Leiroz wrote.

'Being an 'ally' with the West proved to be a true death sentence.'

In a paper last year the Clemson researchers laid out the Russian strategy.

'The first stage is placement, the initial posting of the false information, relying on inauthentic social media accounts for this purpose,' they wrote.

'Following placement is layering, the spread of that information from its origin to more credible sources.

'Repetition of a narrative itself brings a perception of credibility, and this process has been engaged in by employing both authentic and inauthentic social media accounts.

'The final stage is integration. This is the point at which the information becomes endorsed by more credible and genuine sources and is widely disseminated by real users.'

Earlier this year Russian disinformation researchers warned that Moscow's latest initiative was a series of new 'local' news websites with names such as DC Weekly, the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle and the Miami Chronicle.

'This is absolutely a prelude to the kind of interference we will see in the election cycle,' Linvill told the New York Times.

'It's cheap, highly targeted and obviously effective.'

Prigozhin led some of Russia's most successful military actions in Ukraine but also founded the Internet Research Agency (IRA) which saturated social media with faked content designed to incite and polarize western electorates.

He died in a helicopter crash last August in what is thought to be an assassination ordered by Vladimir Putin after threatening to overthrow the Russian president

Terada meanwhile was handed a new high-profile role in January when she convened the first public meeting of the 'Brics Journalists Association (BJS),' designed to 'provide assistance' to reporters in Russia's key allies of Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, and Ethiopia

Patrick Warren (left) and Darren Linvill of the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University said that Terada's FBR is the 'Russian successor organization to Prigozhin's influence empire'

Around 1,000 people were thought to be employed by Prighozhin's 'troll farms', amplifying and recirculating stories that toed the Kremlin line.

And while Terada may not have a large audience for her websites in the West, experts fear they are likely to be the source of narratives that will permeate political discourse in election year.

'They put out a bunch of reports that not very many people ever talk about,' Linvill said.

'It's just there to look good.'
The police's portrayal of missing chef Claudia Lawrence as a promiscuous woman who got a thrill out of dating men is 'built on a bed of lies', her mother has claimed.

The 35-year-old from Malton, North Yorkshire went missing on March 18, 2009 and has not been seen or heard from since.

It was suggested that Claudia - who worked as a chef at the University of York's Goodricke College - had relationships with men that her family and friends were unaware of.

And most alarmingly, Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway  the man in charge of what was a suspected murder enquiry  described Claudia's love life as 'complex and mysterious' on the BBC's Crimewatch in June 2009.

Now in a podcast called Answers for Claudia, her mother Joan Lawrence , 80, has criticised the picture painted of her daughter by police.

The police's portrayal of missing chef Claudia Lawrence (pictured) as a promiscuous woman who got a thrill out of dating men is 'built on a bed of lies', her mother has claimed

Joan Lawrence (pictured) , 80, has criticised the pictured painted of her daughter by police.

Claudia Lawrence who went missing in 2009 pictured with her mother Joan

She said: 'For the last 15 years I have been trying to get answers on what may have happened to Claudia.

'It's almost as though we're going to have to go right back to the beginning again.

'I sometimes think some of this has been built on a bed of lies.'

Joan also previously told the Mail that she saw her daughter's portrayal by police as 'victim blaming' that drained sympathy for Claudia  who, like many women her age, had merely had a number of different partners.

'It was a lot of c**p that wasn't true,' she said firmly.

'He [Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway] should never have said it.

'Everyone round here knew it wasn't true  it was a small community and people know what's true and what isn't.'

Claudia was first reported missing by her father Peter on March 20, 2009, two days after she last spoke to her parents on the phone.

It was reported that she went missing from her two-bedroom house on the outskirts of York.

On March 19 there were two potential sightings of Claudia with a man who was described as about 5'6 and wearing a dark hoodie.

Later evidence also shows that Claudia's phone was deliberately turned off by someone at about 12.10pm that day.

Claudia Lawrence pictured with her father Peter who reported her as missing on March 20, 2009

Claudia aged 3, right, with her older sister Ali. The girls had a Christian upbringing and, according to Joan, a 'normal' life

Police officers searching the land at Sand Hutton Gravel Pits near York on August 24 2021 in connection with the disappearance

On April 24, 2009, detectives announced that Miss Lawrence's disappearance was being treated as a suspected murder investigation.

However, despite an extensive police investigation and a cold case review in 2013, no one has established what happened to her or where she might be.

Her body has also never been found.

Joan has said she fears that this is her last opportunity to find out what actually happened to her daughter.

Earlier this year she revealed that she was in discussions with City of York Council to put Claudia's home to good use.

Ms Lawrence was hoping that the building can be put to good use after revealing that she finds returning to her daughter's home, frozen in time, very painful.

'It's so haunting coming back in but I'm tied to it now. It takes so much out of me every time I walk through the front door.' she told The Mirror.

MailOnline has contacted North Yorkshire Police for comment.
Wildfires have returned to Canada, with the billowing smoke forcing thousands from their homes and raising the alarm about poor air quality in the United States.

The blaze started Friday in northeast British Columbia and almost doubled in size by the start of the weekend, smoldering just a few miles outside Fort Nelson's city limits. By Sunday, the fire had consumed over 13,500 acres.

Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson Indian Reserve have a combined population of about 3,000 people, most of whom have been evacuated according to municipality mayor Rob Frayer.

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows smoke beginning to drift into the U.S., with light to medium coverage in Montana, the Dakotas and Minnesota.

These developments have triggered concern about a potential repeat of Canada's 2023 wildfire season, which was the most destructive in the country's history.

A massive wildfire in British Columbia has scorched 4,200 acres in the Canadian province and forced nearly 3,000 people from their homes

While the smoke seemed to be at its worst in June 2023 (pictured), it returned a month later, triggering an air quality advisory

Authorities issued an evacuation notice for several communities in Alberta on Saturday as the blaze grew (pictured)

Over 6,500 fires burnt nearly 71,000 square miles of land from the West Coast to the Atlantic provinces, and a blanket of smog covered New York City for a three-day period last June, turning the iconic skyline orange.

Scenes of chaos unfolded in Fort Nelson, where the community's only hospital shuttered.

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Fort Nelson First Nation warned those who chose to stay that emergency medical services would not be available, nor 'groceries or other amenities'.

In the neighboring province of Alberta, authorities posted an alert about a wildfire 15.5 miles southwest of the city of Fort McMurray.

The alert was upgraded to an evacuation notice Saturday, as residents in Saprea Creek Estates were also placed on alert from the municipality of Wood Buffalo.

Roaring winds pushed smoke across the province on Saturday, putting the city of Edmonton under an air quality advisory with hazard levels rated at 10-plus, or 'very high risk'.

Alberta Wildlife said the windy conditions challenged efforts to battle the blaze, despite deploying five crews of wildland firefighters, nine helicopters and air tankers.

Meteorologists do not anticipate rain and urge people to stay indoors over the next few days. While conditions are expected to begin to improve Sunday night, they will likely remain poor into the beginning of the week.

New York City was cast in an eerie orange glow as smoke billowed over the border last summer

The smoke has raised concern about poor air quality, with residents fearing that there may be a repeat of Canada's 2023 wildfire season, which blanketed New York city in smog for three days

Conditions were worst over a three-day period in June, with air quality levels ranked 'Hazardous' according to AirNow.gov

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality health advisory for several counties on June 6, 2023

New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens and Richmond counties were ultimately placed under an air quality health advisory

The air quality in the Big Apple was among the worst in the world

In addition to reduced visibility on the roads, those with preexisting conditions are at risk of experiencing health effects from wildfire smoke.

Canadian officials warned Sunday that people with lung diseases, asthma and heart disease are among those at the highest risk, in addition to pregnant women, older adults, children and those who work outdoors.

Those who must spend time outdoors are encouraged to wear a mask to reduce exposure to particles in the smoke.

Last month, the federal government warned that Canada faces yet another 'catastrophic' wildfire season due to higher-than-average spring and summer temperatures and El Nino weather conditions.

Smoke was propelled into New York City last summer, casting the city in an eerie orange glow.

Air quality in the Big Apple became some of the worst in the world. The index gradually rose from 'unhealthy' to 'hazardous' on AirNow.gov, a monitoring platform created by the U.S. government.

On June 6, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality health advisory for New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens and Richmond counties.

And it seemed there was no end in sight. Smoke returned to the area the following, and on July 17, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that an air quality advisory had been issued.

'The current Air Quality Index is 120, which means it's unhealthy for sensitive groups,' Adams wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

As of Sunday, several cities across Alberta, including Edmonton, were under an air quality advisory with hazard levels rated at 10-plus, or 'very high risk'

Alberta Wildlife said windy conditions challenged efforts to battle the blaze, despite deploying five crews of wildland firefighters, nine helicopters and air tankers

Meteorologists do not anticipate rain and urge people to stay indoors due to poor air quality

Last month, the federal government warned that Canada faces yet another 'catastrophic' wildfire season

Higher-than-normal temperatures and widespread drought conditions may prompt the wildfire season to begin sooner than May and end later than October

It is yet to be seen just how this year's wildfires will impact the United States.

However, as more than 80 active blazes cast smoke into the Midwest on Sunday, Minnesota was placed under a statewide air quality alert - the first of 2024.

The alert will be in effect through 8 a.m. Monday in northern Minnesota and until noon in southern parts of the state.

As of 10 a.m., an air quality index of 174 was reported in Beltrami County and 157 in Clay County, both 'unhealthy' levels according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Air quality is expected to reach the red level of the MCPA's scale, denoting conditions that are unhealthy for all groups, even those without preexisting conditions.

The agency has urged people to limit time outdoors.

Canada's wildfire season typically runs from May through October, but rising temperatures and widespread drought conditions may compound this risk.

'With the heat and dryness across the country, we can expect that the wildfire season will start sooner and end later, and potentially be more explosive,' Canada Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan said at a press conference.

The country witnessed a record number of wildfires last year that forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in British Columbia.

Nineteen counties in 11 states had multiple days with 'very unhealthy' and 'hazardous' air quality.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham demanded Sunday that President Joe Biden 'give Israel the bombs they need' in a rant where he said the U.S. made the 'right decision' by dropping nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Graham appeared on Meet the Press with NBC's Kristen Welker and it got heated when she continued to press the Republican on why Israel couldn't be more precise in its efforts to destroy Hamas.

This week the Biden administration paused one shipment of bombs to Israel, as the president warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to mount a ground invasion into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinian civilians have sought refuge.

'So when we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons,' Graham said. 'That was the right decision.'

'Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can't afford to lose and work with them to minimize casualties,' he added.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's appearance Sunday on Meet the Press got heated when he was pressed by host Kristen Welker on why Israel couldn't be more precise in its efforts to end Hamas

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. President Joe Biden stopped a bomb shipment to Israel over concerns about operations in Rafah

Welker then interjected.

She pointed out that 'senior military officials would argue that there has been so much technology since those bombs were dropped that for that very reason that is why Israel and other developed countries can be more precise.'

The NBC anchor also pointed out that in 1982, Republican President Ronald Reagan halted arms being sent to Israel as the U.S. looked into whether Israel violated the law and other agreements in its use of cluster bombs near Palestinian civilian populations.

Welker said to Graham, 'Well, historians would say, "Why is it OK for Reagan to do it and not President Biden?'" - a question that set the Republican senator off.

'Well, why's it OK - well, can I say this?' Graham said, when Welker interrupted. 'Why is it OK for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Why was it OK for us to do that? I thought it was OK.'

'To Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state,' he stated.

Welker, again, pointed out that senior military officials have said that the technology has changed.

The rubble that was left after the United States bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, which brought an abrupt end to World War II. Kristen Welker pointed out that modern technology should allow Israel to be more precise in rooting out Hamas in Gaza

WATCH: Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC compares the Israel-Hamas war to WWII:



Why did we drop two ... nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? To end a war we couldnt afford to lose. ... That was the right decision. ... Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. pic.twitter.com/MGJaLTQEkW  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 12, 2024

'Yeah, these military officials that you're talking about are full of crap,' Graham snapped, as Welker talked over him.

Graham slapped around the American ultra-left - especially Vermont's progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had just appeared on the program - for largely being concerned with the plight of Palestinian civilians in the aftermath of Hamas' brutal October 7 attack on Israeli civilians.

Durnig his segment Sanders told Welker: 'Israel has ... gone to war against the entire Palestinian people, and the results have been absolutely catastrophic.'

'My problem is not with the weapons that Israel is using. My problem is with the tactics Hamas is using,' Graham said, noting how the terror group Hamas has purposely embedded itself into the Palestinian civilian ranks.

'And the idea that America would not send a nickel of aid, echoed by a United States senator, when all the Jews are trying to be killed by radical Islamic groups tells us where we are as a nation,' the South Carolina lawmaker said. 'The Republican Party is with Israel without apology.'

The paused bombs shipment is part of an earlier aid package for Israel and not the fresh $95 million supplemental that Congress approved and Biden signed.
Throngs of tourists diced with death on the crumbling cliff edge of the Birling Gap today, despite two major cliff falls in the past four months.

Sunseekers flocked to the Sussex beauty spot in their droves as the UK experienced its hottest weekend of the year so far, with temperatures reaching highs of 26C (78.8F) on Saturday and 27C (80.6F) on Sunday.

Shocking photographs showed crowds of people venturing perilously close to the edge of the cliff face, posing for photographs and peering over to see the 530ft drop, as they soaked up the sunshine.

In one photograph, a tourist is sitting down with their feet dangling over the cliff edge, as she arches her body towards the camera.

The iconic cliff face near Eastbourne, East Sussex, where the South Downs meet the sea, is a popular tourist destination.

It is part of the world-famous Seven Sisters cliff walk and is a National Trust site.

But as the chalk cliffs are constantly changing, landslides and cliff falls can happen at any given moment  and tourists have been warned to stay well clear of its edge.

Tourists come perilously close to the Birling Gap cliff edge as they pose for photographs (pictured)

A tourist is pictured posing for a photograph with their feet dangling over the cliff edge

Another tourist pictured sitting down looking over the cliff edge, ignoring the five metre warning issued by the National Trust

The National Trust says: 'Our white cliffs are beautiful but also very fragile.

'They may appear safe to stand on, but chalk is a soft rock that can be become unstable through heavy rain, frost, sun or undercut by wind and wave action.'

Visitors have been told to stay at least five metres back from the cliff edge at all times, as well as five metres back from the base of the cliff.

The Trust also encourages people on the beach below to stay at least 5m away from the cliff base at all times, to reduce the risk of objects and rocks from above hitting them.

Brits flocked to parks, beaches and tourist hotspots today on the 'hottest day of the year' so far, but thunderstorms and rain are expected today.

Three thunderstorm warnings for the majority of Wales, as well as parts of southwest and northwest England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, have been issued.

The upcoming week is turning cooler with persistent rain, cloudy skies and sunny intervals.

Last month, emergency services were called to Birling Gap after four people started a fire beneath the unstable cliffs.

In January, the beach below was closed after a section of the cliff fell away, amid fears of further rockfalls.

And last March, huge chunks of the Seven Sisters cliff fell onto Birling Gap beach after the coastline was lashed by high winds.

A similar incident in March 2021 resulted in warnings to the public not to pose for pictures close to the cliff edge.

Seven Sisters National Park which Birling Gap is a part of. The cliff where the picture was taken is also just two miles from where two cliffs recently collapsed (stock image)

West Bay in Dorset where a 30ft pile of rocks fell just metres from where families were taking an Easter stroll on Good Friday

Last summer, tourists were seen laying down a picnic blanket just feet from the edge.

And last month a tourist was pictured dangling his feet off the edge of the Burling Gap while casually smoking a cigarette.

Photographer JJ Waller captured the distressing image. He said: 'This is almost a daily occurrence despite the warnings.

'Visitors aren't aware of how soft the chalk is - and crowds flock to this spot in search of the all-important selfies.

'But while it is a beautiful location, it demands respect and care. Never go by the edge.'

The pictures were taken on Good Friday, the same day a terrifying incident unfolded in Dorset where a 30ft pile of rocks fell just metres from where families were taking an Easter stroll.

A huge section of the 180 million year old cliff at West Bay in Dorset, where the hit ITV drama Broadchurch was filmed, broke away after being pounded by Storm Nelson.

The shocking picture shows the man sat down casually puffing on cigarette while on the edge of a sheer 400ft drop

The images were taken by JJ Waller at Birling Gap in East Sussex. He said 'Visitors aren't aware of how soft the chalk is - and crowds flock to this spot in search of the all-important selfies'

Studies carried out by the National Trust showed the cliff edge is likely to recede by as much as 25-30m (82-98ft) by 2036.

The erosion is so rapid that part of the historic Birling Gap Hotel - which dates back to the 1870s - is currently being demolished and rebuilt further from the cliff edge.

Now used as a cafe and visitor centre by the National Trust, it was just five yards from collapsing into the Channel.

The cliffs have cracks hidden under the turf that get bigger as they erode through a combination of wind and water pounding it from the English Channel.

In 2017 a South Korean student died when she slipped off the edge of the crumbling cliffs after jumping in the air for a photograph.

Hyewon Kim, 23, who had come to Britain to improve her English, suffered catastrophic head injuries in the fall.

Photographs found on her mobile phone showed the student happily posing with her back to the cliff-edge in the seconds before her death.
What is it like to be a young Jew at a British university these days? That might seem like an odd question. Surely Jewish students have much the same experience as their peers.

Beginning essays the night before theyre due. Arguing with flatmates about whose turn it is to do the dishes. Making their student loans stretch to cover essentials like beer as well as optional items like textbooks.

But university is very different for most Jewish students right now.

It is a lonely place, sometimes a frightening one, but most of all one where they do not feel welcome.

Edward Isaacs, President of the Union of Jewish Students, describes the situation in bracing terms.

Edward Isaacs, President of the Union of Jewish Students, warns Britain is witnessing the worst anti-Semitism crisis on campus in a generation

He says Britain is witnessing the worst anti-Semitism crisis on campus we have seen for a generation. Anti-Semitism is far from uncommon on the modern university campus, where ideas are worn as fashions and few ideas are quite as fashionable as Jew-hatred.

Campus anti-Semitism, which is the most concentrated form of progressive anti-Semitism, wears a different guise to the anti-Jewish bigotry espoused by fascists and white nationalists, but many of the attitudes and instincts are similar. On campus, they dont talk about Jews controlling high finance, or governments, or the media.

Malefactors

Instead, they talk about undue Zionist influence over major institutions. Rather than accusing Jews of being the ultimate malefactors in human affairs, they cast Israel as the ultimate malefactor in world affairs.

Calls for the destruction of the Jewish people are replaced with calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

However, the past seven months have surpassed all that went before, leading to what Isaacs calls an unprecedented rise in campus anti-Semitism.

The timeframe is not coincidental. It takes us back to October 7, 2023, when Palestinian forces from Gaza invaded Israel, murdered more than 1,100 people and took 250 hostages.

The assault, led by Hamas but including other Palestinian terrorist groups, represented the worst single-day loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

Young people were gunned down at a music festival, kibbutzes were drenched in blood, women were raped and three-dozen children murdered. It was a modern-day pogrom. While the scenes of carnage horrified Western populations, among certain groups they seemed to sever the last remaining tethers of respectability when it came to Jews and the Jewish state.

One such group was the intellectuals, who revealed how much even their harshest critics had underestimated them.

For decades they had busied themselves slandering Israel as an apartheid state and worse, soft-pedalling

Palestinian terrorism when they werent openly justifying it, spreading conspiracy theories about an all-powerful Israel lobby pulling the puppet strings of US politics, insinuating fanatic abstractions into humanities and social science teaching and scholarship, and legitimising crank theoretical frameworks that divided humanity into oppressors and victims and placed Jews firmly in the former camp.

It was easy to dismiss them as potty professors and faculty-lounge revolutionaries, their pronouncements too strangled by academic jargon to gain any traction beyond certain disciplines.

Besides, surely they didnt really believe what they were saying? But they did believe it, and October 7 felt like theory bursting audaciously into reality. What they believed, had written, taught and advocated was now happening on every news channel around the world.

And it turned out that abstractions have real-world consequences. For while October 7 was met by revulsion among the masses, if you wanted to find someone to excuse it, your best bet was an educated person. Failing that, someone on a university campus would do.

After some limited throat-clearing about October 7  in some cases, they didnt even bother with that  the intellectuals seized on every civilian death in Israels subsequent military operation.

These werent deeply tragic casualties of war in a densely-populated enclave where Hamas, the de facto government of Gaza, uses its civilians as human shields. It wasnt even a matter, on occasion, of Israeli tactical error or strategic misjudgment. (Israels military response is by no means above reproach, nor is its prime ministers shoddy wartime leadership.)

No, Palestinian casualties were always intentional and the intention was genocide. Israel was deliberately and callously trying to exterminate the Palestinians. It is a monstrous lie but lies make good propaganda.

Since October 7, we have seen large-scale marches with routine calls for the elimination of the Jewish state. On US college campuses, and now at British universities, encampments have taken over public spaces, with administrators often too weak and cowardly to challenge these disruptions and the extremism promoted at many of them. Jewish students are bearing the brunt of all this.

Isaacs testimony is as powerful as it is disturbing. There has been, he notes, a sixfold increase in anti-Semitic incidents since October 7.

Jewish students have been sent death threats, assaulted or had their property damaged. In an era where good,

educated progressives believe there is no higher calling than being an ally to the vulnerable and oppressed, Isaacs reflects that there has been a distinct lack of allyship post October 7.

Other student leaders have often felt unable to stand in allyship with Jewish students, he says, which has been exacerbated by university administrators failing to singularly condemn instances of anti-Semitism, leaving young Jews feeling alone, marginalised and vulnerable. The Union of Jewish Students welfare hotline has taken hundreds of calls from Jewish undergraduates in the past seven months.

Massacre

Isaacs warns of a climate of fear on campus. He tells of one Jewish student who said they now had to hide my identity for their own safety, adding that: The university did not act properly.

Another had the news of the October 7 massacre broken to them by a flatmate, who said: 700 Israelis dead. Yaaaay, lets go. Others have been told to go back to where they came from.

Isaacs account echoes the findings of research by the Community Security Trust, a British charity which monitors anti-Semitism. Its most recent report documented a 589 per cent increase in anti-Semitic incidents between the final quarter of 2022 and the final quarter of 2023, when October 7 happened.

That is not a typo. An almost 600 per cent spike. Last year saw a 96 per cent increase in assaults on Jews; a 146 per cent rise in destruction or desecration of Jewish property such as synagogues and cemeteries; and a 196 per cent surge in threats made against Jews.

Two-thirds of these incidents occurred after October 7. That is what British Jews, on and off campus, are having to deal with. And they are, if we are honest, largely having to deal with it alone.

Yes, there are politicians speaking out here and there and some institutions belatedly recognising the problem, but there is a distinct lack of urgency  a distinct lack, frankly, of outrage.

If this was happening to any other minority group, it would be a national scandal. There would be marches and perhaps even riots. Night after night, the News at Ten would lead on it.

The vice-chancellor of every academic institution would be hauled instantly before a parliamentary committee. Resignations would be demanded, legislation proposed, change insisted on.

Why are Jews treated differently? The answer is unpleasant but unavoidable: when it comes to Jews, our anti-racist elites drop the anti.
A secret deal to try the Lockerbie bomber in Ireland was rejected by Britain amid concern the country was soft on terrorism.

Newly declassified documents show UK officials feared Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi could be acquitted of carrying out the December 1988 atrocity that killed 270 people.

The papers reveal the Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi was willing to hand his intelligence agent to the Irish authorities, while snubbing demands from the UK and the United States.

His refusal to extradite Megrahi and his co-accused Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah to the authorities in Washington and Edinburgh caused a deadlock, with the Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds attempting to broker a deal.

But Downing Street ruled the plan too risky as at the time Libya was seen as a supporter of the IRA and had provided the terrorist group with weapons.

Policeman at the wreckage site of Pan Am Flight 103

A file opened and placed at the National Archives at Kew, and seen by the Sunday Times, contains documents from 1994 confirming a meeting between Mr Reynolds and the then UK premier John Major.

Sir Roderic Lyne, who was Mr Majors private secretary, wrote in one of the papers: During the tete-a-tete conversation between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach on May 26, the latter surfaced a Libyan proposal to hold the Lockerbie trial in Ireland.

Ireland would be preferable to Canada. But given the Provisional IRA connection, a trial there would be piquant to say the least.

The British Government rejected the deal despite a memo from the UK Foreign Office urging it to be taken seriously, after John Dew, deputy head of mission at the UK embassy in Dublin, said there was a possibility Megrahi could walk free.

He wrote: This should not be taken lightly. Irrespective of the independence of the Irish judiciary, an acquittal would have major implications for Anglo-Irish relations.

'Our public opinion would inevitably interpret it as confirmation that Ireland was soft on terrorism. Her Majestys Government would face serious questioning about why it had allowed the trial to take place in Ireland.

Gaddafi eventually handed the two suspects over and the pair were tried in May 2000 in a Scottish court set up in the Netherlands.

After eight months, Megrahi was found guilty of the terror attack and sentenced to 27 years in prison while Fhimah was cleared and sent home.

Megrahi was released in 2009 due to terminal illness and died in 2012. His family continues to fight to clear his name, while a man suspected of building the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 is due to stand trial next year.
A-listers, celebrities, and politicians have shared heartfelt tributes to the women and mothers in their lives to celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday.

Former President Barack Obama posted a picture of a beaming Michelle wishing her and all mothers a happy Mother's Day.

'Michelle, thank you for all that you do for our girls. Today and every day, we celebrate you,' Obama said.

'And a big thank you to all the mothers and mother figures out there who provide us love, inspiration and support, often in the face of remarkable odds.'

The former First Lady posted a picture to X with her mother for the holiday.

'My mom has always been my rock and Im so grateful for all the ways she continues to show up for my family. Shes taught me so much over the years, and I feel so lucky that I get to pass that same wisdom down to my own girls,' Michelle Obama said.

Former President Barack Obama posted a picture of a beaming Michelle wishing her and all mothers a happy Mother's Day

'To all the moms celebrating today, I hope you know how much youre appreciated.'

President Joe Biden shared several messages on social media honoring the mothers in his life.

'My mother instilled in us the notion that there wasnt anything we couldnt do. I miss her every day, but especially on Mothers Day,' Biden said.

'To extraordinary mothers everywhere, I hope your day is filled with love and joy.'

Vice President Kamala Harris posted a childhood photo with her mother and sister for Mother's Day.

'My mother, Shyamala Gopalan, had two goals in her life: to raise her two daughters and end breast cancer. Im grateful for her raising me to see what could be, unburdened by what has been,' Harris said.

'Happy Mothers Day to mothers who inspire the next generation each and every day.'

Jeff Bezos' fiancee Lauren Sanchez posted a throwback photo of her three children Nikko, Evan and Ella, thanking them for making her a mom

Former First Daughter and mother-of-three Ivanka Trump shared several photos of her late mother and brood to her Instagram story

Jeff Bezos' fiancee Lauren Sanchez posted a throwback photo of her three children Nikko, Evan and Ella, thanking them for making her a mom.

'I send this quote to everyone I know when they become new moms. Elizabeth Stone once said, "Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Its true Forever. Happy Mothers Day to all the amazing moms,' Sanchez said.

Former First Daughter and mother-of-three Ivanka Trump shared several photos of her late mother and brood to her Instagram story.

'Reflecting on the beautiful chaos of motherhood with my trio: Theodore, Joseph and Arabella. Grateful for their endless energy and love as I hold memories of my own mom close to my heart,' Ivanka said.

'Today I celebrate the beautiful complexities of motherhood and the love that connects us all. Happy Mother's Day!'

California Governor Gavin Newsom posted a photo of his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom and their four children.

'Passionate. Devoted. Patient. Jen, everything that makes you an amazing mother also makes you an amazing First Partner of California,' Newsom said.

'Your work to improve the lives of Californias kids and our family inspires me every day. Happy Mothers Day  I love you.'

Elon Musk, who has 11 children with three women, posted 'Happy Mother's Day' on X but did not mention the mothers of his children by name.

Independent Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his running mate Nicole Shanahan posted a video to social media sharing messages from moms who support their campaigns.

'Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there! Today we celebrate all the mothers and mother figures who love, support, and inspire us,' Kennedy said.

'I was touched to receive so many video messages from moms across the country who support my campaign. Thank you for all that you do!'
Kate Forbes faces being marginalised in a Cabinet of Sturgeon loyalists, a leading political academic has claimed.

The new Deputy First Minister and Economy Secretary yesterday pledged to get the country firing on all cylinders by removing barriers to investment.

But James Mitchell, a professor of public policy at Edinburgh University, warned that John Swinneys failure to overhaul the Cabinet will leave his new deputy vulnerable.

He claimed the First Minister showed weakness in not taking advantage of the opportunity to refresh the Cabinet.

Professor Mitchell said: Kate Forbes is likely to be marginalised in a Cabinet of Sturgeon loyalists schooled in the politics of pronouncements and promises when emphasis needs to be on delivery.

Kate Forbes, front, beside John Swinney and the SNP Cabinet on the steps of Bute House

The economic and fiscal challenges will require hard choices that have been postponed for far too long. This will not be easy, especially with this weak Cabinet.

He needs to show leadership in a way that was absent last time and in these early days of his leadership he has shown some signs he knows what is needed but he has been weak in delivering on what he knows is necessary.

He needs to be much bolder than he has been so far. The days when the SNP could get away with spin and selfies are over.

The academic went on to state in the Sunday Herald that the inclusion of Kate Forbes, who is head and shoulders above the rest of the Cabinet, means that there is at least one highly [competent] Cabinet Secretary.

It follows claims from critics that her appointment was a stitch up to avoid another leadership battle that would expose the SNPs inner turmoil.

Ms Forbes yesterday insisted she went back into the Cabinet to try to build the economy.

In a column for the Sunday Times, the ex-finance secretary said: I want to get stuff done.

Everything is an economic policy  tackling poverty, reaching net zero, raising the revenue to invest in our public services.

The plan is simple. Get the economy firing on all cylinders, and it will power a better future.

My message is simple: Scotland is open for business. My plan is to prove that  to reduce the hurdles to investment, to market the opportunities and prioritise jobs and wages, not bureaucracy. Tory MSP Murdo Fraser welcomed her comments but said the public will rightfully wonder if she will commit to delivering them.

He added: Given John Swinneys new Cabinet is a recycled version of Humza Yousafs, questions will be raised as to how theyll remedy years of SNP failure largely caused by them.
Backlinie's booking agent confirmed her death Sunday at her home in California

She played skinny-dipper Chrissie Watkins, the first death in the 1975 flick

The stuntwoman and movie star was best known for her role in 'Jaws'

Actress and stuntwoman Susan Backlinie, perhaps best known as the first shark attack victim in 'Jaws,' has died.

Backlinie, 77, suffered a fatal heart attack at her home in Ventura, California.

In addition to her career on the silver screen, Backlinie was a nationally ranked swimmer and professional diver.

Before she was brought onto 'Jaws' at 28 years old, she had worked as an animal trainer and performed as a mermaid.

She played Chrissie Watkins in Steven Spielberg's iconic 1975 film and spent three days rehearsing the opening scene in which she is thrashed around by a great white before vanishing beneath the waves.

Actress Susan Backlinine, perhaps best known for her appearance in 'Jaws,' died Sunday at 77 years old

She portrayed Chrissie Watkins in Steven Spielberg's 1975 flick and is remembered as the first shark attack victim whose death shocked millions to the core

She worked as an animal handler and performed as a mermaid before landing her first film role

She later appeared in Spielberg's '1941' to parody the scene that launched her into stardom. This time, instead of being eaten by a shark, she is picked up by a Japanese submarine.

Some of her other credits include 'Two-Minute Warning,' The Great Muppet Caper,' 'Day of the Animals' and the television series 'The Fall Guy.'

Speaking at a Canadian fan convention held in 2017, Backlinie recalled how she landed her role in 'Jaws'.

She shared how she submitted a nude photo of herself in her application, since she assumed the movie would call for her to strip down. To her relief, that didn't turn out to be necessary.

'I do about for our five [conventions] a year, it's fun to go out and meet all the fans,' Backlinie told the interviewer at the time.

'They all have the same thing to say and the main thing they say all the time is: "You've kept me out of the water."'

Backlinie and her family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, when she was 10 years old.

While attending Forest Hill High School, she was a cheerleader and state swimming champion who won the Class A 500-yard freestyle title in 1962, according to record archives.

The next year, she participated on the 200-yard medley team that secured the Class 2A state title for the Falcons. After graduating high school, she attended nursing school for a year.

Backlinie (pictured on the set of 'Two-Minute Warning' in 1976), died at her home in Ventura, California, her booking agent confirmed

The actress (pictured on set with Steven Spielberg) is survived by her husband, Harvey Swindall, who described her as 'the most amazing person I've ever met in my life'

Wanting to do something 'more athletic,' Backlinie worked as a mermaid at the Weeki Wachee Springs and an animal handler at Ivan Tors Studios in Miami.

After Ivan Tors shuttered, she moved to California to work with Africa U.S.A., a wildlife tourist attraction that was open until 1961.

She was shooting on location with a tiger in Canada when the 'Jaws' team first made contact with her.

DailyMail.com caught up with the actress in June 2022, when she was spotted running errands days before the 47th anniversary of the release of 'Jaws'.

Backlinie is survived by her husband, Harvey Swindall. The pair lived together on a houseboat off the Ventura coast.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Swindall said her passing was 'very unexpected'.

He described his wife of nearly three decades as 'the most amazing person I've ever met in my life. And I've never loved anybody like her.'

Backlinie's booking agent, Matthew Templeton, confirmed her death and asked that fans respect the family's privacy.
Yellow 'danger to life' flood warnings have ben issued until Tuesday

Storms and rain have already drenched parts of the UK including Manchester

Britain's sunny weather is seemingly over as the 26C heat is replaced by thunderstorms and torrential rain.

Summer storms are expected to continue across the UK tonight with torrential rain promising a wash out after the scorching temperatures over the weekend.

Yellow weather warnings are in place across the UK including over Manchester, Scotland and much of Wales as the Met Office warns heavy showers an thunderstorms could lead to disruption and flooding.

The stormy weather, which comes with 'danger to life warnings' is set to continue through to Tuesday and Wednesday but mainly over southern England northern Scotland.

While temperatures reached 26C across parts of the UK, Brits should be prepared for chillier weather over the next few days with highs in the mid-teens.

Hikers don red ponchos for their walk in Builth Wells, Powys, wales as thunderstorms hit the Welsh coast

Drivers in Manchester had to battle torrential downpours earlier today while others across the UK soaked up the remaining sun

Locals in Powys were caught in heavy rain which is set to spread across the UK tonight and tomorrow as the Met Office warns of thunderstorms across Britain

Some part of the UK have already been drenched by the changing weather.

Parts of northern England including Manchester were soaked this afternoon while beach-goers in southern England tanned themselves in the sun.

The UK should prepare for heavy rain and dust off the waterproofs as wet and windy weather moves eastwards across the UK, soaking Wales and northern England before moving on to Scotland.

The sudden change in weather might come as a surprise to many but the calmer weather returns for Tuesday onwards with local thundery showers and sunny spells.

Before the cooler, wetter weather hit, Brits flocked to parks and beaches throughout the UK on the 'hottest day of the year'.

The Met Office has issued three yellow thunderstorm warnings for the majority of Wales, parts of southwest and northwest England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

But despite the weather warnings, Britons headed outdoors to bathe in temperature highs of 26C (78.8F).

Thunderstorms are predicted to batter parts of Wales and England between 12pm and 10pm today.

Honor Criswick, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the storms might 'band together' in areas across the UK, resulting in intense bursts of lightning and heavy rainfall.

She said: 'In the areas with heavy showers, it's expected to get a bit gustier as well, and surface water flooding is also a possibility.'

COUNTY LAOIS, IRELAND: Locals jumping off a bridge into the river in Vicarstown

DORSET: People enjoying the sunny weather on Bournemouth Beach this morning

Spells of heavy rain are also expected to hit eastern areas of Northern Ireland on Monday, with a warning in place from 12pm until 6am on Tuesday.

The same warning is in place for southern Wales on Monday, where heavy rain is forecast for areas including Swansea and Cardiff between 8am and midnight.

Ms Criswick said these storms are likely to mean there is a week of milder weather ahead.

She said: 'It will still be fairly warm, with temperatures in the high teens and early 20s, but cooler than it has been over the past few days.'

The temperature records for the year were broken three times over the past week, with Thursday, Saturday and then Sunday seeing increasingly hot temperatures across the country.

The Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge, predicted today would be even hotter for some parts of the UK.

He added: 'The difference [on Sunday] is that it is not likely to be as warm for Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland.

DORSET: A swimmer diving off the Cobb harbour wall in to the sea while enjoying the scorching hot spring sunshine at the seaside resort of Lyme Regis

Thunderstorms are predicted to hit the majority of majority of Wales, parts of southwest and northwest England, Northern Ireland and Scotland

'The really warm air will probably be confined to southern and eastern parts of England, with temperatures expected to peak in central parts of the country at around 27C.'

Noting that yellow thunderstorm warnings has been issued in several parts of the UK, Mr Partridge said more significant rainfall is expected.

People in areas with a yellow warning should expect some disruption, especially to travel.

Spray and sudden flooding could cause difficult driving conditions and an increased likelihood of power cuts, the Met Office reports.

This comes shortly after temperatures peaked in Chertsey, Surrey which recorded the warmest temperature of 27.5C on Sunday while 25.3C was recorded in Usk in South Wales, the Met Office said.

Herstmonceux, East Sussex recorded 25.9C while Cassley, northern Scotland recorded a blistering temperature of 25.7C on Saturday.

LONDON: A woman relaxing with headphones in the spring sunshine on Wimbledon Common today

DORSET: A woman relaxing in the shade of a bright orange umbrella in the blistering spring sunshine at the seaside resort of Lyme Regis

DORSET: Hundreds of beach-goers enjoying the warm weather on Bournemouth beach today

Gogerddan in Wales saw temperatures of 25.1C, whilst the heat in Northern Ireland hit highs of 23.8C in Magilligan.

Temperatures climbed steadily over the week, as temperatures shot up to 24.6C in St James's Park, London, as thousands delighted in the warm sunshine on Friday.

But many beach-goers bear Brighton were left shocked as the sea along the south coast of England turned a filthy brown colour amid public.

It comes just one year after the the popular tourism hotspot was named one of the worst areas for sewage dumps.

Hundreds of thousands of Brits also reported seeing the Northern Lights from their windows on Friday 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.

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.

On Friday 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.

Brown, murky seawater was spotted by sunbathers in Brighton earlier today in one of the worst areas for sewage dumps in the UK

MERSEYSIDE: A dog plays with a ball on New Brighton Beach on the Wirral on Sunday

MERSEYSIDE: Two women walking their dogs on a beach in Wirral on May 12

MERSEYSIDE: Lifeguards set up New Brighton Beach this morning

'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.

'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.'
Only four UK police officers are continuing to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, as the Met reveals resources have been stripped back by 90 per cent.

Just three UK police officers and a civilian member of staff continue to work on the case part-time, the force has revealed today.

It comes as Madeleine's parents  Kate and Gerry McCann  marked their daughter's 21st birthday today with a heartbreaking message.

The message on the Find Maddie Campaign Facebook page read 'Happy 21st Birthday Madeleine. Still missing. Still missed. Still looking.'

Despite the scaling back of the police operation, private investigator Julian Peribanez has revealed he is heading back to the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing 17 years ago.

Madeleine McCann (pictured) disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal seventeen years ago. Only a small team of UK police officers continue to work on the case

Kate and Gerry McCann make an appeal for their three-year-old Madeleine's return back in 2007 (pictured)

A view of the block of apartments from where Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007, in Praia da Luz, in Portugal's Algarve coast

Mr Peribanez was part of the Metodo 3 firm hired by Madeleine's parents back in 2007 to explore potential leads that were not being investigated by Portuguese police.

DCI Mark Cranwell, who oversees the British investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann told MailOnline: 'We continue to support Madeleine's family to understand what happened on the evening of 3 May, 2007 in Praia da Luz.

'Our thoughts remain with the family. '

On that fateful day, May 3, 2007, Gerry and Kate had left their three children - including toddler twins Sean and Amelie - asleep in their holiday apartment while they ate at a tapas bar 120 metres away.

When Kate returned to check on the kids at around 10pm that evening, she discovered that Madeleine was not in her bed and was missing.

British police initially investigated the case before it was archived in July 2008 due to lack of evidence.

Gerry and Kate McCann (pictured) read a statement to the press following their daughter's disappearance back in 2007

The family kept the case open with private detectives until Scotland Yard opened its own investigation in 2011.

Operation Grange was started at the request of the then Home Secretary Teresa May and involved, in the first instance, a review of all the investigations that had previously been conducted.

In July 2013, the status of the Met's enquiries changed to that of an investigation, working with the Portuguese authorities to pursue specific lines of enquiry.

But according to The Express, there were only 29 officers working on the case by 2015.

A Met spokesperson told the newspaper: 'The number of staff on the investigation team always remains under review and is flexed according to new information coming in, or new lines of inquiry.'

Gerry and Kate McCann have not commented on the investigation because it is an 'active police investigation'.

German police are currently probing prime suspect and convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 47.

Christian Brueckner, 43, a German convicted paedophile, was previously named as the man suspected of abducting and murdering Madeleine McCann

He is currently serving a prison sentence for raping a woman in Praia de Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further offences between 2000 and 2017.

The attacks took place just minutes from where then three-year-old Madeleine vanished from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve.

German police sensationally named Brueckner as the man responsible for Madeleine's 'abduction and murder' but he has yet to be charged with anything relating to her disappearance.
An ex-funeral parlour which allegedly left mourners waiting for their loved ones' ashes for three years is being investigated for 'mismanagement of human remains'.

A. Milne Independent Funeral Directors - run by Steven Milne - is subject to a disciplinary process amid reports of grieving relatives not receiving the ashes.

Another family claimed they were refused a full refund after their deceased relative was left untouched for three weeks.

Police Scotland said enquiries into the Glasgow and Dumbarton based directors are at an 'early stage'.

The Glasgow branch in Balornock saw at least five forensic officers pictured outside on Friday.

A. Milne Independent Funeral Directors (pictured) is subject to a disciplinary process

A police van pictured parked outside the ex-funeral directors in Glasgow on Friday

Police Scotland said enquiries into the Glasgow and Dumbarton based directors are at an 'early stage'. Pictured are police at the scene on Friday

The A. Milne website is now inaccessible with an error message displayed (above)

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said an investigation is 'ongoing into to the conduct of a former funeral company that had branches in Glasgow and Dumbarton'.

This is regarding 'the storage/return of cremated remains and allegations of financial misconduct', GlasgowLive reported.

They added: 'Enquiries are at an early stage.'

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) said the business is subject to a disciplinary process.

A spokesperson told Sky News it received a 'number of complaints' but the firm has 'stopped corresponding with us'.

However, they confirmed the directors have been formally notified that the complaints will be reviewed at a disciplinary meeting this month.

The A. Milne website is now inaccessible with an error message displayed.

The family of Dennis Smillie, who died in 2021, told Glasgow Live they paid 3,100 to the company for its services.

Dennis Smillie's ashes have been missing for nearly three years, his family said

David Ereslin was left touched for three weeks and his family only received a partial refund

They were unable to collect the ashes but the couple said that Steve, the director, offered to deliver them.

But three years on, the 'devastated' family are still waiting - and are unable to move on.

They told GlasgowLive: 'Three years down the line and my father-in-law's ashes still aren't here.

'My family is heartbroken - the kids are asking where their papa is and we don't have a clue. I just want him back. It would bring us all closure and relief.'

When David Breslin died aged 76, his family also used the company, paying 3,851.

But his grieving relatives were shocked to discover his body had been 'untouched for three weeks', still in his pyjamas.

They demanded a refund but only received less than half - 1,250.

His family told GlasgowLive: 'The stress was unreal. I felt it was all my fault and my stomach was churning on the day.'

MailOnline has contacted A. Milne Independent Funeral Directors for comment.
A reverend who helped Mica Millers disgraced husband set up his church has defended the pastor  telling his congregation that he needs guidance and counselling DailyMail.com can reveal.

Rev. Charles Randall disputed reports that he had fired John-Paul Miller, 44, after 30-year-old Mica was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 27.

He has not been fired, the preacher, 72, said during a sermon at Solid Rock Ministries in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Sunday.

I have released him from ministerial functions for a minute to get some healing, and some counselling and some guidance. You can't go through these things like this and just step right back to same day.

Randall, who previously described himself as Millers spiritual advisor and mentor, told DailyMail.com that there is misinformation and lies being spread about the church and Miller.

Randall claimed Miller had not been fired amid the fallout surrounding the death of his wife, 30-year-old Mica Miller

Pastor John-Paul Miller (right) seen with his replacement Charles J Randall (left) at Rock Church in Myrtle Beach on Friday

The 72-year-old preacher told DailyMail.com that there is misinformation and lies being spread about the church and Miller

He declined to respond to allegations that Miller had sexual encounters with young girls under the age of 16 who he met through the church.

The claims were revealed by DailyMail.com after obtaining explosive divorce papers filed against Miller by his ex-wife Alison in 2015, where she also said he admitted to being addicted to prostitution.

Miller also started an affair with Mica, who at the time was the couple's babysitter and the wife of his best friend Jeremy Deas, his ex, Alison said in an affidavit from 2017 referring to events two years earlier.

It is unclear if leaders at the church failed to report the allegations against Miller to police at the time, but sources told DailyMail.com the fallout of his affair with Mica led to swathes of the congregation leaving.

Court papers backed up the accusations, with the affidavit of Alison adding that the leaders demanded that the defendant seek counseling for sexual addiction, but when he refused the majority of our church left the congregation.'

Reverend Charles J Randall who replaced Pastor John Paul Miller as he was temporarily released from his duties seen at the Solid Rock Church after his wife Mica Miller killed herself on April 27

Randall, who helped Miller to set up Solid Rock Ministries in 2006, urged the congregation to stay steadfast after being hit by a storm  noting that there were fewer people attending his Mothers Day service, where everyone was advised that no filming was allowed.

He said: We need to be stable, steadfast, unmovable while we go through this storm. Too many folks are being moved by lies and innuendos.

This building should be full right now, if youre going through a storm you have to be steadfast. Im here for the duration, Im not gonna be here forever.

I want you to know Im here because theres a Christian brother that needs help. He needs help, I refuse to let this ministry die because I believe in it.

There has been a lot of attacks and roadblocks, but God is not going to use someone to do this much work. Yes, there will be times when you make mistakes and times where you might fall, but God tells us to get up and keep going.

The announcement was met with cheering and clapping by around thirty people in the church, with their leaders filing a report to Myrtle Beach Police Department on May 1, claiming they were being harassed on social media following Micas death.

Randall told the congregation that Miller is progressing, and that he has stepped in to help the born-again Christian navigate the situation.

He added that he was taking the sermon to ensure that the seed God used Mica to plant continues to grow, and to take the church forward despite the scandal.

Randall declined to respond to allegations that Miller had sexual encounters with young girls under the age of 16 who he met through the church

Police reports show that she had previously accused her husband of grooming and fraudulently having her committed to hospital so he could steal her car

Speaking to DailyMail.com on Saturday, Randall said: There may be a time the church will speak. But there is too much misinformation and lies out there, so I have instructed the church to not give any statements or interviews at this time.

I will advise the church of a time to speak out about it. Pastor Miller, I have released him from ministerial duties for now and a statement on that will be forthcoming as well.

He is grieving and healing at this time. Im in touch with Pastor Miller every day, and hes healing.

A problem Im running into people are taking stuff and theyre just lying theyre trying to fabricate something, and I dont have time for that.

Rev Randall previously confirmed that he had been counseling Mica and Miller since September 2023, and denied any abuse allegations.

Pastor Miller was seen attending a meeting at the church on Friday afternoon, which lasted around an hour. Randall was also in attendance.

The pastor appears to have the support of his family, who have been seen at his Myrtle Beach home about two miles from the Solid Rock Church.

DailyMail.com can also reveal that Micas sister, Sierra, has filed a claim against both the church and Miller following her sisters death.

Court documents filed in Horry County Family Court accuse Solid Rock Church of colluding and conspiring with the pastor to defraud and deprive his wife.

Miller reportedly sold their marital home to the church in December 2023  two months after Mica initially filed for divorce and asked that the property be split equally between them.

A police report obtained by DailyMail.com has since revealed that Mica Miller had accused her husband of sharing a nude photo of herself on a Facebook group, weeks before her death

Mica Miller, 30, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in North Carolina on April 27 days after filing for divorce from her pastor husband John-Paul Miller, 44

Filings by Sierras lawyer say Miller of selling the property for $169,331.31, which they argue is significantly less than the true value of the property.

She also asks that the property be restored back into the marital estate, and for Miller to provide proof that he did not try to hide money from Mica in the past three years.

In in her October filing Mica requested that their assets be split equally, as she contributed to the improvements of the home, totaling $90,000, and asked for Miller to pay her alimony, as well as her legal fees.

The documents also revealed that the couple signed a postnuptial agreement in February of 2023  eight months before Mica first started divorce proceedings, highlighting that there were issues in the marriage long before the papers were submitted.

Mica and Miller both signed the agreement, drafted by the pastors lawyer, where they agreed that their finances were separate, were both employed by Solid Rock Ministries, signed the document without coercion or distress.

They agreed that Mica would waive her right to seek alimony, and separate support, as well as their home being rules non-marital property. It stated that prior to signing Mica did not consult with an attorney.

Part of the contract was a no adverse contact order (NACO), which banned both of them from stalking of following the other.

Mica and Miller also agreed that they would not speak negatively of Solid Rock Ministries and would keep their personal life confidential.

In the family court filing from May 7, Micas sister argues that the church is an extension of Miller, with a hearing set for June 5 between them.

Sierra is asking for Micas property  including her cell phone, purse, vehicle and clothing, her plunge ice bath, apple air pods, apple tv, iPhone, laptop, apple watch and firearms  to be taken into evidence by the Robeson County Police in North Carolina where she shot herself dead.

Miller was seen breaking cover on Wednesday morning, in the wake of his wife's suicide  which came just 48 hours after he was served with divorce papers

Pastor John-Paul Miller was seen leaving his lawyer's office on Wednesday after being released from his duties at Solid Rock at Market Common Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

She has also filed a temporary restraining order against Miller to stop him harassing and contacting her friends and family.

This includes sharing any footage or images of her, and destroying or selling her property. They have asked that Miller pay for any legal fees and that Mica have her maiden name restored to her following the divorce.

Initially the family argued that Miller may be a person of interest in Micas death in probate court, which was later ruled out by authorities after police confirmed he was in Charlotte with his girlfriend at the time.

Court documents show that the couple initially split on September 20 2023, before the divorce was dismissed on February 13.

Later that same month Miller filed against his wife for separate support and maintenance in a motion withdrawn March 11.

But on April 15, just 12 days before she was found dead, Mica filed for divorce once more and sought a no contact order against her husband. They split for the second time on February 6.

DailyMail.com previously revealed how she accused him of posting a nude photograph of her on Facebook just weeks before her death.

Miller has since admitted to the malicious act and even claimed he tried to make amends  telling NewsNation the act was evil.

Mica was found dead from a gunshot wound at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina.

In the days after her death, Miller's friends and family held a rally outside the church where her husband previously worked. Randall relieved him of his duties last Sunday.

The pastor had initially shocked his congregation by casually announcing his wifes death as a suicide at the end of a service at his church in the Market Common area of Myrtle Beach.

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'

Police released images and audio of Miller in the lead up to her death amid conjecture about the circumstances  including allegations he had groomed her from the age of 14. He has denied this through his lawyers.

The speculation was partly fueled by a bizarre video of Miller's husband casually informing his congregants of her death at the end of a service. He said her passing was 'self-induced'.

Evidence released by Robeson County Sheriff's Office as part of their investigation conclusively shows Miller plotting to end her life. She bought the gun just a few hours before her suicide.

Weeks before her death, she had shared a video speaking about abuse within marriage as claims emerged, she was being harassed and was 'afraid for her life'.

She said: 'Today my heart's a little heavy. I've had lots of women that have reached out to me about situations of abuse, and I just want to tell you what a lot of people have told me lately, because I think I forgot.

'But you are the bride of Christ before anybody else's, male or female, it doesn't matter what gender you are, abuse is abuse.'

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)
Britons will see 'almost every aspect' of their lives change over the next five years as the country enters one of its most dangerous eras, the Prime Minister will warn tomorrow.

In a major speech, Rishi Sunak will say he feels a 'profound sense of urgency' to tackle the threats facing the nation while also seizing the opportunities to build a more secure future.

He is expected to say Britain is at a 'crossroads'  ahead of the election and a defining period for the West  while warning that Labour could leave the country exposed.

Rapid advances in technology, a global rise in immigration and authoritarian states increasingly working together will mean 'more will change in the next five years than in the last 30', Mr Sunak will say.

But while warning of the dangers, the PM is set to outline his 'bold ideas' to capitalise on the opportunities presented by an increasingly interconnected world.

They are understood to include using advances in artificial intelligence and biotech and turning them a force for good, as well as looking outside the box for solutions to mass immigration  such as the Rwanda scheme.

In a major speech, Rishi Sunak will say he feels a 'profound sense of urgency' to tackle the threats facing the nation while also seizing the opportunities to build a more secure future

Mr Sunak will set out 'bold ideas' for 'solutions to mass immigration'. Pictured is group of people thought to be migrants nboard a Border Force vessel

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, October 18, 2023

Speaking in central London tomorrow, the PM will set out a path to what he believes will create a more prosperous and secure future for families.

He is expected to say: 'I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore people's confidence and pride in our country.

'I feel a profound sense of urgency. Because more will change in the next five years than in the last 30. I'm convinced that the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet most transformational our country has ever known.' He will add: 'Over the next few years, from our democracy to our economy to our society  to the hardest questions of war and peace  almost every aspect of our lives is going to change.

'How we act in the face of these changes  not only to keep people safe and secure but to realise the opportunities too  will determine whether or not Britain will succeed in the years to come. And this is the choice facing the country.'

Mr Sunak has previously warned the UK is facing an 'axis of authoritarian states with different values to ours', including Russia, Iran, North Korea and China  with the countries showing a 'new assertiveness' and increasingly working together.

The PM will say 'at heart, we're a nation of optimists' and not 'blind to the challenges or threats we face'.

Mr Sunak will seek to draw a clear dividing line between the Tories and Labour, warning that Sir Keir Starmer's (above) party would leave the country vulnerable to the threats it faces

Rapid advances in technology, a global rise in immigration and authoritarian states increasingly working together will mean 'more will change in the next five years than in the last 30', Mr Sunak will say. File photo

'We just have an innate belief that whatever they are, we can overcome them as we have done so many times in our history. And create a more secure future for you and your family.'

Mr Sunak will seek to draw a clear dividing line between the Tories and Labour, warning that Sir Keir Starmer's party would leave the country vulnerable to the threats it faces.

A government source told the Mail tonight: 'The PM will contrast Conservatives who have consistently risen to global challenges to protect Britain, with Labour who would leave the country vulnerable by not matching our defence funding commitment and leave us exposed to the rising tide of illegal immigration across the world.'

Sir Keir has vowed to halt flights to Rwanda immediately if he wins the keys to No 10, branding the plan a 'gimmick'.

Mr Sunak will also outline how he wants to capitalise on the power of artificial intelligence.

Labour MP Pat McFadden said tonight: 'Nothing the Prime Minister says will change the fact that over the past 14 years, the Conservatives have brought costly chaos to the country. The Conservatives can't fix the country's problems because they are the problem.'
The theory that Westfield Bondi Junction knifeman Joel Cauchi was specifically targeting women in his stabbing spree at the shopping centre has been dismissed by police.

Six people - five women and one male security guard - were killed when 40-year-old Cauchi attacked people with a 30cm knife on April 13.

A nine-month-old baby girl was one of 12 others that were stabbed before the knifeman was shot dead by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said after the gender pattern of the attack was clear.

'It's obvious to me... The offender focused on women and avoided the men,' Commissioner Webb told the ABC on April 15.

However, a month on from the attack, there is a debate within NSW Police about that theory.

One senior police source was sceptical, pointing out that Cauchi also stabbed men but not fatally.

Police are no longer convinced Bondi Junction Westfield knifeman Joel Cauchi (pictured) was targeting women when he embarked on a violent stabbing spree

Victims pictured L-R top row: Yixuan Cheng, 27, Ashlee Good, 38, and Pikria Darchia, 55. Pictured L-R bottom row: Jade Young, 47, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30.

'Do I think he was targeting women? No, I don't. He stabbed three men and a baby, he was just running around stabbing people,' the source told the Daily Telegraph.

Those killed in the attack were new mother Ashlee Good, 38, bride-to-be Dawn Singleton, 25, security guard Faraz Ahmed Tahir, 30, architect Jade Young, 47, artist Pikria Darchia, 55, and economics student Yixuan Cheng, 27.

However another police source previously told the Daily Telegraph that investigators believe Cauchi was 'definitely targeting women'.

The source said police had viewed extensive footage of Cauchi's movements throughout the shopping centre and observed him selecting his victims.

'I don't think there's any other way to look at it,' the source said.

'You can see on the footage he walks past other people. He just keeps moving past them and then attacks a woman.'

Cauchi, a schizophrenic from Queensland, had moved to Sydney just weeks before the attack and had had no fixed address at the time.

He was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager and his parents said he had stopped taking his medication which had triggered his psychosis.

Cauchi's father Andrew had suggested his son had targeted women at the shopping centre because he had wanted a girlfriend.

Cauchi's father Andrew previously suggested his son (pictured) had targeted women at the shopping centre because he had wanted a girlfriend

Just days after the attack, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb (pictured) said it was 'obvious' to her that Cauchi had been targeting women shoppers

'He wanted a girlfriend and he's got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,' Anthony told A Current Affair.

Cauchi had lived at home with his parents in Toowoomba until he was 35.

His father recalled discovering five large US Army combat knives in his bag when he visited the home in 2023, which he quickly confiscated.

'I said, "Look, Joel, you're welcome to stay at my place but you're not going to have these knives here",' Andrew said.

'I took them off him and it was hell, you know, really hell ... he went mental.'

Podcaster Abbie Chatfield said she believed the objectification of women and Australia's dire mental health system were both causes of the attack.

'This violence doesn't start from nowhere. This starts from people speaking about women as though they're objects, continuously,' she said.

'That objectification of women allows the dehumanisation of women, and that allows men to easily go down a slippery slope towards violence.

'Whether that's violence in the home, domestic violence, verbal abuse, catcalling, sexual harassments, sexual assault, rape, murder, mass murder.'
GPs surgeries are once again asking patients to wear face masks to appointments amid the nationwide outbreak of whooping cough.

At least five babies have died this year in England and Wales from the infection, which is also known as pertussis or the '100-day cough'.

There have been almost 3,000 confirmed cases so far and concerned officials are urging eligible patients, such as pregnant women, to get the vaccine.

Some practices are asking patients to wear a face covering during appointments or while traveling to the surgery. At least one is advising patients wait outside on arrival.

Parkside Family Practice in Reading, Berkshire, has told all patients they must wear a mask again.

A statement on its website says: 'For infection control purposes, please do wear a face mask when coming to our surgery.'

Pictured: The Parkview Surgery in Uxbridge, Middlesex, which told patients: 'If you have a face to face appointment, the doctors ask that you wear a face mask to your appointment'

Pictured: West Hampstead Medical Centre which has emailed all of its patients warning of a 'local upsurge' in whooping cough

There have been almost 3,000 confirmed cases so far and concerned officials are urging eligible patients, such as pregnant women, to get the vaccine (stock image)

The Weardale Practice in Stanhope, Bishop Auckland, (pictured) is also asking patients who have symptoms of a respiratory infection to wear a mask when attending the practice

The Parkview Surgery in Uxbridge, Middlesex, told patients: 'If you have a face to face appointment, the doctors ask that you wear a face mask to your appointment.'

And West Hampstead Medical Centre in north west London has emailed all its patients warning of 'a local upsurge in measles and whooping cough'.

'If you have a cough, please wear a mask in the practice,' it warned, adding that anyone with symptoms should book a telephone call but be 'available to attend in person within 30 minutes'.

It added that parents should then 'notify the reception you have arrived but wait outside to be called in when your appointment starts', the Telegraph reported.

The Weardale Practice in Stanhope, Bishop Auckland, is also asking all patients who have symptoms of a respiratory infection to wear a mask when attending the practice in updated guidance.

The moves follow updated NHS England infection control guidance, issued earlier this year in the wake of a measles outbreak and increasing whooping cough cases.

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It advised reinstating mask-wearing measures where appropriate.

The guidance says 'if possible or tolerated the patient should wear a surgical face mask in communal areas' to avoid spreading the highly contagious diseases to others.

However, the decision on mask-wearing is made by local healthcare providers depending on infection rates in their area.

Whooping cough is as contagious as measles and more so than Covid-19, with young children who are not protected at the greatest risk from serious complications.

The NHS recommends all pregnant women are vaccinated against whooping cough between 16 and 32 weeks to protect their baby in the first weeks of its life before it can get its own jabs.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed that five babies - all under three months of age - died after contracting the infection in the first three months of the year.

It is the highest number of deaths caused by whooping cough in a decade and experts fear more will follow as case numbers could hit 40-year highs.

Experts say the surge in cases may be due to decreasing uptake of the vaccine and circulation of the disease being suppressed during Covid lockdowns.
Donald Trump said that his wife Melania thought his impression of President Joe Biden was a little too real in a speech on Saturday.

The former president has said that the First Lady has been his toughest critic over his raucous rallies.

It appears that Trump's impression of election rival President Joe Biden as a doddering old man may have hit too close for Melania, as Trump explained at his rally on the Jersey Shore Saturday.

He told the Wildwood crowd that he no longer does his impression of Biden because Melania thought it was really him.

'I called my wife, the great first lady,' Trump said. 'I said 'first lady how great a speech was that? 'She said 'You were OK'. I said 'What's wrong? '. She said 'Well, you couldn't find your way off stage!'

Donald Trump said that his wife Melania thought his impression of President Joe Biden was a little too real in a speech on Saturday

The former president has said that the First Lady has been his toughest critic over his raucous rallies

He then tried to explain that he was imitating Biden 'and they said I couldn't find my way off, that's what happened. So I have to be careful!'

Trump then accused the 'fake news' of saying that he himself couldn't get off the stage, so now he does a 'modified version' of his impression.

The former first lady has been absent from her husband's side as he wages his multiple legal battles and campaigns for a second term in the White House.

One guest described her in 'good spirits' and close to Trump throughout the night.

Pictures and video posted to social media show dressed in a fashionable black pantsuit, smiling broadly.

Trump was visibly happy to see her there. But what remains unclear if she will give him a boost in other areas of his life, notably the and his numerous court cases.

The former first lady is popular among the MAGA faithful. The crowd cheers loudly whenever Trump mentions her name during one of his campaign rallies.

She has never spoken publicly about the events of the January 6th insurrection - she was in the White House that day - or Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

'I called my wife, the great first lady,' Trump said. 'I said 'first lady how great a speech was that? 'She said 'You were OK'. I said 'What's wrong? '. She said 'Well, you couldn't find your way off stage!'

It appears that Trump's impression of election rival President Joe Biden as a doddering old man may have hit too close for Melania, as Trump explained at his rally on the Jersey Shore Saturday

Trump held a yuge Jersey Shore rally Saturday evening in Wildwood, where he talked about eating hot dogs and mocked the state's former governor, Chris Christie

While it would be unlikely for Melania to appear by Donald's side in the courtroom - reports indicate she sees his legal issues as his problem and not hers - if Trump wins a second term in the White House, she would return as first lady.

Trump held a yuge Jersey Shore rally Saturday evening in Wildwood, where he talked about eating hot dogs and mocked the state's former governor, Chris Christie.

The ex-president's campaign claimed that 80,000 supporters came out for the oceanfront affair.

Trump opened up the rally by saying he planned to compete not only in New Jersey - a traditionally Democratic state - but Minnesota and Virginia as well.

'I don't know it could be all of them,' Trump predicted of the states he would win in the November election. 'This guy is so damn bad, it could be all of them.'

The presumptive Republican nominee sprinkled his stump speech with Jersey Shore references, as he spoke in front of a large Ferris Wheel and other amusement park rides.
Ministers could be sued over their demand that civil servants stop working from home.

Staff in some of the main Whitehall departments want their trade union to work on a 'legal challenge on equality grounds' to the requirement that they spend 60 per cent of their time in the office.

They are also calling for staff nationwide to have the right to flexible 'hybrid' working  even those on the frontline of key services.

Callum McGoldrick, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Spoilt civil servants should be reminded that they work for taxpayers, not the other way around.

'While there is a place for flexible working, this should be at the discretion of managers and, ultimately, the politicians that are held accountable when things go wrong.

Callum McGoldrick, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Spoilt civil servants should be reminded that they work for taxpayers, not the other way around'

'Ministers must ensure that whether this vote is passed, it does not prevent departments from being run in the best interests of taxpayers.'

It comes days after members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working in the Office for National Statistics took industrial action over the order to get back to their desks.

The union has also been campaigning for the civil service to work a four-day week.

The new demands are made in motions to be debated at the PCS's annual conference in Brighton later this month.

One, tabled by Department for Transport and Department for Business branches in the South East, calls on delegates to note that home and hybrid working 'reduces stress, enhances work-life balance, improves retention and will attract new staff'.

It says that the union's 'default position' should be that 'workers must have ultimate flexibility to choose to work from home or the office, including all operational staff where this can be enabled by technology'.

And it states that 'mandation of attendance levels is unnecessary and unworkable in many instances' and will 'adversely impact' people on grounds such as age, disability and sex.

Ministers could be sued over their demand that civil servants stop working from home (Stock image)

If passed, the motion will instruct the ruling executive committee to 'oppose mandated workstation attendance levels' and develop a 'strategy to promote a legal challenge on equality grounds to mandated attendance'.

In addition, the union would 'seek a national civil service Home and Hybrid Working agreement' to 'promote home and hybrid working, where that is genuinely difficult, through the application of technology and more helpful working arrangements'.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: 'We have always been clear on the benefits of collaborative face-to-face working, particularly for the development of more junior staff.

'That's why we have set out new guidance stating that civil servants across all departments and regions are expected to be in the office at a minimum of 60 per cent of the time. Our latest data shows that all central departmental HQs met or exceeded that requirement.'
The British Museum could repatriate more contested artefacts from around the world following the return of treasures to Ghana, it emerged yesterday.

Experts said legislation which bans the museum from giving artefacts away permanently would not prohibit loans to other countries, like this month's landmark deal over the return of Asante gold to Ghana.

Museum trustee Chris Gosden said the British Museum Act 1963 was not an 'impediment' to other loan arrangements in the future.

But a similar deal over the Elgin Marbles remains problematic as it would require Greece to accept the British Museum as the legal owner of the sculptures, which it has always rejected.

The sculptures, taken from the Parthenon in Athens, are the most controversial exhibit at the London institution and a source of diplomatic tension between Britain and Greece, which maintains they were stolen by Lord Elgin.

King Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II (pictured) attending the first public exhibition of looted artefacts returned by UK and US museums to the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Ghana, May 1, 2024

Artefacts in a display case in their home in Ghana after being returned by museums in Britain and the US

A selection of Asante gold taken from Ghana more than 100 years ago that is currently on loan from the V&A Museum in London

A selection of the looted items on their way to be presented to King Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II

But experts suggested other cultural artefacts could be repatriated to their original countries if their national governments were willing to accept loan deals.

The return of the Asante gold to Ghana in a joint project with the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum marked the first time that British institutions had sent artefacts back to Africa.

The treasures were returned to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the king or 'Asantehene' of the Asante, after he accepted the British Museum's legal ownership of the golden royal regalia, seized by British troops during wars in 1874 and 1896.

The British Museum Act 1963 bars the London institution from giving away artefacts permanently, although there have been calls for the legislation to be overhauled.

Professor Gosden told The Daily Telegraph: 'The 1963 Act is not quite irrelevant but not quite the impediment that it might be seen as being. It's about the relationship and what is possible within the relationship.'

Other attempts at repatriation, including for the Benin Bronzes, have previously been hampered when nations have refused to accept the museum's legal ownership of relics.
Hilton's zero waste menu uses cuts of meat that would normally be thrown away

In the battle against climate change, it's fair to say corporate giants have a greater responsibility when it comes to making big changes.

That's why multinational hospitality company Hilton has launched 'taste of zero waste' menus at four of its flagship UK hotels until the end of May.

MailOnline went along to try the menu at Hilton London Metropole, which features delicacies such as cod tongues, ox heart and salmon cheeks.

The 40 menu showcases 'innovative techniques' to combat food waste and underused cuts of meat that would usually be thrown away.

Avoiding food waste is crucial in the fight against climate change because when food waste rots, it releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

The 40 menu showcases 'innovative techniques' to combat food waste and underused cuts of meat that would usually be thrown away. Pictured, ox heart (left) and salmon cheeks (right)

Zero waste menus are launching at four Hilton hotels - Hilton London Metropole (pictured), London Hilton on Park Lane, Hilton Manchester Deansgate and DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole

What's on the menu? Poached Scottish salmon cheeks with seaweed stock, asparagus stalks, tomato and lettuce

Crisp fried cod tongues with sauce gribiche and nettle leaf tomato salad

Charcoal grilled ox heart with potato skin risotto and pickled magnolia petals

Chicken mince on toast with toasted sourdough, grilled chicken heart, soft herb pesto and seeds

Vegetable korma, root and spring vegetable, sticky rice biscuit, tomato, coriander stalks

Bread and butter pudding, blueberry and fudge, caramel sauce Advertisement

I thought Hilton may have taken note of Silo, the trendy eatery that describes itself as the world's first zero waste restaurant.

But Paul Bates, executive head chef at Hilton London Metropole, told me that Hilton's 'taste of waste' menu was not inspired by the east London establishment at all.

Instead, trying to create as little waste as possible in a professional kitchen is something chefs in the industry were doing over 20 years ago.

Now, as the link between food waste and climate change becomes more apparent, Hilton wants other kitchens to take note.

'If I saw young chefs throw food in the bin I'd say, 'what do you think you're doing?'' Chef Bates told MailOnline.

'We were taught to use things  use the bones to make stock.'

With the new menu, the chef is using unusual cuts of meat that are often overlooked and therefore tend to be cheaper, while using offcuts leftover during food prep.

To start there's three crispy cod tongues, deep fried in breadcrumbs and served with gribiche sauce, made from hardboiled eggs from the morning's breakfast bar.

I was expecting something soft and slippery, but the texture of the tongues is firmer than this, almost like squid.

The flavour, however, is very familiar  exactly like any other cut of cod I've tasted. What a revelation!

I'd definitely eat a box of six cod tongues if they were served up at my local chippy, but unfortunately the little morsels tend to get discarded when the fish are filleted.

That seems crazy to me, especially considering cod are one of the most overfarmed fish in British waters and populations are 'critically low', according to a report last year.

Pictured, cod tongues with gribiche (a French egg sauce) which has been made from hardboiled eggs leftover from the morning's breakfast bar

Pictured, a skewer of chicken hearts on top of chicken mince on toast, which includes potato skins in the bread mix

Pictured, Paul Bates, executive head chef at Hilton London Metropole, who wants other chefs to think about what they throw in the bin

The salmon cheeks  served with outer lettuce leaves and sauce made of salmon heads  are less surprising because they have the same texture as any other part of the salmon.

Next up I try a skewer of chicken hearts served on chicken mince on toast, which includes potato skins in the bread mix.

I've tasted chicken hearts before at Brazilian barbeque restaurants  they're squidgy and salty and much more appetising than they sound.

While Hilton's little hearts don't quite compare, the mince on toast  using little offcuts of chicken flesh meticulously scraped from the bones  is clever, like a light bolognaise.

The ox heart, meanwhile, has been cut into sections that look 'just like steak' and then finely sliced into leaf-shaped portions, laid on top of potato skin risotto.

Although I love offal, it has a slight toughness and 'squeakiness' that makes me think other Hilton diners will wish they'd ordered the rump steak.

For me, the highlight is easily the vegetable korma, served with 'sticky rice biscuit'  a compact disc of rice fried until crunchy on one side.

The highlight of the evening was the vegetable korma, with root and spring vegetables, sticky rice biscuit, tomato and coriander stalks

I usually mock anyone who orders a korma, but this one  made with tiny herb and vegetable trimmings  has a real spicy kick.

Generally, I'm surprised by the size of the dishes  much smaller than the promo photos had suggested when Hilton announced the initiative.

But this is a defence against what Bates calls 'plate waste'  food that comes back on diners' plates that can't be served up again or reused.

The smaller the portions, the less likely it is that food will be leftover on the plates when they come back to the kitchen  and the more likely that diners will give the menu a go.

'With this particular menu it's done in a tapas style,' Bates told MailOnline.

'People will risk a starter but they won't risk a main course.'

To finish is a gorgeous bread and butter pudding made with jam and leftover pastries, again from the morning's breakfast.

During what is a global struggle to reduce meat consumption, surely it says a lot that the two tastiest dishes  the korma and the pudding  are both vegetarian.

Bread and butter pudding made with leftover jam and pastries, served with blueberry and fudge, caramel sauce

Hilton London Metropole (pictured) is one of four Hiltons trying out this zero waste initiative, although its 40 set menu is unique

Hilton's zero waste menu certainly makes such an interesting change from standard restaurant fare, like burger, steak and pasta.

The thing is, I'm probably a lot more adventurous than the average British diner when it comes to trying unusual ingredients.

Unfortunately, the majority may be so rooted their comfort zone that the thought of eating tongues and hearts makes them squirm  a great shame.

Although Hilton's taste of zero waste only runs until the end of May, Chef Bates said some of the dishes could make a reappearance and that Hilton will be adapting the zero waste ethos more in the future.

Perhaps its real legacy will be getting chefs and customers alike to start a conversation about our costly food wastage habit as we enter an uncertain future.

Zero waste menus are available at four Hilton hotels  London Hilton on Park Lane, Hilton Manchester Deansgate, Hilton London Metropole and DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole  until the end of May.

While Hilton London Metropole has a 40 set menu, the other three are offering mains starting from 14 and entrees and desserts starting from 8.
Whether it's by translating forgotten texts or uncovering lost artefacts, archaeologists are constantly edging towards a better understanding of the past.

Yet even as archaeological techniques advance, some mysteries have remained stubbornly mysterious.

From the bizarre Roman 'holey jar' to unexplained six-foot stone spheres in Costa Rica, the origins and uses for some artefacts have been long since lost to time.

But much to archaeologists' frustration, the lack of evidence has not stopped wild theories and rampant speculation surrounding these five baffling objects.

Lorena Hitchens, an archaeologist and PhD candidate at Newcastle University, told MailOnline: 'For some people, an unsolved mystery is really hard to accept.'

From the strange 'holey' Roman jar to the six-foot tall stone spheres of Costa Rica, these five strange objects still baffle archaeologists to this day

The Towie Ball

When you think about archaeological mysteries, your mind might leap to grand structures like the Library of Alexandria or the city of Troy.

But in reality, some of history's most fascinating and mysterious objects are much more simple.

The Towie Ball is a 531g (1.2 lbs) ball of black stone believed to have been carved by Neolithic people in Scotland more than 5,000 years ago.

Three of the ball's four carved faces are marked by intricate swirling patterns while the last remains strangely blank.

Despite being discovered in 1860, the reason this strange object was made largely remains a mystery.

The Towie Ball (pictured) is a 531g (1.2 lbs) ball of black stone believed to have been carved by Neolithic people in Scotland more than 5,000 years ago

Five mysterious artefacts that still baffle archaeologists The Towie Ball One of 430 carved stone balls believed to have been made by Neolithic people in Scotland around 5,000 years ago. The Antikythera mechanism A 2,000-year-old mechanical computer which could calculate the movements of the planets. The 'holey jar' A strange Roman jar filled with tiny holes. No other artefact like it has ever been found. Roman dodecahedra These 12-sided objects are only found in the Celtic areas of the Roman Empire, but their use or purpose is unknown. The Diquis Spheres Hundreds of stone spheres up to six feet tall found in Costa Rica, made by the extinct Diquis civilisation. Advertisement

What makes this puzzle all the more frustrating is that this is just one of around 430 different stone balls found mainly along the eastern coast of Scotland.

While hundreds were found, many were considered curios and were sold or sat gathering dust in private collections.

This has made it difficult to know exactly where and when they were made, adding another layer of confusion for archaeologists to contend with.

One popular theory is that these were a form of high-status weapon among stone-age people in the area.

Writers in the 19th Century thought that the grooves could have held ropes used to convert the stones into mace heads or load them into a sling.

A 2007 research paper even suggests that their rough surface could have been intended to reduce air resistance and make them more deadly as thrown weapons.

However, in a recent book on the stone balls of Scotland, Dr Chris Stewart-Moffitt of the University of Aberdeen points out that these theories ignore key evidence.

Not only are the balls remarkably undamaged despite their great age, but other random stones would have been just as effective as weapons without needing to be carved.

Dr Stewart Moffitt writes: 'We have no actual proof that they were used offensively or defensively... to consider them to be weapons is to seriously miss the point.'

Instead, Dr Moffitt suggests that the balls could have had a symbolic rather than practical purpose.

He suggests that the round shape could have evoked the circular shape of homes while the ridges may have stood for the hills and valleys of Scotland.

However, despite our best guesses, the true origin of these objects is likely to remain lost to time.

Nobody knows quite why this object was created but recent studies propose they had a symbolic purpose, with the grooves representing the rivers and valleys of the Scottish landscape

The Antikythera mechanism

The origins of the Antikythera mechanism sound like something straight from the pages of a thriller novel.

In 1900, a group of sponge divers were taking refuge from a sudden storm near the island of Antikythera, not far from modern-day Crete.

When the storm subsided and the divers decided to try their luck near the island, they stumbled upon a shipwreck laden with beautiful stone statues.

But, almost forgotten among those other treasures, subsequent excavations found a book-sized lump of corroded metal.

When experts at the National Archeological Museum in Athens split the metal apart, it revealed an intricate construction of precision gears and dials.

Containing 30 gears, some with teeth no more than a millimetre wide, and thousands of carved characters, the Antikythera mechanism is staggeringly complex.

Believed to date back to at least 60 to 70 BC, it was not believed possible that the ancient Greeks were capable of creating such a device.

The Antikythera mechanism was found submerged in an ancient shipwreck near the Island of Antikythera, not far from modern-day Crete

Believed to date back to at least 60 to 70 BC, this mechanical computer contains 30 gears with teeth as small as one millimetre

More than 100 years of research has revealed that the so-called Antikythera mechanism is actually a highly complex astronomical calculator.

In a 2021 paper, a team of UCL researchers used X-ray images and ancient Greek mathematical analysis to reconstruct what the device may have looked like.

They claimed that it is 'a mechanical computer of bronze gears that used ground-breaking technology to make astronomical predictions, by mechanizing astronomical cycles and theories.'

This complex mechanism could predict the movements of the sun, moon, and the five planets known to the Ancient Greeks with incredible detail.

Lead researcher Professor Tony Free and his co-authors add that this 'creation of genius' combines Babylonian astronomy, Platonic mathematics, and ancient Greek theories of astronomy.

Experts have reconstructed the device's design and claim it was used to work out the locations of the sun, moon, and five planets known to the Ancient Greeks

While we now know what the device was used for, many mysteries still persist.

Most notably, researchers are yet to determine why it would take centuries for anything this complex to be reinvented.

Even more baffling is the fact that the Antikythera device remains the only object of its type to have been discovered.

There would have certainly been earlier or later models of similar devices made, but these have remained frustratingly elusive.

Ultimately, as the researchers conclude in Scientific Reports: 'It challenges all our preconceptions about the technological capabilities of the ancient Greeks.'

No object like it has yet been found, raising the question of why it took centuries for ancient scientists to create anything as complex

The holey jar

The so-called 'holey jar' is exactly what it sounds like: a jar with holes in it.

But experts are still baffled why this 1,800 year-old Roman jar would have been made riddled with holes.

The jar was found shattered into 180 pieces and was painstakingly pieced back together by experts at the Museum of Ontario Archeology.

But, even putting this strange object back together didn't shed any light on the mystery.

Katie Urban, one of the researchers at Museum of Ontario Archaeology told LiveScience: 'Everyone's stumped by it, we've been sending it around to all sorts of Roman pottery experts and other pottery experts, and no one seems to be able to come up with an example.'

The 'holey jar' is believed to be a 1,800-year-old Roman artefact, but no expert has yet been able to come up with a theory as to what it could have been used for

Some theories propose that it could have been used by the Romans to store live dormice while they were fattened up to be eaten.

The problem is that other dormice jars from the Roman world are quite different, and were equipped with interior ramps to help the rodents run around.

The matter is made worse by the muddled history of the jar's discovery.

In the 1950s, archaeologist William Francis Grimes gave the jar to the museum, saying he had dug it out of a World War II bomb crater near a Roman temple to Mithras.

But Ms Urban says this is uncertain since the vessel does not appear on the list of artefacts given by Grimes to the museum.

And with its origins shrouded in mystery and nothing to compare it to, the intended use of the holey jar remains unknown.

It was claimed to have been found near a temple to Mithras in London (pictured), but the evidence for this is doubtful - leaving its true origins a mystery

Roman dodecahedra

From walls and aqueducts to roads that are still followed to this day, the Roman occupation of Britain left behind an indelible mark on the country.

However, not all of the artefacts left behind by four centuries of Roman rule are so easy to interpret.

Some of the most puzzling objects from the Celtic fringes of the Roman Empire are a series of 12-sided objects simply known as Roman dodecahedra.

So far, 33 of these unusual objects have been discovered in Britain including a recent discovery of a 3in-tall (8cm) bronze dodecahedron found in Lincolnshire.

While the objects vary in size and decoration they frequently have a series of different-sized holes on each face and round balls on each corner.

As beautiful and fascinating as these objects may be, studying them has proved to be a fiendishly difficult challenge.

In the UK, archaeologists have found 33 12-sided shapes believed to have been made during the Roman occupation of Britain, but their purpose is unknown

Lorena Hitchens, who is studying Roman dodecahedra for her PhD at Newcastle University, told MailOnline that the true use of these objects is 'still a mystery'.

Ms Hitchens says: 'Romans did not visually depict or write about dodecahedra. There are no inscriptions, texts, or images.

'It would be great if a mosaic, painting, or long-lost classical text were discovered that explained everything about dodecahedra! It doesn't seem likely at this point, but you never know.'

The puzzle has been made even more difficult by the fact that they were highly prized by collectors in the 18th century.

The resulting 'horse trading' means that many of the artefacts became divorced from their archaeological context, making it tricky to piece the details together.

While they vary in size, most of the dodecahedra have different-sized holes on each face and balls attached to the corners

Finding new dodecahedra buried in their original location could be extremely valuable to understanding these objects.

The Norton Disney Historical and Archeological group, which discovered the most recent object, plan further excavations this summer which could reveal more details.

The dodecahedra are also unique in their design, which means that archaeologists have nothing to compare them with to shed light on their potential usage.

This hasn't stopped various non-academic sources from making all sorts of comparisons to modern objects.

Ms Hitchens says that the guessing game approach has led to 'an unproductive, frustrating guessing game with no proof in any direction.'

She added: 'This kind of speculation is not based on real evidence. Sometimes people see what they want to see when they look at dodecahedra.'

One of these strange objects was recently featured on the BBC's Digging for Britain, in which Professor Alice Roberts (pictured) was baffled by the bizarre object

For example, in what Ms Hitchens says is her least favourite suggestion, it is often claimed that they were used as a type of knitting aid.

While it is possible to use the balls on the corners of the object to weave tubes of material there is no evidence that these objects were ever used in this way.

Ms Hitchens says that her own research is making progress and has yielded new data but any definitive answers are still a long way off.

She concludes: 'Will we ever solve it? I can't say yet, but, can we understand them better than we do now? Absolutely.'

The Diquis Spheres

Any fan of Indiana Jones will know that an archaeologist's biggest nightmare is a large round boulder.

That has proven true of the Costa Rica stone spheres, often called the Diquis Spheres, which have have resisted understanding for almost a century.

But while Indy might have spent his days fleeing boulders, archaeologists from all around the world have flocked to the island Isla del Cano and the Diquis Delta where hundreds can be found.

Almost perfectly round and up to two meters (six feet) tall, no one knows why so much effort was put into carving these bizarre objects.

Costa Rica is home to hundreds of carved stone spheres, some up to six feet tall. However, experts have no good theories as to why they were made by the extinct Diquis people who flourished on the island before the Spanish conquest

Archaeologists now believe that they are the product of the long-extinct Diquis people, who flourished on the island between 700 and 1530 AD.

However, with the arrival Spanish conquest, the true meaning of these objects was lost to time.

Speaking about the spheres in 2010, Professor John Hoopes of the University of Kansas said: 'We really don't know why they were made, the people who made them didn't leave any written records.

'The culture of the people who made them became extinct shortly after the Spanish conquest. So, there are no myths or legends or other stories that are told by the indigenous people of Costa Rica about why they made these spheres.'

Careful study shows that the objects were ground into shape, but since so many were moved from their original locations it has been extremely difficult to figure out what they could have been used for

After their discovery in the 1930s, the majority of the spheres were moved from their original locations and some were even sold as lawn ornaments.

As with so many of these mysterious objects, without their original context it is even harder for experts to understand why they might have been created.

The absence of any definitive answer and the balls' sophisticated construction have led to some particularly imaginative speculation.

Internet theories propose that the balls' may have been left behind by aliens or ancient super-civilisations.

Professor Hoopes adds: 'Myths are really based on a lot of very rampant speculation about imaginary ancient civilizations or visits from extraterrestrials.'

We now know that the spheres were made by grinding roughly carved granite rocks down into smooth, polished surfaces.

However Earthly their origins, the real meaning of the Diquis Spheres is likely to remain forever unknown.
In 1960, American military analysts hatched a plan to stop Earth rotation and protect the US from a Russian nuclear attack.

The idea of Project Retro was simple: 1,000 huge rockets, normally used to launch nuclear weapons and spacecraft, would generate so much thrust that Earths rotation would briefly pause.

This would mean that Soviet nuclear missiles would overshoot the missile bases they were aimed at.

The classified proposal suggested that when America's missile detection systems detected Soviet missiles flying over the North Pole towards missile fields in Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Missouri, the rectangular field of Atlas rockets could be triggered.

An Atlas rocket

A U.S. Air Force Atlas missile takes off in 1958 (Wikimedia Commons)

Earths rotation would pause momentarily, and at this point, the missiles (already on their inertial path) would overfly their targets.

The plan had been seen and initialed by various Air Force officials, before it landed on the desk of Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

Ellsberg, a nuclear war planner who also conducted the Pentagons review of the Cuban Missile Crisis, revealed the plans in his book The Doomsday Machine.

He initially thought the plan to pause Earths rotation was a joke - but seeing that it had been initialed by multiple officials, he realized it wasnt.

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Ellsberg, who died in 2023, wrote that the plan was that after the Soviet missiles had missed their targets.

Our land-based retaliatory force would be saved. To carry out-presumably, when things had settled down and earth was again spinning normally-a retaliatory attack against the cities and soft military targets (their missiles having already left their hardened silos) in the Soviet Union.

But there were several flaws in the plan, Ellsberg realized.

The angular momentum of rocks, air and water on Earths surface would mean that everything on the planet would continue moving sideways at enormous speed (at the equator, the speed of Earths rotation is just over 1,000mph.

Ellsberg wrote, You didn't have to be a geophysicist, which I wasn't, to see some defects with this scheme.

An Atlas rocket on the launch pad

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg speaks at a news conference in 2010

'An awful lot of stuff would be flying through the air. Everything, in fact, that wasn't nailed down, and most of what was as well, would be gone with the wind, which would itself be flying at super-hurricane force everywhere at once.

Ellsberg explained that cities on the coasts would be wiped out by huge tsunamis, and the apocalypse unleashed by Project Retro would, ironically, be as bad as anything that thermonuclear weapons could do to our planet.

Ellsberg wrote: The Minuteman launch control officers, safe in their capsules deep underground, would have even less reason than in the foreseeable conditions of nuclear war either to launch their missiles or to come above ground, since there would be nothing left to destroy on the surface of the Soviet Union, or the United States, or anywhere.

All structures would have collapsed, with the rubble, along with all the people joining the wind and the water in their horizontal movement across the face of the earth, into space.

Ellsberg later spoke to a physicist who explained that even 1,000 rockets would be far too little to stop Earths rotation - and if you somehow could summon up enough thrust to pause Earths rotation, it would probably tear the planets surface apart.

Speaking to LiveScience, James Zimbelman, senior geologist emeritus at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, explains that, were Earth to stop spinning, the momentum would tear every object on Earth away from the surface.

Rocks, objects and people would then rain down on the surface, liquefying the crust and turning the surface into an ocean of molten rock.

Ellsberg - who at one point saw a Presidents Eyes Only document which estimated the casualties from a U.S. strike in 1961 at more than 500 million deaths including collateral damage from fallout in Europe - said that the plan was just part of a nuclear war machine he described as criminally insane.

He wrote: As I would soon discover, the Joint Chiefs' estimates of the effects of carrying out their first strike plans, under a variety of circumstances, foresaw killing more than half a billion humans with our own weapons in a matter of months, with most of them dead in a day or two.

How to describe that, other than insanity? Should the Pentagon officials and their subordinates have been institutionalized? But that was precisely the problem: they already were. Their institutions not only promoted this insanity, they demanded it. And still do.
The unique campervan has taken her from the Lake District to Saint-Tropez

Keri Bailey has converted her Citroen Relay van so she can dance while travelling

A self-described pole-dancing 'addict' splashed out on a luxury campervan and installed an 8ft portable pole - so she could continue to dance while travelling.

Keri Bailey, a pole instructor from North Yorkshire, had always dreamt of exploring Europe with her husband Ricky and bought a Citroen Relay van so she could do just that.

Having travelled extensively in the past, Keri admitted that she often felt 'desperate' to get back home so she could pole dance. While she frequently found pole studios on the go, Keri was hell-bent on finding the ultimate solution for her big trip.

She researched companies that could convert the van and found one that had installed a pull-up bar in a vehicle belonging to a previous client.

It was a lightbulb moment. She told MailOnline Travel: 'My brain immediately went to: if it's possible to have a horizontal pole, there is definitely a way to make it vertical.'

Keri Bailey bought a luxury campervan with a portable pole so she could continue dancing while travelling. She's pictured here showing off her skills in the South of France

Keri had previously found 'regular travel' difficult as she was often 'desperate' to get back to her pole. She's pictured above spinning on the 8ft pole in the Yorkshire Dales

Vanlife Conversions accepted the challenge and three months later, Keri and Ricky picked up their van, complete with the unique renovation.

She said: 'We were so blown away by it we got a little teary.'

Keri said that she now feels 'complete' as she can pursue both her passions, travel and dance, and even bring her two dogs, Rupert and Tilly, along for the ride.

Their converted van, which they named Valerie, has a sleek interior with a double bed, shower, toilet and a functional kitchen.

As for the pole, Keri said you would find the same equipment in a regular studio. It can be easily detached from the roof of the van and only takes eight to ten minutes to set up.

'It is both spin and static, which makes me super happy because I am a huge spin pole fan,' she said.

The only limitation, she said, is its proximity to the van and restricted height. But that hasn't stopped Keri from spinning.

Keri said she feels 'complete' as she can pursue both her passions; dancing and travel, and even bring her two dogs, Rupert and Tilly (above), along for the ride

Keri is travelling with her husband, Ricky (pictured). The pair were 'blown away' by the completed van conversion

The couple named their luxury campervan 'Valerie'. It features a sleek interior with a double bed, shower, toilet and a functional kitchen

So far their travels have taken them from the Lake District in the UK to Saluzzo in Italy's Piedmont region as well as several spots in France, stopping at the likes of Saint Maxime, Saint-Tropez, Nice and France's wine capital, Bordeaux.

Despite having visited some sensational locations, Keri said: 'Poling by the south coast sea near Saint-Tropez was a definite highlight.'

When asked what she loved about travelling in the van the most, she replied: 'The complete freedom. We can have a rough travel plan or idea of where we want to go but decide before we set off if we want to change because someone has told us about a must-see place or we love where we currently are and want to extend staying there.

'It feels more like living abroad as opposed to typical travel.'

Keri said she loved the 'freedom' the van has given her

Keri said: 'Poling near Saint-Tropez was a definite highlight'

Keri is looking forward to using the pole more in the next few months as the weather improves.

She said: 'We have no limitations on where we want to go and our plan is to explore as much as possible.

'I'm looking forward to finding as many remote mountainous or seaside spots as possible to get a poling and nature fix.'

The couple, who are based in the UK, plan to start with some smaller journeys before venturing into full-time van living.

Italy, Portugal, Norway, Greece and Turkey are just some of Keri's wish-list locations.

Later this year, shes hoping to head to the Dolomites to pole dance amongst the beautiful mountain landscapes.

Keri has been posting her van life and pole-dancing journey on Instagram. To see more, visit her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/keribpole, www.instagram.com/vanlifevalerie, or www.instagram.com/fussytravellerclub.
Whoopi Goldberg reveals in her new memoir that she was a 'high-functioning' cocaine addict in the 1980s while on the set of some of the major films that made her famous.

'I'd still show up on the set on time, do my job, and keep pace with the production. I knew people wouldn't get a paycheck if I didn't show up,' the EGOT writes in Bits And Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me.

But she reveals her abuse of cocaine 'started to kick my a**. I'd go to work and realize I was getting sloppy. I didn't like it. I knew it wasn't good.'

While she doesn't name the various films she was in when she was secretly high on coke, during the time described she starred in 11 films in all that made her a multimillionaire and Oscar winner.

Whoopi Goldberg opens up about her cocaine addiction in her new memoir, Bits And Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me

Whoopi, pictured in 1991 with her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, writes how after moving to Los Angeles, she would attend parties in Hollywood where a bowl of Quaaludes would greet her at the door and lines of cocaine would be laid out for guests

Whoopi's breakout role came in 1985 when she starred in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple. 'I'd still show up on the set on time, do my job, and keep pace with the production,' she writes in her new book

Whoopi writes how after moving to Los Angeles, she would attend parties in Hollywood, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills, where a bowl of Quaaludes would greet her at the door and lines of cocaine would be laid out for guests.

And while the drugs were plentiful, so were the roles in major motion pictures that catapulted her into the spotlight.

Whoopi's breakout role came in 1985 when she starred in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple.

She received critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination for her role as Celie, a black teen living in the south in the early 20th century who suffers abuse and bigotry.

It appears the drugs didn't slow her down; from there Whoopi appeared in Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), Fatal Beauty and Burglar (both 1987), Clara's Heart and The Telephone (both 1988).

She even tried her hand at light-hearted movies, appearing in Christmas at Pee-wee's Playhouse and Beverly Hills Brats in 1988 and 1989 respectively.

Rounding out the '80s, she played a sociopath in Homer and Eddie and a mother in Kiss Shot.

With the release of 1990's Ghost  which was filmed the in 1989  Whoopi took home her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, starring opposite Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.

Despite her success, Whoopi admits in her dark 220-page memoir that cocaine had her 'in its clutchesI was letting something else run my life and take me over.'

Recalling the height of her addiction, the Sister Act star wrote that she believed she could handle the drug because she was 'high-functioning' it didn't seem as dangerous as heroin, which she had previously been hooked on in the 1970s.

It appears the drugs didn't slow her down and in 1986 she starred in Jumpin' Jack Flash. She reveals her abuse of cocaine 'started to kick my a**. I'd go to work and realize I was getting sloppy. I didn't like it. I knew it wasn't good'

Whoopi starred in the drama Clara's Heart opposite a young Neil Patrick Harris in 1988

With the release of 1990's Ghost, Whoopi took home her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, starring alongside Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze

It wasn't until she had a 'slap-in-the-face moment' that she realized she'd hit rock bottom.

She described how she was sitting on the closet floor of her hotel room, snorting cocaine by herself, when a maid knocked on the door and let herself in.

'I screamed, she screamed and backed up and looked like she was going to run,' Whoopi explained.

'I had to get to her quickly and try to calm her down. She was staring at my face as I talked,' The View host continued, before admitting she then looked in the mirror and realized that she had cocaine 'all over' her face.

'I'd have been so embarrassed if my mother knew the extent the coke had me in its clutches.'

Further in the memoir she describes experiencing a drug-induced hallucination.

'I hallucinated that something was under my bed and I'd be attacked if I got up,' she writes.

Fearing the unknown monster, Whoopi reveals that she 'didn't move out of bed for 24 hours,' declaring 'that kind of sh*t doesn't end pretty. There's only so long a person can hold their bladder.'

Whoopi, pictured here in 1985, says she was a 'very high-functioning addict' after moving to Los Angeles

The actor, pictured here at the age of 30 in March 1986, describes experiencing a drug-induced hallucination. 'I hallucinated that something was under my bed and I'd be attacked if I got up,' she writes

Whoopi reveals how her mother, Emma, was sent away to a psychiatric hospital

Elsewhere in the candid memoir, Whoopi says she saved her mother, Emma, from taking her own life shortly before she was carted off to New York City's Bellevue psychiatric hospital when Whoopi was just eight years old.

In the book, Whoopi  whose real name is Caryn Johnson  describes the day when she came home from school and found her mother looking 'disheveled' and barefoot while 'muttering incoherently' and being confused about where she was.

She writes, 'I watched as she went over to the oven, turned it on, and put her head in there. I was old enough to know this was really bad news. I ran over and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out.'

The actress writes about her love life, revealing, 'I married three times before realizing I was better off being singular full-time.'

In regards to her second marriage to cinematographer David Claessen, Whoopi adds: 'When that marriage went toes up, I thought maybe I just wasn't doing it right.'

She also recalls when her mother advised her to 'just have a party instead' after she agreed to wedding number three and admits: 'I should have listened to that sage advice, but I didn't.'

Whoopi very rarely goes into detail about her current love life, but occasionally on The View she will share tidbits and it's certainly no secret that she enjoys living alone with just her cat.
Ada Nicodemou was spotted kissing her co-star James Stewart in a Sydney street on Anzac Day.

The Home And Away star, 46, whose split from partner-of-eight-years Adam Rigby became public last week, shared a romantic embrace with 48-year-old Stewart.

The pair - who play lovers on Home and Away - enjoyed a beverage together at The Royal Hotel.

They were later seen getting cosy outside the establishment after leaving the venue.

The sighting came after Stewart was pictured leaving his apartment in Coogee with a suitcase and catching an Uber to the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney's CBD on April 24.

Ada Nicodemou was spotted kissing her co-star James Stewart in a Sydney street on Anzac Day

The Home And Away star, 46, whose split from partner-of-eight-years Adam Rigby became public last week, shared a romantic embrace with 48-year-old Stewart

There was also recently a sighting of Stewart and Nicodemou at a cinema, where onlookers said they were 'not shy' about displaying their affection publicly.

Nicodemou was married to Chrys Xipolitas for nine years. They reportedly split briefly in 2010 before reconciling and welcoming a son, Johnas, in August 2012.

The actress, who also starred in '90s soap Heartbreak High, went on to split from Xipolitas for good and dated businessman Adam Rigby for about eight years.

They called it quits sometime in late 2023.

The news of Stewart and Nicodemou growing close comes after his ex Sarah Roberts - a Home and Away alum - confirmed to Stellar magazine the pair had divorced.

'I just want to say that I am divorced,' she told the publication.

'Sometimes people grow apart and that's okay... I got to a point where I realised I couldn't grow in the way I wanted to within this particular relationship.'

The pair - who play lovers on Home and Away - enjoyed a beverage together at The Royal Hotel

They were later seen getting cosy outside the establishment after leaving the venue

Roberts and Stewart wed in 2019 after getting engaged in November 2018. He had proposed at the restaurant where they'd had their first date a year earlier.

The pair tied the knot at Luttrellstown Castle, on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, in July 2019.

Roberts' divorce confirmation came after years of speculation the couple had split.

The rumours first bubbled to the surface after Stewart was absent at the premiere of her film Wog Boys Forever in Melbourne in October 2022.

He was 'nowhere to be seen on the red carpet' and was apparently no longer following his wife's Instagram account, reports suggested.

At the time, Roberts' agent denied they had broken up.

The pair later put rumours to rest when Roberts proudly flashed her wedding ring at the AACTA Awards in December that year.

The sighting came after Stewart was pictured leaving his apartment in Coogee with a suitcase and catching an Uber to the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney 's CBD on April 24

There was also recently a sighting of Stewart and Nicodemou at a cinema, where onlookers said they were 'not shy' about displaying their affection publicly

Speaking with Now To Love at the time, she also shot down the break-up rumours.

'We're happy,' she told the website.

Roberts added that her husband was as romantic as ever, even picking her up from the airport with a bouquet of flowers after a recent trip to Italy.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Nicodemou and Stewart for comment.

Roberts starred on Home and Away from 2017 to 2021, before walking away to focus on her film career.

Last month, Sarah Roberts confirmed to Stellar Magazine that her and Stewart had divorced

Stewart is still starring on the Australian soap, in which he plays Justin Morgan.

The actor shares daughter Scout, 11, with his ex-fiancee Jessica Marais, whom he met on the set of Packed to the Rafters in 2009.

They had announced their engagement in October 2010, and welcomed Scout in May 2012.

In 2015, the pair called it quits, with Stewart later saying: 'Our relationship didn't work out because I think hearts go in different directions eventually.'
Roxy Jacenko has shared an emotional video on her Instagram page, insisting she will personally refund all 7000 people who signed up to her boot camp.

The PR maven informed those who signed up for her online business course, Brand Bootcamp, that they will be reimbursed as she has 'lost control' of the venture.

The promotion included a number of prizes, including a luxury home.

A $10 million waterfront mansion in Sydney's Cronulla was potentially up for grabs for people who signed up to Brand Bootcamp.

Punters who paid for the course, which starts at $29, were to be entered in a giveaway to win the house, as well other luxe prizes including $250,000 cash, a Birkin bag and a Rolex watch.

Roxy Jacenko (pictured) has shared an emotional video on her Instagram page, insisting she will personally refund all 7000 people who signed up to her boot camp

But on Friday, Jacenko informed her online followers that she was refunding the fee for anyone who entered, and paying the reimbursements from her own bank account.

'As many of you would know, I launched a promotion on March 8th of this year. That promotion, Roxy's Boot Camp, came about when I was direct messaged on Instagram by someone who I don't know, who had a great idea' she began.

'And that idea was for me to run my courses and associate a trade promotion with those courses... Basically, we formed a partnership with myself and two people that I don't know. I spruiked it.'

Roxy went on to describe the vast media campaign she engaged in to promote the venture, before becoming 'uncomfortable' three days into the process and suggesting at that stage that refunds should be issued.

The PR queen says she was willing to cough up $150,000 of her own money to make those refunds to customers, but the suggestion was 'rejected' by her business partners.

The PR maven informed those who signed up for her online business course, Brand Bootcamp, that they will be reimbursed as she has 'lost control' of the venture

'So the promotion carried on going and I carried on with my mindset of, "we're gonna get this done". We're gonna make three people's lives different by winning three fantastic prizes throughout the course of the last two months' she continued.

Roxy said she was left so 'stressed and distressed' by the process that her weight has dropped to 49 kilos and she has 'fainted twice'.

After what she calls 'repeated negotiations' with her business partners, Roxy says she 'cannot protect the $250,000' offered for 'the first prize' and has been 'holding hostage' a Rolex and Birkin that were also part of the prize pool, as she does not 'have access to the company bank account.'

She went on: 'I have stepped down as a director. I am now only a shareholder. My hands are tied. I am exhausted. I feel bullied. I feel distressed and I'm embarrassed.

'Now, I can't do any more... Sadly, my name is all over this, but what I want you to know is I did my absolute best.

'I can't be in a position where I'm 49 kilos and I certainly cannot be in a position where walking to the door to answer the intercom, I faint.'

The promotion included a number of prizes, including a luxury mansion. A $10 million waterfront home (pictured) in Sydney 's Cronulla was potentially up for grabs for people who signed up to Brand Bootcamp

Roxy concluded: 'I value each and every one of you... And I want you to know that I did everything humanly possible to ensure that those three prizes were there and available to be given away to each of you.'

She returned to Instagram for a second video on Saturday in which the businesswoman offered to refund everyone who had purchased the course.

'I wanted to do an update for each and every one of you who has purchased a package since the launch of the Roxy's Boot Camp promotion on March the 8th, 2024 through to today the 11th of May 2024' she said.

'After much thought, I've made a decision and that decision is that I will personally refund each and every one of the 7000 plus customers who have purchased a package in Roxy's Boot Camp. I'm holding my head high, standing my ground and making sure that each and every one of you who have purchased a package are refunded is really important' Roxy continued.

'I wanna sleep at night and I wanna know that I did what was right, no matter what dispute within a business is going on. The general public should not be a victim of that. Full refunds from me personally will commence occurring from Monday.

'Bear with me, it will take some time as myself and the team in my office will need to collate each and every one of your data.

Roxy said she was left so 'stressed and distressed' by the process that her weight has dropped to 49 kilos and she has 'fainted twice'

'There are 7000 plus of you, and the refunds will come from me, Roxy, personally because the bank account of Roxy's Boot Camp to which I am not a director of, is not accessible to me'.

Roxy went on: 'I feel relieved. I feel it's honorable and I feel that ethically it's what needs to be done. I was backed into a corner. My name is all over this. This money can be made again by me. I'm an entrepreneur. It's in my blood.

'So each and every one of you who's purchased from March the 8th when this launched to today, will receive a full refund and that will come from my bank account because you know what, you guys have supported me since day one, you've backed me. Money can be made again, but you deserve to get back what you deserve.'

The PR professional has faced scrutiny over the competition from the start, after Crikey claimed the chances of winning the home were 'minuscule'.

The publication reports that according to the terms and conditions, the winner would have to 'select both of the two winning envelopes out of 250 available options in order to win the house'.

The PR professional has faced scrutiny over the competition from the start, after Crikey claimed the chances of winning the home were 'minuscule'

Roxy told Daily Mail Australia in a statement that she felt the competition presented a good offer to entrants.

'How often can you pay $29, get an online course valued at $299 and go in to play for a chance to win a $10million property, and if you don't win, you can walk away with $250K cash  no questions asked?' she said.

'$250K is a 20 percent down payment to invest in a property, should you so wish. I ordered a salad with chicken the other day when in Sydney, it was $32 and it gave me indigestion and not much else,' she continued.

'$29 to get access to an online course, a home or $250K cash, a Rolex watch or a Hermes handbag looks far more appetising.'

As for the chances of winning, Jacenko explained, 'Odds of winning the prize game is 1 in 31,125. If we look at odds of winning Powerball in Australia: 1 in 134,490,400'.

The competition's first prize was a three storey, four bedroom, five bathroom, Mediterranean-style mansion reportedly valued at $10 million.

According to the terms and conditions, the winner would have to 'select both of the two winning envelopes out of 250 available options in order to win the house'

Roxy told Daily Mail Australia in a statement she felt the competition presented a good offer to entrants. 'How often can you pay $29, get an online course valued at $299 and go in to play for a chance to win a $10million property, and if you don't win, you can walk away with $250K cash  no questions asked?' she said

'Australia has never seen a giveaway of this magnitude,' Jacenko had earlier said.

'It's my turn to change one lucky Australian's life and turn them into multimillionaires, basically overnight.'

Some confusion has additionally arisen over who owns the home, with earlier reports claiming Roxy purchased it in 2020 for $3.36 million.

However, the Daily Telegraph reported the property is in fact owned by two Bankstown-based businessmen.

'The property is owned by my business partners of Roxy's Brand Bootcamp. A title search will show that,' Jacenko told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday.

Named Zephyr, the home was up for auction in December last year with hopes of earning $10 million.

The property, which appeared on the TV series Australia's Best House, reportedly failed to sell and was taken off the market, before it cropped up in Roxy's giveaway.
Eurovision viewers were left outraged after ABBA failed to reunite for the band's 50th anniversary win as fans dubbed the AI holograms 'disappointing'.

Since Eurovision 2024 kicked off, rumours that the band would reunite for a performance started to spread as the show prepared to mark 50 years since they won the song contestant with their hit track Waterloo.

After their iconic win in 1974, the band dominated the music scene throughout the 1970s, but after just 10 years - and two divorces - they called it quits in 1983.

And hardcore fans were filled with hope as the show teased a reunion and streamed a montage of the band's success since winning the competition.

ABBA themselves also got their fans' hopes up as the band - made up of Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus - shared a clip to their TikTok page popping out from behind a bush.

Eurovision viewers were left outraged after ABBA failed to reunite for the band's 50th anniversary win as fans dubbed the AI performance 'disappointing'

Eurovision viewers were left outraged after ABBA failed to reunite for the band's 50th anniversary win as fans dubbed the AI performance 'disappointing'

The sound playing over the video said: 'Ok guys we're back, did you miss us? Because we missed you'

But despite the hype in the days leading to Saturday's final, ABBA failed to reunite on their home stage which left fans 'annoyed' as they said the ABBAtars AI replacement was 'underwhelming'.

Instead of the band reuniting, a video was streamed across a slew of large screens as Eurovision stars Charlotte Perrelli, Carola and Conchita Wurst sang along to the smash hit.

After realising that the song contest was not going to house an iconic reunion, fans flocked to X to share their disappointment as they said the band missed their moment.

One user penned: 'if ABBA can't get together in #Sweden for 50 year anniversary at #EurovisionSongContest its never gonna happen. Would have been an amazing moment. Feel quite disappointed.'

'No way they made me think ABBA was going to perform.'

'Does make you wonder why ABBA haven't made an appearance - considering 50 years on from winning and it being in their home country'

'Well, the ABBA no show at #Eurovision is the biggest pop culture let down since bad Star Wars films.'

After their iconic win, the band dominated the music scene throughout the 1970s, but after just 10 years - and two divorces - they called it quits in 1983

And hardcore fans were filled with hope as the show teased a reunion and streamed a montage of the band's success since winning the competition

ABBA themselves also got their fans hopes up as the band - made up of Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus - shared a clip to their TikTok page popping out from behind a bush

But despite the hype in the days leading to Saturday's final, ABBA failed to reunite on their home stage which left fans 'annoyed' as they said the ABBAtars AI replacement was 'underwhelming'

Instead of the band reuniting, a video was streamed across a slew of large screens as Eurovision stars Charlotte Perrelli, Carola and Conchita Wurst sang along to the smash hit

'For a moment, I did think, the real ABBA were actually going to perform and then, Nooooooh! Didnt know until this moment, how much I want to see ABBA live'

'No way they made me think ABBA was going to perform.'

'Wierd thing about ABBA avatars is that the stories are engaging, human. But the delivery isn't, in fact it's the complete opposite.'

'Seeing this AI ABBA b******t crap makes me glad I didn't book ABBA Voyage tickets'

'#Eurovision is a night of vibrant costumes, enthusiastic backing dancers, and, most importantly, live vocals! No disrespect to ABBA, their music is iconic! But forcing a hologram appearance for #Eurovision feels inauthentic. Let the magic of live performance shine!'

'They blew the #ABBA tribute big time by cutting to the 3 on stage. Very underwhelming. They would have been better to have the #ABBAVoyage band sing the song.'

Ahead of the AI performance, ABBA thanked fans in a rare statement as the band celebrated the 50th anniversary of their Eurovision Song Contest victory.

The iconic 70s pop group remain the show's most famous and successful exports after they were crowned winners in April 1974 with their song, Waterloo.

Reflecting on the milestone, the group issued a joint statement as they expressed their gratitude for fans 'steadfast loyalty and support through the years'.

To mark the anniversary, several pianos across Europe will play a pre-recorded by Benny simultaneously to make it sound as though he is playing live.

Sharing a picture of the foursome winning the accolade, they wrote: 'It's slightly dizzying and deeply humbling to think that millions of you who saw us for the first time in the Eurovision final 1974 have passed our music on not only to one generation, but to several.

Fans flocked to X to share their disappointment as they said the band missed their moment

'We see evidence of that every time one of us visits Abba Voyage in London, and it's because of this we can celebrate the 50th anniversary of that event in the knowledge that our songs still resonate around the world.'

They continued: 'It's difficult to comprehend that 50 years have gone by since the four of us waited backstage for the verdicts of all the juries around Europe at the Dome in Brighton.

'So what were out dreams during those suspenseful moments or in the chaos in the aftermath of the victory we had secured with the smallest margin in Eurovision history?

'Four different dreams, no doubt, but whatever they were, however grand, reality has surpassed them, that's for sure.'

The group went on to have a huge repertoire of hits including Dancing Queen (1976), Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (1979) and Super Trouper (1976) to name a few.

Since their split their catalogue of music has inspired the Mamma Mia! film franchise and theatre show, and more recently the incredible ABBA Voyage.

The iconic hologram show has pumped 322million into the British economy - with more than a million tickets bought at up to 181.50 each.

The gig five years in the making takes the audience back to Abba's 1970s and 1980s prime and allows fans to experience them in concert, despite their split back in December 1982.

Thanking fans for their continued support they added: 'Many of you were there from the very start and have followed us ever since  for over half a century!

'Music you discover and learn to love when you grow up or even later in life has a way of staying with you forever.

'We share that experience with you and to know that our music has become a constant in your lives is a wonderful thing.'

They concluded: 'Throughout the years we have been blessed with the outpouring of love from you, our fans.

'We feel it and we want to know that hardly a day goes by when we're not reminded of it. To say thank you for what you're giving us without sounding trivial is not easy and this is not a moment of triviality.

Since their split in 1982 their catalogue of music has inspired the Mamma Mia! film franchise and theatre show, and more recently the incredible ABBA Voyage.

The lengthy statement thanked fans for their continued support they added: 'Many of you were there from the very start and have followed us ever since  for over half a century!

'It is a happy and, at the same time, solemn moment and we can only hope that you understand how deeply grateful we are for a long, successful career and for your steadfast loyalty and support through the years. Thank you!'

The foursome broke up in 1982, and whilst they came together for a one-off occasion to mark the debut of ABBA Voyage in 2022, there hasn't been a 'proper' reunion with all four on stage singing together again.

Last year, a spokesperson for the band Gorel Hanser issued a 'clear denial' of a Eurovision reunion, saying there were 'no such plans' and it was 'definitely wishful thinking from fans.

Benny added: 'I don't want to. And if I don't want to, the others won't. It's the same for all four of us  someone says, 'no'  it's a no.'

On Sunday, performers representing 26 countries from across Europe and beyond take to the stage at the final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest.

On Tuesday, the annual music competition kicked off with its first of two semi finals in the Swedish city of Malmo - with ten of the 15 acts performing voted through to Saturday's finale by viewers.

The second semi final on Thursday narrowed the original field of 37 competing nations to 26 for the highly anticipated final.

It comes just ahead of a new film about ABBA 's rise to global stardom, which features never-before-seen footage of tense encounters between the iconic Swedish band.

Documentary ABBA: Against The Odds will tell the epic story of the band's domination of the pop charts - as well as the personal relationships that led to its demise.

A new trailer of the upcoming documentary, which drops on BBC iPlayer on May 4, includes previously unseen clips of Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

The band pictured in 2022 arriving at the Abba Voyage concert in London

In one clip, Benny and Bjorn are seen rehearsing on stage together before all the lights go out at which point they are left looking concerned.

While another hints at some of the tensions felt within the group, as Agnetha is spotted looking annoyed on stage as she appears to shout at one of her bandmates.

What made ABBA unique was not only their beloved sound, but the fact the band was made up of two couples.

When the band formed, Agnetha and Bjorn were already married while Benny and Anni-Frid were dating.
Cindy Crawford revealed that she avoids giving 'unsolicited advice' to her daughter, Kaia and son Presley - and instead opts to give them her 'real opinion.'

The supermodel, 58 - who recently stated that she began out-earning her parents at the age of 18 - discussed raising her kids while appearing on Kerry Corrigan's Wonders podcast alongside fellow guest, Christy Turlington.

The latest episode is fourth in a special, five-part series 'about moms in honor of Every Mother Counts,' per an official episode description.

Crawford - who shares Presley, 24, and Kaia, 22, with her husband, Rande Gerber - explained that she doesn't offer advice to her kids unless they specifically ask for it.

Cindy - who has been married to Rande since 1998 - told Corrigan and Turlington, 'They know if they ask me, they're going to get my real opinion.'

Cindy Crawford, 58, revealed that she avoids giving 'unsolicited advice' to her daughter, Kaia and son Presley - and instead opts to give them her 'real opinion'; seen in September 2023 in NYC

Crawford - who shares Presley, 24, and Kaia, 22, with her husband, Rande Gerber - explained that she doesn't offer advice to her kids unless they specifically ask for it

'But if they don't ask me...I really try hard, and I'm probably about 70 percent good at this...I try not to offer unsolicited advice.'

Cindy actually learned the life lesson from her own mother, who once told her, '"Don't give advice unless [it's] asked for."'

The beauty previously confessed to putting her mom on a 'pedestal' and also admitted that her attitude towards her own mother changed over time.

She expressed to British Vogue in 2018, 'When I was young, my mom didn't work and when I was young, I didn't respect that, I was like, she's just home, taking care of four kids and grocery shopping and cleaning the house.'

'She didn't have a life that I aspire to. And also, I felt like my mom always would see the good side of everything and I was, "Urggh, she's such a Pollyanna."'

'Only when I got older did I realize it's hard to beshe's choosing to be a positive person, because life throws curveballs at all of us all the time, not everything works out right,' Cindy continued.

'And the fact that my mother was able to choose to see the good, maybe I was 25 or 30 when I was like, "Oh wow, that's real strength, that's real inner strength."'

While Crawford has opened up about motherhood over the years, her own children have also gushed about the supermodel.

Cindy - who has been married to Rande since 1998 - told Corrigan and Turlington, 'They know if they ask me, they're going to get my real opinion'; seen in 2017 in Paris

'But if they don't ask me...I really try hard, and I'm probably about 70 percent good at this...I try not to offer unsolicited advice,' she added; seen in April in West Hollywood

While talking to People late last year in November, Kaia - who has followed in her mother's modeling footsteps - gave insight into her relationship with Cindy.

'I do feel like we've established a really strong bond and friendship outside of just a mother-daughter dynamic, which has been so fun for me over the last few years,' the Palm Royale actress told the outlet.

Cindy - who also joined in on the interview - revealed that both she and Kaia have similar interests, such as reading and gong to the theater.

Kaia also humorously admitted, 'She is a cool mom and she still embarrasses me constantly. But it's good! It brings me back down to earth...I probably embarrass her constantly as well.'

The mother-of-two also previously joked about 'embarrassing' her two kids during her past interview with British Vogue. 'No matter how cool you are, you're still not cool to your kids.'

'There is still one element where they're embarrassed by you, and you're like "I'm not that embarrassing, really", but you still embarrass your kids. So I think, in that way, we're just the same as everyone else.'

Crawford also opened up to People last year in April about the values she tries to instill in her two children, including being more present - but expressed that she understood in this day and age, is a 'much bigger ask.'

'If I was buried in my phone when I was getting my makeup done, I might have missed a chance to really make a new friend or connect with someone...'

While talking to People late last year in November, Kaia - who has followed in her mother's modeling footsteps - gave insight into her relationship with Cindy

The mother-of-two also previously joked about 'embarrassing' her two kids during her past interview with British Vogue. 'No matter how cool you are, you're still not cool to your kids'; seen in November 2023 in NYC

'Feel more part of the team,' she continued, 'as opposed to just like sitting in a chair and letting someone do my makeup.'

'It's like when you're present, you're actually part of the process in a bigger way...just try to be in the moment - when you're with people, be with people.'

Elsewhere in the latest podcast episode ahead of Mother's Day, Cindy revealed she began making more money than her parents by the age of 18.

While reminiscing about her early modeling career, the supermodel 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.

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.'

'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. 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.

While reminiscing about her early modeling career, the supermodel explained that she started out-earning her parents 'quickly, within a year'; seen in 1992 in Westwood, California

She added, 'And I was making more money than my parents made, more money than they could ever have even dreamed of'

'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.'
Katie Piper has revealed she was rejected by multiple agents who told her she had no future in TV due to her appearance.

The Loose Women star, 40, who now hosts her own ITV weekend breakfast show, was in a horrific acid attack in 2009 that left her with severe facial burns.

After creating her award-winning Channel 4 documentary, Katie: My Beautiful Face, she hoped it would lead to further opportunities in front of the camera.

However, she has revealed she found it impossible to find a showbiz rep willing to take her on and, while nobody said to her outright that it was because of the way she looked, Katie instinctively knew they were unable to see past her scars.

She told The Sun: 'Nobody said: '"Oh, your appearance is a problem". But they told me they couldn't see anything beyond "this". It was like: "It's terrible what happened to you, but that's it".

Katie Piper has revealed she was rejected by multiple agents who told her she had no future in TV due to her appearance

The Loose Women star, 40, who now hosts her own ITV weekend breakfast show, was in a horrific acid attack in 2009 that left her with severe facial burns

'It was disheartening. Maybe they genuinely felt that they couldn't do anything with me and didn't want to get my hopes up. But it was a stark reality of: "OK, this isn't going to be an easy life". I know everyone faces rejection, but it was hard.'

Katie was attacked in March 2008 by an obsessive ex, who had arranged for another man to throw sulphuric acid at her in a London street. Both men were later jailed for life.

The TV host was lucky to have survived, but there was an agonising road to recovery ahead to rebuild her face and her life  her injuries have required more than 400 operations since that day.

Katie, who was only 24 at the time, was an aspiring presenter but following the attack was encouraged by her parents to move back home to Hampshire.

Refusing to give up on her dream, the mother-of-two pushed for greater diversity in the TV industry.

She went on to create two further personal documentaries with Channel 4, wrote her autobiography, a series of self-development books, as well as newspaper and magazine columns, plus set up the Katie Piper Foundation, which provides support for burns survivors.

She added: 'I had such a good support network, and I came out of that stronger and feeling I could do anything. And so when that wasn't reciprocated at work, it was really hard. But although it bruised me to realise that people "like me" didn't go on telly beyond being a contributor, I decided to carry on doing what I was doing. I didn't let it stop me.'

For the first two years following the attack, Katie had to wear a clear plastic mask on her face she added that she didn't want the mask to stop her from 'going to work' and she wanted to get off 'disability benefits'.

After creating her award-winning Channel 4 documentary, Katie: My Beautiful Face, she hoped it would lead to further opportunities in front of the camera

However, she has revealed she found it impossible to find a showbiz rep willing to take her on and, while nobody said to her outright that it was because of the way she looked, Katie instinctively knew they were unable to see past her scars

She said: 'It was disheartening. Maybe they genuinely felt that they couldn't do anything with me and didn't want to get my hopes up. But it was a stark reality of: "OK, this isn't going to be an easy life". I know everyone faces rejection, but it was hard'

Katie has been married to carpenter and builder Richie Sutton, 40, since 2015 and they share two daughters Belle, 10, and six-year-old Penelope.

It comes after reports in February that the monster who arranged for acid to be thrown in the face of Katie is set to be freed.

Daniel Lynch, 47, was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years in 2009 for organising the horrific attack on the Loose Women star when she was just 24.

MailOnline can reveal the obsessive rapist is going through his Parole review. This means he could soon be released immediately, or referred to a Parole Board hearing or kept inside.

And the man who launched the attack on Katie is still wanted by police 17 months after going missing.

Stefan Sylvestre is wanted by police for breaching his licence conditions but there are fears he is living abroad and being hidden by organised criminals.

Former Met detective Peter Bleksley described Lynch's bid for freedom and Sylvestre being on the run as 'utterly abhorrent'.

A spokesperson for the Parole Board said of Lynch: 'He is currently in his Parole review but no oral hearing date has been set.'

Katie was just 24 in March 2008 when the harrowing attack happened. She needed 400 operations after being left with severe burns. Lynch also raped her.

He was sentenced to live at London's Wood Green Crown Court in March 2009 after being found guilty of rape and GBH and admitting ABH.

Sylvestre was 19 when he threw the acid. He got life with a minimum of just six years after admitting GBH. He was released in 2018 but went on the run in 2022.

Katie was attacked in March 2008 by an obsessive ex, who had arranged for another man to throw sulphuric acid at her in a London street. Both men were later jailed for life

Katie was just 24 in March 2008 when the harrowing attack happened. She needed 400 operations after being left with severe burns. Lynch also raped her (pictured in October 2009)

Daniel Lynch (left), 47, was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years in 2009 for organising the horrific attack, which was carried out by Stefan Sylvestre (right)

He was recalled to prison but vanished. Inquiries indicated he left the UK in August that year. He is still at large.

Mr Bleksley said he fears the criminal underworld abroad will be hiding him.

He said: 'This man will have criminal connections in other parts of the world.

'Every effort should be put into finding him, bringing him to justice for what he has done and returning him to prison.

'The victim in this case has been through an utterly horrific ordeal. With one defendant having fled the country and the other out potentially in weeks, I imagine she feels the system has badly let her down.

'I can fully understand why she would think like that. It's appalling. It is utterly abhorrent.'

A source said: 'Lynch it is thought will argue that he is a changed character.

'It's shocking to think that despite being given life, he could soon be back out on the streets.'

After she ended their relationship, Lynch bombarded her with phone calls. He was on the phone to her as she walked down a street in Golders Green, north London, when Sylvestre threw sulphuric acid in her face.

In June last year, Katie told how Lynch's release was on her mind. She said: 'I'm 40 this year. Am I going to die in the next ten years? I don't actually know.

'The people that attacked me will be released. Are they going to kill me? I'm not sure.'
Katya Jones has revealed she never gets chatted up as she opened up about her love life.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional was married to her BBC One co-star, Neil Jones, 42, before she was caught smooching her celebrity dance partner, comedian Seann Walsh, 38, in 2018.

Now, Katya has admitted that she is struggling to find the one as 'dating apps' are not for her and people don't 'come up and talk' in bars anymore.

She told The Sun: 'I 100 per cent think it's a big issue no one speaks to each other in bars.

'I don't think dating apps are the way to meet people. I'd love for someone to just come up to me and talk and converse and actually connect.'

Katya Jones has revealed she never gets chatted up as she opened up about her love life

The Strictly professional was married to her BBC One co-star, Neil Jones , 42, (pictured) before she was caught smooching her celebrity dance partner, comedian Seann Walsh, 38, in 2018

It comes after Katya shared her concerns about her 'maternal clock' ticking ahead of turning 35 this month.

The dancer has admitted it's a struggle to balance her career with meeting someone and starting a family.

Speaking on pal Aimee Fuller's Monday Mile podcast, she said: 'Yes. Modern females of our age, we can have careers, pursue our passions.

'Be happy and fulfilled on our own. However, on the other side, it doesn't stop our maternal clock or our ageing process, unfortunately. So how do you balance those two things?'

Katya faced a barrage of abuse online for the infidelity with Seann, who also had a girlfriend at the time, but she insists she has learned how to 'disconnect from it'.

She said: 'I have totally learned to disconnect from it.

'It does not define who I am. What matters to me is us walking right now, you knowing who I am and that's enough. That is enough for me.

'My family knowing and loving me for who I am, that's enough for me.

Now, Katya has admitted that she is struggling to find the one as 'dating apps' are not for her and people don't 'come up and talk' in bars anymore

She said: 'I 100% think it's a big issue no one speaks to each other in bars. 'I don't think dating apps are the way to meet people. I'd love for someone to just come up to me and talk and converse and actually connect'

'But would I like to add value to the world? Yes. And I already do it in some ways.

'Sometimes people ask me, what do you do for a job? And I think I make people happy because that's what Strictly does.'

As for Seann, he is still haunted by the kissing scandal, and recently revealed he has never danced since and is even disturbed by 'Strictly No Parking' zones.

The stand-up - who was in a relationship with actress Rebecca Humphries at the time - told fellow comic Russell Howard on the Wonderbox podcast: 'I do not dance. What it is more actually is when you turn up to any car park or something, and it says, 'Strictly No Parking'. I still just go, 'Arghh', every time I see it.

'I can hear the word  like a dog hearing something  I can just hear the word strictly and I still go, 'Arghh!''

Neil has moved on with Love Island star Chyna Mills, 25, with whom he welcomed a daughter, Havana, in October, and is engaged to.

In January Neil admitted he and his ex-wife Katya never chatted about babies being in their future.

The dancer, 41, also revealed in an exclusive interview with MailOnline that he and his fiancee Chyna discussed children just three months into their romance.

It comes after Katya shared her concerns about her 'maternal clock' ticking ahead of turning 35 this month. The dancer admitted it's a struggle to balance her career with meeting someone and starting a family

Neil has moved on with Love Island star Chyna Mills, 25, with whom he welcomed a daughter, Havana, in October, and is engaged to

He explained he and Strictly co-star Katya were always too focused on their careers and dancing to consider starting a family.

Neil was married to Katya for six years before he called it quits in August 2019, following her kiss with her 2018 Strictly partner Seann.

He and Love Island star Chyna welcomed their first child, daughter Havana, in October seven months after announcing their engagement and just over a year since they went public with their romance in August 2022.

When asked about any family plans with Katya, Neil told MailOnline in an interview for his collaboration with Burns Pet Nutrition: 'No we never really discussed children.

'We were busy with the dancing and our careers and things like that.'

The twinkle-toed star explained that while he and Chyna had baby fever just three months in, they did not expect the pregnancy to happen so quickly.

He explained that when he and Chyna met, they 'clicked so well' and now find it funny how soon they got into the serious conversation.

'I have got so many nieces and nephews, and then when I met Chyna we clicked so well', he added. 'And it's so funny that three months down the line that we both got into that conversation about having a child and we said, "Yeah, let's try for it".

'We never thought it would happen so quick. We were both over the moon.'

Neil and Love Island star Chyna welcomed their baby girl, Havana, in October 2023 shortly after announcing their engagement.
A Melbourne influencer and former beauty queen has divided fans by wearing a see-through gown to her friend's wedding.

Olivia Molly Rogers, 31, took to Instagram on Saturday with photos of herself posing in a sheer brown frock with built in underpants that exposed her midriff and legs.

The former Miss Universe Australia looked absolutely ecstatic as she clinked glasses with fellow wedding guests and the happy couple, captioning the post: 'A beautiful day celebrating two of the best humans, Lachy & Tori. Adore you both x.'

While plenty of fans praised Olivia's ensemble, some weren't as impressed with the model's flesh-baring display.

'Beautiful person and outfit but quite inappropriate for a wedding', one user commented.

Influencer and former beauty queen Olivia Molly Rogers, 31, (pictured) divided fans on Saturday by wearing a see-through gown to her friend's wedding

'I love the colour and style of the dress. But quite shocked to see a naked dress worn to a wedding. Would have opted for a slip above the knee under the dress or worn to a different event,' another agreed.

Elsewhere, Olivia responded to one critic who branded her a 'pick me' for wearing the frock as a wedding guest.

'There is always someone who gets offended [who isn't the bride or groom]. The bride and groom are my dear friends, and they were happy and that's all that matters,' Olivia snapped back.

She took to Instagram on Saturday with photos of herself posing in a sheer brown frock with built in underpants that exposed her midriff and legs

While plenty of fans praised Olivia's ensemble, some weren't as impressed with the model's flesh-baring display

'Thanks for the feedback though,' she added sarcastically.

It comes after Olivia took a dig at both her ex-boyfriend Morgan Waterhouse and former husband Justin McKeone in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald last month.

Speaking to the publication, Olivia shared what she has learned since divorcing Justin in 2022 following just eight months of marriage.

Olivia responded to one critic who branded her a 'pick me' for wearing the frock as a wedding guest

'Post-divorce, I've done a lot of work on myself and I'm in a much better place knowing the traits I like in a partner,' the glamorous influencer began.

'As I've got older, I've learnt to look at the men I consider role models and seek their qualities,' she said, taking a subtle swipe at her former flames.

Despite her former heartbreak, the brunette said she is still open to marriage and starting a family, having recently decided to freeze her eggs.

'There is always someone who gets offended [who isn't the bride or groom]. The bride and groom are my dear friends, and they were happy and that's all that matters,' Olivia snapped back.

Olivia confirmed her split with Justin in October 2022, after eight months of marriage.

She began dating model Morgan Waterhouse in May last year, but the pair parted ways in December.

Olivia, told photographers at the Melbourne Cup that the pair broke off their relationship and they have already gone their separate ways, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.

'We're not together anymore, not many people know that,' she said when asked if he would be joining her at the Penfolds marquee in The Birdcage.

Instead, Morgan enjoyed the luxury offerings of the G.H.Mumm marquee just 100metres away from her.

The former Miss Universe Australia looked absolutely ecstatic as she clinked glasses with fellow wedding guests and the happy couple
Nadiya Bychkova was left shocked after Prince Andrew revealed he was a serious Strictly fan during a chance meeting last year.

The professional dancer, 34, who has starred on the hit BBC show since 2017, struck up a conversation with Andrew, 64, at an event where he confessed he was a fan of hers.

Speaking to The Mirror, Nadiya revealed that the Duke of York knew a great deal about her performances and history on the show.

She told the publication: 'Prince Andrew and I had a little conversation last year and he knew everything  when I was in, when I was out and who won. It blows my mind how big the show is.'

Asked about the King and Queen, Nadiya said: 'Any opportunity to meet them would be an honour. I mean, goodness me, the fact that they've watched Strictly.

Strictly star Nadiya Bychkova has revealed Prince Andrew's secret love for the BBC dance show 'blew her mind'

The professional dancer, 34, who has starred on the hit BBC show since 2017, struck up a conversation with Andrew, 64, at an event where he confessed he was a fan of hers

'Angela Rippon was telling me that she had a meeting with the Queen and she was saying she thought we were cool. That's the most mind-boggling thing in the world. It's amazing for us that Strictly has this incredible reach.'

However Prince Andrew isn't the first member of the royal family to admit their love of the show to Nadiya after she previously revealed that Princess Anne, 73, would love to be a contestant on the series.

According to The Sun, the Ukrainian professional dancer said: 'I met her at a ballet event. She is a Strictly fan and she wants to go on the show - she told me. She did say that.

'I think she would be good  there's a lot of personality there, isn't there?'

The two-time World and European Champion seemed thrilled about Princess Anne's comment - and said shed 'put a good word in' as she suggests candidates to show bosses.

Queen Camilla has also admitted she is 'one of Strictlys greatest fans'.

Nadiya added the royals are self-confessed fanatics of the show, remarking they 'watch it all the time'.

Camilla has even danced with the show's stars in the past including Len Goodman in 2019 and with Brendan Cole and Craig Revel Horwood during the Christmas special in 2017.

Speaking to The Mirror, Nadiya said: 'Prince Andrew and I had a little conversation last year and he knew everything  when I was in, when I was out and who won. It blows my mind how big the show is' (pictured dancing with her partner Dan Walker in May)

Princess Anne, 73, admitted to be a huge fan of the hit BBC dancing competition and is keen to join the show, according to Nadiya (pictured at Royal Albert Hall in 2015)

Earlier this year, Queen Camilla said she's one of the greatest fans of Strictly Come Dancing as she chatted to Johannes during a visit to a community centre in Cambridge

Meanwhile Johannes also previously revealed he once met Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh who 'personally told' him they would love to star on Strictly (pictured with Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh in April)

Johannes Radebe met Queen Camilla back in February as he gushed that he was 'beside myself' with happiness that she watches the show.

Camilla gave a Buck House tea party for Strictly, sat in the audience and once recorded a video message for the final.

And co-presenter Tess Daly has indiscreetly revealed that King Charles is also a fan claiming: 'They watch religiously.'

Meanwhile Johannes also previously revealed which member of the Royal Family 'personally told' him they would love to star on Strictly.

Appearing on The Jonathan Ross Show last month, the professional dancer, 36, revealed he once met Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, who expressed her passion for the show.

Johannes said: 'She would love the opportunity to [compete in Strictly Come Dancing] but she cant obviously. She has personally told me this.'
Anna Robards stepped out for a walk with her newborn daughter Ruby on Friday.

The Bachelor star, 37, took to the streets near her house in Sydney, with Anna looking both stylish and every inch the doting mum.

The mother-of-two, who met husband Tim Robards on The Bachelor in 2013, wore a navy puffer jacket, black trousers and white sneakers as she pushed Ruby along the footpath in a sleek black pram.

Anna wore her blonde hair up in a high ponytail and completed her chic mum ensemble with statement sunglasses.

At one stage, Anna bent down to adjust the pram's sunshade and smiled at her newborn in a sweet moment.

Anna Robards, 37, (pictured) stepped out for a walk with her newborn baby Ruby on Friday

It comes as Anna recently opened up about the life-threatening situation during the birth of her second daughter Ruby earlier this year.

Despite initially thinking everything had gone smoothly with the birth, Anna faced sudden and severe postpartum bleeding and was rushed into emergency surgery.

'With my first child Elle I had a C-section and we later found out that she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice,' she recounted during an interview with the same publication in April.

The mother-of-two, who met husband Tim Robards on The Bachelor in 2013, wore a navy puffer jacket, black trousers and white sneakers as she pushed Ruby along the footpath in a sleek black pram

Anna, who met husband Tim Robards on the dating show, wore a navy puffer jacket and black pants and white sneakers as she pushed Ruby along the footpath in a sleek black pram

Anna wore her blonde hair up in a high ponytail and completed her chic mum ensemble with statement sunglasses

Anna looked effortlessly stylish, finishing her look with jewellery and a white manicure

At one stage, Anna bent down to adjust the pram's sunshade and smiled at her newborn in a sweet moment

'The birth itself was fine and I had Ruby on my chest and I thought everything had gone really well. Then all of a sudden, they said that they thought I was clotting.'

The situation escalated quickly as her bleeding wouldn't stop.

'I handed Ruby over to my husband and they called the obstetrician back I could see everyone started to get a little bit worried because I wouldn't stop bleeding and they didn't know why,' she explained.

It comes as Robards recently opened up about the life-threatening situation during the birth of her second daughter Ruby earlier this year

Despite initially thinking everything had gone smoothly with the birth, Anna faced sudden and severe postpartum bleeding and was rushed into emergency surgery. 'I had Ruby on my chest and I thought everything had gone really well. Then all of a sudden, they said that they thought I was clotting'

The situation escalated quickly as her bleeding wouldn't stop. 'I handed Ruby over to my husband and they called the obstetrician back I could see everyone started to get a little bit worried because I wouldn't stop bleeding and they didn't know why,' she explained

Following another surgery, which unexpectedly extended from 40 minutes to two hours, the severity of the situation became clear.

Her obstetrician later informed her husband that if not for the immediate medical intervention and the facilities available at the hospital, the outcome could have been fatal.

Anna spent the night in the intensive care unit as a precaution.

At the time of her interview, Anna admitted her mental recovery is still continuing.

Anna and Tim also share another daughter Elle, three.
Comedy legend James Gregory has passed away in his adopted hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee after suffering cardiac arrest at the age of 78.

Known to his many fans since the 1980s as 'The Funniest Man in America', his family confirmed his death on Thursday, May 9, in a post on his official Facebook page.

'Today, with heavy hearts, we announce the passing of the Funniest Man in America, comedian James Gregory,' the statement read. 'He brought laughter and joy to countless lives, leaving an indelible mark on the world of comedy and those who loved him.'

It continued: 'James' three nieces who referred to him as 'Uncle Bubba,' Martha Anne, Mary Jane, and Candie, along with their families, were instrumental in caring for him through his last days and weeks

The family's message concluded with a request for 'privacy at this time.'

Comedy legend James Gregory has passed away in his adopted hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee after suffering cardiac arrest at the age of 78; seen in 2014

After years of working as a salesman, Gregory didn't get his start in comedy until he was 36, when he began introducing performers at The Punch Line comedy club in Atlanta in 1981.

In fact, Gregory has the distinction of being the first comedian to take the stage at the legendary Punchline club.

While he was known as a Southern comedian, he traveled all across the country performing his stand-up comedy routine for the next four decades.

Before the end of the 1980s the funnyman would not only dubbed himself 'The Funniest Man in America' he also took the URL domain 'funniestman.com.'

According to his obituary on Facebook, Gregory was born in his parents' kitchen in the tiny Georgia town of Lithonia, Georgia in the afternoon of May 6, 1946.

He would eventually have the proud distinction of being the first member of his family to graduate from high school, which he diid all while working in a small grocery store since he was 11.

After a short stint in the Marines, which ended within weeks due to health issues, he began his career as a salesman that went from 18 until he was 36.

He got inspired to start a career as a comedian when he answered an advertisement to participate in a comedy night in the basement of the Atlanta-area restaurant, Excelsior Mill.

After using his knack for making people laugh as a salesman, Gregory began believing he could make the transition and deliver his comedy from a stage.

Known to his many fans since the 1980s as 'The Funniest Man in America', his family confirmed his death on Thursday, May 9, in a post on his official Facebook page

The Georgia native worked as a salesman from 18 to 36, before he transitioned to a career in comedy in 1981; before the end of the 1980s the funnyman would not only dubbed himself 'The Funniest Man in America' he also took the URL domain 'funniestman.com'

His talents began to take shape as the comedy boom of the 1980s expanded, ultimately growing his star power until he worked his way to becoming a headliner at clubs.

Gregory was especially popular in the southeastern United States, working comedy clubs and, later, theaters, especially in smaller towns near major cities.

'The way I see it, you're not just my audience. You're my customers,' Gregory was quoted as saying in his upcoming autobiography.

During his lifetime, the self-proclaimed patriot proudly performed for the U.S. troops during several overseas tours, including Operation Enduring Freedom, where he entertained soldiers on ships and aircraft carriers in Bahrain, and throughout Spain, Italy and Germany.

He was also honored and humbled to have performed for the troops and visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

Just before his passing, Gregory completed work on his first and only autobiography, A Bushel Of Beans And A Peck Of Tomatoes: The Life And Times Of 'The Funniest Man in America,' James Gregory (Post Hill Press), which will be published in November 2024.

Funeral services are still ongoing. When the details of his memorial are confirmed the information will be posted on James Gregory's official Facebook page.
Mum-of-four Rebecca Judd has marked Mother's Day by sharing a series of intimate photos taken moments after she welcomed her four children.

The AFL WAG, 41, who shares Oscar, 12, Billie, ten, and eight-year-old twins Tom and Darcy with her footy star husband Chris, took to Instagram on Saturday with the adorable photos.

In each image, a fresh-faced Rebecca is seen lying in a hospital bed and beaming at the camera while cradling her tiny tots.

'In honour of Mother's Day, share your first picture with your baby,' she wrote in the caption.

It comes after the socialite revealed her special family plans for Mother's Day, telling the Herald Sun that her husband and their four kids ensure she is treated like a queen.

Rebecca Judd, 41, (pictured) has marked Mother's Day by sharing a series of intimate photos taken moments after she welcomed her four children

'I pretty much give Juddy (husband Chris) the gift guide and send him off with the kids (to get a present) and they can surprise me', she said.

'I love any gorgeous smelly candles, Diptyque from Mecca are my favourite, and there were some pieces from Seed that caught my eye when Billie and I did some filming there recently.'

Rebecca is also served toast and coffee in bed by her brood, she explained.

The AFL WAG who shares Oscar, 12, Billie, ten, and eight-year-old twins Tom and Darcy with her footy star husband Chris, took to Instagram on Saturday with the adorable photos

It comes after the socialite revealed her special family plans for Mother's Day, telling the Herald Sun that her husband (left) and their four kids ensure she is treated like a queen

Earlier this year, Bec dropped a major hint she is done having children after sharing a very telling clip to social media.

The mother-of-four posted a video meme to Instagram showing a mother throwing her baby furniture and prams out of the house.

The woman in the clip looked overjoyed to be getting rid of the baby equipment and having more space to herself.

The video was captioned, 'Mums purging when they realise they are done having babies.'

Bec added her own thoughts at the bottom, dropping a huge hint she would not be having any more children: 'Yassssssss to this!'

'But donate to @stkildamums,' she added, referring to an organisation that collects and rehomes essentials for babies and children across Victoria.

The brunette bombshell balances her busy life as a designer and influencer with raising her kids.
Controversial model Ellie Gonsalves has revealed why she refuses to celebrate Mother's Day.

The influencer, 34, went viral last year after she shared her list of 118 reasons she does not want children on social media, and has since doubled down on her position.

And defying convention yet again, Ellie told Stellar Magazine on Sunday that she also made a decision never to celebrate Mother's Day due to her fractured relationship with her own mother.

'Mother's Day is not something I celebrate. It's just a really unhelpful reminder of what I don't have with my own mother, she said.

Controversial model Ellie Gonsalves, 34, (pictured) has revealed why she refuses to celebrate Mother's Day

'But when I made that decision, I knew it was going to be uncomfortable at times.'

Ellie, who is married to film producer Ross Scutts, explained that it was the death of her father to suicide that caused her relationship with her mother to break down.

The fractured relationship has also shaped Ellie's family plans for the future.

Ellie told Stellar Magazine on Sunday that she also made a decision never to celebrate Mother's Day due to her fractured relationship with her own mother

'My disconnect that I have with my own mother is one of the reasons I decided not to have children,' she admitted.

It comes after Ellie recently shared some of the troll comments she has received via her Instagram DMs after listing 118 reasons she does not want children.

She posted a screen shot of a message she got on Instagram Stories which read: 'You'll also most likely die alone with no one by your side.'

Ellie replied: 'What's gonna stop you from dying alone? Lol having kids isn't an insurance policy against loneliness. Get some friends for Christ sake'.

Later appearing on The Project, the Australian reality star said she is not phased by the anger, and thinks it's important women discuss the issue openly.

'I think the backlash that comes along with someone being so honest and candid about it is terrifying to people,' she said.

'I found it very strange that people don't talk about it but you see what's happened in the last 24 hours since I've shared this list and it has literally been on every major news outlet in Australia.

'So the backlash that comes along with that and the vilification and the judgement, I think is scary to a lot of people'.

Despite the criticism, Ellie is sticking to her guns in the hopes that she can help other women.

'Mother's Day is not something I celebrate. It's just a really unhelpful reminder of what I don't have with my own mother, she said

'I have been called everything under the sun over my entire career and it's like water off a duck's back for me. But for a lot of people it's very scary,' she said.

'So if I'm that person that can have a voice and make people feel seen and heard who feel the way that I do then that's amazing.'

The actress said she was inspired to start her own list after seeing TikTok user Girl With The List go viral on the video platform with her own collection of reasons.
Jackie 'O' Henderson has celebrated Mother's Day with three generations of her family.

The radio shock-jock, 49, was joined by her daughter Kitty, 13, and mother Julie as they headed to a lunch together at Margaret's in Double Bay, Sydney on Sunday.

Although it was a rainy day, Jackie was all smiles as she led her mother Julie and daughter Kitty to the restaurant under cover of a large umbrella.

Jackie wore a simple white cotton dress, a cream jacket with shiny brown boots.

The radio star accessorised with a dark beige Yves Saint Laurent Kate Medium chain bag, which retails for $3000.

Jackie 'O' Henderson, 49, (centre) celebrated Mother's Day with her daughter Kitty, 13, (right) and mother Julie (left) on Sunday as they headed to a lunch together at Margaret's in Double Bay, Sydney

Kitty wore white cotton as well, in addition to a black top with a denim jacket over the top.

Meanwhile, Jackie's mother Julie looked comfortable yet elegant in an oversized knitted jumper and ankle-cut jeans.

It comes as Jackie made a very racy joke about her recent topless ad campaign.

Although it was a rainy day, Jackie was all smiles

Jackie wore a simple white cotton dress, a cream jacket with shiny brown boots

She led her mother and daughter to the restaurant under cover of a large umbrella

Kitty wore white cotton as well, in addition to a black top with a denim jacket over the top

On Tuesday's The Kyle and Jackie O Show, co-host Kyle Sandilands and newsreader Brooklyn Ross were asking Jackie about her flesh-baring photos promoting sunscreen for brand Naked Sundays.

'I saw the topless photos on the internet of you Jackie,' said Brooklyn.

Kyle joked that the pics weren't as revealing as expected, saying 'as if half the blokes in the eastern suburbs [of Sydney] haven't seen that.'

The radio star accessorised with a dark beige Yves Saint Laurent Kate Medium chain bag, which retails for $3000

It comes as Jackie made a very racy joke about her recent topless ad campaign

On Tuesday's The Kyle and Jackie O Show, co-host Kyle Sandilands and newsreader Brooklyn Ross were asking Jackie, 49, about her flesh-baring campaign about sunscreen for brand Naked Sundays

'I saw the topless photos on the internet of you Jackie,' said Brooklyn. Kyle joked that the pics weren't as revealing as expected, saying 'as if half the blokes in the eastern suburbs [of Sydney ] haven't seen that'

'They've seen way more,' Brooklyn replied, to which Jackie added, 'exactly.'

The comments appear to be in reference to the multiple men the radio superstar has been seen entertaining on the balcony of her home.

Co-star Sandilands has dubbed the men Jackie's 'balcony boys'.
Kim Kardashian gave fans a peek at her son Psalm's incredible fifth birthday party on Saturday.

The 43-year-old makeup mogul  who shares Psalm as well as North, 10, Saint, 8, and Chicago, six, with ex-husband Kanye West, 46  took to her Instagram Stories to share behind-the-scenes footage of her youngest's Ghostbusters-themed extravaganza.

She documented a tour of the soiree, starting with a glimpse of the green slime-themed decorations adorning the entrance to her home, complete with a life-size cutout of Psalm dressed in a Ghostbusters uniform.

'Ok, Psalm's Ghostbuster party, how cute is this, it's about to start,' Kim can be heard off-screen during the video.

'It doesn't really look like him,' a voice can be heard off-camera, as Kim replies, 'Yes, it does Saint, c'mon.'

Kim Kardashian gave fans a peek at her son Psalm's incredible fifth birthday party on Saturday

The 43-year-old makeup mogul took to her Instagram Stories to share behind-the-scenes footage of her youngest's Ghostbuster-themed extravaganza

The glimpse included views of guest's personal 'proton packs,' a Slimer candy station and a giant Ghostbusters tiered birthday cake.

The reality star also included a sweet snap of her holding Psalm in her arms with the caption: 'My baby is five!'

The birthday party comes after the Kardashian clan began celebrating Psalm on his actual birth date, May 9th.

His generous grandmother Kris Jenner bought the mini-me son of Kanye a small version of a Tesla Cybertruck.

Kim boasts ownership of a sleek, full-sized Cybertruck with a hefty price tag of around $100,000, frequently spotted cruising the streets of Malibu in recent months.

This comes after Kim shared a loving post for Psalm on his birthday.

She added, 'Thank you for being such a blessing in all of our lives my Psalmy and for putting a huge smile on my face every time we are together.'

Then The Kardashians producer shared: 'Thank you for asking me to play musical chairs with you the other day. It really meant the world to me lol!

She documented a tour of the soiree, starting with a glimpse of the green slime-themed decorations adorning the entrance to her home

The party was complete with a life-size cutout of Psalm dressed in a Ghostbusters uniform

'Ok, Psalm's Ghostbuster party, how cute is this, it's about to start,' Kim can be heard off-screen during the video

The glimpse included views of guest's personal 'proton packs,' a Slimer candy station and a giant Ghostbusters tiered birthday cake

The party was adorned with activities for the kids

A Ghostbusters pinata was all the rage

'The joy you bring and the happiness you give to all of of us is such a beautiful gift.

'You are the most amazing son, grandson, brother, cousin, nephew, and friend.

'You are such a great athlete, and so talented, smart, kind, generous, caring, creative, and the best scooter rider Ive ever seen. I love you to the moon and back!! Love, Lovey '

Travis Barker, Jonathan Cheban, Melanie Griffith and Rita Wilson hit the like button.

'My baby! My sweet, smart, silly, independent baby boy turns 5 years old today!' she gushed on Instagram.

'I cant tell you how blessed I feel to be your mom! Your calm energy is much appreciated in our house hold lol.

'You prove you can be the hulk, spider man or an archeologist any day of the week! Ive never met someone who sleeps more than you do and one day I will show you the entire photo album Ive made of your sleeps! I love you so much always and forever.'

Chrissy Teigen added: 'Your family has so many birthdays I dont know how I would cope!!! I freak out with just my 8 friends!! Happy birthday beautiful boy!!'

Malika Haqq then said: 'Happy birthday Psalm! Ace & I love you buddy.'

Kim shared a loving post for her youngest child: 'My baby! My sweet, smart, silly, independent baby boy turns 5 years old today!' she gushed on Instagram

She also said: 'You prove you can be the hulk, spider man or an archeologist any day of the week!'

Momager Kris Jenner was the first to make a post on Instagram as she shared several cute throwback photos

'Happy birthday to my amazing grandson Psalm, who is truly one of the lights and loves of my heart and my life!' began the girlfriend of Corey Gamble

Sister Khloe Kardashian hit the like button as did Gwyneth Paltrow.

TV producer Kris was the first to make a post on Instagram as she shared several cute throwback photos.

'Happy birthday to my amazing grandson Psalm, who is truly one of the lights and loves of my heart and my life!' began the girlfriend of Corey Gamble.

Travis Barker, Jonathan Cheban, Melanie Griffith and Rita Wilson were a few og the celebrities to like the post. .
Karrueche Tran looked stunning in an incredible all red ensemble that made jaws drop at the Gold Gala in Los Angeles Saturday evening.

The 35-year-old actress - who recently showcased her sculpted physique and detailed her grueling workouts - rocked a red floor length gown inspired by the traditional Chinese Cheongsam.

The dress had sheer sleeves and sported a long red see-through cape of the same material.

She paired the look with a matching red sunhat that matched her manicure while carrying a Lucky Waving Cat purse.

Her short dark locks were parted down the middle and tucked behind her ears as she donned a light makeup look that made her red pout pop.

Karrueche Tran looked stunning in an incredible all red ensemble that made jaws drop at the Gold Gala in Los Angeles Saturday evening

The 35-year-old actress rocked a red floor length gown inspired by the traditional Chinese Cheongsam

The dress had sheer sleeves and sported a long red see through cape of the same material

She accessorized with a collection of silver rings and matching flower earrings.

The Gold Gala took place at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles and featured performances from Saweetie, Lucy Liu, Cynthia Erivo and Padma Lakshmi.

According to Billboard, the event serves as the 'annual gathering of top Asian Pacific and multicultural leaders will bring together more than 600 guests to celebrate the 100 most impactful Asian Pacific changemakers in culture and society over the past year.'

The half Vietnamese-half Jamaican socialite's appearance comes as tensions rise and things continue to get ugly between two of her exes.

Tran told TMZ 'I ain't got nothing to do with it' when she was asked about Chris Brown and Quavo's recently reignited feud.

'I've heard it,' admitted Tran after first denying listening to the rap beef, but said she has 'no comments.'

After Brown, 34, threw down the gauntlet on the deluxe version of his 11th studio album 11:11, Quavo, 33, fired back earlier this month on his single 'Tender'.

Brown has since responded on his track 'Weakest Link', which continues to reference Tran, as well as Quavo's late fellow Migos member Takeoff.

She paired the look with a matching red sunhat that matched her manicure while carrying a Lucky Waving Cat purse

Her short dark locks were parted down the middle and tucked behind her ears as she donned a light makeup look that made her red pout pop

The brunette beauty posed with another invited guest at the starry gala in LA

The half Vietnamese-half Jamaican socialite's appearance comes as tensions rise and things continue to get ugly between her exes. Tran told TMZ 'I ain't got nothing to do with it' when she was asked about Chris Brown and Quavo 's recently reignited feud

When asked how she feels about the feud, Tran said, 'I don't feel. It is what it is.'

She added, 'I'm living my life, working, paying my bills, taking time for myself, and that's all that matters. Whatever else is going on, I ain't got nothing to do with it.'

'I just don't want any part of this,' said Tran. 'I just want peace and happiness, and I wanna work and thrive... that's all I ask.'

Tran said she's 'extremely happy' and 'having a peaceful life. That's all I want, peace.'

The Claws alum confirmed she's 'very single' and 'very happy,' adding: 'I'm dating myself, actually.'

She dated Brown from 2010 to 2015, breaking up when he fathered daughter Royalty with aspiring model Nia Guzman.

Tran then briefly dated Quavo in 2017, around the time she was granted a five-year restraining order against Brown over threatening text messages.

In her testimony, the Bel-Air actress also accused Brown of physically beating her while they were together.

On the track 'Freak' from 11:11 (Deluxe), Brown rapped: 'F***ing my old b*****s ain't gone make us equal / Sipping that 1942 cause I don't do no Cuervo [Quavo] / Freak b***h she like Casamigos, not the Migos.'

Karrueche Tran said 'I ain't got nothing to do with it' when she was asked about her exes Chris Brown and Quavo's recently reignited feud

'I've heard it,' admitted Tran after first denying listening to the rap beef, but said she has 'no comments'

She dated Brown from 2010 to 2015, breaking up when he fathered daughter Royalty with aspiring model Nia Guzman

Tran then briefly dated Quavo in 2017, around the time she was granted a five-year restraining order against Brown over threatening text messages

Quavo fired back on 'Tender': 'You did the b***h wrong and now the b***h gone, she posted with a thug... Call the b***h phone, she won't come home, don't beat her up / It must be the drugs, need to cross out your plug.

'Tell me lil bro, what's your issue? / It's over a thot / You said it's bigger than that, but no, it is not / It's cause I be digging in that, it got 'em hot / I'm giving respect but I know you not / Your b***h on my neck, your b***h at the spot.'

Brown then responded with the 'Weakest Link' lyrics: 'You f**ked my ex-ho, that's cool, I don't give no f**k, lil n***a / Cause I f**ked yo' ex when you were still with her, b***h, I'm up.'
Roger Corman - who is known for his influence in independent cinema and for directing The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960) - passed away at the age of 98 earlier this week on Thursday, May 9.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker died at his home in Santa Monica, and his daughter Catherine Corman, shared a statement to the Associated Press, per Deadline.

'He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him,' she expressed, and added, 'When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, "I was a filmmaker, just that."'

Corman is survived by his daughter Catherine and three other children he shared with wife, Julie - whom he tied the knot with in 1970.

Roger not only directed, but also starred in and produced a number of films throughout the course of his expansive career.

Roger Corman - who is known for his influence in independent cinema and for directing The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960) - passed away at the age of 98 earlier this week on Thursday, May 9; seen in 2019 in Hollywood

Roger not only directed, but also starred in and produced a number of films throughout the course of his expansive career

The director also helped mentor and launch the career of other directors and actors in Hollywood, such as Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and also Peter Fonda.

Corman was given a few different nicknames over the years, including 'The King of Cult', 'King of the Bs' and also 'The Pope of Pop Cinema.'

The star was born in 1926 in Detroit, Michigan and had a younger brother named Gene who was also involved in the film industry.

Roger later studied at Beverly Hills High School, followed by Stanford University - where he pursued a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering.

Before he graduated, the director took time off from school and enlisted in the V-12 Navy College Training Program.

After finishing college, Corman began a short-lived job in his degree field, but quickly realized his passion belonged to filmmaking - which he then pursued.

His career in Hollywood began by working in the mail room at 20th Century Fox and then he later became a story reader.

However, he soon moved to England where he studied English Literature at Oxford University.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker died at his home in Santa Monica, and his daughter Catherine Corman, shared a statement to the Associated Press, per Deadline; seen in 2013 in L.A.

'He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him,' she expressed, and added, 'When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, "I was a filmmaker, just that"'; seen with daughter Catherine (left) and wife Julie in 2023

The director also helped mentor and launch the career of other directors and actors in Hollywood, such as Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and also Peter Fonda; seen in 2018 in NYC

Corman returned to Hollywood and eventually produced his first feature film titled Monster From The Ocean Floor in 1954.

He then produced the 1955 film, The Fast And The Furious - which was directed by John Ireland, who also starred in the movie.

Roger continued to produce and also direct films, such as the sci-fi horror film titled Attack Of The Crab Monster (1957).

Other films in the horror genre that he directed included A Bucket Of Blood (1959) as well as The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960) - which also cast Jack Nicholson. Two years earlier, the actor had also starred in Corman's film called The Cry Baby Killer.

He also adapted a number of Edgar Allen Poe stories into movies, such as House Of Usher (1960), The Pit And The Pendulum (1961) and The Masque Of The Red Death (1964) - which starred Vincent Price.

While talking to Paste Magazine in 2022, Corman reflected on his favorite Poe adaptation that he did and stated, 'Well, the very first one, House Of Usher, was my first experience working with Vincent Price, and I've always liked it.'

'But I think probably the best was Masque Of The Red Death which I shot in England,' he revealed.

'My pictures were doing very well in England, and the distributors suggested that I come to England and make a Poe picture there to take advantage of the English subsidy.'

He also adapted a number of Edgar Allen Poe stories into movies, such as House Of Usher (1960), The Pit And The Pendulum (1961) and The Masque Of The Red Death (1964) - which starred Vincent Price

On the topic of kickstarting careers of big names in Hollywood, Roger expressed, 'I'm delighted to see that so many of the men and women who started with me have gone on to such big successes'; seen with actor Dennis Hopper in 2005

In 1970, he notably worked with both Robert de Niro and Bruce Dern in the crime thriller called, Bloody Mama.

On the topic of kickstarting careers of big names in Hollywood, Roger expressed, 'I'm delighted to see that so many of the men and women who started with me have gone on to such big successes.'

'I'm on friendly terms with all of them, and I frankly just think it's wonderful,' the filmmaker added.

While a large portion of his work took place with both directing and producing, Corman also had the chance to take on acting roles in a variety of movies.

He made an appearance in The Godfather Part II (1974) where he portrayed a senator. Roger also starred in The Silence Of The Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993) as well as Apollo 13 (1995).

On the star's official IMDB page, Corman has a total of 56 directing credits, 46 acting credits and a whopping 493 producing credits.

He also received recognition for his work in the film industry for decades, such as becoming the youngest producer/director to give a retrospective at Cinematheque Francais in 1964.

In 1990, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Stockholm International Film Festival. Eight years later, he received the first-ever Producer's Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

While a large portion of his work took place with both directing and producing, Corman also had the chance to take on acting roles in a variety of movies

On the star's official IMDB page, Corman has a total of 56 directing credits, 46 acting credits and a whopping 493 producing credits

In 2009, Roger was the recipient of an Honory Oscar and during his speech, touched on the topic of risk-taking.

'Many of my friends and compatriots and people who've started with me are here tonight, and they've all succeeded,' he stated, per The Hollywood Reporter.

'Some of them succeeded to an extraordinary degree. And I believe they've succeeded because they had the courage to take chances, to gamble.'

'But they gambled because they knew the odds were with them; they knew they had the ability to create what they wanted to make,' he added.

'It's very easy for a major studio or somebody else to repeat their successes, to spend vast amounts of money on remakes, on special effects-driven tentpole franchise films.'

Roger continued, 'But I believe the finest films being done today are done by the original, innovative filmmakers who have the courage to take a chance and to gamble. So I say to you, "Keep gambling, keep taking chances."'

He also received recognition for his work in the film industry for decades, such as becoming the youngest producer/director to give a retrospective at Cinematheque Francais in 1964; seen in 2007 in Hollywood

Upon hearing the news of his passing, Halloween director John Carpenter took to X and penned, 'Roger Corman, one the most influential movie directors in my life, has passed away'

Upon hearing the news of his passing, Halloween director John Carpenter took to X on Saturday and penned, 'Roger Corman, one the most influential movie directors in my life, has passed away.'

'It was my privilege to know him. He was a great friend. He shaped my childhood with science fiction movies and Edgar Allen Poe epics. I'll miss you, Roger.'

Social media users jumped to the comment section, with one typing, 'RIP, Roger Corman. He inspired so many people who saw that it was possible to become an independent filmmaker.'

Another wrote, 'One of the greats- loved watching his films w/ Vincent Price on my Dads 35mm projector as a kid. The golden age of film.'
Two of Australia's most talked-about socialites are no longer speaking to each other - after falling out over a man.

Kristin Fisher, who owns a popular eyebrow bar in Double Bay, used to be thick as thieves with fellow headline magnet Dina Broadhurst - known as the 'nude artist' because her artworks often feature her naked body front and centre.

But they have reportedly iced each other out - and rumour has it the reason for their rift stems from Broadhurst, 45, and Fisher, 39, 'both hooking up with the same guy'.

'It hasn't ended well,' a source told The Sunday Telegraph of their falling-out.

'They were both single so were going out together a lot at one stage. But they haven't spoken in months,' the insider added.

Two of Australia's most talked-about socialites, Kristin Fisher (left) and Dina Broadhurst (right), are no longer speaking to each other after falling out over a man

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Broadhurst and Fisher for comment.

It comes after Broadhurst appeared to confirm her romance with multimillionaire kitchen appliances heir John 'Herman' Winning early last month.

She was reported to have started dating the CEO and fourth-generation heir of Winning Appliances about two months ago, after knowing him for some time.

The two women have reportedly iced each other out - and rumour has it the reason for their rift stems from Broadhurst, 45, (right) and Fisher, 39, (left) 'both hooking up with the same guy

She seemingly confirmed her romance with Winning in April when they attended a rave in Pioneertown, California, together.

Broadhurst took to Instagram to share a gallery of snaps from their trip stateside with a group of friends.

Winning, whose family is believed to be worth $700million, tellingly featured in a photo that showed him from behind as he gazed out at the desert.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Winning is the man at the centre of Fisher and Broadhurst's alleged falling-out.

Fisher, who runs an eyebrow bar in Double Bay, used to be thick as thieves with fellow headline magnet Broadhurst - known as the 'nude artist' because her art often features her naked body

Earlier this year, Fisher finalised an arrangement to deal with her financial woes.

Creditors of her eponymous Double Bay salon, including the ATO, will now receive between six and nine cents for every dollar they were owed.

The deal saw Fisher slash her tax bill to under $100,000, which is less than half what she previously offered the ATO in an earlier rejected compromise payment.

She toasted the financial victory with a $600 bottle of 2008 vintage Dom Perignon champagne and a bowl of shoestring fries.

Fisher had previously offered to pay the ATO $200,000 over two years in a restructuring plan drawn up by her former administrators in July, but that was snubbed by the ATO.

It comes after Broadhurst appeared to confirm her romance with multimillionaire kitchen appliances heir John 'Herman' Winning early last month
Gold House, the leading cultural ecosystem powering Asian Pacific creatives, companies, and communities, held its third annual Gold Gala on Saturday at the Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

With the 2024 theme of A Gold New World, the event imagines 'a tomorrow for all, built by all,' according to Gold House newsletter released through AccessWire.

The event brought together some 600 guests, including top Asian Pacific and multicultural leaders, to celebrate the 2024 A100 List, which consists of the 100 most impactful Asian Pacific changemakers in culture and society over the past year.

Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, 61, was among the celebrities on hand.

She hit the red carpet in a chic creme tweed outfit that included a fitted blazer and miniskirt with shiny gold buttons.

She strutted her stuff in black platform heels and carried a quirky handbag with a face on it.

Michelle Yeoh, 61, attended Gold House's Gold Gala in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday

Rounding out her overall look, Yeoh had her dark tresses styled long and flowing.

Yeoh shared the stage with filmmaker Jon M. Chu, whom she worked with on the hit film Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and again on Wicked and Wicked: Part Two, which are slated to premiere in theaters in November 2024 and November 2025, respectively.

Among the special honorees acknowledged with on-stage presentations were Lucy Liu, Bang Si-Hyuk, Cynthia Erivo, Hoa Xuande, Hello Kitty, Karan Johar, Padma Lakshmi, Saweetie, Valkyrae, the creator and cast of Beef, Maui first responders, and Olympic gold medalists.

Gold House is the leading cultural ecosystem that unites, invests in, and champions Asian Pacific creators and companies to power tomorrow for all.

The organization's 'innovative programs and platforms include membership systems and events to fortify relationships among the Asian Pacific community and with other marginalized communities; first-of-its-kind investment vehicles and accelerators to propel the next generation of top Asian Pacific founders, creatives, and leaders; and industry-leading research, consulting, and marketing to promote authentic and affirming portrayals,' as reported in the release.

As part of the festivities, the Gold Gala guests dined on a three-course dinner from OpenTable, with a menu designed by Lakshmi and Gold Gala executive chief Vijay Kumar and his team from the Michelin-starred New York restaurant Semma.

Throughout the evening guests were able to enjoy unique activations such as glam stations featuring products from brands within the L'Oreal Groupe portfolio, a cocktail reception, with custom drinks presented by Martell Blue Swift, and some special surprise moments.

She hit the red carpet in a chic creme tweed outfit that included a fitted blazer and miniskirt with shiny gold buttons

She strutted her stuff in black platform heels and carried a quirky handbag with a face on it

With the 2024 theme of A Gold New World, the event imagines 'a tomorrow for all, built by all,' according to Gold House newsletter released through AccessWire

The Gold Gala closed with a multi-song performance from award-winning artist and 2023 A100 Honoree Saweetie.

Yeoh began her professional career as an actress with the Hong Kong action comedy film The Owl Vs Bombo (1984).

After moving to the United States, Yeoh gained international recognition for starring in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in Ang Lee's martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

She went on to star in such films as Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005), Sunshine (2007), The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008), Reign Of Assassins (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), The Lady (2011), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Last Christmas (2019), Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021), as well as the television series Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2020).

Yeoh shared the stage with filmmaker Jon M. Chu, whom she worked with on the hit film Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and is now currently working with him again on Wicked and Wicked: Part Two, which are slated to premiere in November 2024 and November 2025, respectively

Yeo, who's married to French motor racing executive Jean Todt, also spent some time during the event with actor John Cho, who's best known for the Harold & Kumar films (2004-2011) and the Star Trek rebooted series (2009-2016)

Yeoh gained international recognition for her Bond Girl role for Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) with Pierce Brosnan as 007 James Bond after she moved to the U.S.

The Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia native has seen her career soar since her Oscar-winning performance in the smash hit film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

But it was her acclaimed role in the absurdist comedy-drama film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) that helped her make history as the first Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the first Malaysian to win an Oscar.

Having seen her star power soar since her breakout performance two years ago, Yeoh has starred in four voice roles: Minions: The Rise Of Gru, Paws of Fury: The Legend Of Hank (2022), Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts and The Tiger's Apprentice (2024).

She also has acting credits in the fantasy film The School For Good And Evil (2022) and the mystery film A Haunting In Venice (2023).

Currently, Yeoh has four more films in some phase of post-production that includes Jon M. Chu's musical fantasy film Wicked, set to be released on November 27, the sequel Wicket: Part Two, slated to drop in November 2025, as well as James Cameron's Avatar 3, and Avatar 4, that will premiere in December 2025 and December 2029, respectively.
A reality TV star has gone viral after uncovering a controversial policy at a popular Gold Coast pub.

Australian Survivor contestant Jaden Laing, 27, caused a stir on social media when he shared a video of his attempt to enter the Burleigh Pavilion at Burleigh Heads.

Laing, who has visible tattoos on his neck, tried to gain entry to the beachside pub, known for its strict policy against individuals with 'intimidating or offensive tattoos', regardless of visibility.

The former TV contestant sported a turtleneck top in an attempt to conceal his tattoos, however, was quickly questioned about them upon arrival.

'Have you got any tattoos?' the staff member immediately asked.

Australian Survivor contestant Jaden Laing, 27, caused a stir on social media when he shared a video of his attempt to enter the Burleigh Pavilion at Burleigh Heads. Pictured

'Can I just have a look?... you have to show me, Im sorry, its our policy.'

'Im covered up... I'm just coming in for a beer, bro,' Jaden pleaded.

Despite his attempts to downplay his tattoos, staff insisted on seeing them in line with the pub's policy.

'You cant come in. We need to see if theres anything on your neck, if you dont want to show us we cant let you in.... You cant cover up tattoos. Its part of our policy,' the manager continued.

The Burleigh Pavilion's policy states on their website: 'Guests with tattoos are welcome at our venue, however, our policy does not permit intimidating, aggressive, or offensive tattoos, clothing or behaviour which may offend or intimidate other guest or staff.'

'Tattoos on the neck, head and face are viewed as increased intimidation in that order.'

The former TV contestant sported a turtleneck top in an attempt to conceal his tattoos, however, was quickly questioned about them upon arrival. 'Have you got any tattoos?' the staff member immediately asked

The video has gained over 850,000 views and fans have flooded the comment section, questioning the reasoning behind the establishment's strict rule

'This practice is common among licensed venues and is in place to ensure the comfort and enjoyment of all our guests. Covering up these tattoos does not allow entry,' the statement continues.

'Management reserves the right to refuse entry to any person they deem unsuitable for entry.'

The video has gained over 850,000 views and fans have flooded the comment section, questioning the reasoning behind the establishment's strict rule.

'2024 how can this be legal?' one fan commented.

'I literally dont understand why this is a rule,' another wrote.

'But if u cover the tattoos why does it matter,' added one more.

'Why is it so important that customers dont have neck tattoos am I missing something here??' another user asked.

'Their house, their rules,' another added.
Dame Esther Rantzen has revealed that an 'amazing' new cancer drug which delays the spread of the disease means she might live to see her 84th birthday in June.

The Childline founder, 83, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last year and has since revealed she has joined the assisted-dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland.

She has been campaigning for an assisted dying law change and promoted a petition which garnered 200,000 signatures, prompting a debate in parliament at the end of April.

Amid her campaign, Dame Esther revealed that an 'amazing' new drug had delayed the spread of her cancer but that her time was 'very limited'.

She told The Sunday Times of being able to plan ahead as a result of the drug, saying: 'I'm having to make the same decisions about my birthday  I didn't think I'd ever be 84 and now it looks like I might be.

Dame Esther Rantzen has revealed that an 'amazing' new cancer drug which delays the disease means she might live to see her 84th birthday in June (Pictured in February)

'I'm keeping everything crossed for that.'

In autumn, Dame Esther planted tulips expecting she would likely not be around to see them bloom, however the drug has changed that.

'It doesn't cure it, it delays it  and at some point, it will stop working but I have scans to see if it's still working and at the moment it is,' she said, explaining how the treatment works.

Speaking to the BBC Today's programme last month, Dame Esther said a change in the law regarding assisted dying 'would mean that I could look forward in confidence to a death which is pain-free surrounded by people I love'.

'The only other way of having a pain-free death to look forward to in confidence is to go to Dignitas in Switzerland without my family - because if my family go with me they could be investigated by the police for killing me, or pressuring me to die.'

Pro-change campaign group My Death, My Decision described it as a 'significant moment in the campaign for a compassionate assisted dying law'.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain Dame Esther added: 'I had three deaths that happened very soon after each other, there was my husband, there was my mother and there was our dog and there's no question that our dog had the best death.

'We discovered he cancer and before the symptoms got painful we put him to sleep.

The Childline founder, 83, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last year and has since revealed she has joined the assisted-dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland (Pictured in 2018)

She has been campaigning for an assisted dying law change and promoted a petition which garnered 200,000 signatures, prompting a debate in parliament at the end of April (Pictured in 2018)

'We can offer our beloved pets a pain-free death but we can't offer it to our beloved family.'

Dame Esther previously led a chorus of dismay after a report by MPs into assisted dying failed to deliver any clear-cut findings or proposals  and called for a free vote into the issue.

Dame Esther has branded the current law as 'not right' and 'not ethical'.

She was unable to attend an event earlier this month in person because of her health, but vowed she would 'be watching the debate closely as it affects my own decision to go to Dignitas in Zurich if necessary, to protect my family from witnessing a painful death'.

Dame Esther's daughter Rebecca Wilcox told GMB at the time that they had always been a 'revoltingly open family about everything'.

She added: 'This woman is my person, she's my best friend, I talk to her four times a day about everything and I adore her.

'But if I go with her to Switzerland I face prosecution, the process can take up to two years, cost thousands of pounds in legal fees and I face up to 14 years in prison.'

In February, Dame Esther told how she would love to enjoy some caviar and drink champagne as a final meal after opening up about her Dignitas plans in December.

She has now told how she would love to enjoy some caviar and drink champagne as a final meal

She added that despite it making her feel sick in the past as she is allergic to champagne, she would love to consume both as there would be no worry over the consequences.

She told LBC Radio: 'I'd like to fly off to Zurich with my nearest and dearest. Have a fantastic dinner the night before.

'I'd love caviar, if possible, and the fact that it doesn't always agree with me doesn't matter, does it?

'I could even have champagne, which I'm deeply allergic to. Then the next day, go to this rather unappealing place where they do it.'

Sharing more details of her final plans, she continued: 'Listen to a favourite piece of music, say goodbye to everybody. Tell them to cheer up.

'I'm meeting my late husband, my departed dog and my mother at the pearly gates. Hold up my hand for an injection or open my mouth for a rather disgusting medication.'

'I've got an amazing family and a group of friends and colleagues. So I'd like to say goodbye fairly gracefully, as much as I can muster, and then go, that's what I'd like.'
Rebecca Judd has revealed that her children are not allowed to eat processed ham.

While sharing a photo of the gifts she got for Mother's Day, Bec noted that one of her kids, son Tom, made reference to the ban in a card he'd drawn for her.

'Tom knows I hate the nitrates/carcinogens in standard ham, and I don't let them have ham and cheese toasties from the tuck shop anymore, only cheese toasties,' she wrote in the caption alongside the Instagram Stories image.

'It's the detail for me!' the impressed mum added, alongside a crying laughing emoji.

Bec had posted a photo of all the wonderful gifts her children got her at a Mother's Day stall at school.

Rebecca Judd has revealed that her children are not allowed to eat processed ham. Pictured alongside her four kids

The gifts included socks, candles, cosmetics, accessories and handwritten cards from her kids, which Bec praised for their personal details, such as a mention of her dislike of ham.

The WAG earlier told the Herald Sun that her husband Chris Judd and their four kids ensure she is treated like a queen.

'I pretty much give Juddy (husband Chris) the gift guide and send him off with the kids (to get a present) and they can surprise me,' the AFL WAG said.

'I love any gorgeous smelly candles, Diptyque from Mecca are my favourite, and there were some pieces from Seed that caught my eye when Billie and I did some filming there recently.'

While sharing a photo of the gifts she got for Mother's Day, Bec noted that one of her kids, son Tom, made reference to the ban in a card he'd drawn for her

'Tom knows I hate the nitrates/carcinogens in standard ham, and I don't let them have ham and cheese toasties from the tuck shop anymore, only cheese toasties,' she wrote

The 41-year-old is also served toast and coffee in bed by her brood, she explained.

Bec shares four children with her former footy champ husband, including eight-year-old twins Tom and Darcy, daughter Billie, ten, and Oscar, 12.

Earlier this year, Bec dropped a major hint she is done having children after sharing a very telling clip to social media.

The mother-of-four posted a video meme to Instagram showing a mother throwing her baby furniture and prams out of the house.

The woman in the clip looks overjoyed to be getting rid of the baby equipment and having more space to herself.

The video was captioned, 'Mums purging when they realise they are done having babies.'

Bec added her own thoughts at the bottom, dropping a huge hint she would not be having any more children: 'Yassssssss to this!'

'But donate to @stkildamums,' she added, referring to an organisation that collects and rehomes essentials for babies and children across Victoria.

The brunette bombshell balances her busy life as a designer and influencer with raising her kids.
Nasser Sultan has announced his shock career move.

The former Married At First Sight star has stepped into the world of cosmetics, introducing his very own line of lip gloss.

The media personality took to social media on Sunday to tease the upcoming release.

'Two years in the making The Sultan lip gloss is the ultimate choice for fiercely confident women who know what they want out of life and aren't afraid to go after it,' he announced.

'Its clear, sensual allure adds an extra touch of boldness to any look, empowering you to take on the world with unstoppable confidence,' he continued.

Nasser Sultan has announced his shock career move. Pictured

The former Married At First Sight star has stepped into the world of cosmetics, introducing his very own line of lip gloss

More information is expected soon.

Rising to fame on season five of MAFS Australia in 2018, viewers watched Nasser exchange vows with Gabrielle Bartlett in a non-legally binding ceremony.

After their break-up, he was romantically linked to both men and women and briefly dated a fashion student and drag queen named Eyob Geist.

He went on to appear on Channel 10's Trial By Kyle, released a rap single and was lined up to appear on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! before Nine bosses nixed the deal.

The media personality took to social media on Sunday to tease the upcoming release. 'Two years in the making The Sultan lip gloss is the ultimate choice for fiercely confident women who know what they want out of life and aren't afraid to go after it'

Nasser returned to reality TV in 2020 with a brief appearance on Channel Seven's First Dates.

The pint-sized personal trainer has been trying to return to reality television ever since, but is more known as a serial offender when it comes to gate-crashing celebrity events.

At the end of 2019, he applied for the Big Brother reboot, before claiming he was asked to apply to go on the UK version last year.

The former MAFS star has also dabbled in a music career, releasing a dance called Blue Tick about his struggle to get verified on Instagram.
Kate Ritchie celebrated Mother's Day with a casual outing to a local park.

The former Home and Away star, 45, was accompanied by her daughter, Mae, as the pair walked the family dog.

Dressed casually, Kate opted for a warm, wool grey jumper with the sleeves rolled up.

The radio star added a pair of faded blue jeans that clung close to her form, and added a pair of chunky sneakers.

Kate appeared to skip the makeup for her relaxed outing and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Kate Ritchie celebrated Mother's Day with a casual outing to a local park. Pictured

The former Home and Away star, 45, was accompanied by her daughter, Mae, as the pair walked the family dog

Dressed casually, Kate opted for a warm, wool grey jumper with the sleeves rolled up

She looked every inch the doting mother as she sweetly cuddled Mae, nine, whom she shares with her ex-husband Stuart Webb.

Mae was her mum's mini-me, running around with the pooch before snuggling her mother sweetly.

Kate carried a set of keys in her hand as well as a takeaway coffee cup and seemed very relaxed.

The outing comes just weeks after Ritchie's stalker nightmare came to light earlier.

The radio star added a pair of faded blue jeans that clung close to her form, and added a pair of chunky sneakers

Kate appeared to skip the makeup for her relaxed outing and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail

She looked every inch the doting mother as she sweetly cuddled Mae, nine, whom she shares with her ex-husband Stuart Webb

Mae was her mum's mini-me, running around with the pooch

Kate carried a set of keys in her hand as well as a takeaway coffee cup

Mae was sweetly snuggling her mother

It was revealed she made a phone call to NSW Police after receiving a message from Gerard Ryan, 71, which said he was in the suburb where she lives and hoped to find her.

He had sent her 'hundreds' of messages from February 2022 through to April 2023, including 'numerous naked photographs of the accused and numerous videos of the accused masturbating', police facts, seen by the Daily Telegraph, claimed.

Ryan was arrested at a park in Sydney's eastern suburbs last month and charged with stalking charge, which he pleaded guilty to.

He was also hit with an apprehended violence order banning him from approaching Ritchie.

She seemed very relaxed during the day out

The outing comes just weeks after Ritchie's stalker nightmare came to light

It was revealed she made a phone call to NSW Police after receiving a message from Gerard Ryan, 71, which said he was in the suburb where she lives and hoped to find her

He had sent her 'hundreds' of messages from February 2022 through to April 2023

Waverley Local Court was told Ryan's obsession with the TV star began last year when he started posting on her social media accounts comments including, 'Hello Kate  I love you so much'.

Another post said: 'I just want to kiss you my heart is pounding for you I love you madly'.

Ryan posted very explicit messages of a sexual nature about Ritchie on his own social media pages, and when she didn't respond it got worse.

The police facts also indicated Ryan had said he wanted to marry Ritchie and referenced her daughter, saying he would make 'a good stepfather'.

In February, he sent a letter to her work address which included a Valentine's Day card.

Ryan was sentenced to a 12-month Conditional Release Order and an AVO states he must not go within 500m of Ritchie's home or workplace.

Ryan was arrested at a park in Sydney's eastern suburbs last month and charged with stalking charge, which he pleaded guilty to

He was also hit with an apprehended violence order banning him from approaching Ritchie
Helen Flanagan has revealed she feared her psychotic break would 'ruin' her career, after suffering a mental health battle earlier this year.

Speaking to The Mirror, the former Coronation Street star, 33, divulged details of her painstaking breakdown, which caused her to pull out of her acting comeback in a UK tour of murder mystery play Cluedo 2.

The star, who was replaced by Strictly and Corrie star Ellie Leach in the show, said: 'I was heartbroken. It was my dream job and I thought I'd ruined my career. But I knew I needed to deal with things so I wouldn't ever get to that place again.'

She admitted however that she needed the 'healthy' time off, which 'changed everything for the better' despite her initial concerns over career future.

In February, it was revealed that she was bowing out of her role as Miss Scarlett after she was 'advised to withdraw for medical reasons', however she failed to give further details of the reason behind her departure - sparking fear among fans.

Helen Flanagan has revealed she feared her psychotic break would 'ruin' her career, after suffering a mental health battle earlier this year

Speaking to The Mirror , the former Coronation Street star, 33, divulged details of her painstaking breakdown, which caused her to pull out of her acting comeback in a UK tour of murder mystery play Cluedo 2

The star, who was replaced by Strictly and Corrie star Ellie Leach in the show, said: 'I was heartbroken. It was my dream job and I thought I'd ruined my career. But I knew I needed to deal with things so I wouldn't ever get to that place again'

Taking to Instagram in March, revealed that across January and February she was fighting a secret battle with her mental health after her split from Scott Sinclair.

She has now Helen has admitted the extent of her woes - as she revealed to the publication that she was seeing things and felt like she was in danger all the time after having a reaction to her ADHD medication.

she confessed she struggled to deal with the split: 'I don't see it as a break-up, I see it as a divorce. We were together 13 years. But instead of processing it all, I threw myself into work and shut off my emotions.

'I just went into survival mode. Then it all came to the surface earlier this year and I was mentally and physically breaking down.'

She then started medicating for her ADHD and suffered a bad reaction to her medication as she explained: 'It was really sad and very scary. I was seeing things and I felt like I was in danger all the time.'

Whilst in the grasps of her episode, Helen jetted to Bali with her kids Matilda, eight, Delilah, five, and Charlie, two, who she shares with ex Scott.

Helen didn't have her children over Christmas as they were with their father so she decided to take them to the sunny destination for a special New Years.

During the trip, she shared a slew of sweet snaps - with smiles hiding her hidden pain following the painful break-up from her ex and her new life as a single mum.

The star, who was replaced by Strictly and Corrie star Ellie Leach in the show, said: 'I was heartbroken. It was my dream job and I thought I'd ruined my career. But I knew I needed to deal with things so I wouldn't ever get to that place again' (pictured in 2019)

Helen has admitted just how scary the breakdown was as she revealed she was seeing things and felt like she was in danger all the time after having a reaction to her ADHD medication (pictured her children Matilda, eight, Delilah, five, and Charlie, two)

While she did not comment on her battle at the time, she was the grasp of a psychotic breakdown due to unresolved trauma surrounding her split.

The couple called it quits on their relationship back in 2022 after spending 13 years together.

Helen's children went to stay with her parents while she sought help as the mother made sure to put her family first.

Putting herself and her mental health first, Helen pulled out of playing Miss Scarlett in the theatre tour of Cluedo 2 as she wasn't well enough to leave her family and commit to the show.

The actress was replaced by fellow former Coronation Street star Ellie Leach, however Helen said she was heartbroken to have to pass on the part and worried she had ruined her career.

The couple called it quits on their relationship back in 2022 after spending 13 years together but are in a better place to co-parent now

After suffering a bad reaction to her medication as she explained: 'It was really sad and very scary. I was seeing things and I felt like I was in danger all the time'

Helen opened up about her psychosis for the first in March after a break from social media as she explained she was 'emotionally struggling' with her split from ex Scott Sinclair and the demands of being a working single mother.

She began: 'So basically I really struggled mental health wise December/ January,' Helen began her post. I felt really not great in my head over Christmas and I didn't really feel that much different when I took the kids away for new year. Had a lot of difficult things going on things I just can't talk about on Instagram.'

She ended her post by stating that 'I've always been honest on here and I feel in a really good happy place now. therapy can be amazing and I feel like I've worked on myself with things that were quite tough to me but I feel lighter now anyway sending love and please be kind.'

As a part of her healing and recovery, Helen has been focusing on exercise as well as tackling long-overdue tasks, such as de-cluttering her home.

She is also in a better place to co-parent with Scott, as she said that before she struggled to alone in her house so would go out to drink, but now she likes being at home and watching TV.

Helen opened up about her psychosis for the first in March after a break from social media as she explained she was 'emotionally struggling' with her split from ex Scott Sinclair and the demands of being a working single mother

She wrote: 'I was heartbroken as I've always been professional as an actress but I needed to stay at home and feel better for me and my kids, with the help of my amazing parents '

Helen also admitted her and Scott even found each other on a dating app recently and were able to laugh about it.

However while Helen has tried the app she isn't putting any pressure on it but insists she still believes in finding the one.

The star has previously spoken about their co-parenting as she described it as 'pretty drama-free', insisting they have been doing everything they can to make things easier for the kids since their split.

She told The Sun: 'I co-parent with Scott. We were together for a long time. So he lives with his mum in Bristol and I live in Manchester with the kids. I get on really well with Scott's mum.

'I was with Scott aged 19-31, so that's why I get on so well with his mum. So honestly it makes my life so easy because we hang out together. It's really nice. It's pretty drama free as I get on really well with her.

'The kids see their dad all the time, they see their nana a lot. We're always in Birmingham a lot to meet with the kids half way.'

Anyone can contact Samaritans FREE any time from any phone on 116 123, visit samaritans.org for more information
Rob Rinder hinted at romance with his good friend Rylan Clark on Sunday, while plugging the duo's new BBC Two travel show.

Amid the promo trail, the duo, who forged their friendship after sharing a divorce lawyer, the This Morning host, 35, shared a sweet image with the TV judge, 45, which the latter went on to share with a cryptic message.

Rob, known on TV as Judge Rinder, set tongues wagging with his response, as he shared the tweet and wrote: Friendship may and often does, grow into love. Byron .. See you alongside him 9pm tonight'.

The quote from romantic poet Lord Byron comes of the back of their travel show follows a journey of Byron, two centuries after his death.

In the original post, alongside a stunning shot of the duo in a vineyard, Rylan penned: 'Tonight our new show starts at 9pm on BBC Two and IPlayer...

Rob Rinder hinted at romance with his good friend Rylan Clark on Sunday, while plugging the duo's new BBC Two travel show

Amid the promo trail, the duo, who forged their friendship after sharing a divorce lawyer, the This Morning host, 35, shared a sweet image with the TV judge, 45, which the latter went on to share with a cryptic message

Rob's post sparked speculation among excited followers

'It was so special. This man has become family to me because of this experience. It really is a show like no other and were so proud of it. Hope you enjoy x'.

Excited fans fed into the speculation of the post, with Twitter users writing: 'Please be a couple, please be a couple, please be a couple...

'The perfect couple in the perfect place.. Watch this space!... With you two in it it's got to be good, I bet your quite mischievous when your together.'

The dup's show is refreshingly raw new three-part TV series, which they have both claimed worked its way into being a 'heartbreak holiday'.

Having both endured painful divorces, they were ready to embrace the next chapter in their lives by throwing themselves into experiences outside their comfort zones.

And they certainly got that on Rob & Rylans Grand Tour, in which they retrace the steps of the 18th- and 19th-century English aristocrats who left the confines of British society behind to seek freedom and adventure on the classic upper-class gap year  a Grand Tour of the Continents cultural capitals.

In particular, Rob and Rylan follow the most famous Grand Tourist of all, Romantic poet Lord Byron, on the 200th anniversary of his death.

He travelled to Venice in 1816 and then on to Florence and Rome, fleeing a scandalous divorce caused partly because he slept with his half-sister.

Adam Evans (leader/guide) with Rylan Clark and Rob Rinder in Venice for Rob & Rylan's Grand Tour

I dont often compare myself to Byron, but I too am a divorcee, says criminal barrister Rob, 45, best known as formidable Judge Rinder on his ITV reality courtroom show and a former Strictly contestant.

He and his ex-husband, barrister Seth Cumming, divorced in 2018. And so is Rylan. And were both looking for a new start too.

Regular This Morning presenter Rylan who was married to ex-Met detective and reality star Dan Neal for five years before they split in 2021, says they bonded easily.

You see the evolution of our friendship. We were just mates before but now were friends. Weve both been through pain recently so were getting away from it on the original package holiday, the Grand Tour, which is about experiencing new things.

During their trip, Rob is keen to convert Rylan to his passion for the art, architecture and classical music that the original Grand Tourists came to Europe to experience.

Rylan jokes that the nearest Ive got to classical music is when Pete Tong did Ibiza dance tunes with an orchestra, but nevertheless he throws himself into the culture with a passion.

MailOnline contacted representatives for Rob and Rylan for a comment. They confirmed that the rumours are not true and the post was solely to inform their fans that their new show airs on Sunday.

Rylan is pictured with his ex-husband Dan Neal in June 2016
Eurovision's pro-Palestine Irish act Bambie Thug launched into a furious rant about their 'horrible' experience on the show after placing behind Israel in the final.

This year's show was perhaps the most controversial ever, with acts hiding messages in support of Palestine in their costumes, a disqualification and multiple feuds.

One of the most talked about performers was Ireland's Bambi Thug - who accused Eurovision bosses of 'not supporting' them amid a row with Israel over comments made about them by a broadcaster.

Bambie finished in a respectable sixth place, as Switzerland's non-binary star Nemo soared to victory.

But at a press conference after the final, they fumed about an incident with Israeli broadcaster Kan and the EBU's response, exclaiming: 'F*** the EBU.'

Eurovision 's pro-Palestine Irish act Bambie Thug launched into a furious rant about their 'horrible' experience on the show after placing behind Israel in the final

One of the most talked about performers was Ireland's Bambi Thug - who accused Eurovision bosses of 'not supporting' them amid a row with Israel over comments made about them by a broadcaster

Bambie, who self-describes as a 'queer witch', told journalists in the press centre that Kan 'incited violence against me twice, three times', and that their team had brought it up to the EBU, but that the organiser had still not responded.

They accused the Israeli broadcaster, Kan, of a rule break and said they have been waiting to hear back from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about what action would be taken.

On Tuesday, a commentator on Kan warned viewers that Bambie's performance of their song, Doomsday Blue, would be 'the most scary' of the night, involving 'a lot of spells and black magic and dark clothing, Satanic symbols, and voodoo dolls'.

He went on to say that Bambie - who has been outspoken about their pro-Palestine views - liked to 'speak negatively about Israel', before adding: 'But we can talk about that later. Prepare your curses.'

Asked about the incident at a press conference following the final, Bambie said: 'So now that I'm free I can talk about everything right?'

They raged: '[The EBU] waited to the last minute, we still haven't gotten statement back to us, allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves.

'The broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they won't be able to compete because of that.'

Bambi added: 'You don't know the amount of pressure and the amount of work that we have been doing to change things and I am so proud of Nemo for winning and I'm so proud that all of us are in the top 10 who have been fighting this s*** because it has been so hard and so horrible for us and I'm so proud of us.

At a press conference after the final, they fumed about an incident with an Israeli broadcaster and claimed the EBU had done nothing about it, exclaiming: 'F*** the EBU'

Bambie, who self-describes as a 'queer witch', told journalists in the press centre that Kan 'incited violence against me twice, three times'

Bambie Thug finished in a respectable sixth place, as Switzerland's non-binary star Nemo soared to victory

'And I just want to say, we are what Eurovision is. The EBU is not what the Eurovision is. F*** the EBU. I don't even care anymore. The thing that makes this is the contestants, the community behind it, and the love and the power and the support of all of us is what is making change.

'And the world has spoken. The queers are coming. Non-binaries for the f***ing win.'

The dramatic development comes after Bambie missed their dress rehearsal, saying that a 'situation' required 'urgent attention' from the EBU but giving no further details.

The EBU said in a statement regarding the Kan commentary: 'We've spoken to KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, about this matter and reiterated the importance of all commentators respecting all the artists taking part in the competition and abiding by the rules and regulations of the event.'

The Kan commentator said Bambie's performance would be reminiscent of 'Cats Square in Jerusalem in the mid-90s,' referring to a public square that was a popular nightlife destination and a centre for goth culture.

He also said there had been 'some controversy' in Ireland about Doomsday Blue, referencing a petition calling on its public broadcaster to disqualify it as Ireland's entry.

Ireland's entry Bambie appeared to comply with an order to remove the word 'ceasefire' from their face in Ogham script - it appears to read 'crown the witch'

Speaking to RTE News, Bambie said the comments had left them with 'a lot more anger and a lot more drive in me now,' ahead of the final on Saturday night.

Ireland attracted the top 12 point allocation from the Australian jury vote, as well as a 10 from the UK audience as part of a total of 136 from the overall audience vote, but ultimately failed to catch eventual winner Switzerland's Nemo.

Irish premier Simon Harris congratulated Bambie for a 'stunning performance and tour de force at Eurovision 2024'.

In what has been labelled the most chaotic contest in Eurovision history, Marina Satti of Greece and Nemo of Switzerland, who went on to win, missed the flag parade.
John Travolta, Victoria Beckham, Tom Brady, and more took to social media on Sunday to share Mother's Day posts.

The 70-year-old longtime actor  who attended the TCM Film Festival in April  honored his late wife Kelly Preston, who passed away in 2020.

John shared three old photos of Kelly with their kids and wrote in the caption, 'Happy Mothers Day Kelly. We love you we miss you.'

Meanwhile, the 50-year-old former Spice Girl used her platform to share a sweet photo with her four children  Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 19, and Harper, 12.

In a caption to her 33 million followers, she wrote, 'Happy US Mothers Day to all the mother figures out there!! I love you all so much.'

John Travolta, Victoria Beckham, and more took to social media on Sunday to share Mother's Day posts; Travolta pictured in April

The 70-year-old longtime actor honored his late wife Kelly Preston, who passed away in 2020

The 70-year-old longtime actor honored his late wife Kelly Preston, who passed away in 2020

John shared three old photos of Kelly with their kids and wrote in the caption, 'Happy Mothers Day Kelly. We love you we miss you'

The former Spice Girl used her platform to share a sweet photo with her four children  Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 19, and Harper, 12

John and his wife's daughter Ella recently turned 24 and their son Ben is just 13-years-old.

The couple was also parents to son Jett, who passed away in 2009.

On April 13 the Grease star paid tribute to his late son on what would have been his 32nd birthday.

'Happy birthday my Jetty - not a day goes by where youre not with me!' he wrote with an old photo of him, Kelly and their son.

Tom, 46, posted a tribute to ex-wife Gisele Bundchen, his mother Galynn, his three sisters, and Bridget Moynahan  his ex with whom he shares son Jack, 16.

'Happy Mothers Day to these kind, caring, compassionate and POWERFUL moms that Im lucky to have in my life.

'None of this would be possible without your love,' the former Patriot wrote in a caption.

The first image of his carousel post showed his mother smiling with daughter Vivian, 12. He and his supermodel ex-wife also share son Benjamin, 14.

Tom Brady posted a tribute to all the mothers in his life, including his three sisters

'Happy Mothers Day to these kind, caring, compassionate and POWERFUL moms that Im lucky to have in my life,' Brady began the caption of his post

None of this would be possible without your love,' the former Patriot wrote; Tom's ex-wife Gisele Bundchen pictured with their kids Benjamin, 14, and Vivian, 12

The former professional athlete included a picture of his mom Galynn and one of his sons

Tom added a photo with ex Bridget Moynahan, with whom he shares son Jack, 16

Kris Jenner also used her Instagram account to pen a thoughtful message to her six children  Kourtney Kardashian, 45, Kim Kardashian, 43, Khloe Kardashian, 39, Rob Kardashian, 37, Kendall Jenner, 27, and Kylie Jenner, 26.

The 68-year-old matriarch also gave her mother MJ, who often appears on the family's reality television show, a shoutout.

She began the note, 'To my wonderful children, Kourtney, Kimberly, Khloe, Rob, Kendall and Kylie.

'Being your mom has been the most incredible journey of my entire life, and everything I ever prayed for. every day I am so grateful and feel so blessed for this life we live all of the laughter, the love, the incredible moments weve shared and the magical memories we have created as a family.'

The sweet tribute continued, 'You are my pride and joy, and I cherish each of you more than you will ever know. I am so proud of my daughters who have become moms themselves.

'Watching you blossom, and grow and also nurture, raise, teach and love your own children is one of the most fulfilling experiences for me as a mom and a grandmother.'

Kris, who has 13 grandchildren, gushed, 'I see how much you give of yourselves, and I am in awe of your patience and dedication to your babies.

'Being a grandmother is such a fabulous, magical and special experience and allows me to relive the beautiful moments I had with you all when you were little.'

Kris began the note, 'To my wonderful children, Kourtney, Kimberly, Khloe, Rob, Kendall and Kylie. Being your mom has been the most incredible journey of my entire life, and everything I ever prayed for'

The Kardashians personality included a slew of family photos

Kris Jenner also used her Instagram account to pen a thoughtful message to her six children

The 68-year-old matriarch also gave her mother MJ, who often appears on the family's reality television show, a shoutout

Kris reflected in her lengthy caption, 'Its like having a second chance to enjoy all the best parts of what I treasure most!!! The delicious times I share with my grandchildren remind me every day how blessed I am and how full my heart is. I love you more than words can describe.

'To my Mom MJ, You have taught me the joy of family, the love of celebrating life always and unconditional love. Thank you for every single moment and memory we have shared. I am so grateful and appreciate you every single day.

'To all the Mommies out there, you are the heart of your families, the ones who nurture, guide, and love unconditionally.

'You make this world a happy place for your children. Today is a day to celebrate you and all the wonderful things you do. I hope your day is filled with joy, love, and special moments. Happy Mothers Day! Xo.'

Her second-born child, Kim, commented on the post, 'I love you so much mom! This is the sweetest message. So grateful for you and MJ.'

Jenner shared a throwback image of her holding son Rob

Jenner's second-born child, Kim, commented on the post, 'I love you so much mom! This is the sweetest message. So grateful for you and MJ'

Kris' firstborn child, daughter Kourtney, thanked her for 'the best childhood I could dream of'

Keke Palmer was also active online Sunday, sharing a set of precious photos with her one-year-old son Leo.

The 30-year-old actress wrote in a caption for her 14.1 million followers to see, 'Happy Mothers Day to every and all mommies! I love being a mom more than I thought I would, and that was a lot already! I want a whole soccer team.'

She added, 'Children are the light of the world and my son is the centerpiece of mine. Ill do anything for Master Leodis.'

Her post quickly racked up tens of thousands of likes and supportive comments from fans.

Palmer shares her son with ex-boyfriend Darius Jackson.

Last fall she sought a restraining order against the personal trainer and filed for sole custody of their baby boy.

Keke Palmer was also active online Sunday, sharing a set of precious photos with her one-year-old son Leo

The 30-year-old actress wrote in a caption for her 14.1 million followers to see, 'Happy Mothers Day to every and all mommies! I love being a mom more than I thought I would, and that was a lot already! I want a whole soccer team'

Former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, who shares two daughters with Harry Hamlin, also appeared on Instagram with a Mother's Day post.

'Mothers Day-it has a few meanings for me now, but this photo always encompasses it all, the love for my own mother, and the love for my children. Being a mother is the greatest thing I will ever do.

'Im grateful for this life and these experiences that Ive gotten to have with my own mother, and my own children, and what Ive learned and what they teach me everyday.

'It is my joy and great honor to be a mom to @delilahbelle and @ameliagray I feel so blessed and I am so filled with gratitude. Happy Mothers Day to all of the Moms!' she wrote.

Rinna uploaded a snapshot featuring her, daughters Delilah and Amelia, and her late mom Lois Rinna.

The four women were dressed in black and white Chanel outfits.

Reese Witherspoon dropped in on Instagram to gush about her mom Betty.

'Every day with you is a gift @grandma_busybetty Happy Mother's Day, Mama!' Reese captioned.

Former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, who shares two daughters with Harry Hamlin, also appeared on Instagram with a Mother's Day post

Reese Witherspoon dropped in on Instagram to gush about her mom Betty

'Every day with you is a gift @grandma_busybetty Happy Mother's Day, Mama!' Reese captioned

Witherspoon shared a photo of her mom Betty with two of her granddaughters, Reese's nieces

Mark Wahlberg paid tribute to his wife and his mother with a sweet post.

The 52-year-old actor and entrepreneur uploaded three throwback photos with his loved ones.

In a caption for his 30.2 million followers to see, he wrote, 'HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.'

He added, 'MISS YOU MOM' with a broken heart emoji and then turned his attention to wife Rhea Durham.

'LOVE YOU BABE,' he included before tagging his spouse's handle @byrheawahlberg.

The couple, who married in 2009, share four kids  Ella, 20, Michael, 18, Brendan, 15, and Grace, 14.

Blake Shelton appeared on Instagram to post a photo with his mom and declare, 'I love you!'

The country crooner, who is married to Gwen Stefani, wore a patterned blue and white shirt with a faded baseball cap as he smiled alongside his parent.

Mark Wahlberg paid tribute to his wife and his mother with a sweet post

In a caption for his 30.2 million followers to see, he wrote, 'HAPPY MOTHERS DAY'

Blake Shelton appeared on Instagram to post a photo with his mom and declare, 'I love you!'

Gisele remembered her mom Vania Nonnenmacher, who passed away from cancer at age 75 earlier this year.

The 43-year-old Brazilian model posted several photos with her siblings and their mom as she added a thoughtful caption.

Engaging her 22.8 million followers, she wrote, 'Its still hard to say mom without getting emotional. There is not a day that goes by that I dont miss my Mom.'

Bundchen continued, 'My mother, was an amazing human being who always helped everyone around her. She was an incredible role model for my sisters and [me].'

The beauty added, 'She was strong, loving, and compassionate. There was nothing she couldnt do. She use to say: Children are forever. You will always be concerned and wanting to protect them, it doesnt matter their age."

'Being a mom is the best , sometimes challenging but always a rewarding experience. I am forever grateful for my Moms guidance.'

The cookbook author went on to say, 'Mom, even though I can no longer feel your embrace I know you are always watching over our family and being our guiding light! Te amo maezinha. Happy Mothers Day to all the moms . Sending so much love your way.'

Gisele remembered her mom Vania Nonnenmacher, who passed away from cancer at age 75 earlier this year

The 43-year-old Brazilian model posted several photos with her siblings and their mom as she added a thoughtful caption

Iggy Azalea also acknowledged the holiday as she took to social media to reflect on motherhood.

The 33-year-old Australian music artist shares son Onyx, 4, with rapper Playboi Carti.

She posted one photo with the tot as they stood on a beach with the sun setting behind them.

The busty beauty modeled a string bikini as her son stood in front of her wearing a white tank top and dark shorts.

She simply wrote in the caption of the carousel, 'Happy Mothers Day!'

And Julianne Hough gave her mom a shoutout, calling her her 'forever home base.'

Sharing a set of images with her 5.1 million followers, 'My mom is an I can do that kind of woman. If she sets her heart on something, it is sure to become pure magic.

'Her creativity, artistry, and inspiration are things I have watched in amazement my entire life, truly shaping me into the woman I am today.'

Lizzo honored her mother with an Instagram post, writing, 'I will always love & protect you mommy.'

Iggy Azalea also acknowledged the holiday as she took to social media to reflect on motherhood

The 33-year-old Australian music artist shares son Onyx, 4, with rapper Playboi Carti.

She simply wrote in the caption of the carousel, 'Happy Mothers Day!'

Julianne Hough gave her mom a shoutout, calling her her 'forever home base'

Lizzo honored her mother with an Instagram post, writing, 'I will always love & protect you mommy'

Emily Ratajkowski used her Instagram Stories to share an old photo of her mom Kathy when she was younger.

The 32-year-old model didn't add a caption, but just included a red heart emoji.

Her mother looked gorgeous in a blue dress with vertical white stripes that cinched at her tiny waist.

She also shared a collage that her father John Ratajkowski, an art teacher, created in her and her mother's honor.

He captioned the montage, 'Happy Mother's Day Emily and Kathy.'

The star's dad also included photos of his grandson, Emily's three-year-old son Sylvester.

The My Body author welcomed her tot, who she calls Sly, with ex-husband Sebastian Bear-McClard.

Emily Ratajkowski simply posted an old photo of her stunning mother and added a red heart emoji

Emily also shared a collage that her dad created in tribute to her and her mom Kathy

Hailey Bieber's skincare brand Rhode incorporated the holiday into their marketing strategy on Sunday.

The official Rhode Instagram account posted a collection of old photos from the 27-year-old model's childhood along with beauty tips.

One post proclaimed, 'One of the biggest inspirations for rhode was hailey's mom and nana, who taught her all about skincare an early age.'

The note continued, 'Their diligent routines and love for head-to-toe hydration helped shape our approach, creating efficacious, nourishing essentials that make the most of each step in your routine.'

Another post listed advice with the precursor, 'Here are some of our favorite tips they passed on over the years.'

Rhode recommended that consumers hydrate, use moisturizer, and always wash off makeup.

It comes days after Hailey and husband Justin Bieber announced that they're expecting their first child.

Hailey Bieber's skincare brand Rhode incorporated the holiday into their marketing strategy on Sunday

The official Rhode Instagram account posted a collection of old photos from the 27-year-old model's childhood along with beauty tips

Jessie James Decker shared a selfie with her three-month-old son Denver

Natalia Bryant, the late Kobe Bryant's firstborn daughter, wrote 'Happy Mother's Day Mommy' to her mother Vanessa Bryant

Emma Roberts re-posted a tribute from her mom Kelly, who wrote, 'Happy Mother's Day to my Emma'

Emma also shared a black and white image of her son Rhodes on her chest as a newborn, writing, 'i love you Rhodes'

Jessie James Decker shared a selfie with her three-month-old son Denver, who she welcomed February 9.

The mother-of-four, 36, wore a swimsuit while sitting outside by the pool.

Her baby boy rested on her chest as she smiled with her hair pulled back.

Emma Roberts re-posted a tribute from her mom Kelly, who wrote, 'Happy Mother's Day to my Emma.'

Her mom gushed, 'You do it all. It absolutely amazes me! Roady is so loved by you and is the luckiest boy to have you for his mama. Im so blessed to be you and Graces mother. I love you all so much!! Its been a fantastic journey!'

Emma also shared a black and white image of her son Rhodes on her chest as a newborn, writing, 'i love you Rhodes.'

Singer Halle Bailey dedicated a post to her mom as she shared an old photo of her mother holding her when she was a baby

Bailey also shared an image of her new tattoo, her son Halo's name in red ink

Halle spotlighted her sister Chloe, writing, 'you have been my protector and 2nd mom all my life'

Priyanka Chopra dropped in on social media to share family photos featuring her daughter Malti, husband Nick, mom Dr. Madhu Chopra, and mother-in-law Denise Jonas.

The 41-year-old actress wrote, 'Happy Mothers Day to everyone who has been lucky enough to have had the love , care and protection of a mother and or mother figures.'

She added, 'Ive been so blessed with having not just my mother or grandmothers have an incredible impression on my upbringing but also my aunts. It truly takes a village.'

Chopra reflected, 'As a new mother navigating what my version of MMs upbringing will be like, I have sweet nostalgia of mine reflected in every day with her. My mother and mother in law have been absolutely magical in this journey. I could not have been able to balance all that I do without them. Thank you @drmadhuakhourichopra @mamadjonas.'

The star then directed her focus to her husband and daughter, writing, 'And my angels. @maltimarie thank you for choosing me to be your mama and @nickjonas.

'thank you for making me a mama. Parenting with you is what dreams are made of. Thank you for such a special day today.'

She finished the note, 'Very grateful.'

Priyanka Chopra dropped in on social media to share family photos featuring her daughter Malti, husband Nick, mom Dr. Madhu Chopra, and mother-in-law Denise Jonas

Ashley Graham shared a striking image of her pregnant belly from when she carried her twins.

She thanked her three sons Isaac, Malachi, and Roman 'for giving me the gift to be your mama.'

The model also posted a photo of her mom and wrote, 'Love you Mama!'

The 36-year-old mother-of-three added, 'Thank you for being the best example of a mother and now my best friend.'

Graham shares her three boys with husband Justin Ervin, who she wed in 2010.

Ashley Graham shared a striking image of her pregnant belly from when she carried her twins

She thanked her three sons Isaac, Malachi, and Roman 'for giving me the gift to be your mama'

The model also posted a photo of her mom and wrote, 'Love you Mama!'

Riley Keough and her twin sisters Finley and Harper, 15, remembered their mom Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January 2023

Irina Shayk shared a floral graphic in the shape of a heart and wrote, 'Happy Mother's Day to all mamas out there'

Eva Longoria used Instagram to share a Mother's Day post with her 10.1 million followers.

Longoria posted photos with her son Santiago, 5, who she shares with husband Jose Baston.

She captioned the set of images, 'Happy Mothers Day to all the mamacitas out there! So grateful for my mama and so honored to be a mom to my Santi!'

One stunning picture showed the Texas-born actress, 49, in a beige and white floral dress.

The former Desperate Housewives star wore gold high heels as her little boy cuddled up to her.

The post received over 55,000 likes from her fans in a just a few hours.

Eva Longoria used Instagram to share a Mother's Day post with her 10.1 million followers

Longoria posted photos with her son Santiago, 5

Halle Berry posted a snapshot with her beau Van Hunt's mother, referring to her as her 'mother-in-law,' although she and Hunt are not married.

Included in her post were three photos  one of her with Van's mom Doris, one of Doris alone, and an old photo of Van and his mother from his childhood.

The 57-year-old Oscar-winning actress captioned, 'Happy Mothers Day to all the glorious mothers of the world and especially my beautiful mother-in-law, DJ!'

She added, 'Youve come into our lives and brought the sunshine with you.

'I so admire the way you love with such grace and style! When you shower us with your pearls, we are instantly made better! We love you so very much.'

Doris commented from her private Instagram account, 'Happy Mothers Day, daughter! The love and light that you bring to my life shines bright.

'You are a wonderful mother, friend and inspiration. My son loves you and so do I.'

Halle Berry posted a snapshot with her beau Van Hunt's mother, referring to her as her 'mother-in-law,' although she and Hunt are not married

The 57-year-old Oscar-winning actress captioned, 'Happy Mothers Day to all the glorious mothers of the world and especially my beautiful mother-in-law, DJ!'

Larsa Pippen, 49, posted content with her four children, whom she shares with ex-husband Scottie Pippen.

The Real Housewives of Miami star shared a video clip of her kids dining at a restaurant.

The star and her ex, who famously played for the Chicago Bulls, share Sophia Pippen, 15, Preston Pippen, 22, Justin Pippen, 19, and Scotty Pippen Jr., 23.

Larsa and Scottie filed for divorce in 2016 and the dissolution of the marriage was finalized in 2021.

The reality television personality has since moved on with Michael Jordan Jr., the son of Scottie's former teammate Michael Jordan.

Larsa Pippen, 49, posted content with her four children, whom she shares with ex-husband Scottie Pippen

Larsa shared a video clip of her kids dining at a restaurant

Brian Austin Green, 50, gave a shoutout to his fiance Sharna Burgess as he shared a photo of them with their blended family online.

He and the 38-year-old Australian ballroom dancer welcomed Zane, almost two-years-old, in June 2022.

The actor wrote in a caption to his 747,000 followers on Instagram, 'You stepped into this world (which could not have been farther from the one you knew) and have become the rock of this family.

'You are an incredible mother and fiance and we all love you to death.'

He wrapped up the post, 'Happy Mothers Day baby,' and added two red hearts.

Green shares three sons with ex-wife Megan Fox  Noah, 10, Bodhi, nine, and Journey, six.

Brian Austin Green, 50, gave a shoutout to his fiance Sharna Burgess as he shared a photo of them with their blended family

Kim Cattrall shared an old black and white image with her mother and wrote, 'My mum and me under our Cherry tree #HappyMothersDay'

Will Smith dropped in to wish the women in his life a happy Mother's Day

He shared an old photo with wife Jada Pinkett Smith and one of their babies

Will Smith dropped in to wish the women in his life a happy Mother's Day.

'Happy Mommys Day to all the Spectabulous Mothers in my life - and yours!' he wrote to his 66.5 million followers.

He shared an old photo with wife Jada Pinkett Smith and one of their babies, as well as other throwback snaps.

And the thoughtful son-in-law included an image of his mother-in-law Gammy Norris with his mother.
Terri Irwin stepped out to honour her late husband Steve at a Gala in his name in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Terri, 59, arrived at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino as she posed in a grey number that highlighted her sensational figure.

The world-famous wildlife conservationist swapped out of her signature combats as she opted for a glamorous ensemble for the occasion.

The eye-catching design featured a high neckline and full sleeves, and fell into a floor-length pleated skirt.

Terri kept her accessories simple on the night but for a gold timepiece, allowing her age-defying figure to do all the talking.

Terri Irwin ensured all eyes were on her when she stepped out to attend the Steve Irwin Gala in Las Vegas on Saturday. Pictured

The world-famous wildlife conservationist wowed crowds at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino as she posed in a slinky, gun-metal grey number that highlighted her sensational figure

Terri was joined by daughter Bindi and son Robert on the night. All pictured

She wore her caramel-hued locks styled straight and highlighted her features with a timeless makeup palette.

Terri was joined by daughter Bindi and son Robert on the night.

Bindi, 25, was all smiles as she posed in an olive dress that featured a V-neck design and puff sleeves.

The wildlife warrior completed her look with a delicate pendant necklace and strappy gold heels.

Elsewhere, Robert, 20, looked dapper indeed in a classic tuxedo paired with a chic bow-tie.

It comes after fans were left scratching their heads as to why the Steve Irwin Gala is held in the US.

In March they took to social media to question why the event is being held in America considering Steve is an Australian icon.

'Having the Steve Irwin Gala in America instead of Australia is a disappointing to say the least,' one fan wrote.

Bindi, 25, was all smiles as she posed in an olive dress that featured a V-neck design and puff sleeves. The wildlife warrior completed her look with a delicate pendant necklace and strappy gold heels. Pictured

Elsewhere, Robert looked dapper indeed in a classic tuxedo paired with a chic bow-tie.

Another user questioned: 'Steve's an Aussie icon why's this in America.'

'Time to change the venue .. your Australian , he was Australian, so bring it home .. no support at all in US,' one commented.

However, one pleased US fan wrote: 'Thank you so much for having a gala in America as it makes participating more reachable for many of Steve's fans.'

Other fans were left shocked by the $750 ticket prices.

'If only it weren't $750...I would love to go. That's a pretty hefty price for any gala,' a fan wrote.

It comes after fans were left scratching their heads as to why the Steve Irwin Gala is held in the US. In March they took to social media to question why the event is being held in America considering Steve is an Australian icon

'Wish I could afford it. Would love to go and support. Big fan of all the Irwin's, and their work.'

A gala honouring the late wildlife warrior's legacy will also take place in Brisbane on November 9.

The Irwin's have kept Steve's memory alive through their conservation work at Australia Zoo.

A gala honouring the late wildlife warrior's legacy will take place in Australia on November 9 2024

The Irwin's have kept Steve's memory alive through their conservation work at Australia Zoo

One of the family's most recent tributes to Steve is the Crocodile Hunter Lodge, which comprises of luxury cabins located inside the zoo premises.

The chic rooms offer guests modern conveniences among the picturesque grounds, with the website listing cabins which sleep four at $949 per night.

The site also houses a restaurant called 'Warrior' as a tribute to Terri's late husband, Steve, and his grandchild, Grace Warrior.
Gisele Bundchen paid tribute her late mom Vania Nonnenmacher as she marked her first Mother's Day since her passing at age 75.

The model, 43, shared a post remembering Vania along with a slew of sweet family photos.

In the post, she admitted she was still struggling to 'say "mom" without getting emotional.

'There is not a day that goes by that I dont miss my Mom,' she continued in the caption. 'My mother, was an amazing human being who always helped everyone around her. She was an incredible role model for my sisters and I.

'She was strong, loving, and compassionate. There was nothing she couldnt do. She use to say: Children are forever. You will always be concerned and wanting to protect them, it doesnt matter their age.

Gisele Bundchen paid tribute her late mom Vania Nonnenmacher as she marked her first Mother's Day since her passing earlier this year

'Being a mom is the best , sometimes challenging but always a rewarding experience. I am forever grateful for my Moms guidance. Mom, even though I can no longer feel your embrace I know you are always watching over our family and being our guiding light! Te amo maezinha. Happy Mothers Day to all the moms . Sending so much love your way .'

Vania died at age 75 from cancer in January.

Gisele paid tribute to her late mother at the time, writing on Instagram: 'Beloved mom, It hurts to know that I wont be able to hug you anymore, but I know that you will always be watching over us.

'You were an angel on earth, always helping everyone around you. I am so grateful to be your daughter and to have learned from you. Thank you for being the best role model of love, strength, compassion, courage, and grace.

'I will forever cherish the beautiful memories we shared and will live by the values you taught me. You will live forever through the many lives that you touched.

'Thank you for giving me five best friends for life. Your love will always guide us.

'I will see you in my dreams. Love you.'

Vania Nonnenmacher, 75, passed away at Hospital Moinhos de Vento in Porto Alegre in January. Brazilian outlet GZH was the first to report on her death.

In the post, she admitted she was still struggling to 'say "mom" without getting emotional'

Bundchen's post included snaps with her mother and sisters

Nonnenmacher was a retired banker who formerly worked at Banco do Brasil. She was of German descent and held Brazilian nationality.

The 75-year-old had six daughters with university professor Valdir Bundchen: Gisele, Patricia, Rafaela, Raquel, Graziela and Gabriela.

The family was based in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, where the former Victoria's Secret Angel was born.

Bundchen previously praised her mother's strength, devotion and grace - once describing her as the 'core' of their large family.

'I grew up witnessing my mother always trying her best at doing all she could for the six of us girls,' Bundchen said about her and her five sisters on International Women's Day in 2010.

'My mom devoted her entire life to her family and did it with such grace,' she wrote in a blog entry on her website.

'She is my hero,' she said about her inspirational mother. 'She is the reason why I believe a woman is the core of a family.'

She added that she not only admires her parenting style but strives to be like her as a mother to her own two children.

'I can only hope to be for my kids what she will and always be for us ... Our rock.'
One lucky Bob Dylan fan with money to spare is about to score the ultimate piece for their collection.

A rare painting by the folk music legend, whose life is the subject of an upcoming biopic, has gone up for auction after he created the piece during his Woodstock years, around 1968, according to RR Auction.

With a starting bid of $66,550, the auction runs until May 23 and is expected to fetch six figures.

Another painting from the era by Dylan, 82, recently sold for $100,000 at auction after he gifted it to his late manager Albert Grossman.

The piece up for auction at RR is on a 24.5 x 30" canvas, featuring a large outline of a bull, filled with abstract animals, music notes, bowties and other shapes.

A rare painting by Bob Dylan has gone up for auction after he created the piece during his Woodstock years, around 1968

With a starting bid of $66,550, the auction runs until May 23 and is expected to fetch six figures

At the top of the painting is a red figure donning a hat that resembles Dylan's style from that era.

Dylan gave the painting to Woodstock resident Sandy LePanto in exchange for making him an astrology chart.

'Sandy was not only one of the most beautiful women in Woodstock at a time when there were many; she was a mystic, a channeler, a reader of stars, and maker of astrology charts for her friends,' wrote Anne-Margaret Daniel in Hot Press.

Sandy's friend Shelby Scherman Willer recalled, 'Although Dylan is technically a Gemini, he was born in the month of May, so with his early understanding of astrology it is my opinion that he may have thought himself to be a Taurus  the Bull represented in the painting.'

The Nobel Prize winner's autograph is faintly visible on the back of the painting, along with doodles of music notes.

Although the painting is unvarnished and has experienced some wear over the years, it has already received 10 bids as of Sunday.

The piece remained in Sandy's family over the years and was recently rediscovered as part of her ex-husband Anthony LePanto's estate.

In addition to his seminal music, Dylan is an established visual artist, showing his work in major art galleries around the world and releasing multiple books of his painting and drawings.

Dylan's first painting to be shown to the public was the cover of The Band's 1968 album Music from Big Pink.

The piece up for auction at RR is on a 24.5 x 30" canvas, featuring a large outline of a bull, filled with abstract animals, music notes, bowties and other shapes

Dylan gave the painting to Woodstock resident Sandy LePanto in exchange for making him an astrology chart

The auction comes as Timothee Chalamet embodies Dylan while filming the biopic A Complete Unknown in New Jersey

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer also painted the covers of his own albums Self Portrait (1970) and Planet Waves (1974).

The auction comes as Timothee Chalamet embodies Dylan while filming the biopic A Complete Unknown in New Jersey.

Based on Elijah Wald's 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric!, the movie follows Dylan as a 19-year-old arriving in 1961 New York City.

Shedding light on his relationship with his hero Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and other folk music legends, A Complete Unknown charts his rise to fame and the controversy around his musical shift.

The film also stars Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash.

Chalamet was cast as Dylan back in 2020, when it was announced that James Mangold would direct Jay Cocks' script, which he re-wrote.

Filming began last month after the COVID-19 pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA strike pushed production from summer 2023.
Kuwait City, Kuwait (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war on Gaza as the Israeli military orders residents in more areas in Rafah to evacuate with tens of thousands of Palestinians being displaced
Lea Michele is having a baby girl.

The actress, 37, announced she is expecting a daughter in a sweet Mother's Day post unveiling the sex of her second child.

She shared the news on Instagram, writing: 'The most beautiful Mother's Day today, holding my son who made me a mamaand carrying my daughter.'

Lea is expecting her second child with husband Zandy Reich.

The couple already have son Ever, three, together.

Lea, pictured at the Met Gala last week, is expecting her second child with Zandy Reich

She announced her pregnancy back in March, posting snaps of herself cradling her baby bump. 'Mommy, Daddy and Ever are overjoyed. [heart emoji] (sic),' she captioned the post.

Lea - who tied the knot with Zandy in 2019 - previously admitted that motherhood has changed her entire outlook on life, explaining that she's become less career-focused since she gave birth to her baby boy.

The Scream Queens actress confessed to previously having lots of 'blind spots' because she was so career-minded in her outlook.

During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Lea explained: 'It was all about my career. I've been so career-focused my entire life, I think to a fault.

'I think I have this sense of drive that created a lot of blind spots for me in my life.'

Prior to that, the Broadway star admitted that becoming a mother had 'softened' her in some ways.

She told Extra: 'I feel like it definitely has softened me a lot and I probably could have used a little softening, and he really is just the thing that has changed me the most and I'm so grateful.'

Lea attended the Met Gala last week, showing off her baby bump in a blue silk gown adorned with flowers across the bodice and a tulle cape.

The Glee alum and her husband pictured in 2019

The Glee star exuded glamour as she ascended up the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art for fashion's biggest night out.

As she arrived to the 2024 Met Gala in New York City, the two-time Golden Globe nominee, 37, was positively glowing as she posed for photos cradling her stomach.

The actress, who wrapped her year-long run in the revival of the Broadway musical Funny Girl last year, appeared to be channeling Sleeping Beauty's iconic blue dress.
Reese Witherspoon celebrated her mom on Mother's Day.

The 48-year-old actress joined the list of Hollywood A-listers honoring their moms on Sunday.

'Every day with you is a gift [Betty Reese] Happy Mother's Day, Mama!' The Morning Show star wrote.

The Oscar winner shared a carousel of photos showing her mother, whose Instagram handle is @grandma_busybetty.

Among the mother-daughter photos several show Witherspoon and her look-alike mom out having a good time.

A funny picture shows both Witherspoon and Reese pretending to be embarrassed.

Reese Witherspoon, 48, honored her mother Betty Reese in a sweet Mother's Day post Sunday

One sweet snap shows the former nurse working on an art project with a child who looks like Witherspoon's youngest son Tennessee, 11.

Another throwback picture shows the doting grandmother at a museum with granddaughters Abby James and Draper Witherspoon.

The actress and producer has written a series of Busy Betty children's books honoring her mother's energy and kindness.

Witherspoon was honored for her mothering by oldest son Deacon Phillippe, 20, in a series of flashback photos in his Instagram Stories Sunday.

He began by showing a photo of himself, his mom and Grandma Betty writing 'Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.'

He then shared some photos from his life with the Sing 2 star including a photo of the young actor and Witherspoon on the way to a formal event.

'Moms r the best' he wrote tagging his own mother.

That was followed by a snap of the Sweet Home Alabama star sitting with him in a dune buggy with 'The Dedication' written above it.

Among the mother-daughter photos several showing Witherspoon and her look-alike mom out having a good time. A funny picture show both Witherspoon and Reese pretending to be embarrassed

Witherspoon has written a series of Busy Betty children's books honoring her mom

Witherspoon's son Deacon, 20, offered his own tribute to his mom and grandma in a series of throwback pictures on his Instagram Stories

'Moms are the best' he wrote tagging the Sing 2 star

One snap shows the Sweet Home Alabama star sitting with him in a dune buggy. Another photo shows a young Deacon with crutches making a goofy face for the camera next to the Wrinkle in Time star

Realizing Mother's Day comes with mixed emotions for many women, the thoughtful Witherspoon shared this comforting graphic in her Instagram Stories

Another photo shows a young Deacon with crutches making a goofy face for the camera next to the Wrinkle in Time star.

Realizing Mother's Day comes with mixed emotions for many women, the thoughtful Wild star shared a graphic in her own Instagram Stories.

'Sending Love & Sunshine To Everyone Who... is struggling with motherhood, is grieving for their mom, Doesn't want to be a mom, is grieving their child/children, Doesn't have a good relationship with their mom or their children, is yearning to be a mother' she wrote.
From Germany to France, Heidi Klum is globe-trotting from one high-fashion event to the next.

The German model, 50, donned an oversized pink leather jacket with a matching ostrich Hermes Birkin bag on Sunday as she arrived in Nice, France for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

She layered the jacket over a pastel print bandana top with a matching scarf and baggy faded jeans with detachable zip-up legs.

Klum finished the look with a pair of white sneakers and some large round sunglasses.

The America's Got Talent judge was all smiles as she posed in front of a sign at the airport that reads, 'I love Nice.'

Heidi Klum donned an oversized pink leather jacket with a matching ostrich Hermes Birkin bag on Sunday as she arrived in Nice, France for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival

She layered the jacket over a pastel print bandana top with a matching scarf and baggy faded jeans with detachable zip-up legs. Klum finished the look with a pair of white sneakers and some large round sunglasses

She teased something big as she posed on the balcony of her hotel room with the ocean in the background.

'So excited to be here in Cannes to announce something very very special,' Klum captioned the post.

The surprise movie announcement comes after she made her music debut in January with a 40th anniversary cover of Corey Hart's 1984 song 'Sunglasses at Night', which she recorded with Tiesto.

Amid season 19 of Germany's Next Top Model, Klum documented her descent into Nice on Instagram.

'Viva la Cannes,' she captioned videos on Sunday as she ode shotgun in the cockpit with the pilots.

She posed for a selfie with the pilots after landing, sharing it to her Instagram Story with a 'thank you.'

Klum later shared a video from her car as she enjoyed the Parisian view, setting the clip to 'La Vie en Rose' by Zaz.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel also posted a video of her gorgeous suite, where multiple Mother's Day floral arrangements were waiting for her.

The America's Got Talent judge was all smiles as she posed in front of a sign at the airport that reads, 'I love Nice'

She teased something big as she posed on the balcony of her hotel room with the ocean in the background

'So excited to be here in Cannes to announce something very very special,' Klum captioned the post. She modeled her bandana top without the jacket while striking a pose in front of the water

Amid season 19 of Germany's Next Top Model, Klum documented her descent into Nice on Instagram

'Viva la Cannes,' she captioned videos on Sunday as she rode shotgun in the cockpit with the pilots

The former Victoria's Secret Angel also posted a video of her gorgeous suite, where multiple Mother's Day floral arrangements were waiting for her

'For the best mom in the world. We love you!' read a note from her kids Leni, 20, Henry, 18, Johan, 17, Lou, 14, and husband Tom Kaulitz, 34

'For the best mom in the world. We love you!' read a note from her kids Leni, 20, Henry, 18, Johan, 17, Lou, 14, and husband Tom Kaulitz, 34.

She shares her four kids with ex-husband Seal, 61, to whom she was married from 2005 to 2014.

Leni is the daughter of Heidi and her businessman ex Flavio Briatore, 74, but she was adopted by Seal in 2009.

Heidi and Leni previously posed together in lingerie for Italian brand Intimissimi's latest campaign.

'Theres nothing like the love between a mother and daughter - and if you also sprinkle in a little Italian lingerie...' the brand wrote with the photos.
This Morning's Josie Gibson showed Stephen Mulhern what he is missing as she modelled a green bikini while unwinding in Ireland on Sunday.

The pair sparked romance rumours after they were seen holding hands backstage at Saturday Night Takeaway in April.

Josie, 39, has since left London and travelled to Ireland, where she's been necking Guinness and spending time with her 'holiday romance'.

The presenter shared an adorable clip to her Instagram Stories on Sunday of her getting ready to go horseback riding along the beach.

Standing next to a black and white horse, the former I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star captioned her video 'My holiday romance'.

This Morning's Josie Gibson showed Stephen Mulhern what he is missing out on as she looked incredible in a green bikini and flaunted her Irish 'holiday romance'

After the TV personality, 47, was caught holding hands with the former Big Brother star (pictured), 39, backstage at Saturday Night Takeaway in April, rumours started to spiral that they were a secret item

The 2010 Big Brother winner has ventured out to Ireland's County Mayo, which neighbours Galway, with her friends Kate and Mia.

Josie, who is a single mum to five-year-old son Reggie, has kept her 729,000 followers up to date on her travels, sharing numerous snaps bathing in the sea and going horseback riding.

Her girls trip came just days after Stephen broke his silence when he was faced with an awkward grilling about the rumoured romance on This Morning on Tuesday.

This Morning hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard couldn't resist stirring the pot during his latest interview.

While promoting his book, Max Magic, Stephen was seen making use of the ASMR area set up, and Ben took the opportunity to take a cheeky swipe at him, saying he was acting at home because he was 'with one of our own'.

Sitting up straight from a massage table, Stephen laughed off the comment and told Ben to 'shut his face' before they went to an AD break.

The show continued smoothly but at the end of Steven's interview, Cat and Ben bought up the rumours once again forcing the Deal Or No Deal host to address them.

He said: 'Listen, she didn't turn up to rehearsals, I held her hand and I showed her where to stand. That is it. Finito!.'

But Stephen insisted that their hand holding was simply innocent, just days before Josie left the country on Friday to enjoy a pint of Guinness and spend some time with her 'holiday romance'

Josie shared an adorable clip to her Instagram Stories on Sunday of her getting ready to go horseback riding along the beach

Standing next to a black and white horse, the former I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star captioned her video 'My holiday romance'

The 2010 Big Brother winner has ventured out to Ireland's County Mayo, which neighbours Galway, with her friends Kate (right) and Mia (left)

Josie, who is a single mum to five-year-old son Reggie, has kept her 729,000 followers up to date on her travels, sharing numerous snaps bathing in the sea and going horseback riding

Her girls trip came just days after Stephen broke his silence when he was faced with an awkward grilling about the rumoured romance on This Morning on Tuesday

'Uh-huh, really. Your lips are sealed?' poked Cat, while Ben said, 'Me thinks he protest too much.'

The ITV presenters couldn't hold back their laughter as a red-faced Steven asked: 'Why are you doing this to me?! Unbelievable!'

After being pictured walking hand-in-hand, Josie joked to MailOnline: 'I'm in love with Stephen Mulhern. There you go. But story of my life, I don't think he loves me.'

Josie previouly revealed she has to be in love with someone to kiss them and says she tends to only fall in love once every seven or eight years.

Josie has previously denied there is anything romantic going on with Stephen as she admitted she isn't looking for love, or even anything casual right now.

'To be with somebody or to even kiss somebody, I've really got to love them,' she explained to OK! Magazine.

'I've really got to be into them. I can't give my energy over when I'm not completely into it.'

She added that she has only experienced love in in the past a handful of times, insisting: 'You know when you get that magic connection? For me it only comes around like once every seven or eight years.'

This Morning hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard couldn't resist stirring the pot during his latest interview

He said: 'Listen, she didn't turn up to rehearsals, I held her hand and I showed her where to stand. That is it. Finito!. Uh-huh, really. Your lips are sealed?' poked Cat, while Ben said, 'Me thinks he protest too much'

The ITV presenters couldn't hold back their laughter as a red-faced Steven asked: 'Why are you doing this to me?! Unbelievable!'

Following a string of unsuccessful relationships, Josie has previously confessed that she lives in fear of being left devastated again by another failed romance.

Stephen meanwhile has always been guarded about his personal life.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she admitted that her past heartaches are the root of her issues, as she said: 'Do you know what? I just can't have my heart broken again like I just can't do it. I always meet them and like they're not very good'.

Her time in the spotlight has seen her embroiled in a number of romances, including her Big Brother boyfriend John James Parton, from her 2010 stint in the house, ex-fiance Luke Sanwo and her baby daddy Terry.

Josie, who shares her son Reggie, five, with ex-partner Terry, declared her single status just days after joking about her unrequited love for fellow TV star Stephen.

The stunner detailed how she juggles her time between her TV work in London, including presenting This Morning, and living with Reggie in Bath.

In light of her current romantic state, she said: 'If I was to meet somebody - one, it wouldn't be fair on them. Because I can't give them the time that they need, and two, I've got my little boy, and I will never get that time back..

'So if I'm taking time away from my little boy and spending it on something that may or may not work out. I'm gonna really regret that.'

Josie soared to fame after winning Big Brother's 11th season in 2010 leading to various brand deals and a hugely successful weight loss path.

She insists that romance is not currently an option for her due to bringing up Reggie, who she amicably co-parents with Terry, who she deems a fantastic dad.

Josie, who shares her son Reggie, five, with ex-partner Terry, declared her single status just days after joking about her unrequited love for fellow TV star Stephen

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she said: 'Do you know what? I just can't have my heart broken again like I just can't do it. I always meet them and like they're not very good'

Josie Gibson's dating history: From falling for her Big Brother co-star to ups and downs with ex-fiance Luke Sanwo - as the This Morning host is seen holding hands with Stephen Mulhern and declares 'I'm in love'

Who has Josie dated and is she single now?

Read more about Josie Gibson's romantic history below.

Josie's first romance in the public eye came with her Big Brother co-star John James Parton (pictured in 2011) immediately after the show ended in 2010

But the pair broke up after a little under a year and John went on to star in Love Island Australia in 2018

John James Parton

Josie's career in the public eye was launched by a popular stint in the Big Brother house in 2010 which saw her win series 11 of the show, at the age of 25.

A big part of her journey on the then-Channel 4 show was hitting it off with housemate John James Parton.

The pair dated for just shy of a year after their release from the Big Brother house.

When they went their separate ways, Josie told the Daily Star: 'We spent every minute of the day with each other in the Big Brother house and moved in straight away after leaving the show.

'We didn't want to be apart. But the honeymoon period was over. We argued all the time. John wanted me to stop weeing with the toilet door open and I wanted him to stop moaning and to see things from my point of view.'

John went on to star in Love Island Australia in 2018, with Josie telling Daily Mail Australia: 'He doesn't want a girlfriend, he's just fame hungry. He's the most manipulative and calculated person I've ever met.

'I thought we were in love but all he would ever talk about were the magazine deals and photoshoots.'

Ex-fiance Luke Sanwo

Josie got engaged to plumber Luke Sanwo (pictured in 2014) but they broke up in 2015 having never got married

Shortly after splitting from John, Josie was in a new relationship with plumber Luke Sanwo, who she met at the SW4 music festival on London's Clapham Common.

In 2012, after just six months, Luke popped the question and the pair got engaged.

After a tumultuous few years involving a number of temporary break-ups, they finally decided to go their separate ways in April 2015.

Josie told new! Magazine at the time: 'Me and Luke have had a chat and we're going to take a break from our relationship.

'The passion is slowly drifting and now it's virtually non-existent. I feel like it's the right thing to do at the moment.'

In 2023, Luke recalled a heated spat just before the split where he claims Josie wielded a machete the pair used to cut meat at barbecues.

However, he told The Sun: 'I was shocked and amazed but I didn't feel in danger. I know she didn't intend me any harm.'

Ex-boyfriend Terry

She had her son, Reggie (pictured), with ex-boyfriend Terry - a property developer who she split from in 2019

Two years after the split from Luke, Josie got into a relationship with a property developer and family friend called Terry.

The couple had actually known each other for two decades before they got together and went on to welcome a son, Reggie, in September 2018.

But five months after Reggie was born, the pair split up.

In a previous interview with new! Magazine, Josie revealed that Terry had kicked her out on New Year's Eve in 2018 after an argument.

'He's got OCD and just after Christmas, he went mad about too many of my shoes being in the hallway,' she explained.

'So I kicked off and said, "Well, we'll go then!" And he went, "Alright", and bagged up our stuff. So Reggie and me headed to a hotel.'

However, the pair moved back in together at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to co-parent during lockdown.

When restrictions were lifted, they went their separate ways once again.

Is Josie Gibson single?

While Josie shut down rumours of romance with Dancing On Ice host Stephen, she did hint at a new flame in August 2023.

On Shopping With Keith Lemon she revealed 'there is someone in my life at the moment but it's early stages', but has been tight-lipped on their identity.

Rumours circulated that the mystery man was cameraman Sam Morter, who has appeared with the TV star a number of times on her social media, but these murmurs were swiftly put to bed.

More speculation came in November when Josie shared a cosy snap with hairdresser Maurice Flynn, with the caption: 'One of the best meals I've ever had in my entire existence. If you ever get the chance @lavolondon in Marylebone London is the one.

'The company was delicious too!! What an amazing evening.. I felt like I was in heaven! @mauriceflynn @lavolondon Thank you.'

However, by the end of that year, in an episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! she revealed that she was single again.

'I've got to find a boyfriend after this,' Josie said in the Bush Telegraph as she spoke of her embarrassment at breaking wind in front of her campmates.
Rylan Clark and Rob Rinder made a joint red carpet appearance at the 2024 TV BAFTAs on Sunday after revealing their 'friendship is growing into love.'

This Morning host Rylan, 35, and TV judge Rob, 45, looked appropriately dapper as they stepped out at the star-studded event.

Rylan cut a sharp figure as he embraced the red carpet wearing a black tuxedo, complete with a suave dickie bow.

The clean-shaven TV personality appeared in high spirits as he posed confidently next to Rob at London's Royal Festival Hall.

Rob, known on TV as Judge Rinder, looked sensational as he attended the glitzy event wearing a black suit, which he paired with a crisp white shirt and a black tie.

Rylan Clark and Rob Rinder made a joint red carpet appearance at the 2024 TV BAFTAs on Sunday following recent hints of romance

The This Morning host, 35, and TV judge, 45, who recently declared that their 'friendship is growing into love', looked handsome as ever as they stepped out to the star-studded event

The duo were joined at the hip for the evening as they were later seen together on stage when they presented the Soap Award.

They were also spotted with their arms around each other as they took a lift to the grand hall earlier in the night.

Their joint appearance comes after Rob hinted at romance with Rylan just hours earlier on Sunday, while plugging the duo's new BBC Two travel show.

Amid the promo trail, the duo, who forged their friendship after sharing a divorce lawyer, Rylan shared a sweet image with Rob, which the latter went on to share with a cryptic message.

Rob sparked rumours of romance with his response, as he shared the tweet and penned: 'Friendship may and often does, grow into love.' Byron .. See you alongside him 9pm tonight'.

The quote from romantic poet Lord Byron comes of the back of their travel show as they follow a journey of Byron, two centuries after his death.

In the original post, alongside a stunning shot of the duo in a vineyard, Rylan penned: 'Tonight our new show starts at 9pm on BBC Two and IPlayer...

Rylan cut a sharp figure as he embraced the red carpet wearing a black tuxedo, complete with a suave dickie bow

The clean-shaven TV personality appeared in high spirits as he posed confidently next to Rob at London's Royal Festival Hall

Rob, known on TV as Judge Rinder, looked sensational as he attended the glitzy event wearing a black suit, which he paired with a crisp white shirt and a black tie

The duo were joined at the hip for the evening as they were later seen together on stage when they presented the Soap Award

They were also spotted with their arms around each other as they took a lift to the grand hall earlier in the night

Their joint appearance comes after Rob hinted at romance with Rylan just hours earlier on Sunday, while plugging the duo's new BBC Two travel show

Amid the promo trail, the duo, who forged their friendship after sharing a divorce lawyer, Rylan shared a sweet image with Rob, which the latter went on to share with a cryptic message

Rob's post sparked speculation among excited followers

'It was so special. This man has become family to me because of this experience. It really is a show like no other and we're so proud of it. Hope you enjoy x'.

Thrilled fans spiraled into speculation, with X users writing: 'Please be a couple, please be a couple, please be a couple...

'The perfect couple in the perfect place.. Watch this space!... With you two in it it's got to be good, I bet your quite mischievous when your together.'

The duo's show is a new three-part TV series, which they have both claimed worked its way into being a 'heartbreak holiday'.

Having both endured painful divorces, they were ready to embrace the next chapter in their lives by throwing themselves into experiences outside their comfort zones.

And they certainly got that on Rob & Rylan's Grand Tour, in which they retrace the steps of the 18th- and 19th-century English aristocrats who left the confines of British society behind to seek freedom and adventure on the classic upper-class gap year  a Grand Tour of the Continent's cultural capitals.

In particular, Rob and Rylan follow the most famous Grand Tourist of all, Romantic poet Lord Byron, on the 200th anniversary of his death.

He travelled to Venice in 1816 and then on to Florence and Rome, fleeing a scandalous divorce caused partly because he slept with his half-sister.

Adam Evans (leader/guide) with Rylan Clark and Rob Rinder in Venice for Rob & Rylan's Grand Tour

'I don't often compare myself to Byron, but I too am a divorcee,' says criminal barrister Rob, 45, best known as formidable Judge Rinder on his ITV reality courtroom show and a former Strictly contestant.

He and his ex-husband, barrister Seth Cumming, divorced in 2018. 'And so is Rylan. And we're both looking for a new start too.'

Regular This Morning presenter Rylan who was married to ex-Met detective and reality star Dan Neal for five years before they split in 2021, says they bonded easily.

'You see the evolution of our friendship. We were just mates before but now we're friends. We've both been through pain recently so we're getting away from it on the original package holiday, the Grand Tour, which is about experiencing new things.'

During their sunny trip, Rob is keen to convert Rylan to his passion for the art, architecture and classical music that the original Grand Tourists came to Europe to experience.

Rylan jokes that 'the nearest I've got to classical music is when Pete Tong did Ibiza dance tunes with an orchestra', but nevertheless he throws himself into the culture with a passion.

MailOnline contacted representatives for Rob and Rylan for a comment. They confirmed that the rumours are not true and the post was solely to inform their fans that their new show airs on Sunday.

Rylan is pictured with his ex-husband Dan Neal in June 2016
Ada Nicodemou has broken her silence after being spotted kissing her co-star James Stewart in a Sydney street on Anzac Day

The Home And Away star, 46, wrote a column for Stellar magazine on Sunday and spoke about her need to 'first fill my own cup of wellbeing and happiness'.

Addressing her role as a mother, Ada wrote about the importance of 'self-care' in order to build her own reserves of 'happiness and love'.

Blasting Jennifer Lopez music in the car and treating herself to other 'little luxuries' allows her 'to pour out love and energy to my family'.

The comments come after bombshell photos emerged of Ada and James packing on the PDA last month.

Ada Nicodemou (pictured) has broken her silence after being spotted kissing her co-star James Stewart in a Sydney street on Anzac Day

Nicodemou, whose split from partner-of-eight-years Adam Rigby became public last week, shared a very public embrace with 48-year-old Stewart.

The pair - who play lovers on Home and Away - enjoyed a beverage together at The Royal Hotel.

They were later seen getting cosy outside the establishment after leaving the venue.

The sighting came after Stewart was pictured leaving his apartment in Coogee with a suitcase and catching an Uber to the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney's CBD on April 24.

The Home And Away star, 46, wrote a column for Stellar magazine on Sunday and spoke about her need to 'first fill my own cup of wellbeing and happiness'. Pictured: Ada and James Stewart last month

Nicodemou, whose split from partner-of-eight-years Adam Rigby became public last week, shared a romantic embrace with 48-year-old Stewart

There was also recently a sighting of Stewart and Nicodemou at a cinema, where onlookers said they were 'not shy' about displaying their affection publicly.

Nicodemou was married to Chrys Xipolitas for nine years. They reportedly split briefly in 2010 before reconciling and welcoming a son, Johnas, in August 2012.

The actress, who also starred in '90s soap Heartbreak High, went on to split from Xipolitas for good and dated businessman Adam Rigby for about eight years.

They called it quits sometime in late 2023.

The news of Stewart and Nicodemou growing close comes after his ex Sarah Roberts - a Home and Away alum - confirmed to Stellar magazine the pair had divorced.

'I just want to say that I am divorced,' she told the publication.

'Sometimes people grow apart and that's okay... I got to a point where I realised I couldn't grow in the way I wanted to within this particular relationship.'

The pair - who play lovers on Home and Away - enjoyed a beverage together at The Royal Hotel

They were later seen getting cosy outside the establishment after leaving the venue

Roberts and Stewart wed in 2019 after getting engaged in November 2018. He had proposed at the restaurant where they'd had their first date a year earlier.

The pair tied the knot at Luttrellstown Castle, on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, in July 2019.

Roberts' divorce confirmation came after years of speculation the couple had split.

The rumours first bubbled to the surface after Stewart was absent at the premiere of her film Wog Boys Forever in Melbourne in October 2022.

He was 'nowhere to be seen on the red carpet' and was apparently no longer following his wife's Instagram account, reports suggested.

At the time, Roberts' agent denied they had broken up.

The pair later put rumours to rest when Roberts proudly flashed her wedding ring at the AACTA Awards in December that year.

The sighting came after Stewart was pictured leaving his apartment in Coogee with a suitcase and catching an Uber to the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney 's CBD on April 24

There was also recently a sighting of Stewart and Nicodemou at a cinema, where onlookers said they were 'not shy' about displaying their affection publicly

Speaking with Now To Love at the time, she also shot down the break-up rumours.

'We're happy,' she told the website.

Roberts added that her husband was as romantic as ever, even picking her up from the airport with a bouquet of flowers after a recent trip to Italy.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Nicodemou and Stewart for comment.

Roberts starred on Home and Away from 2017 to 2021, before walking away to focus on her film career.

Last month, Sarah Roberts confirmed to Stellar Magazine that her and Stewart had divorced

Stewart is still starring on the Australian soap, in which he plays Justin Morgan.

The actor shares daughter Scout, 11, with his ex-fiancee Jessica Marais, whom he met on the set of Packed to the Rafters in 2009.

They had announced their engagement in October 2010, and welcomed Scout in May 2012.

In 2015, the pair called it quits, with Stewart later saying: 'Our relationship didn't work out because I think hearts go in different directions eventually.'
Melissa George has celebrated her first Mother's Day since welcoming her third child, a baby boy, at the age of 47.

The Australian actress, who is based in France, took to Instagram Stories on Sunday to re-post two photos of herself celebrating the occasion at a restaurant in Paris.

Joined by a female friend, the Home And Away star was seen smiling with her bundle of joy strapped to her chest as she sat at the table.

Melissa, who has not revealed the name of her newborn nor the identity of the father, chose to cover his face with a white love-heart emoji.

Another photo showed a close-up of Melissa's friend holding the baby's hand.

Melissa George (right, with a friend) celebrates her first Mother's Day with her newborn son at a restaurant in Paris, France - two months after welcoming her third child at age 47

'Dinner with a very special new man,' Melissa's friend captioned the image.

Melissa announced in March she had given birth to her third child, sharing a black and white photo of the baby boy's feet to Instagram.

'Welcome to the world my little man. Love knows no end. A mother of 3 sons. Cannot believe it. My heart is so full,' the 30 Days of Night actress wrote in the caption.

The Australian actress, who is based in France , took to Instagram Stories on Sunday to re-post two photos of herself celebrating the occasion at a restaurant in Paris. One photo showed a close-up of Melissa's friend holding the baby's hand

In a subsequent Instagram Story, she wrote, 'My everything. You are here. I love you so much.'

The Perth-born star had shocked her social media followers in January when she confirmed she was pregnant with her third child.

Melissa shares her sons, Raphael, nine, and Solal, seven, with her ex-partner Jean-David Blanc, a French entrepreneur.

Melissa announced in March that she had given birth to her third child, sharing a black and white photo of the baby boy's feet to Instagram

Due to a custody arrangement, their children can't leave France with their mother without their father's consent, which means she is now based in Paris.

Notoriously private Melissa hasn't revealed if she is in a relationship or who the father of her baby is.

She was previously married to Chilean furniture designer and film director Claudio Dabed from 2000 to 2011.
A college-educated millennial has complained that his degree is 'worthless' after being unable to find work for three years.

Dan Colflesh quit his job in the customer-service industry aged 34 to pursue a degree in the hopes of bettering his employment prospects.

'I worked my way up in a few companies, but I always hit a roadblock in promotions because I didn't have a college education,' Colflesh told Business Insider.

However, the now-43-year-old has declared his degree 'worthless' after spending years following graduation struggling to land a job and saddled with student debt.

In 2021 Colflesh graduated with an associate physics degree from community college and a bachelor's in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

His story comes amid speculation the college degree is losing its value as Walmart, Accenture and IBM all axed degree requirements on their corporate job descriptions.

Dan Colflesh quit his job in the customer-service industry aged 34 to pursue a college degree

The graduate said his experience with the job market has left him feeling 'defeated'

'No one will hire me. My bachelor's degree is pretty much worthless' he lamented to the publication.

Colflesh explained that he has been looking for work in the three years since graduating without any luck. He has unsuccessfully applied to more than 100 jobs.

The graduate told Insider he is still seeking a job and that at times the process has left him feeling 'defeated.'

'Once you could have a bachelor's degree in just about anything and get some kind of good-paying job,' he said.

'Now you have to have an insane amount of experience.'

'I keep hearing employers talk about no one wanting to work, and I desperately want to work, and I can't get someone to ever sit down and talk to me,' he added.

The unemployment rate for American men is low compared to previous decades

Colflesh said that he feels he faces additional challenges because he is autistic.

'I'm always going to seem off to most non-autistics,' he explained.

'The general lack of acceptance of autistic people makes social networking challenging, and that impacts job opportunities.'

However, he remains determined to find work.

'I'll keep looking no matter how bleak it gets, because I have to' he said.

The unemployment rate for American men is low compared to previous decades.

However, it has dropped considerably since 1950 when around 97 percent of men between 25 and 54 were in the workforce compared to just 89 percent with jobs now.
A former call center agent at MOHELA has claimed there was an 'atrocious' work environment at the student loan servicer, as it comes under fire for its handling of millions of borrower accounts.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the former employee said call center workers were given 'abysmal' training before they were tasked to speak to concerned borrowers about their debts.

Company policy stated that call center workers had to keep customers on hold for at least 15 minutes before they could transfer them to a supervisor, the anonymous worker alleged.

Many of those who called in were worried about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program which MOHELA was the sole servicer of until earlier this month, they added.

The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority - otherwise known as MOHELA - is facing mounting pressure from lawmakers and borrowers about how it has handled the program and student loan repayments resuming after the Covid-19 pandemic pause.

Borrowers have complained about being left waiting on hold for three hours, or having outstanding debts appear on their account which they believed they had already paid off.

A former call center agent at MOHELA has claimed there was an 'atrocious' work environment at the student loan servicer

The anonymous worker, who is in their late twenties and lives in Kentucky, said they were subcontracted out to work for the MOHELA call center from an agency.

They worked as a level one customer service representative from October 2023 until February this year.

'Representatives are given very minimal and spotty training and expected to be able to effectively work under high pressure,' they told DailyMail.com. 'There was no individual training.'

The training involved practicing 'mock calls' in a group, they said, but some trainees did not even turn on their microphone on a group video call to take part.

When they started picking up the phone to real borrowers, call center staff were given a digital file of reference material, but received very little support from more experienced departments, the former employee claimed.

Elizabeth Warren slammed CEO Scott Giles (pictured) after he said he would not attend a Senate hearing about the firm's performance

'The document does get updated fairly often but a lot of the updates are just irrelevant or inaccurate or don't come to us in time,' they said.

Often the queries from borrowers were complex but call center agents were instructed to handle everything in one call without transferring escalating the call if possible.

'Even reading through the reference material that I had, I could not find an answer for most of these people,' they said.

'It was company policy that if you have to reach out to the customer advocacy team you had to wait at least 15 minutes because they are so overworked.

'People will call into MOHELA thinking we have some special version of their student loan agreement that only we can see but we don't. The information we have is the same information that the borrowers have.'

In order to deal with any issue other than a borrower paying a loan or changing a repayment plan, call center agents have to transfer the borrower to the customer advocacy team, the ex-worker said.

But it is company policy to wait at least 15 minutes before doing this, they alleged, as the team is so overworked.

'It was frustrating because you're instructed to follow the script very strictly.

'You're not allowed to say "I'm looking for this" or "I can't find anything". You have to sound confident. You have to sound like you know what you're doing.'

Submitting a request ticket for an investigation into a case can take weeks, they claimed.

'There's no way to get the answers for these people quickly.'

In March Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren invited Scott Giles, the chief executive of servicer MOHELA, to testify before the Senate banking committee

Until May 1, MOHELA was the sole servicer of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program - which has been a major feature of the Biden administration's debt forgiveness initiative.

The PSLF program, which was created in 2007, writes off the remaining balance of borrowers who work in public sector or government jobs after 10 years of eligible repayment.

MOHELA became the sole servicer of the program in July 2022, but it is now in the process of being transitioned to instead be managed in-house by Federal Student Aid.

The servicer has faced widespread criticism for its handling of the program - and for the managing of student loan repayments restarting in October last year.

In March, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called on chief executive Scott Giles to testify before Congress amid reports of 'widespread servicing failures' impacting 'at least 40 percent of its borrowers.'

DailyMail.com asked its readers to get in touch if they had been left frustrated by the service they had received from the servicer - and received scores of responses from graduates concerned about their loans.

Deborah Soto said how she had thought she had paid off her daughter's student loans in full just before interest began accruing again in September 2023.

But when she logged back in to her account in December of last year, she was shocked to find that another loan totaling $16,947 had suddenly appeared in her account.

And, unknown to her, it had been building interest every day for months.

Right away Deborah tried to get in contact with MOHELA but faced 160-minute wait times and endless prompts to try to get through to a person, she said.

MOHELA opened an investigation into her case in December, but she has yet to receive any explanation from the company.

Tom Buchanan, 71, claims he would regularly spend 'three or four hours' on the phone trying to get through to MOHELA to get clarity on new repayment figures he had been given.

Deborah thought she had paid off all the student loans for her daughter Elena (right) before the end of the pandemic-era interest pause in September last year

Pamela and Tom Buchanan saw their monthly repayments double, but have been unable to get an explanation from MOHELA

The turnover rate for working at MOHELA was high, the ex-worker told DailyMail.com, and call center agents were often facing frustrated and distressed borrowers.

'I saw two trainers quit in the short time I was there,' they claimed, and they were shouted and sworn at by customers.

'We had a meeting the day before we started making calls and we had to learn how to transfer somebody to the death threat line.

'My trainer said in the 10 years he's worked there he's only taken three. But a couple of people in my training class their first day got somebody either threatening to hurt them or threatening to hurt themselves.

'We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars for some of these people, and the majority of that being in interest that they don't know where it came from. And we can't tell them because we don't know either.'

There are people at the company who want to do their jobs well, they added, but the system is 'very messy.'

'Seeing what I saw from the inside, I would have to say there's a lot of incompetency higher up the chain at MOHELA and also at the Department of Education.

'It's an infrastructure issue. There is not enough knowledge going around. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.'

A MOHELA spokesperson said in a statement: 'Average customer service hold times at MOHELA today are between 1 minute and 5 minutes.

'As a federal contractor, MOHELA was charged last fall by the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) with returning 6 million federal student loan borrowers to repayment after an unprecedented pause while also operating under FSAs directive to reduce expenses and hours of operations, which caused higher-than-normal hold times for a period of time.'

Call center representatives go through an extensive training process and receive support to respond to customer inquiries, the company said.

'Representatives are provided with routine (as often as daily) updates on any relevant changes mandated by FSA to the servicing environment that affects borrowers.

'Claims of a company policy that require a representative to put someone on hold for 15 minutes are false,' the spokesperson added.
Real estate consultant Anarock Group has posted a 36 per cent increase in its revenue to Rs 566 crore in the last fiscal, helped by better earnings from housing brokerage and other services.

During 2022-23, the company posted a revenue of Rs 416 crore.

Homegrown Anarock was established by Anuj Puri in April 2017 after serving as country head for 10 years in an international property consultancy firm.

In an interview with PTI, Anarock Chairman Puri said, Real estate markets, particularly residential, across cities, are doing well with sales and launches at a 15-year high.

Inherently, he said, this is being driven by a younger working population wanting to buy their first home rather than rent it.

...We are benefiting from this phenomenal growth in housing sales, having established our tech and digital platform, Puri said.

All major business verticals contributed to the revenue growth last fiscal, he said.

These include housing brokerage, retail, land, capital markets, strategic consulting, hospitality wing HVS-Anarock, and society management brand ANACITY.

The chairman said the company would continue to invest for higher growth through organic and inorganic routes, having raised private equity to consolidate players in a similar domain as Anarock.

To sustain growth, Anarock said it would significantly increase its headcount in FY 2024-25, especially in the recently launched office leasing in advisory services.

Anarock Group currently has more than 2,200 employees operating across key tier 1 and 2 markets in India and the Middle East.

FY24 has been a phenomenal year for the Indian residential segment, with record sales and new launches across the top 7 cities, Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman Anarock, said.

He said the company has exceeded its revenue target by 6 per cent but see that merely as an apt launch-pad for bigger and better things.

The company is confident of almost tripling its current revenue to Rs 1,500 crore by 2026-27, he added.

We will penetrate more key markets this year with a vastly amplified services bouquet, Kumar said while outlining future plans.

The Indian economy continues to exhibit strength and will certainly support our targeted growth. However, we bank even more strongly on our constantly improving technology suite and, of course, the best real estate teams in the business, Kumar said. The company recently raised Rs 200 crore funds from 360 One Asset Management Ltd for deployment into its overall business growth and industry-defining proptech platform.

Over the last six years, Anarock has expanded from being a residential-focused organisation to complementary segments, including retail, office, hospitality, logistics, data centres, industrial and land.

It also provides strategic advisory, investment banking, research & valuation services, besides offering app-based flexible workspaces and society management platform.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) plans to invest Rs 1.7 lakh crore over the next five years in its core oil refining, fuel marketing and petrochemical business as well as in clean energy such as hydrogen, its chairman G Krishnakumar said on Friday.

As part of Project Aspire, a five-year strategic framework, BPCL plans to raise its oil refining capacity, augment petrochemical business and expand its presence in cleaner fuel space with an eye on energy transition and meeting countrys fuel demand, he said at a post earnings investor call.

Our strategy is based on two fundamental pillars - Nurturing the Core; and Investing in Future Big Bets. We remain committed to our core businesses, which include the refining, marketing of petroleum products and upstream. In addition, we are focusing on our big bets, which comprise petrochemicals, gas, green energy, non-fuel retail, and digital, Krishnakumar said.

This will not just help meet the rising fuel demand of the worlds fastest growing economy but also help the firm meet its target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Overall, we plan to invest Rs 1.7 Lakh crores over a period of 5 years. Of this, Rs 75,000 crores is earmarked for refineries and petrochemicals. We plan to undertake strategic pipeline projects with an investment of Rs 8,000 crores, of which projects worth Rs 5,000 crores have already been identified.

We will invest more than Rs 20,000 crore in our marketing business. We have also earmarked investments of Rs 32,000 crores in upstream production, mainly in Mozambique and Brazil, depending on positive developments on ground. We will invest Rs 25,000 crores on gas business, (and) Rs 10,000 crores on green energy business, he said.

BPCL, which owns three refineries that convert crude oil extracted from below earths surface into fuels like petrol and diesel, plans to expand refining capacity to 45 million tonnes per annum by March 2029 from current 35.3 million tonnes, he said.

The capacity addition would majorly be at Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh, which is being expanded to 11 million tonnes from current 7.8 million tonnes. Smaller capacity additions through debottlenecking are planned at Mumbai and Kochi refineries as well.

On fuel retailing infrastructure, BPCL is looking to add about 4,000 petrol pumps to its 22,000-odd retail stations.

Also, the company is undertaking two petrochemical projects at Bina and Kochi, he said.

In line with the governments focus to increase gas share in the Indian energy portfolio from 6 per cent to 15 per cent, we intend to increase our gas footprint by building optimal city gas infrastructure and acquiring high opportunity geographic areas. We are also exploring enablers like diversification of sourcing, trading capabilities, storage facilities and LNG regasification infrastructure etc. To support our aspirations, he said.

Alongside, it will pursue green ambitions.

We aim to build 10 GW of renewable energy portfolio through organic and inorganic acquisition of operating assets, by 2040, he said.

The clean energy business will include producing green hydrogen, which emits only water when burnt. We will produce 30,000 tonnes per annum of green hydrogen in our refineries by 2030, to meet 10 per cent of our hydrogen demand. We will also engage in pilots for green hydrogen fuelled mobility and other applications, he said.

The firm is also aggressively pushing for biofuels and plans to set up 26 compressed biogas plants in the near term.

In the EV charging business, we plan to reach a total of 7,000 EV charging stations by FY25. As of March 2024, we added 2,443 new EV charging and battery swapping stations, taking our total to 3,135 EV charging and battery swapping stations, he said.

The EV charging stations will complement its fuel retailing network which also includes 2,034 CNG stations.

Expecting petrol and diesel demand to grow in the near term, he said the growth in demand of petrol is expected to be around 5 per cent whereas in diesel about 1.5-2 per cent.

India has struck the right balance between its energy security and climate goals. Our rapidly expanding economy will inevitably lead to a surge in energy demand, prompting a continued demand and growth in BPCLs core and new businesses, he said.

India has set a goal of attaining net-zero emissions by 2070. This will accelerate the adoption of green and low carbon energy solutions, opening significant economic opportunities for companies operating in the broader energy sector, including BPCL.

On price outlook, he said the expectation is that global supply and demand will be relatively balanced and the prices would be in the range of USD 83-87 per barrel. The factors that could impact prices are largely related to unplanned production disruptions, a risk highlighted by the recently escalating tensions in the Middle east.
A study to assess required infrastructure and identify main industry clusters for achieving the USD 1 trillion merchandise exports target by 2030 may be submitted by August-September to the commerce ministry, an official said.

The official said that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is doing that study for the ministry.

In 2023-24, Indias merchandise exports dipped by over 3 per cent to USD 437 billion. Imports during the last fiscal dipped by 5.7 per cent to USD 675.4 billion.

By 2030, the ministry is aiming to more than double the countrys outbound shipments of goods.

Explaining the rationale behind the exercise, the official said that to take the exports to USD 1 trillion, there will be an import of about USD 1.5 trillion, so to handle USD 2.5 trillion worth of trade we need additional infrastructure and logistics capacity at roads, ports, airports and railways.

If exports will increase, imports will also increase. There is a correlation between higher exports and imports. So we have to create an infrastructure to handle about USD 2.5 trillion worth of merchandise goods, the official added.

Besides infrastructure requirements, there is also a need to identify the industry clusters from where there will be a large movement of goods.

To query when the ministry is expected to get the report, the official said by around August-September.

After that, the commerce ministry will share the details with ministries concerned, including shipping, aviation, roads and national highways, and railways.

The ministries would see if they need investments for additional capacity development and where all that investment will go.

As per rough calculations and estimates, another official said that India may need to create an infrastructure which will support an additional 2,000 million tonne of goods movement in the ports.

Similarly in the railways, there could be a need to create an infrastructure which will allow railways to carry on an additional 338 million tonne of goods by 2030. Airports also need to create an additional 5 million tonne of facilities for movement of goods.

The study is trying to identify what kind of infrastructure is required at the exit points and which are the clusters from where there will be the larger movement of goods, the government official added.
Professor Naima Khatoons historic appointment as AMUs first woman V-C in over a century represents a significant milestone for gender equality in Indian academia

Fortunately, Professor Naima Khatoon has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, a moment long-awaited by the Aligarian community. Professor Khatoons journey within AMU has been extensive, having served previously as the Principal of the Womens College. Her association with the university spans an impressive 46 years, beginning as an outstanding student who consistently excelled in her examinations. Graduating with a doctorate in Psychology in 1989, Professor Khatoons rise to the Vice Chancellorship on April 22, 2024, a testament to her dedication and academic prowess.

An interesting facet of her appointment is the transition from her husband, Professor Muhammad Gulrez, who held the position of Acting Vice Chancellor prior. Professor Gulrez is recognised for his significant contributions to West Asian Studies and has displayed exemplary integrity and resilience during his tenure. Professor Khatoons administrative journey within AMU includes noteworthy positions such as Chairperson of the Department of Psychology and Director General, Superintendent, Provost and more.

Her appointment as Vice Chancellor also holds historical significance, marking her as the second Muslim woman to hold such a position at a Central University. This achievement follows Dr. Najma Akhtars appointment as the first Muslim lady Vice Chancellor at Jamia Millia Islamia five years prior. The legacy of womens Leadership at AMU traces back to its inception, with Begum Sultan Jahan being the universitys first elected Chancellor in December 1920.

Professor Khatoons contributions to the field of Psychology are well-documented, with six books and 31 papers, earning acclaim both nationally and internationally. Her academic pursuits have taken her across the globe on various academic assignments, enriching her perspective and expertise. Beyond her scholarly achievements, Professor Khatoons adeptness in administrative roles underscores her capability as a leader to steer AMU towards greater heights of excellence.

Recognising in the evolving landscape of education, there is a pressing need to boost departments offering professional and technical education while also introducing emerging disciplines. Professor Khatoons leadership is expected to facilitate the successful launch of these new programmes. Additionally, there is a call to establish new centres for regional and area studies, building upon the foundation laid by previous leaders like Professor Abdul Aleem.

Her strategic appointments, such as that of Professor Anwar Masud Alavi as Principal of the Womens College, reflect her commitment to academic excellence and diversity within the institution.

It is anticipated that Professor Naima Khatoon will leverage the expertise of the internationally renowned scholar, Professor Abdur Raheem Kidwai, Honorary Director of the K. A. Nizami Centre for Quranic Studies. Professor Kidwai, besides being a Professor of English, has earned acclaim for his critiques on the translations of the Quran into English and other languages. The Department of Islamic Studies and the Faculty of Theology at AMU hold the potential to evolve into Think Tanks for Muslims worldwide. Aligarh Muslim University, known not only for its academic excellence but also as a centre of Muslim culture and Civilisation can reshape the narrative. Indian Muslim faculty Members specialising in Islamic Studies and Sunni and Shia theology dedicated to nation-building and community welfare. They are well-positioned to provide guidance grounded in scriptures and to serve as beacons of harmony and unity within the Indian Muslim community.

The AMU Jama Masjid stands out as perhaps the only mosque, besides the Kaaba and the Prophets mosque, where both Sunnis and Shias offer congregational prayers. This model of fraternity should be emulated across India. Nigerians should take the lead in promoting better understanding and unity among various schools of thought.

Aligarians take pride in the fact that the first educational institution to impart modern knowledge was established at Aligarh. The election of a Muslim woman as Vice Chancellor of AMU, following in the footsteps of Professor Najma Akhtar, underscores this legacy. Professor Naima Khatoon, who has recently assumed office, brings with her impeccable academic credentials and a commitment to faith. Her success will undoubtedly bring honour to AMU and our nation.

The appointment of the first female Vice Chancellors at both AMU and JMI reflects the evolving landscape of our country. Asrarul Haq Majaz, the author of the AMU Tarana (Anthem), an eminent Urdu poet, had expressed the hope that women would one day be the catalysts for social transformation. This hope is gradually being realised. It is heartening to note that Professor Khatoon, in addition to her academic achievements, embodies this spirit as a practising Muslim woman. We extend our best wishes to Professor Khatoon and fervently pray for her remarkable progress.

(The writer is Professor Emeritus, Jamia Millia Islamia & Former Vice Chancellor, Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur; views are personal)
Indias strategic redeployment of troops from the Maldives reflects evolving alliances and diplomatic shifts in the Indian Ocean region

In a move that underscores the evolving dynamics of regional geopolitics, the recent withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the Maldives has sparked discussions about the future of Indo-Maldivian relations. This strategic redeployment, marked by the departure of the final batch of Indian troops stationed in the archipelago, comes amidst shifting alliances and diplomatic recalibrations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The name Maldives is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit words Mala (meaning garland) and dvipa (meaning island). Together, they form Maladvipa, which translates to garland of islands. This name reflects the unique geography of the Maldives, which is an archipelago consisting of numerous coral islands grouped in a chain formation in the Indian Ocean. Over time, the name evolved into Maldives in English.

The Maldives, a nation comprising 1,192 coral islets strategically positioned across key east-west international shipping routes, has historically been a significant partner for India in its maritime security endeavours. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modis Neighbourhood First Policy and the broader framework of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), India has sought to deepen its engagement with its maritime neighbours, including the Maldives.

However, the tenure of President Mohamed Muizzu has witnessed a series of policy shifts, with the Maldives increasingly gravitating towards China while seeking to reduce dependence on India across various sectors, including healthcare, food security and defence cooperation. President Muizzus India Out campaign during the presidential election last year signalled a departure from the traditionally close ties between the two countries. The concern over the Maldives falling into Chinas debt trap diplomacy is indeed significant. As the Maldives seeks investments and infrastructure development, it must carefully navigate its relationships with external partners to avoid potential pitfalls. While Chinese investments can offer growth opportunities, they also come with the risk of indebting the nation and compromising its sovereignty.

The withdrawal of Indian military personnel, comprising more than 80 troops responsible for operating helicopters and an aircraft gifted by India, symbolizes a tangible manifestation of this evolving relationship. Muizzus insistence on the complete repatriation of Indian troops by the May 10 deadline underscores his administrations commitment to reshaping the Maldives foreign policy orientation. Simultaneously, the Maldives burgeoning engagement with China, evidenced by recent agreements on military equipment and training, adds a layer of complexity to the regional dynamics. While the Maldives retains its sovereignty to pursue partnerships that align with its national interests, the strategic implications of deepening ties with China amidst heightened Indo-Pacific tensions warrant careful consideration.

From Indias perspective, the withdrawal of military personnel from the Maldives reflects a pragmatic response to the evolving geopolitical landscape. The decision to respect the Maldivian Governments request for repatriation underscores Indias commitment to upholding the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of its neighbours. Moreover, the withdrawal process, facilitated through four rounds of meetings of the India-Maldives High-Level Core Group, highlights the diplomatic maturity and bilateral dialogue mechanisms that underpin Indo-Maldivian relations. Despite divergent policy trajectories, both countries have demonstrated a willingness to engage constructively and find mutually beneficial solutions.

Looking ahead, the recalibration of Indo-Maldivian relations presents opportunities for both countries to reevaluate their strategic priorities and explore avenues for collaboration in areas of mutual interest. Whether it involves maritime security cooperation, economic partnerships, or regional connectivity initiatives, the foundations of the Indo-Maldives relationship remain resilient amidst evolving geopolitical realities.

As the Indian military withdrawal from the Maldives marks the closing of one chapter, it also heralds the beginning of a new phase in bilateral relations-one characterized by adaptability, pragmatism and a shared commitment to fostering stability and prosperity in the Indian Ocean Region. Amidst the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean lies the Maldives, Asias smallest nation and South Asias only archipelago. The Maldives pivot towards China raises concerns, but a shift towards closer ties with India presents a win-win scenario. Embracing India offers strategic stability, economic growth and cultural affinity, fostering a robust Indo-Maldives partnership. By aligning with India, the Maldives secures regional harmony and safeguards its sovereignty while India gains a trusted ally in the Indian Ocean, reinforcing mutual interests and prosperity for both nations.

(The writer is an associate professor, views are personal)
Imran Khan's confrontational stance against the military establishment seems to be leading to his own downfall. Khan's defiance has only served to further isolate him

American scholar, Stephen Cohen, notes in his article title Pakistan: Army, Society and Security, "There are armies which guard their nation's borders, there are armies which are concerned with protecting their own position in society, and there are armies which defend a cause or an idea. The Pakistan Army does all three". Even though it is a Military that has never won any war (1947-48, 1965, 1971 or 1999) and is struggling miserably to contain elements of religious extremism from across the Durand Line - it remains the last institution that hasn't succumbed to the curse of puritanism that is eating into the already moth-eaten Pakistan. It can be argued that besides the Pakistani Military, the two other pieces of the ruling troika i.e., civilian politicians and the clergy, have failed the sovereign, far more. Counterintuitive as it sounds, the Pakistani 'establishment' (read, Military), despite all its manipulations is still the best bet to protect the Pakistani State from imploding.

Despite vile attempts by unhinged politicians and the clergy to fan divisive passions on the lines of sectarianism, regionalism, or ethnicities - the disciplined and 'monolith' construct of the Pakistani Military inherited from the British Raj integrated its diversities in Balouch Regiment, Frontier Force Regiment, Punjab Regiment, Sindh Regiment et al. Few derelictions like General Zia-ul-Haq or Hamid Gul aside, the institution was relatively westernized, moderate, and inclusive. It zealously protected its ways and interests with disproportionate budgetary allocations and ensuring that it always had the right of the way, formally or informally. It chose dispensations without harbouring any ideological preferences and brazenly chose and dropped those who didn't toe the line. It didn't really care about optics of contradiction and shifting preferences, as it chose between the Bhuttos PPP (Pakistan People's Party) and Sharifs PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz) with impunity.

In 2018, the 'establishment' tired of both the PPP and PML-N brought in and 'selected' Imran Khan's PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf) as the face of governance, even though the strings were pulled by the Generals from neighbouring Rawalpindi.

But what they hadn't bargained for was the seriousness and immaturity with which the vainglorious Pathan from Mianwali would start imagining his own prowess. Imran mistakenly thought he had outgrown the need to remain beholden to the Pakistan 'establishment', and that was to be his undoing. A reluctant, screaming, and shouting Imran Khan was ousted from power and the much discredited and familiar faces from the past, ushered in. It was an important lesson in Pakistani politics. When the tide turns, any political force that appeals to the Generals, can stage a comeback. Except perhaps Imran Khan, who dug his heels and refused to learn from history. His cadre perpetuated the 'May 9' riots and plunder that spared no one - not even the 'no-go' zones of cantonments or residences of Generals.

The Pakistani 'establishment' did what it does better - care two-hoots for the popularity of Imran Khan and attacked his party, people and infrastructure. While Imran is arguably the most popular leader and the Bhuttos and Sharifs the most despised, it is the latter who are in power, courtesy the Pakistani Military. The obstinate Imran has boxed himself into a corner by pivoting his credentials to grandstanding against the Pakistani Military, and that denies him the realistic chance to return. His only chance to succeed with his current strategy is the Pakistani Military were to become irrelevant, but such a hypothetical situation would also make the survival of Pakistan as a sovereign state, untenable.

Faultlines deepen with the Military mouthpiece Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) insisting that dialogue with PTI is only possible if it "earnestly apologises publicly in front of the nation". It added for good measure that PTI must adopt "constructive politics" and avoid, "politics of anarchy". Clearly it would be suicidal for PTI to stoop so low after much theatric defiance and acceptance of its role would scar PTI with anarchial and unpatriotic attributions (as despite history, Pakistani Military remains the beacon of patriotism, in Pakistani consciousness). This showdown with railing words between the Military and PTI also counters the accusations of 'false-flag operation', as alluded to by the PTI. It seems the Pakistani Military is hell bent on making PTI and Imran pay dearly for daring to challenge the 'establishment', and this recent precondition for thawing relationship was meant to harden the divide and make it impossible for PTI/Imran to soften stand.

As if on cue, the Pakistani Military is making efforts to normalise its relations with the historical ally, the United States of America (as the same was specifically targeted by Imran Khan). It also acts as a hedge against Chinese support, and it strengthens equations with Arab Sheikhdoms, concurrently. As it is, the bloody battle ensuing currently for the Pakistani Military is with the Afghanistan based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPP), on whom Imran Khan or 'Taliban Khan' was particularly accommodative. Clearly there is no upside for the Pakistani State to retain the belligerence and extremist stand as championed by Imran Khan in his hustings, and therefore all such policies, PTI infrastructure, and Imran Khan personally must become the sacrificial goat. Imran has none, but himself to blame for the same.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views expressed are personal)
With almost 12 days to go for the Lok Sabha polls, a direct contest is on the cards between the candidates of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress in Ambala reserved Lok Sabha constituency.

There are about 19.8 lakh voters in Ambala constituency, spread in nine assembly segments of Ambala Cantt, Ambala City, Naraingarh, Barara, Panchkula, Kalka, Sadhura, Jagadhri and Yamuna Nagar. As per Election Commission of India (ECIs) figures, in Ambala Lok Sabha constituency, there are 10,51,443 male voters, 9,35,635 female, and 76 transgender voters.

Going by the campaigning and mood of the electorate, a fierce contest has surfaced between BJPs candidate Banto Kataria  the wife of former Union Minister Rattan Lal Kataria; and Congress MLA Varun Chaudhry Mullana  son of former Minister Phool Chand Mullana in Ambala.

JJP has fielded its state secretary Dr Kiran Punia  a Hindi professor at DAV College, Ambala City; while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has put a Sikh candidate Gurpreet Singh  a lawyer practicing at the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Pawan Kumar as its candidate from this constituency. A total of 14 candidates, including two women, are contesting Lok Sabha election from Ambala.

Farmers agitation 1 and 2.0, Agniveer scheme, wrestlers issues, and local anti-incumbency due to issues that rural folk had to face because of Parivar Pehchan Patras discrepancies are factors that might impact the voting pattern in this constituency.

BJP has secured victory in the previous two Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019. This time, the BJP is aiming for a hat-trick. After the demise of senior BJP leader and three-time MP Rattan Lal Kataria on May 18, 2023, the BJP kept its faith in the Kataria family for its loyalty and introduced his wife and state executive member Banto Kataria as the partys candidate.

A first time MLA, Varun Chaudhry is the son of former Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana. Regarded as one of the promising lawmakers, he is known for making incisive interventions during the assembly proceedings. He had narrowly won his debut assembly polls in 2019 by a margin of 1688 votes. He was picked to contest from the Ambala Lok Sabha seat after Selja shifted back to Sirsa.

Over the past one year, Ambala was largely remembered for floods that wreaked havoc and protests held by farm activists. Crops on thousands of acres were damaged by the floods in July, last year, and residential colonies remained waterlogged for days due to incessant rain, overflowing rivers and breaches along rivers including Ghaggar, Markanda, SYL, Narwana branch, and Tangri.

Additionally, in the last one year, Ambala district again came to focus for the wrong reasons such as preparing spurious liquor that claimed 20 lives in Yamunanagar and Ambala. The incident also revealed how easy it was for some criminals to arrange all the ingredients and prepare the liquor by watching some tutorials on social media. The farmers in the district continued to hold demonstrations over various issues including stray cattle, compensation, Naraingarh sugar mills and MSP throughout the year.

Here, the local issues seem to have taken a back seat in the Lok Sabha Election 2024 as the two major political parties are busy seeking votes on national issues. While the BJP is seeking votes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name, the Congress is banking on issues like Save Constitution and constituency, unemployment, price rise among others.

In one of his election campaigns, Varun Chaudhry said that this is not just the Lok Sabha elections, but a fight to save the Constitution of the country. Congress party fulfils whatever it says, whereas BJP makes big promises and claims but does not do even small work. The people will force the BJP, which has used lathis and bullets on farmers, and forcing the youth to leave the country due to unemployment, to leave power. The public will change the government that talks about changing the Constitution, he had added.

Banto Kataria, in one of her election campaigns, had appealed to the voters to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister for the third time. BJP is seeking peoples support to work in the interest of the country. The way the party is getting support, it is clear that on June 4, BJP is going to form a Government with 400 plus seats, she had added.

Ambala constituency, which is located on the north-eastern edge of Haryana bordering Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, covers the entire Panchkula and Ambala districts and parts of the Yamunanagar district. Scheduled Caste and Backward Communities have dominated the political narrative in Ambala which has around 45 per cent of total electorates. The rest includes Punjabi, Sikhs, upper caste Rajput, Jats, Brahmins and other communities.

The highest vote share percentage ever recorded at Ambala seat is 68.37 per cent bagged by Congress Ram Prakash Chaudhary in 1971, followed by Suraj Bhan at 68.34 per cent in 1977.

The Congress party has dominated the seat and has won nine times since elections were first held in 1952 in Ambala. The BJP has been successful four times and Aman Kumar Nagra of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was the only non-Congress, non-BJP candidate to have won the seat in 1998.

BJP candidate Rattan Lal Kataria had contested from Ambala four times and won thrice in 1999, 2014 and 2019. Four-time former Lok Sabha member Kumari Selja has defeated Rattan Lal Kataria twice in 2004 and 2009.

In the 2014 Assembly election, BJP had its MLAs in all the nine assembly segments including Kalka, Panchkula, Ambala Cantt, Ambala City and Yamunanagar. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the opposition party, Congress, improved its performance. Out of the nine, four assembly constituencies including Kalka, Naraingarh, Mulana and Sadhaura were won by Congress party, while remaining five constituencies including Panchkula, Ambala Cantt, Ambala City, Jagadhri and Yamunanagar won by BJP.

Moreover, in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJPs Kataria won with 7,46,508 votes by defeating Congresss Kumari Selja, who received 4,04,163 votes. BSPs Dr Kapoor Singh received 96,296 votes. The JJP did not contest the Ambala seat in 2019 as it was handed over to its then ally, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Political analysts opine that winning the Ambala Lok Sabha constituency seat will not be a cakewalk for BJP this time as the party has fielded a new candidate. The BJP leadership has not yet managed to placate local legislator and former state Home Minister Anil Vij, who has been upset over the recent change of guard in the government.

To dent the BJPs poll prospects further, there are local factors such as the reaction of the BJP-JJP Government to protesting farmers, wrestlers issues, unemployment, and unfulfilled promises of old-age pension.

Recently, the members of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU, Charuni) have announced support for Congress in the Ambala parliamentary constituency. Narinder Singh Nayagaon, district president of Panchkula unit of BKU (Charuni) said that the decision was taken in a meeting of the president of districts units of Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar with their members.

Issues like farmers' agitation, wrestlers' problems, and unfulfilled promises may impact BJP's chances in Haryana despite confidence in Modi wave and development projects. The fate of Ambala constituency will be decided on whether Congress manages to unite the Dalit voter base and rake up lack of development in the region as their poll agenda, they added.

Candidates in Fray

Congress: 44-year-old Varun Chaudhary Mullana, a lawyer by profession, is an MLA from Mullana and the son of former Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana. He completed Bachelor of Laws from Campus Law Center University of Delhi in 2006. In March 2021, Chaudhary was awarded the 'Best Legislator Award' for his contributions to the State's assembly

BJP: Banto Kataria is the wife of veteran BJP leader and three-time Ambala Lok Sabha MP Rattan Lal Kataria, who died in 2023 after an illness. Banto Kataria, a qualified lawyer, has been a BJP worker since 1980. She was also a mandal pradhan (block president) in 1986 and rose up to the rank of partys state vice president. She also remained non-executive independent director of GAIL (India)

INLD: 30-year- old Gurpreet Singh (mazhabi Sikh), an advocate by profession, is contesting for the first time from Ambala constituency

JJP: Dr Kiran Punia, a professor in Hindi at DAV college (Lahore) Ambala city, is also contesting for the first time

BSP: Pawan Kumar Pawan is an agriculturist, has in 2005 contested Vidhan Sabha elections unsuccessfully from his partys ticket
An array of leaders from the saffron brigade, comprising Chief Ministers from Assam, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand, alongside Central Ministers, will stand shoulder to shoulder with the BJP candidates in Punjab as they proceed to file their nomination papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Right from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his Uttarakhand counterpart Pushkar Singh Dhami and Rajasthan counterpart Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, to Union Ministers Meenakshi Lekhi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hardip Puri will accompany seven, out of total 13, BJP nominees when they will be filing their papers for June 1 elections.

As per the information available, six BJP candidates are scheduled to file their nominations on Monday. Tuesday is the last day of filling the nominations.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, along with Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, will accompany party nominee from Patiala Preneet Kaur  the four time MP and former Union Minister  when she will be filing her nomination papers on Monday. The presence of such esteemed leaders underscored the party's commitment to its candidates and the electoral battle ahead.

Following this, Jakhar will extend his support to former MLA Arvind Khanna  the party candidate from the crucial seat of Sangrur  as he filed his nomination, further bolstering the party's presence in the region.

The first-timer Anita Som Parkash, partys candidate from Hoshiarpur, will receive the backing from Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as she filed her nomination papers on the same day. This show of solidarity demonstrates the saffron party's cohesive strategy and determination to secure victory in the state.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Hardip Puri will join former Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi in filing his nomination from Firozpur seat, signaling the party's concerted efforts to ensure a strong representation in every constituency.

Further reinforcing their support, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi and Rajasthans Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa will accompany Geja Ram Valmiki, the BJP candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib, as he filed his nomination papers for the reserved seat.

Former IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu also stepped into the electoral fray, set to file her nomination papers from Bathinda on Monday, with former Gujarat chief and states party affairs in-charge Vijay Rupani and senior BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal by her side.

BJP candidate from Anandpur Sahib constituency Dr Subash Sharma will receive the support from Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Deputy Chief Minister Rajasthan Diya Kumari, Union Minister Gajender Singh Shekhawat, and other senior BJP leaders when he will file his nomination papers on Tuesday.
The BJP in the national Capital made Sunday a super one with election campaigning at its peak connecting to a diverse range of voters as Delhi approaches its polling date, which is slated to be held on May 25, in the sixth phase of voting ahead of Lok Sabha 2024 elections. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Assam Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa, Tejasvi Surya, Jayant Choudhury campaigned for the BJP candidates in the national Capital.

Starting the election campaign, the saffron party flagged off a bike rally where several youth from Sikh community participated in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The rally, with slogan SikhWithModi, was started from the state BJP office and reached the national headquarters via Connaught Place.

Addressing the rally, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said the Prime Minister values every section of society, but the way the Kartarpur Corridor was opened for the Sikh community, Bal Divas was announced on the name of Veer Shahbajade on December 26, taxes were removed from langar, and the 350th birth anniversary celebration of Guru Govind Singh was organised, all these historic works were done by the Modi government.

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, With the hashtag #SikhWithModi, today, the Sikh community is moving forward on the streets with the message that we all stand with Modi. Our dream of a developed India will be fulfilled under the leadership of Modi. BJP MP General VK Singh was also present at the rally.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief and BJP MP Tejasvi Surya took part in a roadshow for the BJPs Chandni Chowk candidate Praveen Khandelwal where he called Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal the poster boy of corruption, saying he has no moral right to comment on graft or transparency.

Do you really think Kejriwal has any credibility left? He has made many u-turns in his political life. Many young people like us participated in the 2013 Anna Hazare movement, thinking it to be a non-political campaign against corruption, the Bangalore South MP said.

Starting from there to now, Kejriwal has cheated everyone who believed in the idea he presented. He is in an alliance with people he had openly criticised such as Lalu Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, he added. Kejriwal, who reached out to the people with the promise of transparency and clean governance, is now in jail facing severe charges, alleged Surya, who was renominated by the BJP from Bangalore South.

The BJP leader also claimed Kerjiwal has no moral right to comment on anything even remotely connected with corruption or transparency. He is the poster boy of corruption in the country, Surya said.

Senior BJP leaders including Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva, National General Secretary Dushyant Gautam, Delhi Lok Sabha incharge Om Prakash Dhankhad, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and all candidates distributed voter slips going door-to-door across various wards of Delhi nearly two weeks before the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi.

This campaign was launched from Vinod Nagar and reached various different areas of the city covering different voters and constituencies. Reaching the Jatt community in the north west Delhi seat from where former BJP Delhi general secretary Yogesh Chandolia is contesting from, a felicitation ceremony was organised to recognise the contribution of the society. Dhankad addressed the ceremony while stating that the community has a glorious history.

 The society played a leading role in the countrys freedom movement and in keeping the borders safe from the enemy after independence. The Jaat communitys contribution in sports, farming and sacrifice is first, he said.
Bokaro Steel City beams with pride as Dr. Aakriti, daughter of esteemed residents Kusum Kumari and Suresh Kumar, shines on the global stage. Pursuing her academic endeavors at the esteemed Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, Dr. Aakriti has clinched the prestigious MPH Capstone Award for her groundbreaking project.

Her research, titled Exploring Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Gun Violence in Baltimore City, Maryland, captivated the MPH Capstone Awards Committee, securing Dr. Aakriti the coveted MPH Capstone Award plaque for her exceptional contributions. The MPH program at Johns Hopkins University, renowned as the pinnacle of public health education, stands as a testament to her remarkable achievement.

In a remarkable feat, Dr. Aakriti emerges as the sole Indian recipient of this esteemed accolade, adding a golden feather to India's cap. Notably with grace and distinction, Professor Desjardins presented the award to Dr. Aakriti, acknowledging her exemplary research and outstanding contributions to public health.

Dr. Satish Kumar, Chairman of Wellmark Hospital in Bokaro, expresses his heartfelt admiration for her exceptional accomplishment. He reminisces about her stellar performance during her tenure at Wellmark Hospital's Heart Centre as a resident Medical Officer, confidently predicting her triumph on the global stage. Dr. Satish Kumar's words stand as a testament to Dr. Aakriti's unwavering dedication and remarkable talent, making Bokaro swell with pride at her remarkable journey and achievements.